hezbollah has fired more than 100 rockets into northern israel as the group's deputy leader says its military capability remains intact. and in lebanon, the idf is expanding its ground operation against hezbollah, moving troops into parts of southwest. this is the scene in beirut, the skyline of the lebanese capital. i am annita mcveigh in london. also in the programme... benjamin netanyau says there'll be no early end to his country's military campaigns, as it expands its ground invasion of southern lebanon. us forecasters issue dire warnings about the threat from hurricane milton, as it moves towards florida. the prime suspect in the disappearance of madeleine mccann has been acquitteded on unrelated sex offence charges

by a court in germany. and in the uk, conservative mps prepare to eliminate another candidate from the party leadership contest. hello, i'm annita mcveigh, and welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast moving news, interviews and reaction. we start in the middle east where israel says it has killed the commander of hezbollah�*s headquarters in an air strike on the lebanese capital, beirut. it comes after benjamin netanyahu described his country's year—long military campaign as a �*sacred mission�* which he said will �*continue so long as israel�*s existence is threatened�*. in a moment, we�*ll go to southern israel for the latest from our chief international correspondent lyse doucet.

but first, let�*s briefly recap the latest events including, as we�*ve been reporting in the last few hours, that claim from israel that it has killed the leader of the proscribed terrorist organisation, hezbollah. it follows a televised address by israel�*s prime minister who said the operations in gaza, lebanon and elsewhere in the region must not be stopped, as he put it, prematurely. overnight and into today, rocket alerts have continued to sound in northern israel. israel�*s military says suhail hussein husseini, the target of its latest airstrikes on beirut, oversaw logistics and weapons transfers with iran. hezbollah, has not confirmed he s been killed. in a televised statement its deputy leader naim qassam claimed hezbollah�*s capabilities were intact and appeared to suggest that a new leader has been appointed.

these pictures are coming to us from beirut now, overlooking the skyline. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is in tel aviv. give us your assessment of those latest comments from both benjamin netanyahu, and also from hezbollah. you benjamin netanyahu, and also from hezbollah.— benjamin netanyahu, and also from hezbollah. you 'oin us now in the heart * from hezbollah. you 'oin us now in the heart of h from hezbollah. you 'oin us now in the heart of tel_ from hezbollah. youjoin us now in the heart of tel aviv, - from hezbollah. youjoin us now in the heart of tel aviv, in - in the heart of tel aviv, in the square which is the place where families and loved ones of hostages have been taken in the horrific hamas attacks of a year ago, or the horrific hamas attacks of a yearago, orthey the horrific hamas attacks of a year ago, or they still remain in gaza and gather here on an almost daily basis. as we continue to cover the fast moving events, the war as we have been reporting is expanding in lebanon as well, with the news this morning that the ground operations which have focused on the south eastern sector of the lebanese israel border have now expanded

into the south—west after evacuation orders were issued for some of the villages along that western access. as we have been reporting, israel says it has assassinated more of the top commanders, one of hezbollah, and it continues to target hamas as well. in the midst of all of this, the deputy leader of hezbollah says the resources are still intact. it's the resources are still intact. it�*s difficult for us to know exactly what damage has been inflicted on hezbollah, but what seems to be without question is that israeli air strikes of recent weeks and intelligence operations have basically taken out, pretty well all of the top commanders of hezbollah, so they have destroyed its command centre. hezbollah, though, we understand, has not use all of its firepower, is a formidable arsenal of long—range rockets. it has fired some of them, reaching as far as haifa in the north, and tel aviv, where we are now. we still don�*t know

what hezbollah has is to migrate in—store and we still don�*t know what capabilities it has with so many of the top level and mid—level commanders also wiped out. while hezbollah has been weakened, it certainly has been weakened, it certainly has not been destroyed. we will continue to look at the developments in lebanon, and we will bring in our correspondence anna foster shortly. but let�*s focus on gaza for a minute, the war that was triggered there after the hamas attacks of 7th of october, the devastating war which has left gaza, the united nations says, more than 60% of gaza now lies in utter ruin. let�*s cross over now to speak to a spokesperson for the garson municipality. thank you for having me.

