Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Israel is calling this a precise, limited operation.

To those inside Nasser hospital, listening to machine gunfire and stumbling along corridors filled with smoke, it feels very different.

Medical sources say Israeli forces have fired into the hospital, killing a patient and wounding several others.

Pictures from outside show civilians, who had been sheltering in the hospital grounds, apparently heeding Israeli instructions to leave the area.

The Israelis say they have credible information that hostages, taken during the Hamas attacks of 7 October, have, at some point, been held inside the hospital.

Image source, Reuters

We're closing our live coverage of Israel's raid on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis - the largest medical facility in the south of the Gaza Strip.

• A full report of the raid, which will be updated with any further developments, is available here
• BBC Verify have analysed the footage that has emerged from from the hospital, which you can view here
• You can click here for the most recent developments in Rafah - after days of air strikes and the looming prospect of an Israeli ground offensive on the southern Gazan city
• Want to read an explainer of why Israel and Hamas are fighting in Gaza? We've got one here

This page was edited Adam Durbin, Paul Gribben and Marita Moloney. The writers were Jake Lapham, Ruth Comerford, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, George Wright and Emily Atkinson.

We've got one more post to come from our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams, who reports from Jerusalem. Thank you for joining us.

Image source, UGC

A pharmacist inside the Nasser hospital who was among those evacuated by Israeli forces has described a scene of panic during today's raid.

Rawan Al-Mughrabi told BBC Arabic a large group of people were sheltering inside the complex and "many people were harmed, and others returned to the hospital".

"There was a state of panic that made people stand on top of each other and scream," she says .

"As soon as we left the hospital gate and reached the checkpoints, the entire hospital and departments were stormed by police dogs, and while we were standing at the checkpoints, many people were arrested.

A spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says "a disastrous and worrying situation" is unfolding at Nasser hospital.

In a new statement, Dr Ashraf al-Qudra claims that Israeli troops forced the hospital's administration to send staff, some of their family members, patients and displaced people into an old building at the complex.

He says they are without food, milk for the children, and suffering severe water shortages, describing the conditions as "harsh and frightening".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed it was carrying out today's raid because Hamas fighters were hiding inside the hospital and that Israeli hostages' bodies might also be there. A spokesperson for Hamas denied that, calling it "lies".

Video footage from today's raid shows medical staff rushing patients on stretchers through a corridor filled with smoke or dust. Other footage verified by the BBC shows a patient - who is still in their bed - being moved through a corridor where the ceiling is damaged.

Footage of the attack, filmed by Palestinians inside Nasser hospital, has been verfied by the BBC.

BBC Verify’s Merlyn Thomas has taken a in-depth look at what the clips which have emerged on social media show:

Image source, .

As we've been reporting today, thousands of Palestinians were ordered by Israeli forces to leave Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

Nasser is the largest hospital in southern Gaza.

Médecins Sans Frontières reported that displaced people were ordered to leave, with medical staff and patients being told they could remain in the hospital with a limit of one caretaker per patient.

Intense fighting was also reported around Al-Amal hospital, which is close to Nasser.

Mass displacement is not unusual - in November, the Israeli Defense Forces occupied al-Shifa Hospital, after claiming Hamas was using it as a base.

It also raided Ibn Sina, a hospital in the occupied West Bank and several more in the refugee camp of Jenin.

A doctor at Nasser hospital's emergency department, Haitham Ahmed, told BBC Arabic that Nasser's infrastructure has been damaged and that "sewage has unfortunately begun to flow into the departments".He added that medical supplies had also been destroyed in the attacks.

Image source, Reuters

Turning briefly now to Cairo, where negotiations to secure a ceasefire in Gaza are in their third day.

Delegations from the US, Egypt and Qatar met with CIA director William Burns and the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service on Tuesday, while a Hamas delegation visited on Wednesday.

There is a framework for a temporary truce on the table, involving releasing hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a period of calm.

But the recent visits yielded no sign of immediate progress.

Previously, Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejected as "delusional" ceasefire proposals by Hamas.

