Deirdre Finnerty
BBC News

Image source, Ibrahim AlAgha

We've heard a few times in recent days from Ibrahim AlAgha, 38, who trapped in Gaza with his wife Hamida and their three Dublin-born children, aged between eight and three.

The family, who are Irish citizens, are currently sheltering in Ibrahim's parents’ house in the southern city of Khan Younis, along with 90 other people who have headed south while the Israeli air strikes continue. The situation is becoming increasingly difficult.

He tells the BBC this morning there was a strike "against a house very close to us".

"It was around 500 metres [away] and it scared everyone," Ibrahim says. “Everyone was screaming after that”.

The household have been trying to cope as best they can with their dwindling water and flour supplies, but yesterday he says they could not get to a neighbour’s wood oven to bake bread.

“We're running out of food…I didn’t eat anything since this morning… and there’s nothing available to be eaten”, Ibrahim says.

“The only food left is for children.”

The house is attached to a farm, which has a well. The water in it is not drinkable, Ibrahim says, but if their current supplies run out, they will have to drink it - though he's worried they won't have enough fuel to run a generator to extract the water.

The family are in contact with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs to try to leave Gaza safely.

“We don't know what will happen. We're just trying to get through this”, Ibrahim says. "Every day that passes, I'm more and more losing hope".

The Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheál Martin has said the government is working to assist Irish citizens in Gaza.

Read more about Ibrahim’s story here

Image source, Ibrahim AlAgha

Image source, Reuters

Here's a little more from the Israeli defence minister's visit to the troops gathered on the Gaza border.

Speaking of the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, he said: "There is no forgiveness for this thing. Only total annihilation of Hamas organisation - terror infrastructures, everything that has to do with terrorists and whoever sent them.

"It will take a week, it will take a month, it will take two months, until we eliminate them. You are not alone in battle," he told infantry troops, who are awaiting the start of an expected ground operation in the enclave.

"We trust you and count on you. Carry on training while there is time," he said.

Frank Gardner
Security Correspondent

Just days before the October 7th Hamas raid on southern Israel and the subsequent bombing of Gaza by the Israeli Air Force things were looking more optimistic than usual in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two regional heavyweight rivals, had agreed to bury their differences in a deal undersigned by China.

Encouraged by Washington, the Saudis were well on the way to normalising ties with Israel.

Morocco, Bahrain, Sudan and the UAE had already done so.

True, tensions were rising on the West Bank and Israel was in domestic political turmoil but apparently nobody saw what was about to happen on the Gaza border.

Twelve days on and the Middle East is now in a highly precarious state, with the risk of a much larger conflict engulfing other countries.

So how did we get here and what’s behind it all?

Our 26-minute film sets out to provide some of the answers.

If you are in the UK, you can watch it here.

Israeli defence minister has met with Israeli infantry soldiers at the Gaza border earlier on Thursday.

Yoav Gallant urged the forces to "get organised, be ready", according to the AP news agency.

“Whoever sees Gaza from afar now, will see it from the inside,” he said. “I promise you.”

Israel has massed tens of thousands of troops along the border.

Image source, Reuters

Tom Bateman
Reporting from Jerusalem

We've been getting some more detailed figures over the last 24 hours illustrating the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

With a million people having fled their homes, "frustration and tensions" are growing among the displaced competing for a "critically short supply" of water, food and medicine, says the United Nations' humanitarian agency OCHA.

It says the UN’s designated shelters - most of which are school buildings - are overcrowded, with children, the elderly, the disabled and pregnant women most vulnerable.

Most of the water grid is out and fuel is unavailable to power pumping and filter systems. So the cost of drinking water is rising considerably. OCHA says the main sources are remaining bottles for sale and private sellers operating small purification plants powered by solar panels. It says bottled water is now "unaffordable for most families".

Image source, Reuters

As for healthcare, the entire system is verging on collapse, say aid agencies. The World Health Organization (WHO) says the lack of fuel means medical teams are working in darkness and have stopped using elevators, in order to preserve power for emergency wards.

The UN says Gaza City’s Shifa hospital was "overwhelmed" by the inflow of wounded patients after the blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital on Tuesday. It says doctors were forced to attempt surgery on the floor and in the halls, mostly without anaesthesia.

OCHA says nearly 100,000 housing unit are destroyed or damaged, adding that the number of decomposing bodies under collapsed buildings is "an increasing humanitarian and environmental concern".