tell us what your municipality looks like now, what is still standing after months of aerial bombardment and ground attacks? to be honest, this is the 12 month_ to be honest, this is the 12 month and we have faced a lot of challenges. our city has been — of challenges. our city has been destroyed. we are talking about— been destroyed. we are talking about the massive destruction, the targets were the facilities and infrastructure. 75% of our water — and infrastructure. 75% of our water has _ and infrastructure. 75% of our water has been destroyed. 800 kilometres of our roads in gaza city has — kilometres of our roads in gaza city has been destroyed. 60,000 trees_ city has been destroyed. 60,000 trees uprooted. so there is massive _ trees uprooted. so there is massive destruction. it is an action— massive destruction. it is an action to _ massive destruction. it is an action to make gaza unlivable as an — action to make gaza unlivable

as an area _ action to make gaza unlivable as an area and this leads to the — as an area and this leads to the suffering of people, the citizens _ the suffering of people, the citizens here are actually facing _ citizens here are actually facing a _ citizens here are actually facing a lot of issues, a lot of problems. there is water scarcity. _ of problems. there is water scarcity, for example. people are getting 15 litres daily white _ are getting 15 litres daily while the national standard listed — while the national standard listed 120 litres daily. also, 160,000 tonnes of sewage waste has a — 160,000 tonnes of sewage waste has a keen related around the city, _ has a keen related around the city, and _ has a keen related around the city, and that leads to environmental and health crises and disease especially among the children. it is difficult to explain the real situation in gaza _ to explain the real situation in gaza city right now. find to explain the real situation in gaza city right now. and in the midst — in gaza city right now. and in the midst of _ in gaza city right now. and in the midst of the _ in gaza city right now. and in the midst of the continuing l in gaza city right now. and in i the midst of the continuing war and evacuation orders, have you been able, with the help of

international partners, to set “p international partners, to set up temporary services, for example water tanks, if the water services are not working? clinics, if the hospitals are now out of order? have there been emergency measures that you can put in place? we been emergency measures that you can put in place?— you can put in place? we have very good _ you can put in place? we have very good connections - you can put in place? we have very good connections with . very good connections with international organisations and all of— international organisations and all of the — international organisations and all of the parties are working in gaza — all of the parties are working in gaza city right now. actually, we aim to increase the water _ actually, we aim to increase the water amount we give to the people. — the water amount we give to the people, for now the water can reach — people, for now the water can reach 240 _ people, for now the water can reach 240 people in gaza city and we — reach 240 people in gaza city and we are trying to improve our services and our partnership with international organisations within gaza. but to be — organisations within gaza. but to be honest, this is very difficult _ to be honest, this is very difficultjob. i mean, we need to do— difficultjob. i mean, we need to do more but we have limited capabilities. for example, we

can't — capabilities. for example, we can't do — capabilities. for example, we can't do a _ capabilities. for example, we can't do a lot with the maintenance... with sewage maintenance, we need to do a lot _ maintenance, we need to do a lot the — maintenance, we need to do a lot. the people need a lot. there _ lot. the people need a lot. there are _ lot. the people need a lot. there are more lives to save, more — there are more lives to save, more hope _ there are more lives to save, more hope to bring, but unfortunately can't provide all the services to the people, only— the services to the people, only the _ the services to the people, only the minimum. we call for the international association is to— the international association is to please help us provide more — is to please help us provide more essential services, help us to— more essential services, help us to maintain our services to the people. they are really suffering. we need to do something.— suffering. we need to do something. suffering. we need to do somethina. ., ~ , . something. thank you very much for takin: something. thank you very much for taking time _ something. thank you very much for taking time these _ something. thank you very much for taking time these difficult - for taking time these difficult days tojoin us for taking time these difficult days to join us here on for taking time these difficult days tojoin us here on bbc news and sketch for us the

