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tv   BBC News  BBC News  October 28, 2023 4:00pm-4:30pm BST

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live from london, this is bbc news. israel says it has "shifted phases in the war". it hit 150 targets in gaza and released video it says shows its tanks entering the territory. translation: last night, the ground in gaza shook. | we attacked above the ground and below the ground. we attacked terror operatives of all ranks in every location. our correspondent on the ground, rushdi abualouf, says the bombardment in northern gaza is on an unprecedented scale. for the first time ever they have seen this scale of explosion, huge black, huge fire in the sky. this is the scene live in gaza, where the israeli army has reissued its call for civilians to move south. israel's defence minister will meet the families of israeli hostages held, who are worried about the intensifying attacks on gaza.
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and right now we are striking from the air every single day when we do not know where my cousin is, where we do not know where over 200 hostages are and we don't know if any of our bombs have killed them. here in london, pro—palestinian demonstrators, turn out in force. these are recent pictures. protests are also planned in other capital cities. fresh aid enters gaza and the un tells the bbc they've managed to re—establish some contact with their teams on the ground. welcome to bbc news. israel's defence minister says the country's military has "shifted phases in the war" and that its operation will continue "until further notice". the minister's comments followed the intensification of the israeli military operation against hamas.
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it said air attacks overnight hit 150 underground targets, and killed several senior hamas commanders. israel has again warned people in the north of gaza to head south, saying their "window to act was closing". as the israeli operation unfolded, a bbc correspondent in gaza reported a huge bombardment in northern, which he said was on an unprecedented scale. he described scenes of panic and chaos, as communication lines were cut across the terrority. that bombardment has continued with israeli artillery from the north of gaza. international aid agencies say they are struggling to contact their teams inside the strip. although the un has told us it has now managed to get in touch with its people there. more than 200 people are being held hostage by hamas, a proscribed terror organisation in the uk, us and many other western nations. relatives of the hostages expressed alarm at the
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intensification of the fighting. relatives of the hostages and missing families will meet prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his defence minister this evening to discuss their safety. these are some of the live pictures looking from southern israel towards gaza, as the camera just pans around and you can see continued smoke and this has been the scene throughout the course of the last 2a hours. the intensification has continued from the israeli military as they have made out to the next stage of their campaign. hamas has urged the implementation of a un resolution calling for aid to be allowed into gaza. the lack of communication means we don't yet have numbers of those killed in the night—time operation. the hamas—run health ministry says 7,650 people have been killed there
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since the war began. about moo israelis were killed by the hamas attacks three weeks ago. as we mentioned, the israeli defence minister has been speaking about the latest army advances. here's a little of what he said. translation: we have i shifted a phase in the war. last night, the ground in gaza shook. we attacked above the ground and below the ground. we attacked terror operatives of all ranks in every location. the instructions to the forces are clear — the action will continue until a new order. that is the latest from the israeli defence ministry. we will be hoping to talk to our correspondent in gaza on the ground live in a moment. let's get more from our middle east correspondent tom bateman, who's sent this report from jerusalem. wave upon wave of israeli air strikes have pounded gaza.
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the military calls these massive significant attacks as its ground troops entered the territory. palestinians report an unprecedented level of bombardment while virtually all communications for nearly 2.5 million people appear to be cut. here, residents rushed the wounded to hospital by themselves as people say they could not call ambulances. paramedics in the darkness simply drove towards explosions. palestinian telecoms companies say the outage was caused by the air strikes. the israeli army hasn't commented on that. we have lost contact with our staff on the ground in gaza, communication lines are still down across gaza and we are incredibly terrified about the situation, especially after the heavy bombardment that was reported last night in gaza and it has been said that it is on a scale
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never seen before. the israeli military says its forces entered the northern gaza strip, calling it an expansion of its ground operations to eliminate hamas. it has said it has killed commanders overnight, including one of the leaders of the october 7th massacres against israel. hamas said it was fighting israeli forces on the ground. israel called these targeted attacks against specific hamas positions and its network of tunnels below gaza city. translation: last night, the ground forces entered | and continued expanding the ground force operations. the idf is continuing with its evaluation in an ongoing way, continuing massively with air strikes and also the sea. meanwhile, hamas continued to fire rockets toward southern israel this morning. and families of some of the more
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than 220 people being held hostage by hamas say they have spent the most terrible of all nights, fearing the ground operation could endanger them. whether this amounts to the full—scale land assault some expected isn't clear, the israeli army is calling this a limited invasion. what we do know is the attacks are intense but with communications out in gaza, most palestinians can't tell the world what is happening to them. this war has entered a new phase. three weeks on from the deadly attacks when hamas stormed israel and killed moo people, almost 8000 palestinians have now been killed, say doctors in gaza. the international calls for a ceasefire are going unheeded and the fighting only intensifies. tom bateman, bbc news, jerusalem.
