John Kirby also says the US will keep pushing Israel to allow for fuel to be included in humanitarian aid delivered into Gaza via Egypt’s Rafah crossing.

Israel has so far forbidden fresh supplies from being sent in, saying Hamas will use it for its own aims.

John Kirby says this is a "legitimate concern" and believes a mechanism is needed that allows fuel to get where it is needed.

This includes hospitals and to help with the production fresh water.

"We agree that fuel is a critical commodity," says Kirby, adding that the US is “working very hard” to get fuel into Gaza.

No fuel has been allowed into Gaza since the Hamas attacks on 7 October. Israel says there is enough in the territory, accusing Hamas of hoarding it.

As we were reporting earlier, intense negotiations are happening behind the scenes as to how to secure the release of around 240 hostages that were taken on 7 October.

When asked in the past hour if a possible hostage release would be contingent on a longer humanitarian pause, John Kirby tells the BBC that a pause in fighting lasting hours, if not days, would be needed.

This would be to ensure the released hostages' safe passage once they were released and to enable them to seek medical treatment and be reunited with loved ones.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says the Biden administration will continue talking to Israel about the need for humanitarian pauses in Gaza.

He spoke to the BBC a short time ago, after the US said that Israel had agreed to implement four-hour pauses in the fighting in the north of the enclave to allow for people to flee the fighting.

Kirby says he does want to see more and longer pauses, adding that it's important to understand that each pause "will depend on the purpose and on the conditions on the ground".

Raffi Berg
BBC Online Middle East editor

Image source, EPA-EFE

Fourteen Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

It said at least 20 others were injured in the assault, which residents said involved two drone strikes.

It is one of the deadliest recent incidents of its kind in Jenin, which has been repeatedly raided by Israel as part of a drive against militants.

According to the UN, this year more than 400 Palestinians - both militants and civilians - have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank, making it the deadliest there since the UN began recording Palestinian fatalities in 2005.

Read more here.

Intense negotiations on fate of the hostagespublished at 20:48 Greenwich Mean Time 9 November 2023

20:48 GMT 9 November 2023

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Negotiations over the fate of around 240 Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza have been going on for weeks.

The prospect of a deal to free at least some of them – possibly in exchange for a ceasefire or the release of Palestinians held in Israeli jails – has moved tantalisingly in and out of focus.

But there’s no doubting the intensity of the discussions.

Today, the CIA’s director, William Burns, met David Barnea, head of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Some of Hamas’ political leaders are based in Qatar. The hostage issue is likely to have been front and centre.

Two senior Hamas officials, Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal, meanwhile, arrived in Cairo, where reports suggested they met the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel.

Qatari and Egyptian networks have both said that the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is expected to visit Cairo tomorrow.

Amid such intense diplomatic efforts, a high profile visit like this might suggest that some kind of announcement is on the cards.

But the hostage issue is incredibly delicate, so no-one is getting their hopes up just yet.

Image source, PA Media

An ecologist is using birds of prey to help Israel's army recover dead bodies at the sites where Hamas attacked on 7 October.

Ohad Hatzofe, of Israel's Nature and Parks Authority, tracks the migratory patterns of numerous birds using GPS tracking devices.

His data helped to locate four corpses after he was asked for help on 23 October.

Another bird found a few other locations of interest, Mr Hatzofe said.

Mr Hatzofe reviewed its movements and chose certain positions where it had stopped. He then shared that data with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which found the four corpses.

Read more here.

Image source, EPA

Away from Gaza for a moment, we've been hearing how Yocheved Lifschitz has been doing - the 85-year-old Israeli woman who was taken hostage by Hamas during the 7 October attack and then released more than two weeks later. She is physically doing much better than she was when she was released and is gaining strength, her daughter Sharone Lifschitz said.

"Her spirit is strong, even though she doesn't know if her husband is alive or not," she added. Lifschitz's husband was taken captive at the same time but the couple were kept separately.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live earlier today, Sharone Lifschitz said that her mother now has no belongings, which she is also trying to deal with, but she has been very strong.

Yocheved was a peace campaigner, and her daughter said that what happened did not shake her belief in the cause. "I think it clarified to her what happens when you don't make peace," she added.

Image source, Reuters

It's coming up to 22:00 in Gaza, which is 20:00 here in London. If you're just joining us or need a catch-up, here are the latest developments from Israel and Gaza today:

• The US understands that Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, White House spokesman John Kirby said
• The US called it a "significant first step" but a UN spokesperson said any halt to fighting would need to be coordinated with the UN "to be truly effective"
• Thousands more Palestinians have fled northern Gaza to the south after Israel opened an evacuation route
• Heavy fighting took place close to the Al Quds hospital in Gaza City - one man told the BBC he had fled "under a barrage of bullets"

• The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza released a video of two Israeli hostages - an elderly woman and a boy - the first glimpse of hostages for 10 days
• The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 10,812 people, including 4,412 children, have now been killed in Gaza since the Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1,400 people and taking around 240 hostage
• In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says 14 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli raid in Jenin - Israel says it was arresting suspects and destroyed homemade bombs

A little more now on the video we reported on earlier, released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group showing two Israeli hostages - Hanna Katsir, a woman in her 70s, and a teenage boy.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the video showed "signs of life".

"We embrace them, and their families," he said, adding: "We have not missed a single opportunity and we will not miss any opportunity when it comes to returning the captives."

He did not comment on the any potential release of the hostages, and said the captors were using "psychological terror".

"When we have true intelligence, we will inform the families," he said.

Image source, EPA

Image source, AFP

Israel's defence minister Yoav Gallant has told journalists that the military is undertaking "localised, pinpoint measures" in Gaza to enable Palestinians to flee the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas.

