There have been conflicting reports about the definitive number of babies moved today from al-Shifa hospital, to a maternity hospital in southern Gaza.

In an update published yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said there were 291 critically ill patients stranded at al-Shifa - including 32 premature babies "in extremely critical conditions".

But following the mission today - led by the WHO, with support from the UN and Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) - officials from all organisations began using a new figure: 31.

Our BBC Arabic colleagues asked Nebal Farsakh, the PRCS's spokesperson, about this - she said the PRCS was originally told it would be moving 33 premature babies from al-Shifa.

"But unfortunately one baby died yesterday, and another died this morning, [so] we had to move the remaining 31 babies to the Emirati Hospital in the southern city of Rafah," she explained.

Farsakh said the babies had to be "wrapped in foil to maintain their body temperatures [while] on the move - but that their "health condition is good".

White House Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer has told ABC News in the US that negotiations to free the hostages held in Gaza are at a ”very sensitive stage”.

"There has been significant progress, including in recent days, in recent hours," Finer said.

He went on to say: "Some of the issues, whether it was disagreements, have now been either narrowed or – or an understanding has been reached, but it is not complete."

Finer added it would be "premature" to say the deal was inevitable, "given how close we have come in the past."

We reported earlier on comments made by Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, that his confidence was growing about a deal over the release of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.

Since then we've heard from Michael Herzog, Israel's ambassador to the US, who told the American Broadcasting Corporation he is hopeful that a "significant number of hostages" could be released by Hamas "in coming days".

He went on:

Citing people familiar with what it described as a detailed, six-page document of terms, the Washington Post separately published a report earlier suggesting hostages could be released within the next several days, “barring last-minute hitches".

Mark Lowen
Reporting from Jerusalem

One of the Middle East’s smallest countries is playing an outsized role in resolving the conflict in Gaza.

Qatar is tiny, extremely wealthy, and integral to the hostage deal currently being negotiated. It hosts some of Hamas’s top leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political leader, who moved there from Gaza a few years ago. It’s bankrolled Hamas for years, allowing the group to pay for everything from electricity to weapons. And, while not formally recognising Israel, the two countries maintain links in several spheres and do talk to each other.

That places Qatar in a strong position to mediate between the Israelis and Palestinians, along with Egypt, another regional power-broker. Earlier this month, the CIA director and the chief of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad were in Doha to spur progress on the hostage deal.

And while both the US and Israel have tried to dampen expectations of an imminent agreement, which has been scuppered more than once in the past few days, the Qatari foreign minister is sounding optimistic.

But in a conflict that has crushed any remaining trust between the two sides, the message is still: don’t hold your breath.

Image source, WHO

There's more now on the news that premature babies have successfully been moved out of Gaza City's largest hospital, al-Shifa.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), expressed his admiration for health workers in Gaza - saying he and others are "humbled" by their "heroic work".

Confirming that 31 "very sick babies" had been evacuated - and were receiving "urgent care" at a maternity maternity in Rafah, southern Gaza - he said in a social media post:

As we reported earlier, the WHO estimates that almost 300 critically ill patients remain stranded at al-Shifa, where the Israeli military have been conducting checks for some days.

Image source, PA Media

In the UK, Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has recalled a phone call with his family in Gaza, in which they said what they believed would be their final goodbyes.

Yousaf's in-laws managed to leave the warzone earlier this month - via the Rafah border crossing - but speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Paddy O’Connell this morning, he said there was a time when they thought they would die there.

“In all honesty, I did not think I would see them again as time went on," he told the programme, before describing a call he received from his mother-in-law after she had been told that a neighbour's house was to be hit:

His brother-in-law - a doctor working in Gaza - has sent text messages saying he’s "never seen death and destruction like it".

"He said one of his early jobs, when the conflict began, was to try to match body parts with the correct body. He’s in a terrible way."

Image source, PRCS

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says it successfully evacuated 31 premature babies from al-Shifa hospital on Sunday.

They were moved in co-ordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The WHO released a statement earlier saying there were 291 patients still in the hospital - including 32 premature babies.

It's not yet clear why the numbers of babies given by the PCRS and WHO are different, and the BBC can't independently verify these figures.

As we reported yesterday, hundreds of people have left Gaza City's largest hospital, al-Shifa, in the days since the Israeli military entered the complex to carry out what it called "a precise and targeted operation against Hamas".

Jacqueline Howard
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Since Hamas kidnapped more than 200 people during the 7 October attack on Israel, four hostages have been released, one has been rescued and Hamas's military wing says 50 have been killed following an air strike.

• 7 October: Hamas launches an unprecedented assault on Israel, killing more than 1,200 and taking over 200 civilians and IDF soldiers hostage. Hamas says hostages are hidden in "safe places and tunnels" within Gaza. Israel begins its assault on the Gaza Strip.
• 20 October: Nearly two weeks after the assault, the first hostages are released. A mother and daughter from the US were freed for "humanitarian reasons", Hamas said.
• 24 October: Two more hostages are released - 85-year-old Yocheved Lifschitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper. Lifschitz shook the hand of her one of her captors as she was released. She said that the journey into Gaza was violent, but once there, her group of hostages were "treated well"
• 26 October: The spokesman for the Hamas military wing says around 50 hostages have been killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
• 29 October: Israeli soldier Ori Megidish is rescued by the IDF. She is said to be "doing well" following her rescue.
• 30 October: The IDF announces the death of Israeli-German hostage Shani Louk after testing a DNA sample taken from part of a skull bone picked up in Gaza. Her body has not yet been found.
• 17 November: The bodies of two hostages are found in a building near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza - an Israeli soldier, Noa Marciano and a 65-year-old grandmother named Yehudit Weiss. One of two Tanzanian hostages is also confirmed to have died, though the circumstances surrounding his death are unclear.