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the un secretary—general hasjust issued his latest statement. he is in sight but let me read through the key lines because it is an important intervention. he said regarding the situation in gaza i was encouraged in the last few days by what seem to be a growing consensus in the international community, including countries are supporting israel, for the need for at least a humanitarian pause in the fighting to facilitate the release of hostages in gaza. the evacuation of third countries nationals and the delivery of humanitarian aid to people. regrettably, he says, instead of the pause, i was surprised by an unprecedented escalation of the bombardments and their devastating impact undermining the referred humanitarian objectives. given at the breakdown in communications, the statement says i am also extremely concerned about the un staff who are in gaza to deliver humanitarian assistance. the situation must be
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reversed, i reiterate my strong appealfor an immediate humanitarian appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire appealfor an immediate humanitarian ceasefire with the unconditional release of hostages and a delivery of humanitarian aid at the level that corresponds to the dramatic needs of people in gaza where a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in front of our eyes. i want to repeat the statement ends with what i said yesterday, this is the moment of truth, everyone must assume their responsibilities. history willjudge us all. so that is the latest statement from antonio guterres, the un secretary—general. 0ne guterres, the un secretary—general. one other separate line to bring you thatis one other separate line to bring you that is just emerging, coming from elon musk, who has tweeted that starling will support connectivity to internationally recognised aid organisations in gaza. there we are seeing that post from elon musk and
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potentially significant because of course communications last when those strikes started about 2k hours ago and the un secretary—general referring to it with the un and other aid agencies trying to get in contact with their people and people on the ground trying to get in contact with each other will stop let me just reference these live pictures you are seeing on the right—hand side. rockets going out of gaza, apologies we just went back to the elon musk post but there you see a plume of smoke as another rocket salvo goes out of the gaza strip, so the dynamic continuing with those israeli military strikes continuing through the day, continuing, that intense bombardment we saw overnight with still hamas having the capacity to fire off rockets. we can go live now to our diplomatic correspondent paul adams who's injerusalem.
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let's start with what we just heard from the secretary general because expressing his surprise at the israeli action that we saw overnight. i israeli action that we saw overnight-— israeli action that we saw overniaht. ~ ., , , overnight. i think that probably reflects that _ overnight. i think that probably reflects that israel _ overnight. i think that probably reflects that israel is _ overnight. i think that probably reflects that israel is not - overnight. i think that probably l reflects that israel is not working tier antonio guterres' gender and he is not necessarily up to speed on plans. —— antonio guterres' agenda. it is not interested in the discussions going on at the un, it is acutely conscious that the issue is acutely conscious that the issue is being hotly discussed but it is most unlikely that the israelis are going to heed any warnings from the secretary general and a few days ago israeli officials were calling on him to resign for his comments over the crisis, so i think we need to
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probably put those comments to one side. that is not necessarily part of the pressure that the government hear of israel feels it is under. i think it feels it is under enormous domestic pressure. there is a meeting going on right now between prime minister benjamin netanyahu and relatives of hostages being held in gaza. they want him to stop this military operation now and focus on getting hostages out instead. and so thatis getting hostages out instead. and so that is i think, and we will hear from the prime minister later on to see if he will pay any attention or he'd there's appeals, because they are more and more passionate and you really feel the pressure mounting on him. w , really feel the pressure mounting on him. , ., ., really feel the pressure mounting on him. i. ., him. exactly on that point, i was s-ueakin him. exactly on that point, i was speaking to _ him. exactly on that point, i was speaking to one _ him. exactly on that point, i was speaking to one family _ him. exactly on that point, i was speaking to one family member| him. exactly on that point, i was - speaking to one family member who has a cousin that is being held hostage and they were very sceptical when they hear the idf and others talking about the priorities, because the idf talking about
