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narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. 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". ♪ >> hello. you are waching the context. >> ground forces are expanding operations this evening to achieve the goals of the war. >> all parties are ultimately

working for the cease-fire, the immediate release of all prisoners to ensure aid for the gaza strip. >> if israel exercises its right and responsibility to defend its people against the terrorist group, it must do so in line with the rules of war. ♪ >> hello, welcome. significant developments in the last hour. we heard from the idf saying ground forces are expanding operations tonight and we've seen intensification of airstrikes on gaza.

live pictures, this is gaza, which reported increasing bombardments in the last few hours and intensification of airstrike. large communications have been cut. the internet, telecommunications down, potentially as a result of airstrikes but we do not know for certain. numerous reports that communications within gaza are down. another live feed from gaza. airstrikes from israel in gaza continue tonight. some pictures of the airstrikes from earlier.

>> the darkness there because fuel and power is in short supply in gaza. flashes of orange tell the story of the intensification of airstrike in the gaza strip tonight. we heard from the idf, israeli defense forces, again asking people to move from the north of gaza to the south. let's listen to that statement earlier. >> over the last few hours, we've intensified airstrikes in gaza, the iaf has extensively carried out raids to underground targets and terror infrastructure in a substantial manner as a continuation of our

offensive strikes over the last few days, ground forces are expanding operations this evening, acting forcefully in aldimensions to achieve the goals of the war. earlier on today, we exposed to the world the hospital with the underground expanse, how they converted the hospital for terror activities. hamas' cynical use of the hospital, we reveal this to the world and will continue to do so, attacking gaza and its surroundings. south to the gaza river, there are better conditions. we've reiterated the call to the people to move. >> lucy williams in southern israel now. talk us through. reporter: a much heavier mom bartman here an we have seen -- heavier bombardment here then

we have seen in recent days, along the gaza border, around 10 kilometers from the border. we heard what appeared to be artillery strikes. there have been regular sirens warning of rockets coming in. most seem to have been intercepted by israel's defense system. a couple rockets hit a residential area here earlier and rockets hit in tel aviv as well. >> we heard from that statement from the idf, what do you make of it? reporter: as we heard, they were talking about widely attacking terrorist infrastructure and underground targets by air, some of those big explosions we've seen tonight. they also talked about expanding ground operations. israel's been waiting, preparing, fearing a ground

invasion into gaza for many days now. it is not clear if this is what is happening, if this is what the spokesman meant or if it is expanding what we've seen, which is smaller scale incursion into gaza to gather info, they say, to try and locate hostages there. sometimes with tanks, we've seen expanded small incursions in recent days. it is not clear what the spokesman is talking about. these sorts of operations being expanded or mething much wider. >> the statement from the idf, put it in context for us about how the communications work from the idf, these statements to cameras, whether part of an updating process? >> there are regular daily

briefings from the idf updating on operations inside the gaza strip. there is oer context as well. there were widespread reports today there was some deal that may have been close to being struck between the two sides, perhaps, in exchange for some kind of cease-fire in exchange for the release of a large number of hostages. tonight the idf said do not listen to rumors, seemed to dismiss the reports. there are signs israeli public opinion is shifting, perhaps because we've seen hostages released over the past week from gaza. one week ago, a poll suggested, two thirds of israelis were in support of a ground offensive in gaza. that seems to have dropped to less than one third according to one newspaper poll. there is a lot of different context playing out around what is happening tonight.

we are not entirely clear what this heavier bombardment signifies. >> thank you. the right-hand side of the page, these live pictures, this is ashkelon. we keep live pictures going on the screen at the same time as we analyze what has been happening. let's look at developments throughout the day today. the idf released this footage. they say it is of targeted raids overnight in the central area of the strip. they claim to have killed hama'' head of intelligence in one of these rates. -- raids. the who confirmed the numbers released by hamas in the gaza strip. the number of people killed,

more than 7000 now. more than 1400 were killed in israel. aid agencies warning 10 trucks only came in today. crumbs of aid, according to one agency. we heard lucy talk about hostages. there's been updates through the day. dbc has been told talks have accelerated on a hostage exchange deal but no more updates so far. the number updated from the israelis, 229 is their number. more broadly, any talk of a cease-fire has been rejected by israel thus far.

