Barbara Plett Usher
US State Department correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The Biden administration’s attempt to link the Hamas with the Islamic State Group has been implicitly criticized by a close Arab ally.

The US has adopted Israeli language calling the Hamas rampage “ISIS-like”.

They suggest the "sheer evil" of the attack means it is unrelated to longstanding frustrations about Israeli occupation and the grinding misery of the 16-year blockade of Gaza, also imposed by Egypt.

But, the UN ambassador of the UAE, Lana Nusseibeh, said it is important not to lose sight of the context of the crisis, “however convenient.”

She was speaking after the Americans vetoed a UN resolution to establish humanitarian pauses in the war because it didn’t mention Israel’s right to self-defence.

The UAE is one of only two Arab states to have explicitly condemned the Hamas attack, and Nusseibeh said it was responsible for “sparking this latest fire.”

But, “the kindling was already there,” she said, “fuelled by decades of violent dehumanisation, dispossession and despair".

She warned security council members not to disregard “the longest going occupation in the world today of a people who do not wish to be ruled and have been let down again, and again, and again by all of us.”

Britain's Foreign Office is advising , externalagainst all travel to "the whole of Lebanon" due the conflict in the region.

"Events in Lebanon are fast moving. The situation has potential to deteriorate quickly and with no warning," says the government's website.

It encourages British nationals currently in Lebanon to leave the country now "while commercial options remain available".

Image source, EPA

It's coming up to 23:00 in Israel and Gaza and it's been another busy day. In case you are just joining us or need a recap, here's what has been happening today:

• Israel has said it "would not thwart" the delivery of food, water and medicine from Egypt for civilians in Gaza as long as this aid did not reach Hamas
• During a visit to Israel, US President Joe Biden backed Israel's claim that it had nothing to do with the explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza yesterday, saying it was supported by "data" he had seen from the US defence department

• Arab states continue to blame Israel for the explosion which left at least 471 people dead
• The United States vetoed a UN Security Council vote calling for humanitarian pauses in Gaza, a move that was condemned by other members including Russia, China and the UAE
• Pro-Palestinian protests have continued around the Middle East, including in the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan

Image source, UK Parliament

Downing Street said on Wednesday it was not the right time to call for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza while Hamas still held hundreds of Israeli hostages.

More than 35 MPs called on the PM to prevent further loss of life and allow access to medicines, food, fuel and water to Gaza - access to which was cut off by Israel.

Israel has since announced that it would allow food, water and medicine to reach Gaza through the southern Rafah crossing.

During Prime Minister's Questions earlier on Wednesday, Scottish National Party's parliament leader Stephen Flynn asked Rishi Sunak if he would join calls for an immediate ceasefire.

The PM in response asserted that Israel had the "right to defend itself, to protect its people, and to act against terrorism".

Later, the prime minister's official spokesman said Sunak did not think it was the right time for a ceasefire, as Israel was working to "recover hostages who had been seized by a terrorist organisation".

A short while ago, the US vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for humanitarian pauses, saying that the resolution had made no mention of Israel's right to self-defence. The UK abstained in the vote.

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, Ibrahim Ezzat/Anadolu via Getty Images

A top French court has rejected an appeal against a blanket ban on pro-Palestinian protests, but says it is for regional prefects to decide "case-by-case" whether they should be barred.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin imposed the ban in a bid to prevent "disruption to public order" and stop tensions from the Hamas war with Israel seeping into France.

Despite the ban, pro-Palestinian demos have been increasing in France and a challenge to the order was made to the Council of State, which advises the government on law.

The court says while the bans don't threaten freedom of expression, they cannot just be based on a government order or because a demonstration seeks to show support for the Palestinian population.

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Palestinians took to the streets in the occupied West Bank for a second day today to protest against Israel’s war against the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Protesters had already clashed with the Palestinian Authority’s security forces in a number of cities on Tuesday night, following an explosion at a hospital in Gaza that health officials say killed at least 471 people.

At marches in Nablus and Ramallah on Tuesday, protesters chanted criticism of Israel, the US and the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which they accuse of collaborating with Israel.

Security forces in Ramallah fired tear gas and stun grenades into the crowds in response. The PA, which governs parts of the West Bank not under full Israeli control, has its headquarters in the city.

People who spoke to the BBC on Tuesday near Nablus said that violence against Palestinians had increased dramatically in the West Bank since Hamas launched a deadly assault on southern Israel from Gaza on 7 October.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem says it has documented dozens of attacks by Israeli settlers, including several fatal shootings.

The UN meanwhile says that attacks by settlers have more than doubled in the period, from an average of three to eight incidents a day.

There are some 3 million Palestinians and 600,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Biden gives clear warning to Netanyahu governmentpublished at 19:42 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

19:42 BST 18 October 2023

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Reuters

During his visit to Israeli, President Joe Biden this afternoon attempted to address Palestinian - and wider Arab - scepticism about his approach to this desperate crisis.

He pledged $100m (£82.3m) in humanitarian assistance for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Biden restated his administration’s commitment to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, allowing the two peoples to live in security and dignity.

The president also had pointed words of advice for Israel, as it plans its widely anticipated ground invasion.

