We've been hearing voices from Gaza discussing the difficulties people with disabilities are facing because of the war.

Safa Jalal, 28, who has a visual disability, says she is dependent on her hearing when explosions hit.

"When explosions take place, I cannot see anything, but only hear sounds, and I do not know where I am at the time," Safa told the BBC World Service.

"I would like this war to come to an end so that my life goes back to normal, I hope my tragedy ends," she said.

The UN warned earlier in the conflict, external that about 15% of the displaced people inside the Gaza Strip have a disability and shelters are not well equipped to meet their needs.

Youssef Ali Abu Khater said his sister, who is deaf and unable to speak, refused to flee to Khan Younis with his family. They have been unable to locate her since.

"She was very tired as she was facing a great difficulty in doing anything," he said.

"She only wanted to stay at her home. Her family did not want to abandon her, so they asked her to come with them, but she left them and went in the direction of bombing and fighting."

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

Image source, Reuters

Starbucks has published a letter calling for peace and blaming "misrepresentation" of its views for vandalism of its stores.

The message , externalfrom boss Laxman Narasimhan comes as the coffee giant grapples with protests and boycott campaigns on social media tied to the Israel-Gaza war and a union fight in the US.

In the letter to staff, which was posted on the firm's website, Narasimhan did not mention the Middle East explicitly but said that "conflicts in many parts" had unleashed violence, hate, lies and weaponized speech, "all of which we condemn".

"Cities around the world - including here in North America - have seen escalating protests. Many of our stores have experienced incidents of vandalism. We see protestors influenced by misrepresentation on social media of what we stand for," he said.

He added: "Our stance is clear. We stand for humanity."

Starbucks was vaulted into debates over the Middle East when the union working to organise baristas in the US posted a message on social media expressing "solidarity" with the Palestinians shortly after the 7 October attack by Hamas.

The post, which the union said was not authorised by leaders, spread rapidly despite being taken down, and sparked backlash against the firm.

Starbucks said it disagreed with the union's statement. It has described , externalits official position as condemning "violence in the region".

• You can read the full story here

Let's take a quick look now at the situation around Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Israel's Air Force says fighter jets have attacked an "operational headquarters" of the Islamist Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

The Israeli military also said it had hit "terrorist infrastructures" including "launching positions" and a "weapons warehouse".

Earlier today Hezbollah said it had launched rocket attacks at Israeli military sites, including near the northern town of Metula, and announced the deaths of six of its fighters over a 24-hour period.

Lebanese media reported that two civilians were killed today - one was shot by an Israeli sniper, another died following an Israeli air strike on the village of Markaba, the French-language newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour reported.

The BBC is not able to verify details of any of these reports.

Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas and controls the most powerful armed force in Lebanon. It has been trading fire with Israel in the border area since 7 October.

Image source, Getty Images

Rushdi Abu Alouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

A senior Palestinian official familiar with today's talks in Cairo, attended by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, has told the BBC the meeting "ended without results".

The official says Egypt has "offered a proposal for another humanitarian truce", but the idea of a "temporary solution" to the war was rejected by Hamas.

The Palestinian Islamist group told the Egyptians its position remains that "no exchange deal would happen before a final ceasefire", the source says.

"Talks will continue, the Egyptians are optimistic about the possibility of a breakthrough in the coming days, but they are convinced that the situation is difficult, and the negotiations will be difficult and long."

Image source, Reuters

Ella Ben Ami, whose father Ohad Ben Ami is still being held hostage by Hamas, says she is hoping for a "miracle" that her father will be released.

Her mother, Raz Ben Ami, 57, was taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October along with her father from Kibbutz Be'eri, and Raz was released during the temporary truce last month.

Ella told Reuters news agency that her mother feels "broken" without her father despite being freed.

"She just all the time speaks about my dad and how much she needs him and how much she misses him," Ella says.

She says her mother came back from captivity "really thin" after eating "a meal a day or less. I know she wasn't drinking a lot because she was really dehydrated and excited from a bottle of water."

Ohad will turn 56 on 24 December, and Ella says the "Christmas miracle that I'm asking, is that my dad will come back".

It is believed that more than 100 hostages remain in Gaza, and there are fresh signs that a new pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas could be possible as the Hamas chief visits Cairo today.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said fighting "terrorism" does not mean to "flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately".

Speaking to broadcaster France 5, he called on Israel to end its current battlefield tactics "because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them".

According to the AFP news agency, Macron also acknowledged "Israel's right to defend itself and fight terror", and called for the protection of civilians and a "truce leading to a humanitarian ceasefire".

