Wissam Tawil, a senior commander with the Islamist Hezbollah movement, has been killed in an apparent Israeli drone attack in southern Lebanon
Reports suggest a car Tawil was in was targeted in the Khirbet Selm area, before veering off the road and catching fire
The International Rescue Committee says it has pulled its medics from the only functioning hospital in central Gaza
The move follows the cancellation of a World Health Organization-backed mission to bring medical supplies into northern Gaza
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said 73 Palestinians were killed and 99 injured by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours
Elsewhere, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Saudi Arabia for talks with the crown prince, before travelling to Israel
At least 1,200 people were killed when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October and about 240 others were taken hostage
The Gaza health ministry - run by Hamas - says at least 23,000 people have been killed in the territory since Israel started its retaliatory campaign
That's it from our live coverage today. If you would like to follow the latest developments, you can head here.
Today's coverage was brought to you by our teams in London, Jerusalem and Beirut.
We'll soon be wrapping up our live coverage of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war for the day, but before we go let's take a look at some of today's main headlines:
Image source, Al-Quds BrigadesThe al-Quds brigades, Islamic Jihad's military wing, published a video that purports to have Israeli national Elad Katzir speaking from captivity in Gaza.
Elad Katzir, 47, was abducted from Nir Oz with his mother Hanna during the 7 October Hamas attacks. The pair were among an estimated 240 people taken hostage.
Hanna was among 105 released by Hamas during a six-day ceasefire at the end of November.
Prisoners of war and hostages are protected under international humanitarian law and so the BBC does not broadcast the full details of material which may have been filmed under duress.
In the video, which is said to have been filmed on 5 January, the man pictured above says he has been held hostage in Gaza for three months and has been close to dying more than once.
Presenting himself as Katzir, the man calls on the Israeli government to stop the war and bring him - alongside other hostages still held in Gaza - home. He also repeatedly says that he loves and misses his family dearly.
Image source, ReutersMedical supplies have been airdropped by the French and Jordanian air forces for a field hospital set up in Khan Younis
BBC Arabic has been speaking to patients suffering from chronic medical conditions in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of people there have long-term health conditions in Gaza, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
But the WHO says it had to cancel more medical supplies being brought into the area, after failing to receive security guarantees.
Om Khalil is an asthma patient and her case became worse from the ongoing displacement, alongside the scarcity of medications.
“I can’t do my breathing sessions because they require electricity and there is no electricity."
Khalil also says she can't access her medication and that if patients don't die from the ongoing bombardment they "will die from the shortage in medications".
Om Ali suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes. She says it has been months since she took what she needs.
She says: "Since the displacement... I can’t find the medications nor am I able to get up, I’m very ill."
Dr Ahmed Hesham Sakr works in one of the pharmacies in Rafah where he says there is an "extreme shortage" in medical resources due to the closed boarders and ongoing war.
He wants the WHO to allow "the weakest long-term illness patients to leave the district of Gaza so they can receive the medical care they need".
Image source, VTff/BBC NewsRushdi has been reporting from Gaza for decades
The BBC's Rushdi Abualouf, who has reported from Gaza for decades, spoke about the difficulties for journalists reporting from the area.
Earlier on the BBC News Channel he said: "The consequence for the journalist is huge. People see the correspondent behind the camera and they believe that he is a hero but in the end he is a human and he has a family to look after.
"He always has fear about his family, imagine somebody is losing five of his family members. He believes that he should continue to do the story but all of his sadness and grief inside him is very difficult to keep reporting."
Correction 30 January: This post originally said hundreds of journalists are reported to have been killed during the conflict since 7 October. A recent article from the Committee to Protect Journalists, external put the figure at "at least 83 journalists and media workers" - as there are no reliable estimates which report a figure of hundreds, we have removed this sentence from the post.
Image source, ReutersAntony Blinken arrived in the UAE earlier
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is meeting the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. This is the latest visit on his mission in the Middle East.
He started today with a UAE visit and is due to travel to Israel shortly.
Blinken is there to try to de-escalate tensions and avoid a wider regional conflict.
