Yesterday, Israel agreed to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza, ending it's 11-week blockade.

Some UN sources are hoping that around 100 trucks will be allowed to enter Gaza today, a much higher figure than the five trucks that crossed on Monday.

Kerem Shalom is a solely commercial goods junction with Israel in southern Gaza.

There are two other border crossings from and into the Gaza Strip - the Rafah crossing is the southernmost post of exit from Gaza and borders Egypt's Sinai peninsula, and Erez, a crossing for people into Israel in northern Gaza.

At the Kerem Shalom crossing, where attention has been focused today, BBC's Wyre Davies has been monitoring the age of aid trucks carrying food and goods.

BBC has been looking at satellite imagery indicating that Israel has been preparing a series of sites in Gaza that could be used as distribution centres for delivering aid.

After analysing images it appears some land has already been cleared, with new roads and staging areas constructed at several locations in southern and central Gaza in recent weeks.

Our investigation has more on these secure distribution centres.

Image source, Reuters

Earlier, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that 14,000 babies could die in the next 48 hours if aid supplies don't reach them.

We're now hearing from mothers in Gaza, who tell BBC Arabic's Middle East Daily programme that they’re "watching their children grow weak from hunger".

Shahinaz, a mother of two, says she her seven-month-old baby "screams constantly from hunger".

She explains that her baby’s immune system is very weak and her daughter is suffering from a calcium deficiency. "No-one is able to help us in our suffering," she adds.

Fatima Khamis, a mother of two young children, shares that she can no longer produce breast milk, and baby formula is either unavailable or unaffordable.

"My baby's face is pale from hunger, and he is severely weak," she says, adding that the "root cause - lack of food and proper nutrition - remains".

A third mother, Hana Mahmoud Ismail, says the lack of food during her pregnancy affected her baby’s development.

"He still cannot sit up, and his teeth have not yet started to come in," she said of her five-month-old son.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

I’ve received a voice note from Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Haimi was killed in the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks and his body taken to Gaza - where it remains.

Fifty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

“I’m extremely concerned about this ongoing military action happening now because of the grave danger it poses to the living hostages who may get killed in the military operation and, of course, to the murdered hostages whose [remains] can get lost,” Goren says.

“It has been proven beyond any doubt that the best way to bring hostages back is by g deals,” he says, adding that he understands the “great difficulty in g deals with this deadly terrorist organisation”.

Udi says that "saving people's lives" should be the priority.

“Not just the hostages' lives, but also the hostage families' lives and Gazan lives. All these lives should be spared and the only way to do it is by bringing back all the hostages and thus ending the war," he says.

Image source, Handout

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent, reporting from Washington

Meanwhile, over in the US:

I’m sitting in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington where Trump’s top diplomat Marco Rubio’s testimony has just been interrupted by protesters against the Gaza war.

A man and two women were each dragged out after shouting “stop the genocide” within minutes of Rubio starting. The second tried to make her way up the aisle towards where Rubio is sitting, before being hauled away and carried out of the room by two security staff.

It followed a warning from committee chair James Risch at the opening of the session that any protesters would face arrest if they interrupted the hearing.

It’s Rubio’s first appearance as secretary of state before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Wyre Davies
Reporting from southern Israel

We're turning our attention back to the situation on the ground in Gaza now, here's the latest from Wyre Davies, who is at the border crossing in southern Israel:

Here at the Kerem Shalom crossing at Israel’s southern border with Gaza is where, ordinarily, much of the food and goods getting into Gaza would cross.

Today, there’s only been a trickle of trucks ing our vantage point and into the inspection compound. Among those I saw were six trucks laden with white sacks, probably flour, and stamped with the logo of the World Food Programme.

But the trucks aren’t crossing straight into Gaza.

Many of them appear to have been held here in the compound for a couple hours before they’re taken to an inspection area. After inspection the goods would usually then be transferred onto other trucks on the Palestinian side, before being taken to storage and distribution points in Gaza.

Officials here, and some UN sources, have said that around 100 trucks may be allowed into Gaza today, carrying various amounts of “basic food aid” that Israel has said will be permitted after it came under increasing international pressure to lift its two-month-long blockade.

