We're going to end our live coverage of what happened today in northern Gaza - and the ongoing wider war between Hamas and Israel - there.

If you want to keep reading about the chaos that ensued in the early hours of Thursday, leading to more than 100 Palestinians being killed near an aid convoy, head here.

You can also look at how, through maps, life has changed in Gaza since the war began in this piece by our visual journalism colleagues.

For now, today's coverage was brought to you by Emily Atkinson, Jaroslav Lukiv, Sam Hancock, Nathan Williams and Nadia Ragozhina.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Israel’s chief military spokesman, Daniel Hagari has issued a lengthy video statement on this morning’s aid convoy incident. It differs from the account given earlier by other IDF spokesmen.

Rear Admiral Hagari said IDF had “coordinated” a convoy of 38 trucks, with Egyptian aid, being distributed by “private contractors”.

He said thousands of Gazans had descended on the trucks.

“Some began violently pushing and even trampling other Gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies”.

He said the first truck started making its way through Israel’s humanitarian corridor at 04:40. Tanks were on the scene “to secure the humanitarian corridor for the aid convoy”. UAVs were in the air “to give our forces a clear picture from above”.

At 04:45, he said a mob ambushed the trucks, bringing them to a halt. He said tanks tried “cautiously” to disperse the crowd with “a few warning shots”.

“When the hundreds became thousands and things got out of hand, the tank commander decided to retreat to avoid harm to the thousands of Gazans that were there,” he said, adding that tanks did not fire on the convoy.

In a separate Hebrew language statement, he said that the tanks had opened fire on people who appeared to present a threat.

Interestingly, Hagari revealed that the IDF had been conducting humanitarian operation of this kind for the last 4 nights without any problem (until today).

On Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the IDF had submitted a plan to provide humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip “in a manner that would prevent the looting that had occurred in the northern Strip and other areas”.

The US has said Thursday's incident in northern Gaza needs to be investigated.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says: "We have been in touch with the Israeli government since early this morning and understand that an investigation is under way.

"We will be monitoring that investigation closely and pressing for answers," he adds.

Image source, EPA

The White House has just distributed a handout of a phone call that took place today between US President Joe Biden and the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

It says the leaders discussed what happened in northern Gaza, that they grieved the loss of civilian lives and agreed that this incident "underscored the urgency of bringing negotiations to a close as soon as possible and expanding the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza".

They're also said to have discussed efforts to secure the immediate release of hostages being held by Hamas. Israel says 253 Israelis and foreigners were kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October. Of those taken, 130 remain unaccounted for, though earlier this month Israel said at least 29 of them were dead.

The release of hostages would result in an "immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks", Biden and the Qatari leader said, agreeing to stay in regular contact over the next few days.

The US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said more than 25,000 people have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the 7 October Hamas attacks.

Secretary Austin was speaking at a Congressional hearing in Washington, primarily focussed on his hospitalisation. The US department of defence clarified that Austin was citing an estimate from the Hamas-controlled ministry and that the US cannot independently verify them.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has previously said more than 30,000 Palestinians had been killed since Israel began its retaliatory military operation.

The Israeli military has said it has killed more than 10,000 fighters in its air strikes and ground operations.

Austin also said the US had given Israel 21,000 precision guided missiles since the start of the war.

Austin added that he had spoken to his opposite number in Israel, Yoav Gallant, last night and said: "I expect that when we provide munitions to allies and partners they will use them in a responsible way."

He said the decision to halt the provision of security assistance "would not be mine" and insisted that Israel use the weapons provided "in a responsible way."

The chaos that unfolded on the outskirts of Gaza City has prompted the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting.

Delegates will gather at UN headquarters in New York at 16:15 local time (21:15 GMT) following a request by Algeria.

It's been a few hours since we first heard reports that more than 100 Palestinians had been killed in a crowd near a convoy that was attempting to deliver aid in northern Gaza.

Since then, there's been a fast-flow of information to digest - and various accounts of what happened from Hamas, the Israeli military and eyewitnesses - so if you're coming to this page fresh, here's a rundown of what we now know to have happened:

• A little after 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Thursday, a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid passed an Israeli checkpoint on the edge of Gaza City
• Crowds of civilians then descended on the convoy, trying to grab anything they could. Remember, Gaza City has had almost no aid for weeks
• Israeli troops, manning the checkpoint, shot at some of the crowd because troops believed they posed a threat - but the IDF says it was a "limited response"
• The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 112 Palestinians were killed - it has blamed Israeli forces with Palestinian media citing medical sources as saying troops fired at the crowd
• But an eyewitness, speaking to the BBC, said the bulk of casualties was caused by the trucks running people over as chaos ensued, not by gunfire
• In the aftermath, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths has said he's "appalled" by what's happened while President Joe Biden has said the US is "checking out" what happened

We've just received a statement from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

It says the secretary general "condemns" the incident today in northern Gaza in which more than a hundred people were reportedly killed or injured while seeking life-saving aid.