We'll bring you more details from the meeting when we get it.
Image source, Hezbollah TelegramHezbollah has posted a series of photographs to Telegram , externalof Wissam Tawil, a senior commander in the group's elite Radwan force who was killed earlier today.
Included is an image of Tawil shaking hands with Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah.
Another captures him sitting beside Qasem Soleimani - the former commander the Quds Force, an arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, who was assassinated by US forces in 2020.
Image source, ReutersPalestinians wounded lie on beds as displaced people shelter at Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital.
Gemma Connell, spokeswoman for the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), tells the BBC that al-Aqsa hospital - which is the only medical facility in the central Gaza strip - is on the verge of shutting down.
Connell says al-Aqsa is "the single remaining hospital in the middle area of Gaza", where a "major offensive is under way".
As well as a high number of casualties, she explains, the hospital's ability to function is jeopardised "every single day".
The withdrawal of humanitarian organisations from the hospital, such as the International Rescue Committee pulling its medics, will lead to "the crippling of the single last remaining trauma centre", Connell adds.
It all comes after the Israeli military increased its activities near the medical facility.
"The situation in the hospital is dire. We have just a single doctor who is working in the emergency room.
"You have only two surgeons left responding to hundreds of needs in that hospital. You have so many casualties coming in every single hour who are in desperate need of life saving support."
Image source, .
Image source, Israeli Prime Minister's OfficeIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will do "whatever is necessary to restore security to the north" of Israel following recent exchanges of fire with Hezbollah over the border with Lebanon.
Speaking to soldiers stationed on Israel's northern border, Netanyahu says his government "will do everything" to allow families "to return home safely" and know Israel cannot be "messed" with.
"We will do whatever it takes. Of course, we prefer that this be done without a wide campaign, but that will not stop us," he adds.
Blinken arrives in AlUla
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has touched down in Saudi Arabia for the latest leg of his Middle East tour.
He's visiting the small, ancient town of AlUla for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, before travelling to Israel.
Image source, ReutersPope Francis called for a "ceasefire on every front, including Lebanon" in an address to diplomats at Vatican City.
In his annual greetings to the Diplomatic Corps the Pope delivered a speech, commonly known as the State of the World address. He voiced his "deep concern regarding the events taking place in Israel and Palestine".
The Pope renewed his condemnation of the deadly 7 October Hamas attack in southern Israel, where many innocent people were wounded, tortured, murdered and many taken hostage. Pope Francis also called for the immediate release of hostages.
He reminded diplomats that Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has led to the death of "tens of thousands of Palestinians", and caused "an exceptionally grave humanitarian crisis and inconceivable suffering".
The leader of the Catholic Church called on leaders to ensure Palestinians receive necessary aid, and that "hospitals, schools and places of worship in Gaza receive all necessary protection".
In reference to bringing the conflict to an end, the Pope said: "It is my hope that the international community will pursue with determination the solution of two states. One Israeli and one Palestinian.
"As well as an internationally guaranteed special status for the city of Jerusalem, so that Israelis and Palestinians may finally live in peace and security."
Shaimaa Khalil
BBC News, in Jerusalem
Image source, ReutersWael al-Dahdouh hugs his daughter at the funeral of his son Hamza yesterday
Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh has been reporting from Khan Younis after burying his son Hamza, who was killed in an Israeli drone strike yesterday along with another journalist, Mustafa Thuraya.
Dima Al Khatib, the Managing Director of AJ+ Channels, has posted on social media saying, external: "His nickname in Arabic: the mountain (Al Jabal). Calm and strong, Wael Dahdouh, live from Gaza, after burying his eldest son."
In a statement, Al Jazeera accuses Israel of a "targeted killing" after the two journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on their car.
The statement says they were killed while they were "on their way to carry out their duty” for the channel. A third freelance journalist travelling with them, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.
In response to the BBC’s request for comment about the killing the Israeli military replied that an "aircraft identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops".
“We are aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit," the IDF told the BBC.
The health ministry in Gaza also confirmed the deaths and blamed an Israeli strike.
