Image source, Reuters

As we reported earlier, the Israeli military says 450 rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israel, only to land in Gazan territory, since the recent conflict began.

Now, the Israeli Air Force says failed rocket launches from Gaza are increasing.

In a series of posts on X, external, formerly known as Twitter, the Israeli Air Force says Hamas has "continuously used civilians in the Gaza Strip as human shields".

The IDF says the launches are carried out next to buildings containing civilian populations "such as hospitals, UN schools, mosques, restaurants, diplomatic buildings and hotels."

Following on from the Arab reaction, the Chinese foreign ministry says it condemns what it calls the "attack" on the hospital - although it doesn't explicitly blame Israel, or Palestinian militants.

"China is shocked by and strongly condemns the attack on the hospital in Gaza, which has caused massive casualties," a spokesperson said., external

"We mourn for the victims and extend sympathies to the injured.

"China calls for an immediate ceasefire and cessation of hostilities and every possible effort to protect civilians and avert an even worse humanitarian disaster."

How Arab governments reacted to the hospital blastpublished at 11:41 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

11:41 BST 18 October 2023

Sebastian Usher
BBC Arab Affairs Editor

The primacy of the Palestinian cause had been gradually fading among a number of Arab governments, although it was still stirring deep emotion among their citizens.

The current war in Gaza had already shifted this to an extent, but the horrific scenes at the Al Ahli hospital further transformed the mood - even though Israel denies its military was responsible.

The UAE, Bahrain and Morocco - which all recently normalised relations with Israel - issued strong condemnations when news of the blast emerged.

President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt - the first Arab country to make peace with Israel - described it as a "clear violation of international law".

Saudi Arabia, which has itself been inching towards a normalisation deal, called it a heinous crime.

The leaders of all these countries will be feeling the heat rising from the streets where their people have already been expressing their rage at what happened.

Image source, Getty Images

France has just advised its citizens not to travel to Lebanon, given the "security tensions in the region, especially at the southern border" (with Israel).

Earlier, the US advised Americans in Lebanon to leave the country while commercial options remain available, external.

The UK Foreign Office is also advising against all travel to Lebanon.

"British nationals in Lebanon should consider whether they need to remain in Lebanon and, if not, leave by commercial means while they are still available," it said in an update on Tuesday, external.

Canada, Spain, Germany and Australia have also issued warnings.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group - a Hamas ally, also backed by Iran - called for a “day of rage” on Wednesday following the hospital blast.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila says the number killed in Gaza since Israel began its airstrikes 11 days ago has risen to 3,300.

She adds that a further 13,000 have been injured.

At least 1,300 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attacks that started the latest cycle of violence, with at least 199 people thought to have been taken hostage.

Image source, IDF

Earlier we heard from the Israeli military's Daniel Hagari, who spoke at length about last night's blast at a Gazan hospital.

There's been claim and counterclaim. Our colleagues at BBC Verify are poring through images, audio, and on-the-ground reporting to piece the incident together.

Here's a rundown of what Hagari says happened:

Timings and responsibility

• Hagari said at 18:59 local time (16:59 BST) yesterday a "barrage of around 10 rockets" was fired by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad - around the same time there were reports of an explosion at the hospital
• He said the IDF's aerial footage analysis showed "with absolute certainty" that the blast was caused by a "misfired" Islamic Jihad rocket, which was fired from a cemetery near the hospital

Damage analysis

• Hagari said the "only location damaged" was a car park outside the hospital "where we can see signs of burning" - and argued Israeli strikes would've caused a more significant aftermath like "craters and structural damage"
• He also said there was evidence of the rocket launch failing because a propellent is still evident

Time taken

• Hagari said it would be "impossible to know what happened as quickly as Hamas claimed they knew"
• When asked by a reporter why anyone should believe the IDF's version of events, he admitted Israel had been "fast to go to conclusions" in the past, but he says they had taken hours to "double check" they had their facts right

He said their intelligence included:

• Confirming there was no IDF fire - "by land, sea or air" - that inadvertently hit the hospital
• Using radar systems to track the rockets fired, "from within Gaza", with a trajectory showing they were fired from a cemetery nearby
• Getting hold of communication between militants talking about the rocket misfiring (which we explain in more detail here)

BBC reporter Rushdi Abualouf is outside the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where he says people are still collecting body parts from the ground.

