heavy bombing of gaza. around 1,400 palestinians have now died in bombing raids. the un says the humanitarian crisis gets worse every day. gaza's hospitals are running out of supplies and electricity. the red cross says they're in danger of simply becoming morgues. and we report from the scene of the music festival massacre in southern israel, where hamas slaughtered hundreds of people, and we'll hear from survivors. and the other main stories on the programme tonight... helping to serve up some economic growth — the economy grew by 0.2% in august, prompting speculation about what will happen to interest rates.

and scotland's wait for euros qualification goes on, as they lose in spain, but there's more var controversy. and the newsnight at 10:30, we will go deeper behind the headlines and speak live to key players on today's big stories. plus, a first look at tomorrow's front pages. good evening. we're live injerusalem, five days after the surprise attack by the militant palestinian group hamas in southern israel, that left over 1,000 dead, and more than 100 taken hostage. hamas wants the destruction of israel, and is designated as a terror organisation by many western governments, including the uk.

israel's retaliation for last saturday's assault has been heavy aerial bombing of targets in gaza, killing hundreds of people. now the united nations has described the situation there as dire, with israel cutting off fuel, water and electricity supplies to more than two million people, to force hamas to release the israeli hostages. america's top diplomat, the secretary of state antony blinken, has been in tel aviv today, for talks with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and he pledged america's unwavering support. 0n the programme tonight, we'll have reports from our correspondents on both sides of the war, which include scenes you may find distressing. we'll be in gaza city and the west bank, but first, let's go live tojeremy bowen in southern israel. thank you very much, clive. now, the israeli army says that it is getting

ready for a big assault on gaza, on the ground, if necessary, but as of this morning it said that the prime minister mr netanyahu and his new war cabinet had not given the final order but mr netanyahu has stated what he wants, which is to wipe hamas off the face of the earth and even the most powerful armies in the world cannot do something like that simply with air strikes, so everything is pointing to a ground attack. now, otherways in everything is pointing to a ground attack. now, other ways in which the crisis it seems to be escalating here, more tension on the northern border with lebanon on, there's been shooting injerusalem tonight. the royal navy has decided, has been ordered to send two ships to the eastern mediterranean and american�*s largest aircraft carrier battle group is already heading this way and in the gaza strip the pounding continues. more of gaza has been flattened by israeli bombing. israel insists its targets

are all based on intelligence, to kill the men who massacred israelis and to continue the job of breaking hamas. but hundreds of civilians of all ages have also been killed and israel has been accused of answering the war crimes of hamas with ones of its own. antony blinken, us secretary of state, flew in. he offered solidarity, more military aid and assurances for benjamin netanyahu, israel's prime minister, that america has israel's back. we're here, we're not going anywhere. he compared hamas to the killers of islamic state and said the way israel fights them matters. the value that we place on human life and human dignity, that's what makes us who we are and we count them among our greatest strength. that's why it's so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. at this police station in tel aviv,

israelis report relatives who have been missing since hamas attacked. yonathan zeigen�*s mother disappeared from kibbutz be�*eri, on the gaza border. his family believe that if peace diplomacy worked — the americans last tried ten years ago — israelis and palestinians might have been spared this agony. yonathan�*s here to give a dna sample. but he's hoping his mother is alive as a hostage. vivian silver, his mother, is one of israel's best known campaigners for peace with the palestinians. she was holding meetings only a few days before the hamas attacks. what do you think your mother would be saying about everything that's happening right now? that this is the outcome. this is the outcome of war. of not striving for peace.

we've been, you know, israelis have that saying "living on our soul" and this is what happens. it's... you know, it's very overwhelming but it's not completely surprising. we couldn't. .. it's not... sustainable to live in a state of war for so long. it bursts. it burst. vivian was making light of it at first last saturday, until she couldn't. "we may be witnessing a massacre. "enough sense of humour, i'm just telling "everybody, telling you i love you."

and i write back, "i love you, mum." she writes, "they're in the house now." i said, "i have no words. i'm with you." she writes, "i feel you." and that was it, that's the last message. their kibbutz was one of the first targets of hamas last saturday as it's right on the border. they shot dead the people in this car, stormed in and set about killing israelis. by the time the army fought its way back into be�*eri, you can see the ferocity of the fight, it was too late to stop the massacre. the body bags of residents are still being brought out of the ruins. volunteers from an organisation called zakhor, that recoversjewish dead for a religious burial, took us to the house

