refugee agency from operating in israel and the occupied west bank, drawing international condemnation and concern. i condemnation and concern. will be reporting live fr jerusalem, i will be reporting live from jerusalem, where despite international pressure at members of the israeli parliament voted overwhelmingly to cut off ties with the united nations refugee agency. ahead of tomorrow's budget, the uk's chancellor gives the nhs extra funding for new equipment to help deliver 40,000 extra appointments per week. with just over a week to go before the us presidential election, kamala harris and donald trump adress voters in key battleground states. hello, i'm arunoday mukharji. hamas emergency officials in gaza say an israeli strike on the northern town

of beit lahiya has killed at least 60 palestinians. just a warning that the pictures we are about to show contain some graphic images of the aftermath of the attack. footage shows bodies wrapped in blankets alongside the rubble of the multistorey, residential building; others remain buried. rescuers say that locals and displaced people were killed, including many women and children. there's been no immediate comment from israel's military, which began a new offensive in the area this month, saying hamas had been regrouping there. it comes as the united nations secretary general warns israel that its decision to ban the un agency for palestinian refugees, unrwa, from operating in the country could have �*devastating consequences�* for gaza and the west bank. it follows monday's vote by the israeli parliament.the laws which come into effect within three months — bar unrwa from operating in israel and annexed eastjerusalem, and severely curtail its ability to work in the occupied

west bank and gaza. israel alleges that some unrwa employees were involved in the seventh 0ctober attacks. the bbc�*s ben brown is injerusalem. these were seismic votes in the israeli parliament. two separate votes, essentially to cut off israel's cooperation with the united nations refugee agency, unrwa. that has caused worldwide outcry and outrage from many international leaders, and we have heard from the un secretary—general saying it will have devastating consequences. unrwa says it is a breach of international law. why has the israeli parliament done this? it says that's has been colluding with hamas and that some of its members and staff are actually responsible and took part in the october

seven attacks. let's just take a look now at why this is such an important move by israel's parliament and what exactly does refugee agency is, unrwa. with more than 30,000 people working for unrwa, it's one of the largest un programmes — let's remind ourselves what unrwa is and what it does. the acronym stands for united nations relief and works agency for palestinian refugees in the near east unrwa was established in 1949 by the un after the 1948 war in the region. it is a relief and human development agency for palestine refugees. according to their website, it provides health care, food and education programmes supporting over six million refugees, and now employs 30,000 palestinians. the organisation is deployed across the region, including jordan, lebanon, syria, the gaza strip and the west bank.

well, let's hear from well, let's hearfrom one of the members of the israeli parliament. here is sharren haskel, who is a member of israel's knesset — and proposed one of these bills. even in london, if an international organisation would have participated in a massacre of english people in london, i don't believe it would take more than 24 hours until the british government would kick them out of the country. when hamas has stolen more than 50% of the humanitarian goods and sold it in the market, to people who couldn't afford it, that is when the humanitarian crisis really started. we need reorganisation with real capability, with the logistics capability, like the real united nations agency who are looking after the disaster areas, in syria and in sudan, and with millions of people who are affected by it. they have the logistics, they have the capabilities, they have the resources to actually provide humanitarian aid.

juliette touma is the director of communications at unrwa. she says that the un agency is critical for aid to reach those living in gaza. i'll tell you what i know for a fact. unrwa, for example, runs schools. we provide education to hundreds and thousands of children. no other united nations agency at the moment in gaza or an aid organisation is able to provide schooling. who will do this work? only a government or only a sovereign entity can provide such a service. you see, this is what makes unrwa very unique. we are the only agency in the world that has schools. we run our own schools. we are the only un agency in the world that runs primary health care centres. so it is very difficult

to replace, very difficult to replace, certainly in a very short time. and what really needs to happen, the focus right now is to reach a ceasefire, to release the hostages, and meanwhile to allow— unrwa, the largest humanitarian organisation, to continue its work. why fix something if it's not broken? we do also know that there were several attempts over the past 13 months to provide humanitarian assistance to people in gaza without any coordination, with a sort of way to overcome unrwa or, uh, bypass unrwa. and we do know that these attempts have failed. in fact, they have failed pretty miserably. and in some cases, there was a human toll. people were killed while they were queuing to get assistance. so it's very, very hard to replace unrwa, especially under the current circumstances.