Image source, Getty Images

Three-quarters of the 99 journalists and media workers killed in 2023 died during the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Seventy-two of the 99 fatalities were Palestinians killed during Israeli military operations in Gaza, while three Lebanese and two Israeli journalists also died.

This equates to more than four journalists killed every week since the war began on 7 October 2023.

CPJ executive officer Jodie Ginsburg says the loss of Palestinian journalists will have "long-term impacts for journalism not just in the Palestinian territories but for the region and beyond".

"Every journalist killed is a further blow to our understanding of the world," she adds.

Image source, Reuters

Humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate in Gaza and there is now a serious risk of famine, according to aid agencies.

One of them, Unicef, says 325,000 children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition.

"Unicef expects that in the coming days and weeks there will be at least 10,000 children whose lives are essentially at risk if the situation does not change," said regional chief of advocacy Ammar Ammar.

One woman, Hana Tabash, who was displaced from Khan Younis, told the Reuters news agency her two-year-old daughter weighs seven kilograms (one stone) - less than half what is considered a healthy weight for a girl her age.

An update from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) now, which says it killed a Hamas commander in Gaza City yesterday.

In a statement, the Israeli military identifies him as Ahmed Ghoul, commander of the group's Shati Battalion.

The IDF says Ghoul was involved in the 7 October attacks by Hamas on Israel.

It adds that after his return to Gaza, Ghoul held hostage 19-year-old Israeli woman Noa Marciano, whose body was discovered in a building next to Shifa Hospital in November.

Hamas's military wing claimed Noa Marciano was killed in an Israeli air strike on 9 November, although this could not be independently verified at the time.

Image source, Family Handout

We're getting a clearer picture now of the situation inside the Nasser hospital from the perspective of its director, Nahed Abu-Teima.

He has been telling BBC Arabic that conditions are "catastrophic and very dangerous".

"Since the midnight hours, violent shelling and severe explosions have continued in the vicinity of the complex."

The only patients remaining in the hospital are "piled up in wards", he tells the BBC, and have critical injuries.

Abu-Teima adds that everyone remaining in Nasser hospital are "all in extreme danger" and issues an appeal to the UN and Red Cross to "save these sick patients" and hospital workers trapped there.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

The Israelis say they have reason to believe that inside Nasser hospital will be evidence that some of the hostages taken into Gaza on 7 October were held there.

Judging by the gunfire that's been heard around the Khan Younis hospital over the last few days, including the use of snipers, they also clearly believe that Hamas fighters have been using the hospital.

If you think back to the tail end of last year and what happened at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, this is somewhat similar.

The Israelis are not saying there's an entire infrastructure underneath the hospital, like they did last time - but they are clearly saying that Nasser hospital has been used and abused by Hamas.

And that is why they seem so intent on getting inside the hospital, having laid siege to that area for a number of weeks.

We've seen civilians who've been sheltering in the grounds of the hospital streaming out of the area. It’s possible some patients and medical staff have also had to leave, or move.

This is a situation which is causing an enormous amount of anxiety and concern for those who remain inside.

A member of the Médecins Sans Frontières team is missing, following the IDF's strikes on Nasser medical complex in the past 24 hours.

In a thread on X, the international medical agency says their staff have been "forced to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind", despite Israeli forces telling medical staff and patients they "could remain in the facility."

According to MSF, Israeli forces installed a checkpoint to screen people leaving the compound, and one member of staff was detained.

"We call for his safety and the protection of his dignity", it said. "Israeli forces are currently carrying out operations in Nasser hospital.

"We call on them to immediately stop this attack, as it endangers medical staff and patients who are still stuck inside the facility."

Turning our attention now to Lebanon, Israel's air strikes on Wednesday killed a senior Hezbollah commander alongside two other Hezbollah members and several civilians.

Both Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that Ali Muhammad al-Debs, a senior commander in the Iran-backed group's elite Radwan Forces, was killed. The IDF says al-Debs was one of the planners of a roadside bomb attack at Megiddo Junction in Israel in March 2023.