The statement continues: "The desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent help, including those in the besieged north where the United Nations has not been able to deliver aid in more than a week."

The secretary general also reiterates his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages.

He also calls for "urgent steps" to enable humanitarian aid to get into Gaza.

Footage shows many injured, lying motionless on groundpublished at 17:37 Greenwich Mean Time 29 February

17:37 GMT 29 February

Since reports of a deadly incident in north western Gaza began to emerge early this morning, BBC Verify has been analysing footage of the aftermath to get a sense of what happened.

One clip showing a number of heavily injured people - some lying motionless - on the back of a flatbed truck was filmed at Nablusi roundabout, on Rashid Street - a coastal road that runs across Gaza, north to south.

Initial reports suggested that this roundabout was the scene of the incident, although footage shared subsequently appears to contradict this somewhat. One such clip shows three bodies loaded onto a cart around 300m away and heading towards the roundabout.

The area in question has been used as an aid distribution point in recent weeks.

Footage we've previously verified shows people gathering around trucks to claim sacks of grain. And just last night, an Instagram video showed a large number of people in the dark, huddled around bonfires, apparently awaiting the next aid shipment.

Night-time video filmed in the same area and aired by Al Jazeera shows chaotic scenes as gunfire rings out. It is not immediately clear from the footage where the shots are coming from.

Stepping away from what's happened in northern Gaza briefly, medics in the occupied West Bank say two Israelis have been killed in a gun attack.

Security forces at the scene are reported to have shot dead at least one gunman - in a post on X the Israeli military describes him as a "terrorist". The IDF adds: "Forces are blocking roads and conducting a chase for additional suspects in the area."

A spokesperson for Magen Dovid Adom (MDA), Israel's medical emergency service, says a report was received at 17:08 local time (15:08 GMT) on Thursday of gunshot wounds at a petrol station near the Eli settlement.

"MDA medics and paramedics provided medical treatment on the spot to two injured people who were in critical condition," one update from the service said, followed by another that confirmed the deaths of "two men" - one in his 40s and the other in the 20s.

There has been a surge in violence in the West Bank since the war began in October. Last week, three Palestinian men killed one Israeli and wounded several others near the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim.

Image source, Magen Dovid Adom/Telegram

The BBC's Paul Adams says night-time video released by the IDF - showing huge crowds surrounding aid trucks - gives a sense of the desperation in the northern Gaza Strip.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says the number of people killed as they waited to receive aid has risen to 112.

Spokesperson Dr Ashraf al-Qudra adds that 760 people were injured.

He says that, according to witnesses, the bodies of some victims are yet to be recovered from the Nabulsi roundabout, on the south-western edge of Gaza City, suggesting the number of casualties could rise further.

Image source, Reuters

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths says he's "appalled" by reports that more than 100 people have been killed in Gaza while waiting to collect life-saving aid.

"Even after close to five months of brutal hostilities, Gaza still has the ability to shock us," he writes on X.

He adds: "This comes as the death toll across Gaza since 7 October hits the 30,000 mark.

"Life is draining out of Gaza at a terrifying speed."

On the 7 October Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 253 other people back to Gaza as hostages.

Image source, Reuters

US President Joe Biden has just been asked about the incident in northern Gaza.

He tells reporters at the White House that the US is "checking that out right now" and that there are "two competing versions of what happened".

Biden also acknowledges that the incident will complicate hostage negotiations.

Asked about the prospect of a ceasefire in the Strip, he says: "Hope springs eternal."

He adds: "I was on the telephone with the people in the region. I'm still working on it."

Biden says a ceasefire would probably not happen by Monday - as he had previously suggested might be the case - but he is still hopeful.

There have been chaotic aid deliveries on Rashid Road beforepublished at 15:43 Greenwich Mean Time 29 February

15:43 GMT 29 February

Image source, Instagram/karamnaji

We are slowly piecing together what happened during the course of last night’s aid delivery.

BBC Verify has previously located footage of chaotic aid deliveries to this stretch of Rashid Road in the last two months.

In an incident we believe happened on 14 January, photographer Nooh al-Shaghnobi filmed civilians - who had been trying to secure aid from trucks - fleeing as gunfire is heard. The source of this gunfire is unclear.

