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woman: a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. announce 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" 'n new york and this isbc world 'n news america. the death toll continues to rise in lebanon where at least 500 have been killed and thousand more displaced following the latest israeli strikes. biden makes his final address to the united nations as u.s. president. >> my fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are

more important than staying in power. it's your people. >> and as the hunger crisis in sudan worsens, world leaders renew calls for an end to the civil war. ♪ i warm welcome to world news america. and a good evening from the united nations were president biden has addressed the general assembly, warning of the need for a diplomatic solution to prevent all-out war in lebanon. authorities say more than 560 people, including 50 children, have been killed by israeli strike since monday in the deadliest bombardment the country has seen in a decade. pierce cross-border crashes continue with hezbollah firing dozens of rockets into northern israel. earlier the israeli military

said they had killed a senior hezbollah commander in a strike on beirut. these pictures show the extent of the destruction from that strike. employee and contractor of the united nations refugee agency were killed in israeli strikes in lebanon. i spoke to the organization's representative in beirut. i want to start with the news that we've heard, that two workers from your organization were killed in an israeli airstrike. can you tell us more about what happened? >> thank you for asking that question. it concerns one national female colleague whose residence was hit yesterday evening. it took until midday today for the sad news to reach us that she was found, together with one of her children. her husband came out alive with

another child who was injured. another victim is a contracted worker come one now someone who also was part of our family who used to work on a daily basis in our office in the soh and he also perished when his residence was hit. >> our condolences to your organization. it comes at a time when we are seeing this escalating situation in lebanon. tens of thousands of people have left their homes. can you give us a sense of what the situation is like for people who are on the move right now? >> it has been of course ongoing for nearly a year now with people displaced, and syrian refugees who were present from a longer time ago in lebanon. this has now accelerated so it

is mainly people moving in the south, the largest cities close to the south, but also further north toward the center of the country. and also further north, including accommodation -- accommodation osher -- options are not available for people fleeing from the south to various parts of the country, primarily along the coast. >> we've seen some of these images of people moving along these roads as they leave their homes and seek safety. can i ask you, israel has said that it has warned residents in certain areas where hezbollah weapons are being stored that they should leave their homes. can you give us a sense from your teams on the ground, are people getting these warnings in time, and has this prepared them toave to leave? >> that is also not entirely new.

this has happened on different occasions throughout the past year, but now in a much more comprehensive manner, larger areas, and yes, it gives some people some notice, but again, it is short notice still, not everyone can easily leave, pack up and go and they don't have an option to go to. it is always unsettling, and very nervous situation for the impacted families and of course the government and the community at the local level. >> we are hearing for moral leaders at the united nations that they want to see steps toward the escalation. from your perspective in lebanon, what is needed most right now? >> as a nearly any humanitarian

situation, de-escalation leads to -- we don't have influence over that, but it is not happening and we will all have to deal with the humanitarian consequences. that is people on the move in what is already a very fragile context, including, again, further movements across border toward syria, of syrian refugees who may try to go back, although syria it remains challenging, also for the lebanese. >> joining me now is the israeli ambassador to the united nations. ambassador, thank you very much for joining us. president biden said earlier today a diplomatic solution to the crisis is the only way out.

the u.s. delegation said he wants to present concrete plans to both parties. have you seen what those plans for de-escalation are, and do you agree with them? >> we prefer a diplomatic solution, but we have waited for a year now, since october 8, and we spoke with the negotiators. we welcome them, but unfortunately, 70,000 israelis are being displaced as we speak. we are open to any ideas and we know the outcome will be that hezbollah will not be able to defend israel. >> has the u.s. presented those plans to you for de-escalation? have you seen concrete plans? >> we are open to discussions. we don't have a conflict with lebanon. your are disputes about territory or resources. there were agreements would lebanon two years ago about natural gas. the real problem is hezbollah, the real problem is iran. they are behind the conflict. >> that is not what the lebanese

health ministry is saying. it said that more than 500 people were killed in these israeli strikes, including 50 children. the saying he was bravely -- gravely concerned about that. >> i would ask them to stop the attacks against israel. if they would do that we would not have a conflict. if we want to protect the lebanese people, they should put pressure on hezbollah. >> what about the israeli role of more than 500 people kill, more than 50 children, saying this was targeted attacks. >> 240 israelis were killed on the northern front six october 7. people are now sleeping in bomb shelters because of the threats of hezbollah. we want to avoid a war. we want to avoid escalation. the only way to do that is to pressure hezbollah.

