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people value me for me, they care about what i want, my needs, my career path, i matter here. announcer: funding was also provided by, e 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 frazier and this is "the context." benjamin: you have the opportunity to save lebanon before it leads to a war and the suffering we see in gaza. >> the prime minister addressing the people of lebanon directly and not mentioning anyone by name, confirming they've taken not just the successor of

nasarallah but the next person to be in line. >> he was saying, either you do what we say or we're going to destroy lebanon and it's going to be your fault. >> israel was not interested in this war. it was not interested in the continuation of this war, and at the moment we can ensure the safety of our citizens, we should stop. ♪ christian: more than 70% of the homes in gaza have been damaged or destroyed. tonight benjamin netanyahu threatened lebanon with the same unless it rejects hezbollah. the leadership of hezbollah is gone but the group not capacitated. more than 100 rockets came over the border today, the warring parties digging in. what does it mean for the future of lebanon and for palestinian statehood. we'll talk tonight to the head of the palestinian mission to the u.k. and also a former

national security adviser to israel. here in the u.k., the threat from islamic state has returned, but also a threat from the spies of iran and russia, the head of mi-5 says he is stretched to the limit and we're keeping a close eye tonight on florida and hurricane milton, a monster barreling towards the gulf coast. residents in tampa have been warned if they stay, they will die. a very good evening. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said lebanon will face the same fate as gaza if it fails to separate itself from hezbollah. it is a stark warning, a year to the day hezbollah began firing rockets at israel. and there are groups supporting

lebanon as ke and the country st a significant crossroads, a path to peace or a path to ruin. benjamin: you have a chance to save lebanon before it leads to suffering like you see in gaza. it doesn't have to be that way. each of you can take a step for your future, even a small step. you can make a difference. christian: further evacuation orders have been issued by the israeli military in the southwest of lebanon as well as the southeast. there were large explosions in the capital of beirut. but hezbollah is fighting back. more than 100 rockets were fired from southern lebanon to israel's third largest city of haifa and most if not all were intercepted. lebanon is diverse and politically is complex, the different religious secretaries sharing power and a sunni muslim

is prime minister and a shi'ia muslim is speaker of parliament but hezbollah plays an outside role in the state's security. almost a state within a state. the former prime minister has toldhe bbc he is frustrated with the war hezbollah has brought upon them and does not entirely disagree with netanyahu's characterization of what is at stake. but this is not an internal fight. the opposing groups can win on their own. >> the lebanese as a state has been kidnapped by hezbollah and behind hezbollah is iran. this pistol or this gun that was held by hezbollah has instead been pointed towards israel, it has started to become pointed towards something else, domestically as a way of being used by iran to interfere in syria, in iraq, in yemen.

lebanon cannot afford to continue to be hijacked by the iranian government, by iran. i hope that something can really happen in order to save lebanon. christian: our chief international correspondent is in tel aviv for us tonight. you know, you were prim minister in 2006 when we reported on the lebanon war and probably could have played the same interview 18 years ago. he knows the risk at his country is facing. there's not a lot of the groups in lebanon can do about it. >> but we're also in a before the war situation and now they are coming under a warring moment. there's been a leadership vacuum

and the lebanese people would be the first to tell you about the frustrations and anger about their own leadership but quite separate what happens when your country comes under the kind of attack lebanon is now seeing. and when prime minister netanyahu makes a warning if you don't want to be like gaza, that's what we've been hearing, people in beirut saying is this what our fate looks like, this very modern, very international city is suddenly facing the kind of dire fate that has already been seen in gaza where the united nations says 66% of the built infrastructure of gaza now lies in utter ruin, either completely collapsed or is lying in boulders, cement, and twisted wires. christian: we're told it's a limited operation in the south but it does appear to be