qatar acting as mediators. no official updates on the hostages. we will be analyzing what is going on. a source familiar with negotiations between israel and hamas of the exchange of hostages, has told the bbc they are accelerating. the key has been qatar. now, that country's mediating role, a member of the royal family, speaking to us. >> thank you for having me. >> can you explain, what is the role of qatar here? >> it is said best by the foreign minister, minister of foreign affairs -- mediation. trying to find a solution toward peace. anchor: do you think the events

we are seeing in the last couple hours, this intensification of airstrikes, expanding of ground forces tonight, makes any difference? >> it doesn't help. in the same statement made by the foreign ministry a couple days ago, they call for secession of hostilities. these things go hand in glove. if one is not met, it makes the other negotiation difficult. anchor: in terms of status, clearly, we find out the last four hostages to have been released, the process of finding out what has happened has been a social media statement released by hamas, then verification from intermediary, someone independent working to physically move the hostages out, then confirmation from the

israeli side or some other government. is that how you would expect any future hostage situation to unfold? >> the nature of negotiation and mediation has to be its ability to do it in a cool and calm and sometimes stealthy manner to secure the safe return of hostages. unfortunately, with the escalation of attacks, especially tonight, there seems to be a prelude to ground war or ground invasion and these things tend to be more sticky and much more difficult moving forward. the israelis have a choice to believe in the qatari approach of negotiation, we've seen the tangible results achieved as a way forward, or they can choose the path they are on now and

unfortunately, it seems they are choosing to go the latter route instead of the former. anchor: hamas is described as a terrorist organization by the u.s., u.k. and many others. how does that influence negotiations, specifically the role of qatar? >> hamas is viewed by the international community, the u.n., as not a terror organization. semantics cannot play a role in negotiation. the question of how you get mediation to succeed is the vital question. part of that is having the cessation of violence. otherwise, it's very difficult for any mediator, qatar or anyone, and there are other parties, to have success as they have had in the past. anchor: are you confident of

success? >> qatar has had two decades of successes. there is no reason to believe qatar won't be successful in the future but other estimates see that for success to happen, the israelis have to cooperate and show seriousness in their attempts to save the lives of those hostages. unfortunately, we haven't seen that yet. in fact, some of the rhetoric was absolutely the other way against stopping any escalation, even if it guaranteed hostages would be released, which is unfortunate. anchor: thank you for coming on. >> thank you. anchor: to explain, we are keeping pictures up on the right-hand side of the screen, live fds from different locations, exactly what is happening.

significant developments this evening, in the last couple hours, we heard from the idf, israeli defense forces spokesperson with a significant military update saying, first of all, ground forces are expanding operations tonight. secondly, bombardment is increasing in intensity in gaza. airstrikes have been witnessed by our teams in southern israel. they've been talking about the increasing bombing they can see and hear. we heard from the idf airstrikes are focusing on underground hamas targets and terrorist infrastructure. we are continuing to get reaction to that statement and intensification of airstrikes. then we can take a look at a social media post now. this is antonio, secretary-general of the u.n.

"i repeat my call for a humanitarian cease-fire in the middle east, the unconditional release of all hostages and the delivery of lifesaving supplies at the scale needed. everyone must assume their responsibilities. this is a moment of truth. history will judge us all." let's take a look at those lines from the top. let's go to the spokesperson for the idf. a statement delivered straight down the barrel of the camera a couple hours ago, many interpreting it as a significant

shift in this war. >> good evening. good sabbath. over the last few hours, we've intensified our airstrikes in gaza. the imf has extensively -- iaf has extensively carried out raids in a substantial manner, as a continuation of our offensive strikes over the last few days, ground forces are expanding operations this evening, acting forcefully in all dimensions to achieve the goals of the war. earlier today we exposed to the world the hospital with the underground expands, how they have converted the hospital to terror activities. hamas' cynical usage of the hospital, we revealed this to the world and we will continue to do so. we will continue attacking gaza and its surroundings. again, south to the gaza river,