In a video shared on X, external, formerly Twitter, Wael al-Dahdouh and one of his daughters could be seen hugging in tears during Hamza’s funeral.
"Please stay with us father." she says. "We have no one else but you, father."
Al-Dahdouh had lost four other members of his immediate family when they were killed in an Israeli strike in October - his wife, grandchild, 15-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter.
He’d found out during his live coverage for the network.
The Hamas-run health ministry says at least 23,084 people have been killed in Gaza since war with Israel began on 7 October.
In a statement, the ministry says it recorded 249 deaths in the past 24 hours, while a total of 58,926 people had been wounded in the territory during more than three months of fighting.
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed Lebanese movement, and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire almost every day along the Lebanon-Israel border, fuelling fears of a major confrontation.
So far, the violence has been largely contained to border areas.
Hezbollah has calibrated its actions to prevent a full-scale war with Israel, which has warned of a destructive response. Last week, reacting to a suspected Israeli attack that killed a senior Hamas official in Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israeli authorities against starting a conflict, saying they would regret it.
But, crucially, there was no threat to escalate its actions. Many here still remember the destruction caused by the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and, with Lebanon suffering a massive economic crisis, there is no public support for any military confrontation. Miscalculation, however, is always a risk.
And, in Israel, some senior figures have defended a larger offensive against Hezbollah to reduce the threat posed by the group and allow the return of thousands of residents who have been evacuated because of constant attacks. “We’ll create a completely different reality [in the north],” the Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzl Halevi said on Sunday, “or we’ll get to another war”.
Image source, .If you're just joining us, or in need of a recap, let's take a look at today's main headlines from the Israel-Gaza war.
Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesAlUla old town in Saudi Arabia
Antony Blinken has departed from Abu Dhabi for the Saudi Arabian city of AlUla, where he will soon meet with Mohammed bin Salman.
The Saudi crown prince has made AlUla his winter residence. Last week, he hosted a series of meetings with US congressional officials, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, and Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.
AlUla is a 6th Century BCE city located around an oasis that was a stop on an ancient spice and silk trading route. Like the better known Nabatean Kingdom city of Petra in Jordan, it features intricate rock carvings and elaborate tombs and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.
The choice of location for visits by Blinken and other US officials is no accident.
While the town was once off-limits to Muslims because it was viewed as cursed by the Prophet Muhammad, Prince Mohammed has made turning AlUla into an arts and tourism destination a key part of his “Vision 2030” plan to modernise the Arab kingdom, with festivals and western-built hotels and attractions.
Hezbollah has now confirmed the killing of Wissam Tawil - a senior commander in the group's elite Radwan force.
Hezbollah does not detail the cause of Tawil's death, but earlier Reuters news agency cited three security sources as saying he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a car in southern Lebanon.
Image source, HezbollahWissam Tawil was the deputy head of a unit within Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, Reuters reports
The senior Hezbollah figure who has been killed in a strike on south Lebanon has been identified as Wissam Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the group's elite Radwan force, Reuters news agency reports.
Citing three security sources, Reuters says Tawil and another Hezbollah fighter were killed when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.
"This is a very painful strike," one of the security sources says.
Another adds: "Things will flare up now."
Hezbollah's leadyer Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has previously warned Israel not to launch a full-scale war on Lebanon.
More from Lebanon now.
AFP cites a security source as saying that a top commander with a leading role in managing Hezbollah's operations has been killed in an "Israeli raid targeting his car in the south".
We're still working on getting a fuller picture of the events, but earlier, Lebanon's state media agency reported injuries following an Israeli drone strike on a Skoda Rapid car at 10:15 local time.
It said the vehicle was on the road in the vicinity of al-Dabsha area in the town of Khirbet Selm, in the Bint Jbeil district.
The strike caused the car to veer off the road and catch fire, it added.
Emergency medical and firefighting teams from the Civil Defense, Islamic Scouts, Red Cross, and other responders promptly arrived at the scene and worked on extinguishing the flames.
An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon has killed a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, three security sources tell Reuters news agency.
More on this as we have it.