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creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. announcer: 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" quick hello. i'm christian fraser. this is the context. >> the largest invasion by the israeli military into the west bank since 2002. israeli militants are cutting off the north and limiting access to the north. >> this morning all but one road

was closed driving into jenin. word from palestinian taxi drivers that their cars are being shot out -- shot at. israel says it's a counterterrorism operation. >> in my mind is long overdue. over the last 2.5, three years we have seen a steady rise in terrorist attacks emanating from palestinian terrorist organizations in the area you referred to as the west bank. most israelis call it judeo and samaria. --judean samaria. >> israeli incursions in the west bank the biggest in years. the united nations as its fuel in an already explosive situation. tonight the security council meets to discuss another worry and development so bad in gaza that polio is making a comeback. at the united nations says they need a pause in the fighting to

begin vaccination. the middleast part of the discussions in paris today were the british prime resident was meeting with president macron. ukraine was also on the agenda. president zelenskyy says his country developed its own long-range weapon. will it allowed strike it deep into russia? and, the smoking ban in britain that soon might be extended to pub gardens and terraces. could it work or is it an intervention too far? the united nations security council's meeting at this hour to discuss a further deterioration in the middle east focusing on gaza where polio is making a comeback. also high on the agenda is israel's latest occupation in the occupied west bank. idf says it's been leading a counterterrorism operation in jenin and other cities. among 17 people killed was a senior commander of the islamic jihagroup. dozens of palestinians were also injured. the u.s. government says it

supports israel's right to defend itself but has expressed a concern about the safety of palestinian civilians. the european union is alarmed by hate messaging coming from far right politicians in israel and has begun discussing sanctions. the united nations is making plans to open a humanitarian corridor in gaza so it can begin the vaccination program. it is reported both israel and hamas have given preliminary agreement to a truce to allow vaccines in. we have yet to get all the details about what is being proposed. but it is believed to involve a temporary cease-fire across three different areas of the strip. the united nations had been mourning for months about the spread of podia -- podia and will want to finalize the plan as soon as possible. now we speak to lauren bloom and felt a middle east analyst and former senior policy advisor on the state department's israel palestine negotiating team.

these sort of operations are common in the occupied west bank but not usually on this scale. they have intensified the past three years since netanyahu and this government that includes far-right ministers came to power. how concerned it's the state department getting about this? >> we have always been concerned. working at the state department under president obama i remember how my colleagues' jaws would clinch when there was an announcement we were working on an israeli-palestinian peace agreement. then there would be an announcement about settlements that would set us back days if not weeks. today's military operations underscore something we have set for as ng as we have worked on this. which is that the status quo is unsustainable. >> washington did announce sanctions on an israeli settler group this week. are they prepared to go further than that? the europeans are talking today about sanctioning some of the far-right ministers. >> it is interesting.

the u.s. has shown a willingness to sanction individuals and entities. they have not gotten so far as the ministers. it is important to watch. the u.s. expressed serious concerns. those were the words they used and benjamin netanyahu put out a statement saying we are seriously concerned. he said he's in intensive negotiations with the u.s. about sanctions. it has always been a friction point politically. militarily we talk about no daylight between the u.s. and israel. there i do see kind of shoulder to shoulder as the israelis brace for a potential iranian attack. we have 18 warships in the mediterranean. that's no small amount of firepower. >> what would help alleviate some of the situation is a cease-fire deal. what are you hearing from your sources about that tonight? >> the nitty-gritty, nuts and bolts, language about detail. i learned the hard way the devil

is in the details. i hope may be the polio vaccination pause could be spun into something more permanent. sadly, because of the u.s. election, it's hard for there to be any big movement or pressure and i hate to think about the lives hanging in the balance both for israelis and palestinians if we have to wait until november. >> let's talk about the humanitarian pots being discussed tonight at the security council. we have been hearing from margaret harris, the spokesperson from the world >> reaching every child will be a huge challenge and we have 640,000, over of 600 40,000 children we need to reach. yes, we will have fixed vaccination sites. we will also have vaccinations going tent to tent. but it would -- will be dependent on security. if there is any sense of fighting or evacuation orders or more threats that mean people