Rushdi has been speaking to a witness who described the aftermath of the explosion - watch here:

Image source, Reuters

Turning to last night's hospital blast in Gaza, Biden tells Israel's prime minister it "appears" it was "done by the other team".

Biden says he's "deeply saddened and outraged" by the incident.

"Based on what I've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there's a lot of people out there who are not sure, so we've got to overcome a lot of things," he says.

As a reminder, the BBC is working to piece together last night's hospital blast - which Hamas and Palestinian authorities blame on an Israeli air strike.

The US President Joe Biden says he visited Israel to show where the US stands in the conflict.

He goes on to describe the massacres by Hamas on 7 October. He says is "not hyperbole" to say they "slaughtered" 1,300 people, including 31 Americans.

He also speaks about the Israeli hostages, including children. "Imagine what those children hiding from Hamas were thinking? It's beyond my comprehension."

The US will continue to support Israel, he says, telling Netanyahu: "I'm looking forward to having a discussion about what happens from here."

He says the "courage, commitment and bravery" of Israeli people is "stunning", adding "I'm proud to be here".

Image source, Reuters

Continuing, Netanyahu says the "civilised world must unite to defeat Hamas" in the same way it did when taking on Isis.

"We will defeat Hamas and remove this terrible threat from our lives," the Israeli PM goes on, saying it's not just for his country's sake but everyone's.

He calls Biden a "true friend" and commends his "deeply moving" decision to visit Israel during the war.

"I know I speak for the people of Israel when I say thank you," he adds before Biden begins speaking.

Netanyahu is up first and begins by thanking Biden for his support of Israel and for having "moral clarity".

"You've rightly drawn a clear line between the forces of civilisation and the forces of barbarism," he tells Biden, before agreeing with a tweet the US president wrote days ago in which he referred to Hamas's actions as "sheer evil".

Netanyahu goes on to compare Hamas's original attack on 7 October to "20 9/11's" (realtive to the countries' populations).

Fresh off Air Force One, US President Joe Biden is holding a joint news conference in Israel alongside PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

We're listening in and will bring you the key information.

You can also watch by pressing play at the top of the page.

How we're investigating the hospital explosionpublished at 09:43 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

09:43 BST 18 October 2023

Image source, EPA

Our team at BBC Verify is investigating the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital, which health officials in Gaza say killed hundreds of people.

Palestinian officials say it was caused by an Israeli air strike; the Israelis say it was caused by a rocket fired from inside Gaza.

We’ve been showing videos from last night and images of the aftermath taken this morning to weapons experts to try to verify what happened.

While there is no overall consensus, one said the fact that hospital buildings have not collapsed, some cars are undamaged and there is no visible deep crater suggests that this was not consistent with an Israeli air strike.

We have also showed a video with the apparent sound of the impact to these experts - one said he couldn’t tell whether this was an Israeli strike or a rocket fired from inside Gaza.

We're continuing to look into this and will bring you more when we get it.

Biden arrives in Israel - but his task now is even harderpublished at 09:41 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

09:41 BST 18 October 2023

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Diplomacy requires talking. And progress requires trust. And the devastating explosion at the Ahli hospital means there is now less of both.

President Biden will not be travelling to Jordan for face-to-face talks with Arab leaders. He will have to make do with phone calls with them from Air Force One.

That means he is visiting only Israel, leaving the trip appearing unbalanced.

Biden may achieve one aim: demonstrating US support for Israel after the brutal Hamas attack. But his second task, to unlock the diplomatic impasse, will be much harder.

The plan was to use the leverage of a rare presidential trip to a war zone to persuade Israel to open up a humanitarian corridor to Gaza and create safe areas for civilians.

That might then have encouraged enough trust to create some space for talks – using Arab allies as mediators - about releasing hostages.

