Israeli-Palestinian fighting escalated Thursday despite international calls on both sides to exercise restraint. Heavy Israeli bombardment on Gaza City destroyed yet another multi-story tower housing the offices of media organisations, according to Palestinian journalists. It was followed by a barrage of Hamas rockets fired at Israel, as the death toll mounted to at least 83 Palestinians and seven Israelis killed since Monday. Follow events on our live blog below.
- The latest outbreak of fighting, the worst since 2014, has killed at least 83 people, including 17 children and six women, and injured 487 in Gaza, according to local health authorities. Seven Israelis, including three women and two children, have been killed since Monday.
- An Israeli soldier was killed in a missile attack near Gaza in Israel's first military death in days of fighting with Hamas. Israel killed 16 senior Hamas figures in air strikes on Wednesday, according to the Shin Bet security service. Hamas confirmed the killing of its senior Gaza City commander “along with a few of his fellow brothers of leaders and holy fighters”.
- Jewish-Arab violence and riots erupted in several Israeli cities and towns as night fell after a day of heavy fighting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a state of emergency in the city of Lod after rioting by Israeli Arab citizens.
- US President Joe Biden, after speaking with Netanyahu, said his “expectation and hope is that this will be closing down sooner than later, but Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory”.
- Israel's civil aviation authority said it had diverted all incoming passenger flights headed for Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport to Ramon airport in the south. British Airways and Lufthansa are among a handful of European and North American carriers who have cancelled their flights to and from Tel Aviv.
- US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and is sending Hady Amr, US deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Israeli and Palestinian affairs, to the region in a bid to try to de-escalate the crisis.
- The UN Security Council held another emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the fighting. But the US blocked a joint statement, according to diplomats. During an earlier meeting on Monday, the US also refused to back a text calling on all parties to refrain from provocation.
- Tensions first flared last Friday when Israeli riot police clashed with crowds of Palestinians at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
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