if the lebanese government is not capable of doing that, we will find ways to push them back. >> we know that israeli forces have worn some lebanese civilians to leave their homes if hezbollah weapons are stored new your them. at the same time, has blocked is considered a terrorist groups by the u.s. in many countries. is this the expectation that israel should take more care with civilians in areas where has blot is located -- where hezbollah is located? >> we issued a statement, if you know that you have a missile in your basement, don't stay there. you know that you have weapons of hezbollah in your backyard, be aware we know about that and we will attack and target the missiles. so we advise those people who have been hijacked by hezbollah to move out from those locations. >> we know that the un security council is going to talk about the situation in lebanon tomorrow. what do you expect from that? >> i would expect them to name

the ones who are causing this conflict. we speak about the casualties and civilians. we care about that. we have to call it we have to call iran and who is behind hezbollah. that is a way to stop this conflict. i like to ask about something we heard about family members of hostages. we spoke with one whose son was an idea soldier whose body remains missing. he and family members have said this escalation with has blot and lebanon is distracting from what is most important, which is getting hostages released. we're hearing that a diplomatic cease-fire is most important. what is your response to that? >> unfortunately in the last two months we have not seen progress, hamas always refuses to move forward. i think the opposite, the pressure we are putting now against hezbollah will solve the

problem with the northern border but may be it will support the process of releasing hostages. >> thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate your time tonight. we been speaking with our correspondent with lebanon, we will speak with him later in the program. we mentioned that president biden made his final address to the un's general assembly on tuesday. he called on finalizing the terms of a cease-fire, as we were just discussing with the ambassador. president biden told the un security council that the world cannot rein in iup for ukraine against russia's invasion. as to buy news the final address to reflect on the state of the world and said kyiv still need sustained international support. pres. biden: will we sustain our support to help ukraine win this

war and preserve its freedom? or walk away and let aggression be renewed and the nation be destroyed? i know my answer. i note many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair. but i do not. i won't. as leaders, we don't have the luxury. >> president zelenskyy says the war with russia is closer to the end then some people think. is also due to address the you in general is simply. he says diplomatic efforts to force russia to agree to peace and holds moscow accountable for the full scale that started in 2022. he said his victory plan was not about negotiating with russia, but rather it was a bridge to a diplomatic way out to stop the war. i sport were in -- but were in-depth about ukraine's so-called victory plan.

>> according to international law, ukraine has the right to self-defense, and self-defense includes striking legitimate targets on the territory of the aggressor. >> you want the u.s. to do so as well? >> compared two months ago, i welcome the fact that there is an ooing consultation on allies and their position. >> doing so would amount to the west waging war on russia. i know that in the past president putin has used some of these threats, nuclear threats. are you concerned that this time could be the case? >> since the beginning of this war, russia has tried to coerce us from supporting ukraine.

and of course in the more, there are no riskier options. the biggest risk would be a president putin wins. therefore i think we need to provide ukraine with the weapons they need to ensure that president putin understands he will not win and has to sit down and agree to a solution for ukraine as a sovereign nation. >> president zelenskyy said he will present u.s. president biden and allies with a plan for victory. do you know the contours of this plan? >> i don't know the details, but i expect we will discuss it later today. of course he wants peace, with ukraine as a sovereign nation. if they start defending themselves, it will not be peace, it will be occupation. >> do you think the plan for peace should involve

negotiations with russia? >> it's hard to imagine an outcome where is no kind of talks with russia, president zelenskyy has made it clear that are ready to talk to the russians. but they need to have the strength to negotiate out of strength. because what happens around the negotiating table is linked to the battlefield. if we want an outcome of any negotiations, to achieve that and a lasting peaceful solution is military support of ukraine. >> were seen a pretty dramatic escalation between israel and hezbollah. how concerned are you about regional security and stability right now? >> we are concerned. of course we s all the casualties and how the situation is and how it has escalated.

we're working hard to find a way to de-escalate. >> do you have a sense that parties here will find a path, and offramp toward de-escalation? because at the same time you're seeing prime minister netanyahu say they will continue to strike hezbollah targets. hezbollah saying we will not stop products as well. >> at some stage, the fighting has two ends. -- has to end. therefore i welcome what the allies are doing, but at the end of the day, it has to be the party that have to find a solution to enable the de-escalation of the situation. >> as a final question, as your finishing your term as nato secretary-general, you talk about the fact that nato is stronger and larger than it was when you entered this post. i wonder what your concerns are about nato and security going forward as you leave your post? >> my concerns are always that people might take nato for

granted. nato is not a given. we need to stand for the transatlantic -- every day. to prevent yet another big war. nadal has subverted more successfully for 75 years. as long as north america and europetand together in nato we can continue to preserve peace for one billion people. together, we are 50% of the world's nuclear market, so if we stand together we can protect her allies against anything. >> leaders at the u.n. general assembly including president biden are renewing calls for the into the war in sudan. thousands of people have been killed since the civil war broke out between sudan's army and the paramilitary support forces. the bbc was told that starvation is almost everywhere. he said 12 million people have been displaced since fighting