logistical challenges in trying to take care of gaza city. we will continue to follow all of the development is notjust from here tel aviv, but from colleagues across the region. we will return to events in the middle east shortly. we�*ll return to events in the middle east shortly, but first let�*s turn to the us where the gulf coast is preparing for a potentially catastrophic storm as hurricane milton moves towards florida. evacuation orders have been issued for parts of the state. the mayor of tampa has warned residents to leave now — telling them, "if you choose to stay, you will die". these satellite pictures showjust how enormous milton has become over the past 24 hours. the storm is expected to make landfall on wednesday night or early thursday morning. people living in madeira beach were boarding up their homes and businesses, in preparation for what�*s is currently a category 4 hurricane. alan archer from the continental weather corporation looks at at what lies ahead.

earlier this afternoon, we did have 180mph, near 325kmph sustained winds, one of the strongest hurricanes on record, and has weakened somewhat to 165mph. so it�*s still a major category five hurricane. it�*s weakened partially because of the fact that some of the circulation moved over land. that is what�*s called the yucatan peninsula of mexico in the southern gulf of mexico also, because it�*s kind of re—forming itself. and when that happens, it weakens a little, only to come back and strengthen some more. so we�*re probably going to see it strengthening again somewhat in the overnight hours and in through the morning hours on tuesday. right now it�*s a 165mph major hurricane. many of the interstate highways leading out of tampa towards the north and east are just packed. here it is a little after midnight, eastern time, and many of the roadways are packed as people try to escape the hurricane.

right now, we�*re looking for projected stormtrack that takes it almost right over tampa, either late wednesday evening or early thursday morning, as a 140mph hurricane that would produce a storm surge, that is a wall of water along the beaches as high as 16ft. alan archer from the continental by the corporation. do stay with us because we will be live in florida later in the hour to find out more about the preparations there for hurricane cameco milton. dire warnings about what might happen to people if they don�*t obey those evacuation orders. let�*s go back now to the skyline over beirut, these live images coming to us with smoke rising again, a familiar picture for our viewers, smoke rising from the skyline in beirut. we have heard from the

israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, saying that israel will continue its operations not only in lebanon, but in gaza, as well until they are sure that israel �*s existence is not threatened. meanwhile, hezbollah �*s chief has made a statement saying that its capabilities have not been dented by the strike from israel. so, rockets continuing to be fired across this border from the north of israel into the south of lebanon, and back again. benjamin netanyahu saying those operations in lebanon, as well as gaza, will not be stopped prematurely, with rocket alerts continuing to sound in northern israel. this is bbc news.

lebanon s prime minister at the time of its last war with israel, in 2006, has told the bbc his country has been abandoned by the international community. fouad siniora said it was unacceptable to leave lebanon to fall, and that there was a lack of initiative when it came to trying to restore peace. the bbc�*s anna foster sat down with the former prime minister and asked him if he felt the world had failed to step up and support the lebanese state. somehow, yes. it has been abandoned. and at the same time, there has been a certain lack of initiatives to be taken, and brave initiatives, i would say. brave initiatives. the lebanese as a state has been kidnapped by hezbollah,

and behind hezbollah is a run. this pistol, this gun that was hezbollah, instead of being pointed towards israel, it started to become pointed towards something else, domestically as a way of being used by iran to intervene in syria, in iraq, in yemen. there is a real— syria, in iraq, in yemen. there is a real vacuum _ syria, in iraq, in yemen. there is a real vacuum in _ syria, in iraq, in yemen. there is a real vacuum in lebanese . is a real vacuum in lebanese politics at the moment, but as you say, nobody stepped forward and clearly articulated the difference between the lebanese state and hezbollah. i didn�*t they do that because what they let the people of lebanon down. exactly. what has been going on since october 2023, things were getting worse and worse and again, you see, many chances

were really made available in order to disassociate the lebanese situation from gaza. it is very important nationally and from an arab point of view, but particularly now that lebanon cannot afford in principle to get involved in such a matter. when the gaza situation has become only 2.2 palestinians homeless and all over the gaza is destroyed. to continue to link lebanon �*s situation with gaza is not wise. particularly in view of the serious risks that we are having in the country is

