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narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors 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'm christian fraser, and this is "the context." >> targeted for the third time since october 10. the role from palestinian side to the egyptian side is damaged. >> hospitals are running out of fuel, are running out of supplies. up in the north people can't

move without help. >> you know our deep commitment to israel's right -- indeed, its obligation, to defend itself and defend its people. christian: the armed wing of hamas says it is fired a barrage of missiles on tel aviv and jerusalem in response to israel's targeting of civilians. the u.n. says the gaza strip is being strangled, with the health system on the brink of collapse. the humanitarian corridor from egypt into gaza has failed to materialize, with the u.n. saying no progress has been made on reopening the rafah crossing. we bring you the latest from jerusalem. tom bateman, international editor jeremy bowen in southern israel, and on the lebanese border, the latest from anna foster.

very good evening. hundreds of thousands of palestinians fled south over the weekend hoping to escape the bombardment. many left without the provisions they had stored and are now without food and limited water. those whoent all the way south to the rafa border with egypt are still not safe. the border remains closed, and earlier today the town was hit by israeli airstrikes, buildings destroyed. this footage has been verified by the bbc close to the rafah crossing. dozens cap under the rubble. -- trapped under the rubble. for the innocents, the nightmare continues as israel prepares for a major offensive could still hamas continues to fire rockets from built-up areas. tonight the air raid sirens were triggered in jerusalem and tel aviv. the number of hostages they think were taken into gaza has been revised upwards to 199.

that is not to include t -- that is thought to include two teenage sisters from the u.k. whose mother was killed in the attack 90's ago. let's get an update from tom bateman. just seeing on my screens here some news flashes from one of the leaders of hamas talking about the hostages they have and speaking to the wider arab community in the region. tom: yes, there's been a series of statements over the course of the last week at various points about hostages. hamas call him the head of their dice for a -- diaspora. he is based in qatar, as are other senior hamas figures. there have been various statements, for example, about the claims of the deaths of

hostages in airstrikes. the problem with a lot of this is it is just impossible to verify. in terms of the weight we can give any of these statements, it is quite tricky. certainly what we have heard today is a revision upwards of the numbers of confirmed hostages in terms of the families that have been told on the israeli side -- the israeli military saying they have informed 199 families that their relatives are among those held captive in gaza, and of course we already know that among those are children and the elderly. it comes in israel among the growing sense anger and frustration about what some say is just a lack of information from the israeli authorities. we saw some scenes today in tel aviv of protests outside the ministry of defense and pro-government supporter getting into a physical confrontation

with the father of a woman who was missing. what was already a political crisis in this country now merging into this security crisis and pretty desperate scenes. christian: just -- he said in the last few minutes that israeli captives include high-ranking officers from the gaza, and he also said there are 6000 male and female prisoners, palestinians and israeli jails. that puts the focus on the swap hamas allegedly wants for these high-value targets. difficult to verify any of these details. let's talk about the air raid sirens tonight. secretary of state antony blinken is in tel aviv tonight and a military base, where he was talking to the war cabinet. it seems they were sent scurrying to the air raid shelters in the mist of the conversations. tom: that's right, they spent five minutes or so in a bunker as the sirens went off.

we have had at least two, perhaps three incidents when there has been longer-range rocket fire from gaza, hamas saying this was in retaliation for the deaths of civilia, a very high civilian death toll in gaza we have been talking about. we have rocket sirens in jerusalem which sent people to the shelters here, and in tel aviv, as you say, antony blinken having to take a cover along with senior israeli officials. he was with the defense minister and other seni officials getting a kind of taste firsthand of what a lot of ordinary israelis have been experiencing throughout this last week. christian: tom bateman in jerusalem, thank you very much indeed for that. on the egyptian side of the border, a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid for the gaza strip is positioned

from the rafa border crossing. there was hope over the weekend that foreign nationals would be alloweda belief gaza, but there are things -- would be allowed to leave gaza but there are things standing the way that could the egyptians are trying to avoid an internal refugee crisis, so they want assurances that supplies will be allowed in. and then there is hamas, who don't want people leaving at all. the water has been restored in the southern part of the strip. that happened yesterday afternoon. today there were suggestions at least that patrol tankers were going to cross into gaza to refuel the pumping stations. but the you and agency sanction -- u.n. agency saying tonight that that is not the case, that no fuel has crossed the last 14 hours. hospitals are dangerously low on fuel. the office for the coordination of human attorney affairs warns that they may run out for tonight, and is called on israel not to attack hospitals.

