Israel says its troops are in "the heart of Khan Younis" after bombarding the southern city overnight
The Israeli military report "the most intense day" of fighting since their ground operation began in late October
The resumption of fighting has intensified the hunger crisis in Gaza, the UN Food Programme says
According to the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the "pulverising" of Gaza ranks "among the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age"
The BBC has seen evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women during the 7 October Hamas attacks
The Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October killed 1,200 people, with around 240 others taken hostage
Hamas officials in Gaza say at least 16,248 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory campaign, including about 7,000 children
Hamas officials say at least 16,248 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict.
Hamas's media office said more than 7,000 children and nearly 5,000 women have been killed in Gaza over the near two months of fighting, in a statement provided to the AFP news agency.
Today has been "the most intense day" of fighting in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched its ground operations in late October, its military has said.
Here are some of the major developments:
Lucy Williamson
Middle East correspondent, Jerusalem
Image source, BBC/Dave Bull"We see women of all ages... We see the bruises, we learn about the cuts and tears, and we know they have been sexually abused," Captain Maayan told the BBC
The BBC has seen and heard evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women during the 7 October Hamas attacks.
Several people involved in collecting and identifying the bodies of those killed in the attack told us they had seen multiple signs of sexual assault, including broken pelvises, bruises, cuts and tears, and that the victims ranged from children and teenagers to pensioners.
Video testimony of an eyewitness at the Nova music festival, shown to journalists by Israeli police, detailed the gang rape, mutilation and execution of one victim.
Videos of naked and bloodied women filmed by Hamas on the day of the attack, and photographs of bodies taken at the sites afterwards, suggest that women were sexually targeted by their attackers.
Few victims are thought to have survived to tell their own stories.
The "pulverising" of the Gaza Strip now ranks "among the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age", the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has said.
"Each day we see more dead children and new depths of suffering for the innocent people enduring this hell," says Jan Egeland, NRC's secretary general.
He says that 1.9 million people - almost the entire Gaza population - have been displaced and that nearly two-thirds of homes have been destroyed.
Egeland also calls for accountability for those behind Hamas's 7 October attacks, and for the release of all hostages. He adds the "siege on an entire civilian population, and the trapping of bombarded civilians behind closed doors in Gaza" are "also crimes under international law".
"The situation in Gaza is a total failure of our shared humanity. The killing must stop," he says.
The Israeli army says it is acting with maximum force against Hamas while minimising harm to civilians.
At least 45 people have been killed in central Gaza, the spokesperson for the al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah has told the BBC, after reports of an Israeli airstrike in the city.
This is the only information we have on this incident at the moment - we’ll bring you more when we've got it.
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem
The Israeli military is pushing ahead with its offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, saying they are now "in the heart of the city", after carrying out days of intense bombardment and ordering the evacuation of several areas.
Khan Younis, where tens of thousands of civilians who fled fighting in the north had moved to, is the key focus of the Israeli campaign in the south, as it is where the Israeli authorities believe members of the Hamas leadership are hiding. Hospitals are overwhelmed and a large number of children are among the casualties.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said residents were being pushed to a territory that is less than one-third of the Gaza Strip, and that they were "in need of everything: food, water, shelter, and mostly safety". The agency, again, said no place was safe in Gaza.
Image source, ReutersThe Israeli government, under international pressure to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, has rejected that. It says it has taken measures to alert the population, including by publishing online warnings of areas to be evacuated and designated shelters. Aid agencies say limited internet and electricity means many people can't access the information.
The UN also says the new evacuations are putting pressure on places where people are being told to seek shelter, including the city of Rafah, near the border of Egypt. Thomas White, UNRWA's Gaza director of affairs, said the agency did not have the resources to provide for thousands of new internally displaced people, amid limited deliveries of humanitarian aid.
More now from Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, where the Israeli military has said this afternoon it's operating "in the heart of".
The Gaza director of the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are continuing to tell people to leave.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Thomas White says residents have been told the core of the city is now a "dangerous fighting zone".
We reported earlier that leaflets were dropped, warning residents of an imminent military operation.
People are now being directed to Rafah, near the Egyptian border, for assistance.
Image source, ReutersNasser hospital, in Khan Younis, has seen an influx of injured people - including children
We’ve been getting more reaction from Gazans in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
As they spoke to the BBC, the sound of bombings and explosions could be heard nearby.
"We are very scared. We are living the worst circumstances," said one woman. "We don’t know what to do right at this moment. We could live or die within these hard circumstances."
Another woman said she had been displaced since the start of the war, and was now at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which she said was "completely surrounded" by Israeli forces.
"The kids and teenagers are scared, everyone is scared and hungry," she said. "Our only hope is God. As you heard, there is ongoing bombardment at the moment."
In an operational update, the Israeli military says it's now operating "in the heart of Jabalia, in the heart of Shejaiya, and now also in the heart of Khan Younis".
It suggests an intensification south of the Gaza Strip, after Israel ordered Gazans to leave parts of Khan Younis - the main city in the south - indicating they should move towards the Mediterranean coast and Rafah, near the Egyptian border.
In the early stages of the war, Palestinian civilians were told to flee south to avoid fighting. But Israel now says it believes parts of the region are being used by Hamas.
The statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) adds:
Quote MessageWe are in the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation - in terms of terrorists killed, the number of firefights, and the use of firepower from the land and air."
Ethar Shalaby
BBC News Arabic
Image source, Feras al-ShaerSome Gazans have been moving to the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza
I've been speaking to displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area, which Israeli officials have designated as a "safe zone".
