Upon arrival in Israel, Rishi Sunak told reporters at Tel Aviv airport that the Hamas attacks on 7 October were an "unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism", and he reiterated that the UK stands with Israel.

"I'm very much looking forward to my meetings later with the prime minister and president and I very much hope they'll be productive meetings," Sunak said.

The Quint gets to work in Israelpublished at 07:32 British Summer Time 19 October 2023

07:32 BST 19 October 2023

Chris Mason
Political editor

Rishi Sunak landed in Tel Aviv half an hour ago - around 09:00 Israeli time, and 07:00 in the UK.

He had flown to Cyprus last night and then on to Tel Aviv this morning.

Sunak will now head for Jerusalem to meet the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the next few hours.

What will Sunak get out of this trip?

I am told there is an "implied united front" between the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was there on Tuesday, President Biden, who was there yesterday, and the UK prime minister visiting today.

They are part of what is known in diplomatic circles as "the Quint" – the United States, Germany, France, Italy and the UK.

President Macron of France is expected in the region in the coming days.

The leaders of the Quint spoke shortly after Hamas’s slaughter in Israel earlier this month. They haven’t spoken since but share the same diplomatic objectives.

Don’t expect a big announcement or breakthrough as a result of Sunak’s visit on the scale of what President Biden achieved.

Instead, those around the prime minister say physically showing solidarity with Israel is important, pressing for humanitarian aid to reach people in Gaza is too, as is emphasising face to face the need for Israel’s approach to a ground invasion to be "measured and calm".

The remainder of the prime minister’s trip remains uncertain – a swirl of security and diplomatic moving parts means his precise itinerary is in flux, I am told.

As we wait for the first pictures of Rishi Sunak in Tel Aviv, let's go back to the Israeli military update.

As well as hitting "hundreds" of sites in Gaza, the IDF also says it killed Rafat Abu Hilal, the head of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees - the third largest armed faction in the Gaza Strip after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The IDF says it carried out the airstrike on the southern Gaza city of Rafah following information received from the Shin Bet intelligence service.

Chris Mason
Political editor

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has arrived in Israel.

After his visit was announced last night, Rishi Sunak said: "Every civilian death is a tragedy.

"And too many lives have been lost following Hamas's horrific act of terror.

"The attack on Al Ahli hospital should be a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict.

"I will ensure the UK is at the forefront of this effort."

As a reminder, local authorities blame the blast at the Gaza hospital on an Israeli air strike. Israel says it was caused by a rocket, misfired by militants.

Read BBC Verify piecing together the evidence here.

Chris Mason
Political editor

The British Prime Minister is almost in Israel, on a two-day trip to the region during which he is also expected to visit other countries.

Downing Street says Rishi Sunak "will express his condolences for the terrible loss of life in Israel and Gaza as a result of Hamas's brutal terrorist attacks".

The prime minister will also press for the route for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza to open "as soon as possible" and for British nationals trapped there to be able to leave.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is visiting Egypt, Turkey and Qatar over the next few days.

Officials also point out Defence Secretary Grant Shapps met his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in Washington on Wednesday "to coordinate" their approach.

• You can read more here about Sunak's visit

A US State Department official who worked in an agency responsible for arms transfers to US allies has resigned.

Josh Paul cited disagreements with what he described as the administration's decisions to expedite the transfer of arms to Israel.

Paul, who was director of congressional and public affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, said on LinkedIn, external: "I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse."

Paul said while he recognised the "montrosity" of Hamas's attack on Israel, he also believed Israel's response "will only lead to more and deeper suffering" for Israelis and Palestinians.

The Israel Defense Forces has in its latest update on Thursday morning said that it destroyed "hundreds of Hamas terrorist infrastructures" over the past day.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the IDF said it "continues to attack all the time throughout the Gaza Strip", adding that it destroyed "anti-tank missile launch sites, tunnel shafts, intelligence infrastructures, operational headquarters and other headquarters".

It also claims that "over ten terrorists were also eliminated".

It was a scene of devastation outside the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, which was hit by a blast on Tuesday night.

BBC reporter Rushdi Abualouf, reporting from outside the hospital, said people were still "collecting body parts".

Palestinian officials say the explosion was caused by an Israeli air strike. But the Israeli military say it was the result of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad - an accusation the militant group has rejected.

It's just past 07:30 in Israel. The US has secured a deal with Egypt to deliver much-needed aid into Gaza, signaling a glimmer of hope for civilians whose supplies have been cut off.

Here is what else you need to know:

• Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has agreed to open up the Rafah crossing at its border with Gaza to allow up to 20 trucks of aid into Gaza. This comes after US President Joe Biden's high-stakes visit to Israel. Biden has said the aid delivery could start arriving from Friday
• There has been no mention of people being allowed to leave Gaza via Rafah. Asked by reporters on the possibility, Biden said: "We’re going to get people out, but I’m not going to go into any detail with you now"
• Throngs of people and trucks carrying aid supplies have lined up on the Gaza and Egypt sides of the crossing, respectively, awaiting its reopening
• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to land in Israel early on Thursday, where he will meet his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog

• The Palestinian miliitant group Hamas blamed Israel for the devastation at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, but the Israeli military says the deadly blast was caused by a Palestinian rocket which misfired. Biden has backed Israel's claims

More than a week on from the 7 October attacks on civilians in southern Israel, relatives of the people missing are using videos that have emerged from the attacks to try and piece together what has happened to their loved ones.

