us citizens are among the 335 foreign nationals to pass through. there have been flashes in gaza city overnight is israel continues its strikes on the territory. and donald trumer begins his testimony into the fraud trial regarding the trump family business. i'm sumi somaskanda. welcome to our show. a key border crossing out of gaza is now partially open for civilians for the first time in more than three weeks. the rafah crossing on the border between gaza and egypt had only allowed a limited number of aid trucks. more than 300 people have been allowed to leave through the crossing. palestinian officials say 335 of them are foreign passport holders, and another 76 are injured gazans taken to hospitals across the border.

the international humanitarian agency, medecins sans frontieres, says 2 million palestinians are still trapped in gaza under shelling and more than 22,000 injured people remain with limited access to health care. 0ur international editor jeremy bowen has more on the border�*s opening. a warning, his report contains distressing images. at last the gates of the rafah crossing were opened. some foreign citizens were allowed to leave gaza for egypt. for the first time since israel imposed its siege. convoys of aid trucks are moving into gaza, though not nearly as many as the un and aid agencies say are necessary. ambulances went in for the seriously wounded. injabalia, at the opposite end of the gaza strip, more israeli raids. this time they said the target was a command centre. the un said gaza's civilians were being starved, traumatised and bombed to death.

0n the other side of the border wire, israelis are still in shock over the october 7 attacks. this is nirim kibbutz directly facing gaza. for the first time, adele was back to look and grab a few things. her hopes of peace with her neighbours in gaza gone forever. stopping anything like this happening again is powering israel's determination to see this fight through to the end. adele showed me the place where he son—in—law saved her three granddaughters, all under the age of ten. tell me what happened here? that's their safe room. that's where he shot the terrorist. as it was under attack, hamas radio messages were intercepted, and the israeli army gave us this excerpt.

the fence has been fixed, israel's security has not. so there's no doubt there was a lot of complacency about the risks that hamas posed to israel. and after the war there's going to be an inquiry. but, even now, the prime minister binyamin netanyahu is under a lot of pressure about his responsibility for the security lapses that led to hamas breaching the border. i took my kids. that day, a retired israeli general, he drove down from tel aviv to rescue his son's family from hamas.

as the hamas gunmen surged forward, his mission was successful. he took a rifle from a dead israeli soldier and with others, fought his way in. i saw one terrorist, i pointed at him, i killed him. i saw another one, i think i wound him or killed him. who do you hold responsible for what happened? this is the biggest failure in the history of the state of israel. it was a military failure, it was an intelligence failure. and it was a failure of the government. but i think the one that really in charge, and all the blame is on him, is the prime minister binyamin netanyahu. this was the funeral of 20—year—old lavi lipshitz. killed in combat in gaza.

israelis are behind their troops, but increasingly they want to know how so much went wrong, and the pressure on the prime minister is going to increase. why is the crossing so important. israeland why is the crossing so important. israel and egypt have restricted the movement of goods since hamas control in 2007 stop egypt fears a massive influx of palestinian refugees fleeing the war and even when it is not what time it is not easy for palestinians to leave through the rafah crossing, they have to register with local warranties well in advance and can be rejected by either side. after the attack israel closed both crossings just leaving the rafah crossing open for some aid to rohlin. for more on the crossings partial opener, i spoke with nabil famy,

an ambassador to the us. minister, we've seen hundreds of foreign passport holders and those who are badly injured now starting to cross from gaza into egypt. do you think this is a sign of something we'll see more frequently or is egypt still worried that we could see israel strike the area near the crossing? the egyptians have two responsibilities here. one is to take care of human beings irrespective of nationality, gender, you name it. we opened the door to taking care of anyone who is injured or needs hospital care. the second thing is for dual nationals, or not palestinians who want to go back home, what we've done is collaborate with their embassies in egypt to ensure that as they cross the terminal at rafah, we work with their embassies to make sure that they have a health check and then it's managed so they leave and go back home

as soon as possible. that's the humanitarian part. what's the political part of it? the political part of it is we do not accept any attempt by israel to empty gaza from the palestinian population. they did this at the beginning of the creation of israel and they never allowed them back. and we don't accept they do it again now. neither doesjordan, by the way, with respect to the west bank. let me ask you this, minister, jordan recalled its ambassador to israel. could we see egypt do the same? if things keep getting worse, nobody knows. this is inhuman, not to be able to have a pause, for humanitarian purposes, and seeing 400 people killed every night. this is simply inhumane and unacceptable.

