on the launch pad. the successful test brings elon musk�*s company closer to its goal of achieving the rapid reuse of rockets. president biden has visited florida to see the relief effort after the state was hit by two hurricanes. he said more than $600 million would be made available for affected communities. king charles has led tributes to scotland's former first minister, alex salmond, who died on saturday at the age of 69. it's understood he collapsed after delivering a speech at an international conference in north macedonia. now on bbc news — the media show. hello, i'm katie razzall. this week, what's it like to report from gaza? we speak to the bbc�*s gaza correspondent rushdi abualouf about the unique challenges of reporting from the conflict zone. it's all coming up on the media show.

the committee to protect journalists says one year on from october 7, at least 128 journalists have been killed in the conflict. 123 were palestinian, all killed by israeli forces, according to the cf]. the idf says it doesn't have a policy of targeting media personnel. we will now hear from the bbc�*s gaza correspondent. rushdi abualouf has been covering the war, first from inside gaza and since november when he left with his family from the wider region. rushdi came into the studio earlier this week while on a short visit to london. if i take you back to a year ago orjust over a year ago, you are a journalist working in gaza, been there for a long time, live there forever. take us backjust to that first couple of weeks after october 7, about your daily routine.

what was it like reporting from there? it wasn't the first war, but it was a different one. this time it was really different and we noticed it is different from day one. because the hamas attack was something that we have never seen on this scale. and we were expecting a big israeli retaliation. it's not a secret, we are all the time in the office, in the gaza office, we have a plan, an emergency plan. we don't like, leave the janitor in the office ——we don't like, leave the generator in the office without the tanks full of fuel. we always have our cars, armoured cars are ready, always have our protective gear close to us because we live in a hostile environment. when the war started

i still had access to the office, the first one or two days. but then very quickly the israeli air strikes massively were targeting the neighbourhood where our office is. this gentleman just told us we have to leave the area because it seems that israelis are warning the residents of that area that they should leave, they are going to target another building in the area. so we couldn't access the office in the evening. so i used to do my broadcasts from my house. and as a journalist i was always trying to keep my family away from myjob, for privacy reasons. but i realised very quickly that there is no way this time to do your job from your office. your family has to be part of this process, because simply you need to protect them. and when you say your family needs to be part of this process, what do you mean?

it means when you have an evacuation order in the middle of the night, you start to help the family evacuating the apartment but filming them at the same time. because they live the story. for the first time, your family is living the story with you. so i remember that night when we got a warning from our neighbours that they want to bomb a place near our house. straightaway i just took the phone and started to film my wife and my kids while they were packing up their stuff and leaving into gaza. it was very annoying for them, i had to explain to them that in order to take care of you and continue doing myjob i have to do both at the same time. this is something really very difficult, but then it became more dangerous because i was in the hospital, we set up our operation in the second—biggest hospital

in khan younis where we believed that it is a safe place. and i put my family, they shared a room in a house just opposite to the hospital. and they were coming to see me because i wasn't home for about two days so the kids were saying, we want to see their dad, so they came. and they hit the roof of the building, they were underneath it. my wife was injured, has a little cut in her head, but they survived. and it was literally, two minutes before going on air. and i know that in this building is my family, and it is in the front of me, about 100 metres, and it has been targeted. how quickly did you find out they were 0k? when i saw them. because when they had the bomb, they were quickly running towards the hospital. and i saw them. and i said look, you are not going back to that, you have to stay with me here in the hospital. so i built a tent forthem, and i said,

just stay here, we either survive together or we are killed together. and that day i couldn't do myjob. i told my boss, look, i can't do anything today. and we saw you do thatjob for certainly, until you left in november, we saw you very regularly on the bbc at that time, in really difficult circumstances. what was an experience like to be reporting there? leaving gaza was the most difficult decision in my life. i was almost about to say to my wife, please just go, i can't leave, i can't leave this. because i know that it's a big story and israel not foreignjournalists in. people feel you are their eyes, you are telling their story, you are telling their daily suffering. and in the same time, i left my father

in gaza. i decided not to see him that night. i said i don't want to say goodbye. ijust text him, and i said sorry, dad, if we see each other again then we will see each other. if not, that's it. goodbye, i have to leave. what was it, when you realised you had to leave, what was the moment when you thought, whatever, however much it is important for me to continue reporting this story, i need to get myself and my family out. within a few days, when my wife was injured, i decided to go to a nearby village to buy something for them, because it was less crowded, more dangerous area. and as soon as i arrived to this place, at that moment i wrote that this is, i was very close to death. this is the first time i feel i am close to death at that village, because five airstrikes were, within less than 100 metres, the debris and the glass flying over us.

