with the un peacekeepers pull with the un peacekeepers out of southern lebanon and out of hezbollah strongholds. in london, in other news, a spectacular moment for spacex as it achieves a successful launch and return of its starship rocket booster. president biden in florida where he is expected to announce more than half $1 billion of funding for energy grids damaged by hurricanes. tributes paid to alex salmond, scotland's former first minister who has died at the age of 69. you join us on a night when the tensions between israel and the united nations seem to intensify by the hour. in the last hour, un peacekeepers have

demanded that israel provide an explanation for what they called shocking new violations by its troops in south lebanon. unifil said israeli tanks had forcibly entered one of its bases, after destroying the main gate. it said smoke from intense firing had affected 15 peacekeepers. the un has already blamed israeli forces for injuring four peacekeepers in two separate incidents last week; a fifth was injured on friday. the un secretary—general antonio gutierrez has accused israel of violations of international humanitarian law. 40 international humanitarian law. a0 of the nations making up the unifil peacemaking mission have called on israel to halt its attacks. today began with a

call from the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for the united nations to pull out its peacekeepers immediately from those areas of southern lebanon where israeli forces were operating against hezbollah positions. let's hear a little bit of what the israeli prime minister had to say. israeli prime minister had to sa . ~ israeli prime minister had to sa _ ~ ,, . ., , israeli prime minister had to say. mr secretary general, get the unifil — say. mr secretary general, get the unifil forces _ say. mr secretary general, get the unifil forces out - say. mr secretary general, get the unifil forces out of - say. mr secretary general, get the unifil forces out of harms j the unifil forces out of harms way, it should be done right now immediately. in way, it should be done right now immediately.— way, it should be done right now immediately. in the last hour the israeli _ now immediately. in the last hour the israeli prime - now immediately. in the last i hour the israeli prime minister has been speaking to italy's prime minister giorgia meloni and expressed regret if any of the un peacekeepers had been injured but there has been a strong response in lebanon to his call for the peacekeepers to leave it layer mission where they have been operating since they have been operating since the late 1970s. earlier i spoke to our correspondent in the lebanese capital beirut and she gave us more detail about lebanon's reactions. i gave us more detail about lebanon's reactions. i think a

coule lebanon's reactions. i think a couple of different _ lebanon's reactions. i think a couple of different things - lebanon's reactions. i think a couple of different things are | couple of different things are at play, the political and logistical. if we take to the political first of all, the peacekeeping mission unifil was put in place in 1978 by the un security council and they will say that it is for them to decide when and where those troops move, not for the israeli prime minister to make that demand. also interesting to hear what benjamin netanyahu had to say in that statement where he directly addressed antonio gutierrez, the secretary general of united nations, someone with whom he has had a very fractious relationship in the few months, in fact declaring him persona non grata in israeljust a few weeks ago. logistically, these are bases that the un has inhabited for many years, we are talking about its headquarters where two peacekeepers were injured when they watch tower was shot at. we are talking about positions that have been in place for a long time, so if unifil

soldiers were to withdraw, where would they withdraw to and would they still be able to carry out their work? a lot of questions are not too many answers and it seems unlikely what benjamin netanyahu was asking for will actually happen. asking for will actually happen-— asking for will actually hauen. �*, asking for will actually ha en, �*, , ., ., happen. let's try to get more perspective — happen. let's try to get more perspective on _ happen. let's try to get more perspective on these - happen. let's try to get more | perspective on these tensions as well as other issues in the widening regional war. we are joined now by an independent journalist based here in jerusalem covering israeli and palestinian and wider regional issues. this relationship between israel and the united nations has been really strange for a very long time and it now seems to be hitting rock bottom. it seems to underline that israel is absolutely determined to continue with its war aims no matter who is in its way. war aims no matter who is in its wa . p, , war aims no matter who is in itswa. . , , its way. that is the impression that israel— its way. that is the impression that israel is _ its way. that is the impression that israel is leaving. - its way. that is the impression that israel is leaving. i - its way. that is the impression that israel is leaving. i have i that israel is leaving. i have to tell you, i don't think either side has covered itself

