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narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. brook: these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. i'm thriving by helping others everyday. people who know, know bdo. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". ♪ >> hello, i'm christian fraser. this is "the context." >> hundreds of thousands of

people on the move for the third or fourth time, not enough transport to move them. many of them are well aware they're moving to a place with no water, no shelter. >> this is part of israel's effort to safeguard the population who we don't want to see copy in the crossfire between the israel defense forces and hamas terrorists so we are urging them to leave areas of expected combat. >> we were sleeping safely, minding our own business. suddenly a bomb fell on us and the whole building is destroyed. my brother is torn into pieces and so is his wife. my daughter was killed and his daughters were killed, including his littlest. we cannot find my mom and my niece. >> the ominous silence has led to 136 families to despair. we understand the escalation of the war due to the breach of the cease-fire by hamas.

we request a meeting with a meeting with the more cabinet to receive updates the fate of our family members now. now. >> all hostages on both sides, because there are 8000 palestinian hostages in israel. the whole population of gaza today, 2.3 million people, are taken hostage by the israeli bombardment. ♪ christian: the israeli military has expanded its ground operation into all areas of gaza. the hamas-run health ministry says the death toll now nearing 16,000. that is fueling tensions across the region. we have a report from our international editor who has been to a palestinian village in the west bank. we will get the thoughts of you and peacekeepers in lebanon who are observing heavy exchanges of

fire between israel and hezbollah. and how will they respond to threats from houthi rebels in the red sea? israel says it has all but completed its military objectives in the north of gaza and is proceeding aggressively, their words, with ground operations in the south. the idf is urging people to evacuate from areas they are targeting. around 170,000 people in khan younis have been warned to leave for their safety. but a spokesperson for unicef says there is nowhere say for people to go, and there are reports from gaza that at least 30 people have been killed at two schools where people were sheltering, including children. earlier reports from the palestinian news agency put the number of the dead at 50. they blame an israeli airstrike. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams is in jerusalem for us tonight. can we talk about operations on

the ground first of all? have seen a variety of maps today. what new information are the idf giving to palestinians on the ground? >> they are basically saying that if you are living in an area just to the east and north of khan younis, one of the largest cities in the southern part of the gaza strip, you need to move west and get out of the way. that map you are seeing on your screen, that read dotted line is the street that runs throughout the gaza strip from north to south. that area is a stretch of road that the israelis are saying, palestinians should not get anywhere near. at the bottom of that dotted line is the city of khan younis. the yellow orange line says this is the alternative route you can take if you want to head to the south. what all of this suggests to me is the israelis are going to try

to cut across north of khan younis toward the sea to cut the southern part of the gaza strip off from the rest. we saw a similar tactic to the north when they cut out gaza city from the rest of the strip. that seems to be the general direction of israeli military efforts at the moment. that would be a prelude to a battle that will probably concentrate on khan younis for the coming weeks. that is leading to enormous concern and fear among people there. they are getting these new instructions, they are more detailed than they were in gaza city. you can look at a map and see block by block which one of the israelis are talking about on any given day, but for people who have had to move several times already, this is exhausting and still confusing. christian: is there an eight operation of any description in

the safe zones they are directing people to? they previously talked about this area to the west of khan younis. now they are saying there are other areas. are these safe areas away from the bombing raids they are mounting? >> it's aittle early to know that, christian. certainly, that idea is gone now. no one was heading in that direction. the israelis pretty much admitted it didn't work. they still describe it as a safe area. what they say now is you should go to you and schools, hospitals -- u.n. schools, hospitals where you are more likely to be safe. i am not sure if everyone knows what constitutes a safe building to shelter in nowadays because even outside of the designated target areas there are still airstrikes which are killing a

lot of people. we don't quite know whether aid will be able to reach would could be a myriad of locations. some aid is certainly getting in. 170 trucks yesterday or so, not sure of the figure today. but it needs to be on an infinitely bigger scale, all the agencies are saying that. everyone is bracing themselves for a few difficult weeks if not months. christian: equally difficult for the families of the hostages in the scenario. we just heard some of them in the headlines, who want more information, given their relatives are likely to be in the south, in the tunnels in the south. i understand there is no negotiation ongoing, hamas says there will be no negotiation until there is a permanency's -- permanent cease-fire. what are they saying to that? >> it's a nonstarter.