>> hospitals are running out of fuel, are running out of supplies. up in the north, people can't move without help. christian: if you have been watching, you would be aware that u.s. secretary state antony blinken has been on a whistle stop tour of the arab countries. he has visited six countries in the region and faced some resistance from the arab world's leaders, including egypt's president el-sisi and saudi arabia and crown prince mohammad bin salman. the saudis kept blinken waiting several hours for a meeting that was supposed happen in the evening, but for to the crown prince only showed up the next morning could perhaps that is why twice in several days secretary blinken has been underlining the same message. sec. blinken: we democracies distinct ourselves from terrorist bite striving for a different standard even when it is difficult, and holding ourselves to account when we fall short. our humanity, the value we place

on human life and human dignity, that is what makes us who we are. and we count them among our greatest strength. that is why it is so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. the way that israel does this matters. it needs to do it in a way that affirms the shared values that we have for human life and human dignity, taking every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. christian: is there anything the americans could offer the egyptians to persuade them to open the rafah crossing? "the economist" reports there are talks in washington in the region about trying to pay off egypt, which is facing a debt crisis, to host palestinians displaced by the were in gaza. let's speak to stephen cook, a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. it's rather interesting, there may be a good reason president

el-sisi is slow walking this, and there is a precedent for debt rel. the u.s. did something similar w with was new mubarak. >> george w. bush offered egypt $100 million in debt relief and got the periscope countries to wipe out egypt's debt. in return, the egyptians deployed 35,000 troops to the desert in saudi arabia's part of operation desert storm. that is why people are thinking in these terms now. what is it egypt needs? ypt needs debt really. ukraine -- egypt needs to get relief. it gives you a sense of how desperate the situation is in egypt. there is a potential formula for debt relief. the question is whether there is the will and washington and other places to do this and whether it is worth it to the egyptians to risk something they've been trying to avoid at

all costs, having to avoid a large refugee population in the sinai peninsula and its environs when they are hosting 300,000 sudanese refugees who fled the civil war just to egypt's south. christian: that's right, there is deep opposition not just because of the security implications, but the longer-term suggestion that if they leave gaza, palestinians won't be able to return. is there a risk that the humanitarian situation gets so dire in gaza that in the end of the egyptians have no option but to open the gates? steven: i think that is likely the case, that if it does get as dire as some imagine it might yet, then president al-sisi, mostly for political reasons, domestic political reasons, will be forced to open up those porter gates -- border gates . it will likely continue to be

under very stringent conditions. the egyptians have taken a principled position that the situation in the gaza strip is israel's responsibility and they don't want to become responsible for millions of palestinian refugees and they don't want israel to dump the gaza problem onto egypt. christian: there is reporting that the egyptian army is creating this buffer zone near rafah and setting up a barbed wire fence is five kilometers from the border with the gaza strip bet -- if that were the case, one would suppose that that is an evenality where we have this tented city similar to what we had in jordan after the syria crisis, correct? steven: i think that is right, and keep in mind that any maneuver of egyptian oysters in the sinai peninsula is subject to israeli approval. whatever the egyptians to do in this regard, it will likely be in court a the israelis -- coordination with the israelis. of course egyptians would want to broadcast that, but that is

the case -- wouldn't want to broadcast that, but that is the case. christian: what do you make of the fact that secretary blinken was kept waiting in riyadh? that is tantamount to a snub, isn't it? steven: it is on brandon for mohammad bin salman when he wants to make a point. he will make people wait and wait for hours. that is the way the saudis try to send a message. but the saudis themselves are in a difficult position. over the last 8, nine months, they have been ever closer to normalizing relations with the israelis. now that they are engaged with this onslaught on the gaza strip, the saudis need to walk that normalization back. thus they have refused to condemn the terrorist attack on innocent civilians, they are snubbing the secretary of state. and in general from the perspective of the biden administration, not being

