we will discuss the controversy at the un in a moment. first, the latest on the israel assault on gaza. israeli defence forces carried out over 400 strikes against hamas, killing several commanders, and said it will not reduce attacks on hamas despite the release of two more hostages on monday. hamas health officials say more than 700 people were killed by israeli air strikes in the last 24 hours. hamas still holds 222 hostages captive, the count increased after the israeli military collected more information. 600,000 people are information. 600,000 people are in un shelters in gaza across 150 facilities designated as emergency shelters. the palestinian red crescent says eight more relief trucks have been allowed into the territory carrying water, food and medicine. jeremy bowen in

jerusalem sent this report, and some of the images are distressing. after the doctors had examined yocheved lifschitz, she came out of the hospital in tel aviv saying she went through hell in gaza, from the moment hamas took her as a hostage. translation: l was laying - on a motorcycle, my body on one side and my legs on the other, and the hamas men beat me on the way. they didn't break my ribs, but hurt me very much. like so many israelis, she's astounded by the failure of her country's army and intelligence to protect them. translation: the army wasn't prepared. - we were the government scapegoats. hamas warned us three weeks ahead. they burned our fields, and the army somehow didn't take it seriously. and hamas�*s detailed planning extended to hostage—taking too.

translation: they seemed ready for this. _ they had prepared for a long time and had everything the hostages needed, even shampoo and conditioner. running this war is getting complicated for the israeli government. the northern border with lebanon is heating up. thousands of troops have been sent there and border towns evacuated, in case of war with iran's lebanese ally, hezbollah. prime minister netanyahu has visited the troops near gaza, but he hasn't ordered them to invade yet. so without a ground war in gaza to define the state of this crisis, other things are — starting with the hostages. in tel aviv, ehud barak, former prime minister and army commander, saw painful choices ahead. is it possible for israel to invade the gaza strip

with ground troops if there are still hostages in the hands of hamas? if there is no other way, we'll have to do it, because the alternative is to provide those barbarian crimes against humanity, get impunity due to the fact that they massacred, slaughtered probably 1,500 people. and a very painful and tough decision might have to be made. 0n the west bank, the other side of the palestinian territories, israel has settled hundreds of thousands ofjews in defiance of international law. the hardest core ofjewish settlers who've seized remote hilltops are seen by many israelis as isolated extremists. but now their effective leaders are in the israeli cabinet. on this hilltop near hebron, the settlers who believe they're here by god's will are armed and say

it was unfortunate so much jewish blood had to be spilled for other israelis to understand what had to be done to those who want to killjews. translation: in a war, - you have a gun and a trigger. and for those who don't understand yet, we are at war, a war where the other side shows no mercy. and we need to be the same. there's no choice. for palestinians on the west bank, these are violent days. mohammad, aged 20, was one of two young men killed in an israeli army arrest operation at a refugee camp near ramallah. his father led the mourners. in the mosque, they feared israel's rage and revenge. this is genocide and the world is not coming to the rescue

of the palestinians. the feel and general mood is actually entertaining the thought that netanyahu is going after the deportation, the displacement of palestinians, leading up to the annexation of gaza. in the west bank, palestinians wonder whether they will be next. people are talking about anger at what the israelis have done and a sense of uncertainty and fear about what might be happening next. this is a long and intractable conflict, but it had some certainties. it had a certain shape, a status quo. that's all changed. 0n the way to the cemetery, the flags were from the main palestinian factions — fatah, hamas and islamichhad. we couldn't see any armed palestinians at the funeral,

perhaps because israel has such tight control of the west bank for now. but the danger that a serious incident could ignite the west bank is real. when the funeral was over, mohammad's cousin said the israelis raided the camp because of gaza. they wanted revenge, he said, because resistance groups had hurt them. god have mercy, he said, to all the martyrs in gaza and the west bank. palestinians don't share much with israelis, especially not now, except a dread of harder times ahead. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. at the un, un secretary—general

antonio guterres is facing criticism from israel for these comments. criticism from israel for these comments— criticism from israel for these comments. . _ ., comments. the attack by hamas didn't happen — comments. the attack by hamas didn't happen in _ comments. the attack by hamas didn't happen in a _ comments. the attack by hamas didn't happen in a vacuum. - comments. the attack by hamas didn't happen in a vacuum. the i didn't happen in a vacuum. the palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation, their hopes of a political solution to their plight have been vanishing. but the grievances of the palestinian people cannotjustify of the palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by hamas, and those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the palestinian people. punishment of the palestinian --eole. , ., punishment of the palestinian neale, , ., punishment of the palestinian n-eole. , ., ., punishment of the palestinian n-eole. , . . , people. israel has demanded its resignation _ people. israel has demanded its resignation -- — people. israel has demanded its resignation -- his— people. israel has demanded its resignation -- his resignation. l resignation —— his resignation. the un is failing, and you, mr secretary— the un is failing, and you, mr secretary general, have lost all morality and impartiality. because, when you say those terrible — because, when you say those terrible words, that these heinaus— terrible words, that these heinous attacks did not happen in a vacuum, you are tolerating terrorism _ in a vacuum, you are tolerating terrorism. and by tolerating