where vivian silver lived, horrified by everything they have seen. it's not people, it can't be people making something like that. it can't be. it doesn't go with people. there's not even a studio in hollywood that could make a horror movie as bad as what we've seen here. i can't understand. somebody take kids... they didn'tjust kill them, they mutilated, they burned, they severed. it's impossible... it's impossible to describe. the army didn't allow us much time in the street where vivian silver lived and brought up herfamily. she moved here long before hamas emerged, for space and country air. we hope to find out more about what happened to her. but if there were clues,

they were consumed by fire. vivian's house and her neighbour's were gutted. we don't know if she is alive or dead. her family, like so many others, waits for news, good or bad. it's totally burned down. the remains of the house and the destruction at the kibbutz are evidence for most israelis that it is dangerously wrong for peace activists like vivian to argue that a century of attempted military solutions to the conflict have failed. the survivors have left the kibbutz. now it is a staging area as the army waits for the order to enter gaza. as the soldiers prepare, israel's government vows that this time its forces will destroy hamas. jeremy bowen, bbc news, at kibbutz be�*eri.

a reflection thereof part of israel �*s trauma. gaza's only power station has now run out of fuel, and supplies of food, water and medicine are dwindling. more than 1,400 people have been killed since saturday in retaliatory attacks in the territory, and the red cross says if back—up generators fail, hospitals risk becoming morgues. there are reports tonight in the last few minutes of heavy shelling in areas of gaza thought to have been safe for families. jon donnison has more on the desperate situation inside gaza. in gaza, whole neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble. israel says these are precision strikes. for palestinians, it doesn't feel that way and they're defiant. "i will never leave this place," he says. "i don't care what planes you send, i will never leave here."

outside the main shifa hospital, the bodies are being lined up. the morgue is full. inside, we're told this young girl has lost her entire immediate family. and in the next room, this woman is saying her final goodbyes. translation: we were sleeping and they bombarded our house i like everyone else. we don't have any resistance fighters in our building. all the building is full of residents. 120 people live there. doctors are overwhelmed, short on medicines and running out of fuel to provide power. we are facing disaster actually. we are expecting if things are in the same manner and we're still receiving the same number of injured and casualties that we have seen in the last four, five days, i think the whole medical sector and the health department maybe will collapse maybe in two or three days. i don't think they can manage it. the hospital is full of patients.

hospitals are also one of the few relatively safe places. in the grounds outside, the displaced are setting up makeshift camps. "we are sleeping here with the bombing above us," 15—year—old mohammed says. "i hope that the world will have mercy." some of those here have lived through half a dozen wars. "they slaughtered our children and destroyed our houses over our heads and here we are in the streets," says this 65—year—old man. "dead bodies are stacked over each other, children and toddlers," he goes on. in the south of gaza, they're burying the dead wherever they can. and these funerals will not be the last. many more will grieve before this war is over.

jon donnison, bbc news, injerusalem. 0ur correspondent, rushdi abualouf, is in gaza, one of the very few journalists reporting from inside the besieged territory. he spoke to us earlier. another night of heavy air strikes here in gaza and in the southern city, the number of dead has passed 1500. this night is after a long day of israeli air strikes and also using artillery fire and some of the areas for the second time, which has made people worry about possible ground incursion. as i remember in 2014 when the israelis started to bomb the northern part of gaza, it was straightaway we have seen tanks starting to move. until now there is no sign of any tanks rushing into gaza, but people here talking about possible ground incursion. the

people in gaza know very well what is the meaning of tanks, fighting hamas, in a densely populated refugee camps, they have lived the situation in 2014 when thousands of people were killed and hundreds of bombs and macro homes were destroyed. today, the health situation deteriorated in a very difficult way. i have been to the main hospital in gaza, i have met the director of the hospital who told me they are almost running out of fuel, almost running out of all the essential medical kits that needed to save the people's lives. rushdi abualouf their reporting for us. before the current conflict, people from gaza had been allowed to cross the border to work in israel using special permits. with the economy of the territory on its knees due to israel's blockade, around 21,000 people used to cross the frontier to work, earning far more than they could at home.

now, after the hamas attack, many are stranded, unable to return to theirfamilies in gaza, and not welcome in israel. the other palestinian area is the west bank, governed separately from gaza, and it's where many of those who are stranded, are seeking refuge. it's hot... ..chaotic. .. ..and frustrating. this sports hall in the west bank city of ramallah is now a reception centre for hundreds of people from gaza left stranded by the war. a cigarette calms things down a little for mohammed. a chef by trade, he was working in tel aviv when hamas launched its attack last saturday, and he's been unable to return to his family in gaza ever since. now he's being moved to a new temporary home in the west bank. my family now is under attack,