with glory in the past year. the un has made missteps including in gaza with relations with hamas. first, the idea of unifilforces being injured, initially the idf refused to say anything and then said it was a mistake and only then did they say they would look into it. and now you have the prime minister making what is really a naked pitch to his own base who have been persuaded that the un is an enemy of israel saying get the hell out. benjamin netanyahu is offering an alternative force that could serve as a buffer in that could serve as a buffer in that busy border region. it comes on a day where many minds are focused on what is expected to be an israeli strike against iran. we know that before the weekend, before yom kippur, the

security cabinet met and couldn't agree on which targets should be included. the cabinet is expected to meet again. give us some sense of what the divisions are in terms of israel's response which the defence minister would say would contain surprises. the israeli government - would contain surprises. tue: israeli government has basically very publicly been dithering. he hasn't said we are saying what we are doing and you will find out when we do it. it seems to be fomenting a lot of these questions by holding security meeting after security meeting and each time deciding nothing, so what we hear is that there are many members of netanyahu's government who want to see the most aggressive sort of israeli retaliation to iran, meaning a

hit on iran's nuclear infrastructure or oil fields. either way, this would be very dangerous. any hit on iran's's nuclear facilities is not expected to materially affect around's ability to develop uranium or even a nuclear weapon, but it is intended to have a psychological effect, so then the question is and this is the line being pushed by the united states, why do something so dangerous and provocative if it will not have a real effect? unfortunately the response to that again there is prime minister netanyahu addressing his own base, trying to show his own base, trying to show his own base, trying to show his own toughness. what appears to be happening is a sort of division between the prime minister himself, where he does want to order the sort of strike that would be very spectacular and provocative, but does not actually want to provoke a massive regional war, and that is the line that all

of israel and the rest of the world is treading there after two weeks. world is treading there after two weeks— world is treading there after twoweeks. ., , , , two weeks. certainly many eyes are now on _ two weeks. certainly many eyes are now on the _ two weeks. certainly many eyes are now on the developments . two weeks. certainly many eyes| are now on the developments on that front and many others. thank you very much forjoining us from jerusalem. we will continue to keep an eye on those tensions in the southern lebanon between the united nations peacekeepers and israel. also what is happening in gaza as we have been reporting today, the israeli air force has also been in action with air strikes in the centre of gaza as well as in the north but the main focus seems to be around the largest refugee camp in gaza. for the past nine days israel is saying it is focusing on hamas positions that they are about the growing concern about the humanitarian situation in the camp, and indeed across the gaza strip with the un's world food programme saying no humanitarian aid has entered the gaza strip since the

beginning of october. that's at a time when the un had already been concerned about shortages of food and now they are saying they are not sure they have enough food stocks to enable them to feed gaza for this month. a lot of pressure on all fronts and as we are reporting we are waiting to hear what israel decides with this other layer of tension, the direct confrontation between israel and iran. we will keep an eye on all the different developments but for now we take you back to london. thanks very much indeed. let's turn now to a big milestone for spacex. elon musk�*s company has succeeded in its ambition to catch the booster system which launches its starship rocket, safely landing the device as it dropped to earth after a test flight in texas. we'll explain why that's such an important moment but first let's go to that spectacular moment. the feat means it will be easier to reuse the launch technology to make space flights more often — and more cheaply.