terrorism, you are justifying terrorism _ terrorism, you are 'ustifying terrorismh terrorism. earlier, i spoke about all _ terrorism. earlier, i spoke about all of _ terrorism. earlier, i spoke about all of this _ terrorism. earlier, i spoke about all of this with - terrorism. earlier, i spoke l about all of this with israel's acting consul general in new york. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. we saw there the un secretary—general antonio guterres saying there were clear violations of humanitarian law in hamas, both the use of civilians as human shields but also israel bombing southern gaza when there was an evacuation order in place there. the blockade, more than 2,300 children dead. how does israeljustify what the un sees as breaches of international humanitarian law? first of all, the secretary—general, what he has said is shameful. he has presented a total moralfailure. you cannotjustify the atrocities of hamas. 1,400 of my people were

murdered, raped, burned alive, 200 people and more are kept hostage in the gaza strip. millions, millions, millions of israelis are currently in shelters because barrages of missiles on israel do not stop. 200,000 people in israel are displaced. he cannot justify it. whatever he says, he cannotjustify it. there has been widespread condemnation, though, of those attacks on israel and the situation there, but i'm not asking you about what hamas is perpetrating against israel, i'm asking about the specific allegations of what israel is doing to the people of gaza, a million people displaced, children and the pictures we are seeing unfold before our eyes there.

this is a very good question. because we cherish life. our enemy glorifies death. we are acting and operating according to international law. we're doing everything that is possible to prevent collateral damage and the hurt of civilian lives. unfortunately, hamas is the one that is using its own people as human shields. when we announced specific areas we are targeting, because we know there is military equipment there or an imminent threat, a ticking bomb as we say, they are blocking the passage of people to go out from there. on that point, sorry for interrupting you... this is an important, sorry, this is an important point given what you are saying... what you are staying there, why does israel not offer this humanitarian pause that so many people have called for? israel doing whatever is needed in order to make

sure hamas's abilities, capabilities and will to ever commit these atrocities again is eliminated. at the same time, we are doing everything possible to make sure civilians are not hurt. we want the hostages released, we want to make sure we eliminate the threat from the gaza strip. we are talking about a humanitarian situation... and on this situation... just a minute... it is important when you are making that point, to clarify when you talk about humanitarian aid that the united nations has said its workers, its systems will run out of fuel tomorrow and that people could die at that point. it won't be able to carry on helping people. it says there is fuel on the other side of the rafah crossing that it would like to access, and israel is preventing that. we have all seen the images

of the fuel terminals in the southern gaza strip, and that hamas has enough fuel, and it directs it to its own use for military purposes, for the maintenance of the tunnels, where its high officials and terrorists are hiding. we know exactly where this fuel is going. they are images that haven't been verified... we can't verify those images at bbc news, what you are describing there, we can just say the united nations says it doesn't have access to fuel. if we just move on, the chief of staff of the israeli defence force said today that the ground incursion into gaza has been delayed due to what he called tactical and strategic considerations. what are those considerations? i'm not going to get into tactics on the bbc, but i willjust say again, we will do everything

that is needed, including the ground operation, if and when needed, in order to eliminate this threat. because these atrocities we will make sure they will never happen again. there are still over 200 people held hostage in gaza at the moment. is there any update on their situation, are there negotiations are under way for their release? the release of the two hostages, of course, is good news, and israel is doing whatever is needed and whatever is possible to get information and to make sure we bring all the hostages safely back home. that's what i can say at this point, because it's a very sensitive issue and of course, if we talk about it on bbc, it will not be very constructive. 0k, we will leave it there, thanks indeed forjoining us, the acting consul general of israel in new york. thank you very much.

0ur our special correspondent is reporting from gaza and a warning some of the petite they be hard to watch. —— some of the images may be hard to watch. what war would take away, they raced to save. the young life of yazam al—aydi. the adult hand on the child's heart. it could not save him. this boy did survive airstrikes doctors at al—nasr hospital say killed 166 people. the little boy asks if his family is ok. of the nearly 6,000 said by gaza health authorities to have been killed so far, around 40% are reported to be children. sharif al—lakras came with his wounded son.

he asked, were the children the enemies? were they the ones who had kidnapped and killed? there are the other wounds — what war does to the spirit of a child. salma is nine. israel says it is only targeting the men who brought terror to its people. over 400 air strikes in the last day, unleashing the power of high explosives by night and by day. this was khan younis in the south of the gaza strip at 12.30pm today, filmed by a bbcjournalist.