Al-Debs's deputy commander Hassan Ibrahim Issa and a third Hezbollah operative Hussein Ahmad Aqeel were also killed, according to Telegram posts from Hezbollah.

As we reported earlier, Israel's strike on Wednesday killed at least 10 people - including five children - in all.

If you’re just joining us, we've been covering the scene at Nasser hospital in southern Gaza where Israel's special forces have carried out a raid.

Here are the latest developments so far:

• Special forces entered the hospital and began what Israel describes as a "precise and limited mission"
• The IDF says the aim is to find and return bodies of hostages it believes are hidden inside the medical complex. This information, the IDF says, is based on its own “credible evidence”
• Chaotic scenes are being reported from inside and around the hospital, where many displaced people are said to be sheltering
• Hamas rejects the IDF’s accusations, saying claims about hostages being held inside Nasser are "lies"
• Intensive care patients are reportedly in “grave danger”, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. But the IDF says "there is no obligation for patients or staff to evacuate"
• This morning’s raid comes amid warnings from heads of aid agencies, who made impassioned appeals to UN member states to do their utmost to prevent an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, the border city 7km (4.5 miles) from Nasser
• There are estimated to be more than 1.4 million people sheltering inside Rafah - prior to the 7 October attack it held a population of 250,000

Israeli forces have destroyed two ambulances inside the Nasser hospital complex in Khan Younis, according to Dr Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

In a new statement about the ongoing raids, al-Qudra said troops "stormed" the maternity building earlier and are carrying out a search inside it.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have claimed Hamas fighters were hiding inside and that Israeli hostages' bodies might also be there. A spokesperson for Hamas denied that, calling it "lies".

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said forces were aiming to reach Hamas fighters inside, "including those suspected of involvement in the 7 October massacre".

Image source, Reuters

We have been reporting on Israeli special forces entering the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, the main medical complex in southern Gaza.

The Reuters news agency has spoken to people who were inside the hospital when the raid started.

Rasmeya Saleem Abu Jamoos had been receiving treatment and says Israeli forces detained her blind husband.

"I left with my husband... I was doing kidney dialysis. They destroyed the wall by us, as well as [a] doctor's room," she says.

"They ordered us to leave and fired at us, they fired bombs and rockets on our heads from the top. They demolished the building. We left through the door and we walked in the sewage," she says, adding that her husband was then detained.

Hanna Um Mahmoud had been receiving treatment at the hospital for almost three weeks when the raid started.

"Only those who cannot walk were allowed to stay. We all evacuated and we walked on foot from the Nasser hospital to al-Miraj in Rafah.

"The roads are not paved, we are tired and humiliated. Only God knows what we saw on this journey."

Dr Khaled Aslerr, a trauma surgeon at Nasser hospital, sent a voice note earlier to one of our correspondents in Jerusalem, saying that "tanks and snipers" were surrounding the hospital from "all directions".

Aslerr says Israeli forces made three announcements this morning for "all the people inside" to evacuate the hospital "immediately".

One of the announcements was delivered by a person to the hospital, another over speakers attached to a drone.

Image source, Getty Images

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says the suspension of funding is affecting their ability to operate in Gaza.

Countries including the UK have paused funding for UNRWA after the agency announced the sacking of several of its staff over allegations they were involved in the 7 October Hamas attacks.

"The decision which has been taken by 15 countries to temporarily pause and suspend the contribution to UNRWA amounts to $450m," Philippe Lazzarini said during a trip to Dublin earlier today.

"If this is to be maintained, it will definitely impact our ability to continue to operate."

He was joined by deputy Irish premier Micheal Martin, who urged countries to reverse their suspension of funding and pledged €20 million (£17 million) in support for UNRWA.

"Israel has launched a disinformation campaign against UNRWA. Sufficient aid is still not reaching civilians in Gaza and that is very unacceptable," he said.

On Wednesday, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the UK wants an "absolute guarantee" that UNRWA will not employ staff who may be willing to attack Israel.

Video shot by Palestinians, and verified by the BBC, shows the scene inside the Nasser hospital as Israeli forces prepare to enter.

Watch the video below.