Image source, Eli Cohen

Israel's foreign minister has made a visit to Cyprus to promote the opening of a "maritime corridor" for humanitarian aid between the island and Gaza.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Eli Cohen says he met Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos to discuss the plan as part of Israel's "economic disengagement" from Gaza.

In his own social media post, Kombos says the pair visited the Cypriot port of Larnaca and a coordination centre set up to deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

"Cyprus stands ready to provide this maritime lifeline," he adds.

It is not entirely clear at what stage this plan is from the statements, but Cohen says the corridor will be under "Israeli-coordinated security inspection" and will "sever the economic dependence" of Gaza on Israel.

Israel and Egypt have restricted the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007.

Israel also controls the air space over Gaza and its shoreline, as well as the shared land border. The two countries say their blockade is needed for security reasons.

Former deputy UN Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown says the death toll in Gaza is likely to be an underestimate.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme earlier, Brown compared the situation in Gaza to an earthquake with lots of rubble everywhere. “Often the casualties double when you’re able to clear the buildings and find those tragic casualties underneath them”.

“This is one of the highest concentrations of civilian deaths in a conflict proportionately in modern times.”

Around 20,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

As we've been reporting, the Hamas-run health ministry says 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October.

Dr Dani Poole, a population health scientist at Yale University says one way to consider whether the figures are robust is to look at historic trends.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, she says the figures from the Palestinian health ministry have historically been “aligned with independent United Nations estimates, and even the Israeli foreign ministry figures”.

Another way to look at them is to compare them with other data sources, she says, giving the example of the number of staff from the UN's Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa that have been killed.

Poole says the mortality rate for Unrwa staff is similar to the rate being put forward by the ministry of health for Gaza as a whole.

She also notes that people are only counted when they are brought into medical facilities or morgues, "which often people aren’t in an active war zone”.

She adds that several of these buildings have been damaged or destroyed, which creates a further problem for recording numbers.

These issues "would suggest possible under-reporting", she adds.

At least 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been reported killed since Israel began bombing the territory in the wake of Hamas's 7 October attacks.

On average, nearly 300 people have died each day since the start of the conflict, excluding the seven-day ceasefire, data from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry indicates. The World Health Organization's regional emergency director Richard Brennan says he considers these casualty figures trustworthy.

Counting the dead is a challenge in any war zone, and doctors in Gaza say the death toll is likely to be significantly higher as it does not include bodies buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings or those not taken to hospitals.

BBC Verify has looked in detail at the figures, how they compare with other conflicts and the impact on Gaza's young population. Read our full analysis here.

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

It's 21:20 in Israel and Gaza. If you're just joining us or need a recap, here's a quick round up of the latest developments:

• The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said more than 20,000 people have been killed in the territory since 7 October - when Israel began its retaliatory operation in response to the Hamas attacks on Israel
• In New York, a vote on a draft UN Security Council motion calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza has been postponed again
• This follows days of tense diplomatic wrangling over the language of the text, with the main sticking point said to be over the monitoring of humanitarian aid entering Gaza
• Badly wounded children in Gaza’s al-Aqsa hospital have told the BBC’s Fergal Keane about their fears for the present and the future
• Israeli air strikes and clashes with Hamas continue around the territory - including attacks in the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pushed back on criticism of the White House's support for Israel, calling for a strong international voice to condemn Hamas
• Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has travelled to Egypt, which together with Qatar mediated the last truce deal. That truce led to Hamas freeing some hostages from Gaza, and Israel released some Palestinian prisoners from its jails
• The White House has said "very serious discussions and negotiations" are under way
• Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will fight on until Hamas is eliminated

• Families of people killed and taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri in the Hamas attacks say their home was “turned into hell” by the brutality of 7 October

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from UN headquarters in New York

Image source, Getty Images

We’ve just heard from the UAE, which authored the draft UN Security Council resolution.

Their ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, addressed the vote’s delay, after numerous previous postponements.

She said discussions are continuing at the highest levels in capitals with leverage and they decided to “give space for additional diplomacy to try and yield positive results".

She said the goal was always to have a resolution with impact pass, and that they have to keep trying because there is too much suffering on the ground to have the council fail on this.

This is high stakes diplomacy.

The US does not want to be in a position to veto another resolution and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is putting immense pressure on the council to act.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked if the US would veto this proposal, he said they are working to ensure the aid getting in to Gaza wouldn't be complicated by any efforts at the UN.

According to a western Security Council diplomat, Egypt and the US are now engaging directly to ensure any aid monitoring mechanism can work for all parties.