is under attack, and i cannot make contact with them now. he's not alone. on this bus are migrant workers from gaza, allowed into israel, but kicked out after the hamas attack and now taken in by fellow palestinians in the west bank. mohammed has a wife and four children he doesn't know when he'll see again. you can't think of your family, of yourfather, you cannot. it's a bad situation. supplies arrive — food, blankets, water for some of those stranded away from home. and helping out is this woman and her niece, nihal. she was visiting her aunt from her home in gaza when the current war began, and now, like so many others, she's stranded. pictures on her phone, memories of happier times,

together with her family. 0urfear is that nihal can never be reunited with her children. they are young, and every day, my husband and they ask me, "you should return back to gaza. we want to hide under your arms. "you should be here with us." a happy family before the war in a home for which they used every penny of their savings to buy. this is the family home now. pressed shirts still hanging in the wardrobes. a satellite image from before the conflict shows the neighbourhood where they lived. this image was taken two days ago after israel's bombing. with gaza's electricity running out, phone calls are difficult, and the last time nihal spoke with her children, they pleaded with her to come home.

i haven't any words to say, just... "momma, you should turn back, i want you here with me." but... i shut my mouth and, "ok, i will try to reach you soon." a terrible absence. a mother out of the picture. just one tragedy there among so many. it was last saturday when the militant group armas, it was last saturday when the militant group hamas, designated as a terror organisation by many western governments, including the uk, murdered hundreds of young people, enjoying a music festival. lucy williamson has visited the scene of the atrocity and spoken to survivors. her report contains images you made find distressing. since saturday, the festival site near gaza's border

fence has been sealed inside a closed military zone. this is the first time that we've been allowed inside this site. it's become the ground zero of the attack here. everything pretty much has been left as it would have been on saturday morning — the abandoned vehicles, personal belongings scattered over the ground, the tents, the stages, it's all been almost frozen in time and you can just imagine the panic of people trying to leave. as people danced here early on saturday morning, gunmen stormed the site, kidnapping and killing. the sound of music replaced by gunfire. you know, you know it's possible but you don't actually imagine it will happen, especially not at this scale. this was... unthinkable. unimaginable. gunshots.

we just heard a couple of gunshots ring out. the israeli soldiers are running, sprinting across to the other side of the field. the army told us later that someone carrying a knife had been spotted near the site and arrested. we've just been told to leave this site because there is an active situation going on. we heard a couple of gunshots ring out. this was an army supervised press trip to a secure location. the nervousness now is hard to hide, even here. a week ago, revellers partied, trusting as much in their super power image of israel's army is in gaza's borderfence. it took a day for everything to change. lucy williamson, bbc news, southern israel. the israeli army says

it is preparing for a ground assault on hamas in gaza, but israel's newly formed unity government is yet to authorise the operation. so far, tens of thousands of troops have been deployed to the border with gaza. but if there is a ground offensive, what will the challenges be? 0ur defence correspondent jonathan beale has more. initially caught off—guard, but israel has long been preparing for the next phase of this war. their troops call it mini gaza — a multi—million dollar urban warfare centre to train for a potential ground assault. it even includes a labyrinth of tunnels. hamas is believed to have built more than 1,000. the tightly packed streets of gaza favours the defender. buildings to hide in.

intense israeli air strikes, which have already reduced many to rubble, form barriers to any invading force. even israel's overwhelming air power will not be able to destroy an army underground. hamas is very well prepared, they've prepared the underground booby—traps all around, but professionally i don't see how the goal which was written by the cabinet to destroy the military force of the hamas can be done without going with ground forces into the gaza strip. it wouldn't be the first time israel's defence force has entered gaza. but operations like this, the most recent in 2014, were short and limited. veterans say this time it could prove more costly if israel is to achieve its objective

of crushing hamas. that time the decision was to have containment, to deter them, to weaken them. it's not like today. today, we are facing on facing unprecedented threat to israel itself. if we tolerate what has been done this would be our dramatic mistake. more than 100 israeli hostages snatched by hamas, now held in gaza, will make any assault more difficult. the expectation is now for action. hundreds of thousands of reservists have dropped everything to join units camped near gaza's border and they're ready to fight. when i heard about it, the exact second, i took myself and come to here to join my troops. where were you? in sri lanka. you were in sri lanka but you got on a plane straight away? yeah. we would love to have peace. unfortunately that's not

a possibility and we enjoy living, so we need to fight for the right to live. the new unity government has yet to announce its next move but its tanks and troops are ready and awaiting orders. israel has been massing its forces on the border here with gaza. if israel is to achieve its objective of destroying hamas, it will involve a land assault. but recent history shows invasions don't always go according to plan. from vietnam to iraq and afghanistan, even the world's most advanced militaries can get bogged down. jonathan beale, bbc news, southern israel. let's get a final word now from jeremy bowen.

