the bbc confirms young children were among those killed in an air strike on vehicles leaving northern gaza along an israeli—designated route south. and president biden speaks to the israeli and palestinian leaders as the us steps up efforts to contain the escalating conflict. hello. i'm carl nasman. israel's military says that its forces are ready for the next stage of the war, and that it is planning an attack by land, air and sea. in a statement, a spokesperson said that the goal of the operation was to "completely destroy "the governing and military capabilities of hamas". it comes a week after hamas, which is classed as a terrorist organisation by many

western governments, killed more than 1300 people in israel and took dozens hostage. we can show you these live pictures of gaza city right now where it is shortly after 4am in the morning. you can see the skyline. very dark there. a shortage of fuel and electricity. in a drone strike, the israeli military said on saturday that it has killed a hamas commander who led part of the assault on israel. ali qadhi is the second hamas chief to have been killed in a day. meanwhile, on the ground in gaza, thousands of civilians are on the move. that's after israel warned over i million living in the north to move south beyond the wadi gaza river here — an order the world health organization has said is a "death sentence" for those already sick and injured. the authorities in gaza say more than 2200 people have already died in retaliatory israeli bombing, including children, while attempting to evacuate along a designated safe route.

earlier on saturday, israel's prime minister visited an army post, and asked troops whether they were ready for the next stage. our correspondent lucy williamson reports. every day, hamas sends rockets into israel, and waits for israel's response. after last weekend's attack, israel says these air strikes are just the beginning, and that people living in the north of gaza should leave now. gaza's salahadin road has become a lifeline for people flowing south, a humanitarian corridor labelled "safe". not always. a strike here yesterday killed at least 12 people. the bbc has verified the location. women and children under five among the casualties.

israel says it's investigating. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, visited the troops gathered at gaza's borders today. "the next stage is coming", he told them. "are you ready?" the israeli army has been pounding gaza from here across the border and also from the air. israel says it doesn't deliberately target civilians, and that this is directed at the people who do. today, israel said it had killed the organiser of last weekend's attack. ali qadi was released from an israeli jail more than a decade ago in a prisoner exchange deal with hamas. israel says it was he who planned the attacks on communities like be�*eri. gunmen arrived there last saturday, caught on a security camera relaxed, unhurried and well—prepared. they brought everything they needed to kill and kidnap gunmen arrived there last saturday, caught on a security

camera relaxed, unhurried and well—prepared. they brought everything they needed to kill and kidnap — grenades, gaffer tape, plastic cable ties. three members of the gat family are still missing. among them, carmel and her sister—in—law. their family home, shattered. it looks like indiscriminate violence, but it wasn't. this was a targeted attack. some of the people who lived here are now thought to be just a few miles away inside gaza — a different world. be�*eri has lived for years with occasional rockets or infiltrations, but destruction like this signals a different kind of vulnerability, and the build—up of israeli forces here, a different kind of response.

but what will that response mean for hostages inside gaza? i don't know the effort, i don't know the intelligence, i don't know anything. they don't tell us anything. they don't tell us afterwards. nobody calls me to say there is negotiation for them. frankly, nobody really knows if they are taken or not. you're angry about that? i am very angry. there is not even a place for sad, to be sad for me. israel's soldiers are now massing at gaza's borders, their weapons pointing towards both hamas and their hostages. for the army that failed to protect its people at home, how much harder will it be to protect them there? lucy williamson, bbc news, southern israel. the united nations says nearly a million palestinians have fled their homes in the gaza strip in the week since israel launched its military response to the killings and kidnappings by hamas.

the entire enclave is being hit by israeli strikes from gaza city in the north to rafah in the south. the border crossing there with egypt has remained shut since the hamas attacks last weekend. crowds of palestinians and foreign nationals have been gathering at the crossing after news that an evacuation route may temporarily open. you may find some of the images in this report now from jon donnison distressing. outside the main hospital in rafah, ice cream trucks. the morgue is full. "some of the dead have been here for two days", this man tells us. "these freezers are meant forfood, not bodies." and this is right in the south of gaza, where people are now being told to go. hundreds of thousands are now heading in this direction.

the question is, where do they go? at the border with egypt, hundreds of palestinians who are lucky enough to have foreign citizenship, are hoping to get out. among them, clutching her british passport, is maryiam. i'm really in fear and every time ijust have to have the thought of me dying in a bomb in gaza. it's not a good thing. every place i go, i run away and ijust find bombs and ifind dead people. and maybe one day i will end up like them. it's a really scary thing for me. but egypt says it won't open the crossing, even forforeign nationals, until israel agrees to allow aid in. and hamas also controls this border and has a say on who is allowed out. the nearby united nations

school is packed with those seeking shelter, but it was already at full capacity before this latest evacuation order. "as palestinians, what did we do for this to happen to us?" hanan asks. she tells us she ran out of the house barefoot with nothing when israel bombed her neighbourhood, and came straight to the school. at noon today, many were praying — one would think for better times. many of those here are children, still smiling despite it all. around half gaza's population is under 18, and some are old beyond their years. ramez is just 15. this is his fifth war. "i can barely stand it", he says. "and look around you at all these kids.