egypt and the envoy to brussels said the following. "we'll not allow the liquidation of the palestinian course to have another nakba, referring to the mass uprooting of palestinians, at the expense of neighbouring countries." what does he mean by that? at the expense of a country like egypt? they're forced out of palestine, gaza, or the west bank, into the neighbouring country, because of humanitarian concerns. and then, the israelis never let them back and they have a long history of never letting them back. therefore, the ultimate result is the neighbouring countries take them on. because we'll always treat any refugees humanely. is egypt in this case willing to take a large number of palestinian refugees? we're not willing to take any palestinian refugees because they're

being pushed out of their homeland into other territories which, it's different from someone who needs transit to go to his country or someone who needs medical treatment. we are treating palestinians, by the way. israel says we're going to go in and eradicate hamas, and then we'll leave. they say they don't have an interest in occupying gaza. what's your response to that? first of all, palestinian civilians are not collateral damage. you cannot at the expense of hundreds and hundreds of people say i'm going in after hamas, but because i can't get to them easily, i'm going to kill everyone on the way. that's what we saw today. the latest attack on a palestinian camp, according to israeli statements, they were trying to liquidate a particular hamas leader or official. and they knew if they

bombed the camp, there would be 3—400 lives lost. but they did it. that's not acceptable. let me ask you one more question, we have seen in the us that two us senators have confirmed that talks are under way to establish a multinational peacekeeping force in gaza after israel achieves what it says its goal is, to uproot hamas. what do you think of that? again, will it be palestinian territory? then you need to talk to the palestinians. the pa. does the pa still have authority? not in gaza, certainly. it doesn't have in gaza for two reasons, one, america pushed to convene elections at a very inopportune time and hamas won the elections. and they put in multinational force, who is going to authorise that? they have to be locals. the locals have to authorise that.

you can't simply apply international force to everyone. again, i'm not in government, but i can tell you that i'm not aware there are discussions with our side regarding that kind of force at the present time. 0k. very interesting. minister, our time is up, but it's been really good to get your perspective on the programme tonight. thank you so much. more on the israel — gaza war later in the programme. donald trump son testified in an ongoing trial against his real estate impasse topic he denied wrongdoing and as a co—defendant in the case with his brother eric. {iii co-defendant in the case with his brother eric.— his brother eric. of all of donald trump _ his brother eric. of all of donald trump 's - his brother eric. of all of donald trump 's children his brother eric. of all of - donald trump 's children don donald trump �*s children don junior is the most outspoken critically. he has criticised this case is a sham. today in court the tone was light. he

even joked a few times, at one point thejudge told even joked a few times, at one point the judge told him to slow down when asked during prosecution questions, to which he apologised, i may have moved to florida but i kept the new york pace. prosecutors and the judge has agreed that those statements contain fraudulent evaluations that he signed off, understand john that he signed off, understand jothr said while he may have signed off on those documents that he relied on his accountants to keep accurate values. he said that's what he paid them for. he will return tomorrow in court to finish off his testimony and then we will hear from the other trump children. hearfrom the other trump children. eric trump who was responsible for running the day—to—day operations of the company and then in bunker trump, although her attorney said today they are appealing

that order for said today they are appealing that orderfor her to said today they are appealing that order for her to appear in court and testify. congressman geora e court and testify. congressman george santos _ court and testify. congressman george santos has _ court and testify. congressman george santos has survived - court and testify. congressman george santos has survived a l george santos has survived a vote to expel them by fellow members of the us house of representatives. the boat failed far short of the two—thirds majority needed to oust a member, santos accused of 23 charges including fraud and the comp the first term congressman denies any wrongdoing. house really expels members and has only removed two congressmen in the last 100 years. round the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. some other headlines. the us vice—president, kamala harris, called on all countries to address the risks posed by artificial intelligence. she is speaking in britain, where a global summit is happening on it. just as ai has the potential to do profound good,

