Gem O'Reilly
Live reporter

It's just coming up to 18:00 here in London and 20:00 in Gaza and Israel so we are going to finish our live coverage now. We've been bringing you the updates from the conflict and if you want to read more you can follow the links below:

• The UK, France and Germany joined calls for a ceasefire in the war
• We've been keeping across updates from Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, whose family is trapped in a Catholic Church in Gaza City
• Four shipping companies have halted their routes through the Red Sea after attacks on vessels by the Iran-backed Houthis rebels in Yemen
• Civilians have been chasing aid trucks, hungry for food and desperate for supplies

We realise this coverage often contains distressing content. If you have been affected by anything in this page, go to BBC Action Line.

This live page has been brought to you by Andrew Humphrey, Tarik Habte and Gem O'Reilly in London and of course our colleagues in the Middle East.

As for further coverage you can read more about the stories from the war here and keep up to date on BBC TV and radio. We will be back to bring you the latest from tomorrow morning.

If you're just joining us, here's a round-up of the key developments from the Israel-Gaza war today:

• UN aid has entered Gaza directly from Israel for the first time since fighting broke out. Deliveries via the Kerem Shalom crossing which borders the Strip will help increase the volume of aid reaching civilians in Gaza

• The opening of the crossing comes as the level of hunger and desperation increases, with footage showing crowds in Rafah boarding aid trucks and racing to grab supplies

• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu continues to reject calls for a ceasefire as pressure mounts from the UK, Germany and France who have all called for the fighting in Gaza to stop

• Gaza's largest hospital has been described as a "bloodbath" by the WHO

• Palestinian news agency Wafa says that dozens of people have been killed in strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza. The Israeli military said it had come under fire from Hamas operatives in the area

• A funeral for one of the hostages mistakenly killed by the IDF on Friday has taken place in central Israel. Alon Shamriz was mis-identified as a "threat" by an Israeli soldier, along with hostages Yotam Haim and Samer Talalka who were also killed

Image source, AFP

The Israeli army says it has found the biggest Hamas tunnel in Gaza so far, only 400 metres (1,310 feet) from the Erez border crossing between northern Gaza and Israel.

An AFP photographer was granted access to the tunnel and said it was big enough to fit a vehicle through it.

The Israeli military claims the tunnel would have cost millions of dollars and taken years to construct. It said the tunnel system had branches that together covered more than 4km (2.5 miles).

It claimed that the tunnel's construction was overseen by Mohamed Yahya, brother of senior Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar who is believed to have orchestrated the 7 October attacks.

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) also said it had found a large number of weapons stored in the tunnel.

An Israeli army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, says Hamas expended huge resources on the project to "serve only one purpose, attacking the state of Israel and its residents".

The BBC has not verified the claims.

The BBC has previously verified drone footage released by Hamas in October showing Israeli troops near a tunnel close to Erez. The IDF posted on its Telegram account in October that "soldiers operating adjacent to the Erez Crossing identified a number of terrorists exiting the shaft of a tunnel".

Satellite images appear to show excavation work in the area in late November.

Image source, AFP

Rajini Vaidyanathan
BBC News Channel

Image source, WHO

The World Health Organization’s Sean Casey has just returned from a visit to the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, where they’ve been delivering much needed medical supplies and equipment.

Speaking to me from Gaza on the BBC News Channel he painted a desperate picture of a hospital which is barely able to function.

Mr Casey said the hospital wards looked “almost like a battlefield hospital” with patients everywhere, and “blood all over the floors”.

He said the medical staff who remain at the hospital are “completely overwhelmed”, as they treat a range of the injured from children with open wounds, babies with jaundice, and a range of other injuries and ailments including blast injuries and fractures.

Limited fuel, oxygen and staffing is making an already challenging task even harder. Illustrating these difficulties, Mr Casey described how children are holding up IV fluid bags for their brothers and sisters and parents.

On top of all the patients who are “streaming in every 30-60 seconds”, there are many who have taken shelter in the hospital.

Mr Casey and his team are some of the few who’ve had access to the Al-Shifa hospital in recent weeks.

Image source, WHO

We heard earlier from Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, whose family are among hundreds trapped in a Catholic Church in Gaza City, with Israeli forces operating outside.

Moran has now announced on X, external that a tank has taken position outside the church and the building opposite has been taken by the Israeli military.