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hitting hamas targets but also saying that their priority is to release hostages and certainly the person i spoke to is incredibly sceptical about whether the hostages were the number one priority. i heard some on the other day saying that israel, the dilemma the pm faces is israel has to fight gaza as if there were no hostages and has to try and get the hostages out of gaza as if there was no fighting going on. these are two obviously irreconcilable objectives and clearly the government of israel wants to try and do both. it has set itself this incredibly ambitious task of uprooting a miss once and for all from the gaza strip, but there are still 200 or more hostages, including a lot of foreign nationals, being held in tunnels, the very tunnels the israeli military is trying to destroy. it is an absolutely impossible dilemma and
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at the moment it is very hard to see that this government has figured out a way to pursue those two objectives successfully and in tandem. just a cuick successfully and in tandem. just a quick word — successfully and in tandem. just a quick word on _ successfully and in tandem. just a quick word on what _ successfully and in tandem. just a quick word on what i _ successfully and in tandem. just a quick word on what i was - successfully and in tandem. just a quick word on what i was saying . quick word on what i was saying there about elon musk sending aid to organisations. with the communications blackout, where are we with that? it is communications blackout, where are we with that?— we with that? it is very difficult for the un- _ we with that? it is very difficult for the un. is _ we with that? it is very difficult for the un. is speaking - we with that? it is very difficult for the un. is speaking to - we with that? it is very difficult for the un. is speaking to an . for the un. is speaking to an official earlier who said they have about a dozen satellite phones and their entire operation is relying on those phones alone. there is a statement this evening from the palestinian minister of communications, i think that is probably in ramallah, not the hamas minister of human occasions, saying that they have received approval from starlink and we are working on providing equipment on sensitive
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points in cooperation with the egyptian and international authorities. that sort of suggests to me that maybe they are trying to get starlink somewhere close enough where it could be useful for the get starlink somewhere close enough where it could be usefulfor the un agencies inside. very much doubt that we will see starlink terminals being taken in to the gaza strip from the egyptian side. i suspect that would be the kind of equipment the israelis would say that is not going on because it will end up in the hands of hamas.— going on because it will end up in the hands of hamas. thanks once auain, the hands of hamas. thanks once again. talking _ the hands of hamas. thanks once again, talking about _ the hands of hamas. thanks once again, talking about the - the hands of hamas. thanks once | again, talking about the egyptians and the foreign ministry in the last that 0rwell has been talking about israeli obstacles, that is the quote they used, impeding delivery of aid. there was suggestion what it would be let in today but the egyptian foreign ministry saying israeli obstacles are impeding delivery of aid into gaza.
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live now to lt general mark c schwartz, former us security coordinator for israel and the palestinian authority. hejoins me live on the programme. thank you for being here with us. in terms of what has happened in the last 2a hours, your assessment? it last 24 hours, your assessment? it is good to be with you. clearly the idf have made the decision to incrementally increase their operations, primarily we saw over the last 72 hours with some of these limited reconnaissance that took part in the northern part of the gaza strip of the last 24 hours with the 150 also strikes that took place going after hamas tunnel complexes as well as a significant increase in ground manoeuvre, ithink as well as a significant increase in ground manoeuvre, i think what they are in the process of doing now is proofing one of their primary accesses of advance into gaza city diverse to do the reconnaissance and
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then secure routes that they will eventually use i think as they continue to increase their ground forces in the coming days. {iii continue to increase their ground forces in the coming days. of course that hase forces in the coming days. of course that phase will _ forces in the coming days. of course that phase will be _ forces in the coming days. of course that phase will be an _ forces in the coming days. of course that phase will be an incredible - that phase will be an incredible battle. i will come to that in a moment or two, but you are listening to paul adams there injerusalem talking about that meeting that is happening now with israel's prime minister and families of the hostages. that is a real pressure on the prime minister to perhaps, in the prime minister to perhaps, in the variety of options they have, certainly the call from that quarter is to pause to allow more efforts to release more hostages. yes. is to pause to allow more efforts to release more hostages.— is to pause to allow more efforts to release more hostages. yes, i didn't hear paul's — release more hostages. yes, i didn't hear paul's comments _ release more hostages. yes, i didn't hear paul's comments but _ release more hostages. yes, i didn't hear paul's comments but i - release more hostages. yes, i didn't hear paul's comments but i heard i release more hostages. yes, i didn't| hear paul's comments but i heard the interview with the man who has a cousin who is taken hostage and you certainly feel for those who have