"ask them, �*do you want to live or not?�* we just want to be secure", he goes on. "our dream is to live, that's all we want." jon donnison, bbc news. the bbc has confirmed that young children were among those killed in an air strike on a convoy of vehicles leaving northern gaza on friday along a route designated by israel. the palestinian health ministry says 70 people died. the israeli military says it's investigating what happened. our team at bbc verify analysed two videos of the strike on the vehicles heading towards southern gaza. both videos have been verified. these first images show a lorry or truck carrying at least 30 civilians moving south. and these are still images taken from a subsequent video from the aftermath of the strike — too graphic to show in detail. the video shows men running to a lorry, part of the same convoy, trying to help those who've been hit. there are at least 12 visible dead bodies in the video. well, in southern israel,

tensions are high as israeli troops build up their presence ahead of that likely ground offensive. a short while ago, i spoke to our defence correspondent jonathan beale in ashkelon, in southern israel. jonathan, it's great to see you. just starting off, can you give us the latest about what you are hearing from the israeli military at this hour? yeah, you get the sense that something big is about to happen soon. what we have seen is earlier today israel's prime minister visiting the troops massing on the border with gaza. we also know he spoke to president biden again tonight, and then we had this statement from the israel defence force this evening which states that they are preparing for a wide range of offensive operations from air, land and sea, and is the important bit — with a significant emphasis on ground operations. and it will have to be

significant if israel is to achieve its goal of crushing, of destroying hamas. so, you get the feeling something is going to happen soon. we don't know the timings. we don't know if it's hours, days away, but certainly the preparations, the rhetoric suggests something is fairly imminent. and to further complicate the situation, we do, of course, believe more than 100 hostages are currently being held by hamas, potentially inside gaza. how does it seem that the hostages may affect or change any plans for an invasion by the israeli military? well, i was speaking to the sister of one of those who she believes — well, she is either dead, her sister, or she has been taken hostage — and she said she hoped she had been taken hostage so that she had a chance of being returned, and their hope, the families of those who have loved ones who have been taken by hamas, many of them would not

want to see full—scale military operations launched by israel until there was at least negotiations and a potential swap of palestinian prisoners by israel for the hostages being held in gaza, but, you know, you do not get the sense that the hostage situation — and it is in the minds of israeli politicians, military commanders — is not going to derail their goal of destroying hamas, and given the sort of language we are hearing from the idf about their preparations, you do not sense they are going to hold off for that long. israel's intelligence services have long been considered one of the world's most sophisticated. but hamas�*s attack caught israel completely by surprise, and was the worst breach of the country's defenses in 50 years. new york times staff writer ronen bergman has been investigating how this could have happened, and who was involved in the planning.

bergman is also the author of rise and kill first: the secret history of israel's targeted assassinations. hejoined me earlier from tel aviv. thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. we are one week on from the attacks. talk us through what appears to be a massive failure of intelligence on the part of israel and according to your reporting what appears to have gone wrong? there is nothing on the israeli side that did not go wrong. their were mistakes and failures on three different levels. intelligence that was supposed to supply reliable alerts enough time before the attack and just 50 years and a day after the previous major intelligence blunder

of the yom kippur war was not able to supply, as it happened, was not able to supply any alert that this is coming. hundreds of hamas operatives, militants were working for at least a year, i believe even more than that, but looking at documents of hamas, have initial plans that were drawn in november of 2022, so at least a year. they were in active preparation, drilling, planting, thinking, collecting intelligence, doing all sorts of drills and exercises and israel did not know anything. in order to mobilise 2000 people over the fence after major assault on the fence you have to have a lot of people in the know how and israel did not know anything. this is a major intelligence achievement for her hamas and a major failure for israel. let me popping quickly