In her social media post she said: "The people inside have died. There are snipers at every window pointing into the church."

She adds that soldiers are "still shooting anyone emerging from buildings to use eg toilets" and there is "still no food or water".

Moran says that her family are "days away from dying" without access to water or food.

They include her grandmother, her grandmother's son, his wife and their 11-year-old twins.

They are Christian Palestinians who have been using the church as shelter after their home was bombed in October.

Read more about Moran's family situation here.

Image source, Reuters

A group of families of hostages being held in Gaza have set up a camp site outside Israel's defence ministry in Tel Aviv.

They have vowed to remain there until their loved ones are released and say they want to put pressure on the government.

Yesterday, in our coverage of the crowds gathering in Hostages Square for a rally in Tel Aviv, we heard angry relatives pledge to protest at the defence HQ, and it seems they have followed through on their promise.

Coupled with interventions from international figures, the families are hoping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be coerced into finding a way to secure the release of those held hostage.

Netanyahu however has said that the only way to secure the release of hostages is with intense military pressure on Hamas.

Sharon Kalderon, one of the protesters at the camp and the sister-in-law of one of the hostages, said: "We want our people back home, here, with us, and if we fight, we cannot bring them home alive. And we don't want to get bags."

Image source, Reuters

The two main telecom providers in the Gaza Strip have announced that they are nearly back up and tunning.

Paltel and Jawwal, who provide the majority of phone and internet services on the Strip, said that connections were being gradually restored in central and southern Gaza following nearly three days of a communications blackout.

Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent in Jerusalem

It's a very explicit call from David Cameron and Annalena Baerbock, both writing in major news papers to call for a ceasefire.

France’s Foreign Minister, visiting Israel today, has also called for an immediate ceasefire.

This is slightly semantics about what is the difference between an immediate ceasefire and sustainable ceasefire.

But the fact is that I don't think any of Israel's allies, which include Britain, the US and Germany, envisaged this when on 7 October they pledged their full support for Israel and its right to defend itself.

I don't think any of them envisaged a death toll of approaching 20,000 people in Gaza.

So there is a real momentum internationally to curtail Israel's military operation. Not to stop it all together but at least to reduce the amount of suffering and deaths on the part of the Palestinians.

There are also questions being asked internationally about the discipline and rules of engagement of the Israeli forces.

Throughout the last two months food shortages has been a huge issue for civilians as a result of the Israel-Gaza war, with thousands at risk of infection and death.

According to humanitarian aid groups there has also been a difficulty in delivering aid due to the intensity of fighting.

We've seen crowds chasing trucks just to get something to eat at the Rafah crossing, and in Rafah city hundreds have gathered at food distribution sites.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, re

Gem O'Reilly
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Four major shipping firms have stopped vessels going through the Red Sea, due to recent attacks from Yemen by Houthi rebels, a movement backed by Iran.

The companies have halted operations after the Houthis said they would target vessels as part of their support for Gaza in the war with Israel.

Sue Terpilowski, the vice chair for the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, told the BBC: "The Red Sea is vital for trade, 12% of all goods traded in the world pass through it. It is the artery between Asia and Europe."

International naval forces are present in the Red Sea and attempting to stop the attacks. The US has said one of its warships shot down more than a dozen attack drones on Sturday and a UK Royal Navy warship also intercepted a suspected drone.

Egypt's Suez Canal chief said today that the country has rerouted 55 ships since 19 November.

The Houthis, who seized power in Yemen nine years ago, have announced their support for Hamas and say they are targeting ships travelling to Israel.

The US is under pressure from Israel to do something about these attacks but Washington is reluctant to target the Houthi missile locations as they fear it could risk expanding the Israel-Hamas conflict and trigger retaliation from Iran.

Image source, Reuters

The funeral for Alon Shamriz, a hostage who was mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza after being misidentified as a "threat", has been taking place.

Shamriz, along with two other hostages; Yotam Haim and Samer Talalka were killed on Friday by Israeli forces after a soldier mistook them for "terrorists".

He was 26-year-old student of computer engineering from the Kfar Aza kibbutz which was stormed by Hamas on 7 October.

The Israeli military has apologised for the shootings, and said the soldiers broke their rules of engagement, but were operating in a war zone under pressure.