One of them is Nir Darwish, a UK-based relative of a family of five who disappeared from the Nahal Oz kibbutz.

The attackers live-streamed the family - Noam Elyakim, his partner Dikla Arava, her 17-year-old son Tomer, and Noam's two daughters Daphna, 15, and Ella, 8 - as they held them captive. Darwish confirmed earlier this week that Noam, Dikla and Tomer have been killed.

Several photos posted by Hamas show Ella and Daphna in captivity - Darwish believe the girls are being held in Gaza and is pessimistic about what would happen to them.

"They are sitting [in the photos] on a mattress and there is no natural light, so that's 100% in Gaza," he tells the BBC.

Here's Darwish's account in full.

Throngs of people in Gaza have moved to the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, where the Rafah crossing with Egypt's border is located, after they were warned to evacuate ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion.

Egypt has agreed to open the crossing for aid delivery into Gaza - this may happen by Friday at the earliest - but there has been no mention of people being allowed to leave.

Israel has said it will not prevent aid deliveries as long as supplies do not reach Hamas militants.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The Rafah crossing is the southernmost post of exit from Gaza and borders Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

Usually, it is not easy for Palestinians to leave Gaza via Rafah. Those who wish to must register with the local Palestinian authorities up to four weeks in advance and may be rejected by either the Palestinian or Egyptian authorities with little explanation.

Rafah is now the only crossing point for humanitarian aid, after Israel shut other border crossings from and into the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians have been gathering at the Rafah crossing in the hope of leaving ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive. The UN has also been positioning food and medical supplies at the border point preparing for its opening.

US President Joe Biden and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday agreed to open up the crossing to allow up to 20 trucks of aid into Gaza. This will likely happen by Friday, said President Biden.

Asked by reporters on the possibility of letting people leave via Rafah, Biden said: "We’re going to get people out, but I’m not going to go into any detail with you now."

Here's more on the Rafah crossing.

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was working at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital when it was rocked by an explosion on Tuesday night.

The surgeon from north London said the ceiling of the operating room "fell on us" as he was carrying out a procedure.

Dr Abu-Sittah had earlier told the BBC he had been working every day until 1am in dire conditions, with children comprising 40% of the patients he has seen.

He added that resources were running out fast with water pressure now insufficient to supply some of the equipment.

We heard earlier that US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have agreed to open up the Rafah crossing to allow up to 20 trucks of aid into Gaza.

The shipment will likely not cross until Friday, Biden has said, citing road repairs.

"They're going to patch the road, they have to fill in potholes to get these trucks through. And that's going to occur - they expect it will take about eight hours tomorrow [Thursday]. So there may be nothing rolling through until... probably until Friday," he told reporters on Wednesday.

He added that the 20 trucks represented a "first tranche" but said "150 or something" trucks were waiting in total. Whether or not those were allowed to cross will depend on "how it goes".

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Former US National Security Advisor HR McMaster has told BBC's Radio 4 The World Tonight that he sees an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza as inevitable, given that Hamas presents an "existential threat" to Israel.

"Israel will follow up on its pledge to crush Hamas," he says, describing the goal as "achievable".

The hostages that Hamas has taken creates an even greater need for a ground invasion, he believes.

"I don't see any way out for Israel except to temporarily occupy at least portions if not all of Gaza," says McMaster, who served under former President Trump from 2017 to 2018.

He adds that if Hezbollah begins attacking Israel from the north, the US should "intervene" on behalf of its ally.

"I think that if there was a second front opened up with those 110,000 missiles that Hezbollah has aimed at Israel, I think the chances of US direct involvement are quite high."

A former US ambassador to Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - tells the BBC that the US is likely communicating with Iran through private channels on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"We do know that the US has been communicating with Iran privately through channels that are established for that very purpose," says Ivo Daalder, who was US ambassador to Nato from 2009 to 2013.

"And Iran, no doubt, knows what the US is prepared to do. It is just not something that the president at this point is willing to say publicly, nor probably should," told BBC's Newsday programme.

Earlier this week the White House's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US has held talks with Iran to warn the country against intervening in the conflict.

There are fears that Iran's involvement could widen the conflict into the broader Middle East region. Iranian officials celebrated Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 Oct, while the Iran-funded Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon has been exchanging fire with Israeli military in recent days.

International Correspondent Lyse Doucet speaks with Middle East Bureau Chief Jo Floto in this latest episode of The Conflict podcast.

The two assess the mood in the region, reflect on US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel and discuss how journalists are still able to report in Gaza.

You can listen to the latest episode here