terribly constructive in this crisis. christian: steven cook, good of you to join us this evening. just want to bring you the last few minutes from the political wing of hamas, he says hamas has 200 israeli captives. the rest he said are being held by other armed factions. he puts the total number between 200 and 250. as tom bateman was telling you, we need to verify those figures because not everything hamas says can be trusted. i just want to bring you one other breaking line of news that we are getting in the last few minutes from brussels relating to a shooting in the city. police indulge in say -- police in belgium say twowedish nationals have been shot dead. it is been classified as an act of terror, and the suspect is

still at large. a developing situation in brussels this evening, two swedish nationals killed. he tells coming in, and we will bring you news when we get it. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. quick look at some of the other stories making news today. fuher school specs are due to take place in scotland after a union voted to reject the latest payoff of support staff. the union that reprents administrators, catering assistants, and janitors say a rolling program of strikes in schools and nurseries will take place with dates announced in the coming days. parliament's behavior watchdog has recommded that a conservative mp he suspended for six weeks for bullying and sexual misconduct. it follows a complaint made by a former member of staff over the behavior which allegedly happened more than 10 years ago. the suspension will have to be voted on by the house of commons to be approved.

more foreign prisoners are due to be deported to their home countries under plans to tackle overcrowding in jails. the justice secretary is due to set out plans in the commons for reducing the prison population in england and wales. the figures show that jails are approaching full capacity with a number of inmates at an all-time high. you are live with bbc news. there are in northern gaza 22 hospitals treating more than 2000 inpatients. the world health organization said this afternoon they now have under 24 hours of water, electricity, and fuel left. doctors at the hospital are refusing to leave while caring for babies that are unable to survive without the help of adequate equipment -- medical equipment. that equipment can only run if there is fuel for the generators. >> in this ward, as you can see,

there are children attached to ventilators, and now we have been asked to evacuate the hospital. where should we evacuate these children to? they are attached to ventilators. they are completely dependent on them, and it is impossible to move them. if you want to kill us, kill us while we continue to work here. we will not leave. we need to days or weeks to secure another place. there are no empty nurseries. if you want to know what will happen, i will tell you. transferring these children from this place means handing them a death sentence. they will die. this equipment only operates with electricity and oxygen. christian: joining me to discuss is a consultant surgeon who makes regular trips to gaza to train surgeons there. we spoke last night about the dire situation at a hospital in gaza city. have you managed to contact the doctors today? >> thank you very much for asking me on again.

i've been in contact this morning but not this afternoon, and the situation deteriorated overnight. they are very frightened the fuel will run out for their generators today or tomorrow, and that will have devastating consequences, of course. christian: we have seen the doctor at the hospital in the neonatal wing. if the power runs out, the generator runs out of fuel, then those babies are not going to survive, are they? >> absolutely. it will be catastrophic, and many trauma victims will be on ventilators. it will be difficult to run any operating without any electricity at all. they will effectively be unae to treat the vast majority of their patients. christian: it must be so difficult for the doctors to plan or make any contingencies. there has been reporting that six oil tankers across the border, and the u.n. is saying

that is not the case. do you know whether there are any plans to move some of the patients? are they turning new patients away from the hospital? dr. maynard: no, they can't turn patients away because there is nowhere else for them to go. the hospital where i have most of my contacts will feel it is impossible to move patients. most of the access roads to the hospital have been bombed. ambulances struggle to get there. they will not be able to move these patients because there is nowhere to go. they feel utterly helpless about anything more they can do with the patients. christian: and of course there's the psychological impact on the doctors. i saw one of them who was working 27 in a hospital who suddenly learned that his father, his brother had been killed in an israeli attack. how many of the people you are speaking to have us people, ha