we'll bring you more of that interview with juliette touma in the next hour. the bbc�*s yolande knell has more details about what the israeli government is doing. well, the israeli prime minister's office is underlining that it says there will be three months before this takes effect, and it will work in that time, it says, with world partners to try to sort out this aid situation, but if you look at the legislation, there are two parts to it. one, which basically bans unrwa in israel and in israeli annexed territory — that is in east jerusalem, and then there is another part which bans the israeli authorities from really having anything to do with the organisation, and that is where it will have a big impact on gaza, and the west bank under israeli military occupation, because in order to get aid into those places, in order for international staff to move around, that all requires co—ordination, especially with the israeli military, and if you look

at gaza in particular, well, that is where unrwa is the biggest un agency on the ground, so we have seen during the war, that it has become the biggest distributor of aid, and it is also of course running these wartime shelters with so many premises in gaza, turning them over to displaced people. so that is why, you know, this is really causing such a lot of alarm. noga tarnapolsky is a journalist injerusalem — she gave me her assesment as to why israel has banned the un 0rganisation. this government has very successfully turned unrwa into a kind of beta noire of the entire mishandled situation in gaza over the last many years, and i have to say that in some respects unrwa has not

done itself any favours, because it does appear that they accommodated hamas and have taken very lightly some of israel's accusations. that said, israel has provided little evidence for all of its accusations against unrwa, so we find ourselves in a situation in which unrwa has become a kind of de facto governing authority for palestinian, notjust in gaza, also in lebanon, palestinian refugees every where in the west bank, injordan, and it is the one refugee agency that, the only one that doesn't resettle refugees, it simply maintains them, and so israel has increasingly complained against it. i should say, by the way, there are 90 days before this comes into effect. so, three months,

and the israeli government are saying they will, in that time, work with other agencies like unicef, the un children's fund, and independent charities and ngos to filled the void left behind by unrwa. after the death of its long—term chief, hezbollah, who was killed in an air strike last month, has below where it might have now appointed a successor to him, and he is naim qassem, the iranian deputy secretary general. he is one of the few senior hezbollah leaders who is still alive, senior hezbollah leaders who is stillalive, in senior hezbollah leaders who is still alive, in fact, after israel has killed most of them in the last few weeks. meanwhile... lebanon's health ministry says at least 60 people have been killed in israeli attacks on the bekaa valley. the strikes hit five areas

in the baalbek region, northeast of the capital beirut. the local governor called the attacks the most violent in the area since israel escalated the conflict against hezbollah last month. the eastern bekaa valley is a stronghold of the militant group. another seven people were killed in israeli strikes on the coastal city of tyre. 0ne one other bit of news to bring you from lebanon. one other bit of news to bring you from lebanon. lebanese media are reporting that israeli tanks have entered the town of khiam. that's in the south of lebanon, not far from the border with israel. it's part of israel's military operation in the country. i have been getting an update on all the latest developments. the bbc�*s hugo bachega is in beirut. yes, ben, it was a very violent night of israeli air strikes in the east of the country, in the beqaa valley. 16 areas were hit, and those attacks happened with no warning by the israeli military. there hasn't been reaction from the israeli army explaining those attacks, what was being targeted

with those air strikes last night, but the lebanese health ministry saying at least 60 people were killed, including two children, and images that have been posted on social media show widespread destruction in some of those areas, also fires that were sparked by those air strikes, and the head of the civil defence in baalbek said that those air strikes happened at the same time last night, that residential buildings were hit, and in one village residents overnight pleaded on social media for heavy equipment to be sent to the area, to help in those rescue efforts, so that gives you a sense of the desperate situation there, following those air strikes, and this morning in another village rescue efforts continued for five people who are still missing, following those air strikes. this is an area of the country that has been repeatedly hit by the israeli military. it is an area where hezbollah

has a very strong presence, it is the strategic route connecting hezbollah to its allies in iraq, in syria and also to iran, which is obviously hezbollah's main supporter, but as you mentioned, in the introduction, the governor of baalbek saying that the attacks last night were the most violent in his region since the beginning of the conflict. that was our correspondent reporting from the route. if you want to catch up on all the latest developments from israel and around the middle east, go to our bbc news website. we have got a life page running there, you can follow the latest updates from correspondents like hugo in the region and are experts also in the newsroom. go to the website or download the app. that is it from me here injerusalem, back to you in the studio.