Image source, Reuters

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has said Gaza "needs aid at scale and on a sustained basis".

Speaking earlier today at a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Gutteres added that "rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access", is necessary for the territory's 2.2 million people.

Gutteres restated in his address that, "humanitarians need to be able to get aid in and they need to be able to distribute it safely."

Image source, EPA

The World Health Organization has welcomed the agreement that will allow 20 aid trucks to enter Gaza from Egypt.

"Our trucks are loaded and ready to go," WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference on Thursday. He said the supplies would be delivered "hopefully tomorrow".

Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said they needed to be allowed into Gaza every day as 20 trucks were a "drop in the ocean" of the assistance that was needed.

Ryan said:

The US state department has just now issued a "worldwide caution security alert" for all its citizens overseas, citing the potential for attacks.

"Due to increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against US citizens and interests, the Department of State advises US citizens overseas to exercise increased caution," it says.

It means US citizens should stay alert in tourist spots and sign up to receive information and alerts. More here., external

Hamas-affiliated media say that the head of Hamas security forces has been killed in Gaza.

Members of Jehad Mheisen's family are also reported to have died.

The widow of the Hamas co-founder, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi is also reported to have been killed overnight.

They are the latest senior Hamas figures to die in what the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has described as the long war his country is waging against Hamas.

On Wednesday, the AFP news agency reported that Jamila Al-Shantee, the first woman elected to Hamas's political leadership had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Earlier this week, Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X, external, formerly Twitter, that Ayman Nofal, described as a "senior Hamas official", had also been killed.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has told the BBC's Jeremy Bowen that Gaza is "on the brink".

He says he's hearing reports of people going back to the areas in northern Gaza that Israel told residents to evacuate from. This is because "they have absolutely nowhere to go in the south and they prefer to go back to their home, even if their home has been destroyed".

Lazzarini also says that, even in the context of his long career in war zones, the current situation unfolding in Gaza is a "major" crisis:

"It's a tectonic one. There is a huge risk of a spill-over. All the information we're receiving on the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is deeply concerning."

"I have sometimes the impression that the world is now losing its humanity," Lazzarini says.

There's been some more violence at the volatile border between Israel and southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military says, external 20 rockets were fired from Lebanon to the Western Galilee area of northern Israel. The Israel Defense Forces have responded with shelling, spokesman Avichay Adraee added., external

Hamas militants in Lebanon have claimed responsibility for launching the salvo, saying that they fired 30 missiles. A man in his 70s has been reported wounded.

It's just the latest incident of cross-border fire between Israel and militants in Lebanon. Earlier, two guided missiles were fired across the border from Lebanon, but at a different section - much further east towards the Israeli kibbutz of Manara. A residential building is said to have caught fire but no-one was hurt.

Image source, EPA

It's just gone 18:00 in Israel and Gaza - here's a rundown of what's been happening so far today:

• Aid: Lorries filled with desperately needed food, water and medicines are queuing at the crossing from Egypt into Gaza - but it's still unclear when the border will be opened. The US - which brokered the deal - says 20 lorries will be allowed in. But aid workers say 20 lorries are nowhere near enough
• Inside Gaza: Israeli air strikes continue and supplies are running low, with people there telling us they have no water or electricity and are surviving on tinned food. The leaders of Egypt and Jordan condemned what they called the "collective punishment" of Palestinians
• Sunak heads to Saudi Arabia: The UK PM, after meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, has arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
• Missing Israelis: A British-Israeli man, Yonatan Rapoport, has been confirmed killed by Hamas in the attacks on 7 October. This morning, a grandmother and her 12-year-old granddaughter were also confirmed dead. Israel today revised the number of hostages taken by Hamas to 203
• West Bank: The Palestinian ministry of health says six people have been killed in clashes with the Israeli military in Nur Shams in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military says it used an aircraft to strike a "terrorist squad".

We've just had an update from the Israel Defense Force on the ongoing operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank - which we told you about a little earlier.

The IDF says in its most recent update that an aircraft "struck an armed terrorist squad in the Nur Shams Camp" on Wednesday night, killing a "number of terrorists".

The statement adds that Israeli security forces have so far captured 10 "wanted suspects" and neutralised "a number of explosive devices that were ready for use".