expanding. >> they keep saying that. we spoke to and is really spokesperson and asked them about their limited localized operation and it was repeated that yes, indeed it was. but at bbc news we did speak to a surgeon in beirut who said the kind of injuries he's seeing in civilians including children shows the bombing is indiscriminate and used the phrase carpet bombing, which is of course a very sustained and extensive bombing and we've seen the images from the streets of beirut, a wall, massive craters being caused when israel goes after one senior commander of hezbollah. israel is scoring spectacular tactical successes, that speech tonight by netanyahu and didn't say by person as the man that

will take over but does not stand in the shoes of nasarallah and without naming the name of the person who would stand in if the same fate was met of nasarallah. it's a chilling speech to the people of lebanon but to go back back to where you started with siniora being very blunt that hezbollah was pointing the gun to their heads and the army needs to be supported but hezbollah, the phrase that was used, a state within a state backed by iran and there was little it seemed that the leaders of lebanon were able and indeed willing to do. maybe this will focus their mind but not when they're coming under this kind of bombardment. christian: thanks very much. let's pick it up with chuck, the former national security adviser and senior fellow at the i.n.s. for international studies in tel

aviv. welcome to the program. what does mr. netanyahu respect the other sects in lebanon to do about hezbollah? chuck: i don't know they have the power to achieve a significant change in the situation. lebanon is a state within a state and mr. siniora was talking about a gun to their head, in reality lebanon was conquered or occupied by iran and hezbollah decades ago and they basically have a chokehold over the country and are by far the military source much more than the lebanese armed force and are the primary political player and the primary provider of socioeconomic services. so we see this not just from and is really perspective but from a lebanese perspective in the end.

christian: it's a very bad line, chuck, but we'll continue to persevere and i think we can make out you're saying. i want to talk about the standoff that clearly is there right now between washington and jerusalem. president biden is unable to compel netanyahu to honor the cease-fire, the comprehensive cease-fire agreement he accepted in june that's now been abandoned. the war is expanding every day. now we have a threat to annihilate lebanon. what is prime minister netanyahu's end game? chuck: first of all, no intention to annihilate lebanon when the mission is to defeat hezbollah. christian: he just talked about sending them into the abyss. chuck: destroy hezbollah, yes, but not destroy lebanon. hopefully lebanon is the prize for that. let's not use words like annihilation, it's in no one's

intent or interest. yes, there are disagreements between the u.s. and israel and regret that greatly, i believe that relationship with the u.s. is one of the most important points of israel's security. but there are times when israel has to go at least to partlyts own way when it faces severe and even substantial threats and that's also taken into account that the u.s. has also judged and heard on a number of occasions as in last year and in the past in its assessments of what's happening in the middle east. just to take a example from the last few months, the american's concern about israel going into rafah and southern gaza that this would lead into some sort of catastrophe, a civilian catastrophe and the military component would be very severe and neither of that has

happened. in the end it went very easily. and there are legitimate differences between a global superpower and a small regional power that is fighting for its survival and there are occasions where israel has to go partly its own way. i hope we can reach maximum coordination here and there is, i believe, a unique opportunity maybe from an american perspective, maybe only after the elections, but there's a unique opportunity here to greatly weaken the axis of resistance of iran, hezbollah, and their oral lies. christian: chuck, the line is just about held up but thank you for joining us from tel aviv. we'll take you straight to florida, the governor desantis is addressing the threat about the -- the press about the threat they are facing from milton. governor desantis: there will be impacts from wherever the eye of

the storm is. two, you can make landfall anywhere from citrus county down into southwest florida. we'll know more over the next 12-18 hours. but just cones, all the stuff you see, the impacts will be broader than that, especially with respect to storm surgeon the west coast of florida. i know there's a lot of folks who have evacuated who are in those areas and you absolutely could get whacked with serious storm surge and really almost every place on the west coast of florida could get major storm surge. today i held a joint call with state legislative leaders and the cabinet to brief them on florida's efforts on the storm and about our resources that are being offered and being utilized by the state of florida. we also did a similar call to florida's congressional delegation and also spoken to the president and the fema administrator. we've had our requests approved for prelandfall.

