The BBC's Rushdi Abualouf has heard that no people, or any items of aid, have been allowed in or out of the Al-Shifa hospital for the last 48 hours, according to one of his contacts.

That source - one of the few remaining journalists in the hospital - says four people had tried to leave Al-Shifa yesterday, but were shot in the legs and left on the ground bleeding for around two hours.

Medics had to risk their lives to get them into the hospital for treatment, the source tells Abualouf.

The BBC has been unable to access the hospital to verify this as fighting has been raging in the vicinity in recent days.

Image source, Getty Images

The families of hostages being held by Hamas have begun a five-day march, demanding their loved ones' freedom.

Israel says 239 people were kidnapped by Hamas gunmen during the 7 October attack, which killed 1,200 people.

Over a month later, relatives and supporters of the hostages have today begun a 43-mile (70 km) march from Tel Aviv to the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem.

"We’re marching to the prime minister to shout to him that we need them home now," one of the people on the walk told Reuters news agency.

Shortly before the march began, the Israeli military confirmed that one of the hostages - a 19-year-old soldier - had died.

Image source, EPA

Foreign Office Minister Andrew Mitchell has given MPs an update about the UK's plans to send more aid into Gaza.

While speaking to the Commons about the government's response to the situation in Israel and Gaza, he said the UK is considering using "air and maritime options" to send more aid – including via its bases in Cyprus.

"We also are urging the Israeli government to increase humanitarian access including by Rafah and by opening up the Kerem Shalom crossing," Mitchell said.

"At this point we assess that land presently offers the most viable and safe way to get humanitarian aid into Gaza in the quantities needed, but we are also considering air and maritime options, including through our bases in Cyprus."

He told MPs that more British nationals had left Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, although he did not provide exact numbers.

Lucy Williamson
Reporting from Israel

Warning: This article contains distressing content

Police have shown journalists a single horrific testimony from a woman who was at the Nova festival site during the 7 October attack.

At least 260 people were killed when Hamas gunmen fired rockets and then stormed the festival in the early hours of the morning.

Others were kidnapped and taken hostage into Gaza.

The woman described seeing Hamas fighters mutilate a woman while raping her, and said that one of her attackers then shot her in the head as he continued to rape her.

Israel’s police commissioner Yaacov Shabtai told the BBC after the briefing that this was not a one-off testimony. The nature of some of the violence was hard to speak about, he said.

"You heard how they cut part of the body between one rape and another,” he said. "So you understand those guys came to do something: it’s not the rape, it’s to insult the human being."

The commissioner also suggested that investigators were relying on footage shot by Hamas to determine what had happened in some cases.

Those involved in the investigation said many of the areas where the attacks took place were still active combat zones during the crucial 48-hour window when forensic evidence for sexual assault should be obtained.

DNA was taken from bodies arriving at the main army base for identification, but police say the main focus initially was on identifying the dead, and informing families.

The head of one unit charged with collecting evidence said there were "no known living victims" of sexual assault that they could currently identify, but many of those who survived the attacks are reportedly too traumatised to give evidence.

So far, there’s little sense of the scale of sexual violence carried out by Hamas during the October attacks, but a police spokesman said they were looking into “multiple” cases.

While we've been reporting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, there's several other health facilities suffering due to the lack of resources and insecurity.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said over half of Gaza's hospitals - 22 out of 36 - are now "non-functional".

Posting on X, external, the WHO said this was due to "lack of fuel, damage, attacks and insecurity".

It said the remaining 14 hospitals have "barely enough supplies" to sustain lifesaving surgeries and provide inpatient care, and it called for an immediate ceasefire.

Earlier, the BBC's Rushdi Abualouf reported that a contact still inside Gaza City's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, had told him 170 bodies were being buried in a mass grave there.

Since then, we’ve heard from the hospital’s director who says 179 people, including babies, have been buried in the grave within the hospital grounds.

"There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues," Mohammad Abu Salmiyah is quoted by multiple news agencies as saying. "We were forced to bury them in a mass grave."

Salmiyah adds that the patients died after vital hospital equipment failed due to power cuts - this happens because of a lack of fuel needed to power generators.

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

In the UK, the brother of a British-Israeli man murdered by Hamas has told me he's never been more fearful of antisemitism here as he is now.

Bernard Cowan, from Scotland, was killed in his home on a kibbutz in southern Israel during Hamas's 7 October attack.

His brother Colin says he "is filled with dread" as a Jew living in Britain - and that relatives in Israel have asked if he'll move there as a result.

At his home in Glasgow, Colin says:

• Read more of Bernard and Colin's story here

In Khan Younis, southern Gaza, colder conditions are beginning to set in - affecting some of the 1.6 million Palestinians the UN estimates have been internally displaced since the war began last month.

