Image source, Reuters

More from the news conference between Lloyd Austin and Yoav Gallant now, where Israel's defence minister has confirmed it will "not control Gaza in any civilian way" following the war.

Speaking ahead of Austin, Yoav Gallant repeats Israel's commitment to its pre-war aims of completely destroying Hamas and bringing home the 129 hostages still held in Gaza.

In a response to a question about the fighting, he says Israeli forces will "continue to operate in Gaza with different levels of intensity" adding that this will perhaps come "sooner in the north".

In comments earlier, Galant says the Israel Defense Forces are "defending our values", operating in Gaza in adherence to international law and working to "minimise the harm to the civilian population".

After noting Israel is allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, he adds the most pressing humanitarian issue in the Strip is the presence of the hostages being held there by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

Image source, Reuters

Speaking at a news conference with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant just now, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin says he is not there to "dictate timelines or terms" for the war in Gaza, which he described as "Israel's operation".

Austin says US support for Israel's "right to defend itself is ironclad".

Following a meeting with senior Israeli officials, including Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Austin notes there were discussions about "goals and objectives" in Gaza.

He says this included how to reduce harm to civilians and the need to ensure a "transition from higher intensity operations to lower intensity operations" and a "more surgical" approach.

Austin also confirmed the US will continue to supply weapons to the Israeli military and urges it to reduce civilian deaths in Gaza.

He adds the meeting also discussed "pathways to a future Gaza" following the war and reaffirms the US government's commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant are holding a news conference in Tel Aviv right now.

You can watch by pressing Play at the top of this page. We'll bring you the latest lines here.

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A woman who was held hostage by Hamas for 54 days has been telling how she couldn't "object to anything" while in captivity because "it could cost you your life".

Yarden Roman-Gat, 36, a German-Israeli citizen, was abducted from Kibbutz Be'eri and brought to Gaza during Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.

"My kidnappers could not help themselves, showing me off as a trophy and showing my face as an object. I was not a person," she told CBS, the BBC's US partner, of the moment she arrived into Gaza.

She said guards were with her "24/7, from the second I got to Gaza, to the second I left".

Frank Gardner
Security Correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Israeli officials have admitted that killing three hostages who were holding a white flag was a breach of "rules of engagement". But, what are these rules of engagement?

In short, it’s not revealing them.

That’s not unusual in itself; plenty of countries prefer to keep their "ROEs", as they’re known in the military, classified so as to keep their enemy guessing.

ROE’s are supposed to provide a strictly-adhered to set of guidelines that dictate exactly when and under what circumstances armed forces personnel can legally open fire.

It should go without saying that it is against the Laws of Armed Conflict to shoot someone waving a white flag of surrender.

And yet that's exactly what happened in Gaza on Friday, with Israeli troops shooting dead three unarmed, shirtless Israeli hostages.

It is a sign of what an extraordinarily dangerous place Gaza has become that Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt Gen Halevi has had to personally go down to Gaza and remind his troops not to shoot non-combatants.

Tellingly, he has had to add: "If these are... Gazans with a white flag who want to surrender, will we shoot them? Absolutely not."

It is a message likely to be reinforced by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin - who is in Israel today - as the country's allies grown ever more concerned at the high level of civilian casualties in this war.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says 19,453 people have been killed since war broke out on 7 October.

In an update just now, the ministry also says 151 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza over the last day. This figure includes those killed in air strikes in Jabalia, it says.

More than 52,000 people have been injured since 7 October, it adds.

What is a sustainable ceasefire?published at 14:32 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2023

14:32 GMT 18 December 2023

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

When world leaders like UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak call for a sustainable ceasefire, the adjective “sustainable” is doing some heavy lifting.

It clearly implies a cessation of hostilities that lasts for some time. But it also means something more. It comes with the presumption that a ceasefire cannot be sustainable while Hamas remains an active fighting force.

The UK and others are not calling for an immediate end to the fighting - they are calling for a more durable ceasefire that depends on Hamas being unable to threaten Israel. So there is a change in the language.

The UK is no longer simply supporting temporary pauses in the fighting to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. But, equally, it is not yet joining the 153 members of the UN General Assembly who voted last week for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

What this does is move the UK into more mainstream diplomatic waters and cranks up the pressure a notch on Israel.

