what i had in every single place in a variety of ways all these different issues is the indispensability of american leadership, american diplomacy. countries are looking to us. i'm mark lowen. i will bring you the latest from southern israel. donald trump is set to give evidence at his civil fraud case in new york later today. hello, i'm lucy grey, welcome to bbc news now. we start with the latest from the israel—gaza conflict. it's been one of the heaviest nights of bombardment in gaza since the start of the war with israeli air strikes hitting the north of the territory and reports of huge explosions. israel says it's now

effectively divided gaza into two parts — north and south. 11 un agencies and six humanitarian groups have called for an immediate ceasefire urging israel to protect civilians and allow more food, water, medicine and fuel into gaza. they also called on hamas to release the hostages captured on october the 7th. some aid continues to get through — a royaljordanian air force cargo plane has dropped several containers of humanitarian relief supplies over the gaza strip. the update was shared in a tweet by thejordanian king. jordan's state news agency said the consignment was urgent medical aid for thejordanian field hospital in gaza. israeli media reports say the air drop was carried out in co—ordination with the israeli military. meanwhile, the us has stepped up diplomatic efforts in the region. secretary of state antony blinken has held talks with the turkish foreign minister in ankara. the country's cia director william burns is also now in israel urging greater effort to avoid civilian casualties.

and in the last few hours, the white house has said vice—president kamala harris will discuss the conflict in a phone call with unnamed foreign leaders on monday. let's go live to southern israel and my colleague mark lowen. a really intense night, if you could talk us through. it has been an intense night and morning of the military offensive in gaza much of which we have heard. we are three kilometres away from the gaza strip and have heard the constant thud of artillery outgoing from israel and from inside gaza. we have seen plumes of smoke billowing above large explosions. the palestinians are say 200 civilians were killed overnight in israeli strikes. israel said it targeted a50 targets yesterday and maintains it

is targeting only hamas terror cells in its words and hamas is using civilians as human shields. the main road between northern gaza and southern gaza has been opened today we understand to try to get more of those civilians still sheltering in the north, to move south into a safer area as the israeli military pursues its offensive in this north and encircling gaza city. yolande kneu and encircling gaza city. yolande knell has the recent developments. explosions. the relentless bombardment continues. the latest israeli strikes in northern gaza among the most intense so far and, once again, phone and internet lines were cut. this was yesterday's aftermath. locals say dozens were killed. said's wife and daughters were wounded. he searches on for his neighbours. "can anyone hear me inside?" he shouts. "there are people."

this is part of gaza where civilians had been told to flee to. israel's military says it is looking into whether it was operating in the area at the time. israel's ground invasion is advancing. its military says it has now divided the territory into two and that it is doing what it can to avoid civilian casualties. this for several hours, israeli forces say they opened a route for gazans to head south. but relatively few made the journey. on his latest stop in turkey, the us secretary of state is hearing calls for an immediate ceasefire from around the region. washington backs short pauses in fighting. everyone would welcome it because, again, it would advance things we are all trying to accomplish, including getting hostages back, including getting a lot more assistance into gaza, including getting people out of gaza. one of the more than 2a0 hostages being held in gaza is 8a—year—old elma avraham.

her family found this photo online, where she is seen being taken by hamas. her son worries how she is coping without her medication. right now, we are four weeks after that. four weeks and one day and they are still not here. and they should be here yesterday. not today, yesterday. i am like in some horror movie that does not stop. but, yeah, i still have hope. israel says that without progress on releasing the hostages, it won't agree to any pause in hostilities. for now, for so many, each day brings only more suffering. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. referring to the intense diplomatic activity led by antony blinken.

he has been in the region in several parts in israel injordan, in the west bank, in iraq and turkey, now going to east asia. after those talks in turkey where he heard four calls for a ceasefire, the american position is there should be no immediate ceasefire because in his words that could give hamas the chance to regroup in gaza. the us has been pushing for a localised stoppage in fighting. speaking in ankara just before boarding his plane out of turkey antony blinken said the us was working intensively to increase humanitarian aid into gaza and get foreign passport holders out. 0n the humanitarian piece... i think we have made good progress in expanding that.