there were cheers in the spacex control room in texas as the machine, known as the super heavy booster, successfully lowered itself into mechanical claws known as chopsticks. elon musk wants his new rocket to revolutionise spaceflight and is hoping to develop a spaceship that can be used often like a plane, rather than a traditional rocket system which breaks up when it returns to earth. there it is being successfully docked back onto the system. it is the most powerful rocket ever built and it is about to make history. a perfect take—off. followed by a successful separation for the first and second stages. that is what normally happens during

rocket launches but now, watch this. instead of crashing into the sea, the lowest stage makes its way back to the launch pad. this it is falling at supersonic speed but its engines fire to slow it down. then, most of them are turned off so that it gently makes its way to the launch tower. then it's actually caught by two robotic arms. the process is called the chopsticks manoeuvre. there were so many things that could have gone wrong but they succeeded first time of asking.

we watched it come down right behind us, watched it get caught. that broke my brain for a while. let's have a closer look at starship. it is 120 metres tall, a00 feet. as we saw, it has two main parts. the bottom is a superheavy booster which has 33 engines. on top as the spacecraft which can carry cargo and eventually have room for up to 100 astronauts. the aim of the system is to be reusable and so bring down the costs of space travel. and really that is the big game changer in terms of making spacecraft more reusable and having a faster turnaround to land them back on the earth almost ready to go again. an hour after liftoff, the rocket�*s top section splashes down. but there are concerns about the environmental impact of these tests.

things such as satellites and rocket bodies that go up in space, the more the material comes back into the atmosphere and leaves lots of heavy elements in the atmosphere. long—term environmental effects we don't yet know. the mid air catch was an incredible achievement, paving the way for cheaper space travel, which may bring with it its own problems. let s get some of the day's other news now at least 23 people have been killed and more than a0 injured in an airstrike by the sudanese army on a market in southern khartoum. the market is near the main camp of the paramilitary rapid support forces, who have been battling the military in an 18—month conflict, that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. thousands of people have been demonstrating in the spanish capital, madrid, against high rents. the protesters are calling for rents to be slashed in half, and for the resignation of the housing minister. they're also threatening

rent strikes. it comes amid concern over rising evictions and a wider cost— of— living crisis. leaders of the japanese organisation representing atom bomb survivors — this year's nobel peace prize winners — have paid their respects at the peace memorial in hiroshima. they said they wanted to bring news of the nobel win to their predecessors in the fight for the abolition of nuclear weapons. president biden is visiting florida to see the devastation wrought by hurricanes milton and helene. he said more than half a billion dollars would be made available for restoring power grids damaged by the storms. more than three million homes and businesses are without power in the wake of the hurricanes, which together killed more than 250 people across the southeastern united states. mr biden praised the resilience of floridians, and the way they had come together, not as democrats or republicans, but as americans. i am proud to announce $612 million for six new cutting edge projects to

support communities impacted by hurricane helene and milton. it includes $a7 million for gainesville utilities and another a7 million for florida power and light. this funding will not only restore power but make the power system stronger and more capable and reduce the frequency and duration of power outages as extreme weather events become more frequent. we can speak to the writer and author of category five super storms. talk of needing to improve resilience. explains to us the science behind why these storms seem to be more frequent and more devastating. tt is and more devastating. it is actually more _ and more devastating. it is actually more powerful, i and more devastating. tt 3 actually more powerful, the frequency is sort of similar to decades past, but as we introduce heat into this closed

weather system on earth the result is heat amplifying all extreme weather but it especially these hurricanes that have been hitting the united states with record force recently. tn united states with record force recentl . , ., .., , recently. in this that the case that the hurricanes _ recently. in this that the case that the hurricanes now - recently. in this that the case | that the hurricanes now seem recently. in this that the case i that the hurricanes now seem to travel further inland. we saw that some areas were less well—prepared, does the planning need to change? well-prepared, does the planning need to change? while researching _ planning need to change? while researching this _ planning need to change? while researching this book— planning need to change? while researching this book i - planning need to change? while researching this book i found i researching this book i found some facts that totally blew my mind. the storms could get further inland over coming decades, there are growing larger and faster than we have ever seen and carry vastly more precipitation and more wind and to speak to your precipitation and more wind and to speak to you