Shamriz's funeral has been taking place in Shefayim, a central Israeli town.

Vehicles carrying aid through the city of Rafah into Gaza have been mobbed by crowds of people trying to get hold of vital supplies.

In footage obtained by the Associated Press, a lorry can be seen swerving, causing aid boxes to come crashing down from the back.

In other pictures, dozens of people scrambled to salvage scattered aid boxes lining the middle of the road.

You can watch the video by clicking play above.

Crowds have been boarding and chasing aid trucks as they enter Gaza today as the ongoing war creates an increasingly desperate situation for trapped civilians.

On Thursday, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) warned that it was becoming difficult to deliver aid as hungry crowds would stop the trucks and grab something to eat.

Philippe Lazzarini, who heads up UNRWA, told reporters just a few days ago; "People are stopping aid in trucks, taking the food and eating it right away. And this is how desperate and hungry they are."

Lazzarini added that his teams on the ground were meeting more and more people who hadn't eaten for days.

Image source, APTN

Lorries carrying aid were chased by crowds as they entered Gaza via Egypt's Rafah crossing earlier today.

People climbed aboard and boxes were seen falling off some of the vehicles with groups of people racing to grab whatever they could.

Limited supplies of humanitarian aid have been able to reach Gaza since the outbreak of war following the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October.

UN aid lorries will be permitted to enter Gaza directly from Israel, starting today, says the Israeli government body responsible for coordinating with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Posting on social media earlier today, COGAT announced that following security checks, humanitarian aid could be delivered to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, which borders Israel and the Strip.

Reports suggested the first aid trucks drove through the crossing in the early afternoon local time.

COGAT said the lifting of the blockade was to "abide by" an agreement with the US to deliver more aid to civilians trapped in middle of the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas.

Up until now, the movement of people and aid in and out of Gaza had been tightly controlled, and only permissible through Egypt's Rafah crossing.

The government body added: "This will increase the daily volume of humanitarian aid entering Gaza and being delivered to the people of Gaza."

Several hundred people gathered in the centre of Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, to call for the Israeli government to bring all the hostages held in Gaza home.

The rally took place after criticism of Israel's efforts to free Israeli's abducted by Hamas on 7 October by the families of those taken.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The Qatari media network, Al Jazeera, has said it will be referring the killing of its journalist Samer Abudaqa to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which presides over war crimes.

"Al Jazeera affirms its commitment to pursuing all options possible to bring those responsible for the crime of Samer’s assassination to the International Criminal Court," the company said in a statement.

Abudaqa was killed by an Israeli drone strike on a school in Khan Younis on Friday, where he and his colleague, Wael Al-Dahdouh were reporting from.

Al Jazeera has previously claimed that Israel is "targeting" its journalists and described Abudaqa's death as an "assassination".

Israel denies this, and its military told US media that after the strike, it gave permission for an ambulance to attend the scene. The ambulance was dispatched but could not make it because of damaged roads, it added.

Al Jazeera has said it will be establishing a group of legal experts to pull together a "comprehensive file" to be submitted to the ICC.

• Read our full story about his death here

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said that a number of missile launches hace been identified from Lebanese territory, heading towards the areas of Arab al-Aramshe, Sasa, and Dovev in northern Israel.

The IDF says that artillery has targeted the sources of the attacks in Lebanon.

The Israeli military added that a number of launches from Lebanon, which did not cross into Israeli territory, were also identified.

The IDF also says that it struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed his opposition to a ceasefire in Gaza despite increasing international pressure.

Netanyahu insisted he had backing from Israelis to continue the ground offensive in Gaza, saying that he had received a letter from the family of a soldier killed in the fighting.

He quoted lines from the letter which read, "you have a mandate to fight, you do not have a mandate to stop in the middle.”

His comments follow calls for an immediate truce from France's foreign minster who is currently in Israel and a joint article by the UK and German foreign ministers which calls for a "sustainable" ceasefire.

At least five Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli attack on Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The ministry confirmed that two were shot dead by Israeli forces on Sunday.

Another Palestinian has also died from injuries after an Israeli attack in the West Bank city of Jenin a few days ago, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile the Israeli military says it has been stepping up operations against Palestinian militant groups in the West Bank.

The country says it has killed "more than 10" people, whom they call terrorists, in raids in Jenin, where several militant groups have a presence.