ambassador satterfield remains in the region working on that every single day. we have also had important conversations with countries in the region on the role everyone can play making sure the conflict does not spread. and of course we remain very focused on the hostages held by hamas including americans, making sure we do everything possible to bring them home. one of the common denominators i have heard throughout this trip is the imperative of american engagement, american leadership. every country i have talked to is looking to us to play a leading role with our diplomacy to make progress on all these different aspects of the crisis. from here we are heading to japan for a meeting with the g7, i will have an opportunity to debrief my colleagues on what we have learned and done during this trip and to continue that work. i will be consulting and debriefing president biden

and discussing the way forward in the days ahead. talking of the need to stop the komsic from spreading into lebanon where there are fears of increased cross—border fire between lebanon and northern israel that intensified overnight, and the fear hezbollah, the militant group, could try to drag the region further into conflict and into a second front for israel to fight. earlier i spoke to our correspondent hugo bachega. last night the lebanese authorities said four civilians were killed including three children. i think this is the worst attack so far in terms of civilian casualties since this war started, and the israelis are saying that they targeted a car that was suspected of transporting terrorists, and that they were looking into reports that civilians were killed. but there has been strong reaction here in lebanon following this attack.

the caretaker prime minister here has described it as a crime. pictures of the destroyed car have been widely shared here on social media and also on lebanese television. a hezbollah politician has said that israel would pay the price. so i think this is perhaps raising fears that violence here could escalate because this happened just days after the hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah gave his first speech since the war between israel and hamas broke out. he did not talk about any immediate escalation of hostilities here, but he did leave the door open for more attacks. and i think he made the point that hezbollah could return to what he described as a civilian for civilian strategy if lebanese civilians were killed as a result of these israeli strikes. so again, concerns here that this violence could escalate and this morning we could hear the sound of explosions in the distance coming

from the border zone here in southern lebanon. reports that the israeli military have been targeting some positions in the south of the country. so again, violence along the border continues. so far this fighting has been contained, it has been happening in areas along the border. but again, there is concern that this violence could escalate with more attacks from both hezbollah and also israel. the constant fear of this conflict igniting a combustible region. antony blinken is said to have warned his brother macro if they were to escalate the us would be ready to take military action against them. let us assess the military strategy so far and the continuing of the war. dr frank ledwidge is a former british military intelligence officer and senior lecturer in strategy at portsmouth university.

thank you forjoining us on bbc news. can i ask you for your take on the israeli military strategy in splitting the gaza strip into two, encircling gaza city, how classic is this in terms of a military strategy? good afternoon. i suspect this is the result of american advice over the result of american advice over the last few weeks, the americans are keen, dealing with this piece by piece and the centre of gravity geographically is gaza city. we have got a cordon, care and control operation. the cordon element is vital. if you can because in the area underground that is one thing, but sealing it from the south also

allows the idf to get stuck into those tunnel systems going into that part of the enclave. the unit doing this, about to assault gaza city, is the top regular unit, 36th division, it has been training for this for years. they have cordoned the area, a lot of those strikes last night have been focusing on the tunnel systems. as they push further into gaza, the twin objectives from israel are to obliterate hamas but also to release those 2a0 hostages taken by hamas. do you believe those twin objectives are militarily compatible? israel appears to be bombing hamas... what

appears to be bombing hamas... what is relevant here _ appears to be bombing hamas... what is relevant here is _ appears to be bombing hamas... what is relevant here is for _ appears to be bombing hamas... “misfit is relevant here is for the israelis, the more time that intelligence systems can get stuck into hamas networks, the betterfor identifying the location of hostages. upset by the fact —— offset by the fact the hostages are being killed according to hamas. whether or not the continue bombardment which has a strategic purpose of trying to convince the palestinian people it is not worth their support in hamas, getting information on hostages, we will see if that works, i have my doubts. trying to bomb people at the negotiating table does not have a good record in that part of the world. the eu foreign policy chief has spoken this morning. he said one

idea he is meeting with israel is for the hostages, for humanitarian pauses to follow access by the red cross to hostages being held by hamas. practically how could that work? has that happened before where the red cross would be given access to hostages? how would that be worked out on the ground? it is the aicar's roll. my expense goes back to the balkans —— the icr. they are ideal, they are neutral. there has never been an element of compromise with respect to them. that would be quite a normal procedure. it would confirm the

extent to which hostages were alive. it has been proposed before. hamas have rejected that. the israelis tend to have a fractious relationship with the icrc. they were heavily involved in the release of the two hostages. they are vital. thank you very much. as this literary —— as this military offensive continues, you can get the twists and turns of this conflict, on our live page. for now from the team in gaza, back to london.