looking for heroes. and that is why i said it is now looking for two heroes in the absence of a president in lebanon. we don�*t have a president. we have two persons. the speaker of the house, and a president of the caretaker government. people are asking _ caretaker government. people are asking questions _ caretaker government. people are asking questions now - caretaker government. people | are asking questions now about the role of the lebanese armed forces, why they didn�*t remove hezbollah, and their weapons from the area south of the river, and by now they are not defending people who live there. �* , ., ., there. are they at fault here? auain, there. are they at fault here? again. the — there. are they at fault here? again, the lebanese - there. are they at fault here? again, the lebanese army - there. are they at fault here? again, the lebanese army at| there. are they at fault here? i again, the lebanese army at the

end of the day, it is under the jurisdiction of the legitimate government, for such a decision to be taken by the army it effectively has to be taken by the lebanese government, and the lebanese government, and the lebanese government is not within the government in agreement to take such a decision. agreement to take such a decision-— agreement to take such a decision. , ., ~ ., decision. do you think lebanon, and 11 and _ decision. do you think lebanon, and 11 and 's _ decision. do you think lebanon, and 11 and 's political _ decision. do you think lebanon, and 11 and 's political class - and 11 and �*s political class in particular, have the strength and the motivation to remove that iranians influence, which has choked this country? very true, very true. i think now many of those who were electing to be silent and not to speak up their mind, now they are speaking up their mind that lebanon cannot afford to continue to be hijacked by the iranians government, by iran. i

hope that something can really happen in order to save lebanon. i strongly believe, strongly believe that it is very important to keep lebanon alive. former prime minister of lebanon speaking to anna foster. the man suspected by german authorities of murdering madeleine mccann has been cleared of all charges in his trial for two unrelated child sex offences and three counts of rape. 47—year—old christian brueckner will remain in prison as he�*s currently serving a sentence for the rape of a 72—year—old woman. christian brueckner has been formally identified as a suspect in the case of madeleine mccann, who disappeared from her bedroom in 2007 during a family holiday in portugal. he denies any involvement. our correspondent damien mcguiness in berlin explained what happened in court.

thejudges havejust the judges have just announced that they have acquitted christian brueckner of these current charges. he had been accused of five separate cases of rape and child abuse. judges said this morning that there is not enough evidence to say that he is guilty of these charges. a lot of the evidence that was presented in court was testimonies from people who said that they had heard things from christian brueckner, and videos that witnesses said they had seen, but that have not been presented as evidence themselves. so, judges came to themselves. so, judges came to the conclusion that was no evidence linking christian brueckner to these five separate cases. that does not mean that christian brueckner will be released because he is already in jail on another separate case, that is the rape of an american tourist almost 20 years ago, in the same region where madeleine mccann went missing on the algarve.

so, as things stand, christian brueckner will be in jail, so, as things stand, christian brueckner will be injail, will remain behind bars, despite the acquittal of these five cases, will remain behind bars until as ordinarily until september, and of course these two separate cases are different again to the case of the disappearance of madeleine mccann. christian brueckner, though, is seen by german prosecutors as the main suspect in that case but he has still not been charged in relation to the disappearance of madeleine mccann. here in the uk, conservative mps are voting later to reduce the number of candidates in the party�*s leadership contest from four to three. mps are choosing between kemi badenoch, james cleverly, robertjenrick and tom tugendhat. here�*s our political correspondent, damian grammaticas on how we can expect the day to unfold. what we will get around lunch time is a vote and a little bit after that, one and a half hours, a couple of hours, early mid afternoon, we will get that result, which of the four candidates is out.

