credits us president biden credits intense and urgent diplomacy for opening the crossing. us citizens are among the 335 foreign nationals to pass through. and there have been flashes in gaza city overnight, as israel continues its strikes on the territory. welcome to our show. a key crossing out of gaza is now partially open for civilians for the first time in more than three weeks. the rafah crossing between gaza and egypt had only allowed a limited number of humanitarian aid trucks bringing supplies into the area. more than 400 people have been allowed to leave through the crossing. palestinian officials say that 335 of them are foreign passport holders, and another 76 are injured gazans who were taken to hospitals across the border. the international

humanitarian agency medicine sans —— medecins sans frontieres say people remain in gaza, and others without health care. jeremy bowen with more on the opening of the rafah crossing, 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 civilian were being starved, 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 kibbutz nirim directly facing gaza. for the first time, adele was back to 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 in 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. i took my pistol... that day, a retired israeli general, he drove down from tel aviv to rescue his son's family from hamas. as the hamas gunman 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 on 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. israel and egypt have restricted the move of goods. the two countries say the blockade is needed for security reasons. egypt also fears a massive influx of reasons. egypt also fears a massive influx of palestinian refugees fleeing the war. even when it's not wartime, it is not easy for palestinians to leave gaza through rafah — they have to register with the local authorities well in advance, and can be rejected by either side. after hamas attacked israel on october 7, after hamas attacked israel on 0ctober7, israel closed after hamas attacked israel on october 7, israel closed both of its crossings, leaving just the rafah crossing open for some aid to roll in. for more oon the crossings partial reopening, i spoke to the ambassador to the us from egypt. do you think this is a

sign of something we will see more frequently, or is egypt still worried that we could see israel strike the area near the crossing?— crossing? the egyptians have basically two _ crossing? the egyptians have basically two responsibilities | basically two responsibilities here. one which is to take care of human beings, irrespective of human beings, irrespective of nationality, gender, religion — you name it. and that's why we've opened the door to taking on anybody who's injured and needs hospital care or the sort. the second thing is — for dual nationals or non—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 that they leave and go back home as

soon as possible. that's the humanitarian part.— soon as possible. that's the humanitarian part. what is the olitical humanitarian part. what is the political part — humanitarian part. what is the political part of _ humanitarian part. what is the political part of it? _ humanitarian part. what is the political part of it? the - political part of it? the political _ political part of it? the political part _ political part of it? the political part of - political part of it? the political part of it - political part of it? the political part of it is - political part of it? the political part of it is we political part of it? tia: 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 it never allowed them back. and we don't accept that they do it again now. neither doesjordan, again now. neither does jordan, by again now. neither doesjordan, by the way, with respect to the west bank. let by the way, with respect to the west bank-— by the way, with respect to the west bank. . , ., , west bank. let me ask you this, minister - _ west bank. let me ask you this, minister - jordan _ west bank. let me ask you this, minister - jordan has _ west bank. let me ask you this, minister - jordan has recalled i minister — jordan has recalled its ambassador to israel. do you think egypt will do the same? it you think egypt will do the same? , ., , same? if things get worse, nobody knows. _ same? if things get worse, nobody knows. keep - same? if things get worse, l nobody knows. keep getting worse or we cannot ultimately — this is inhuman not to be able to have a cause for humanitarian purposes and seeing 400 people killed every night. this is simply inhuman and unacceptable.— and unacceptable. minister, 'ust to and unacceptable. minister, just to ask _ and unacceptable. minister, just to ask you _ and unacceptable. minister, just to ask you - _ and unacceptable. minister, just to ask you - egypt's - and unacceptable. minister, i just to ask you - egypt's envoy just to ask you — egypt's envoy to brussels — this touches upon what you just mentioned — he