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relatives taken hostage in the gaza strip. i do think it warrants further discussion on continuing pressure on hamas, but not to the degree that you are completely putting aside any opportunity for continued negotiations the potential release. i know about 36 hours ago there was some hope that proximally 50 hostages were in the final stages of discussion for release and that in a sense fell by the wayside, but i can certainly empathise with what the families are going through and i understand also that the senior leadership, the prime minister and defence secretary have been meeting with the families as well. militarily, how does israel go about trying to tackle this tunnel complex, because it is absolutely fast, isn't it, and full of dangers,
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both for their troops and potentially any hostages inside? it is, it is one of the most challenging types of tasks or manoeuvre that exists. they are addressing it already by trying to reduce where they, through the intelligence collection, the idf have assessed whether hostages are not, but where they believe that hamas has control in this vast metro that has been described by the idf, but eventually what will have to occur to complete the mission that the prime minister has spoken to and the prime minister has spoken to and the generally we have spoken to as well, they will have to send soldiers into those tunnels to do the clearing and if they try and securely hostages that are being held in these underground
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facilities, it is extreme utah. would you anticipate their intelligence is that good? we all saw the failings through its ago, is there intelligence good enough to try to pinpoint where hostages are? —— it is extremely tough. it is -- it is extremely tough. it is incredibly _ -- it is extremely tough. it is incredibly difficult. _ —— it is extremely tough. it 3 incredibly difficult. hamas are staying of any communications apart from word—of—mouth to conduct movement of the hostages and to try to control their response to the idf bombardment as well as the forthcoming attacks. so i would believe it would be very difficult to have a good understanding of whether hostages are, which right into the anxiety and fear of the family members of the hostages being held. to family members of the hostages being held. ., ., . ~ family members of the hostages being held. ., ., a ., held. to find a quick thought. i know it is _ held. to find a quick thought. i know it is very _ held. to find a quick thought. i know it is very difficult, -
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held. to find a quick thought. i l know it is very difficult, because there are so many options, but what would you anticipate will happen in the coming days and weeks? i believe the coming days and weeks? i believe the amount of— the coming days and weeks? i believe the amount of international _ the amount of international pressure, certainly the united states has been discussing this with israeli leadership, i do think that there will be some type of pause to allow additional humanitarian assistance to common to the degree that it has not yet. i know some has been coming in but right now israel has the strategic operational advantage bar none, so why not take advantage bar none, so why not take advantage of that, the position they are in, to try to relieve the suffering that is going on for the palestinian populace inside of gaza. they have a moral responsibility to do that as well and they can still continue to collect intelligence, do precision strikes to go after hamas leadership and targets they are focusing on. leadership and targets they are focusing on— leadership and targets they are focusing on-_ leadership and targets they are focusin: on. ., ., ~ ., focusing on. good to talk to you, thanks so —
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focusing on. good to talk to you, thanks so much _ focusing on. good to talk to you, thanks so much for— focusing on. good to talk to you, thanks so much forjoining - focusing on. good to talk to you, thanks so much forjoining us - focusing on. good to talk to you, | thanks so much forjoining us here on the programme. thank you. we were telling you only a few minutes ago about the communications difficulties that the un and other agencies were operating and also people on the ground trying to communicate within the gaza strip. there are so many difficulties with communication is being cut, but a little earlier on bbc news i spoke toa to a paediatrician who has worked in gaza and the west bank since 2011 as part of medical delegation carrying out training and surgery. he told me that he had been in close contact with doctors in gaza since the fighting broke out three weeks ago, but had not heard from anyone since friday evening. around 6:15pm uk time yesterday, which would have been around 8:15 in gaza, we lost all communication with doctors, surgeons, paramedics on the ground. we had a message from the palestinian red crescent saying that they were unable to speak to their own aid workers and humanitarian workers
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on the ground, there was no way to access ambulances through the emergency hotline, which is 101, in gaza, and this has been, you know, frankly a huge escalation which has left us extremely disturbed by what has been happening overnight. the fact that we have not heard from a single human soul from, you know, dozens if not hundreds of colleagues we have been trying to contact since that time yesterday evening is extremely concerning. at the same time, you know, this means people on the ground are suffering, they cannot get to ambulances, they cannot find out if their loved ones are alive or have been killed by the israeli air strikes that are continuing throughout the night and it is a very worrying time. i am sure it is and alarming because you have been in contact, you know so many of these doctors, their friends, their colleagues,