will be displaced at once be possible to reach all of those children. >> 640,000 per that's an extraordinary number of young people to try to reach, people that are traumatized that don't necessarily want to come out of their tents and structures because they don't trust the process. do you think that something like this could hold? that it could alleviate the problem? >> i will tell you why i am optimistic. first, because i am an american. second, the most important reason is sometimes the simpler the project the easier it is to implement especially in the middle east. one israeli negotiator told me, when we were working on the deal there is no point plan that works in the middle east except to the one point plan. by focusing just on polio, it's not a three-part deal where we can agree on the first part then how go forever about the second and third parts. it's limited. so we have a chance for success. >> nor blumenthal, good to talk to you tonight. thanks for coming on the program. pictures live from new york where the security counsel has begun discussions.

we are being told this pause, this humanitarian pause would stretch from about 6:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.. of course it is incumbent on both sides to observe the cease-fire if the world health organization, their teams are going to get into these three districts to start administering vaccines. a lot is in the balance tonight particularly with that very serious situation in the west bank. in paris today the british prime minister was meeting with emmanuel macron. the two leaders reiterated their call for an immediate cease-fire in the middle east. plenty of other things on the table as well, not least, sir keir starmer's focus on resetting relations with the european union. yesterday, while he was in berlin, he announced plans for a new treaty setting out closer ties with germany. some on the right here have questioned whether he is on picking brexit. in france he said the operative word is reset not reverse. that's been in a good friend of the program suzanne lynch in

brussels of the global playbook author and associate editor of politico. nice to see you. thanks for coming on. do you think the french are prepared to go as far as the germans seemed to go yesterday? >> well, i think there was definitely less detail in what we are hearing from parents this evening after the meeting between sir keir starmer and emmanuel macron. we heard a lot about strengthening and broadening the relationship between france and britain. but, not much detail. in germany yesterday we had that a bit more. we had a joint press conference between olaf scholz, the german leader, and keir starmer. on both sides, they agreed to work on a bilateral treaty that they expect to be in place by next year or even earlier, by the end of the year, keir starmer said. a little warmer. some people in brussels are saying that is the way it was during the reagan negotiations. france was always seen as more of a hard copy -- hard cop than

germany and being more pragmatic, tried to give britain a little more. obviously they all came together as one within the eu. it is significant that he's on this trip. i do think it is signaling warmer relationships beten london and these two capitals. >> it certainly looked like a warm embrace. normally the president would stand at the top of the steps to receive his guests. today he came down onto the forecourt. i think that keir starmer is probably right that the path to warmer relations probably first evolved flows through the defense and the security breach. i know they were talking about ukraine today. where does france stand on this issue that we will talk about shortly, on ukrainian long-range missiles? obviously, they developed the storm shadow together. so, the u.k. can't go it alone on this. there winning the french to give the green light. where does president macron stand on that?

>> president macron earlier in the year suggested he was open to this. in effect today most of his department were having the same discussion with the ukrainian foreign minister. he has called on the u.k. first and the united states to back this, to allow western weapons to be used by ukraine to hit inside russia. the reality is britain, france, and germany already very closely aligned in terms of defense through their membership with nato. we have seen that since that explosion of hostilities in ukraine in february 2022. we have seen britain and other allied countries in nato work even closer together. in a way you are right. it is obvious that will be more defense cooperation and keir starmer wants more. one thing to watch over the next few months and years is just as the european commission is beginning to form for its next five years just after the recent elections, there's a lot of talk

about defense and industry. the eu defense industry. where does the u.k. fit with that? there is a sense among some in brussels that while germany might want more connection with the u.k. in terms of defense industry and keir starmer did meet defense companies in germany, france might be a little less inclined to want that. that will be interesting. how does the u.k. fit into the eu? europe's defense industrial policy going forward we expect will be a big focus for the european union over the next five years. >> quickly on the middle east. i just mentioned that you use foreign policy chief talking about a procedure he initiated to test member states to see if they want to put sanctions on some of these far-right israeli ministers. what are you hearing from foreign ministers in europe today? >> this is a hugely divisive issue in the european union. on all issues today they were

really on the same page when it came to ukraine but with the middle east we still see divides. some countries within the 27 member states want to see the palestinian perspective more. countries like spain, belgium, ireland. then you have other countries around the table, germany, austria, the czech republic. they are very cautious about sanctioning israel. i do think that it will be difficult for the eu to sing from the same hymn sheet on this very complex issue. we don't expect anything very substantial from the eu on the issue of the middle east. they were briefed today by the united nations coordinator on gaza, a former. foreign minister. today she briefed to ministers about the situation in gaza, predicting the death toll would reach 41,000. talking abt what you have just been speaking about. the polio vaccination that will start this weekend. there's a lot of talk here.