in the second airstrikes, the third airstrikes, i was saying, that said, it's over. i was with my friend, it's over, the fourth one will be here. you thought you were going to die. yeah, yeah. it is like day—to—day, trying to survive day—to—day. you sleep, you are not sure you will wake up. and when you wake up you are not sure you're going to sleep again. this level of danger was there for all the journalists in that place. journalism is all about being able to talk to people, contact people, feel the story, and talk to people. and in order to talk to the people you have to travel. and that is a risk because you don't know, car near you has a hamas wanted person. or the building you are going to do the interview is the next israeli target. so it's all risk. but i was not worried about myself, because i decided to work as a journalist

in this warzone, i had many chances to leave gaza and i decided to work, because i am from that place, i belong to it. journalism is in my dna and i want to continue to do it. but not my family. i mean, what was like, really heavy over my shoulders is my family. can you reflect on the experience of seeing people you know, people you have worked alongside, dying? it is very hard. the first shock for me was the killing of roshdi sarraj, third or fourth day of the war. he is a camera man, a freelancer. i saw him in khan younis, we were evacuating together, i saw him in khan younis and i told him, we are the only two rushdis.

we are the two carrying this name, among all the journalists, so be careful about yourself. that is the last time i saw him. the next day he went back to gaza city to collect something from his house, a lens or something, and then the house was destroyed, he was killed. it was the first shock for me. very quickly, wael al—dahdouh, the aljazeera bureau chief, is my close friend. we grew up together, we learn in the same university, we lived in the same building for a long time. suddenly he lost his wife and kid. that day i told the bbc, i can't do anything about him. i have to drive now to see him, and to be with him. the last one i saw when i left gaza that morning, six o'clock in the morning, was leaving my tent in nasser hospital, i saw samer abu daqqa, that al jazeera cameraman. he said, "oh, you are going!"

i said, "yes, i wish you will go soon, keep in touch" — samer, we were in the same building for 12 years. i used to see him every day, we used to have breakfast together almost twice a week. and he was the last one i saw in gaza, the last face. then i took the bus and i left. and suddenly i was driving in the highway in turkey, and i got a message that he was injured, not died. i couldn't continue. i'm so sorry, i'm so sorry, rushdi. i'm sorry. i had to stop by the road in a petrol station just to follow the news. and you know how difficult is the communication. i couldn't continue on my way and i couldn't come back. i was stuck in this petrol

station for two, three hours. and talking about numbers, within this year, more than 100. the committee for the protection of journalists has said at least 128 journalists, all, but five are palestinian. and please if anyone can remind me of any conflict or war that experienced or witnessed this number of journalists killed. many injured. when israel released some of the videos saying they are not only doing journalism, but they are doing anotherjob. all this needs be investigated, they need to know exactly why they killed this number of journalists in gaza. most of the offices for journalists were destroyed. local production companies were destroyed. and journalists work from hospitals because it is the only place where they have electricity and internet. so in order to do theirjob they have to be operating from the hospital. we have journalists killed in the hospital. so no place is safe.

i think it's the most dangerousjob that any journalist in the world do now, is gaza. and when you left last november, how did you get out? how were you able to get out? the crossing was closed, and then they open it to allow the people who were injured and the people who have dual nationals. since my wife is turkish, we have a turkish passport. so i was — part of the evacuation process is they evacuate the whole family. so i was evacuated by the turkish authorities. and since then you have been based in istanbul, you have obviously been working for the bbc and working on the coverage, getting information out of gaza. and elsewhere. jeremy bowen, who you work with a lot, he published

an interview with a senior member of hamas last week, he told me you were very involved in that. can you explain how that kind of interview comes about? it used to be easy when we were in gaza and less risky. but in order to get this interview, it took me two or three months of organising it. initially it was supposed to be done with haniyeh, and when they killed haniyeh i went to his funeral to do the piece i did about how hamas is choosing his successoi’. i meet all of them, including khalil al—hayya, and i told him, we need an interview with him. and he, well, he doesn't agree in the beginning, because he was not happy with the bbc coverage, and he said bbc is not covering the news the way that should be. and i said...