we'll get a landfall major disaster declaration approved once the storm hits and that will be things like debris removal and individual assistance. we still have 51 counties that are under a state oemergency. there's pretty much warnings or watching on almost the entire florida peninsula. a lot of attention is being paid to the storm surgeon the west coast of the florida peninsula and rightfully so because that's probably the most serious threat to people's lives and property, but this storm is going to go across the florida peninsula and it's going to exit on the east coast of florida into the atlant ocean, likely still as a hurricane. so that is going to bring significant impacts all across the state, so just be prepared for that. that may mean mobile homes, even interior, other structures that may not be hurricane-proof, that

could create hazards, rivers, other bodies of water, as you have more rain and flooding. that can be an issue. then you could have surgeon the east coast of florida, you can have erosion a different things at the coast. so this is not just an event on the west coast of florida. that will be where the initial impacts and probably the most significant, but the impacts will not be limited there. so here we are at the florida horse park. we have staging areas around different parts of the state. and there are different sites that are doing different things. for example, you go to lake city, you have a lot of the utility linemen there that are staged. we've had a lot of people staged in the tampa bay area for utility and other things. but this one right here is really good. i'm not saying ocala will have any impacts from the storm but we fully anticipate where we need to move people where they need to go very quickly once the storm passes and we have

different partners the state contracts with and they have personnel as you hear and they camp out here and where they are and able to respond. we have massive amounts of equipment here, land, air, sea vehicles, supplies, generators, equipment, bucket trucks, you name it, this stuff is here. this is just one of many sites that are ready to go. you know, we spend -- the reason why we do state of emergency, we did it over the weekend on saturday. we knew the storm wasn't likely to hit until middle of the week at the earliest because you want to start amassing these resources and what we've done and i think it's been really, really important. on this property you have over 2,000 pieces of equipment with pumps, generators, light plants, display drawers, electrical equipment, water hoses, bunk trailers and rollback trucks, 400 personnel here including

rigors, pump crews, and drivers. fuel trucks are also here to be deployed as needed. he florida d.e.m. is currently in the process of completing 1,200 missions. so so far you're looking at deploying hundreds of thousands of shelf stable meals and hundreds of thousands of water bottles, hundreds of thousands of sandbags, a lot of tarps and generators and many other things being resourced to the counties and of course we also have staging areas that we'll do with our pods once the storm passes. we've utilized flood protection devices in areas to protect against storm surge and now deployed more than 11,000 feet of those tiger dams and is really important to protect hospitals, wastewater facilities, and electrical infrastructures. of course we've been ofitting

counties for years with star link internet and that will be available to be used as needed. in terms of fuel, we amassed a lot of fuel before this particular emergency. we actually had it for helene, didn't really need to use it fo that. we have 268,000 gallons of diesel, 1,000 gallons of regular gas on stand by. that's just from the state. we still have the fuel at the ports being brought in but we also have another 1.2 million gallons of both diesel and gas that are currently en route to the state. i know there's been a lot of lines at gas stations. you obviously have an inordinate dend for fuel, much more than would typically happen. what's happening is there's long lines, the gas stations run out of fuel. but the fuel supply is available, so then they ask for more fuel to be brought. and so what we're doing is we've

authorized florida highway patrols to escort with the sirenizes they get there quicker, and we've had 45 fuel trucks to deliver fuel to stations particularly in the anticipated impact area. we're working with companies like circle k, gate, wawa, shell and wal-mart to ensure fuel trucks are wking 24/7 to keep fuel delivered as it comes into our ports. there's no longer fuel coming into some of the west coast ports like tampa and manatee but they've got a lot of fuel there on dockside that will continue to be used. i spoke with both -- christian: they have the governor, ron desantis, giving important information to those headed out of state. currently six million people on the road. you can hear how big it is going to be. storm surgeon both coasts, 63 counties, a storm surge that