Their Instagram post claims that five people were killed during this incident – we cannot independently verify this.

In their videos, we can see large crowds had formed around and on the trucks and a disorderly distribution of sacks of flour and other provisions by hundreds of Gazans.

In a more recent incident on the morning of 19 February, we again see trucks overwhelmed by civilians securing what aid they can. Many stream past the camera carrying bags of flour.

In another clip, we see a man scrabbling in the roadway to gather up spilt flour.

In neither of these previous incidents do we see crushes or trampling occur.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, AFP

Following conversations with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and a Palestinian eyewitness, we have been able to establish - with some confidence - the circumstances surrounding the incident on Thursday morning in which as many as 104 Palestinians were killed.

Everyone agrees that the incident took place shortly after 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on the Gaza coast road. It occurred just past an Israeli military checkpoint.

Palestinian sources put the location of the incident as the Nabulsi roundabout, on the south-western edge of Gaza City.

A convoy of aid trucks (provider still not known) passed through the checkpoint, heading north. There’s some disagreement about how many trucks were involved. The IDF says 30; our eyewitness says 18. Either way, the convoy was likely a few hundred metres long.

Shortly after the convoy passed through the checkpoint, with the last truck only about 70 metres (230ft) north of the checkpoint, Palestinians started surrounding the trucks.

IDF spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner says some civilians approached the checkpoint and ignored warning shots fired by the soldiers there.

Fearing that some of the civilians posed a threat, the soldiers then opened fire on those approaching in what Lerner described as a "limited response".

Our Palestinian source has not confirmed that civilians approached the checkpoint, only that they were about 70 metres away.

With crowds descending on all the trucks, and with machine gun fire coming from the checkpoint, panic seems to have ensued.

The trucks (some of them now with many people clinging on) tried to move forward. Our eyewitness says that the bulk of the casualties were caused by the trucks running people over, not by the Israeli gunfire.

Here's a bit more of what we're hearing from various officials and media outlets in Gaza itself.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, said more than 100 people were killed while waiting for aid to be delivered in northern Gaza - and more than 700 others wounded. He said the incident took place at the Nabulsi roundabout, on Rashid Street, on Thursday and blamed Israeli forces for what he described as a "massacre".

He warned that dozens of casualties in a critical or severe condition had been brought to the nearby al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, and that medics were unable to cope with the volume and severity of cases.

Meanwhile, the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, cited medical sources as saying that Israeli forces fired towards thousands of people from Gaza City, and other northern areas, as they waited at Nabulsi roundabout for the arrival of lorries loaded with humanitarian aid.

As we've said already, details are still coming in and we'll continue to bring you the latest as we get it.

The White House has described the reports of 100 people killed in Gaza while waiting to receive humanitarian aid as a "serious incident."

"We mourn the loss of innocent life and recognise the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where innocent Palestinians are just trying to feed their families," a national security council spokesperson said in a statement.

"This underscores the importance of expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, including through a potential temporary ceasefire."

The part of Gaza where this incident took place - the north - has suffered widespread devastation since the fighting between Hamas and the Israeli military began in October.

It was the focus of the first phase of Israel's ground offensive and has been largely cut off from humanitarian assistance for several months, despite some relief efforts by UN aid agencies who say that half of Gaza's population is starving and most people regularly go without food for a whole day.

Last week, the World Food Programme said it had been forced to suspend aid deliveries to the area after its first convoy in three weeks was surrounded by crowds of hungry people close to the Israeli military's Wadi Gaza checkpoint, and then faced gunfire in Gaza City.

Another convoy faced what it called "complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order".

Image source, .

Image source, Uknown copyright

This is a moving situation and details of what happened in Gaza today are continuing to come in. For now, here's a look at what each side is saying:

Hamas

• The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 100 Palestinians were killed while waiting for aid to be delivered in the north of the Strip
• Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra described the incident, which happened near Gaza City, as a "massacre"
• Hamas are blaming the Israeli military - with Palestinian media, citing medical sources, saying Israeli troops opened fire at the crowd

Israel

• An Israeli military source says Israeli soldiers opened fire as some in the crowd moved towards them in a way that was "endangering the troops"
• Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman has described what happened as a "tragedy" and said initial indications were that the deaths were caused by delivery trucks "ploughing into crowds of people" waiting for aid to be distributed
• Meanwhile, an IDF statement said residents surrounded aid trucks prior to the incident and "looted supplies", and dozens were killed as a result of "pushing, trampling and being run over by the trucks"