i still think it's difficult for the eu to come out with one voice on the issue. >> suzanne, thank you very much for that. let's pick up on the topic of ukraine. there is a crucial meeting tomorrow in washington. ukrainians want the white house to drop the restrictions on the use of long-range missiles so they can reach targets deep inside russia. it has become much more urgent this week after one of the most intense bombardments of ukraine we have seen since the war began. joining us is the defense and security expert at the university of bath, a former nato analyst. you are always welcome on the program. cleay, keir starmer has said he is more inclined to start dropping some ofhe restrictions on d's longer range missiles. i was just sitting out why that is not really his decision alone. i wonder whether the power in this decision lies in washington , where that ukrainians are going tomorrow >> -- tomorrow. >> yes, i think, it does. potentially even at the tactical

level where some reports emerged suggesting the u.s. has a say over what weapons the u.k. could actually get to ukraine to fire inside russia. it's to do with export controls, etc., technology transfer. at the tactical level there is a decision there. and a broader one. personally speaking i wod love to see these missiles given to ukraine. they're getting absolutely hammered, as we know. the russians have found a sweet spot usi essentially what a strategic operational air force at long-range to drop missiles and blind bombs having, cumulatively, very serious effect on the ukrainian infrastructure and more infrastructure as we know it and on the front line too. >> how would they approach that? we must talk about the f-16 that have gone down today. they do have the f-16s now. is it not just at long-range missiles? do they want to fly into russian

airspace to take the fighters on? >> the problem is, basically, russian aircraft are staying at a standoff distance outside their defense capabilities of ukraine and launching missiles from afar, using drones as a screen to overpower them. then, as in the last attack they got 30 out of 200 different projectile through. the ukrainians are saying we can deal with this in the sky. it's too too far away from us with what we have so we have to hit them on the ground in their air bases inside russia. the problem is, and i know that russia has illegally invaded ukraine, but essentially, this is becoming -- you know, ukraine could not defeat or stand on its own without western help. it's beginning to be a bit of a proxy war between russia and the west. they are both nuclear armed. there is not a president i can think of, like for like, where one nuclear power gives the ok weapons to attack the other nuclear powers airbases on its own territory.

that has not happened historically. hence, why i think there is such reticence in the u.s.. imagine the intel assistance they are getting. brighter brains then you and i working on this and that's why i think there is resistance. >> at the f-16 they said went down today. they say it was not his. it was not pilot error. that leaves mechanical fault up there in play. it maintenance of these f-16s in a war zone like ukraine were, obviously, where supply lines, logistic lines are confused, does it become an issue for the ukrainians? >> absutely. you are talking about a new, complex platform. of course, you look up the training and the technicians, etc.. but, have they had the long-term, in-depth training that say, a u.s. air crew would get, or a u.k. air crew would have gotten? that is the difference, i would say. then, there will probably be some problems like this and also problems with pilots.

they are saying it is not pilot error. we don't really know. >> one line abc is reporting tonight is that, actually, there is a race in ukraine to develop their own capability. they are saying they have their own long-range weapon that they are developing that they think will be able to strike deep into russia. that would be a seachange, would it not? >> absolutely. this is where the direction of travel should be. if the west cannot supply the weapons there is nothing to stop them giving the technology and setting up factories through shadow companies, it's after, in ukraine, getting them to build it and launching it themselves. there is nothing stopping that. secondly, there is nothing, president zelenskyy is asking for this in the shorter term, you have to flood the space with western air defense so these kind of attacks can happen again for they deemed more. apparently only the latter tranche of their defense was pledged. only one of the systems out of five have arrived apparently. >> patrick, grateful for your time.

around the world and across the u.k. you are watching bbc news.