told politico the following: "we will not allow the liquidation of the palestinian cause to have another knakbah" — referring to the mass uprooting of palestinians — "at the expense of neighbouring countries, whether it'sjordan or egypt." whatdise he mean by that — "at the expense" of a country like egypt? that - "at the expense" of a country like egypt? basically, the 're country like egypt? basically, they're forced _ country like egypt? basically, they're forced out _ country like egypt? basically, they're forced out of- they're forced out of palestine, gaza or the west bank, into the neighbouring country because of humanitarian concerns. and then the israelis that never come 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 will always trade any refugee humanely. so is egypt, in this case, willing to take in a large number of palestinian refugees? we're not willin: to palestinian refugees? we're not willing to take _ palestinian refugees? we're not willing to take in _ palestinian refugees? we're not willing to take in any _ willing to take in any palestinian refugees, because they are being pushed out of their homeland into other

territory, which is different from somebody who needs transit to go to his country for somebody who needs medical treatment. we are treating palestinians, by the way. israel has said, "we are going to go in and eradicate hamas, and then we will leave." i mean, they have said they don't have an interest in occupying gaza. so, what's your response to that? , ., . to that? first of all, palestinian - to that? first of all, palestinian civilians| to that? first of all, i palestinian civilians are 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, since i can't get to them easily, i'm going to kill everybody on the way." that's what we're seeing today. the most recent attack against a palestinian camp was, according to israeli statements, because they were trying to liquidate a particular hamas leader or official. and they knew that, if they bombed the camp, there

would be 300—400 lives lost. but they didn't. that's not acceptable.— but they didn't. that's not acceptable. but they didn't. that's not acce table. ., ,~' , ., ., acceptable. let me ask you one more question, _ acceptable. let me ask you one more question, because - acceptable. let me ask you one more question, because we'vel more question, because we've seen here in the us bloomberg and politico reporting that two us senators have confirmed that talks are underway to establish a multinational peacekeeping force in gaza after israel achieves what it says its goal is, which is to uproot hamas. what do you think of that? well, again — will it be palestinian territory? then you need to talk to the palestinians, the pa. ,., , palestinians, the pa. does the pa still have _ palestinians, the pa. does the pa still have authority, - palestinians, the pa. does the pa still have authority, do - palestinians, the pa. does the pa still have authority, do you | pa still have authority, do you think? 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 then hamas pushed the pa out of gaza. but that being the case, putting in a multinational force — who is going to authorise that? they have —— the locals have to authorise that. you simply can't apply an

international force in spite of everybody. secondly — again, i'm not in government, but i can tell you that i'm not aware that there are discussions with our side regarding that kind of force at the present time. fik. force at the present time. 0k. very interesting. _ force at the present time. 0k. very interesting. minister, our time is up, but it has been really good to get your perspective on our programme tonight. thank you so much. thank you for having me. let's zero back in now on the situation at the rafah crossing and hearfrom some of situation at the rafah crossing and hear from some of the people who are desperately trying to get out of gaza. 0ur trying to get out of gaza. our special correspondent based in jerusalem has been working with freelance journalists in the territory, filming for the bbc to tell their stories. here's his latest report. caught in the borderlands, the small space between war and peace. whatever is ahead has to be better than what is behind them. in this place of the list...

..the names of the lucky ones. that's if luck is having to flee your home. to say goodbye to family left behind under bombardment. moana has an australian passport. she told a bbc colleague of her anguish at leaving family behind. i'm not happy at all, because i'm leaving my other part, my brothers and sisters, my whole family is still here. i wish they all meet in a safe place. the situation is terrible there. it's very, very bad. many of those who can't get to egypt are crowding into gaza's hospitals, believing they might be safe there. they bring their wounded — and their questions. translation: the patients

ask me if they should go - to the south. but the south is being bombed and the hospitals in the south are crowded. or should they stay in gaza? they ask me if they can stay in the hospital here, but it's also crowded and we have no place for them. we don't know how we can treat them. we feel sorry for them because we can't provide them with any services, although the hospital is open. yazida suffers from seizures made worse by the terrors of the war. this is the third time his sister has tried to get him across the border. every time the situation, when i believe it got to the worst, it keeps getting worse. i don't know. it's like we're trying to survive. we're not sure we're going to make it. we're trying to do anything we can to survive because we — i simply don't want to die at 24, basically. they waited all day.