Ultimately, though, the only leverage that would really concentrate minds in Israel’s government is not words about ceasefires but the prospect of the US withdrawing military support, and we are a long way from that.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme that Israel needs more "tolerance" from the international community - and more time - to achieve its military objectives in Gaza.

Israel faces growing diplomatic concerns over civilian casualties in its operations against Hamas in Gaza.

Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009, says Israel's "stated aim of destroying completely Hamas from [the] face of the earth is somewhat ambitious".

The more realistic goal, he adds, is to break down military capacity, command chains and Hamas weapons, so that attacks like those on 7 October do not happen again.

"If 120 British citizens were held hostage by a terrorist organisation, trust me you would have done what we did to bring them back," he says.

Image source, EPA

Image source, PA Media

In the UK, Sir Keir Starmer - who leads the opposition Labour Party - has joined calls for a "sustainable ceasefire", saying it "is clearly what is needed" and the two sides should return to a situation like last month's week-long truce.

Starmer says this will allow an opening for the remaining hostages to be freed and aid to get in - but, he adds, it will also be a "foot-in-the-door to a process... to a two-state solution which, in the end, is the only way that this is going to be resolved".

A two-state solution - which is supported by the UK government and other international powers - would see Israel and the Palestinians live peacefully in separate states. Currently, the Palestinian territories are not universally recognised as a state by all other countries, and are also occupied by Israel.

Starmer faced criticism after the war began for choosing not to call for a ceasefire, and instead backing calls for a humanitarian pause - implemented purely with the aim of providing humanitarian support, as opposed to achieving long-term political solutions.

Pressure grows on Israel to negotiate a ceasefirepublished at 13:56 Greenwich Mean Time 18 December 2023

13:56 GMT 18 December 2023

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Israel has, so far, dismissed international calls for a ceasefire in Gaza amid mounting civilian deaths.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the goal is to eliminate Hamas, and authorities say they are taking measures to protect the population.

A pause now would only benefit the group, they say. Israel will probably destroy the infrastructure used by Hamas, but its ideology is likely to resist.

Ben Wallace, former UK defence secretary, said Israel’s tactics would fuel the conflict for another 50 years and risked radicalising Muslim youth across the globe.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, who is in Israel meeting the country’s leadership, said earlier this month that Israel risked pushing Palestinians into the arms of Hamas by killing so many people in Gaza – nearly 20,000, according to the local health authorities.

The killing by Israeli soldiers, in error, of three Israeli hostages who were shirtless and carrying a white flag has put even more pressure on Netanyahu to negotiate another ceasefire.

It has also fuelled criticism of the country’s military. Officials have repeatedly said the case was a breach of the army’s rules of engagement, but some critics say this is another case of Israeli soldiers shooting at people who presented no clear threat.

Image source, Reuters

The group Human Rights Watch has accused Israel, external of using starvation as a "weapon of war" in the ongoing conflict, saying the Israeli military has been blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel as well as "wilfully impeding humanitarian assistance".

According to international laws, starvation should not be used in warfare as a tactic.

Israel's foreign ministry spokesperson, Lior Haiat, branded HRW "antisemitic" in comments made to AFP news agency.

"Human Rights Watch... did not condemn the attack on Israeli citizens and the massacre of October 7 and has no moral basis to talk about what's going on in Gaza if they turn a blind eye to the suffering and the human rights of Israelis," he said.

HRW has previously said Hamas has committed war crimes, , externaland has put out statements on the 7 October attack.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says four Palestinians have been killed in clashes at al-Faraa refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Those killed are reported to be aged between 17 and 24.

More than 270 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces, or in some cases, Jewish settlers since the 7 October attacks, the UN says., external

Image source, Reuters

The UN's Security Council will vote later on a new resolution calling for an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities" between Israel and Gaza. Until now, the council - which is tasked with maintaining global peace - has not backed any resolutions calling for a ceasefire.

The head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK earlier told the BBC's Today programme that the "solution is with the Security Council".

Ambassador Husam Zomlot said there are rules in war that Israel has "demolished" and "therefore this a time when the world... enforces these rules".

