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giving these former race dogs a real chance to win. a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your purpose, and the way you give back. life well planned. erika: i love seeing interns succeed, i love seeing them come back and join the engagement teams and seeing where they go from there, i get to watch their personal growth, it makes my heart happy. (laughs) announcer: 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 washington and this is bbc world news america. eight israeli soldiers have been killed in ground clashes with

soldiers in south lebanon. russia captures a key ukrainian city and joe biden is on the ground in areas devastated by hurricane helene. >warm welcome to world news america starting with the escalating conflict in the middle east were fighting continues between israel and iran backed group hezbollah. the israeli military has been engaged with close range contact with hezbollah in southern lebanon were eight israeli soldiers died in combat, the first report of israeli military casualties since israeli forces started the campaign. the israel defense forces released video of what they describe as operational activity of the 98th division in southern lebanon saying they are using "precision guided munitions" in lebanon. israel's prime minister benjamin

netanyahu released this statement following the deaths of his country soldiers in southern lebanon. >> i want to send condolences from the bottom of my heart to the families of our heroes who felt today in lebanon. god will save their blood. may their memory be blessed. we are in a tough war against the evil axis of iran that seeks to wipe us out. this won't happen because we will stand together and with gods help, win together. we will return hostages in the south end residence in the north. we will guarantee the eternity of israel. sumi: the message follows i ran's attack against israel tuesday, nearly 200 missiles towards israeli territory, the majority blocked by israeli forces with help from u.s. and u.k.. iran's president said at the attack was in response to israeli, russia, gaza and lebanon and warned retaliation will struggle -- will trigger a

stronger response. the u.s. called on the united nations to impose "serious consequences." u.s. president joe biden told reporters he would not support any plans netanyahu may have to attack iran's nuclear sites but he did say iran has gone way off course. president biden: i called a meeting of the g7 today and we are working on a joint statement we all agree on. from japan to france to germany. what we are doing is remaining clear that things have to be done. obviously, iran is way off course. we will put out a joint statement. that hasn't been done yet but it probably will be by the time we land. there will be sanctions imposed. sumi: for more on israel's

response we spoke to the israeli ambassador to the united nations. ambassador, i want to start with what you have said about israel's response to the iranian missile strikes saying that the response will be decisive and painful. president said today he doesn't support israel striking iranian nuclear strikes. is it something israel is considering? >> i can't go into the details. but what happened yesterday was on -- unprecedented, the largest attack in history against a member state of the united nations. we will retaliate. it will be painful for the iranian regime, not the ingredient -- iranian people, the iranian regime. countries should ask themselves what their response would be if there were in our situation. sumi: would it include oil sites? >> i can't go into detail.

the cabinet has discussed different options. but, we contained, for the last year, a lot. it was a painful year. the hardest years since israel was established. but we are strong. we have the capabilities to reach any destination in the middle east and they will know it soon. sumi: iran said it had the right to restore its territorial integrity and self-defense and the iranian united nations investor announced the assassination of the hamas leader in tehran, the assassination of the secretary-general and so on. what is your response to iran saying this is in direct response to these assassinations and our ability to defend ourselves?

>> nothing you mentioned can justify an attack of 200 ballistic missiles. not even in the blitz of london nobody saw so many missiles flying into another country. it's unprecedented. they have revealed to the world that iran is trying to seek revenge for a notorious terrorist that killed hundreds of americans and was behind attacks of civilians all around the world. all of a sudden iran is trying to attack israel because of that. it is unacceptable. everybody in the room realized there is no justification for what happened yesterday in israel. sumi: i want to ask about hezbollah. at the same time your troops are engaged with fighting in lebanon at the moment the idea of says it is using precision guided munitions and close range engagement. you and i spoke in new york last

week about civilians, the plight of civilians. our report is on the ground in lebanon have talked about the mass displacement and death of civilians. can it really be said these are precision guided strikes? absolutely --. ambassador danon: absolutely. next to the border in southern lebanon we encouraged the population to move out. 70,000 israelis left their homes. they can come back. i think both israelis and lebanese. sumi: i understand the point you're making. i just want to ask, at what cost? the war in gaza continues with more than 41,000 people killed according to the hamas the health ministry there. more than 1000 people killed in lebanon including children. ambassador danon: we are in that war because there are 100 one

hostages, babies, mothers, that were kidnapped a year ago. when you're in captivity. they are going through atrocities every day. they are suffering. we are not in gaza because we have nothing else to do. we are there to bring the hostages home. same with lebanon. hezbollah attacks us unprovoked october 8. since then they are targeting us. once we are able to secure the border and allow the people of israel to leave safely we have no desire to be in gaza nor lebanon. sumi: this brings me to the next question. your prime minister said he wants to change the balance of power in the middle east and the former is prime minister told cnn "to change the middle east we need an alliance of blessings led by the u.s.. israel is very strong. israel cannot rearrange the middle east on its own." what is the aim here?

