Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

Today, I interviewed Ghazi Hamad, a long-time Hamas member and spokesman, who was in Beirut.

Sitting down with a representative of a group that many governments deem a terrorist organisation was not a decision taken lightly. But it was a chance to ask, face to face, about the attacks Hamas carried out in Israel on 7 October in which it killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 people hostage.

Hamad refused to acknowledge that his group had deliberately targeted civilians, despite the overwhelming evidence, including footage from body cameras worn by the fighters. He said the attack had been a “military operation” intended to target only military personnel.

I repeatedly asked him how that could possibly have been an attack on military targets only when hundreds of civilians had been killed, including people at a music festival and in their own homes, with their families. He then abruptly interrupted the interview and walked away.

Before that, Hamad suggested Hamas was open to negotiations over the civilian hostages it is holding in Gaza. But, he said, there needed to be certain circumstances for that to happen, without specifying which.

Image source, Reuters

The UN's humanitarian chief has warned that aid "is barely trickling" into Gaza as the world is "failing to meet the bare entitlements of a part of humanity".

Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, says that "heavy bombardments on Gaza continue and are getting worse, even in areas supposed to be safer".

In a post on X, external, formerly Twitter, Griffiths says "the rules of war are clear" that civilians must be protected and have the essentials to survive.

It comes after the UN's agency for Palestinians says it found more fuel on Wednesday - but warns supplies are running low across Gaza.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

This afternoon, a spokesman for Hamas said that around 50 hostages had been killed during more than two and a half weeks of Israeli airstrikes.

It’s impossible for us to verify this, but it’s likely many of the hostages are being held in the very tunnels that Israel’s air force has been bombarding.

When Yechovet Lifshitz spoke to the media after her release from Gaza earlier this week, she spoke of being held underground in a “spider’s web” of damp tunnels.

This is not the first time Hamas have claimed that hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. The group is acutely aware of the anguish the hostage crisis is causing.

The Israel Defense Forces said "no comment" in response to today's claims.

In Tel Aviv tonight, there was another anguished protest by Israelis demanding their government do more to bring hostages home. There’s mounting impatience.

“No more excuses,” they chanted. “Bring back our brothers. Bring back our children.”

They feel that time is running out.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

The Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza has published a detailed list of 7,028 people it says have been killed since Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip began on 7 October.

The document, 212 pages long, contains what the ministry says are the names and ages of each victim. It includes 6,747 registered names and refers to 281 unidentified bodies.

It says that 2,665 children have been killed. Most of the unidentified bodies are those of children.

The BBC is not currently able to verify the accuracy of the document.

Its publication appears deliberately designed as a riposte to US President Joe Biden, who yesterday cast doubt on the ministry’s numbers.

It includes a daily breakdown which shows a steady escalation in deaths, from 256 on 7 October to 481 on 25 October.

There are three days when the number of people killed exceeded 600, with the most number of people killed in a single day (24 October) currently standing at 756.

The French foreign ministry says the number of French citizens who have been killed in Hamas's attacks on Israel has risen to 35, up from 31.

The ministry said nine nationals were still missing, with some of those being held hostage by Hamas.

"We are doing everything we can to secure their release," the ministry said in a statement.

It said they are in contact with all the families of the French people "who have disappeared or are being held hostage".

What does new analysis tell us about the Gaza hospital blast?published at 17:40 British Summer Time 26 October 2023

17:40 BST 26 October 2023

Image source, Getty Images

Nine days after the explosion at the car park of Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City, the exact cause of the blast is still contested.

The Hamas-controlled Palestinian authorities in Gaza accused Israel of hitting the hospital with an air strike.

Israel said a misfiring rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group was to blame, which they deny.

Within 24 hours of the blast - which happened at 19:00 local time on 17 October - the BBC Verify team had assessed video footage, pictures and other materials in an effort to understand what might have happened, and we have continued to look closely at the evidence.

There are three areas which have been a focus since the blast: the lack of weapon fragments, the crater and damage at the scene, and video footage of a projectile rising over Gaza which was central to Israel's description of what happened.

You can read the what we have found looking at the evidence here.

Image source, Getty Images

Israel's ambassador has also addressed the UN, telling the emergency General Assembly session that "Hamas are the new Nazis" and Israel is at "war with Hamas and Hamas alone".

Gilad Erdan goes on to list graphic details of some of the atrocities carried out on 7 October against Israeli civilians.

"No horror movie compares to the pure brutality Hamas carried out," Erdan says.

The diplomat also tells the story of a young Israeli paramedic who was killed inside a kibbutz clinic where she was trying to save lives.

Erdan then holds up a photo of how she was found by fellow paramedics, with a bullet wound in her head.

Later in his remarks, he says Hamas carried out atrocities "the likes of which we have not seen since the Holocaust".

Image source, Getty Images

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, addressed an emergency UN meeting in New York a short time ago.

Visibly emotional, his voice cracked and hands began to shake as he read out stories of some of more than 3,000 children officials in Hamas-run Gaza say have been killed since 7 October.

He opened his speech by calling on world leaders to help "stop the bombs" in order to save the lives of civilians from Israeli air strikes.

"What choice do you make as a parent when there are only impossible choices. When death is everywhere, devastation is everywhere," he tells diplomats at the UN General Assembly.

He says Israel has destroyed over 40% of homes in Gaza - which the UN said earlier this week, external - and made "an entire population homeless and displaced", accusing Israel of trying to "forcibly transfer" people out of Gaza.

A short time ago, we reported that Israel's war cabinet minister said it would take years to restore security to southern Israel.

In his remarks at a press conference in Tel Aviv earlier, Benny Gantz also said Israel will make its own decisions, based on its own interests, over war plans in Gaza.

