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advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". ♪ christian: hello, i am christian fraser, and this is "the context ." >> i've lost my father, my brother, two cousins, other family members, and my pregnant wife. i am the only survivor. >> four days there is no fuel entering gaza. i think the hospital will collapse. >> food and water must be allowed into gaza. we meet -- we need a rapid and

unimpeded humanitarian access now. >> the united states has israel's back. we have their back today, we will have it tomorrow, we will have it every day. christian: the death toll is rising, the israeli military say they have recovered at least 1200 people killed in israel this past weekend, and in the five-a bombardment of gaza, more than 1000 palestinians have died. the u.n. called on all sides to respect civilians and requested a humanitarian corridor be set up in gaza to get food in and evacuate the most seriously injured. we will hear from correspondents across the region, from lucy williamson, who has been to a town where they have been burying their dead. we will hear from gaza and our correspondent, and anna foster is tonight on israel's northern border with lebanon, where

israel has been exchanging fire with hezbollah militants. good evening. there are 300,000 israeli troops now massed on israel's southern border. there is a new unity government in tel aviv and a war cabinet to direct israel's response. and for the 50 day running, and from the direct -- fifth day running and from the direction of the south, the israeli defense force has pounded every conceivable hamas target in preparation for a ground invasion against a group regarded as a terrorist organization by many countries. 200 targets were hit. the health ministry in gaza says more than 1000 people have been killed. now under siege, gaza is running out of fuel. today the power station codes come which limits the ability to

pump clean water. hospitals are running on generators. 2.5 million palestinians in the strip know that very soon unless a corridor is opened, the biggest concern will be food. let's hear from one in gaza. >> the electricity is off. schools is like shelters. the schools bombed, too. i am scared, afraid that -- frightened. oh! >the situation is very, very ba. bombing everywhere. they found house -- bombed house, killed children, women, anyone here, just siege and bombing. there is no water no food. as you hear, bombing now, everywhere. i feel i am -- i want to cry!

christian: israel, meanwhile, continues to retrieve bodies from the violence over the weekend. more than 1,200 israelis are known to have been killed in the hamas attacks. shockwaves emerged from the two-- kibbutz. one person said it is not a battlefield, it is a massacre. my colleague lucy williamson has been to an israeli town. lucy: israel's pain is being written unto gaza's streets, whole district being brought down in the aftershocks of the attack. today the power ran out. gaza's only power station currently under israel's siege. water, food, and medicine could be next. they have become weapons of war. >> i've lost my fathe my brother, my uncle, two cousins,

other family members, and my pregnant wife. i am the only survivor. lucy: with israel's forces massing at the borders, he has already lost 8 members of his family. in the israeli town near gaza, one neighborhood is now known as the district of death. those who stay on live with the blood and politicals left -- and bullet holes left behind after satuay's attack. hamas militants came in, taking hostages a killing one resident outside the bomb shelter. this is where he was killed? the bullet holes in the house and car, a reminder of how close he came. >> all the three children was

with me, and again, everybody to protect ourselves. i close all the electric in the house, all the lights. i turn off the air condition, that nobody will heard us. all the time there was shooting around and bombing from all the sides. lucy: while hiding in the family safe room, he let his children in the jewish prayer for the dying. >> i told all my children -- i started to -- started to separate from my head, and we a ray something like this. something like this, that nobody will hear us. lucy: the foreign secretary came

to hear from residents. the raw anger of his israeli counterparts filling out in response to media questions. >> we are living close to monsters, to in human people. and we are fighting for our home and we will win. lucy: are you considering british military aid to israel and humanitarian corridor -- >> i am not going to speculate on what support we might want to give. i am here to find out what practical support we can give israel. lucy: minutes later, he was bundled towards a bomb shelter as sirens warned of an incoming rocket attack. and as the number of dead on both sides rise, more dramatic stories of escape, these women trapped while militants battled soldiers on saturday? . along the gaza border, israel

seems to be preparing for a major offensive. its leaders wanted by the words of survivors. where was the army? where were the police? israel stands on its sense of security. how much destruction will be needed to prove its ability to protect? lucy williamson, bbc news, southern israel. christian: that is t question, where was the army, where was the police. there will be a wide-ranging investigation into the security failings ts weekend, and while some of that inevitably will focus on the intelligence, the lack of it, more troubling aspect was how easy it was for hamas to penetrate israeli defenses. the southern part of the country is separated from gaza by a 40-mile perimeter fence six meters tall, beneath which there is an underground concrete barrier to stop palestinians tunneling beneath. normally the palestinians are not allowed within 300 meters of

that fence. there are israeli guard towers every five feet and is fixed with hundreds of cameras, radars, and sensors that provide an early warning system. on saturday, using drones, hamas bombed the towers and the communications infrastructure to disrupt the israeli response. the first wave of hamas fighters power glided over the fence, the bulldozers to the rest, allowing enough space for the bigger vehicles to drive through. that supposedly impenetrable fence was breached in 29 different positions. where was the idf? let's talk to a man who migh know more about it. the ceo of the foundation for defense of democracies, a nonpartisan think tank that seeks resolution to the israeli- palestinian conflict that advances american interests and protects israel's security. that's a good background of where you come from this, just so our audience knows. that fence, which i have seen