All of that is now highly unlikely with tensions inflamed and Arab leaders having much less room for manoeuvre.

Image source, Reuters

Joe Biden touched down in Tel Aviv a few moments ago and was greeted beside Air Force One by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden will hold talks with Netanyahu during the visit, but a planned meeting with Arab leaders - including the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas - has already been cancelled following the blast at Gaza's Al Ahli hospital last night.

Image source, Reuters

During that IDF news conference, one of the claims Israel made was that it had a clip of Palestinian militants discussing a failed rocket launch.

This, the Israeli military claimed, proves that the blast at Gaza's Al Ahli hospital was caused by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militant group.

The transcript of the conversation - as released by Israel - shows two people discussing the damage caused.

"They are are saying it belongs to PIJ," one says, to which the other replies: "It's from us?"

The original speaker goes on: "They shot it from the cemetery behind the hospital."

"What?!" the other responds, to which they are told: "They shot it coming from the cemetery behind the hospital, and it misfired and fell on them."

Spokesman Daniel Hagari said: "We have cross-checked this intercept with other intelligence sources to confirm its accuracy."

But the BBC has not been able to verify Israel's version, including who was talking in the clip, which you can listen to here, external.

Our Verify team is piecing together last night's events, including speaking to weapons experts - stay with us for updates.

What is Palestinian Islamic Jihad - and how is it different from Hamas?published at 09:20 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

09:20 BST 18 October 2023

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent in Jerusalem

As we've reported, the Israeli military blames last night's hospital blast in Gaza on a misfired rocket from Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is the second biggest militant group in the Gaza Strip and is backed by Iran.

It has a similar Islamist ideology to Hamas and is also committed to the destruction of the state of Israel. It is usually seen as more extreme than Hamas.

In the past, it has often seemed that Hamas's actions are tempered by the fact that it has responsibilities as a governing power.

Islamic Jihad operates independently from Hamas, but the bigger group has usually been able to rein in its actions when required.

Islamic Jihad has its own militant wing, the Al Quds Brigade, and its own rocket arsenal. Very early on in this operation, Islamic Jihad said it was joining the Hamas action.

Israel presents its evidence - but will its rivals pay attention?published at 09:06 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

09:06 BST 18 October 2023

Paul Adams
Reporting from Israel

Israel says it has solid proof it was not behind an air strike on a hospital in Gaza City, and that it was a misfired rocket fired by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Evidence from the Ahli hospital, Daniel Hagari said, all pointed to a fireball caused by the rocket’s exploding fuel, not to the impact of an Israeli munition.

Crucially, there is no evidence of a crater - or the sort of massive structural damage caused by an Israeli bomb.

Rear Admiral Hagari said Hamas knew this but had decided to blame Israel anyway.

On the streets of Gaza, the West Bank and the wider region, Israel’s claims are likely to be ignored or rejected.

At a time when Israel has been relentlessly bombing the Gaza Strip, it’s inevitable that most Arabs will conclude Israel was responsible for attacking the hospital.

But at a time when fears are growing of a wider regional escalation, will Iran and its Lebanese militia ally Hezbollah pay quiet attention to Israel’s argument?

If they conclude, despite all the rhetoric, that PIJ was responsible, that could have an impact on their calculations.

An independent investigation won’t happen. Gaza is an active warzone and will be for the foreseeable future.

All we're left with, for now, is claim and counterclaim about one of the worst single losses of Palestinian life in the long, tragic history of the region.

Let's return to the IDF news conference - earlier, spokesman Daniel Hagari answered a question from the New York Times.

Speaking about Israeli images, which show a burnt out car park at the hospital, Hagari says "aerial munition" - i.e. Israeli missiles - wouldn't have caused the damage.

Aerial munition from Israel would've caused greater damage, he explains, repeating earlier claims that Israeli believes this is the work of a rocket that failed to launch.

Image source, Reuters

US President Biden has just arrived in Israel for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

But as we've reported, a planned meeting with Arab leaders has already been cancelled.