An independent transnational Palestinian think tank says without a political solution there is no end to the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

As we wait for the UN's resolution vote later today, Zena Agha tells the BBC that it feels it is "a little too late".

She adds there may even be some "push back" from Russia and other countries.

"The US and others who are seeking to water down the discourse are really swimming against the current," she says.

Zena adds the US has the power and "considerable leverage".

We've been reporting that the UN is expected to vote later today on its latest draft resolution on humanitarian aid for Gaza.

Richard Peeperkorn is the World Health Organization's (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza and he has recently returned from the Gaza Strip.

He tells the BBC the WHO has a real concern about hospital functionality with only a handful in the northern part of the Gaza working.

"There are only seven functioning in the south," he says.

"They are the backbone of the Gaza health system.

"What is urgently needed on the ground is humanitarian commodities into Gaza."

Let's bring you some thoughts from Sir Peter Westmacott, a former British Ambassador to Turkey, France and the US, who feels it is a step forward to at least have a resolution going before the UN later today.

"It is definitely better to have a resolution which can go through the security council without a US veto than not to have one at all," Sir Peter tells the BBC.

"I think it could be of real value of alleviating the immediate suffering in Gaza.

"I'm not sure it takes us much further in stopping the hostilities."

Sir Peter feels the US government "has done its best" to put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

He adds that "pulling the plug on support for Israel would be politically impossible".

Image source, Reuters

If you are just joining us this welcome to our live coverage. Let us bring you up to date with the key developments.

• Israel has signalled an expansion of its ground offensive in central Gaza after it issued an evacuation order to residents of Al-Bureij telling them to move further south
• Elsewhere, Israeli-American Gadi Haggai, 73, who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, has reportedly died while being held captive in Gaza, the Missing Persons Families Forum has said
• Earlier, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli troops continue to hold eight of its medical staff who were arrested during an overnight raid in the Jabalia refugee camp
• Later on Friday the UN Security Council is expected to hold a repeatedly delayed vote on a draft resolution to bring more aid into Gaza, and try to create the conditions for a ceasefire
• The US says it is ready to support the amended draft resolution

Image source, Family handout

Another Israeli hostage has reportedly died while being held captive in Gaza.

Gadi Haggai, 73, was taken by Hamas during the massacre at Kibbutz Nir Oz during the 7 October attacks.

According to representatives for the families of Israeli hostages, he was kidnapped while out on a morning walk in nearby vineyards and fields with his wife Judith Weinstein Haggai, who managed to tell friends they had been shot and Gadi was critically injured.

Judith, 70, is still being held captive in Gaza, as is her husband's body.

In the statement announcing his death, Gadi is described as a "man full of humour who knew how to make those around him laugh", as well as a gifted flautist and "musician at heart".

The Israeli military has warned residents of al-Bureij refugee camp, in central Gaza, to evacuate south.

It appears to indicate an expansion of Israel's ground operations in Gaza, as it continues its stated mission to destroy Hamas.

"For your safety, you must move immediately to shelters in Deir Al-Balah," Avichay Adraee, of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), wrote on social media. Deir Al-Balah is a city also in centre of the strip, but it sits further south than Bureij.

It's almost 11 weeks since the war began and 30% of Gaza has now been marked for evacuation on the Israeli military’s online map, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

UNRWA, the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, estimates that 1.9 million Gazans (85% of the population) are internally displaced.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says Israeli troops are continuing to hold eight of its medical staff who were arrested during an overnight raid in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

A statement posted on social media said those detained were among other paramedics and the society’s volunteers at an ambulance centre who were arrested and later released.

It adds Israeli troops destroyed communications equipment and ambulances during the raid, and had interrogated local people in batches.

Hopes of situation easing in Gaza draining away fastpublished at 13:08 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2023

13:08 GMT 22 December 2023

Lucy Williamson
Reporting from Jerusalem

If there was any hope the UN resolution – set to be voted on later today - could help ease the situation for Gaza’s civilians, it’s fast draining away.

The language agreed by the Americans is vaguer on both an end to the hostilities, and the delivery of aid.

Separate talks in Egypt, designed to secure a fresh truce between Israel and Hamas, have also so far failed to deliver results.

Israel has said it’s open to a temporary pause in fighting to get more hostages out, but that the war would continue until Hamas was destroyed.

Yesterday, Hamas reiterated its refusal to release any captives without a full and permanent end to the war.

Kathryn Armstrong
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

A quarter of Palestinian households - roughly 500,000 people - are facing "catastrophic conditions", a UN food security agency has found - warning there is a risk of famine if the war between Israel and Hamas continues.

It says the territory's entire population of roughly 2.2m people is suffering acute food shortages.

"No-one in Gaza is safe from starvation," said Cindy McCain from the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

"Humanitarian access is needed now for supplies to flow into and throughout Gaza and for civilians to safely receive life-saving aid".

• You can read more here

The focus of our reporting this morning has largely been the United Nations draft resolution on humanitarian aid for Gaza - a vote for which is expected later today.

While we wait to find out what time that may happen, let's remind ourselves of the basic facts.

What is a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution?

It is the formal expression of the will of the 15 members of the Security Council, the primary decision-making body at the UN. There are five permanent members (the US, Russia, China, France & the UK) which have a veto. The other ten members are elected for two-year terms.

What is this resolution about specifically?

The aim is to agree a text setting out when and how to bring more aid into Gaza, and when and how to create the conditions for ending or at least pausing the fighting. The disagreement has focused on Israel’s role in deciding what aid can get in, and whether to call for a ceasefire or cessation or suspension of hostilities.

How does it work?