the war has displaced 1.4 million people. in the tented camp at khan younis, cleanliness is part of the struggle to preserve dignity. translation: at night, it's cold and there - aren't enough blankets. we are sleeping on dirt, the children are all sick. where are the rights of our children? where are our human rights? the fun and the friendship of childhood. they grasp what they can, knowing how brutally it can be lost. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. this is bbc news. some other stories now. us house

republicans nominated representative mikejohnson republicans nominated representative mike johnson for speaker, he is the fourth person nominated in the last two weeks. 0nly hours earlier, the previous nominee withdrew after it was clear he would struggle in a full houseboat. the chamber has been without a full—time speaker for three weeks after the ousting of kevin mccarthy. —— in a full house vote. gambia's high court has opened a trial after the death of children who took a cough syrup made by an indian pharmaceutical company. children underfive died after taking the over—the—counter medicines. the who said unacceptable levels of toxins were found in the medicines. an off duty pilot who tried to crash a passengerjet said he did so after a nervous breakdown. joseph david emerson was in the cockpit of an alaska airlines flight when the alleged incident occurred on sunday, he has been charged with 83 counts of attempted

murder. a third of hospitals in gaza are no longer functioning, dwindling power supplies and water have forced their closure. joe biden have said aid isn't reaching gaza fast enough, but the us and several allies have rebuffed calls for ceasefires even as the humanitarian situation worsens. the un palestinian refugee agency's spokesman discussed what it is like on the ground there and how he has been affected personally. we arejoined by we are joined by the director of the lamps three at the united nations relief and works agency for palestinian refugees. you have lost more than a dozen members of your extended family, our condolences for your loss. your parents and your loss. your parents and your sisters are in gaza at the

moment, how are they? family is not doinu moment, how are they? family is not doing very _ moment, how are they? family is not doing very well. _ the family is not doing very well, my immediate family are unharmed, but there is nothing 0k happening in gaza right now. i worry for their safety and the safety of my friends. i have a sister sheltering inside a hospital. my other sister is in a unrwa school is in a unrwa school in the middle area, the only one who managed to get to the safe zone, quote unquote, and my family remains in danger and i worry for their safety, especially my mum who is 71, in the dark, trying to stay alive and keep her grandkids safe. you mentioned your sister working in a hospital. we heard from the gaza health ministry that the hospitals are essentially collapsing, what has she told you? the major hospital yesterday went out of power. i was in gaza two months ago and i went to that hospital with a minor injury. i admired the staff. sadly if they don't have electricity, you can't expect much from them. without fuel, it doesn't matter how many food trucks get in,

without the fuel, hospitals, bakeries, ambulances, how are you going to do anything in gaza without fuel? it is a chaotic scene, and hospitals are sheltering up to 3,000 people just hanging out in the reception area, any open space. your agencies are saying if they don't get more fuel, they have to cease operations by tomorrow. given the situation, as your agency been told anything about possible fuel deliveries?— deliveries? right, yeah, the yoav gallant _ deliveries? right, yeah, the yoav gallant agency - deliveries? right, yeah, the i yoav gallant agency announced they would need about 160,000 litres of fuel. —— the idf agency. i don't think we are getting any promises. —— the unrwa agency announced they would need about 160,000 litres of fuel. that is unfortunate, i think about my uncle going

through dialysis, it's a death sentence. it's a tragedy, obviously my family is surviving on pasta right now, that's what they have been eating for two weeks. aid is not getting up north. i work for the largest humanitarian actor, i support them in gaza, we are doing good work sheltering up to 600,000 people, providing services as much as we can. some staff were killed as they were doing that. it is not an ideal situation. israel says it doesn't want fuel to be part of the supplies because hamas will use it to continue attacking israel, what is your response? also air, hamas breathe the air... it's not an effective answer. i get the security fears, i just want to remind everyone with a conscience that the un agencies in gaza are a trusted partner of everyone, all the parties agreed that if they supervise

asked, we will take care of the hospitals. nobody wants their children on incubators. the un system unrwa can deliver for the world health organization as well to the hospitals, so there are ways to ensure it. we know what they need, it is not infinite, we know how much fuel the hospitals need, about 100,000 litres a day. sadly every day there are fewer hospitals in gaza than the day before because of this. luckily we are getting medical supplies, not a lot, a drop in the ocean, but gratitude that we are receiving something. ideally people should stop dying and stopping the air strikes. ., . ~', dying and stopping the air strikes. ., . ., strikes. eight more trucks have arrived, strikes. eight more trucks have arrived. but — strikes. eight more trucks have arrived, but only _ strikes. eight more trucks have arrived, but only reaching - strikes. eight more trucks have arrived, but only reaching a - arrived, but only reaching a certain amount of the population. if you listened to the us secretary of state at the us secretary of state at the un today, hejoined european allies and the un chief in calling for a