The IDF said exchanges of fire with gunmen took place, which included "explosive devices being thrown at Israeli security forces".

The Palestinian health ministry says six Palestinians have been killed in the area.

Israeli attacks from the air are rare in the West Bank, though both helicopter and drone strikes were used in a military operation in Jenin earlier this year.

Frank Gardner
Security Correspondent

There is a sense of déjà vu in the sudden flurry of Western leaders racing around the Middle East.

Just as the then-UK PM Tony Blair shuttled from capital to capital in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001, this week sees leaders of the US, UK and Germany rushing to the region to both show their support for Israel and try to prevent the conflict from spreading.

While the UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is being sent to Egypt, Turkey and Qatar - all countries that may have some influence with Hamas - Rishi Sunak is visiting Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The latter is significant. As the big, regional heavyweight in the Arab world, with its vast oil reserves and sovereign wealth fund approaching a trillion dollars, Saudi Arabia matters.

Two weeks ago it was well on the way to normalising ties with Israel. Those talks have been suspended as the Saudis voice their support for the Palestinian cause and watch nervously as angry protests break out across the region.

Britain counts Saudi Arabia as an important ally, despite the alleged role of its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

He was due to visit the UK this month but No 10 said today that no date had yet been fixed.

Image source, EPA

UK PM Rishi Sunak has now left Israel and is travelling to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - stay with us, we'll bring you details of his visit once he arrives.

The Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Jordan's King Abdullah have condemned what they called the "collective punishment" of Palestinians in Gaza after a meeting in Cairo to discuss the war.

A statement issued by Jordan also warned that the fighting threatened to plunge the entire region into catastrophe.

Israel has been carrying out air strikes on Gaza since the deadly Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.

Israel blocked supplies of food, water, fuel, and electricity to the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attacks. It said it would not end the "siege" until Hamas released hostages.

Sisi and King Adbullah had been due to hold talks with US President Joe Biden and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan this week, but Jordan cancelled the meeting after the deadly explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza on Tuesday.

Egypt and Jordan were the first Arab states to normalise relations with Israel and have played significant mediation roles in previous conflicts.

Six people have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian ministry of health.

Israeli forces entered the Nur Shams refugee camp in the city of Tulkarm earlier and fighting between them and Palestinian gunmen is ongoing, Reuters reports, citing witnesses.

The Israeli military said earlier that it had arrested over 80 suspects, including "63 Hamas terror operatives", in raids overnight in the West Bank.

It said it had arrested five suspects in Nur Shams and added security forces are "continuing to operate in the camp to thwart terror activity".

The Israeli-occupied West Bank is separate from the Gaza Strip. Parts of it are governed by the Palestinian Authority, whereas Gaza is run by Hamas.

Image source, Reuters

According to UN figures as of last night, at least 61 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 7 October. More than 1,200 have also been injured.

Clashes with Palestinian Authority security forces have also intensified in recent days, as protesters have taken to the streets over the war in Gaza.

Violence by Israeli settlers has also seen an uptick, with attacks on Palestinians documented by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

As we've been reporting, lorries filled with humanitarian aid are waiting at the Rafah crossing to get into Gaza from Egypt.

Here's a graphic to show you where the border is, as well as the route aid will get there after it is shipped to the nearby El-Arish airport:

Image source, .

Aid agencies say Gaza needs far more aid than the initial 20 lorries announced by US President Biden as he flew from from yesterday's visit to Israel.

The UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, says about 100 lorries a day will be required.

Egypt has agreed to reopen its border crossing with Gaza to allow deliveries through, though preparation for this are taking time.

Diplomatic contacts over aid for Palestinians are continuing, with the Egyptian president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi due to host King Abdullah of Jordan today.

Both Egypt and Jordan have been at peace with Israel for many years and have played significant mediation roles in previous conflicts.

Image source, EPA

A British-Palestinian man in Rafah in southern Gaza - just over the border from the queues of aid lorries on the Egyptian side - tells the BBC his family of 16 are surviving on tinned food and some still water.

"We have no water, no electricity, very patchy internet. We hear bombing, it's far away, but we can hear it, the children are scared," Mohammed tells the World at One on Radio 4.

Mohammed says there is no water left for showering and their hygiene is low.

"The main objective is to survive," he says.

When asked about the prospect of Israeli troops coming in, Mohammed says: "In a war, anything can happen. Wars have collateral."