you have a situation where all the negotiations have broken down. israelis are saying only extreme military pressure got as any hostages at all until the pause that lasted since last friday, hamas are going for a maximalist position saying only until we see an end to hostilities will we see hostages released. we are down to primarily two hostages who are soldiers, male and female, still some civilians among the hostages being held, and the israelis are extremely angry as they saw as a breach of the agreement by hamas. but for the families involved, who got used to the spectacle of people coming out night after night, they really wanted to see this continue, they hoped that we would see further categories of hostages being released. i should mention, by the way,

there are still older men, still elderly men being held. the families really want to see a process resumed where some of those people could come out next. christian: for the moment, thank you for that. the white house is going to great lengths publicly and privately to urge is really forces to take greater care in taking care of palestinian civilians. there were strong words this week and from vice president kamala harris and u.s. secretary lloyd austin who said it was a strategic imperative for the idf to do better. also criticism of the increasing settler violence on the palestinians living in the occupied west bank. 250 have been killed since october 7. the settler community's claim they are protecting themselves inand that religious jews believe was given to them by god. jeremy bowen has been to the west bank where in entire village has been destroyed. >> palestinian farmers are using the donkey because of their

neighbors. aggressive jewish settlers who will break or steal their tractor if they use it. arabs and jews started fighting over every grain of soil in a land both sides believes should be there is more they century ago. in the west bank, it still comes down to that in every rocky field. in the south and burn hills, palestinians live under constant pressure from jewish settlers, but it's been much worse since the hamas attacks on october 7. the settlers were watching. one of their leaders canceled an interview with us shortly after. palestinians fear another 1948, when their society was destroyed by israel's independence, which arabs call the catastrophe. >> we have been passing through one after another from the palestinian occupation. we cannot handle another.

we don't have any other place to go. this is our land, our property. we need to stand here in this land. >> soldiers came to check but we were doing. one told an israeli colleague that he was a traitor visiting palestinians. they filmed us but took less interest in what happened a few miles down the road. the village had been bulldozed, activists said last night. 200 palestinians left four weeks ago after a barrage of threats from armed jewish settlers. the school was destroyed. britain helped to fund it. the project was called supporting palestinians at risk of forcible transfer. activists said settlers did it to make sure the palestinians would never come back. someone drew jewish stars of david. we went there with a former israeli special forces soldier

who now campaigns against the occupation. >> they are demolishing palestinian villages, beating up farmers, stealing olives. why? because they want this without any palestinians. they want the land without any palestinians. >> palestinians see this and the rest of the settler violence on the west bank as confirmation of their worst fears, that there are powerful elements inside israel, in the government as well as the settler movement, who want them out, and are using the enormous crisis surrounding the gaza war as an opportunity to further their agenda. palestinians have petitioned the israeli supreme court and hope to return. he is going to be much harder now. christian: another area where

tensions are high is further to the north on the border between israel and lebanon. cross-border exchanges between hezbollah and israel resumed hours after the weeklong truce came to an end. pictures from today show smoke rising around various towns and villages inside southern lebanon as is really forces sounded. -- responded. not far from that border is the u.n. observer force. they were agreed to in 1978 to oversee israel's withdraw from southern lebanon, which reminds us how long this conflict has been bubbling. the current spokesperson joins us tonight from beirut. thank you so much for being with us. could you tell me what you have heard today of the action across the border, what your men are seen? >> that is pretty much what we have seen for the last two months, a daily exchange of fire along the blue line.

this is not today the first day, it's been going on for the last two months with a very concerning, tense situation that is very much localized. shelling close to the blue line, four or five kilometers to the withdraw of idf troops in 2000. so far, the conflict has not extended to other areas of the country. christian: i'm always intrigued where your personnel are, what communication is between the two des, what role they play in all of this? >> we are located very much along the blue line. most of our bases, around 50 of them -- we have 10,500 troops from 47 different countries deployed along the blue line. despite the shelling we are

still very much operational. important role of the mission at this point is to keep this channel of communication with the two sides, two countries still at war, and they have no communication. the head of unifil is keeping this coming occasion ongoing, exchanging messages from the parties, trying to de-escalate the tension and prevent a very dangerous misunderstanding. christian: the concern always is there will be a miscalculation. how real is that threat today that a miscalculation on either side could trigger a much wider conflict? >> realistically, after so many weeks of conflict, large numbers of shelling every day, the potential for a wider conflict is increasing on a daily basis. also the potential for a mistake or miscalculation is around the

corner. although very much localized, it's important to emphasize that both sides are using unifil to exchange messages. that means somehow there is not a real appetite for a wider conflict. as you said, a miscalculation can happen at any time. after two months, the potential for a miscalculation is increasing. christian: the americans arrived in jerusalem today, the vice president's staff to begin the talks, work on post gaza, who will run it, what that may look like. from your perspective, whether a un force like unifil could fulfill that role in gaza to keep the peace between the two sides? >> unifil is a mission that has been designed for the south of lebanon. any peacekeeping mission is different. of course you need the commitment of government.

you have to have the request from the israeli government for any peacekeeping missions, deployment of troops also means the authorization and the will from member states. as i said, every peacekeeping mission is different. it needs to be decided by the security council, by the five permanent member states. it is something, as i said, unifil is very much designed for the south of lebanon. any other mission, if there is another mission anywhere else, should be decided by the security council. christian: food for thought. thank you for coming on the program. >> thank you. christian: around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's take a look at the other stories making news in the u.k. today. british lawyers could be stationed in rwandan courts as part of a tree to allow asylum-seekers to be sent there. last month the u.k. supreme

court said the plans were unlawful and downing street said it would publish a treaty to address the court's concerns about the rwandan justice system. the prime minister says the bbc should be realistic about the price of the tv license during high inflation. the fee which is the main source of funding for the bbc has been frozen for the past two years at 159 pounds is due to rise in april in line with inflation. hopes that the 2026 commonwealth games could be held in australia have been set back with the gold coast with its bid to host the event. organizers said they may have to postpone or even cancel the games because federal and state governments have reatedly ruled out supporting them. you are lie would bbc news. the tiny south american nation of guyana says neighboring

venezuela is on the wrong side of history and is risking an armed conflict over and oil-rich and long contested part of the rain forest. over the weekend, venezuela held a referendum on its claim to a massive oil deposit. the people voted to establish a new state. the international court of justice has ordered venezuela to not risk anything that would change the current situation, but there are fears the venezuelan president nicolas maduro has taken the steps toward a takeover, even though the referendum was nonbinding and the turnout was low joining us to talk more about this is our south american correspondent katy watson. can we talk about the oil? what was found, who sticks a claim to it, and what role does exxon mobil play in this? >> the role it plays, that is why there is so much interest in this area. it's about two thirds of guyana,

1/5 of the population. this is a dispute that has been going on for more than a century. venezuela said it would be under its ownership under the spanish colonial period, but it was in 1889 that an arbitration court said actually it belongs to british guyana at the time. that was when the british ruled over. it is now guyana. there has been lots of attempts to try and come to an agreement. nothing was done. it was not exactly controversial until 2015, when huge deposits were found offshore as well. this has renewed interests certainly from venezuela. christian: formally a british colony. one of the only english-speaking countries in south america.

there were people on socl media sort of drawn comparisons with the falkland islands because of the british history. is it comparable? >> i think this is a part of the world that was kind of chopped up by different colonies. that is very controversial here. if you spoke to the venezuelans, they probably would argue that it is a part of their territory. we saw the results. 95% of venezuelans agreed with the referendum, that it should be a part of venezuelan territory. understand that those figures are not necessarily hugely trustworthy. nicholas maduro said it was a victory for the country. turnout was low despite what his administration argued. the no campaign, there was a real g, a lot of critics saw this as posturing to foment

national sentiment ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. there is a lot of cynicism around why there has been this referendum. the issue of the falcon islands, there is no argument in most of latin america. they are argentina's. that is very controversial, still goes on across the region, not just argentina. this is something that people do compare it to, yes. christian: we believe that there. thank you very much. we will talk a little more about venezuela later in the program. an interesting story, the history involved in that. let's return to tensions in the middle east for a short while. there has bn quite a lot of activity in the red sea, not surprisingly, insurance companies have been increasing the more risk premium for shipping companies. three commercial vessels were struck on sunday by drones fired by the iran-backed houthi rebels.

u.s. central command said that the uss carney shot down three drones that were lodged by houthis. the pentagon says they will consider an appropriate response. let's go live to san francisco to speak to a retired colonel with the u.s. marine corps. thank you for being with us, brendan. what option do you believe are on the table? houthis are iranian-backed, so how serious do you think the pentagon will be taking this? >> the pentagon, fm the very beginning, has been taking it very seriously. the problem has been, honestly, our response has been in the form of pinpricks. we bomb and ammunition dump out in the middle of the syrian desert to send a message to the iranians, and the iranians are laughing at us, or we do some damage in yemen.

all we do there is blow up some sand dunes. it has been completely ineffective so far. christian: what are you suggesting? are you saying there needs to be a much more deliberate campaign, maybe even taking it to iran? >>bsolutely. i firmly believe that. i am not one for the expansion of hostilities unnecessarily, but the red sea, that area is akin to -- in terms of the influence it has geopolitically for virtually the entire world as it comes to trade. it is one of those places, years ago when i was on active duty, we looked at as a quote unquote go to war place. if somebody interjects the flow of see navigation through those chokepoints, that is where you get very serious. i'm afraid the united states has

not shown a serious response. that is what has to be conveyed to the iranians, to stop this. christian: surely, the risk would always be -- why they have these proxies -- as soon as you focus on the revolutionary guard or the move to weapons from iran, they will unleash the proxies. you unleash pandora's box. surely the white house is conscious of that. houthis as a proxy of iran have already been released. they have been causing mischief in that part of the world for years now. the other iranian proxies, in terms of what is going on in gaza, south lebanon, that mischief is ongoing, too. it's a question of whether or not we can convey a serious message to the iranians to cease and desist. it is bad enough what is going on in gaza. truly tragedy. but if they want to expand the war into the red sea or other

places around the middle east, then we have got to convey to them that we are serious. the only way that youan convey that to them is by force. if that means a massive strike into iran, so be it. christian: really interesting. lots of people will share that view that it is a no go area, the red sea, because of the amount of traffic running through the area. we will talk plenty more about that through the course of the program. certainly tensions are high in the lebanon and the red sea area. we will take a short break. on the other side, we are focusing on matters in dubai and the cop 22 summit, the global stock-taking which is going on. into that on the other s narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors.

narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by...