humanitarian pause to make sure supplies can get in. are you confident, optimistic that that will be possible to achieve? i hope so. i met yesterday, we had a small briefing, but i am encouraged there is stuff in public and private discourse, obviously it's not enough, israel has a commitment to the international community to protect civilians. we say that's a problem, they have not honoured that in my opinion as a palestinian with a family in gaza. i hope things will get better, but right now we are not hearing anything good. i worry between the evacuations and the senseless killing in some sort, and i worry that's not going to show, especially with the comment that the fuel is not going to be allowed in. what is the endgame? are you going to take hospitals out of commission, bakeries, and then what? i commission, bakeries, and then what? ., ., ., ., what? i want to ask you about the comments _ what? i want to ask you about the comments on _ what? i want to ask you about the comments on the - what? i want to ask you about | the comments on the secretary of state. you had previously said there is a mismatch between the positive words and

support for palestinian civilians and what you have seenin civilians and what you have seen in terms of action. can you tell us what you mean? it doesn't seem that our life is being humanised. the first week of this war, it became horrible. a lot of palestinians on the home front feel threatened and intimidated, couege threatened and intimidated, college campuses around the country, and in gaza, real people are dying, this is not fake. i have family members who got blown to pieces, the explosion was so big that the body of the dad was never found and now he is dead, so a of challenges like that. the us quote says they have done the right thing. —— a lot of challenges like that. i hope they will come to their senses, like they condemn russia for things they do in ukraine. it shouldn't be different, a civilian is a civilian. 50% of the people in gaza under the age of 19. they did nothing, they didn't have a choice, they didn't make any bad decision in

their life to warrant that air strike. ., ~' , ., their life to warrant that air strike. ., ~ , ., ., their life to warrant that air strike. ., ., , ., strike. thank you for sharing those thoughts _ strike. thank you for sharing those thoughts with - strike. thank you for sharing those thoughts with cars. . strike. thank you for sharing | those thoughts with cars. the director of philanthropy at unrwa. last night thoughts with us. thank you for watching bbc news. hello. the forecast is a mixed bag. we're expecting rain most days, but it won't be raining all the time. there's certainly some sunshine in the forecast, and wednesday will bring exactly that. let's have a look at the big picture, though, across the atlantic and europe, and you can see this perpetual low pressure around our neck of the woods pushed by this jet stream. in fact, another area of low pressure towards the end of the week. so, a really unsettled picture, a typical autumn, really. and if we have a look at the rainfall accumulation over the next five days, i think all of us are inforfurther rain, typical colours there. so those sort of darker blues around 30—40 millimetres.

but some parts of the country, for example, eastern scotland, over a period of five days, could see close to 100 millimetres of rain, but that's only going to be in a few spots. again, that rainfall will be spread out over a much longer period of time compared to what we had in recent stormy weather. this is the end of the night, then. three celsius in glasgow, double figures on the south coast. it would have been quite a wet night, i think, across the south, and damp in eastern scotland too. but northern ireland will wake up to some sunshine. it'll be bright through the afternoon, and in fact, the central part of the uk will have the best of the weather. all along the north sea coast, generally cloudy, the south fairly cloudy too. and towards the evening hours, we are expecting this next weather front to sweep in some rain to the west country to wales, the irish sea, northern ireland will get the rain eventually too. and basically it's quite a damp, and for some of us, wet night wednesday night into thursday, and then here's thursday itself. it's that mixed bag i was talking about earlier on, so, some sunny spells, but also occasional showers. if you're popping out for any lengthy period of time, raincoats or brollyjust

in case, and the chances are it will rain. so here's a look at friday again. quite damp here in the northeast of the uk. further showers swept in by quite a strong, quite a fresh wind there in the southwest. and the temperatures, you know, most days it's going to be about the same 11—12 celsius in the north, about 15 celsius in the south of the country. the temperatures are fairly stable at the moment. it's just that same atlantic air mass that's coming our way. and most days we've got at least a rain icon or a shower icon. so an unsettled picture. bye—bye.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in a world not short of geopolitical trouble spots, it is easy to overlook the western balkans. but recent history tells us that would be a mistake. right now, tensions are rising in the balkans. serbia is at odds with its neighbours, most especially kosovo, which belgrade refuses to recognise.

and those tensions do have regional impact. my guest is montenegro's president, jakov milatovic. his country is in nato and he's seeking rapid eu membership. but could regional instability and outside meddling thwart his ambition? presidentjakov milatovic, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it's a great pleasure to have you. you have made it quite clear your overriding political ambition and aim is to get montenegro into the eu within the next five years.