jeremy, you have seen the build—up of those troops over the last few days. the army has confirmed it is ready to go in but the unity government, newly formed, and the war cabinet, they haven't given the order. ., , _ , war cabinet, they haven't given the order. ., , , ., �* ., order. no, they say they haven't and that's what — order. no, they say they haven't and that's what we've _ order. no, they say they haven't and that's what we've been _ order. no, they say they haven't and that's what we've been told - order. no, they say they haven't and that's what we've been told by - order. no, they say they haven't and that's what we've been told by the l that's what we've been told by the army but it's going in that direction and it's a question now of preparedness and timing and getting the plan is all done. there is no certainty though. they would achieve what they want to do, which is as they say two wipe hamas off the face of the earth, that is a very big objective and the more this crisis escalates, the more there are big questions. what if it spreads? what if it spreads tojerusalem, to the west bank? what if his brother makro and lebanon get involved? what happens when hamas gets removed? if

you look at the horrendous videos which i've been looking at tonight which i've been looking at tonight which are circulating on hamas telegram channels and i don't recommend anybody does look at them, it's reminiscent of the jihadists of islamic state. that kind of ethos seems to have terminated the organisation and that something i think everybody in the region has to worry about a lot.— worry about a lot. indeed. thank ou. worry about a lot. indeed. thank yom jeremy _ worry about a lot. indeed. thank you. jeremy bowen, _ worry about a lot. indeed. thank you. jeremy bowen, reporting i worry about a lot. indeed. thank i you. jeremy bowen, reporting alive for us there. america's show of solidarity today for israel is total, more us arms will come, to help in the fight against hamas — there are no redlines for washington. but america also wants what it calls a proportionate response, as israel defends itself. with a land invasion looming, and israel's trauma being so deep, some believe its military might could test american concerns.

that's it from us here injerusalem. now it's back to you, reeta, in london. other news now, and as figures show the economy grew marginally by 0.2% in august, a member of the bank of england committee that sets interest rates has warned that higher rates could ultimately hit younger people and those on lower incomes the hardest. the slight economic growth has fuelled expectations that rates might be left unchanged again next month at 5.25%. dr swati dhingra spoke exclusively to our chief economics correspondent dharshini david. it's full steam ahead for this cafe, but with rent hikes, soaring energy and food costs and customerss grappling with their own higher bills and interest rates, business hasn't been easy. dr swati dhingra is on the bank of england's monetary policy committee, which dictates borrowing costs for millions. of the nine members, she's been the most reluctant to raise rates,

voting against most hikes, worried they'll squeeze businesses and households too much. the economy's already flatlined and we think only about 20%, 25% of the impacts of the interest rate hikes have been felt through to the economy. there's this worry that that might mean we're going to have to pay higher costs than we should be paying. when you're growing as slowly as we are growing now, the chances of recession or not recession are going to be pretty equally balanced. it's not going to be great times ahead and particularly not over the next year. we often hear that described as interest rates are working, but it's not a one size fits all, is it, in terms of the impact? the reason why the rates have increased is because of the kinds of price increases that we're seeing which is energy and food. those will typically impact poorer people more and then the interest rates will also typically impact younger, less educated people more, so you're right in thinking that eventually when we come out of all of this, we're going to see possibly that

inequality is going to rise. and do your fellow members on the mpc understand the impact it has on other people's lives? it's very hard to see the sort of deprivation that when we go to regional visits and we hear about it. many will already feel they're on the breadline but economists warn rates could stay higher for a while. dharshini david, bbc news. the former boss of formula one, bernie ecclestone, has been given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to fraud. he had failed to declare more than £400 million worth of overseas assets to hm revenue and customs. the 92—year—old was sentenced to 17 months in prison, suspended for two years. football now — and after winning their last five euro 2024 qualifying matches, scotland needed just one more point in seville tonight to seal a place in next summer's finals in germany. jane dougall was watching. # whatever will be,

will be # que sera, sera. # scotland didn't expect this so soon. a ticket to the euros almost in the bag. it's been a generation since fans saw scotland qualify automatically. all they needed now — to avoid defeat to spain. one more, boys! they knew they'd need a strong defence to get it, along with some luck. commentator: it's off the post somehow. - escaping by inches. scotland hanging on here. but it started to run out. captain andy robertson going off after a hard hit, then scott mctominay�*s perfectly placed free kick, which delighted fans... mctominay! ..was ruled out. was it a foul, or offside? mctominay not impressed. scotland fans not convinced. spain quickly took advantage and took their chance. and alvaro morata for spain... che adams could have got them the point here, but just couldn't finish. scotland's heads went down and mistakes crept in.