let's look at some other stories making news. around 50 young people have clashed with riot police in edinburgh, with fireworks and petrol bombs being thrown at officers. videos posted on social media showed the police being bombarded with explosives — while bystanders watched the violence. let's look at some other stories making news. up to 20,000 health workers in england will receive a one—off bonus of at least £1700 after previously missing out because they worked for non—nhs organisations. the extra payment was agreed as part of the nhs pay deal in england this year — but some staff were not included. after employers launched legal action, the government has now agreed to provide the funding. up to 20,000 health workers in england will receive a one—off

—— a bbc panorama investigation has found the fast—fashion firm boohoo has broken promises to treat its suppliers more fairly. an undercover reporter at the company's hqs saw evidence of staff pressuring suppliers into cutting prices, even after deals had been struck. you're live with bbc news. prince william has continued his visit to singapore ahead of the awards ceremony for his earthshot environmental prize on tuesday. already today the prince has met the president and prime minister of singapore, as well as getting active on the water. live now to singapore we can speak to suranjana tewari. 0n? it has been a very eventful day starting with dragon boat racing as you mentioned. prince william joined 20 other people racing against a boat led by the british high commissioner. he was in the winning boat. he went down —— then to a

meeting with the prime minister of singapore where they discussed coordinating the earthshot prize event. then he went to another of his pet projects, something started in 201a, with an aim to try to stop the trade of illegal wildlife. he is bringing together governments, leaders, the private sector, to find solutions to stop the trade which is estimated to be worth roughly $20 billion annually. tell us a bit more about the earthshot prize and what it means so much to him. that is the main event in singapore, we are expecting the awards tomorrow evening. there will be 15 finalists,

and five winners are chosen from them. and across a range of environmental issues. the one goal is to try to scale these projects, these solutions, to the climate emergency. everything from seaweed for cattle feed, to cleaner batteries for electric fires —— electric cars. those are some of the organisations that have been awarded the finalist stamp. five of those will be given £1 million to go away and try to scale their project to help with the impact of climate change. thank you very much. more on the israel—gaza war. more now on the israel—gaza war — it has been a period marked by both intense air strikes and a few days of vigorous diplomacy involving the us. secretary of state antony blinken,

who has now left turkey after talking to various stakeholders in the region. let us get a palestinian view on the talks held over the weekend between mr blinken and the president of the palestinian authority mahmoud abbas. nour 0deh is a palestian political analyst and activist. shejoins us now from ramallah. thank you for coming on the programme. we were hearing from antony blinken speaking to reporters talking about how the world is looking to him, to play a leading role. he has been pushing israel to agree to one of these humanitarian pauses. but so far not had any luck on that front. what do you make of his diplomatic efforts so far? it is a bit hard to believe that if the us secretary of state wanted israel to have a humanitarian pause, that israel would not oblige, given the reality that the us is basically airlifting munition and weapons to support the israeli assault on gaza,

providing israel with the political cover it needs on the international stage. so these words are a bit hard to digest by palestinian and arab public at large, especially when you hear from 18, the public at large, especially when you hearfrom18, the heads public at large, especially when you hear from 18, the heads of 18 public at large, especially when you hearfrom18, the heads of 18 un agencies, appealing for a ceasefire, not a pause, saying the level of devastation in gaza is unprecedented. that this situation cannot continue, that the bombs must stop. having said that it is also quite telling that the secretary of state has had to make another round in the region to try to convince leaders in the region that the us can play a constructive role, it can at least work on alleviating the suffering even though it is taking far too much time for the public here to accept.

