Palestinians have begun gathering across the occupied West Bank to mark the anniversary of the displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.

Nakba Day, Arabic for “catastrophe”, comes this year at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and the militant group Hamas that rules Gaza.

The main event on Saturday is being held in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered.

Some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war – and today, they and their descendants number about 5.7 million and mostly reside in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Israel has expressed concern over the “escalating spiral of violence” in Israel and Palestine, urging all sides to commit to a ceasefire.

“The UAE is alarmed by the escalating spiral of violence in Israel and Palestine,” H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said.

“We express our condolences to all victims of the recent fighting, and join others in calling for an immediate cessation of violence and hostilities.

“The UAE calls on all parties to take immediate steps to commit to a ceasefire, initiate a political dialogue, and exercise maximum restraint.”

He added: “The events of the past week have been a somber reminder of the urgent need for peaceful dialogue and reconciliation.

“We reflect on the promise that the Abraham Accords hold for current and future generations, to live with their neighbors in peace, dignity and prosperity.”

The death toll from an Israeli air raid in Gaza City early on Saturday has risen to at least 10 Palestinians in the deadliest single strike this week.

An airstrike on a three-storey house in a refugee camp in the city is understood to have killed eight children and two women from an extended family.

Several thousand people have marched in Australia to protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza following days of conflict in the region.

In Sydney, protesters gathered at Town Hall to march through the streets, chanting slogans such as “Free, free Palestine” and “Free, free Gaza”.

“I see an uprising,” Walla Abu-Eid, a protester in Sydney, said. “I see people who are no longer going to remain silent. People who are fed up, people who are responding to oppression and violence by standing up for themselves.”

In Melbourne, protesters gathered at the State Library of Victoria and then marched to Parliament House, with many carrying “Free Palestine” posters.

At least 132 people have been killed in Gaza since Monday, including 32 children and 21 women, according to Palestinian medical officials.

Eight people have been killed in Israel, including six civilians, among them two children, according to Israeli authorities.

Pro-Palestinian protesters from Lebanon stormed border fences and briefly entered Israel on Friday, while hundreds in Jordan attempted the same along the country’s eastern frontier.

The incident represented another escalation in the crisis engulfing the region this week, sparking concern from political leaders and international organisations.

Our Middle East correspondent, Bel Trew, has the full story below:

Hundreds of young Palestinian demonstrators in multiple towns clashed on Friday with Israeli troops, who shot and killed at least 11 people, as unrest in Israel and Gaza spilled over into the West Bank.

In the occupied West Bank, on the outskirts of Ramallah, Nablus and other towns and cities, hundreds of Palestinians protested against the campaign against Gaza and Israeli actions in Jerusalem.

The demonstrators trucked in tires that they set up in burning barricades and hurled stones at Israeli soldiers, while waving Palestinian flags.

At least 10 protesters were shot and killed by soldiers, and an 11th Palestinian was killed when he tried to stab a soldier at a military position, according to reports.

An Israeli air raid in Gaza City has killed at least seven Palestinians in the deadliest single strike since violence in the region erupted earlier this week.

The militant group Hamas reported that the number was likely to rise as efforts to recover casualties from under the rubble of a house on the edge of the Shati refugee camp were still ongoing.

Said Alghoul, who lives nearby, said Israeli warplanes dropped at least three bombs on the three-story house without warning its residents in advance.

“I saw the bodies of four people, including children, being rushed to the hospital,” he said.

“I could not endure and ran back to my home.”

The BBC’s Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has shared the reported names of the people who were killed in the strike below:

Update: As of 10am on Saturday, the death toll from the airstrike has risen to at least 10 Palestinians.

The Biden administration’s “silence” on Israel is encouraging war crimes in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and the West Bank, a Palestinian government official has warned.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesperson for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, urged on Saturday for US officials to actively intervene to stop Israel’s bombardment of Gaza this week.

“The silence of the US administration regarding what Israel is doing and describing it as self-defence has led to massacres in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem,” Mr Abu Rudeineh said.

“Israel, which is waging a war against the Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites, is dragging the region into a situation that no one can bear the consequences by harming the interests of the region and the world.”

He added that the Palestinian people would “never give up or abandon their land, Jerusalem and the holy sites”.

Against the backdrop of a potential protracted war in Gaza, violence has flared up between Jewish-Israeli and Arab-Palestinian communities in Israel’s cities.

The clashes are a “war within a war” that threatens to fracture the country further, even if attempts to bring a ceasefire between governing authorities are successful.

Our Middle East correspondent, Bel Trew, has the full story below:

A US envoy has arrived in Tel Aviv for de-escalation talks following continued unrest between Israel and Palestinian groups in recent days.

Hady Amr, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for Israel-Palestinian affairs, will take part in talks with Israeli, Palestinian and UN officials in the hope of agreeing on a ceasefire after days of deadly airstrikes.

The US embassy in Israel said the trip was aimed at reinforcing “the need to work toward a sustainable calm”.

It came after US president Joe Biden gave his support to Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call on Thursday, arguing that there had “not been a significant overreaction” in the country’s response to rocket attacks by Hamas.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is preparing to hold a meeting on Sunday with hopes of bringing an end to the recent violence in the region.