You can read the stories of the hostages taken by Hamas here.

Qatar has been playing a leading role in mediation efforts to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

It was involved in the negotiations that have seen four people freed so far - a mother and daughter, who are US nationals, and two elderly Israeli women.

The small, gas-rich Arab Gulf state is home to the political leadership of Hamas, which has had an office in the capital, Doha, since 2012, headed by its leader Ismail Haniyeh.

There, Hamas officials have been sitting down with Qatari diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work discuss hostage releases.

Qatari PM Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told a press conference earlier: "The challenges that remain in the negotiations are very minor compared to the bigger challenges - they are more logistical, they are more practical."

We're yet to see what that means in practice.

• The BBC's Frank Gardner analysed Qatar's part in these talks last month - have a read here

Image source, Reuters

The Washington Post has reported that a deal that would see Hamas release dozens of hostages is imminent. The US and Israel have denied any such deal, but we've heard from Qatar that negotiators are ironing out minor issues in the deal.

Here's what each of the key players have said:

Qatar: "The challenges that remain in the negotiations are very minor compared to the bigger challenges, they are more logistical, they are more practical," Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thanisaid in a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. He added that he was "more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal".

The Washington Post: "Israel and Hamas are close to agreement on a US-brokered deal that would free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting," the report said, citing "people familiar with the emerging terms".

The US: White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson posted on X: "We have not reached a deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get to a deal."

Israel: In a briefing last night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were "a lot of incorrect reports about imminent agreements to free some or all of the roughly 240 people being held”. “As of now there is no deal,” he said.

Image source, WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) says 291 critically ill patients are still at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after hundreds of Palestinians evacuated on foot yesterday.

Thirty-two of those are babies in extremely critical conditions, the WHO said, external.

Among the patients who remain there, the WHO observed complex fractures and amputations, head injuries, burns, chest and abdominal trauma during a visit to the hospital yesterday.

Twenty-five medical staff have stayed at al-Shifa.

Yesterday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that there were 120 people remaining still there.

The BBC can't independently verify these figures.

Mark Lowen
Reporting from Jerusalem

US pressure on Israel to relent on its fuel embargo on Gaza may have finally pushed it to allow in two tankers a day, but the United Nations says the small amount allowed to enter is making its distribution extremely difficult.

Tom White, the director of affairs at UNRWA – the UN refugee mission there – posted, external that many facilities would still be reaching critical levels on a daily basis and that the UN’s tanker fleet would have to double the number of fuel runs to key facilities.

Sixty-thousand litres of fuel a day are coming in through two tankers. But last month, the UN said ten times that amount – 600,000 litres – are needed daily to operate water and desalination plants.

The lack of fuel has of course hit hospitals, bakeries and the communications network and the UN has accused Israel of using fuel “as a weapon of war.”

Qatar’s prime minister says the challenges that remain in the talks to release the hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October are “very minor”.

Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani added that his confidence was growing that a deal between Israel and Hamas could be reached.

The Washington Post is reporting that a hostage-release deal brokered by the US during talks in Qatar is imminent.

In a post on X, White House Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that a deal had not yet been reached, but “we continue to work hard to get a deal”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would consider a temporary truce in exchange for kidnapped hostages being returned, but ruled out a full ceasefire.

Image source, EPA

At least two Palestinians died this morning during Israeli raids in the West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent told the AFP news agency.

A 45-year-old man was killed in Jenin and another person died in Dheisheh refugee camp, the report said.

We’ve also seen pictures this morning of Israeli forces operating around the Balata refugee camp.

Image source, AFP

Here's a quick look-back at events in Gaza yesterday:

• Hundreds of people evacuated al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. There was confusion over where the evacuation order came from - the hospital director said the Israeli military had ordered it, but the IDF denied this, saying it helped people leave after a request from the director
• UN officials condemned an attack on a UN school that was being used as a shelter, Israel says it's investigating the claims - footage analysed by the BBC shows many people with severe injuries or lying motionless on the floor
• Fifteen injured children from Gaza arrived in Abu-Dhabi so they could receive treatment. This was the first flight (it left from Egypt), the UAE is planning to treat 1,000 injured women and children in its hospitals
• The families and supporters of the more than 200 hostages being held by Hamas marched from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

The World Health Organization (WHO) has described al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City as a "death zone" after visiting the complex yesterday.

A joint UN team led by the WHO gained access to the hospital for one hour after its occupation and evacuation by the Israeli military.

The team said they saw evidence of shelling and gunfire and observed a mass grave at the hospital's entrance, which they were told held the remains of 80 people.

Israel's military has raided the hospital in recent days, as part of what it describes as a "targeted operation against Hamas", but is yet to provide substantial evidence to back up its claim that the group conducted a major operation in tunnels underneath the medical complex.

• Read more here

After the Washington Post report that the US was working on a deal to get women and children kidnapped on the 7 October attacks released, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson posted on X: “"We have not reached a deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get to a deal."

Hostages could be released within the next several days, “barring last-minute hitches,” the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with what it described as a detailed, six-page document of terms.

Overnight, central and southern Gaza have been targets of Israeli air bombardments, killing at least 15 people.

Thirteen have been killed in an air raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Further south, a woman and her young daughter are among the casualties of a strike Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, the report said.

Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter

We're restarting our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that at least 15 people have been killed in overnight air strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp and the city of Khan Younis in the south of Gaza.

Elsewhere there are reports in the US that Israel, Hamas and Washington are close to agreeing a deal to get woman and children kidnapped during the 7 October attacks released, with Israel pausing its offensive for five days.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a full ceasefire but says he will consider a temporary truce in exchange for kidnapped hostages being returned.

I’m here in London with Jacqueline Howard, stay with us and we’ll keep you updated throughout the day.