he had this meeting yesterday in the west bank with the palestinian authority president mahmoud aspas. we saw demonstrators burning his photo before his arrival. in terms of the role of the palestinian authority in all of this, how much influence does it have? the palestinian authority is a partner of the international community so to speak, the counterpart of government. the americans seem to believe that when the dust settles, he can pluck in the dust settles, he can pluck in the palestinian authority in its current formation, to take over administration of gaza and things would go smoothly and problem solved. i think that take is premature and secondly it falls

short of understanding just how deep the crisis in the palestinian political system is and just how much palestinians need the world to help them reach a more representative politics, notjust one designed to be in the comfort zone of the biden administration and western governments. a palestinian government that includes all actors including hamas and without that the selling —— it will continue to be difficult for the world to see a political process at the end of this destructive war. israel's aim is to wipe out hamas so the thought there could be involvement of hamas in terms of the political side of things in the future, it looks like israel will not accept that.

this is the palestinian political system. israelshould this is the palestinian political system. israel should not decide who rules in palestine. after all the world is tolerating a convicted terrorist in the israeli government, a self—possessed —— self—professed fascist. they need to respect the will of the palestinian people in a democratic election, and that needs to happen. you know that israel will say it has a right to defend itself, what it is doing now is responding to a war being waged in israel by hamas and it has a right to defend itself. many countries around the world agree with this. 120 countries do not, they voted against the ongoing war, they voted for a ceasefire at the united nations. israel knows very well hamas does not only exist in gaza.

it's pronounced goal of wiping out hamas in gaza is for media consumption. israeli political analysts don't buy that goal and understand things are more complex. we have run out of time but i appreciate your time. we will be speaking to a representative from the israeli government later in the programme. do stay with us for that. hello again. the weather this week is much quieter than it was last week. for most, notjust today, but for much of this week we're looking at sunny spells and scattered showers. some of the showers will be heavy and thundery, particularly in the west. and on wednesday, we'll see some rain crossing from west to east. more on that later. but what we have this afternoon are still a lot of showers in the west, some of them spreading into the midlands and north—east england.

but in between and ahead of them, we will see some sunshine, especially north—east scotland, parts of eastern england and the south—east. the temperatures today ranging from nine to about 1a degrees. so feeling fresh if you are out and about. through this evening and overnight, the breeze will tend to ease a touch in the english channel. there still will be some showers in the west and also parts of north—east england, the midlands, but under clear skies the temperature will fall away to around freezing in the north—east of scotland. so here there will be a touch of frost, but it will be a chilly start to the day wherever you are. and during the course of tuesday, again, we start off with all these showers in the west. some of them could still be heavy. but then we've got this ridge of high pressure building in. so things will ease, the showers will ease as we go through the course of the afternoon with temperatures 9 in the north to about 13 as we push further south. now, moving on into tuesday evening and overnight and through wednesday, we've got this clutch of weather

fronts coming in from the atlantic, bringing in some rain. you can see from the isobars there will be strengthening winds with it too. so a wet start to the day, parts of western scotland, northwest england could have as much as 20 to 30 millimetres of rainfall. and that will continue to push eastwards lingering longest across the far south—east and also the northern isles. behind it, some sunshine, but also some showers with temperatures 8 in aberdeen, 10 in belfast and 13 in cardiff. now, moving towards the latter part of the week, you can see how that rain clears quite quickly. then low pressure starts to dominate the weather. there's a squeeze in the isobars and when we look at the direction the winds coming from, it's coming from the northwest. so the temperatures will be very similar to what we're looking at during the week. with that change in wind direction, it will feel that bit fresher than it has done. and by the weekend, we'll be looking at some more rain coming our way.

this is bbc news, the headlines. huge plumes of smoke rise over gaza — after one of the most intense bombardments of the territory since the start of the conflict. israel says it's �*coordinated' withjordan to drop medical aid into gaza — as the heads of all major un agencies call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. america's top diplomat antony blinken has ended his tour of the middle east, where he's pushed for a pause in the fighting

to allow more aid into gaza. what i heard on every single place in a variety of ways, all these different issues as the dispense sensibility of american leadership, policy. countries are looking for us to do things. donald trump is set to give evidence at his civil fraud case in new york later today. the israeli military has carried out one of the heaviest bombardments of the besieged gaza strip since the conflict began a month ago. it said hundreds more targets had been hit and a hamas military compound had been seized. the director of al—shifa hospital in gaza city said about two hundred people were killed in the latest air strikes. 0ur gaza correspondent, rushdi abualouf who told us about the overnight airstrikes. very intense air strikes. people in gaza say the biggest since the start of this war. about a50 targets were hit across the gaza strip.

but the main focus of the strikes were north west and and south west