However, he did not directly address a question regarding the comments from a White House spokesman saying there would be daily four-hour pauses in northern Gaza.

He repeated the Israeli government line that the war would continue until Hamas is toppled and hostages held in Gaza are freed.

Over 200 people were taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October. Only four have been freed so far.

Several countries, as well as the United Nations, have called for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

But the UK, US and EU are among those that have stopped short of calling for a ceasefire, saying it would favour Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation by the US and several Western governments.

A little earlier the US said it understood that Israel would, instead, begin daily four-hour pauses in fighting in areas of northern Gaza. World leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have been calling for a humanitarian pause for days - but how does this differ to a ceasefire?

Compared to a formal ceasefire, humanitarian pauses tend to last for shorter periods of time, sometimes just a few hours.

They are typically implemented purely with the aim of providing humanitarian support, as opposed to achieving long-term political solutions, according to the UN, external.

Ceasefires, meanwhile, are intended to be long-term, and often aim to allow parties to engage in dialogue, including the possibility of reaching a permanent political settlement, the UN says.

A UN spokesperson says any halt to fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip for humanitarian purposes would ideally need to be coordinated with the United Nations.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a pause would need to be agreed by all parties to the conflict and coordinated by the UN "to be truly effective".

As we've reported, the US understands that Israel will begin four-hour pauses in northern Gaza, starting tomorrow, a White House spokesman said earlier.

Image source, EPA

Reacting to the news that Israel will begin implementing four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza daily, think tank Chatham House says the move is a result of a "huge amount of diplomatic activity behind the scenes".

"This has clearly come about largely as a result of US pressure – directly from President Biden with Antony Blinken and others shuttling back and forth, highlighting to the Israelis that the number of civilian casualties is unacceptable and could lead to serious escalation in the West Bank and the region," said Nomi Bar Yaacov, associate fellow in the International Security Programme at Chatham House.

"Jordan and Egypt have also reached a boiling point."

She says Israel will want to evacuate as many civilians out of Gaza City as possible, adding that the problem is that Hamas built its operational headquarters and army stores under civilian buildings.

"It’s only a pause, Israel will honour the four hours and then continue its military operations against Hamas, with the stated aim of destroying as much of the military infrastructure as possible."

As we've been reporting, there has been fighting close to Al Quds hospital in Gaza City.

Our correspondent in Gaza, Rushdi Abualouf, has heard from Hamouda Musa, 34, who says he was one of the last people to escape from a building opposite the hospital.

He told the BBC: "Me and my neighbour were in the building. I looked out the window. There were four tanks and a bulldozer. They came from the coast."

"They were firing intensely towards a nearby residential building. We fled under a barrage of bullets, from a back street," he says, adding they survived "miraculously".

On Tuesday, the IDF said its troops had "located a number of Hamas terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building adjacent to the Al Quds Hospital".

Nearly two weeks ago, doctors at the hospital said they had been told to evacuate, but said it was impossible to move patients in intensive care and babies in incubators. A doctor at the hospital told the BBC "heavy bombardment" took place near the hospital.

Our Internatonal editor Jeremy Bowen entered Gaza on Wednesday, and was shown a building which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say was used as a weapons factory by Hamas. Upstairs was an apartment, including a child's bedroom.

Bowen and camera operator Fred Scott were given access by the IDF on the condition its positions were not revealed. Video shot by the BBC had to be submitted to military censors, but the report's script was not.

You can watch the full report below.

First glimpse of hostages for 10 dayspublished at 17:00 Greenwich Mean Time 9 November 2023

17:00 GMT 9 November 2023

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Islamic Jihad video

In the video, released by the second largest armed faction in Gaza, Islamic Jihad, two hostages are seen addressing the camera.

One, Hanna Katsir, a woman in her 70s, is seen sitting in a wheelchair. She was abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October - when Hamas attacked Israel.

The second is a teenage boy from the same community.

In the video, both hostages sharply criticise Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu. It's not clear if they're reading from a script.

In a statement tonight, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad said the group was prepared to release both hostages for humanitarian and medical reasons - but only if what it called "appropriate measures" were met.

The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, in Gaza, has released a video of two Israeli hostages - an elderly woman and a boy.

The BBC won't be showing the clip - which is over three minutes long - but we can describe what's in it. Prisoners of war and hostages are protected under international humanitarian law, and the BBC does not broadcast material which may have been filmed under duress.

The video begins with the woman who's in a wheelchair. The background behind her is blurred. A video of the child follows - he doesn't appear to be in the same location.

Both bits of footage are heavily edited.

They say they are being well treated and criticise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

As we've been reporting, thousands of Palestinians are evacuating northern Gaza to the south in a bid to flee the most targeted parts of the enclave. Most are leaving on foot, carrying whatever belongings they can.

This is the fifth consecutive day that Israel - which has been telling Gazans to move for weeks - has permitted movement along the Salah al-Din main road that runs the length of Gaza.

We're seeing a lot of images of the mass exodus - here's a small selection.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Here's a bit more from White House spokesman John Kirby, who says Israel's decision to implement four-hour pauses in northern Gaza to allow civilians to flee is a "significant first step".

"Obviously we want to see them continued for as long as they are needed."

Kirby also repeated the US line that now is not the time for a ceasefire, saying it would help Hamas "legitimise what they did" on 7 October.

The US understands that Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, White House spokesman John Kirby has told reporters.

He said an announcement would be made three hours beforehand.

"And we've been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause and that this process is starting today," he added.

As a reminder, earlier the Israeli military said, external "there are tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians", and made clear "there is no ceasefire".