Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

As we've been reporting, Israel's military earlier said it killed four Palestinian militants during an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank town of Azzun.

Israel Defense Forces has said that its operations in the West Bank are pre-emptive and aimed at dealing with security threats. It says it has carried out a wide campaign against Hamas and other armed factions in the territory over the past three months.

It says that more than 2,550 people have been arrested, approximately 1,300 of whom are associated with Hamas.

Hamas is considered to be a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other Western powers.

Last week, a UN report deplored what it said was a "rapid deterioration" of human rights in the West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there.

"The use of military tactics, means and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and the enforcement of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory movement restrictions that affect Palestinians are extremely troubling," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

If you are just joining us, here is what has happened so far in Israel and Gaza today:

• Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says the war in Gaza is "a marathon not a sprint"
• He says that Israel is withdrawing some of its troops from Gaza in preparation for prolonged fighting
• Israeli airstrikes and raids by land forces are continuing around the Gaza Strip. Residents say fighting has intensified in the southern city of Khan Younis, with Israeli jets and tanks stepping up attacks in the area
• The IDF says it killed four Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank, after an alleged attack against its forces
• Hamas officials say more than 200 people have been killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours following Israeli strikes, bringing the total number killed in Gaza to 22,185

Israel says it has struck Syrian military targets, in retaliation to Syrian rocket fire on northern Israel late on Monday.

The IDF says it hit military infrastructure of the Syrian army, but Syrian state media denies this.

Syrian state news agency SANA said an Israeli air strike early on Tuesday targeted positions on the outskirts of Damascus causing some material damage.

Since the start of the war in Gaza on 7 October, the IDF has escalated its strikes in Syria, including Damascus and Aleppo airports and locations where Iranian-backed militia allegedly operates.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Even after Israel announced plans to pull back some combat troops from Gaza, signalling a new phase of the war, intense fighting has continued in the territory.

The Israeli military says its troops have killed dozens of Palestinian fighters in Jabalia in the north, and targeted others in Gaza City and coastal areas.

It says that troops seized weapons and dismantled rocket launchers in Khan Younis and in a UN school in al-Bureij in the centre of the strip.

Residents say that Israeli war planes and tanks have stepped up bombings and artillery fire in the eastern and northern parts of Khan Younis, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians sought refuge after being forced from their homes elsewhere.

One man told the BBC that each day hundreds of people were continuing to make their way south to Rafah in search of safety.

The Hamas-run health ministry says 207 Palestinians have been killed and 338 wounded in the past 24 hours.

In total 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and 57,035 wounded in the enclave since the war began on 7 October, the health ministry said in a statement.

Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says Israel is withdrawing some of its troops from Gaza because "this is a marathon not a sprint" and "we need to rest them so they can go in later".

Speaking to Sky News, Regev said when he visited the parents and families of Israeli soldiers who died fighting in Gaza, the families told him "we don’t want our young boys to have died in vain. Finish the job. Never again should Hamas be able to come across our frontier like on 7 October".

"When Hamas stormed our border, they beheaded, they raped, they massacred." Regev said the war has to end with the destruction Hamas military capabilities.

"Gaza should no longer be this terror enclave that threatens its neighbours," he said. If Hamas stays in power in Gaza, "you’ll see more attacks on Israel in the future."

As we've been reporting, Israel has said fighting will continue throughout 2024.

Meanwhile in Turkey, 33 people have been arrested after authorities said they were suspected of "carrying out espionage for Israel's Mossad intelligence service," the state-run Anadolu news agency has said.

The agency said that the police are still looking for 13 others.

Without citing any sources, it said the suspects were believed to be aiming to identify and kidnap foreign nationals living in Turkey as part of intelligence operations.

As we reported earlier, Israeli airstrikes have continued in the Gaza Strip, including the southern city of Khan Younis.

Other strikes hit Deir al Balah and Rafah, towns that tens of thousands of Gazans have recently fled to, seeking safety.

Here are some pictures in the aftermath of the bombing in Khan Younis this morning.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Israel has said it expects the conflict in Gaza to continue throughout 2024. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said troop deployments were being reorganised to plan for "prolonged fighting".

Some soldiers, particularly reservists, will be brought out of Gaza to allow them to rest, see their families and regroup.

Israel’s economy has suffered since the war began because so many men have been away from workplaces.