>> welcome back. the government here is considering banning smoking outside in pub gardens, outdoor restaurants, grounds, and sports grounds in england and wales. it landed to reduce the last government bill that would make it illegal to sell tobacco for anyone born after 2009 and now it is thinking of going further. the bbc chief medical correspondent asked keir starmer about it. >> yes we are going to take steps in this space. more details will be revealed. but it is a preventable series of deaths. we have to take the action to reduce the burden on the nhs and the taxpayer. >> you said when you became prime minister you wanted politics to tread more lightly on people's lives. this is the opposite, isn't it? >> i think it is important to

get the lance right. but everybody watching this that uses the nhs will know it's on its knees. we have to relieve the burden. that is why i spoke before the election about moving to a preventative model. >> a quick look at the numbers. the latest research shows a 6.4 million people still smoke in the u.k.. almost 80,000 people die every year as a result of smoking despite the ban on indoor smoking across the u.k. that has been in place now since 2007. the health experts have welcomed the proposals but it is not universally popular. far from it. speaking to people in new york. >> if you are a smoker and it is what you like to do, to be outside, i think maybe you should have the freedom to smoke outside. not children's playgrounds. >> but in a pub garden? >> yes, in a sectioned off area. >> it's another restriction on

hospitality trying to survive. it will impact our sales and take away the freedom of choice for people that want to do something outside where it is ok for them. >> unless you are betting at full stop there needs to be places for people to have a smoke what we are eating. >> the chief executive of the program on smoking and health. do you support extending this to smoke-free areas outside pups? >> we do. i agree with your last interviewee that said, there need to be places for people to smoke outside. we don't want to force smokers back into the home. at the same time, if you are sitting outside a pub eating or a café or restaurant you don't want to be forced to smell other people's smoke. it is easy enough for somebody to get up and walk away, to have a cigarette and come back. it is getting the balance right, as the prime minister said and i want to responded to the issue raised about the damage it will

do to the hospitality industry. well, i have been around a long time. i was involved in the campaign to get the original smoke-free legislation and that was exactly the argument used then. i understand why the hospitality trade is worried about it. but actually, after the band came inside pups and other -- pubs and other hospitality venues in 2007 the number of pubs -- people in pubs went up. >> there was an alternative for clientele to go and smoke. they said soaring energy prices, the staggering cost of doing business now. a lot ofrinkers do like a cigarette. you can see why the trade body is really concerned that this might do further damage to the industry. >> i don't not -- i don't think there is any evidence to show that is the case and if you think about it it is a lot easier to get up and walk 15-20 yards if you are sitting outside than inside to go outside.

i don't buy that argument. it has been implemented in cada. it worked very well and has not damaged their hospitality trade. i don't know why it would here. >> it costs us over 2 billion pounds per year to treat people for smoking-related illnesses. what is not often talked about is the cost of that in -- an activity in the economy. at the moment, trying to squeeze in the pips out of everything to fill the enormous black hole in the economy. this is one area where public health, in relation to smoking, where they could do a lot of good. they could indeed. analysis for us shows, quoted actually in the article this morning in the sun interestingly, shows the economic cost of smoking is far greater than the cost of the nhs. there are about 22 billion pounds per year. actually, yes, people use the nhs. but, they use the nhs because

they cannot work. because they have heart disease. they have lung cancer or other cancer. they have respiratory disease. they are also disabled. they need social care earlier. smokers need social care on average for acts of daily living, getting up in the morning, getting food, the rest of it. something like 10 years earlier than non-smokers. the economic cost is far greater than just the cost of the nhs. >> briefly, debra, i only have a minute. how do you police this? talking about yards outside universities or outside the pub on the high street. impossible to police, isn't it? >> that is what they said about the ban on smoking indoors. it is actually self enforcing. legislation like this can only really work if it is what people want. that is why we want to see a proper consultation before the final decision is made about which areas are smoke-free and which are not. it needs to be something we all discussed as a socty and we

agree on where it is right and where it is not right. >> deborah, thank you for your time this evening. quickly before the break let me take you to new york where the u.k. representative to the security council is speaking. we have been watching these pictures. we will hear from who experts later on the situation in gaza where polio is starting to spread there. they are detecting it through the sewage system and they want to get in there to announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it,

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