there are better conditions. we have called upon them and reiterated the call to the people to move. this evening, we were attacked in the direction of the north and we returned this. we are continuing with activities, trying to thwart all those attacks with terror cells, so many of them that have been, that they were trying to car out, anyone who dares intimidate us and threaten us, will be immeately, this will be curbed immediately. we are following the regional developments very closely. this morning, the air force intercepted air threat over the red sea. israel will continue working with the u.s. and others in order to ensure the security. we are working in all arenas to

preserve security interests of the state of israel, and the home front i am calling upon you to truly adhere to all the information and directives of the home front command. please continue, please continue listening to these information, it saves lives if you go into shelters and shielded places. there have been calls upon, there have been complaints of delays on our app and we will continue trying to improve that app. i'm trying to explain that this is but one tool that updates you about what is going on and warning you. there are additional tools in this toolbox. please continue using all of them. anchor: the spokesperson for the idf a couple hours ago. some reaction from the ground. the palestinian red crescent media officer. thank you very much.

>> thank you for having me. anchor: can i ask about communications with people on the ground? >> communication has been completely cut off. at the present, we have lost communication with gaza as well as with all our colleagues operating there. we don't have any communication with them due to the cut of all land lines, cellular communications as well as internet communication. we are extremely worried about them who are operating and working on the ground, with this intense bombardment taking place all through the gaza strip. we are worried regarding the work of the emergency medical services. the cut of communication, absolutely our colleagues are facing great challenges, to arrive wounded peoe in a

timely manner, due to this cut of communication. i assume they are now implementing humanitarian based on traditional communication, just hearing the sound of bombardment, then following the sound to try and reach wounded people and transfer them to hospitals. anchor: extraordinary detail. thank you for adding that. can i ask about fuel? there have been repeated calls for more fuel. what is the situation with your colleagues on the ground? >> our expectation, last thing we heard from colleagues in gaza is that we will be running out of fuel in the upcoming hours. basically, at this point, we will be unable to continue providing emf services in gaza. ambulances will not have fuel to operate and reach wounded people, as well as we have two hospitals in gaza.

we have patients at those hospitals, approximately 600 in both, we have patients in the icu. we are extremely worried about the safety of our patients as well because those connected to life-support and oxygen will absolutely lose their life due to the complete cut of electricity. this is the situation we are expecting to happen in the coming hou. we will shut down two hospitals in gaza that we are currently running. this should be the case for other hospitals in gaza facing the same challenge, which is lacking, burning out of fuel. we are managing coordinations in order to get aid to gaza. the palestinian red crescent, but up to this moment, fuel is

prevented to get to gaza. since the beginning of the calation, no fuel has been allowed to get into gaza. today, we managed to get 10 trucks. we got it to the egyptian. all the trucks have only water, food and medical supplies. none of them have fuel. anchor: can i ask about medical supplies? clearly, they run out ptty quickly and need to be kept in certain conditions, refrigerated or whatever. without the fuel to keep them in the right state, i presume, there isn't enough of them in the first place? >> absolutely. hospitals, communication, they

are witnessing a collapse. they are literally collapsing due to extreme shortages of medical supplies and medicines well as, the major challenge now is fuel. a couple trucks we were able t get into gaza, some hospitals to have some medical supplies but as you know, those trucks are not enough. they are a drop in the ocean. hospitals are witnessing extreme shortages in medical supplies and medicines. painkillers are not even available now. anchor: the idf spoke earlier, saying the al shifa hospital was being used for terrorist activities, loss effectively staying there. is that anything you recognize?

>> the palestinian red crescent, we live in the same principles, and we already run two hospitals in gaza. our hospital has received serious threats from israeli occupation forces to be bombarded at any second and we ve received evacuation order. we have repeatedly announced we don't have the means to evacuate our hospital. we have another hospital, around 500 patients, some of them in the icu connected to life-support. evacuating them means literally risking the lives of our patients. this is the case for other hospitals. 20 hospitals have received evacuation orders from israeli occupation forces to evacuate them. the who has also announced evacuation orders for hospitals are impossible to implement.

anchor: we are to the end, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. anchor: quickly to new york, this is the u.n. general assembly, soon voting on a resolution on immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce. we will catch up with that when it happens. for all the latest development, stay here. this is bbc news. ♪ 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 neglted needs.

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