.."but, we are giving you the chance to speak." i mean, that's the way. and it has been delayed a couple of times for security reasons. and until the last minute, we were not 100% sure about it. so we had done the interview for example, today, i get the confirmation about 18 hours before, and i drove straightaway to the airport, i took the next flight doha, because they insisted you have to be there. and i went withjeremy and i just left the airport straightaway to the interview. and we did itjust minutes before the iran started to hit, fire rockets at israel. we were almost at the gate, leaving the interview. before october 7 and before this war, how easy was it to operate inside gaza? they are like any arab regime, they want restriction on the coverage, there are restrictions on places where we can go and where we can't go,

under the context that this is a security issue for us. as a seniorjournalist for the bbc, i was the office manager as well, so myjob was to, i spend half of my life applying for permissions. so you have to apply for permission to film in the beach. you have to apply for permission to film in the harbour. i have been questioned many times by hamas, especially when you go out and in of gaza. part of myjob is going tojerusalem to do meetings injerusalem, and sometimes to cover from the west bank. so every time i go out or in to gaza, i found someone asked me, or question me by hamas. and how curtailed are you in terms of who you could talk to? could you, in your reports, each people who criticised hamas, for example? officially, yes.

but there was a lot of restriction, and a lot of pressure. i think two years ago, i had done a story about a young man who was leading protests against hamas, and he committed suicide. and i think they went mad about it. they took two or three months to just release all of the restrictions they put around me. one time they sent a message to my wife. he claimed to work for hamas and said "tell your husband to say silent". and they said no, it is a joke, we don't have anyone under this name. did you feel frightened by that message, did you feel under pressure? why not? i don't, because every time i remember, somebody

called me and they said, "look, we are from the intelligence." and i said, "yes, my home is in this building, i am on the seventh floor, and my flat number is there and i am waiting for you. if you want to arrest me, just come, i'm waiting for you." i haven't done anything wrong, i'm doing my job. and you have to choose whether to close this office or let us do ourjob. we are not under your shoes and we are not under anybody�*s shoes. journalists doing ourjob. if you give me the permission to work i have to do my job properly. we talk now about the last year, since you left, i know you have obviously kept in contact with journalist on the ground, trying to get the stories out. as everybody listening to the media show will know, nobody can get in to gaza, western journalists cannot report from gaza. so you are constantly, i am assuming, trying to get information out. how difficult is that? extremely difficult. more than 70% of the internet lines are down in gaza. all of the infrastructure

for the communication is almost not there. so sometimes it takes you two or three hours just to get information. when they hit the mosque in the morning, maybe a month ago or something. there was a lot of conflicting numbers about, hamas say something, the health ministry say something, and i knew the director of the hospital where most of the bodies were taken. it took me two hours trying his phone, and then i had to call somebody and say stay on the line, keep the line open, drive your car, go there, go to him and tell him, rushdi is on the phone, just answer him. and i said, how many people killed? he said 70 or 60 or whatever. this is how difficult for me to get one small information.

sometimes i send, like, 100 sms message to all of the phones that i know in this area. waiting forjust one to receive that message and reply back by saying yes, this place, or not that place. so the bbc now, they don't have officially any independent journalist work for the bbc in gaza. we use freelancers, we have two or three freelancers, we use them inside gaza. and part of myjob is to make sure that they are safe. as much as we can. advise them, give them instruction. how to do the story, where to do it, try to give them sometimes some hope. but in a situation like gaza, what advice can you give them to stay safe? because i've been there, i can give a few tricks for them. like...

just make too many calculation before you move. or stop a couple of times. watch the road. collect more information about the place you are going to do the story from. don't go alone, go with otherjournalists. don't be the first, let somebody before you. when you know there is unbalanced through there, tried to collect more information. is the airstrike still going on in the area or if it has stopped. so i'm trying. but sometimes nothing works. if israel wants to destroy this building or target, they won't care about journalists. that's the feeling among palestinian journalists, that this time is different. this time they don't feel secure at all.

and there is risk even doing live broadcast in the hospital, it is high risk for them. and what has it been like for you, as someone from gaza, who loves gaza, not being there? it's hard. i always say, we are physically outside, but our minds, our heart, our soul are there. i can't sleep without the phone under my pillow, i can't. itried, i have tried everything. i've tried to take the family for a vacation. i am not there. they say, why you are bringing us here? you are not there. you are physically here but you are not there. you're not with us. simply because i can'tjust... imagine that my father is 75, and he lives in a tent. he lives in a tent. and sometimes you hear that there is an airstrike in the area where he lives. and you can't do anything for the next two or

three hours, until you hear back from him or you get somebody, and sometimes i call someone i say, can you just walk to the other side of the road and see if the airstrike is next to my father or not. not only my father, my sisters, my brother, my cousins, my friends. every corner in gaza, i have somebody i know. i lost many people. quite recently my wife lost her aunt. and you feel... ..that you can't do anything for them. you try. you tried to talk to people, you try to, like, give them some hope. but it's really hard. can i ask you, how do you assess the international coverage of the conflict? how the western media has reported it? i have a lot of friends, they send me messages saying that you should