They describe the thin strip of land on southern Gaza's shoreline as "inhumane", "a desert" and "overcrowded".
Reem Abd Rabu, who lives with 16 other people in a single tent, says she fled to the town from northern Gaza with her family in October - when the Israeli military first told civilians to move south for their own safety.
She describes al-Mawasi as "an abandoned place with no facilities for humans" - and estimates that the area, which she says should shelter a maximum of 10,000 people, currently hosts more than 100,000.
One of the people sharing a tent with Reem is Mona Al Astal, a displaced doctor, who says their situation is "horrible" - and there is plenty of sicknesses in the makeshift al-Mawasi communities, including skin and respiratory diseases.
"People have no water or food or electricity, they have nothing," she tells me.
"This morning, some people broke through an UNRWA [UN agency] storage to get food."
Image source, ."At night I get very cold, and have coughing fits, every now and then my chest hurts. I am cold every night. I need blankets and clothes," 13-year-old Zakaria Shada, who lives with brittle bones and uses a wheelchair, tells Reuters.
He had to flee the southern city of Khan Younis with his father to Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and now lives in a tent.
"We hope to go back home, instead of staying on the streets," Zakaria is quoted by the news agency as saying. "We hope this war ends for good, God willing."
His father Zaher Shada says living in a tent is better than crowding into a shelter, as Zakaria is susceptible to infection and could have a bone broken easily in the cramped conditions.
“If [he lives with many people] he may get more sick because his immunity is weak - and if someone touches him, they may break him so I am scared," Zaher says.
Image source, ReutersZaher and Zakaria Shada
Qatar is continuing work to repair the collapsed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and pressing for a comprehensive end to the war in Gaza, its leader says. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told Gulf leaders earlier:
Quote MessageWe are constantly working to renew [the deal] and to alleviate the burden of our people in the Gaza Strip, but truces are not an alternative for a comprehensive ceasefire."
Qatar has been leading negotiations between the two sides, which led to a week-long ceasefire until Friday.
Since the agreement ended - with both sides blaming each other for its collapse - Israel has intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip as part of its ultimate goal to wipe out Hamas.
Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondent
Image source, ReutersIn the UK, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps says he will be visiting the Middle East later this week to explore other potential routes to provide Gaza with more humanitarian aid.
Shapps says getting enough aid through the Rafah crossing is proving challenging and he's actively looking at whether two Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ships - Argus and Lyme Bay - could perhaps provide humanitarian aid from the sea.
No further details were given.
He does, however, confirm that a Royal Air Force (RAF) unarmed surveillance aircraft - a Shadow R1 - will be conducting surveillance flights over Gaza, Israel and the eastern Mediterranean - specifically to look for hostages held by Hamas.
British nationals are known to be among the hostages, but so far a number has not been given.
Shapps says he'll “move heaven and earth” to bring British hostages home.
The number of people killed in Gaza since the start of the war has risen to 15,899, the Hamas-run health ministry there says.
Three days ago - hours after the week-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended - officials in Gaza said the death toll had exceeded 15,200.
Our colleagues at BBC Verify previously analysed how the dead are counted in Gaza, which you can read here.
Israel began its offensive against Hamas after the attack on 7 October, which saw Hamas operatives cross the border and kill 1,200 people - and take 240 others hostage.
Image source, ReutersIsrael said there would be a "tactical pause" earlier in Rafah, on the southern border, to allow aid to enter
As the UN warns of a "hellish scenario" in Gaza, here's a quick round-up of the day's biggest developments - so far.
Image source, EPAIn Nasser hospital, in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, pictures show patients spread across a blood-stained floor after a night of Israeli bombardment.
The spokesperson of the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry calls the situation "catastrophic". Ashraf al-Qudra says 43 dead bodies have been brought to the hospital this morning alone.
"There is no lifesaving health service in the hospitals of southern Gaza Strip," he says.
"Hence hospitals... have totally collapsed, they cannot deal with the quantity and quality of injuries that arrive at the hospitals."
He adds that it's increasingly difficult for ambulances to reach injured people in targeted areas.
As a reminder, Israel says its operation targets Hamas infrastructure - and that it tries to minimise civilian casualties.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Israeli army says its air force has attacked a number of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, in response to earlier strikes from across the northern border.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari says “terrorist infrastructures, positions and military sites where weapons were stored” were hit.
Since the war began in October, Israel’s northern border region has been attacked by Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia. Hamas also says it has launched rockets from Lebanon at Israel.
Israel has evacuated thousands of civilians from the area – but the conflict has not yet escalated into full-scale war.
Earlier we heard from Lt Col Richard Hecht at an Israel Defense Force (IDF) briefing.
Lt Col Hecht said: "Since the hostilities have returned we're expanding our operations against Hamas across all of Gaza.
"We're targeting operatives infrastructure and mainly the tunnel network. So far we have located over 800 tunnel shafts and destroyed 500 of these.
"The level of fortification is a unprecedented.
Quote MessageWhile we've been operating we are ensuring that there's minimum harm to civilians with soldiers on the ground going from building to building."
Due to technical difficulties, we've not been able to post for the past hour - apologies.
We're back up and running now - stay with us.
Image source, ReutersFrance has announced it is freezing the assets of Hamas's leader Yahya Sinwar as part of a new wave of sanctions.
According to a decree published in the Official Journal, Sinwar's funds and economic resources will be frozen six months from 5 December.
It is not clear how much Sinwar's assets in France amount to.
Last month, UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron sanctioned senior leaders of the Palestinian militant group, external and Hamas's financiers mirroring a series of similar moves by the United States.