it also has the potential to cause profound harm. these threats are often referred to as the existential threats of ai. because of course, they could endanger the very existence of humanity. harris said a new us institution could act as a model for others to test the safety of ai. it follows britain's publishing of a declaration aimed at boosting global co—operation to ensure that artificial intelligence has appropriate safeguards. it was agreed to by 28 countries, including the us and china. you're watching bbc news. officials and carers say that ukraine has suffered the most intense 2a hours of shelling since the start of the year. make officials in kyiv. the country's interior minister said russian troops had fired

on 118 towns and villages across the country. one area of is the strategically significant town avdiivka, south of bakhmut. ukraine says russia has been pouring reinforcements into the area to encircle and capture the area. here in the us the white house has been trying to push through a support package for israel and other causes. we spoke to and other causes. we spoke to an congressman who said that it is having an impact in kyiv. they want to make sure that we are going to be there. there are going to be there. there are obviously things that would concern in la at this time, most obvious is congress�* inability to govern, the fact that we are funding 45 days at a time, we had a speaker change, and three weeks where

we accomplish nothing at all in the bitter attacks that are taking place inside congress. we are showing the world that we aren�*t governing particularly well. secondly, the war between israel and hamas blows ukraine�*s new stories of the front page. there was a major part of this trip, to come back and educate our colleagues as to what is happening and why it matters, why they should be optimistic, to remember why we are in this conflict. it is the same reasons before the second world war. it is the same reason we formed the united nations and nato. we can�*t let a democratic, sovereign country be wiped off the earth. it is in our interest to help ukraine. speakerjohnson has spoken about splitting this up. what will probably happen is they will be a senate version that combines most of the measures that the administration has pushed for. it will include funding for ukraine, israel, concerns about

taiwan, our southern border. that will come to the house and i believe that will pass. returning to our top story, the israel — gaza war. us president joe biden applauded the opening of the rafah crossing thing was the result of "intense and urgent diplomacy.- the result of "intense and urgent diplomacy. where in a situation where _ urgent diplomacy. where in a situation where safe - urgent diplomacy. where in a situation where safe for - situation where safe for palestinians and foreign nationals has started. american citizenry will exit today as part of the first group of probably over 1000. we�*ll see more of the process in the coming days. working non—stop to get americans out of gaza as soon and as safely as possible. as we mentioned earlier, politico is reporting that talks are under way between the us and its partners for a possible peacekeeping force for gaza if hamas is defeated. to democratic law papers to make makers said any sort of force

is unlikely to include american troops. ——2 democratic lawmakers said. we also talked about the fight over funding for israel and ukraine in congress. i want to start with the israel— gaza war. we saw reports in bloomberg and politico that two of your colleagues in the senate, richard blumenthal and kristen holland have confirmed that talks are under way to establish a multinational force in gaza after israel approved hamas. can you tell us more about this? i hamas. can you tell us more about this?— about this? i can't. i can't confirm — about this? i can't. i can't confirm those _ about this? i can't. i can't confirm those reports. . about this? i can't. i can't. confirm those reports. there have been a number of discussions under way about what kind of facility could replace us inside gaza that could be palestinian authority, a multinationalforce, but my senseis a multinationalforce, but my sense is those discussions are just beginning. it has been a concern of the united states. it feels like you need to have

a sense of what replaces hamas very soon and it has to be a realistic plan, notjust a plan which looks good on paper. this is one of the most essential questions of the israeli ground operation. questions of the israeli ground operation-— operation. would you find that to be a good — operation. would you find that to be a good idea, _ operation. would you find that to be a good idea, a _ to be a good idea, a multinational peacekeeping force, after israel were to leave gaza?— force, after israel were to leave gaza? , leave gaza? the devil is in the details. leave gaza? the devil is in the details- we — leave gaza? the devil is in the details. we would _ leave gaza? the devil is in the details. we would have - leave gaza? the devil is in the details. we would have to - leave gaza? the devil is in the j details. we would have to first and foremost make sure that we have commitments from other countries to be underground if the result of this incursion into gaza was that i must grow stronger, in part because of the civilian casualties, that multinational force would be immediately met with the fiercest resistance from what remains of hamas or spinoff terrorist groups. the viability of a post hamas government depends in part on whether the groups are defeated or whether they end up getting stronger in numbers, which is something that i worry about as i was the operation unfold. tell that i worry about as i was the operation unfold.— that i worry about as i was the operation unfold. tell us more about that- — operation unfold. tell us more about that. you _ operation unfold. tell us more about that. you are _