Gantz, who has served both as defence minister and head of the Israeli military in the past, told reporters:

A spokesman from Hamas's military wing says approximately 50 hostages held by its fighters in Gaza have been killed as a result of Israel bombarding the Strip, following Hamas's brutal attacks on 7 October.

Abu Obeida did not provide any further details. The BBC is of course unable to verify this number or any details they've provided independently.

Israel's military has identified 224 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Read more about who the hostages are here.

EU leaders meet - with sharply different viewspublished at 15:14 British Summer Time 26 October 2023

15:14 BST 26 October 2023

Sofia Bettiza
Reporting from Brussels

Image source, EPA

We’re at the European Council building where all 27 European leaders are meeting to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.

After weeks of diplomatic gaffes and mixed messages, they’ll be very keen to show a united front.

“We want the killing and the violence to stop, so that humanitarian aid can get into Gaza, where innocent Palestinian people are suffering,” said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

But European countries hold sharply different views on the Middle East.

Spain, Portugal and Ireland are more attuned with the Palestinian cause – and are calling for a ceasefire.

But other countries – including Germany, Austria and Hungary – have a more pro-Israel stance, and are opposed to a ceasefire.

Even agreeing on one word - should the EU call for a humanitarian pause, or short pauses - is going to be tricky.

And when they finally do come out with a statement, of course all the EU can do is put diplomatic pressure on Israel.

As EU leaders begin their discussions behind closed doors, expect this to be a long and complicated negotiation.

Image source, Isaac Herzog

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has hailed an "Israeli hero" who saved 30 people from the massacre at Supernova music festival on 7 October.

He praised the bravery of Youssef Alziadna, who drove his bus into danger to rescue people attempting to flee, according to Israeli media reports.

Hundreds of people were killed by Hamas at the music festival in the desert in southern Israel.

Herzog says the Bedouin-Israeli driver told him: "I am an Israeli citizen and I knew I had to go in and save them."

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

As the UN warns fuel supplies are running low in Gaza, one family in Khan Younis blames the death of their young relative on the Israeli siege.

Elias Abu Shamaleh was buried by his uncle and father today. He was wounded in an Israeli air strike two weeks ago, which also killed his mother and siblings.

His uncle, Awad Abu Shamaleh, tells Reuters he died was because they didn't have enough fuel to get him to hospital - and there wasn't enough medicine where they were to treat him.

"The child was injured two weeks ago, and because all the crossings are closed, he passed away," the uncle says. "There is no medicine, for efficient treatment, no fuel. The doctors did their best."

The Palestinian Ministry of Health that operates in the West Bank says a 17-year-old has been killed by "occupation bullets" in the Jalazone refugee camp, near Ramallah.

It is unclear exactly who killed the boy.

It brings the death toll of Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October to 105, according to the ministry.

Image source, EPA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attacked Western governments' response to Israel's bombardment of Gaza - saying the West is not taking action because the "blood spilled is Muslims' blood".

"What happened to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?" he asked. "They [the West] won't look at it if it doesn't serve their purpose. Why? Because the blood being spilled is Muslim blood."

Yesterday, Erdogan cancelled a trip to Israel and said he regretted shaking hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly in New York last month.

Separately, the foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority - which administers the occupied West Bank but not Gaza - described Israel's air strikes as "war of revenge".

Speaking in the Netherlands at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Riyad al-Maliki said the bombing was worse than previous Israeli attacks, and called for a ceasefire.

Demonstrators pressing for the release of the 224 people held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip have set up a display of 200 chairs outside the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva.

Posters of the hostages believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas are stuck to each chair.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

• The Hamas-run health ministry says at least 7,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war - an increase of more than 500 since yesterday
• Israel's military says the overnight raid in Gaza resulted in no Israeli casualties. Earlier, we heard the IDF had hit "numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts" during the raid
• Israel's military has identified 224 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, an increase of two since the last update
• A number of Palestinians have spoken to international media mourning the deaths of their children, including the father of a two-month-old
• A further 12 trucks carrying aid crossed into Gaza this morning, bringing the total since 21 October to 74 - but no fuel is getting through
• Hamas says it fired another barrage of rockets on central Israel from Gaza - no injuries were immediately reported

Image source, Reuters

Yesterday, Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in an air strike that hit their home in Nuseirat.

He was reporting in Gaza City when he was told the news.

One video shows the correspondent in hospital, holding each one of his family members as he cries. Today, he is burying his family.

Al Jazeera said: "The network strongly condemns the indiscriminate targeting and killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, which has led to the loss of Wael Al-Dahdouh's family and countless others."

• Read more here

Image source, EFE

As we reported earlier, the Israeli military says its jets attacked 250 Hamas targets in the past 24 hours.

Faysal Shawaa, who has fled to the south of Gaza, tells the BBC what it's like on the ground.

"I see smoke and we hear noises all night long, every minute another one," he tells Radio 4's World At One.

"It's not just air strikes, it's tanks shelling all night long and from the sea as well. Every night is worse than the night before.

"It's a very difficult situation, they're killing people every minute, they are destroying homes while people inside, they struck the building, they kill everybody and that's a situation.

"They just want to inflict damages everywhere and casualties."

As a reminder, Israel says it is targeting Hamas infrastructure, including tunnels and rocket launchers - and that it tries to minimise civilian deaths.

The Hamas-run health ministry says at least 7,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war started on 7 October - an increase of more than 500 deaths since Wednesday.

The number includes more than 2,900 children, according to the ministry.

In the past 24 hours, Israel says it hit 250 Hamas targets in air strikes.