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That's the end of our Q&A with Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall - thanks for following and sending in your questions. 

He discussed the possibility of sanctions against Israel, Trump's stance on the strikes and the reliability of death tolls released by Hamas.

Bunkall also answered your questions on who broke the ceasefire, how the war could end and whether British aid workers can leave Gaza.

You can watch the Q&A back in the stream at the top of the page or scroll back through his answers below.

"The Americans have gone quiet on that," says Bunkall.

"A lot of the purpose was to jolt the Middle East countries into action, which has actually happened.

"The Egyptians have put together a plan that has got pan-Middle Eastern agreement on, which they want to present to Washington."

He says the Egyptian plan would involve moving Palestinians into different areas of Gaza as the enclave is slowly rebuilt bit by bit.

"It would take years and years, but it's a plan that would not require Palestinians to leave Gaza if they did not wish," Bunkall adds.

He says Trump probably knows his vision for Gaza isn't going to happen.

"He realises it's a non-starter for many reasons and something closer to the Arab plan is going to happen."

However, Bunkall says plans like the one proposed by Egypt will likely be "pushed back" thanks to Israel's resumption of military action in Gaza.

Here's the extraordinary AI video Trump shared on Truth Social last month:

These moments being used as propaganda events certainly angered the Israeli government and many in Israel, says Bunkall.

"Particularly distasteful [was] when a couple of the hostages were taken to watch the release of other hostages and then taken back into captivity.

"That was seen as an act of gross cruelty."

But Bunkall says he does not think that is the reason for Israel's return to military action.

This is a position taken by a lot of people - and Israel, Bunkall says.

"I think stepping back from it, whatever your position on Hamas, this ultimately is a war and wars have two sides. And wars typically end in a negotiated settlement," he says.

"Like it or not, Hamas has a say in that and Hamas has 59 hostages and those hostages for Hamas are valuable bargaining chips."

Bunkall says that if Hamas were to surrender they would be "signing their own death warrant".

Hamas does remain in power in Gaza and control much of the enclave and until Israel, the US and Arab states come up with an alternative power there, Hamas will "continue to rule the streets", Bunkall adds.

Bunkall says Israel closing the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt today will make things "progressively worse" for aid workers and hospitals in the enclave.

"That crossing in recent weeks was staffed by a mission from the EU, bussed in every day from Egypt to man the crossing and allow Palestinians out if they were approved to leave by Israel," he explains.

"I think it's too early to know how any aid workers in Gaza will get out. Often in the first days of conflict in Gaza, everything remains shut."

On the situation for hospitals in Gaza, Bunkall says most of them have been "pretty much destroyed" thanks to fighting going on for the last 15 months.

"The last two months of the ceasefire have helped get supplies in like food, water, medical supplies, generators, fuel to a point where they can function.

"But everything we're hearing from doctors in Gaza today is that they've been overwhelmed as a result of the strikes."

He adds: "Just to remind you, Israel blocked humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza a week or so ago and then shut off electricity supplies it supplies to a desalination plant in Gaza.

"All of that will make things progressively worse."

"I can't see sanctions being introduced any time soon by any country that could have a profound effect on Israel's position whatsoever," says Bunkall.

Very few sanctions have been brought against Israel already, and to have any impact, it "all comes back to the United States as the big supplier of military aid to Israel".

Unless America were to limit supplies, anything the UK, France or Germany does will be "rather limited in its effect".

Bunkall says he "can't see" British-imposed economic sanctions being enacted due to the "strong" economic and security cooperation between the UK and Israel.

Bunkall notes that Israel has said it has plans in place to "expand the conflict and operations if it needs to do so".

"In the two months of the ceasefire, Israel military commanders have been drawing up plans for a renewal of the conflict - that could include a major ground operation," he says.

"If it does, I think it will be different to what we saw the first time around. This is because this time Israel does not need to worry about the threat from Hezbollah" - referring to the Iran-backed, Lebanese militant group that Israel targeted and weakened in a wide-scale aerial bombing campaign.

Bunkall says this means Israel could in turn concentrate more of its ground forces on Gaza and hit the region from "multiple angles all at once".

When it comes to a long-term solution, Bunkall says negotiations will have to resume and this will lead to another ceasefire agreement.

"The US government has supported Israel," Bunkall says.

"They released a statement overnight after the strikes began, saying it was Hamas that had effectively chosen war over the continuation of a ceasefire.

"For the time being, at least, Israel has the backing of the White House. President Trump's support is crucial to Israel carrying this through."

Bunkall explains how Donald Trump, along with his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, played a key role in securing the ceasefire in January and managed to "put pressure on all sides".

"We haven't heard from Trump himself, he's somewhat more engaged with his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the situation in Ukraine," adds Bunkall.

"But as for now, Israel has the support of the White House. How long for is a valid question to ask."

This is a question a lot of us have grappled with throughout this war, Bunkall says.

"We cannot trust them verbatim, we have to caveat our reporting of those figures," he says.

But Israel will not allow international journalists to access Gaza without IDF oversight, so there is "no way of getting on the ground ourselves".

Journalists also use testimony from doctors operating in Gaza, many of whom are international volunteers, adds Bunkall.

"Again, to some extent, we have to take the word of what medical professionals are saying" and separate them from Hamas militants, he says.

"We can't be 100% sure of what the fatality figures are, not least because the aftermath of airstrikes is a very chaotic situation."

Watch: Gaza doctor on 'carnage' of strikes

"Yes it probably was," is Bunkall's immediate answer.

"People in Israel and Gaza probably thought it would break out," he says.

"Everyone, including myself, was surprised the ceasefire held out for as long as it did."

Bunkall says for the past two weeks we have been in an "interim limbo period".

Phase one of the ceasefire "came to an end a few weeks ago and there had been no agreement to go into phase two, so the two sides kept the ceasefire going as an unwritten thing as negotiations continued", he says.

"But I think a lot of people expected this moment to happen."

Watch: Explosions over Gaza AG百家乐在线官网line