began in april of 2023. during a visit to the white house earlier this week, leader of the united arab president biden issued a joint statement calling for an immediate cease-fire between the two sides. i spoke with the executive director of the world food program and she described the situation on the ground in sudan. >> unfortunately, sudan is in dire straits, as you just said. there is famine and is spreading . the reason it is spreading is not just because of the situation they are in, we don't have the access that we need. there are several games that are open or not so open, depending on the mood of the day, etc. we need food to scale an unfettered access to get in and stave this off. >> what is the biggest impediment to access right now? >> we need political help to

mitigate what is going on between the two factions so that we as humanitarians can get in. >> are you worried about the safety of your teams on the ground as the war continues? >> very much so. at the beginning of this, we lost some people. so i'm very, very worried about it. we are usually the first in and the last out. >> can you give us an idea of what kind of aid you have been able to provide so far and what impact that has had? >> several kind, the emergency food aid, and we've also been able to do some cash based transfers, which is very helpful to the local economy. it gives people a little more dignity as well. we've got a lot of stuff going on. there's a few little tiny social programs we are working on, but we need the acceswe need to be able to get in, not just a little bit that comes up from the southeast, but we need to get in from the north and

further in from port sudan. we just don't have the ability to really cover the country right now. >> what would a political solution take right now? >> that's what i've asked all the members here. we need your help and your guidance and your solutions. and of course your ability to negotiate so we can get in. what is lacking here also worldwide is a lack of respect for humanitarians and humanitarian action as a whole. that's part of this discussion as we talk about various countries and various crises. humanitarians being not just treated with respect but safety and some of these countries. you are seeing what is happening in gaza and sudan. yemen is another one. it's a very difficult situation right now. >> that was our conversation with cindy mccain a little earlier in the day. let's take a quick look at some other important news.

the owner and operator of the cargo ship that struck the francis scott key bridge, maryland officials said the disaster was entirely preventable. it joins several other claims seeking to hold the owner and operator to account. pope francis has offered refuge to myanmar's imprisoned leader, aung san suu kyi, in the vatican. he called for her release and said myanmar's people cannot stay silent about the country situation. she has been detained by the military since 2021. u.s. senator bernie sanders on tuesday the maker of anti-obesity and diabetes drugs owes him pick and another drug are blaming insurers rather than the on form. the drugs can cost up t10

times more in the u.s. than in parts of europe. let's return to the escalating situation between israel and hezbollah in lebanon. a correspondent foster is standing by for us in beirut tonight. give us a sense of what is happening where you are and what you witnessed today. reporter: the biggest thing i think the people in lebanon are feeling at the moment is a sense of real concern and nervousness, and not knowing what is going to happen next. if you take yourself back a week and look at what really sparked this escalation, the exploding pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to hezbollah members here in lebanon and how that has led to day after day of further escalation, it brings us to the point we are at now where we've seen a huge number of airstrikes on the south of the country that has led tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

we see hezbollah again firing hundreds of rockets across into israel, and what we don't see at the moment is how that will be de-escalating. we've seen two sides both with a very different and very distinct goal in mind. and of course trying to negotiate between those two sides, trying to find some way to cool what are not just recent tensions, but tensions going back decades, is proving extraordinarily difficult. you see that and people you talk to here, in the conversations they have and the nerves they feel and the sound of drones in the sky above the lebanese capital tonight, it's a sound i have heard in gaza before in the last few months, and to hear it above the skies in beirut, it really shows you how much of an escalation we have seen in this conflict just over the last week. >> that is precisely the question, here in new york we are hearing many voices calling for de-escalation and diplomacy.

the israeli ambassador says we don't want a wider war. is that message being heard there on the ground? reporter: it's an interesting question because of course when you are outside of these two countries and you watch this going on, it might sound like all of this noise, this talk going on from the interest from community, but want to get from being here and speaking to people here, they feel abandoned by the international community. what they see is empty words, empty promises among talk of de-escalation with no real plan or solution attached to that. that is the great problem at the moment. when you say the two sides need to de-escalate and come to some sort of agreement, you look at the history between hezbollah and israel, you look back to the war in 2006. you can hear the sound, that might've been a bit muffled to

you, but i can hear the sound of airstrikes even as we are talking now. it shows you the difference between actions and words. for many people here in lebanon and possibly people in israel as well, those words feel hollow and theyre not being backed up by changes on the ground here. >> a very tense situation indeed. anna foster on the ground for us in lebanon. that is our show at this hour, announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: 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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