operation unfold. tell us more about that. you are concerned j about that. you are concerned that the operation, the way it has been carried out at the moment by israeli forces, could lead to strengthening hamas? i5 lead to strengthening hamas? is the question i raised yesterday at a hearing with secretary austin and secretary blinken. in afghanistan the united states killed a lot of taliban militants but we created twice as many as we eliminated, in part because of our occupation, but also in part because of the number of civilians that we have killed. it is very difficult to eliminate a terrorist group to military means only. and if there is violence inside gaza that ends up violence inside gaza that ends up with young men inside gaza that had been on the sidelines previouslyjoining the previously joining the militancy, they previouslyjoining the militancy, they could be a lasting problem for whatever government replaces hamas. i think this is something we need to talk to the israelis about, not just to talk to the israelis about, notjust because of the moral imperative to keep civilian casualties low, but because of the strategic imperative to keep ——17 casualties low. secretary blinken is going to

israel on friday. watch it is say to partners that?- say to partners that? this mission — say to partners that? this mission will _ say to partners that? this mission will be _ say to partners that? this mission will be top - say to partners that? this mission will be top of - say to partners that? ti 3 mission will be top of mind, looking at what the hamas structure looks like. but we also do not have enough humanitarian aid reaching gaza. any civilians that make many civilians are dying because of shelling and mortar attacks on the fact that hamas hides itself inside civilian populations. —— many civilians are dying. many more will die if we don�*t get viewed and fuel into gaza. it is a question for and also for egypt, which have stood on the way into a getting into gaza at the pace and size we need. —— food and fuel. i want to ask about funding here in the us as well. there is a debate in the house of representatives over funding package that president biden wants to see through which would include humanitarian aid to gaza, funding to israel, but also fighting for ukraine, taiwan, and the border. republicans want to split the ukraine aid out because they don�*t support it or want to

offset the spending by cutting some spending for the —— cutting some funding for the internal revenue services. is that a compromise that you think democrats should be willing to think about? the aid for ukraine — willing to think about? the aid for ukraine is _ willing to think about? the aid for ukraine is no _ willing to think about? the aid for ukraine is no less - willing to think about? the aid for ukraine is no less urgent. l for ukraine is no less urgent. and arguably is even more urgent given the fact that ukraine relies mostly on the united states and europe to fund its operations, whereas israel is looking for us to pick up a minority of this year. in ukraine there are certain not going to be bullets and the guns of ukrainian soldiers. there is an urgency to both causes. and it is also not necessarily accurate to suggest that republicans are insisting that the funding for israel be offset. that is a term that traditionally means you cut spending elsewhere, raise revenue elsewhere to pay for this. that is and what they did in the house. they attached a provision that actually costs more money, are cutting money that goes to the irs to hold

more taxpayers at the higher end of the income spectrum accountable for holding direct benefit share of taxes. the bbc soke to benefit share of taxes. the bbc spoke to your — benefit share of taxes. the bbc spoke to your colleague - benefit share of taxes. the bbc spoke to your colleague and - benefit share of taxes. the bbc spoke to your colleague and i l spoke to your colleague and i sat mightily yesterday and he told us that americans�* support for ukraine is waiting as the war goes on. he said "we received these visit of evidence about widespread corruption in ukraine involving the money that we are giving them. and you add to that that ukrainian officials and their own officials are increasingly telling us we have to brace for close to a decade more of this with no end in sight and a reasonable explanation of what an ultimate victory looks like." what is your response to that? ., , that? to the extent there is sliuhtl that? to the extent there is slightly less _ that? to the extent there is slightly less support - that? to the extent there is slightly less support in - that? to the extent there is slightly less support in the l slightly less support in the united states it is because likely and donald trump and tucker carlson and their crowd are pitting the united states public against ukraine. the problem they identify is one of their own making. it isn�*t true that there is evidence that our