Let's just recap what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a little earlier about the language used in the UN Security Council draft resolution.

"There seems to be silence on what Hamas could do, should do, must do if we want to end the suffering of innocent men, women and children. It would be good if the world could unite around that proposition as well," he told journalists at his final briefing of 2023.

"The purpose of the resolution as stated by the countries that put it forward is to facilitate and help expand humanitarian assistance that's getting into Gaza. And we fully support that.

"We want to make sure that the resolution in what it calls for and requires actually advances that effort and doesn't do anything that could actually hurt the delivery of humanitarian assistance, make it more complicated."

About an hour after Blinken's comments, we found out the UN Security Council vote on the resolution had been delayed again. It's now scheduled for Thursday morning local time.

The expected UN Security Council vote on Gaza has been delayed again.

The BBC's Nada Tawfik at the UN says she has just seen diplomats leaving and there's been an announcement that the vote has been pushed to Thursday.

Barbara Plett Usher
US State Department correspondent

At a year-end-press conference, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken pushed back on criticism of American support for Israel’s military operation in Gaza.

He was speaking as UN diplomats scrambled to avoid another US veto on a ceasefire resolution.

"I hear no-one demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, lay down its arms and surrender,” he said. “This would be over tomorrow if that happened.”

“How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands of the victim,” he added, stressing that the Hamas attack on 7 October started the war.

Blinken said the US had been at the forefront of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza and wanted to make sure that the UN resolution “advances that effort and…doesn’t make it more complicated.”

He repeated the administration’s position that Israel must do more to protect civilians, but that it had a right and duty to fight this war.

“Understandably everyone would like to see this conflict end as quickly as possible,” he said. “But if it ends with Hamas in place with the capacity to do 7 October (attacks) again and again, that’s not in the interests of the region or the world.”

The Hamas government media office has just announced that the number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza has now exceeded 20,000.

Image source, Getty Images

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has finished giving his end-of-year briefing in Washington, so let's bring you a few more of his key comments:

• Blinken said it would be good if there was a strong international voice pressing Hamas to surrender
• But he admitted it is clear the conflict between Israel and Hamas needs to move to a lower intensity focus
• Blinken also wanted to see a shift in more targeted operations by Israel
• US officials are pushing for a fresh hostage deal, Blinken said, but added there is no expectation of an agreement soon

Fergal Keane
BBC News

The children at al-Aqsa hospital do not think of the dead of Gaza in figures of thousands. Theirs is a more intimate reckoning. It is counted in beloved faces that have vanished into the fire and rubble of the war.

Thirteen-year-old Rama Zaqout was sleeping when an Israeli missile struck the mosque in which she was sheltering with her family.

She woke in hospital to discover that her two-year-old brother Hisham and many other family members were dead.

She lists the names of those killed in a voice that seems detached from the immense loss she has experienced. It is the voice of a child still in shock at the loss of her grandparents, Hashim, Issam and Ni'ma, her aunt Reem, and her cousins Sireen, Riham and Asma. Sireen was pregnant and had a young daughter. That child was also among the dead.

Rama survived with severe wounds to her left hand and right leg, but the hospital does not have the facilities to treat her injuries properly. If she is not evacuated from Gaza, she says, both limbs will be amputated.

"Running and drawing were once my best hobbies," Rama says, "but without the proper treatment, I won't be able to enjoy them again… I dream of a life like other children around the world, where I can again run and draw."

• Read more here

As we've just reported, Hamas authorities say that more than 20,000 have now been killed in Gaza.

Death toll figures usually come from the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory, rather than the government media office, which put out the announcement today.

Israel and the US have previously cast doubt on the numbers Hamas's ministry publishes. But international organisations, including the UN's World Heath Organization (WHO), have said they have no reason to disbelieve them.

The numbers killed in Gaza could also be higher, given the difficulty of accurately collecting data in a war zone.

It is also not clear, as health ministry officials regularly say, how many people are buried beneath the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli air strikes.

The Hamas government media office has put out a statement on the Telegram messaging app saying that the number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza has now exceeded 20,000.

Let's bring you some remarks from America's top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been speaking to reporters in Washington as part of an end-of-year briefing at the State Department.

He says the US continues to focus on a number of priorities in the Middle East and believes Israel has an obligation to both remove Hamas and minimise the civilian death toll in Gaza.

Blinken says the US wants to ensure hostages get home and that the conflict should not spread.

"We are more determined than ever that out of this horrific tragedy comes a moment of possibility," he tells reporters, as he says a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East will require all parties to make tough choices.

"Including the United States," he says.