Many have been forced to shelter from the fighting in tents, including the BBC's Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf, who says many people are being forced to sleep on the ground.

Here's a look at one such collection of tents, filled with people who've had to flee their homes since 7 October.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Fighting rages on in northern Gaza as the Israeli military continues on its retaliatory offensive against Hamas.

A main focus of our reporting over the last few days has been activity at or near some of the enclave's main hospitals, which we're still hearing about today.

If you're just joining us, or need a recap, here you go:

• The BBC's Rushdi Abualouf says he's heard from a contact inside Gaza city's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, that a mass grave is being dug for an estimated 170 bodies
• Hospitals have become caught up in intense fighting, with attention largely focused on Al-Shifa
• While Israel says it's not targeting hospitals directly, it has acknowledged "clashes" around Al-Shifa and other facilities
• The Israeli military continues to accuse Hamas of having a command centre underneath Al-Shifa - both the facility and Hamas deny this
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have also confirmed the death of 19-year-old Cpl Noa Marciano, a soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas last month
• Meanwhile, the head of a local hospital says seven Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank’s Tulkarem refugee camp following clashes with the IDF

A UK-based charity says Gaza City's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, needs fuel - not incubators, as has been widely speculated.

It comes after the Israeli military said it was in process of "coordinating the transfer of incubators from a hospital in Israel to Gaza", though it didn't specify if the machines were going to Al-Shifa.

Melanie Ward, the CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians, says the situation is "beyond horrific":

She adds that Al-Shifa already has incubators and staff with the "medical skill" to save the lives of babies - but until fuel is allowed in, the situation won't improve.

Israel hasn't allowed fuel to enter Gaza since the fighting with Hamas erupted last month, for fear that Hamas will use it militarily.

Ward says if it could be couriered into the territory by the UN, incubators could turn back on and "the lives of the babies saved".

Rushdi Abualouf
Reporting from Kahn Younis, southern Gaza

In the last hour I've spoken to some of the last remaining journalists inside Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital.

One told me the hospital is preparing a mass grave for about 170 bodies in a small courtyard of the hospital. He witnessed around 30 bodies being put into the grave.

He says moving from one building to another at the hospital is a risk, and even burying the bodies is risky because tanks surround the facility.

As I reported earlier, tanks were yesterday on three sides of the hospital complex - but as of overnight, they're now close to the main gate.

My source says the hospital is not dealing directly with Israeli officials because that’s considered too risky. Staff want a third party to intervene, he says, and deal with negotiations for the fuel to power the hospital.

Image source, .

The Israeli military says it is once again encouraging Palestinians in northern Gaza to move south via its designated "safe road", the Salah al-Din highway. The evacuation route first opened on 5 November.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been telling people to move south for weeks, to avoid the heavier fighting in the north.

Following the announcement last week that Israel would begin enforcing daily four-hour military pauses, the IDF told people to "take advantage" of this in specific neighbourhoods so they can reach the designated road to move south.

The UN estimates around 200,000 people have, so far, moved to southern Gaza using the Salah al-Din route. Hundreds of thousands of people, who are either unwilling or unable to move to the south, remain in the north.

Image source, .

Image source, .

Following our last post, here's a reminder about the West Bank - in case you need one.

It's an area of land located - as the name suggests - on the west bank of the River Jordan and bounded by Israel to the north, west and south. To its east lies Jordan.

It has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, but decades of difficult on-off talks between Israel and the Palestinians - both of whom assert rights there - have left its final status unresolved.

Between 2.1 million and 3 million (sources vary) Palestinians live in the West Bank under both limited self-rule and Israeli military rule.

The West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) is also home to some 430,000 Israeli Jews who live in more than 130 settlements built under Israel's occupation.

The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel and the US dispute this interpretation.

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

Seven Palestinians were killed in the West Bank’s Tulkarem refugee camp this morning in clashes with the Israeli military, the head of the local hospital confirmed to the BBC.

Three were killed by live ammunition and four by shrapnel injuries from a blast, said Dr Amin Khader, who is also a surgeon at Thabet Thabet hospital.

He said 12 people were wounded, four critically, and some were still in the operating theatre.

The Israeli army and police said in a statement that their forces came under fire and killed several Palestinian gunmen in return fire.

A local journalist at the scene told me that the clashes were still going on, roughly 100m from the Thabet Thabet hospital.

"I can still hear gunfire and some explosions, I don’t know if it's Israeli or Palestinian. There is a lot of light ammunition fire," he said.

He said the IDF had demolished streets and buildings in the area and were present in the camp with armoured vehicles.