military aid to ukraine is being devoted. it is true that ukraine is a country that for a long time has had a rule of law problem. just because a country in eastern europe has a corruption problem doesn�*t mean that they deserve to be invaded, attacked and by russia. i doesn�*t mean that thousands of civilians and children inside ukraine deserve to die. no. this is the post world war ii ordered been decided here. and there are a lot of folks on the right who for whatever reason are, you know, arguing for a policy that would result in vladimir putin owning all of ukraine. that is a terrible outcome of ukraine, a terrible outcome of ukraine, a terrible outcome for the united states.— a terrible outcome for the united states. ,, ., ., united states. senator, we will have to leave _ united states. senator, we will have to leave it _ united states. senator, we will have to leave it there. - united states. senator, we will have to leave it there. as - have to leave it there. as always, great to have your bbc news. you can find all the letters on the israel gaza war on our website. we have news and analysis that plus the other lights around the world. that is all that bbcnews.com. be sure to check out our app as

well. —— plus highlights from around the world. the rolling stones have reached the top ten in every decade since the 19605. in every decade since the 1960s. happy diamonds entered the charts at number three. the stones extended their record as the band with the most top ten albums of all time, 38 in total, more than barbara streisand, with 3a top ten albums. in the uk, the release of the other has taken the group to number one for the 14th time. pretty impressive. that is all for us here in washington. i am sumi somaskanda. are we back in 30 minutes of the latest. stay with us. hello there. we�*ve got more heavy rain, more strong winds as we head into thursday, all due, of course, to storm ciaran. that�*s been tracking its way right the way across the atlantic, heading over

the southwest of england. now, it will move eastwards towards east anglia. it will bring more heavy rain and given how wet it�*s been in october, that could lead to some flooding. the winds also could potentially be dangerous and hazardous, bringing some disruption. this is where we�*ve got the amber wind warnings from the met office. the winds already picking up in the southwest, those stronger winds will transfer through the english channel to affect coastal areas in the southeast of england. the winds are likely to be even stronger for a while in the channel islands — gusts of over 90 mph, already had gusts of 100 mph along the coast of brittany. so, some really strong winds across the far south of the uk. could be quite windy in other areas, and around the storm, around that low pressure, we�*ve got these showers of longer spells of rain. as the wind picks up in scotland, it will get wetter here. we may miss the worst of the wet weather in northern ireland. temperature—wise, well, of course, nothing to write home about — a cool 10—12 degrees. but at least during the afternoon, the winds in the southwest will start to ease, and that�*s because the storm is going to be tracking away,

and at the same time, it will be weakening. so, as we get into friday, the area of low pressure, what was the storm, is going to be sitting out in the north sea. so, it�*s not going to be as windy on friday, it�*s not going to be as wet. there�*ll be some sunshine, but also some showers blown in, and there�*ll still be some blustery winds. the windiest weather, perhaps the wettest weather will be across eastern scotland and the northeast of england. and those temperatures may be a degree or so higher, but still only 12—13 degrees at best. now, as we head into the weekend, we see that area of low pressure continuing to fade away in the north sea. another one coming in from the atlantic — not expecting this one to be named because the winds aren�*t going to be as strong. the strong winds will still be through the english channel, but we�*ve got more rain to come across southern parts of the uk, into wales, in the midlands, followed by some showers. further north, there�*ll be some sunshine and perhaps a few showers as well, and those temperatures not really changing a great deal. so, after all this very wet

and very windy weather, we�*ve got some more rain on saturday for the southern half of the uk and then we�*re all in the same boat on sunday — sunshine and showers and not as windy.

voiceover: this is bbc news. we�*ll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme.

thai women are sold a dream online. the message is marry a foreign man and you will have a good life. many couples of course remain happy, but the dark reality of others isn�*t talked about in my community. in this isolated part of england, the body of a thai woman was found. 20 years on, herfamily is still seeking answers and justice.