but tonight, tala sent us a message saying they didn't make it out. they were back in the dark of their gaza apartment. i'm not sure how i feel anymore. we came back to no electricity, no food for today, no clean water to drink or even washing water. i'm one more day closer to my brother running out of medication. it's night. they'll try again tomorrow. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. us vice president called on countries to address the full range of risk posed by artificial intelligence. she was speaking in britain where a global gathering on the issues to place. she urge for action to place. she urge for action to be taken against the threat

ai poses to more vulnerable populations. ai poses to more vulnerable penulations-_ ai poses to more vulnerable populations. just as ai has the otential populations. just as ai has the potential to — populations. just as ai has the potential to do _ populations. just as ai has the potential to do profound - populations. 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 set a new _ existence of humanity. harris set a new institution - existence of humanity. harris set a new institution would i existence of humanity. harris| set a new institution would act as a model for others to test the safety of ai. as a model for others to test the safety of al. the announcement follows britain's shall of a declaration bursting at global corporation to ensure artificial intelligence has intelligent —— appropriate safeguards. the declaration agreed to by 28 countries include us and china. you are watching bbc news. returning now to our top story, the israel gaza war. joe biden applaud the opening of the rafah crossing, saying it was

the result of intense and urgent diplomacy. we the result of intense and urgent diplomacy. we are in a situation where _ urgent diplomacy. we are in a situation where a _ urgent diplomacy. we are in a situation where a safe - urgent diplomacy. we are in a| situation where a safe passage for wounded palestinians and foreign nationals has started. american citizens, today as part of the first group of over 1000 will see more of this process going on in the next coming days working non—stop to get americans out of gaza as soon as safely as possible. fits soon as safely as possible. as we mentioned earlier, political reports that talks are under way between the us and its partners for a possible peacekeeping force for gaza if hamas was defeated. discussions are in their early stages and any sort of force is not likely to include american troops. i put that reporting to senator chris murphy, a democrat from connecticut. spoke about the broader war and the fight over funding for israel and ukraine in congress. i want to start with israel gaza war, and we have seen reports in political

—— politico and bloomberg that two of your colleagues in the senate have confirmed that talks are under way to establish a multinational force in gaza after israel approved hamas. can you tell us anything more 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 ultimately replace hamas inside gaza. that could be palestinian authority, a multinational force, but my sense is that those discussions arejust beginning. obviously, this 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 that looks good on paper. this is one of the most essential questions of the israeli ground operation. would you find that to be a good idea, a multinational peacekeeping force, after israel were to leave gaza?

well, the devil is in the details. we would have to, first and foremost, make sure that we have commitments from other countries to be on the ground if the result of this incursion into gaza is that hamas grows stronger, in part because of the civilian casualties, that multinational force would be immediately met with a ferocious resistance from what remains of hamas or spin—off terrorist groups. the viability of a post—hamas government depends in part on whether these terrorist groups are defeated or whether they end up getting stronger in numbers, that is something that i worry about as i was the operation unfold. tell us more about that. you are concerned that the operation, the way it has been carried out at the moment by israeli forces, could lead to actually strengthening hamas? well, this is a question i raised yesterday at a hearing with secretary austin and secretary blinken. obviously, 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 through military means only. and if this violence inside gaza that ends up with young men inside gaza that had been on the sidelines previously, joining 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, notjust because of the moral imperative to keep civilian casualties low, but because of the strategic imperative to keep civilian casualties low. secretary blinken is headed again to israel on friday. what do you think he should he say to partners there? this mission will be top of mind, looking at what the hamas government structure looks like. but we also still do not have enough humanitarian aid reaching gaza. many civilians are dying because of shelling