from me here injerusalem, back to track, the studio. from me here injerusalem, back to track, thank udio. from me here injerusalem, back to track, thank you. here in the uk, the government has announced more details of what is in this week's budget for the national health service. the funding is part of the government's overall pledge to increase the number of nhs hospital appointments and procedures in england by 40,000 per week. here's our health editor, hugh pym. out on the wards with a story to tell. the chancellor and the health secretary meeting hospital staff to explain some of their spending plans for the nhs in england. the budget, they were told, would provide money to help get more patients treated, and reduce waiting lists. to deliver on the 40,000 additional appointments every single week in our health service, to reduce those waiting times and waiting lists. and alongside that, the biggest capital budget since 2010 in our national health service, to invest in the new scanners, the diagnostic equipment, the radiography equipment that our nhs desperately needs — alongside the reform to get better productivity and better outcomes for patients.

so what are the details? the treasury says £1.8 billion of extra money has been provided to the nhs since the election for more operations and appointments. there'll be 1.57 billion allocated next year for equipment including scanners and radiotherapy machines. the challenge is to bring down the total waiting list of 7.64 million. extra money announced by the westminster government generates more, as well, for scotland, wales, and northern ireland. these are some — but not all — of the government's spending plans for the nhs in england. to find out overall totals for this year and next year and how they compare with the previous trend, we'll have to wait for the budget speech itself. health experts welcome the new funding, but warn that there are many unanswered questions about future policy — with the government's ten—year nhs plan not published until next spring. if you think about the huge pressures on the national health service now, but also

into the future with the ageing population, we're simply not going to manage carrying on the way we have with marginal improvements — or, indeed, significant improvements. there really has to be a massive step change in the way that we do things in the national health service. and really the game—changer here is technology with different working practices, and that should be the focus of reform, and that's what we really need to see the look of — in addition to the money — and that really will only begin to be forthcoming in the spring. some of the new investment will go into surgical hubs — specialist centres for carrying out planned operations. the aim is to get patients treated quickly and more efficiently. but getting back to the 18—week target for waiting times will be a big ask, and today's announcement is just the start. hugh pym, bbc news. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

live with bbc news. turning to the race for the white house — where we are just over a week away from election day and both candidates are stepping up their campaign efforts in the key battleground states. republican nominee donald trump has been speaking at a rally in georgia while his democratic rival kamal harris spent the day in michigan. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has more. i'm bruce springsteen, and i'm here today to support kamala harris and tim walz! the boss, back on the campaign trail in pennsylvania. and to oppose donald trump and jd vance. a celebrity heavyweight for the democrats with a week to go. with the polls still neck and neck, both parties are bringing out the big guns. following the rock star on stage, the democrats�* political equivalent, former president barack 0bama. what i cannot understand is why anyone would think that donald trump will shake things up in a way

that is good for you. because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself. millions have already voted, but this final week of campaigning will be crucial. only a few americans are still sitting on the fence, but they could make all the difference. kamala harris addressed a rally in michigan, counting down the days to what she called "one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime". we need you to vote early, michigan, because we have just eight days to go. eight days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime. and as everybody here knows, this is going to be a tight race until the very end. so we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we like hard work. hard work is good work. hard work is joyful work. and make no mistake, we will win!

we will win. after dominating the headlines over the weekend with a massive and controversial campaign event in new york, donald trump returned to georgia, another state that could go either way. the former president seemed determined to show he still has plenty of energy after the harris campaign claimed he was exhausted. these are bad people. - they've covered everything. let's see, last week... oh, that last week. "he's tired." - you know what i mean? i've done this stuff now for 58 days in a row, i and i don't even feel tired a little bit. _ not even a little bit. crowd: go, go, go, go! the next seven days will be a gruelling race to the end for both candidates, criss—crossing the country but concentrating on seven key states to grab every vote they can. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. you can follow every twist

and turn in the us election campaign on this live page on bbc news website or bbc news app as the campaign enters final week with national and swing state polling between kamala harris and donald trump incredibly close. back to the other election we have been talking about, in georgia. the election commission in georgia says it will recount some ballots following saturday�*s disputed election. it said polling stations would be selected at random in each district. it comes after thousands of opposition protestors rallied outside of parliament on monday. they accuse the governing party, georgian dream, of rigging the vote — something it denies. 0ur correspondent in tbilisi, rayhan demytrie gave us this update: i think it remains to be seen whether this proposal by the central election commission to randomly select some of the polling stations where they will conduct the recount of ballots, whether this will address those

