The Israeli military issued evacuation orders in Gaza earlier this morning, following their overnight strikes.

The entire border of the Gaza Strip was designated a dangerous zone - marked in red below - and people were told to leave the areas of Beit Hanoun, Khuza'a, Abasan al-Kabira and Abasan al-Jadida.

People were advised to move to shelters in western Gaza City and Khan Younis.

Since then, we've been seeing images of people travelling to these areas, some with horses and others with vehicles, carrying what belongings they can take with them.

Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says at three of the facilities the charity s in Gaza, it received 75 people dead on arrival, along with “scores of wounded” following Israel’s attacks.

In a statement, general director of MSF Claire Magone says staff were "completely taken by surprise and found themselves once again having to deal with influxes of mass casualties, many of whom were children".

The charity calls for the ceasefire to be "immediately restored" and for Israel "to not restart its campaign of destruction and the nightmarish, massive bombing on the people of Gaza," as well as calling “for the blockade to be lifted, and for people to regain unrestricted access to basic supplies and aid."

As we've been reporting, Israel launched a deadly wave of strikes on Gaza on Monday night, which the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says killed over 400 people.

Israel's military says it's been hitting "terror targets" across the territory, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier saying that the strikes were “just the beginning,” adding that combat in Gaza has resumed with “full force.”

BBC has been assessing footage of the strikes and building a picture of the damage done.

A defiant statement from Netanyahu, but will a return to fighting get Israel what it wants?published at 19:57 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

19:57 GMT 18 March

Emir Nader
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

The statements that we've had from some of the hostage families throughout today are that military pressure will endanger their loved ones on the ground in Gaza.

In his statement, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu struck a very defiant, perhaps belligerent, tone - saying military pressure is a necessary condition of releasing the hostages. And that Israel intends to return to fighting, at full force.

It now looks as though the original ceasefire deal, fleshed out over many months - which includes a plan for a permanent ceasefire as part of the second phase - could be off the table on the Israeli side.

When the first phase of that deal expired at the beginning of March, immediately Israel imposed a full halt on aid entering Gaza, as a way of trying to eke out concessions from Hamas.

It seems that hasn't worked and now, as Netanyahu has said, we're seeing the resumption of military hostilities.

What remains to be seen is whether that decision will get Israel the concessions it wants, but hasn't yet been able to achieve.

We've more to bring you now from Benjamin Netanyahu.

Following his televised statement, which we just reported on, and which he delivered in Hebrew, the Israeli PM released a separate written statement in English.

In it, he explains the decision to resume fighting in Gaza - saying Israel accepted an offer from US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Wiftkoff, to extend the ceasefire deal and accuses Hamas of refusing to do the same.

He adds that this is why he authorised "the renewal of military action against Hamas" - thanking Trump for his "unwavering for Israel".

• For context: Israel has said multiple times today that the US was informed about its overnight strikes on Gaza, with Hamas saying in return that the US "bears full responsibility for the massacres".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just delivered a televised statement - here are the key lines:

• Israel has resumed combat in Gaza with “full force”, Netanyahu said in his broadcast from Tel Aviv
• He said the wave of strikes launched on Gaza overnight and throughout the day are “just the beginning” - adding that the fighting would continue until Israel had achieved its war aims
• The PM accused Hamas of rejecting the proposals Israel brought to ceasefire talks. From now on, “negotiations will only be done under fire”, he added

• He thanked Israelis and said together they are "changing the face of the Middle East". "We will win," he concluded

Netanyahu says Israel is in the middle of the war - which he claims they are winning - but says the military campaign is not over yet.

He says he highly appreciates "our American friends" in acting against Iran.

"There's one thing I'm certain of," he says. "We will beat them and we can overcome them."

He ends by saying: "We will win."

We'll wrap up the key lines from his statement for you shortly. Stay with us.

Netanyahu addresses the people of Israel directly.

"We have made incredible achievements up until today," he says, adding that "together we are changing the face of the Middle East".

He says the public must not believe Hamas propaganda and nothing will stop Israel from achieving its war aims.

Netanyahu, continuing to speak, says the strikes launched overnight and continued throughout today are “just the beginning”.

Israel will continue to fight to achieve its goals, he says, including the release of all hostages held by Hamas.

Israel has resumed combat in Gaza with full force, says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu while giving a statement in Tel Aviv.

He adds that Israel made efforts to return the hostages, extended the first phase of the ceasefire by weeks, and sent delegations to Doha and Cairo.

He says Hamas rejected the proposals every time.

We'll bring you more from his statement shortly.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is speaking now, and we're going to bring you what he says in our next few posts.

It comes after the Israeli military launched overnight strikes on Gaza - the first since a ceasefire began in January.

You can follow our stream of the statement by tapping the watch live button at the top of the page.

Stay with us.

Image source, Reuters

While we wait to hear from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, here's a reminder of where we're at with the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

• 15 January: A long-awaited ceasefire is agreed by Israel and Gaza
• 19 January: The ceasefire's first phase begins - fighting stops, Israeli hostage and Palestinian prisoner releases begin, and aid is allowed back into Gaza
• 10 February: After successful hostage releases in previous weeks, Hamas pauses the next release, claiming Israel violated the ceasefire
• 11 February: Netanyahu warns Hamas it will end the ceasefire if the next hostages are not returned, as planned, by 15 February
• 15 February: Hamas goes ahead with the hostage release, freeing Alexander Troufanov, 29, Yair Horn, 46, and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 26
• 1 March: The first phase of the ceasefire ends. Talks between Israel and Hamas begin in Qatar, to negotiate for a second stage, which would include a permanent ceasefire
• 2 March: Netanyahu says Israel has accepted a plan by US envoy Steve Witkoff "to extend the temporary ceasefire by 50 days" to discuss the second stage; Hamas says this is "a blatant attempt to evade the agreement and avoid entering into negotiations for the second phase"
• 18 March: The Israeli military says it is carrying out "extensive strikes" in the Gaza Strip, with the Hamas-run health ministry reporting more than 400 Palestinians killed. It marks the largest wave of air strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire began

It always seemed likely the ceasefire would be broken, but what happens next is unclearpublished at 17:50 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

17:50 GMT 18 March

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

The fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire which came into force on 19 January always seemed likely to be broken.

It came under greater strain once Israel, backed by the US, demanded to change its .

It wants to extend its first phase and see Hamas release more hostages, not move into the second stage which requires it to pull out its troops.

Hamas’s still very visible presence has sent a clear message to Israel that its war aim to destroy it has still not been realised. So Israel has been ramping up the pressure.

No aid has entered Gaza this month - a move, says Downing Street in the UK, and many others, that puts Israel at clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law.

It’s still not clear how long these strikes will last.

Israel media are full of speculation that there’s politics in this deadly mix - Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has to the national budget by the end of this month. His right-wing allies keeping him in power want the Gaza war to go on.

But the families of Israeli hostages still held there are angry too - knowing every day of war is a day which puts their loved ones at greater risk.

We're expecting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a statement in the next hour.

When that happens, we'll bring you his key points right here - plus you'll be able to watch along live at the top of this page.

Stay with us until then as we continue to bring you the latest.

Image source, United Nations

Following on from our last post, Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour has also been speaking at the Security Council meeting - saying last night's strikes on Gaza mean "the same images are back to haunt us".

"Small children on gurneys, little siblings injured and disoriented trying to comfort and reassure each other, entire families killed, children, mothers, fathers, searching for their loved ones under the rubble, not knowing if they are dead or alive," he says.

He tells the UN that there must be no reduction in Gaza's territory or forced displacement, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being "self-serving" and caring more about his political survival than the return of hostages.

Mansour also says US President Donald Trump has prioritised the release of hostages in the region - something the US's interim ambassador to the UN also said (you can read that in our last post).

Image source, Reuters

The US says Hamas is to blame for the renewed fighting in Gaza.

At a UN Security Council meeting, acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea says Hamas has rejected every proposal and deadline in recent weeks. That includes a plan to extend the ceasefire beyond Ramadan and over to allow time to negotiate a permanent truce.

Responding to claims of indiscriminate attacks by Israel’s military, Shea says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are targeting Hamas positions and that "it is well known that Hamas continues to use civilian infrastructure as launching pads."

"President Trump has made clear that Hamas must release the hostages immediately or pay a high price, and we Israel in its next steps," she tells delegates.

Earlier, Israel's government spokesman David Mencer said the country's return to fighting Hamas was "fully coordinated with Washington". Trump is yet to comment on the strikes.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent

We've reported some of these names already, but the key Hamas figures now confirmed killed in the overnight Israeli airstrikes are as follows:

• Yasser Harb, member of Hamas’ political bureau, along with his family
• Engineer Issam Al-Da’alis, Hamas government head and member of the political bureau
• Major General Mahmoud Abu Watfa, deputy interior minister in Gaza and the highest-ranking Hamas security official
• Brigadier General Bahjat Abu Sultan, head of Hamas’ Internal Security Agency, the group’s most powerful security apparatus
• Abu Omar Al-Hattah, Deputy Minister of Justice in Gaza

Meanwhile, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) - an allied armed group of Hamas - also confirmed the death of its spokesman Naji Abu Seif, otherwise known as Abu Hamza.

Video shows people buried under rubble at school site in Gazapublished at 15:58 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

15:58 GMT 18 March

By Jake Horton

Image source, Instagram

A video verified by our team shows graphic images of first aid workers digging through rubble to find what appear to be dead bodies at the site of a school in northern Gaza.

The Al-Tabaeen school in Gaza City has been used to house displaced people during the conflict between Hamas and the Israeli military.

We know the video was taken at the site as you can see a distinctive courtyard in the footage, which matches previous images of the school.

Although the exact timing of the footage is unclear, it appears to have been taken at night and the first version of it we can find was from early on Tuesday.

The site has been hit previously - in August last year 80 people were reportedly killed in a strike there, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

At the time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, without providing evidence, it had struck a "Hamas control centre" there. The IDF is yet to comment on the latest incident at the site.

We heard earlier that the Israeli government had given the White House notice before launching overnight strikes on Gaza, after an Israeli official told the BBC’s US partner CBS News as much.

Israel has since doubled down on that claim, with government spokesman David Mencer saying the return to fighting was "fully coordinated with Washington" - and thanking the Trump istration "for their unyielding for Israel" and for the "fortification of Israel's security".

The alliance is "stronger than ever", he told reporters. Trump is yet to comment on the strikes.

BBC World Service's Emir Nader, who was at the news conference, asked Mencer for his response to the families of hostages who say the government has given up on those still being held by Gaza and is pulling out of a deal that would have brought everyone home.

"It is Hamas that took these hostages," Mencer responded to the question, arguing that Hamas "could set them free" if it wanted to. "Hamas cannot be trusted," he added.