with my own eyes, is supposed to be impenetrable. it was cut in 29 places. there are guard towers every five feet. where was the idf? >> no fence is impenetrable, especially against a resolute terrorist organization that has been trained in weaponized by iran. but i think there was truly a failure both of technology but also of conception. israel, the u.k., the united states come egypt, many countries around the world had wrongly believe that hamas was pragmatic, that it stayed out of recent operations against israel. there was a place that they had responsibility to 2 million palestinians to govern and they wouldn't launch this operation and put their own citizens in harm's way. christian: and people have asked, particularly cameras of the hostages were taken, whether

-- families of the hundred digit that were taken, whether the encouragement given in the reaction from palestinians, in response whether that is indirectly to blame for the lack of troop numbers on the gaza borders this weekend. the speculation that the troops that would normally be there have been moved to the west bank. are the policies partly to blame for this? >> the internal divisions are an issue. what your viewers need to understand more importantly is that iran has had a long-standing strategy of surrounding israel with a ring of fire on every border, moving weapons and fighters to every border. they have over the past year lit up the west bank through hamas and islamic jihad, which were threatening the palestinian authority, but also threatening israelis inside the west bank, and there were major terrorist attack that hit israeli civilians in places like tel aviv and elsewhere.

the idf was forced to move troops from the gaza border into the west bank to counter hamas and islamic jihad, who have been iranian-trained in weaponized. that left a great vulnerability and gap at the southern border, and we have seen the results. christian: on the issue of iran, i know you speak to a lot of intelligence officials. there is a senior israeli official saying tonight that iran was aware of the operation, effectively gave the green light to hamas attacks. we have had reporting from "the wall street journal" that there was this meeting between iranian secret officials and hamas in beirut this past monday. why is the white house falling over itself to say we don't see any of that intelligence? we had jake sullivan again today saying we don't see the dots at this moment in time. >> i think president biden has been terrific in terms of providing unwavering support against this kind of vicious terrorism emanating from hamas,

but i think he has been loath to point a direct finger at iran because to do so would be to admit the failure not only of the biden administration's iran policy, but the obama administration's iran policy. there is a lot of politics unfortunately tang place in washington. republicans are hammering the president on this issue -- christian: what is it just that? obviously if he says yes, there was, that demands a response from the israeli government, and clearly that would then shine a light, with a focus on hezbollah, because they are the proxy in the region and the best armed proxy in the region, and presumably what they are terrified of is this going beyond israel's borders into neighboring countries, which it has the potential to do. >> i think is the opposite, actually. if the white house were to point a finger at iran and make it clear to supreme leader ali, khamanei of iran that the

united states will respond, that is a way to de-escalate, to prevent hezbollah from jumping in and letting of the northern border and causing original conflagration. the white house in their reluctance to exquisitely mention iran make in the end lead to result that is invited and jake sullivan don't want to see. christian: the defense minister said that gaza "will never return to what it was." what does he mean by that? >> i think the israelis have made a decision that they want to end the rule of hamas in gaza . under hamas, not only have israelis suffered terribly, but palestinians have suffered terribly. they have massacred israeli civilians and used their own civilians as human shields. it is a decision that has been made. and by the way, that decision is supported by the united states, by egypt, gulf countries. i think there is a growing recognition that the savagery of the terrorist attacks we saw the

past few days in israel has to end the rule of hamas both for iselis and palestinians -- christian: and give the keys to whom. if you decapitate hamas, which is clearly the intention, who do you give the keys to? >> hopefully are responsible, pragmatic palestinian tutorship. --palestinian leadership. hamas took over gaza. wh taking overe, there was a vicious palestinian civil war. they executed -- christian: members of their own. >> they threw them from buildings, they shot them in kneecaps. a more pragmatic palestinian leadership has to take over. that has to be done in cooperation with the egyptians, gulf arabs, hopefully the u.k. and others. we have to end finally after decades of hamas terrorism, vicious terrorism, we have to end their role not just for

israel's, sake but peace in the middle east. christian: secular state antony blinken is en route -- secretary of state antony blinken is en route to tel aviv. coming with him is the debbie envoy of hostage affairs, who i'm sure you are aware of. what does he bring to the discussions in tel aviv? how much involvement will he be given? we are talking about 17 americans missing tonight. how important is it r the administration to recover of hostages? and is there a risk that this puts a wedge between the israeli and american government because it gives hamas leverage over washington? >> i think their shared interest between the united states and israel together people back. israel has vast experience from the entebbe raid trying to get hostages back. israel has been willing to trade 1000 palestinian terrorists for one israeli soldier. the united states has a lot of experience negotiation.