ambassador danon: i think the idea of calling iran what it is, the source of evil that creates chaos in lebanon. look at what happened to iran, syria, lebanon. they are trying to do the same to other modern countries. i agree it is wishful thinking to have a new reality in the middle east, but in order for that to happen you need to stop their aggression. i think we should speak further about repeating sanctions. so they can't spend billions of dollars on their proxies. we need to limit their capabilities. exactly like what we did with hamas. and with hezbollah. we have to do that with iran also. sumi: international pressure is mounting for the escalation in the middle east as a rise in the region. if you are the go hamas' armed

wing claimed responsibility for shooting a knife attack killed seven people in tel aviv wednesday. it is rarely strikes have killed at least 51 people. lebanon state-run national news agency said an israeli attack in southern lebanon killed six people and three people were killed in a village. the united nations secretary general antonio guterres is repeating calls for cease-fire warning time is running out. he strongly condemned iran's tuesday attack saying "the cycle of violence must end." our middle east correspondent has more. >> this is the side of an israeli air track in the hezbollah stronghold in beirut. this building was hit. nothing is left of it. there is still smoke coming from the rubble. there is a very heavy smell in the air. you can probably hear the sound of drones flying overhead. the buildings nearby were also heavily damaged by the attacks.

pictures of the late hezbollah leader have been set up here. the scale of the destruction gives you a sense of the power of the attack that happened here. sumi: the humanitarian situation across the region displaced millions, further putting civilians at risk of deadly disease and hunger. nearly a hundred american doctors and nurses that volunteered in gaza over the past year are now calling for an arms embargo on israel amid the worsening humanitarian crisis. in an open letter to u.s. president joe biden and vice president harris they say they witnessed "evidence of widespread violation of american law governing the use of american weapons abroad and of international humanitarian law." they say the u.s. has the power to end the conflict as the united nations announced a plan to start the second phase of its vaccination campaign against polio in the gaza strip. the aim is to vaccinate around

640,000 children in mid-october. for more let's bring in the doctor that side the open letter to president biden and vice president harris: for an arms embargo on israel joined by 99 other medical professionals. dr., thank you for joining us. can you describe what you witnessed in gaza? >> yes. gaza was terrible. i was there in march and april. i was in khan yunis. it was pretty bad. i was at european hospital, probably the best resourced block of the gaza strip at the time and it was still a total disaster, the household some of the displaced persons camp, electricity was inconsistent. water was undrinkable to the hospital had its own water filtration system. there were 1500 people admitted to the hospital even though it

has 220 beds, half of them children. every day we had mass casualty events. every day i saw a new child shot in the head. i don't mean like a 17-year-old kid. i mean like young, visibly identifiable as children children. it was an absolute disaster. sumi: for -- were aid organizations able to relieve the situation at all especially in hospitals? >> yes. the works aid organizations are doing is very important, and it is making a difference. but, i hope people can understand that for a year the gaza strip has been under total and complete seizure and -- seig e, an incredible level of bombardment never seen anywhere else. everywhere in gaza has been destroyed literally. 85%-90% of the water sanitation and hygiene infrastructure has been destroyed. 60% of homes were completely

destroyed. not just homes, all houses, apartments, and the matter. the entire population has been displaced. almost everybody, several times. the international ngos the palestinian american health organization and the world health organization can do great work when they are there but not at the level that is needed because then need is so overwhelming. i mean this literally. i think you could take every surgeon in the u.s. to gaza right now and build them hospitals and operating rooms and everything else and they still could not keep up with what is going on. sumi: dr., this is something we have heard from many of our hamas in particular, using hospitals as sites where they run their operations from a, thereby putting civilians at risk. is that something you witnessed? >> no. i did not witness it and neither

has literally anybody else in gaza. because it is complete nonsense. an emergency medicine doctor worked in hospitals for decades. he says he has never sought anything. that even remotely resembled militant activity. i was in khan yunis for just two weeks so maybe i missed it. but, at the beginning the end of 98 other physicians and nurses who have served around guys i think with a combined total of 254 weeks there, none of us ever saw that. sumi: let me ask about the letter you signed with 99 other medical professionals. what are you hoping to achieve with the letter to president biden and vice president harris? >> a few things. one in the letter we called clearly for an arms embargo not just on israel but on all palestinian and lebanese armed groups because the situation is getting completely and totally

out of control. that is the main thing. what we hope the administration will actually do is meet with us so they can hear what we saw, discussed what we saw and discussed how changes to be made. there are a few reasons. number one, you just had the israeli ambassador or somebody on, but the israeli military response to everything going on is completely out of control. it is threatening to destroy the entire region. these are crazy things being done. just in august, a major general wrote an article saying israel is being led by three pyromaniac spirit -- pyromaniacs. it is hard to come up with bettel -- better words. this has to be brought under control.