Israel, he said, did not live by the rule of terrorists but by the rule of law. Israel, he said, needed to be clear about its objectives.

That required “an honest assessment about whether the path you’re on will achieve those objectives".

This was a clear warning to the Netanyahu government: don’t go too far.

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, Ido Nagar

For more than a week, Ido Nagar clung to the desperate hope his wife, Celine Ben David Nagar, was alive and being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

But, Ido’s hopes were shattered last night when Israeli police told the family Celine's body had been found among the hundreds of dead recovered.

The family tell me they were notified last night at 19:30 local time and Celine was buried the same evening - in accordance with Jewish custom to bury the dead as soon as possible.

Celine had travelled down to the Supernova music festival on 7 October to celebrate her last day of maternity leave before returning to work.

Ido stayed at home to look after their six-month-old daughter, Ellie.

Celine was hiding in a bomb shelter in Sderot when the Hamas militants stormed it, but her body was not immediately found alongside others who had hidden there.

The sheer number of people killed by Hamas in southern Israel has created significant delays in the identification of the dead.

It means some Israeli families who believed their loved ones had been taken into Gaza are only now learning they were in fact killed in the initial attack.

Ido described his wife as an “amazing woman, a person surrounded by friends and love", as well as an "amazing mother".

“This was supposed to be her one last party to enjoy before she returned to work. We agreed that I would pick her up at midnight, but she never came home."

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from New York

Image source, Reuters

A short while ago in New York, the US vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for humanitarian pauses in Gaza.

Put forward by Brazil, the text also condemned "the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas"; called for the release of hostages and urged all parties to comply with their obligations under international law.

Speaking after Joe Biden's visit to Israel today, United States Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield said Americans believe "diplomacy has to play out".

The United States has exercised its veto dozens of times in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This time, the US ambassador also said the country was disappointed the resolution made no mention of Israel's right to self-defence, a view shared by the UK, which abstained in the vote.

The veto was met with some critical voices including Brazil's ambassador to the UN Sergio Franca Danese who said “silence and inaction prevailed…to no one’s true, long-term interest”.

Russia accused the United States of “hypocrisy and double standards", while China’s ambassador said the country was shocked and disheartened at the veto.

Along with China, the UAE also said the draft resolution should have called for a ceasefire because “each passing hour made a mockery of international humanitarian law” - the text simply called for humanitarian pauses.

Could Hezbollah open up a new front from Lebanon?published at 18:40 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

18:40 BST 18 October 2023

Frank Gardner
Security Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The biggest strategic fear for Washington, Israel and many Western countries is that the current crisis metastasises into a regional war which spills beyond Israel’s borders.

Iran has already threatened it will not stand by while Palestinians are killed in Gaza.

There are now reports in the Arab media that Iranian-backed militias are moving westwards from Iraq and Syria into southern Lebanon, closer to Israel’s borders.

Some of these fighters have had recent combat experience supporting the Syrian army against rebels.

Of all the various pro-Iranian militias in the region, Hezbollah in Lebanon is the most potent.

It fought an inconclusive war with Israel in 2006 and since then it has restocked its supplies of rockets and missiles that are now thought to number around 150,000.

Some of these are long-range and precision-guided, enough to flatten whole ministries in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, if they can overwhelm Israel’s air defences.

To deter Hezbollah - and Iran - from joining Hamas’s war against Israel, the US is stationing two entire aircraft carrier strike forces offshore, in the eastern Mediterranean.

Tensions in the region were already high before the deadly hospital blast in Gaza.

If and when Israeli forces make a full-scale incursion into Gaza, there is a serious risk this could be the trigger for Hezbollah to open a new front from Lebanon.

Dousing those flames would not be easy.

What can video tell us about the Gaza hospital blast?published at 18:20 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

18:20 BST 18 October 2023

Image source, .

BBC Verify is trying to unravel what is, and isn't, known about the blast at the Al-Ahli hospital.

The explosion happened at around 19:00 local time on Tuesday. Footage surfaced on social media showing what appears to be the same blast from different angles and distances.

The BBC was able to match details of buildings and the layout of the Al-Ahli hospital site with publicly available satellite imagery, to establish the hospital was the scene of the blast.

We consulted a number of weapons experts to establish whether the available video evidence could be used to determine its cause.

So far the findings are inconclusive.

One expert says it is not consistent with what you would expect from a typical Israeli airstrike. Another says the evidence looks like the explosion was caused by a failed rocket section hitting the car park.

Several experts we spoke to were not willing to put forward a view on what happened.

Click here to read more on what we’ve discovered about the hospital blast.

Deirdre Finnerty
BBC News

Image source, Ibrahim AlAAgha

We've been hearing again from Ibrahim AlAgha, a 38-year-old Irish-Palestinian man stranded in Khan Younis with his wife Hamida and their three young children. Yesterday, he told us he was in his parents' house with 90 people, who are trying to cope as best they can.

The group try to sleep in shifts, with two to a mattress. Ibrahim, an engineer, removed the windows to prevent glass from injuring people in the event of a possible drone attack.