But Hagari added “the fighting will continue and we will need them [the reservists].

Image source, EPA

The former director of the CIA General David Petraeus has told the BBC that Israel has to "clear and hold all of Gaza" to achieve its stated mission of destroying Hamas and rescuing the hostages.

Petraeus, a retired US general who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, compares the war to the battle against the so-called Islamic State.

"If you look at the case of [the Iraqi town of] Mosul and destruction of the Islamic State - and I think Hamas can be compared to that, though it's an imperfect analogy, but if that is the model, you have to destroy Hamas, you cannot reconcile with them."

Mosul was recaptured by the Iraqi army, assisted by US-led coalition warplanes, in 2017 during a huge military operation that left large areas in ruins and killed thousands of civilians.

Petraeus says that after the current war, Gaza will have to be rebuilt. However, once Hamas has been destroyed it may have to be Israel that "takes on that task", because of a lack of alternatives, the general adds.

Petraeus also tells the BBC that it is a "very legitimate concern" that Israel’s military operation in Gaza could radicalise future generations.

The Israeli army, in a statement with the latest updates from Gaza, says that they found explosive devices planted along the coast of the Gaza Strip. “In joint operations, IDF naval, aerial, and ground forces neutralized the explosives,” the statement said.

Troops conducted a raid on some buildings in the southern city of Khan Yunis, where Hamas allegedly kept their weapons. It also said that they found weapons production facilities and launch pits in the central Gaza Strip, and they were dismantled.

The statement added that Israeli troops killed "those who were armed and identified driving toward the forces" in Jabalia in the northern Gaza. And they claimed that they located rocket launchers positioned adjacent to a school run by the UN agency UNRWA in the Bureij refugee camp, in the centre of the territory.

Image source, IDF

The Israeli military says that it killed four Palestinian militants, describing them as "terrorists", during a raid in the occupied West Bank town of Azzun.

The IDF says that they were killed during an exchange of fire after they allegedly threw explosives on Israeli forces in the town, in a post on X. The IDF also says that one Israeli soldier has been injured.

As a reminder, the West Bank is an area of land located on the west bank of the River Jordan, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

Let's look a bit more at the situation in the southern town of Rafah, reportedly one of those hit by the latest wave of Israeli iar strikes.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians across Gaza moved to Rafah - which borders Egypt - because of intense bombardment in the enclave's northern and central parts. The displacement also follows orders from Israeli forces urging civilians to flee parts of Gaza where Israel says it is working to eradicate Hamas.

The director of UNRWA, the UN's relief agency, has told the BBC that there are "well over a million people" seeking safety in the city.

He has also said that "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people are now sleeping in the open" as a result of the overcrowding. White says those people are bedding down "under flimsy pieces of plastic".

Image source, Reuters

Residents in Gaza said that Israeli aircraft and tanks continued strikes in the south of the enclave overnight, a day after Israel said it would start withdrawing some of its troops.

Israeli ministers say the war in Gaza will continue for many months but the partial troop withdrawal signals a new phase in the offensive, with an official saying Israel would change strategy to more localised "mopping up" operations.

The US said this signalled a gradual shift to lower intensity operations in the north of the enclave.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Children were among the Palestinian casualties rushed to hospital after the latest Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Other strikes hit Deir al Balah and Rafah, towns that tens of thousands of Gazans have recently fled to, seeking safety.

Israel’s military has warned that the war will continue throughout this year, but the defence minister has now said it will soon be safe for displaced Israelis from some communities near Gaza to return home.

Other Israeli ministers have been reacting angrily to the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to nullify a controversial law which had weakened its own powers. Ministers accused the court of overstepping its authority.

However, there was praise from opposition politicians who say the national crisis caused by the contentious judicial changes over the past year may have contributed to Hamas’s decision to carry out its deadly attacks on the 7 October.

Nathan Williams
Live reporter

Hello and welcome as we continue our live coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel's aerial bombardment has continued in the Gaza Strip, with strikes hitting the southern towns of Khan Younis, Deir al Balah and Rafah.

This comes as Israel's military warned that it could be shifting towards "prolonged fighting" that could continue all year.

On Monday, Israel's miliary said it was pulling some reservists out of Gaza in preparation for this.

Stick with us as we take you through all the latest events.