resign, you shouldn't work for international media anymore, because they are biased, they are pro israel. and people always... compare russia—ukraine war. they say what about if this girl was killed in ukraine. bbc would do more about it. so there is... rather than a girl killed in gaza. there is always a feeling among palestinians at the bbc is doing more about the ukrainian—russian war, because it is in europe. it is different from the middle east. if the western media could get into gaza, what have we missed? it sounds like from what you were saying before, that actually we have missed being able to check the facts more swiftly. it takes such a long time for you to check what is happening.

they trust the foreigners more than the palestinians. who? everybody. look at my twitter account, orx. every time i write anything, they blame me because they are palestinians. people outside gaza, pro— israeli campaigners always criticise me, "you are not a trusted source, you are biased." but when you have somebody who is not part of the story, didn't live the story, you said in a different way. i have tried my best, i have tried my best throughout my coverage from day one, to go in line with bbc editorial policy in covering this story. and i receive tremendous amount of criticism from people in gaza. when i used to do my two—ways in the hospital,

some of them used to listen and shout at me by the end of it. because? "why did you say israeli army, not israeli occupation. you are palestinian, you have to say they are the israeli occupier." "you have to say killed, not martyred." we are the bbc, we tell exactly the story. we don't use any language that can be seen as biased to decide for the other side. that's it for this week. thank you so much for watching. ros and i will be back next week. and if you'd like to hear a longer version of today's show, search bbc the media show wherever you get your bbc podcasts. hello there. sunday developed into a rather cool and cloudy story pretty much across the country, and there's some rain that's going to push in and some of that turn quite heavy

across south—west england. this frontal system, though, is also starting to introduce some milder air, and it's going to push that cooler northerly flow we've seen just recently out of the way. so as we go through the week ahead a change is coming. yes. it might not suit all of you, but it looks likely that for the rest of this week it's going to be a milder story, and there will be some heavy outbreaks of rain around at times, particularly from midweek onwards. so let's take a look at the details then. here's that frontal system. during the early hours of monday morning, drifting its way steadily eastwards, probably by the early morning rush hour, it will have cleared away and leave a trail of cloud in its wake. northern england, northern ireland and scotland largely fine and dry, some scattered showers moving their way across the northern isles. top temperatures between 10 and 12 degrees here, 13 or 1a elsewhere. but look at this 17 in the south—west, tapping into that milder air already, we could see some sharp, possibly thundery downpours developing on tuesday as that mild air continues to move through quite a lot of cloud and murk around potentially on tuesday, but a good deal of dry weather.

the showers potentiallyjust staying across the southwest and running up through wales and into the irish sea. here we'll see highs generally between 12 and 17 degrees once again. but it's wednesday when the winds will strengthen further still from the south. but we could see a spell of very wet weather. a lot of uncertainty as to where that rain will be sitting at the moment. heaviest bursts potentially look likely to be along the west coast and then moving its way steadily northwards with gale force gusts of winds in scotland. but if we continue to see some breaks in the cloud and some drier weather in the south—east, that wind is tapping into some very warm air. we could get highs of 21 degrees 70 fahrenheit, way above the average for this time of year. little ridge of high pressure keeps things quiet on thursday, before the next area of low pressure threatens to bring yet more gales and another spell of heavy rain. so if you're lucky enough to have the drier weather on thursday, make the most of it because we close

out the working week, potentially with more wet and windy weather to come. live from london. this is bbc news. the un secretary—general warns any attacks against peacekeepers "may constitute a war crime", after israeli tanks forced their way into a peacekeeping base in southern lebanon. a world first for spacex as it achieves a successful fifth launch and return of its starship rocket booster. with millions of homes and businesses still without electricity,

president biden pledges more than half a billion dollars for hurricane relief in florida. tributes have been paid to alex salmond, scotland's former first minister, who has died at the age of 69. hello, i'm lauren taylor. in the last few minutes, the united nations secretary—general has warned that any attacks against un peacekeepers "may constitute a war crime". antonio guterres said any such events would also be a breach of international law. it follows a series of incidents in lebanon over the last week in which peacekeeping troops were injured apparently with the involvement of israeli forces. israel's prime minister has called on the peacekeepers to withdraw. the events happened at bases in the area of southern lebanon above the so—called blue line, which separates israel from lebanon. the un has blamed israeli forces for injuring four

peacekeepers in two separate actions — a fifth was injured