might be travel ago cross the east coast when it heads into the atlantic. it's really a monster. and they'll have to buckle down over the next 24 hours. we'll talk about that later in the program, but i want to go to our top story just to say if you do want to watch that press conference, you can continue to do that on the q.r. code. i almost forgot to tell you that. but you can watch that on bbc streaming, the q.r. code for you. i want to return if we can to our top story because in gaza, heavy clashes taking place at the jabalee refugee camp in northern gaza as israeli troops supported by tanks try to prevent hezbollah armies from regrouping and is the fourth time they've returned to this area. medical teams say there are bodies lying in the narrow alleys and unable to reach the wounded. u.s. officials say this is in return for another israeli siege on gaza and palestinians who leave won't be able to come back, a move that would be a

violation of international law and u.s. laws. the israelis have told them, according to reporting from axe grows today -- axios they don't plan to permanently displace those in gaza after recent surprises and escalation, there is reportedly a lack of trust in the assurances the americans are getting. let's talk about some of that with hasan who is head of the palestinian mission to the u.k. welcome back to the program. >> thank you. christian: i asked mr. freilich before we went to the hurricane coverage, what is the end game and what do you think it is? >> the end game for the entire region and the international consensus is a palestinian state, that the palestinian people are a people and they are ancient and have the birthright of self-determination on their land and having their own government and own state. that's our end game.

but the question is what is israel's end game and netanyahu's end game? it's obvious, if the end game is security, many security experts would tell you he's created humongous security issues. he's created so many problems for israel by the sheer use of brutal force. christian: do you think he's radicalized another generation of the palestinian youth? >> he's radicalized another generation of israel and international -- christian: how do you deal with that as a representative of the palestinian authority, you have to get ahold of this. how does the palestinian authority seize the initiative? >> the palestinian national institutions see this as an opportunity not just to look backwards, this isn't just about one day as the israelis try to make it. it's not even about the last 365 days but about 28,000 days, 76 years of aggression and a

mentality that you can simply bypass the palestinian issue and de palestinian rights and then en masse engage in a collective act of suppression. this has got to end. and how do we see this? by moving forward. and how do we move forward? number one, we do need a cease-fire. international rule has got to be enforced. you ask me how are we going to enforce international law? because we assure you israel will not be listening and asking. it's clear, the u.s. asked, the rest of the world asks, we have to enforce. how? number one, arms embargo. we heard the french president say a couple days ago there has to be full arms embargo and adopted a policy and the u.k. has adopted a partial arms embargo and want it to be full. the very tools allowing israel to destroy itself. sometimes if the west claims israel to be their friend and ally and really we don't understand that statement, the

shared values given what the israeli army has been doing under under the netanyahu government has been saying and yet the west is enabling israel by giving them all the tools, the tools here, the weapons, to drive themselves off a cliff. how can israel relate to the region anymore? only by bombing reasonable cities, beirut, syria, lebanon here and there, gaza, what have you, iraq, yemen, really you think bomb your existence into the region? and for all these decades. i christian: friends and allies made that point. i want to talk about the political horizon because norway and others recognized it in june and the labor party said they had recognize the palestinian state as part of a peace process and heard an interview you did this morning. you are saying statehood can only begin when it is recognized before the peace process.

you're saying statehood before the peace process. but how many countries are moving to that position? >> the majority of the world. now we're recognized by 150 countries and more than 70%. christian: why not the u.k., you're a representative to the u.k., what are they saying to you? >> it's not a matter of if but a matter of when. they say this is right for the palestinian people and will do it. christian: is it recognizing state first or peace process first or do they come together? >> what we are telling them about recognize palestinian state is prerequisite of peace and not a byproduct of peace. it's a moment when you come to and deliver for the cause of peace. you spend political capital and you say ok, here is the path forward. the path forward is two states. if you believe in two states, confirm it by your actions and not just lip service. and admit pakistan as a full member of the u.n. and the whole thing will flip upside down in

the right direction. it's now about israel and palestine and we don't discuss the fundamentals but discuss minor details. we need clarity and it is all right and we believe the british government should do this in weeks, not months. christian: we've been squeezed a bit by the govnor of florida and we'll take a short break and be right back after this. comina short break and be right back after this. 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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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... 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. nicole: at bdo i feel like a true individual,