i'm not optimistic, i have to say. it's tragic, i don't see many of those hostages coming back. but i think there is an attempt to try and find a way perhaps to get women and children and disabled all people. i don't -- disabled old people. i don't know, hamas is ruthless and brutal and has made it clear they will execute these hostages. i want to make one final point. a lot of people have been asking, what about palestinians, or can they go. there is the rafa border crossing into egypt, a vast open territory of sinai. i would hope to see the egyptians opening that border, refugees going, palestinian refugees going to sinai. and then the five countries that provided the most support to hamas over these years, funding and weaponizing them -- iran,, kotter, turkiye-- qatar, t urkey,, kuwait and algeria, should provide them safe haven. the palestinians have a safe

haven to go and that is through the egyptian border of the countries that have weaponize against them. christian: there is discussion on going tomorrow to talk about that exit through the rafah crossing. we will focus on that later. thank you for coming on the program. >> thank you, sir. christian: president ergo run of turkiye negotiating with -- president erdogan of turkey is negotiating with hamas for the release of hostages. you will live with bbc news. flights are expected to begin departing from luton airport for all flights were suspended last night. a large fire because the partial structural collapse of a multistory car park at one the airport's terminals. four firefighters and a staff member were treated for smoke inhalation. half of the flights have been canceled. sir keir starmer has that to get tough with his own who stand in the way of plants remove

red tape if you into the next election. he told the bbc he would take over local counsel to build more new homes. a watchdog report has found that a prison in south london is unsafe and inhuman, blaming years of underinvestment in the site. the monitoring board says the findings reflect the failures of the prison system as a whole. the report was written before thescape of a prisoner last month. he has been achieved and is back in prison -- he has been retrieved and is back in prison. around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. israel is believed to have identified most of the hostages hamas gunmen objected and have taken back into gaza. "the times of israel" said officials have been breaking the terrible news to scores of families throughout the day. israel's ambassador to the

united nations says the number has been between 100 and 150. and as we have been reporting, turkish president erdogan is part of the negotiations with hamas to secure their release. let's speak to rachel goldberg, whose 22-year-old son is believed to be among those taken hostage on saturday morning at the novick music festival. i'm grateful for your time this evening, and our sympathies from all of us to you for what you must be going through. have you had any communication with the israeli government the last few days? >> i have not. christian: so you have had a no update on where your son is, where he is being kept, anything about his whereabouts? >> no. christian: what do you want to hear from the israeli government? >> to be honest, i -- look, my son happens to be american and

israeli. and i would like both of those governments to do their very best to bring my son home as soon as possible, obviously, as everything a person who has a loved one there, the most immediate personal urgent need in our cases that our son was in a bomb shelter that he and friends ran to from the music festival where they were, and the terrorists entered the bomb shelter and threw in hand grenades and sprayed the room with machine gun fire, and his left arm was blown off. we know that from three eyewitness accounts. he was able still to walk, and they had said anyone who can walk, get out. and he a -- it is a little

fuzzy, we think he and four others were able to walk out of the bomb shelter and report on a pickup truck -- and were put on a pickup truck, and the last location of his cell phone was at the gaza border. so our issue is that he has been critically wounded, and we feel he needs urgent medical atntion. and so that is our biggest concern, is that we can't wait. we need him to be treated, be evacuated. he is a wounded, critically wounded civilian who could bleed out, who could get sepsis. it's obviously not a good situation, and that is what we are most frightened about for our son.

christian: rachel, i'm so sorry. that's really awful to hear. what do you do with your day in a situation like this? rachel: oh, we have been surrounded around-the-clock from one we heard and had suspicions that something terrible had happened, and then we got the confirmation that he was where this huge festival was and when we started seeing pictures of what was happening there, we have been surrounded by an incredible group of the most supportive, savvy, brilliant, motivated community of friends who have been helping us from the get go trying to locate where he is, rule out where he isn't.

we had friends go to hospitals and go through the unidentified bodies to make sure that he was not there. we contacted all of the kibbutz community that was on the border that many people were taking refuge in. we knew he wasn't there. we finally got a picture of the bomb shelter he was in, one of the young people before the real firefight happened took a picture and send it to social media, and we were able to find him and his best friend in that picture, and then all these friends who were helping us, we went through the picture and there were about 30 people in that smashed into this small cement bomb shelter. and weere able to identify a lot of the people and then get their phone numbers and try to reach them and try to reach their parents and start to piece together what had happened and

start to understand where he was. so i spend my days on the phone. we are constantly trying to reach out in every different way to do whatever we can to save our son. christian: yeah. i'm just about 30 seconds before we go to the break, rachel. i'm very conscious that you were listening to mark, was expressing his concerns for the hostages. we should make the point that other hostages have been swamped for hamas prisoners. what do you want the israeli and american governments to do to secure your son's release? rachel: honestly, i really believe both of the american and israeli governments want their citizens home safe, and i really believe, especially after

stening to president biden last night, i feel the passion that they want these hostages freed. christian: i think you are right. rachel: i unfortunately don't have the training and that. i'm just a mother, i'm just a teacher. christian: rachel, i don't want narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors