the israelis say they've discovered large hezbollah tunnels, heavily equipped tunnels, in the south of lebanon, and of course dozens of rockets are still being fired into israel by hezbollah from lebanon. the un accuses israel of acting with total disregard for civilian life in gaza. tonight, we have a special report on the renewed assault on northern gaza. and we will speak to a former general in the lebanese army about the war in his country. also on the programme — britain is open for business. the prime minister tells global investors this is "a great moment" to back the uk — are they persuaded? and 50 years after a polish firefighter was shot in the back attempting to escape east berlin, his stasi killer is jailed for murder.

welcome to the programme. for eight consecutive days, the israelis have been pounding northern gaza, with road blocks in place to prevent hamas fighters heading south, and food trucks from coming north. there have been few supplies allowed in since the 1st of october. there have been daily attacks on the schools that are currently used as shelters in the jabalaya refugee camp. the hamas—run health ministry says 62 people were killed in the last 2a hours, 22 of them, including five children, in one air strike alone. there are still tens of thousands of families living in the north, now without a lifeline that is provided by the aid agencies. the un human rights office says it is appalled by the recent escalation. our correspondent fergal keane has this report. people are burning. the israeli strikes at the refugee tents on fire.

helpless to stop the flames spreading. gas canisters exploding. a figure enveloped by the inferno. too distressing to show here, but all of it witnessed by the refugees. translation: it was around 1.00am and we were - sleeping in our tent. i have eight daughters. we woke up to the fire over our heads. our daughters are all burned and our sons are injured. all my daughters are in a dire state. look at our situation and what has happened to us. israel says it targeted a hamas command centre next door to the hospital. the eu's top diplomat said violations of international law, disregard for civilian casualties wouldn't make israel safer. in gaza, no safety.

not in hospital grounds or un schools. a grandmother mourning 18—month—old yamam. "i'm the one who raised you, yamam," she says. "i'm the one who raised you." to the north, the children killed by a strike in the al—shati camp. among the wounded, boys who were playing marbles at the time. wael naim was grieving his 14—year—old son, rami. translation: he wasn't holding a weapon or anything else - unless children's toys have become a threat to them. that's something else. in this place, childhood vanishes fast. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. peter lerner is a spokesperson

for the israel defense forces. he told the bbc that there were still routes to evacuate northern gaza and he claims the world food programme got trucks into northern gaza earlier today. he insists the idf operation is critical to keeping israelis safe. what hamas was planning on the 7th of october, - just last week, - on the anniversary of the massacre of last year, - was to conduct another launch to launch another attack - against israel from northern gaza, specifically from the areas ofjabalia. i so we are currently- in the effort of dismantling, and preventing them from regrouping. - and it is happening in northern gaza, l so that's where - we have to operate. and i would say we will- continue to operate anywhere we need to in order. to protect israeli lives. on the northern border, the operation to dismantle hezbollah continues. and today, the attacks extended beyond beirut to a predominantly christian part of the country.

at least 21 people have been killed in the village of aito. hezbollah is fighting back. a drone attack on an army base south of haifa on sunday night killed four israeli soldiers and injured dozens more. it's is perhaps the deadliest attacks on israeli soil since the war began. khalil helou was formerly a general in the lebanese army. he's now a parliamentary candidate and member of civil society. welcome to the programme. what is the role of the lebanese army during these incursions? is it to stand and observe or is it to fight?— is it to stand and observe or is it to fight? the mission of the lebanese _ is it to fight? the mission of the lebanese army - is it to fight? the mission of the lebanese army in - is it to fight? the mission of the lebanese army in south | the lebanese army in south lebanon is, according to the united nations security council, that the deployment of the army is to keep peace between lebanon and israel, and to control the ceasefire. this mission was not done properly because there was a sort of schizophrenia in the lebanese

government, because on one hand, the lebanese government says that the ceasefire says that hezbollah should withdraw from south lebanon, and hopefully the lever news army should supervise this. —— that the lebanese army should supervise this. but all of the governments that have been in charge since 2010 recognise this resolution but also recognise the right of hezbollah to arm and defend itself against israel, meaning resistance. so this is the sort of schizophrenia where the lebanese army was in front of a dilemma, and the only solution that was in hand was to deal with day—to—day problems in a way to prevent hezbollah from storming the regions not supported by the population, and on another hand not to open and on another hand not to open a second war between the

lebanese army and hezbollah that would be endless. so this role is not at all an easy one. now, what is the concurrent role of the lebanese army? it is supported by the population, it is legal, it has the legality, and it should be preserved in order to have the principal role once there's a ceasefire, because there is no other solution than deploying the army in south lebanon. 50 the army in south lebanon. so where is it right now? the - the army in south lebanon. sol where is it right now? the army is in south _ where is it right now? the army is in south lebanon _ where is it right now? the army is in south lebanon now, - where is it right now? the armyj is in south lebanon now, asking the army to fight israel is not realistic at all, because the defence budget of israel, annual budget, is $20 billion, whereas the budget of the lebanese army is $2 billion. and you can imagine that it is underequipped to match israel, and not only the lebanese army does not match israel, and

another thing — it is not the lebanese army that opened this war, it is hezbollah without consulting the army or without consulting the army or without consulting anyone, and now the army cannot stand the burden of supporting or suffering from the consequences that hezbollah caused. ., , ., ~ ., ., caused. you must talk to former colleagues _ caused. you must talk to former colleagues in — caused. you must talk to former colleagues in the _ caused. you must talk to former colleagues in the army, - caused. you must talk to former colleagues in the army, and - caused. you must talk to former colleagues in the army, and i. colleagues in the army, and i know that you speak to parliamentarians in beirut. how much damage do you think israel has done to the hezbollah tunnel is south of the river and the command structure of the group?— and the command structure of the a-rou? .,�* ., the group? well, we don't have independent — the group? well, we don't have independent information, - the group? well, we don't have independent information, or . independent information, or independent information, or independent source of information. the only sources of what israel is the same, hezbollah is saying nothing about that. we have some videos showing the israeli army inside

these tunnels, but these tunnels are several tens of kilometres long, the same as in gaza, and if we see where israel is operating, it is still operating in a very narrow border, border side in lebanon, not more than one or two kilometres, and it is not holding the terrain. the israelis are getting out, special operations inside the lebanese territory. but i think the tunnels of hezbollah are relatively intact because they are still firing missiles on israel and using anti—tank weaponry against israel, and this is why we scarcely see any tanks because the concern is these anti—tank weapons that are in the hands of hezbollah by thousands. hezbollah already 5000 of these missiles on fixed and mobile targets in israel. you talk about hezbollah

dragging lebanon into an endless war. you must be watching what is going on in northern gaza right now, and thatis northern gaza right now, and that is a contained area, very different from the southern part of lebanon. do you feel that the israeli tactic will be at some point to infiltrate southern lebanon and occupy it? well, hezbollah dragged us into this war. we did not want this war at all. and there is a huge opposition to hezbollah inside lebanon. lebanon is divided between opponents and supporters of hezbollah and i think the majority of the population is against hezbollah. we think, the military, things are unfolding on the operations. we think that israel will do the same as it did in gaza, where they are occupying it very narrow buffer zone, and operating from this

buffer zone with operations inside gaza that can last for a few days or a few weeks, with troops the size of battalions. i don't think israel has the stomach to occupy, because occupation will be a burden diplomatically, a burden in human lives and in every aspect of budgeting in the military. so i think we will do the thing they are —— the same thing they are doing now in gaza, they are trying to occupy a very narrow buffer zone, a depth of one or two kilometres, and from this, it will be a launching pad for this kind of operation. if there is a collapse of hezbollah at some point, it does not seem so for the time being, but if there is a collapse of hezbollah, things may change because of south lebanon is practically emptied of its inhabitants that are the

popular bases of hezbollah. general khalil helou, good to talk to you this evening, thank you for coming on the programme.— you for coming on the programme. around programme. thank you. around the world and _ programme. thank you. around the world and across _ programme. thank you. around the world and across the - programme. thank you. around the world and across the uk, i the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

welcome back. the british prime minister has been hosting a major investment conference here in london, telling business leaders that now is a "a great moment" to invest in the uk. sir keir starmer told delegates that he wanted to give companies the best conditions to succeed and he insisted that recent changes to workers' rights were "pro—growth." our business editor simonjack was watching. london's financial district was brought to a standstill this morning as the roads around the guildhall, a place of commerce for nearly 600 years, were closed for some very important people. inside that ancient room there, there are a couple of hundred

of the world's most powerful business people with hundreds of billions to invest. and the idea of the summit is to get them to spend as much here in the uk as possible. now, the precincts may be ancient but the message is modern: we are laser focused on growth. that seemed like news to the former boss of google. i was shocked when labour became strongly in favour of growth. wealth creation is the number—one mission of a labour government. his promise to these high rollers was a new area of stability after four prime ministers and six chancellors in eight years. ——a new era. we have a golden opportunity to use our mandate, to end the culture of chop and change, the policy churn, the sticking plaster politics that makes it so hard for investors in. that seemed to go down well. stability for investors, and predictability, - is always important for us as an investor. _ while a promise to speed up planning and regulation also got the thumbs up. i think the mood in the room

is really positive. we can commit to doing projects but if you can't get the planning permission, you could be sitting with the project for two to three years when you've got money ready to go to work, that isn't being put in place. but new employment regulations that will make it more expensive to hire and harder to fire new workers worried some rich labour fans. i'm not very keen on that, actually, at all, as you might well imagine. i think it's a real burden on businesses. but it's all about balance, and labour have always been for workers' rights, so i expected something like that when i voted for them. the chancellor said she wanted to invest government money too — money she doesn't have unless she changes the rules about how much she can borrow. i do want to free up _ investment in those long—term, responsible investments that we need to make i to unlock the private - investment into our economy. that sounds like a yes to changing the debt rules. we'll set out the detail of that in the budget, i but getting a grip of-

day—to—day spending is also essential if we are going to free up money for - those long—term investments. these events are predictably upbeat, but the budget is likely to see businesses like these hit with higher costs and taxes — an altogether more painful affair. simonjack, bbc news, the guildhall. joining me to discuss is tina fordham, she is a geopolitical strategist and founder of fordham global foresight. she works with a lot of insurance companies and banks and investors here in the uk. how receptive were they to the pro—minister's message today? very receptive. people want to hear good news about the uk. we have hadn't not much good news about business and investment in the last 1a years or so. and since brexit, to be honest. four prime ministers, six chancellors, a split from the uk's largest market. the famous letters and _ uk's largest market. the famous letters and the _ uk's largest market. the famous letters and the budget _ uk's largest market. the famous letters and the budget fiasco - letters and the budget fiasco of years past. so there is a real opportunity here minister

and the chancellor to say that britain is open for business, but they have to follow up. yeah. he was boasting today that there is stability. you can well boast that there is stability because he has a whopping majority, and he is at the beginning of a tyrant, but i guess some of that stability will flow from the budget, which we don't have yet. the buduet which we don't have yet. the budget is _ which we don't have yet. the budget is really _ which we don't have yet. tue: budget is really where which we don't have yet. tte: budget is really where the rubber hits the road, and that is october 30. we are starting to see the kind of dance going on about working within the labour party's manifesto, which said that it wouldn't raise taxes using the three most typical means for the treasury to do that, national insurance, vat, and capital gains. it does not live in a lot of room for manoeuvre. so we are going to try to find ways to highlight that they are open for business, and i think what was especially well received today was the message about cutting

regulation, whether we are talking about the uk or europe, we have a very risk averse kind of a climate. and it is costing us. , , ., ., us. this is where i want to -la us. this is where i want to play devil's _ us. this is where i want to play devil's advocate. - us. this is where i want to play devil's advocate. if i play devil's advocate. if you're seeing in one respect that you're cutting regulation and then on the other, you're setting out new regulation through a workers' rights package, are they walking the walk? ~ , ., �* ~ ., package, are they walking the walk? , ., �* ~ ., , walk? we 'ust don't know yet, and i walk? we just don't know yet, and i don't _ walk? we just don't know yet, and i don't mean _ walk? we just don't know yet, and i don't mean to _ walk? we just don't know yet, and i don't mean to wriggle i walk? we just don't know yet, l and i don't mean to wriggle out of your question — it is going to be finding a balance. i think the early moves on, for example, planning, regulations, and cutting that, again very well received. there are various different levers that the government can push on, but a country that wants to grow needs to build, needs to invest, needs to do research and development, and these avenues have been stymied for quite some time. but to do that when your party faithful is

expecting to see moves on workers' rights, you know, cutting zero—hour contracts in all these other things, it is very tough to do because, remember, people go into government because they want to give things away. that government because they want to give things away-— give things away. that is where labour worked _ give things away. that is where labour worked into _ give things away. that is where labour worked into a _ give things away. that is where labour worked into a problem i give things away. that is where l labour worked into a problem at the weekend, 1526 00:19:22,058 --> 00: