the united nations secretary general has in the last hour made two direct humanitarian appeals to both hamas and israel. antonio guterres issued a statement saying it was his duty as we are on the verge of the abyss in the middle east . he called on hamas to immediately release the hostages it was holding without conditions. and urged israel to allow rapid and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid into gaza including supplies and workers for the sake of civilians there. mr guterres said each one of these two objectives are valid in themselves. they should not become bargaining chips and must be implemented because it s the right thing to do . the statement comes as the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, said his military is ready to begin at any moment a ground offensive aimed at crushing hamas. thousands of people in the gaza strip are continuing to flee south after an order by israel for more than a million people to evacuate. these are the latest dev
hello, i m ben thompson. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, says the military is ready to begin at any moment a ground offensive aimed at crushing hamas. thousands of people in the gaza strip are continuing to flee south after an order by israel for more than a million people to evacuate. these are the latest developments in the israel gaza war. israeli troops continue to mass near gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive, but it has given no indication of when it might mount an attack. these pictures show tanks arriving today. the israeli air strikes on gaza continue. it says it is targeting hamas positions. hamas is designated as a terror organisation by many western governments, including the uk. in the last hour, gazan health officials have said 2,670 palestinians have now been killed and 9,600 wounded in israel s bombing campaign. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has held the first meeting of his emergency cabinet. he described those who k
starting with the developments in israel, where the military says it s preparing for a major ground offensive into gaza. prime minister benjamin netanyahu convened a cabinet meeting of the country s expanded emergency government and has promised to destroy hamas, the group designated as a terror organisation by many western governments, including the uk, which was behind last week s massacre of nearly 1,500 israelis. the military response from israel has already seen more than 2,600 people killed in gaza from airstrikes, according to the health ministry there. the united nations says gaza is now witnessing an unprecedented human catastrophe . we ll report from inside gaza, and take a look at how any israeli military operation might pan out. and what of the ongoing diplomatic efforts in the crisis? but first, here s the bbc s jeremy bowen with the latest. along the border, it looked like the eve of battle. in the next few days, israel will send its armed forces into the gaza