The current chair of the Security Council – the United Arab Emirates – put forward a resolution. That has been much discussed and amended in recent days and several planned votes have been postponed. The aim has been to avoid yet another veto by the United States. This would allow the council to show unity. The trade-off is that the resolution may well be weaker as a result.

What does a vote mean?

Votes by the UN Security Council are legally binding. Under the UN Charter, all member states are obligated to carry out the decisions of the council. But a call for a ceasefire does not mean there will be one. Hamas is a non-state actor and is not a member of the UN. And Israel often ignores the organisation which it considers to be institutionally hostile.

Image source, Getty Images

Let's bring you some thoughts from a former US ambassador who has explained more about the United States' stance at the UN security council.

Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, who is also the President of the Middle East Policy Council, has welcomed last night's signals from the US that Washington will move to support the new resolution on humanitarian aid for Gaza - but she explained some of the issues around the language being agreed upon.

Speaking to BBC News, Abercrombie-Winstanley said: "The US is very close to Israel and the concern to Israel will definitely be taken into account.

"The government of Israel and the United Nations have had a tenuous relationship over the years.

"There was expressed distrust by the Israeli government about how goods going into the Gaza Strip were going to be screened and they should be able to have some sort of role in that.

"That would have had to be worked out with very specific language."

The UN is expected to vote on the latest draft resolution later on Friday.

Image source, EPA

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Israelis have been holding banners urging a ceasefire outside the US consulate in central Jerusalem.

As part of a vigil, some have posed holding pictures of Palestinians who have died during the Israeli-Hamas conflict which began 77 days ago.

Image source, EPA

Let's bring you the latest images from in and around Gaza which have just come through to us.

While a lot of the focus remains on aid getting into the Gaza Strip, images show many Palestinians living in tough conditions.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, the UN is expected to vote later today on its latest draft resolution on humanitarian aid for Gaza.

Sam Bloch, director of emergency response at the charity World Central Kitchen, has been speaking to the BBC about food in Gaza being in "short demand".

He says: "We have seen a incredible condensing of the population. The whole southern part of Gaza usually has around 280,000 people and we now have well over a million.

"We are feeding as many as we can and currently providing enough food for one meal a day - but that is not even close to enough. We are doing all that it is that we can.

"We have had around 400 trucks enter Gaza and we have a lot waiting on the Egyptian side waiting to come in."

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says nearly 400 people have been killed inside the Gaza Strip in the last two days.

It says in total 390 people have died and a further 734 have been injured.

Since the war broke out on 7 October, the health ministry says more than 20,000 people have been killed.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the death toll.

• Read more on what Gaza's death toll says about the war here.

As a reminder, the US Ambassador to the United Nations has said Washington is ready to support the latest draft of a UN Security Council resolution about the war in Gaza.

The US vetoed the last draft resolution because of the language that it contained. The latest draft calls for urgent steps to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza, but does not call for an immediate end to fighting.

As the vote was postponed into a fourth day, Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters it is still a strong resolution.

A key development from yesterday, as we said in our last post, was Hamas ruling out any more hostage releases until Israel agrees to a "full cessation of aggression".

A truce last month saw more than 100 hostages freed by Hamas, but around 120 more abducted from Israel on 7 October are believed to be still in captivity in Gaza.

In a statement, Hamas said:

It is unclear to which other Palestinian factions the statement was referring. Islamic Jihad, a smaller group in the Gaza Strip, is among those known to also be holding Israeli hostages.

The statement puts the Israeli government in a difficult position.

It has said it thinks the best way to get the release of hostages is military pressure on Hamas and by staging rescue operations. But so far only one hostage - Ori Megidish - has actually been rescued.

• Read more on this here

With the sheer amount of reporting there is about the war, it can be hard to remember what's happening in Gaza and Israel day-to-day. Here's a reminder of Thursday's main developments.

Talks: There was another lengthy closed door session of the UN security Council, as officials try to get through the aid resolution we've mentioned. Separately, negotiations continued in Cairo, Egypt, to broker a new truce and secure the release of more Israeli hostages.

Hostages: Hamas said Palestinian groups reject the prospect of more hostages being released until Israel agrees to end the war in Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war in Gaza will not stop until Israel achieves all of its goals.

Hospitals: The World Health Organization said northern Gaza has been left without a functional hospital due to lack of fuel, staff and supplies.

Humanitarian crisis: As we've been reporting, the World Food Programme warned Gaza faces a famine in the next six months if the conflict continues.

Image source, Getty Images

Many will be wondering if the United Nations resolution is passed - what difference will it make?

To give a perspective of what is happening in Gaza right now, United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesperson Juliette Touma told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme the situation is "bone chilling".

"We are now at the point where a quarter of the population are reportedly starving," she said.

"This is a direct result of the siege and the lack of availability in basic supplies including food.

"What is needed right now is a humanitarian ceasefire and an increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip.

"When I was there recently people were only talking about that. They are terrified, fatigued, exhausted. They live in fear and the bombardment continues nonstop.

Shaimaa Khalil
Reporting from Jerusalem

Fighting in the Gaza Strip has continued with Israeli bombardments in the north and south of the territory - and Hamas firing rockets towards south and central Israel with sirens sounding in Tel Aviv yesterday.

The UN's World Food Programme spokesperson Shaza Moghraby has reiterated the need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to avert what she said was the very serious threat of famine in Gaza.

She said more than a quarter of households there currently faced extreme hunger. Trucks bringing aid from Egypt have delivered some food, water and medicine, but the United Nations says the quantity of food is just 10% of what is needed for the territory's population.

Hopes of a ceasefire suffered a setback when Hamas and other Palestinian groups announced they would not agree to a deal to release more hostages until Israel agrees to end the war.

The Israeli government has repeatedly rejected a permanent ceasefire with Hamas.