After last night's blast at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City to the north, Ibrahim says no-one in their crowded Khan Younis house could sleep.

"Most of us were crying and really fearing for our lives... there's no limits."

"I don't see any solution happening soon. Things are getting worse every day."

Read more about Ibrahim's story here.

Image source, Ibrahim AlAAgha

Image source, Ibrahim AlAgha

Image source, Ibrahim AlAagha

Hugo Bachega
BBC Middle East correspondent, reporting from Beirut

Hundreds of people protested in Beirut earlier today as part of an "unprecedented day of anger" organised by the Lebanese group Hezbollah in reaction to the Gaza hospital blast.

In packed streets of a southern suburb of the capital, many carried Palestinian flags and placards with the image of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who has been silent since the Israel-Hamas war started.

Several times, the crowd, which included many women and children, chanted: "We answer your call, Nasrallah."

The speeches included anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans.

In a different part of Beirut, a Palestinian demonstration was organised outside the US embassy, and Lebanese security forces deployed tear gas against protesters.

There are fears that Lebanon could be dragged into this conflict. Tensions remain high with groups including Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, and the Israeli military frequently exchanging fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Tom Bateman
Reporting from Tel Aviv

Image source, Reuters

President Biden’s speech was written to connect personally with the grief and shock being felt by ordinary Israelis.

It was the language of solidarity. But there were some real announcements too. He said he’d asked Mr Netanyahu to allow aid through to Gaza from Egypt.

It seems the Israeli government agreed to some limited kinds of supplies getting in. That feels like a breakthrough.

But let’s watch to see if the crossing does indeed open this time.

The meetings went on far longer than scheduled.

We were waiting most of the afternoon in the Tel Aviv hotel basement where the leaders held talks, including a session involving the Israeli emergency war cabinet.

Biden said there was no higher priority than dealing with the issue of the hostages held by Hamas.

But “I can't speak publicly about all the details”, he said.

Before the talks, travelling reporters got some clues from US officials about what the points of discussion would be.

And remember, all of this is still taking place before Israel has launched its expected ground assault, with troops amassed on the Gaza perimeter.

President Biden sounded a warning to Israel not to be “consumed by rage” but to observe the “laws of war”.

Democracies are different from terrorist groups because democracies have values, he said.

“We must go back to the beginning and remember who we are. We are all human beings… with dignity, humanity and purpose.”

Earlier, the US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had said Mr Biden would ask the Israeli leader some “tough questions”.

That was likely to mean him scrutinising the concrete aims and objectives of the military campaign.

With this crisis only just starting, the Americans want as much information as they can get about where it might end up.

A short while ago we heard from Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), who says the blast at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City was "horrendous".

She says civilians "should be protected" but "no place is safe" in Gaza.

Touma says the unnecessary loss of lives "has got to stop" and a ceasefire is "absolutely critical".

She says a siege on the Gaza strip is still ongoing and called for Unrwa and other aid agencies to be given access to allow them to bring in vital supplies.

"We're going to have a health disaster soon in Gaza if we do not have our humanitarian supplies go into Gaza for people who need it most," she adds.

The Israeli government has announced that food, water and medicine will be allowed to enter the Gaza strip through the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border.

US President Joe Biden is back on board Air Force One as he departs Israel.

After touching down in Tel Aviv this morning, he spent around eight hours speaking with officials and families as well as holding a meeting with Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet.

You can read a recap of Biden's address here.

Image source, Reuters

Protests erupted in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Jordan, Iran, Tunisia, Lebanon and Turkey earlier, following last night's explosion at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital in Gaza.

Hamas blamed it on an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has presented evidence that it says shows the blast was caused by a misfired missile launched by a Palestinian militant group in Gaza.

Here are some of the pictures from the region.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a post on X, external that the US does not believe Israel is responsible for the explosion at the Gaza hospital yesterday based on its current assessment.

The spokesperson added that the US continues to collect information about the blast.

Here is the text of the post in full:

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

In the wake of yesterday’s devastating explosion in Gaza, and with half of President Biden’s mission - the summit in Amman - shelved, it’s fair to say that expectations today were low.

But Biden’s news conference late this afternoon finally revealed what more than a week of intense US diplomacy has been all about.

Beyond the president’s rhetoric - moving words about grief and the depth of America’s commitment to Israel - his speech was full of real content.

Israel, he said, had finally agreed to let aid into the Gaza Strip from Egypt.

This was confirmed by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office, which said that “in light of President Biden’s demand, Israel will not thwart humanitarian supplies from Egypt, as long as it is only food, water and medicine for the civilian population".

None of this, it said, should reach Hamas, and no aid would enter from Israel as long as Israeli hostages are not returned.

Joe Biden also talked about hostages, saying he could not speak publicly about all the details, but that as president, there was “no higher priority” than their safe return.

It’s clearly a major focus of his efforts.

Israel says it won't block aid sent to Gaza from Egypt.

A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's office says that Israel "will not thwart humanitarian supplies from Egypt as long as it is only food, water and medicine for the civilian population in the southern Gaza Strip".

But it will "not allow any humanitarian aid from its territory to the Gaza Strip as long as our hostages are not returned," the statement adds.