The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the Israel-Gaza war.

Speaking in Beijing at a forum where both Chinese President Xi and Rusisan President Putin were in attendance, he said toward the end of his address he said he felt he had to address what is happening in the Middle East.

"I call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire... to ease the epic human suffering we are witnessing," he said, "Too many lives, and the fate of the entire region hang in the balance."

Image source, Getty Images

"The destruction of Al Ahli hospital is a devastating loss of human life," UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday after the explosion.

In a post, external on X, he said the UK would work with allies to "find out what has happened and protect innocent civilians in Gaza".

Image source, Reuters

The White House says it recognises that Israel feels "very strongly" that a huge blast at a hospital in Gaza City "was not caused by them".

"The Israelis have categorically and very stridently denied that they had anything to do with it," White House spokesman John Kirby said., external

Authorities in Gaza, the Palestinian territory run by the militant group Hamas, say 500 people died in an explosion at the hospital. Hamas blamed Israel, which in turn has blamed another group, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Both have denied responsibility.

President Joe Biden is due to arrive In Israel later on Wednesday to express his solidarity and to discuss war plans with its leaders.

But his visit has been hugely complicated by the Gaza hospital blast. A planned visit to Jordan to meet Arab leaders was cancelled by the Jordanians amid outrage over the deaths in Gaza.

Kirby said it was a "mutual decision" to cancel the Jordan trip.

Image source, EPA

Protests have sprung up in several major cities after the bombing of a Gaza hospital where hundreds of wounded people were getting treated.

• Palestinians flooded the streets of several cities in the West Bank on Tuesday night, throwing stones and chanting against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd
• Protesters enraged by the hospital blast gathered outside the US embassy in Lebanon's capital Beirut, where they have set a large fire. Another group gathered outside the French embassy and were reportedly hurling rocks at the building. Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group called on Muslims and Arabs to "move immediately to streets and squares to express intense anger"
• Hundreds of people also gathered in Tripoli and other Libyan cities carrying Palestinian flags and chanting slogans in support for Gazans
• Protests have also gathered outside the British and French embassies in Tehran, the capital of Iran, as well as at Israeli embassies in Turkey and Jordan

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty

The US has raised its travel alert, external for Lebanon to "do not travel," citing the security situation related to rocket, missile, and artillery exchanges between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah militants have escalated in the days since Hamas launched its attack on Israel.

Both Israel and Lebanon have evacuated communities near the border amid fears of escalation.

Late on Tuesday, protesters enraged by the Gaza hospital blast set a large fire outside the US embassy in Lebanese capital Beirut. A Reuters report said tear gas was fired at the crowd to get them to disperse.

Image source, EPA

Sarah Smith
North America editor

Image source, Getty Images

For an American president, turning up in a warzone is an extraordinary move.

Joe Biden's trip to the Middle East on Wednesday was always going to be a high-stakes gamble.

But he is now flying into an even more volatile situation, after the bombing of a hospital in Gaza that is thought to have killed hundreds of Palestinians.

Hamas has blamed an Israeli air strike, but Israel said the blast at Al Ahli hospital was caused by rockets fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Biden's hastily-organised visit is designed to further demonstrate America's firm solidarity with the Jewish state.

But he is having to balance his support for Israel's aim of destroying Hamas with his deep concerns about the civilian and humanitarian cost.

Now it is time for the US president to use all the influence and leverage he has at his disposal to try to limit the bloodshed and loss of life, and prevent an all-out war across the Middle East.

All while events on the ground are making it harder than ever.

Read more about the situation here.

A surgeon from London working at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza when the blast happened described the chaotic moments after the explosion.

"Parts of the hospital are on fire. I don't know whether that's just the emergency department. Certainly in the operating suite... part of the ceiling has fallen (down)," Ghassan Abu Sittah told the BBC, speaking shortly after the blast occured.

"There's broken glass everywhere, there are lots of people who are seeking refuge in the hospital. There are people moved into the corridors."

White House spokesman John Kirby said the US is "optimistic" about getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"We're getting close to a framework for aid to get into Gaza from Egypt," he told reporters on Tuesday.

Israel has blocked supplies into Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack on 7 Oct. A humanitarian crisis is deepening in Gaza but efforts to transport aid through Egypt's border with Gaza - the only entrance into Gaza not controlled by Israel - have met with little success so far.

He added that the US will "continue to talk to the Israelis about the need to protect innocent civilian lives".

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The deadly blast on a hospital in the Gaza Strip is "totally unacceptable", the UN human rights chief said.

"Words fail me," Volker Turk said in a statement.

"Tonight, hundreds of people were killed - horrifically - in a massive strike at Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City, including patients, healthcare workers and families that had been seeking refuge in and around the hospital. Once again the most vulnerable."

Scores of people were wounded when the Al-Ahli hospital was hit on Tuesday. These images convey the desperate rush to treat the injured, some of them were brought to the Shifa Hospital.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

The BBC has managed to speak to an unnamed doctor working at the hospital in Gaza when the explosion happened.

He told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme there was total devastation at the scene of the attack - where some 4,000 displaced persons were seeking refuge.

He said the hospital was empty as people were busy trying to rescue the survivors of the strike.

Hundreds of people are feared dead after the blast at the Al Ahli hospital, which is fully funded by the Anglican Church.

As we've been reporting, the Israeli military has denied Hamas's claims that it was behind the explosion, instead saying it was a rocket fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Gaza-based militant group, that fell short. The group has also denied responsibility.

Some 31 Americans have been killed from Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 Oct, while 13 Americans in Israel remain unaccounted for, White House spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.

It comes as President Biden is on his way to Israel to show support in the aftermath of the attack.

Image source, Reuters

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby gave an update about President Biden's planned itinerary upon landing in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.

• First, Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in "a very small restricted bilateral meeting"
• He will then meet with the Israeli war cabinet
• Next, Biden "will have a chance to meet with some of the Israeli first responders who are bravely putting themselves in harm's way in response to these Hamas attacks"
• Followed by meeting with families who have lost loved ones or whose loved ones are held hostage
• Biden will make public remarks followed by a short meeting with Israeli President Herzog

Biden "will be asking tough questions", said Kirby. "He'll be asking them as a friend, as a true friend of Israel, but he will be asking some questions of them."

Biden's planned visit to Amman, Jordan to meet with Arab leaders was cancelled after a hospital blast killed hundreds in Gaza City.

"The president intends to speak with both President Mahmoud Abbas and President Sisi on the flight home," Kirby says.

It's now almost 04:00 in Gaza and Israel.

If you're just joining us, here's what's been happening in the last few hours:

• The authorities in Gaza, the Palestinian territory run by the militant group Hamas, say 500 people died in an explosion at a hospital. Hamas blamed Israel, which in turn blamed Palestinian militants

• Hamas said an Israeli air strike on the hospital was to blame, describing it as a “war crime”, while Israel denied its military was involved, saying the explosion had been inadvertently caused by a rocket fired by another militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second biggest militant group in the Gaza Strip, denied responsibility

• International leaders released statements condemning the loss of life at the hospital

• The leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have cancelled a planned summit with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday
• Biden is currently travelling to Israel where he will meet Israeli leaders
• Hamas and Hezbollah, the militant group that controls southern Lebanon, have both said that the US shares the blame with Israel for the hospital blast
• A large group of protesters held an overnight rally outside the US embassy in Beirut, where they started a fire and hung Palestinian flags from the walls of the compound