because you mentioned that israel seems to not be prepared or not know that this attack which had been in the making was about to take place. according to your reporting. why is that? why do you think israel seem to be caught flat—footed ? well, not to put all the credit — the negative credit to israel. there's also, from their point of view, positive credit for hamas for planning secretly and executing this horrifying massacre. i think hamas has learned the lessons from years of confrontation with israel. with or without iranian guidance and help, it was able to identify the channels that israel was monitoring. just into 2018, hamas was able to uncover a group of alleged ngo activists working in gaza but were, in fact, israel was caught in some kind of inception. israel was caught in some kind of inception-— of inception. this is a moderate _ of inception. this is a moderate time. - of inception. this is a moderate time. i- of inception. this is a. moderate time. i think of inception. this is a - moderate time. i think the whole system was enchanted by a

new reality or a relatively peaceful reality while underneath this horrific regime was planned. l115 underneath this horrific regime was planned-— was planned. us officials so far so they _ was planned. us officials so far so they have _ was planned. us officials so far so they have not - was planned. us officials so far so they have not seen i was planned. us officials so. far so they have not seen any specific evidence of iran's role in these attacks at if you could walk us through some of your reporting, what have you found about the relationship between promise and around. let me say that it's usually the other way around. israel is usually seeing an iranian agent or iranian intelligence or an iranian predictive behind every kind of terrorist attack —— operative. in iran, they usually deny it. recently, they switched roles so my colleagues at the new york times inaudible covering iran has up to eight

sources from the iranian revolutionary guard is from lebanon, from hezbollah, from thomas. all of them say this was an excess of resistance —— from hamas. the group of agencies and countries fighting israel. a co—ordinated, well—planned operation with the assistance of hezbollah and iran. according to those sources iran is basically proudly saying yes, it was an iranian initiative. israel and the us are saying we have no intelligence that supports that. in fact, we have intelligence that supports the opposite, that iran and hezbollah did not inaudible and this has significant implications because if iran was involved, then, the same way that israel is now going to

forcefully, aggressively attack hamas, it will need to do that against iran. which also, this kind of taking or not taking, putting on not putting responsibility for such an important and horrific attack is — will change the course of history in the middle east. now, there's one thing that i think is not unintelligible, hamas is a jihadist organisation that is getting massive support in weaponry, sophisticated armoury, money, guidance from iran as much as hezbollah and i think that for the last five years or so, iran almost gladly admits that. this does not say that if a hamas operative was getting a paraglider training by iran and executed by hezbollah in lebanon and syria, and he

participated in the raid, in the attack against israel, it doesn't unintelligible israel and has followed new for this is going to be used for. i and has followed new for this is going to be used for.- is going to be used for. i 'ust want to look i is going to be used for. i 'ust want to look ahead �* is going to be used for. ijust want to look ahead briefly i want to look ahead briefly because a lot of the focus right now is on the hostages that are believed to have been taken by hamas and being capped in gaza. do you have a sense of what kind of intelligence networks israel currently may have within the gaza strip in order to try to locate and bring back some of those hostages safely? i’m bring back some of those hostages safely?- bring back some of those hostages safely? i'm not sure i'm fully aware _ hostages safely? i'm not sure i'm fully aware of _ hostages safely? i'm not sure i'm fully aware of any - i'm fully aware of any intelligence that israel have. has on the hostages, may ijust recall the gilad shalit, the israeli soldier taken captive israeli soldier ta ken captive by israeli soldier taken captive by hamas in 2006 and even after he returned, there was testimony to help gather the intelligence, israel still does not know where he was kept. so i would think that hamas has

unintelligible with his operation, the ability to hide things from israeli intelligence, so in spite of the enormous efforts and resources that israel invested into the surveillance of gaza, but is something more important and that is let's say that israel had intelligence, but the hostages are kept in this tunnel or the other. this prison or the other. would that change the course of becoming strike, an invasion that israel will execute soon in gaza? and i think that the magnitude of this monstrous attack on israel is so big that it puts, from the israeli point of view, the israeli, the need, the israeli leader's point of view the need to react supersedes everything. right. to react supersedes everything. richt. �* , ., , to react supersedes everything. richt. , ., , right. and the priority it has, they have _

right. and the priority it has, they have only _ right. and the priority it has, they have only one _ right. and the priority it has, they have only one priority i right. and the priority it has, l they have only one priority and this is to take hamas. it's almost uncomfortable. new york times staff writer ronen bergman. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much for “oining us. . ~' thank you so much for “oining us. . ~ , ., here in the us, the pentagon has ordered a second aircraft carrier group to the eastern mediterranean. according to us officials, the uss eisenhower is part of american efforts to deter hostile actions against israel or any efforts toward widening the war. meanwhile, on saturday, us presidentjoe biden spoke to both israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas in another effort to de—escalate the violence. president biden also briefly addressed the conflict at a national human rights campaign dinner here in washington, dc. in gaza, innocent palestinian families — and the vast majority have nothing to do with hamas... cheering and applause. ..are being used as human shields! yesterday, i spoke for over an hour the family member

of those americans who are still unaccounted for on a zoom call. they've endured an agony of not knowing what's happened. and a short while ago, i spoke to our north america correspondent shingai nyoka, about the us response. shingai, we heard there a bit from president biden�*s speech earlier. what more did he have to say? well, he also added that hate doesn't go away. what he's done in the last week or so, ever since this attack on israel, is that almost every platform that he's been on, he's tried to weave in the narrative of the us support to israel into whatever the agenda was and today, he did exactly that. he wove the issue of rights into the broader discussions about his fight against islamophobia, against anti—semitism and also against homophobia. and what was interesting,

i think, was the fact that at the beginning of his address, there was a heckler who shouted, "let gaza live. "a ceasefire now." he didn't hear that but some of the people on the floor did. but doing what he's done over the past couple of days, which is bring up the topic of israel and gaza at almost every platform and try to shore up domestic support. well, and it has been a busy day for president biden — a couple of different phone calls today, speaking with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas. what more do we know about those prior conversations? well, they were very important conversations, two, really, key conversations with two parties that are on either side of this conflict. the white house said that his conversation with his israeli counterpart was to reiterate that

unwavering support — this, as you spoke about earlier, as the pentagon announced that a second us carrier is on its way to the eastern mediterranean. with president mahmoud abbas, he spoke about the need to condemn hamas — it's something that he has reiterated over and over again with the arab states and something which many of them have failed — falled short — fallen short to do. and he also — to both of the leaders — spoke about the need to ensure that this war is conducted according to international laws and that there's safe passage for palestinian civilians — and this has increasingly been his emphasis, even as he expresses this unwavering support for israel. he also emphasises the point that the israelis need to ensure that there is no indiscriminate attacks on palestinian civilians. 0ur north america correspondent shingai nyoka reporting there for us. thank you so much.

and you can get all the latest from the situation in israel on our website — bbc.com/news — or the bbc news app. we have a live page that is constantly being updated with news and analysis from our teams on the ground in israel, gaza, and around the world. we will leave you with another live look at gaza city, the horizon there, very dark there, and is about a week now since hamas attacked israel and today israel's military saying its forces are ready for some sort of incursion into gaza. i'm carl nasman. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. sunday will be getting off to a cold start in most places and it promises to be a rather

chilly day but it won't be as windy as it was on saturday and there won't be as many showers. high pressure building its way in from the west. notice the isobars still quite tightly packed across northern and eastern parts of scotland — still quite windy here — and a weak frontal system bringing cloud and some showery rain into the north of scotland. something wintry for a time up over higher ground, although much of that will turn back to rain. southern scotland, northern ireland, england and wales having a fine day after what will be a cold and, in places, frosty start. long spells of sunshine. just a few showers around the coasts. still quite blustery in the north—east of scotland but lighter winds elsewhere. temperatures — 7 degrees in lerwick, 1a for st helier. elsewhere, generally 10—13 degrees. now, sunday night will be another cold one. light winds in most places. some mist and fog patches could well develop. a little bit breezy in the south and in the north.

just the odd shower in the north of scotland and also, perhaps, in the south—east of england. but in between, temperatures dropping close to or even below freezing with our area of high pressure still with us, but low pressure trying to squeeze in from the south and also from the north. so, it is northern and southern parts that will turn a little bit windy as we go through the day on monday. in between, light winds, early mist and fog clearing, some good spells of sunshine but brisk winds in the north of scotland — maybe the odd shower here. also maybe the odd shower in southern england, where it will also turn quite windy. that strong wind also affecting the channel islands. temperatures generally 11, 12 or 13 degrees in most places. now, on tuesday, i think the winds will ease a little bit in the north but, conversely, they'll pick up across the south. turning breezy across more of england and wales and some showery rain, perhaps, across the channel islands, the south—west of england but notice temperatures rising a little bit — up to around 15 or 16 degrees. a sign of things to come. it is going to turn much more unsettled through midweek. weather systems pushing

up from the south. some potentially quite heavy bursts of rain but with southerly winds, temperatures climbing easily to around 16 degrees. it could get a little warmer than that in some places but we will see some outbreaks of quite heavy rain.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. this was once a place full of tourists. but when the pandemic came to cuba, country lost a source of income. medicine and food shortages sparked unprecedented demonstrations against the government. and the biggest exodus to the us since the 1959 cuban revolution. many put their lives in the hands of human

smugglers, on dangerous journeys across central america.