and the fact that hamas hides itself inside civilian populations. we will have many more dying if we don't get food and fuel into gaza. it is a question for israel and also for egypt, which have stood on the way of getting aid into gaza at the pace and size we need. i want to ask about funding here in the us as well. there is a debate in the house of representatives over funding that president biden wants to see pushed through, which would include humanitarian aid to gaza, funding for israel, but also fighting for ukraine, taiwan, and the border. republicans want to split the ukraine aid out because they don't, as a full conference, support it or want to offset the spending by cutting some spending for the internal revenue service. is that a compromise that you think democrats should be willing to think about? the aid 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 share. in ukraine, there are soon not going to be bullets in the guns of ukrainian soldiers. so 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, you raise revenue elsewhere to pay for this. in fact, that is not what they did in the house. they attached a provision that actually costs more money, they are cutting money that goes to the irs to hold more taxpayers at the higher end of the income spectrum accountable for paying their fair share of taxes. the bbc spoke to your colleague yesterday and he told us that americans'

support for ukraine as this war is streetching 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? well, to the extent that there is slightly less support for the ukraine in the united states it is because donald trump and tucker carlson and their crowd are spinning the united states public against ukraine. so the problem they identify is one of their own making. it is not true that there is evidence that our military aid to ukraine is being diverted. it is true that ukraine has been a country that for a long time has had a rule of law problem. butjust because a country in eastern europe has a corruption problem doesn't mean that they deserve to be invaded, attacked and overtaken by russia.

it doesn't mean that thousands of civilians and children inside ukraine deserve to die. no. this is the post—world war ii order being 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, it's a terrible outcome for the united states. senator, we will have to leave it there. as always, great to have your bbc news. thank you. you can find all the latest on israel gaza war on our website. we have news and analysis there are, the other headlines from around the world. be sure to check out our app as well. let's turn now to some other important news from around the world. donald trumpjunior has told a new york court that he did not work on the financial statements at the centre of a civil fraud trial involving the family business. the eldest son of former president donald trump is accused of inflating the value of assets to secure

favourable loans along with his mother and brother. favourable loans along with his motherand brother. he favourable loans along with his mother and brother. he has denied any wrongdoing, and his siblings are due to testify in the coming days. russia bombarded 118 ukrainian towns and villages in a single 24—hour period. ukraine's interior ministry says more than on any other day this year. many of the communities were near the front lines of the east and south of the rush has been weeks focusing of military firepower on a strategically significant town on the eastern region of donesk. joe biden and first ladyjob —— chilled biden will travel to maine on friday to pay their respect of people shot and killed at a bar and a bowling alley. in a statement the white house said the peril meet with survivors and grieving families. the incident is a deadliest matter at entrapment in the us this year. finally, turning to the great american pastime of baseball, and a big win for the texas rangers have captured their first first—ever world series

title. the teams elevated after beating the arizona diamondbacks 5—0 in game five of the annual championship series. the classic bitter is the first time in their history that they won the title. they call it a moment if you two seasons in the making. here is a fun bit of trivia. the history of the ranges actually goes back to 1961 when they were the expansion washington senators base right here in washington, dc. that is all for us here in washington. thank you very much for watching. 0ur you very much for watching. our team will be back from london at the top of the hour. stay with us here on bbc news. 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 90mph, already had gusts of 100mph 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 or 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 or 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. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. this is manchester, a british city which profited enormously from the exploitative economics of empire. it also attracted many migrants from that empire who came to settle here. my guest today is the renowned british artist, lubaina himid. now, her roots are a mix of industrial lancashire and zanzibar. she made her name in the black arts movement of the 1980s. she was the first black woman to win the prestigious turner prize. so what does her career tell us about race and culture in modern britain? lubaina himid, welcome to hardtalk. thank you.