Footage published by local Palestinians earlier this morning showed what appeared to be Israeli bulldozers ripping up streets.

According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, at least 180 West Bank Palestinians have been killed since 7 October by Israeli settlers or in clashes with the IDF.

Image source, IDF

The Israeli military has confirmed the death of a 19-year-old Israeli , externalwho was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October.

Noa Marciano was described as a fallen soldier. No cause of death is given, but the IDF says her family has been notified.

As we reported last night, a video was shared widely online in which Marciano identifies herself and says she had been held for four days. The footage then cuts to graphic images which appear to show the body of a young woman.

There is the normal assumption - as with all hostage videos - that the words are not her own

Hamas claimed that Mariciano was killed in an Israeli air strike.

Image source, Reuters

The US and UK, like many other countries, offered their full support to Israel following Hamas's attack on 7 October.

That commitment stayed steadfast as the Israeli military launched its retaliatory strikes on Gaza - but over the last few days appeals to Israel to exercise restraint have been stepped up, with US President Joe Biden and UK PM Rishi Sunak both pushing for greater protections of Palestinian hospitals and civilians.

Biden told reporters at the White House yesterday that he hoped for less intrusive action around Al-Shifa, saying that Gaza City's largest hospital must be protected.

Meanwhile, Sunak last night spoke of the "terrible suffering" of Palestinians in Gaza, saying too many civilians are dying. He also called for pauses in the fighting.

Neither Washington nor London have called for a full-blown ceasefire, despite pressure from French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Israeli government claims Hamas has created the crisis at Al-Shifa for propaganda reasons and uses tunnels under the hospital as a base. Hamas denies this.

Tom Potokar, a chief surgeon in Gaza with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has been describing the "exhausting" and "relentless" workload of surgeons in the area since fighting erupted between Hamas and Israel last month.

In this clip, which the humanitarian organisation uploaded to social media, Potokar explains some of things he saw on Monday alone.

At one point he describes working on a "young man" with 40% burns who has "lost all his family" due to the conflict.

Image source, Reuters

It's gone 10:30 in Israel and Gaza and 08:30 here in our London newsroom. Here's a look at the latest developments.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) says Gaza City's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, is "nearly a cemetery", with bodies piling up and rotting inside and outside the facility
• There's been fighting close to the hospital in recent days, and the facility is surrounded by tanks, a contact has told our reporter in Gaza
• The Israeli military has repeatedly accused Hamas of having a command centre underneath Al-Shifa - both the facility and Hamas deny this
• There is particular concern over the survival of premature and newborn babies, with power cuts making it impossible for hospital staff to use equipment such as incubators
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it's in the process of coordinating the transfer of incubators to Gaza
• A UN spokesperson also says 45 kidney patients needing dialysis at the facility can't be treated properly due to the lack of power
• US President Joe Biden has said "the hospital must be protected", adding that he has been in contact with Israeli officials about this issue

Rushdi Abualouf
Reporting from Gaza

In the last half an hour, I made a call to someone inside Al-Shifa hospital.

He said the tense situation around the hospital remains the same, and that he heard a few explosions and exchanges of fire overnight.

He also told me tanks are surrounding the hospital from all directions and that access in and out of the hospital is impossible.

Even moving from one building to another inside the hospital compound itself is a big risk, as he described it to me.

He said people have died in the hospital because there is no electricity, no water and not enough medicine.

Yesterday Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said an IDF attempt to deliver 300 litres of fuel to Shifa on Sunday had failed because Hamas had refused to accept it - something Hamas denied.

My contact inside the hospital said this would only last half an hour and that a sustainable solution was needed. He said at least 10,000 litres a day was required to run everything in the hospital.

Israel has accused Hamas of having a command and control centre underneath Shifa - which the group denies.

I have been to the hospital hundreds of time - I was born there, my son was born there, in the last two months of my mum's life, she was inside the kidney dialysis centre and I used to visit her every day.

It is very hard to verify what is underneath. With my eyes, I haven't seen any military capability inside the hospital buildings.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Western powers are growing concerned by the remorseless death toll in Gaza.

Rishi Sunak has yet to demand a ceasefire. But his speech at the at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet on Monday echoed American warnings that too many Palestinian civilians are losing their lives.

The prime minister said Israel must be able to defend itself and bring its hostages home. But it also had to act within international law, take all measures to protect innocent civilians – including in hospitals, and stop extremist violence in the West Bank.

He called for urgent and substantive humanitarian pauses in the fighting.

And he promised to redouble his efforts to seek a two-state solution to the conflict, something he said would involve doing more to help the Palestinian Authority.

This was Rishi Sunak’s toughest message yet for Israel, and a sign that international support is increasingly being tempered by calls for restraint.