israel

Sources familiar with truce talks have told the BBC that Israel has informed Egyptian mediators it will agree to end military action.

There has been no official confirmation of this from Israel where PM Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting his security cabinet.

Both sides are facing international pressure to end hostilities.

The Israeli security cabinet will vote on a proposed unilateral ceasefire that would take effect within 24 hours, Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported.

The international community has called for an end to the escalating conflict.

Earlier, Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed 10 people in a refugee camp and, separately, destroyed a building that housed foreign media organisations.

Hundreds of Palestinian rockets were fired into Israel, causing one death.

The UN Security Council will meet on Sunday to discuss the situation. US envoy Hady Amr has arrived in Tel Aviv to take part in talks with Israeli, Palestinian and UN officials, and reinforce what US diplomats said was the need for a "sustainable calm".

Deaths continue to mount, with at least 83 people now killed in Gaza and seven in Israel.

A BBC reporter in Gaza said it had been the "longest and most difficult night since the 2014 war". Israel said it had been targeted with 1,600 rockets.

Israel is now mulling a possible ground operation in Gaza.

It has sent reinforcements to the border.

The 13-storey building was attacked an hour and a half after residents and local people were warned to evacuate, Reuters news agency reports.

Israel's military says it is targeting militants in Gaza in response to earlier rocket attacks.

At least 30 people have died in some of the worst violence in years.

The international community has urged both sides to end the escalation, which follows days of unrest in Jerusalem.

The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said nine people, including children, had died in the strikes.

In Jerusalem, the rocket fire caused Israel's parliament to be evacuated as sirens sounded.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians spiralled in recent days.

Gaza's Hamas rulers had threatened to strike after hundreds of Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police in Jerusalem on Monday.

At least 45 people died in the crush at the Lag B'Omer festival, near Mount Meron, when they became trapped in an overcrowded passageway. Some 150 people were injured.

The identification process was paused for 24 hours late on Friday to mark the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest.

Work is expected to resume after sunset on Saturday, which ends the Sabbath.

So far, 22 bodies have been released for burial.

The country's coronavirus death toll remained unchanged at 6346 on Thursday, health ministry data showed.

The last time Israel reported zero Covid-19 deaths was at the end of June last year, after lockdown measures curbed a first wave of infections.

Israel's outbreak has eased after hitting its peak in January this year.

The Israeli government started to relax lockdown restrictions a month later as vaccinations against Covid-19 were rolled out more widely.

The country's second lockdown begins on Friday and lasts at least three weeks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the measures would "exact a heavy price on us all", but the country faced a surge with 4,000 new daily infections.

A minister has resigned to protest against the restrictions that overlap with important Jewish festivals.

The El Al airliner made the three-hour trip, carrying a delegation of Israeli and US officials.

The flight was allowed to cross Saudi Arabian airspace, normally blocked to Israeli air traffic.

The UAE has become only the third Arab country in the Middle East to recognise Israel since its founding in 1948.

On Saturday, the UAE repealed a law boycotting Israel which had been in place since 1972, and last month the two countries opened direct telephone services for the first time.

Palestinian medics said eight members of one family died in the strike, among them five children.

Israel said the attack targeted the home of Rasmi Abu Malhous, who it called a militant commander from the group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

It said no civilians were expected to be in harm's way.

The attack in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, was the deadliest episode in a two-day exchange of fire between Israel and the Palestinian group.

It took place on Thursday, shortly before a ceasefire came into effect.