That’s significantly more than the much criticised five trucks that crossed on Monday, but still nowhere near the 600 trucks a day that UN bodies say are needed to begin tackling Gaza’s chronic humanitarian crisis.

Indeed, as Israel’s escalating military operation campaign continues across Gaza, there are many more Israeli military vehicles - including tanks and personnel carriers - crossing back and forth than there are trucks carrying aid.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has just made a statement in the House of Commons on the government's response to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

If you're just ing us, here are the key lines:

• The UK has suspended negotiations with Israel on a new free trade agreement
• The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, has been summoned to the Foreign Office to be told by the UK's Middle East minister that Israel's block on aid to Gaza has been "indefensible"

• He says the conflict is "entering a dark new phase", adding it is "abominable" that fewer than 10 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday
• Netanyahu's government are "damaging the image of the State of Israel in the eyes of the world", Lammy says

Israel's foreign affairs spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, responds to the UK's decision to suspend trade talks with Israel.

In a post on X, Marmorstein says free trade negotiations "were not being advanced at all by the UK government" prior to the David Lammy's announcement in the House of Commons.

He says that if the UK wants to harm its economy "due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations", then that is the country's "own prerogative".

On the UK sanctions , externalagainst a number of individuals and groups in the West Bank, Israel's foreign affairs spokesman says they are "unjustified".

Marmorstein also says that Israel is mourning "yet another victim of Palestinian terror — Tzeela Gez, of blessed memory, who was murdered on her way to the delivery room. Doctors continue fighting for her newborn’s life in hospital."

"External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction."

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

David Lammy said the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had made the UK's steps today necessary.

Addressing the people of Israel, he said “the conduct of the war in Gaza is damaging our relationship with your government.”

The government, he said, would take “further action” if Israel pursues its latest military offensive in Gaza and fails to ensure “the unhindered provision of aid.”

“Despite our efforts, this Israeli government's egregious actions and rhetoric have continued,” Mr Lammy said.

“They are isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the State of Israel in the eyes of the world.”

As we just reported, David Lammy has announced a suspension of UK-Israeli trade talks.

Lammy also says that the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, has been summoned to the Foreign Office.

He says that Middle East minister Hamish Falconer will tell Hotovely that "the 11-week block on aid to Gaza has been cruel and indefensible”.

Lammy adds that the war in Gaza is damaging the UK's relationship with Israel, before announcing that the government will impose sanctions on three individuals and four entities involved in the settler movement.

"Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing concerns of friends and partners is indefensible and it must stop," he says.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy says the UK has suspended negotiations with the Israeli government on a new free trade agreement.

Speaking in the Commons, he said: “We have suspended negotiations with this Israeli government on a new free trade agreement. We will be reviewing co-operation with them under the 2030 bilateral roap.

“The Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary.”

Image source, House of Commons

More from David Lammy now, who says "we are entering a dark new phase of this conflict".

"Netanyahu's government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the Strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need," he says.

Fewer than 10 trucks entered Gaza yesterday, Lammy notes, describing the situation as "intolerable" and "abominable".

He quotes Benjamin Netanyahu, who says there will be "just enough" aid to "prevent hunger".

"Prime Minister Netanyahu, end this blockade now, and let the aid in," Lammy says.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is now speaking in the House of Commons.

He begins by saying the "threat of starvation is hanging over civilians" in Gaza.

Adding that the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas are at a "heightened risk" as war rages on around them.

"The humanitarian catastrophe intensifies," he adds.

We'll continue to bring you the key lines as Lammy speaks in the House of Commons. Stay with us.

Image source, PA Media

We're expecting to hear from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy shortly.

He will address the House of Commons on the government's response to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

As a reminder, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said earlier that the UK, along with their French and Canadian allies, were "horrified by the escalation from Israel".

We'll bring you the key lines and developments from Lammy as we get them. You can follow along by clicking watch live at the top of this page shortly.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

We have made with a woman inside the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza.

In a brief phone call, the woman said: “We are OK. They hit the room we were in, and now the tanks are back. They are shooting crazily", before asking to speak again later.