we really want the administration to realize how dangerous it all is. from another standpoint, simply, that american law is not being enforced. it's illegal to provide weapons, even under just the laws of the united states, leaving aside international law. to provide weapons to chronic human rights abusers. it's hard to find a better example of that than israeli defense forces. sumi: thank you so much for joining us on bbc news today. >> thank you. sumi: russia has taken complete control of the eastern ukrainian town of vuhledar. the city was long a stronghold for ukrainian troops southeast of donetsk, one of russia's most significant territorial gains since ukraine made an incursion into kursk. two ukrainian soldiers told the bbc they were treated mostly overnight before they received an official order from

commanders to withdraw appeared killed on the way out. vuhledar was home to about 14,000 residents before the fighting. while all children have been evacuated it is thought a small number of civilians remain there. our correspondent jess parker has the latest. >> it's a coal mining town in the donbas region. it had a population before russia's full-scale invasion of around 14,000 people. there have been repeated efforts by moscow's troops to take the town. today there was confirmation from ukrainian military officials in the area they were withdrawing from vuhledar. they described how they were at risk of being encircled by russian troops and at the ukrainian defenses had essentially been exhausted. the bbc has been speaking to a couple soldiers involved in this retreat. they describe very difficult conditions for the ukrainians.

some troops suffering from communication blackouts that have left them disoriented. some were targeted by russian drones and guns as they tried to retreat out of vuhledar. in terms of the town's strategic significance, it is on slightly elevated ground at the intersection of two battle fields as well. and of course, with the kremlin, it is a wide array of trying to capture the entire donbas region. with ukrainian it is a blow to morale. this is a town they have spent a lot of time and a lot of lives trying to defend. sumi: russia's foreign ministry is rejecting the idea of engaging in nuclear talks with the u.s.. a spokesperson said wednesday washington's efforts to expand the nato military alliance into the post-soviet state is a concern. the u.s. and russia have an agreement that limits either sites nuclear capabilities that expires in 2026. the kremlin says any renewal

involves broadening the existing agreement other countries. u.s. president joe biden assessed the aftermath of hurricane helene. six days ago the storm plowed through the southeastern u.s. killing at least 180 people across six states according to figures compiled by our u.s. news partner cbs. nearly 50% of the casualties were in north carolina where president biden received an aerial tour of the damage. 1000 troops are deployed as a part of response efforts. president biden will next visit south carolina to meet with first responders and he is planning trips to other effected states. as of wednesday more than 1.3 million americans are still without power. search and rescue groups are in the region to locate missing people. in georgia vice president kamala harris is mining with -- meeting with families impacted by helene days after former president trump donald visited with the

supplies. a short while ago vice president harris gave an update on recovery efforts and government action. >> the president approved the governor's request for 100% federal reimbursement of local costs and mayor, as you have pointed out, the burden to local governments, including the state government, is immense. by announcing today, making the dedicated resources to cover 100% local costs, that will have a huge impact on our ability to give relief to people as quickly as possible. sumi: our correspondent is in green valley just outside asheville. carl, good to see you. tell us what it is like where you are. >> yes. apologies, first of all, if this is not the strongest signal here. we are in an area now that is still without power, still without cell phone service and without internet. we are connected to you now

through satellite. green valley is a rural remote area that was hit incredibly hard by storm helene, like to, in fact, when in areas where president biden was circling above today. you can see behind me some of the relief efforts taking place. still going on. workers trying to establish connections, get phone lines and power lines back up. this is that the riverbed where the water came rushing through thursday night and friday. taking outcome as we have been told by officials here, multiple homes and buildings. you aren't even allowed in the area down here. a massive area. the destruction of buildings, completely wiped away here. it is difficult to reach some of these parts. in the last 24-48 hours of the roads were opened and we were allowed inside. you can see downed power lines and remains of trees that have fallen. it was a strong storm in north

carolina. communities like this one are trying to recover from that. sumi: we are just mentioning president biden's visit. tell us more about the federal response to all this. >> the additional troops and military personnel president biden was announcing today will be welcome news for communities like this. it is a wide area across these six states that needs help. acute help is really in the remote areas. speaking to mayor said the two for the fire department here the federal response hasn't yet reached these areas. it has so far been neighbors helping neighbors. when you drive through these little towns you see people bringing in supplies, bottled water, food. there are star link satellite communications for people to try to reach their friends and family and let them know they are ok. so far, nobody has necessarily said the government isn't doing a good job. they have said it is still too

difficult to even reach these locations. speaking with the fire department chief earlier today, a town about one hour from where we are now, he said they have a list of 500 or so names of people they are trying to make contact with to see if they are still ok, going door-to-door. a very remote region. it's a place where roads don't exist at all anymore. any federal help that can reach of these areas will be welcome news absolutely. sumi: indeed. carl glassman in north carolina for us. one of the california doctors charged in the overdose death of factor matthew perry pleaded guilty wednesday to a charge of illegally disturbing the drug ketamine. dr. mark chavez signed an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, a drug that acts as an anesthetic and has hallucinogenic properties. an autopsy report found the acute effects of ketamine was among the factors that allowed

mr. prater lose consciousness and drowned in his hot tub october 2023. that's our program at this hour. don't forget that as the situation escalates on in the middle east we have more on bbc.com. our reporters have five updates from around the world including in washington where we are tracking our u.s. response and you can get the latest on our headlines and analysis on our favorite social media sites and of course the bbc news app. i am sumi somaskanda in washington. thank you for watching world news america. stay with us. 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,

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♪ >> good evening. >> tonight, israel presses on with targeted raids against hezbollah in lebanon while it considers how to respond to missile attacks. >> a new court filing with evidence