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but in terms of where they are, i know you have a variety of people that you are in contact with, are the majority of those in the south or are some still in the north given all the warnings again we have had repeated in the last hour or so? so we have colleagues from all over gaza, the north and the south, one of the main hospitals, which is al—shifa, the biggest trauma centre in gaza is based in the north and that has been under a direct threat of bombing by the israeli government yesterday evening, prior to the communications being cut. again, we have not heard from them, from a london—based medic who has been often on the news and often speaking to you and other networks, we have not been able to communicate with them, and this is a concerning situation. we have a health system that has collapsed, we have hospitals that have basically run out of supplies and you cannot run hospitals on air
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and determination, you know, you need staff and the staff are exhausted, if not some of them, a large number of them have been killed, over 100 have been named. you need medicines, you need basic equipment like beds, and in al—shifa hospital they have 70,000 patients, 70,000 people apologies in the hospital or around the hospital grounds taking shelter, so that is taking up bed space, that is taking up much—needed space for these patients, and fuel is obviously the other thing to run the electricity and we have seen that that has run out. back to the live pictures from gaza because as we were listening to that, more explosions we are seeing in the last few minutes on that evening skyline regularly through the course of the last couple of minutes. i will show you quickly pictures from rome because more pro—palestinian demonstrations and protests going on thatjust as they are in so many different capital cities around the world. i am back
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with more headlines here injust a moment or two. hello. if you can see any blue sky overhead right now, do bear in mind it may not last, because rain continues to feature in our forecast for the rest of the weekend. and for some, quite a lot of rain. on our earlier satellite image, you can see clumps of shower clouds circulating around an area of low pressure. and then this stripe of bright white cloud pushing its way in from the south, bringing a band of heavy, thundery rain, squally gusty winds. could be a lot of rain in a short space of time across southern counties of england, up into parts of wales. it will be quite blustery here, particularly through the english channel. also windy up towards the north and the east of scotland. some outbreaks of rain here. quite a few showers across parts of northern ireland. still some spells of sunshine and temperatures, if anything, a touch above the average for the time of year — 11—16 celsius. tonight, this band of heavy rain drives its way northwards, there will be plenty of showers elsewhere. northern ireland looks like turning quite wet for a time.
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some clear spells too, it stays quite blustery, in fact the wind really pick up across north—eastern scotland and low pressure remains firmly in charge through tomorrow. showers circulating around below and this weather front becoming very slow—moving across parts of scotland. so through tomorrow, across england and wales, northern ireland too, we will see some sunny spells, quite a few showers, some really heavy, thundery ones again down towards the south—east of england, but for scotland, for eastern parts of scotland particularly, we are expecting heavy and persistent rain. some places could see in excess of 100mm of rain, especially up over higher ground, so that could well give rise to some further flooding. combined with very strong winds, gusting up to 50—60mph, those winds actually could bring big waves and some coastal flooding along that east coast. temperatures again generally between 10—15, maybe up to 16. things turn just a little bit quieter, but it's only a subtle difference, into the start of the new week.
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and then later in the week, we're keeping a very close eye on developments. don't take the details too literally at this stage, but we could see a very deep area of low pressure developing. that could bring some stormy conditions in places. but whichever way you slice it, as we move out of october into the start of november, it remains very unsettled.
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welcome to bbc news. israel says it has "shifted phases in the war". it hit 150 targets in gaza overnight, and released video it says shows its tanks entering the territory. translation: last night, the ground in gaza shook. | we attacked above the ground and below the ground. we attacked terror operatives of all ranks in every location. 0ur correspondent on the ground, rushdi abualouf, says the bombardment in northern gaza is on an unprecedented scale. for the first time ever they have seen this scale of explosion, huge black, huge fire in the sky. this is the scene live in gaza, where the israeli army has reissued its call for civilians to move south.

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