"We must stop this normalisation of these horrific scenes that we said never again after the horrors of the Second World War," Zomlot added - and when asked about Hamas, he reiterated that "we reject the targeting of civilians from any side".

Image source, Reuters

We're expecting to hear from US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin later today, who's in Israel for talks with government officials.

His visit comes as international calls grow for a ceasefire in Gaza. Here's a quick look at the latest developments:

• The UN Security Council in New York will vote tonight on a new resolution calling for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities"
• Over the weekend Britain, Germany and France called for work towards a "sustainable ceasefire". This marked a shift in tone from the UK - although they stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire
• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says "too many civilian lives have been lost" in the war
• Hamas officials say that 110 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia - which was the biggest refugee camp in Gaza before the current fighting - on Sunday
• There's been no direct response from Israel, but it says it's targeting terrorist infrastructure
• The Palestinian health ministry says four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in clashes at the al-Faraa refugee camp in the occupied West Bank
• BP says it's pausing all oil shipments through the Red Sea, after more attacks by the Houthi group in Yemen, who support Hamas

BP is the latest company to pause all its transits through the Red Sea following a spate of attacks on shipping in the region linked to Yemen's Houthis.

In a statement, the oil giant says "the safety and security of our people and those working on our behalf is BP’s priority" - and it had taken the decision "in light of the deteriorating security situation".

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels - who are based in Yemen - have declared their support for Hamas and have said they are targeting ships travelling to Israel, using drones and rockets against foreign-owned vessels.

Shipping firms Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA-CGM are among companies that have suspended shipments through the region. More here.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says "too many civilian lives have been lost" in the war between Israel and Hamas, adding: "nobody wants to see this conflict go on a day longer than it has to".

Speaking to reporters in Scotland, he reiterates that while Israel has the right to defend itself following the attacks of 7 October, it must do so "in accordance with humanitarian law".

Last week, the UK government stepped up its calls for "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza.

Sunak says his government has been "consistent" in calling for such a truce "whereby hostages are released, rockets stop being fired into Israel by Hamas and we continue to get more aid in [to Gaza]".

The Israeli Defences Forces (IDF) has announced that five more soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

Three were killed in southern Gaza, where some of the fiercest fighting has been taking place.

Another soldier died of his wounds after being seriously wounded last week. Despite Israel's military superiority, its forces have been vulnerable to ambush by militants operating out of underground tunnels in civilian areas.

Some of the soldiers who died were members of the elite counter terrorism Duvdevan Unit, which specialises in undercover operations.

Over the weekend, we reported that a mother and daughter had been killed inside the Holy Family Church complex in Gaza City, where a number of Palestinian Christians are sheltering from fighting.

Fifi Saba, who has several family members - including her sister’s children aged nine and 12 - inside the church has told the BBC how scared everyone there is.

"They're locked in so they can't really see the street - most of the time they're cut off from the world," Saba says. "They don't have the internet... sometimes when they manage to reach out, they ask us what is happening outside."

Saba says the fear they are living in is unreal and that supplies are running out, people in the church have been living on a diet of boiled spaghetti for days.

Asked if she knows whether there was a sniper in the church complex over the weekend, Saba says yes - "eight were injured and two died". She adds that there was "absolutely zero medical care" offered to those injured.

The IDF said, at the time, it had found no evidence to show the incident took place.

On her sister's children, Saba says there is "nothing" that can be said to make a child feel safe in the kind of environment they're in. "It breaks me," she tells the BBC's Mishal Hussain.

Image source, .

The Israeli government has told the BBC that it is trying to protect civilians during its operations in Gaza.

Spokesperson Eylon Levy says the military and government are listening to the United States, and learning from their experiences in "counter terrorism wars".

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Israel to meet officials today.

"The problem is they (Hamas) are deliberately hiding underneath civilian infrastructure, in total violation of humanitarian law and every norm of humanity," Levy told the Today programme on Radio 4 earlier.

"And in order to get to the terrorists who are hiding underground, underneath schools and hospitals, we are urging civilians to get out of harm's way”, adding if they could just swoop in and get the Hamas militants, they would.