that have lost people, -- have lost people, have lost touch with their families? dr. maynard: every single one in and my callings have been in contact with have lost loved ones or close friends. i was talking to a very close friend of mine who is a female surgeon in gaza who was working in between cases, she hadn't been able to get hold of her family. they had been displaced and were living in an area which she then heard had been bombed. she still hasn't heard as to whether they are ok or not. every single doctor or nurse we have been in contact with has been affected by this. christian: goodness me. it's dreadful, isn't it. nick maynard, i hope you continue to come on and keep us informed. dr. maynard: thank you very much indeed. christian: president biden was supposed to be campaigning in colorado today, cancel that trip in favor of a national security meeting at the white house.

two strike groups, the uss eisenhower and the uss gerald ford, have been repositioned in the eastern mediterranean, and there are reports that the president is himself weighing a trip to israel later in the week, depending on the security situation and the state of the war. in foreign policy terms, there are many in washington we think this has been the president's strongest few weeks in office. he has been clear i'd -- clear-eyed about the fed and immediate in the response. pres. biden: the most important thing is ending this brutality, and to hold those who committed it accountable. christian: by contrast, people pointed the dysfunction in the house, where republicans are struggling to appoint a speaker. yes been two weeks since kevin mccarthy was deposed, and still the chairman's unfilled. that's speak to the director on arab-israeli relations at the washington institute for near east policy.

the president has backed israel today -- to the hilt, he has dispatched forces to the region, earning him plaudits at home. but is there a risk that if this extends to the north, the united states gets dragon? >> i think there is a risk. i'm not sure the two aircraft carriers will stay there the whole time. one might rotate the other one out. but i think if hezbollah starts a second front, as you suggest, from the lebanese border area into israel, i think from what i hear from my defense sources the u.s. is going to want an assessment from the israelis that they can handle this alone. but there could be times where the u.s. might come in. i think above all the goal is messaging publicly, privately, that the president means it when he says -- tells countries

don't, meaning don't exploit this tragedy. but he is also known to say superpowers can't bluff. he said that many times, and i think if needed there's a chance that the u.s. might have to respond to hezbollah. i don't think that is the preferencef israel. it is proud to defend itself by itself, and that no american dies for israel. i think that is its default approach. we will see. this is a two front war and could expand if tehran wants to regionalized the conflict. secretary of state blinken was clear that the u.s. prefers it remains an israel-hamas war. christian: we are looking at pictures of president biden with netanyahu on a recent visit. the interesting thing is that the president has been very pro-israel, he has said he is

pro-zionist and has taken his children to dachau to educate them about the holocaust, but that does not mean he is a fan of netanyahu. what is being weighed in the white house about a visit to jerusalem at this moment in time? >> i think it is very possible, because like you said, he is very proud and he has a lot of credit for the moral clarity for responding to this barbarism, and he has a sense of empathy with people who have suffered that comes very easy to him and draws on his own experiences. he has been connected to be supportive of israel for 50 years, talking about how he with golda meir, who was president in 1973. i think in terms of going there, he would see it as this is my ability to identify with the people at a time of crisis. he is very aware of the american

hostages being held in gaza. i think there might be an element of buying more time, frankly. 20 blinken, secretary -- tony blinken, secretary of state, in the arab world, part of this is to -- the agenda is clear, don't regionalize this war, and all the arabs agree with blinken on this. second, figure out a humanitarian corridor to minimize suffering in gaza, work with egypt. in the third is the issue of getting the hostages out. all of these things he could do before the ground war starts. once the ground war begins, you don't have that same kind of control. having the president go to the region, and there is rumors he might speak at an arab gathering -- that is not confirmed, however -- that would be time to gain more time until a lot of these strands fall into place. christian: thank you very much for your time this evening.

sorry to press you, but we have these live pictures from brussels, two people shot in the belgian capital this evening. we are told by brussels police that the gunman is still at large. a video that has been seen and verified by the bbc is circulating on social media, showing a man speaking in arabic. he says he is the author of the attack and has done it in the name of god and killed three people. from our reporting, two dead 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. ♪ ♪

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