A loud crash could be heard at the end of the call.

Footage shows bullet holes in a hospital room.

The woman later sent a message to say she was safe but that the "situation is difficult".

Hadiki Habib, chairman of the MER-C Indonesia NGO that built the Indonesian Hospital, said he had also been told by medics inside that bullets had hit the walls of a room they were sheltering in this morning.

As we have reported, the Israeli military says its forces have been targeting “terrorist infrastructure sites” in northern Gaza, including an area adjacent to the Indonesian Hospital.

When approached by the BBC, the Israel Defense Forces said it was "operating in the area of the hospital but not inside of it and we haven't hit it". It did not comment on the images of the bullet marks.

Earlier, we reported that the UK, and Canada released a t statement demanding that Israel changes course.

The three Western powers threatened "further concrete actions" if Israel does not stop its military offensive and allow aid into Gaza.

Hamas welcomed the move. In response, Israel says the UK, and Canada are standing on the "wrong side of history".

"When you’re praised by Hamas... you’re on the wrong side of history," the official of Israel State posted on X.

Image source, Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

An opposition Israeli MP says Israel is "becoming a pariah state", accusing the country of "killing babies as a hobby".

In an interview with Israeli public radio yesterday, the leader of Israel's Democrats party, Yair Golan, said: “A sane country doesn’t engage in fighting against civilians, doesn’t kill babies as a hobby and doesn’t set for itself the goals of expelling a population.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hit back at Golan's comments. In a post on X, he writes that Golan has hit a "new low", and accuses him of "trumpeting the most despicable antisemitic blood libels" against Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers.

"The IDF is the most moral army in the world, and our soldiers are fighting a battle for our very existence," he writes.

In a statement, the IDF says it operates "against our enemies, out of loyalty to the IDF's values, to the law, and to international law, while uncompromisingly safeguarding the security of the state of Israel and its citizens."

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says 87 people have died and 290 others injured in the territory over the past 24 hours.

The latest figures bring the number of people killed in Gaza to 53,573 since 7 October 2023, according to the ministry.

Caroline Hawley
Diplomatic correspondent

Israel’s decision to allow limited aid into Gaza “barely scratches the surface” of need, according to aid organisation the International Rescue Committee.

It says that its health teams in the Gaza Strip have seen rates of child malnutrition double in a single month.

Its latest assessments found that nearly three in five families can’t find bread or fresh food, over 60% are struggling to access clean water, and canned food is vanishing from shelves.

“What people in Gaza need is consistent, sustained access to all essential supplies — not just food and medicine, but also water, fuel, and hygiene items,” says Zoe Daniels, the IRC’s country director.

“Without this, humanitarian operations cannot function. Increased displacement orders are further complicating our ability to move staff and goods safely, limiting our reach while needs continue to grow. We urgently need unfettered, safe, and sustained humanitarian access at the scale and speed this crisis demands.”

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

International humanitarian experts have warned of looming famine in Gaza and the growing outcry has pushed Israel to ease its blockade on aid – which it says it imposed to pressure Hamas.

A day ago, only five lorries carrying desperately needed supplies managed to enter. Dozens more are now expected to be cleared after undergoing Israeli security checks.

The UN’s emergency coordinator Tom Fletcher told the BBC that what’s gone in so far is “a drop in the ocean” of what’s needed. He also claimed that 14,000 babies would die in the next 48 hours if food didn’t reach them.

Asked to confirm that figure at a news conference, a UN spokesman avoided repeating it. Instead, he said there were babies in "urgent life-saving need of supplements", because their mothers were "unable to feed themselves".

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

European Commission's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says the EU's main executive body will "discuss" a review into Article Two of the European Union's association agreement with Israel.

The discussion is a proposal from Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, she adds.

Article Two of the agreement states that relations "shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles". Veldkamp called Israel's blockade of aid a violation of this agreement, the Guardian reports.

Speaking to reporters, Kallas says: "Of course Israel's decision to let some of the aid in is a drop in the ocean, it’s welcomed but it's not enough.

"There are thousands of trucks behind the borders waiting - it is European money that has funded this humanitarian aid and it has to reach the people because the situation is extremely grave."