and crucially what that will mean is where their votes then go. we know that the last candidate to be knocked out had 16 votes, this is only an electorate of around 121 conservative mps, that is what the conservative party has been reduced to after its devastating losses in the last election, so a small number of votes moving can really shift this. and essentially in the four who are there, you have two on the right side of the party in robertjenrick and kemi badenoch, they topped the poll, got first and second in ranking of votes in the last round, and then two slightly more in the centre, james cleverly and tom tugendhat. the feeling is tom tugendhat might be out this time but we will learn that this afternoon. really what you see here is a competition for what does the conservative party want, what do mps want? do they want to pursue a more rightward direction,

or something different? people might remember this process starting, it may feel to some like it has been going on for quite a while. talk us through the timeline. it has, yes. this takes us back to the election back injuly, it extends until the beginning of november. we will get this week, the candidates whittled down, one will go today, tomorrow one more, leaving us with two candidates who will be put forward to the wider conservative party membership outside parliament, the local members around the country, and it is their vote that will determine the winner. traditional wisdom has it that you win that vote in the membership by appealing to the right, but we will see whether that is the case, whether they are presented with two candidates from the right or one from each of the slightly different approaches. but that decision will come

at the end of october, announced at the beginning of november, and at that point we will see which direction the wider conservative movement is choosing. let�*s go back to the lebanese capital, beirut, where more smoke rises from the skyline. we have heard from israel today, saying that it has killed the leader of, or one of the leaders, senior commanders, of hezbollah, suhail hussein husseini. he oversaw logistics and weapons transfers with iran. hezbollah, however, has not confirmed his death. we will keep a close watch on developments there as we continue our coverage. lots of correspondence are in the region, stay with us here on bbc news.

hello again. as we go through the next couple of days, essentially we�*re looking at a mixture of sunshine and showers, but like today, some of those showers will be heavy and thundery with some hail and gusty winds around them. you can see them moving across england and wales while we�*ve got rain pushing across northern england into southern scotland and northern ireland, and for the rest of scotland, it�*s fairly cloudy, with showery rain in the north and a cold northerly wind. top temperatures today up to 18 degrees. now, it�*s low pressure driving our weather and overnight it drifts a little bit further east, but we still have showers and rain rotating around it and this cold northerly wind. temperatures in the north falling away to seven to about nine degrees. come further south, we�*re looking at ten to about 13 degrees. tomorrow, then, our low pressure continues to push towards the north sea, eventually moving into it. that opens the door to this straight northerly coming across our shores, and also still some showery outbreaks of rain in eastern areas. move out towards the west and the south, it should be

drier, but it will feel colder, especially across the north of scotland, where it will feel quite raw with wintry showers on the tops of the mountains. wednesday into thursday, there goes our low pressure. this is the remnants of ex—hurricane kirk, and that will absorb our low pressure. all it will do for us, though, is produce some stronger winds at times down the north sea coastline. thursday sees a lot of dry weather coming our way. some showers across the south and the west. a few in the north—west to be replaced later by some heavier showers. but it�*s going to be a cold feeling day wherever you are. these are our maximum temperatures, eight to 12, 14 in the channel islands. on friday, the showers continue to push across scotland more of a westerly, but it will still feel cold. and you can see as we come further south for southern scotland, england, wales and a lot of northern ireland,

it will be a dry day but still a cold feel. temperatures eight to about 12 degrees. temperatures at this time of the year in the south—east, for example, should be around about 15. as we head into the weekend, we�*ve got this ridge of high pressure across us, but it starts to weaken on sunday, opening the doors to some rain coming into the west. so we continue with the chillier feel into the weekend. drier in the south and east, but rain in the north and west.

this is bbc news, the headlines: hezbollah has fired more than 100 rockets into northern israel as the group�*s deputy leader says its military capability remains intact. the prime suspect in the disappearance of madeleine mccann has been acquitteded on unrelated sex offence charges by a court in germany. and us forecasters issue dire warnings about the threat from hurricane milton, as it moves towards florida. let�*s return now to the middle east where israel claims it has killed the commander of hezbollah�*s headquarters in an air strike on the lebanese capital, beirut. it comes after benjamin netanyahu described his country�*s year—long military campaign as a �*sacred mission�* which he said will �*continue so long as israel�*s existence is threatened�*.

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