concerns that were raised by local and international observers, and namely the use of id cards. there were allegations that id cards were taken from people, in large numbers, and votes were cast in that manner. so we have to see whether this will satisfy those concerns that were raised by local observers. the bbc�*s obtained data showing that on average, young people are being left on a mental health waiting list in england for 315 days. the figure has more than doubled in the past four years. nhs england says improving access to mental health services is a key priority. 50,000 tickets for the hugely anticipated

a huge maya city has been discovered centuries after it disappeared underjungle canopy in mexico. archaeologists found pyramids, sports fields, and amphitheatres in the southeastern state of campeche. the discovery is down to new technology, including a type of laser survey that maps structures buried under vegetation. georgina rannard reports: deep in the central american jungle, the trees are hiding treasures. radar fired from a plane peers through the canopy to search for ruins. this is in guatemala, but archaeologists have now discovered another huge city — this time in mexico. they�*re calling it valeriana. now, we don�*t have any pictures of valeriana — that�*s because no—one�*s been there for hundreds of years — so we thought we�*d show you what it might have looked like, here in this virtual studio. this is a mayan pyramid temple, similar to the ones that would have been found in the city. people worshipped here, brought riches like jade masks, and even buried the dead. in total, the team found almost 7,000 buildings in an area of the jungle about the size of edinburgh.

up to 50,000 people may have lived in this area at its peak in the ninth century. alongside houses, the archaeologists found evidence of amphitheatres, plazas, and even a sports field for an ancient ball game. it would have been a very colourful, very lush, and i think very striking environment to move through. things like palaces and temple pyramids — all of those would have been covered in lime plaster and then painted red, pink and yellow and black. there would have been clusters of buildings where people mostly spend their time making ceramics, or mostly spend their time shaping stone tools. this part of the world, there�*s some evidence for marketplaces. it took centuries, but war, climate change, and the spanish invasion caused the collapse of the mayans. but their descendants still live in campeche today, and at the new site — just 15 minutes from a busy road — their ancient relatives

lie beneath their feet. georgina rannard, bbc news. you can read more you can read more on you can read more on that story on the bbc news website as well. that is all we have for you on this addition. but you can track all the other big stories on the bbc news website, the big stories we are tracking, of course, all the updates on the us elections and all the developments in the middle east up on our life page for all your viewing. that is all for now, stay with us. hello again. the weather that we�*ve had for the last couple of days is very similar to the weather that we�*re going to see in the next few days, with perhaps a bit more in the way of sunshine coming our way. it will be mainly dry, though, some patchy rain around at times and mild. and we�*re also going to see large areas of cloud. but you can see how mild it�*s going to be, as represented by the ambers and yellows.

this goes forward four days. you can see a brief hint of something cooler in the north and then we return to the milder conditions for the time of year once again. so today, fairly cloudy, the cloud thick enough for some patchy light rain and drizzle. some sunshine coming out across eastern scotland and northeast england. elsewhere, we could see some glimmers of sunshine as well. light winds and temperatures 11 to 16, or maybe 17 degrees. the average at this time of year, just to give you an idea, if we pick on aberdeen today, we�*re looking at 15. the average is 11. london 16 today, the average is about 14 degrees. so we�*re a couple of degrees above where we�*d expect to be late october. now, as we head on through the evening and overnight, once again there�*ll be areas of cloud around, some clear skies, some patchy mist and fog forming. and temperaturewise we�*re looking at six to about 11 degrees. so a little bit cooler than it was last night, but still pretty mild for the time of year. into wednesday then, high pressure is right across us, effectively keeping that weather front at bay.

so, we start off in wednesday for england and wales with mist, fog and low cloud. that will clear, we�*ll see some sunny spells developing. for scotland and northern ireland it will brighten up, but later in the northwest we will see a bit more cloud coming in, and temperatures 11 to 16 degrees. heading on into thursday, the high pressure driftsjust a little bit further east. you can see in the north it�*s going to be windy, with gales across the very far north of scotland. here, too, we will see some rain, some rain coming into the northwest. but on thursday, generally, we�*re looking at some breaks. perhaps the brighter skies will be in the east. temperatures 12 to 16 degrees. and if you�*re going out trick or treating, well, it�*s going to be a mild evening for that as well. mostly dry, a fair bit of cloud around, but some mist and fog might make it feel that little bit more spooky. so then, moving on through the rest of the week, for friday we�*ve got some wind easing in the north. still be fairly cloudy, then

settling down for the weekend.

this is bbc news.

40,000 extra appointments per week. the covid inquiry hears from physiotherapists and experts today with a focus on the impact of long covid, this is the scene live in central london.