tv BBC News America PBS October 14, 2024 5:30pm-6:01pm PDT
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a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. brett: you know as someone coming out of college it can be very nerve-racking not knowing what to expect, whether you'll like your job or not, whether you'll make friends, whether you'll fit in, and here i feel like it's so welcoming and such an inclusive place to work, you just feel like you're valued. 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" >> i'm caitríona perry in washington and this is bbc world news america. the united nations condemns the large number of civilian casualties in gaza following the large number of airstrikes as
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israel says it is targeting hamas fighters. israel's front line moves farther north following a deadly airstrike on a residential building in northern lebanon with just three weeks until the u.s. presidential election, trump anharris hold dueling campaign's in battleground state pennsylvania. hello and welcome to world news america northern gaza has endured eight consecutive days of heavy is really strikes as the idf intensifies its campaign. at least 60 people have been killed across gaza in the past 24 hours according to the hamas run health ministry. among them the u.n. says were 10 people killed in israeli shelling at a refugee camp in northern gaza. israel claims it is targeting hamas fighters who are regrouping. the u.n. human rights office on
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monday condemned the escalation. it's statement said the israeli military appears to be cutting off north gaza completely from the rest of the gaza strip and it raised concerns of large-scale forest transfer of civilians, something the idf has denied. this follows weekend attacks in central gaza on a hospital compound and new surette camp, where a number of children are reported to have been killed. our correspondent has this report. his reporting is distressing from the start. reporter: people are burning. the israeli strikes at the refugee tents on fire, helpless to stop the flames spreading. gas canisters exploding. a figure enveloped by the inferno. too distressing to show here,
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but all of it witnessed the refugees -- witnessed by the refugees. >> ♪ it was around 1:00 a.m. and we were sleeping in our tent. i have eight daughters. we woke up to the fire. our daughters are all burned and our sons are injured. all my daughters are in a dire state. look at our situation and what has happened to us. reporter: israel says it targeted a hamas command center next to the hospital. the eu's top diplomat says violations of international law, disregard for civilian casualties wouldn't make israel safer. in gaza, no safety, not in hospital grounds or u.n. schools. a grandmother mourning an 18-month-old. i am the one who raised you, she says.
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i'm the one who raised you. to the north, the children killed by a strike in a camp among those wounded,oys who work playing marbles at the time. while naim was grieving his 14-year-old son rami. >> he wasn't holding a weapon or anything else, unless children's toys have become a threat to them. caitríona: the unicef emergency coordinator in gaza told me what he has seen on the ground in khan yunis in southern gaza. >> complete devastation right up and down the gaza strip. we have seen one ar of very
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heavy combat in all areas of the gaza strip and we are seeing huge numbers of children in really dire circumstances. we have seen malnutrition rates go up and down. they are going up again. we are seeing, rates continue to rise, seeing death tolls go up and up. as your viewers may have heard, we now have a polio outbreak, so we are in the second phase of a polio vaccination campaign. caitríona: we have heard reports in recent days of heavy israeli bombardment to the north of gaza. what do you know that's happening there? >> it's hard to know exactly what's happening because we have had extremely limited access for the last 10, 12 days. i was up there on thursday, we did get clearance to go and collect some vitamin a, which is
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part of the polio vaccination campaign. it's devastated up there. i am told they have just been allowed to have some trucks come today, but there has been no aid whatsoever for the last two weeks or so. speaking to one of my team who is trapped up there in jubail the f -- jabalia, there is heavy bombardment. colleagues with w.h.o. have moved out some patients who were in extremely bad condition, moving them from one hospital to another. it's a dire situation in the north at the moment. caitríona: you mentioned malnutrition rates are increasing again. what is the situation in terms of getting food aid in? >> the situation is very difficult.
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there has been no food or any aid going into the north for some weeks. into the south, it's very difficult because there has been a breakdown in law and order and we have a lot of trouble getting trucks through without being looted. most recently, the private sector has been denied access. the private sector has been playing a very important role since the end of the first quarter this year, because they are the ones able to bring all the fresh fruit and vegetables, things like eggs, chicken, that sort of thing, which is critical to addressing nutritional needs. the population as a whole, but children in particular. bringing just flour and canned goods, if you get enough, it does meet calorie needs, but there is still a big problem
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with lack of micronutrients that you need fresh fruit and vegetable for. even if you have enough food, you can still have malnutrition for at reason. the sanitation situation is dire too. so many of the children here don't live in sanitary conditions, don't have clean water, and thesuffer from dysentery and gastroenteritis and that causes malnutrition as well. caitríona: when we look at the medical situation, how are things? we have seen some but marmots -- some bombardments of the remaining functioning health centers. what are the provisions like? >> very rough. i think there were 36 hospitals in gaza before the war. there is about six functioning at a reduced level now. i was at one of the hospitals today in support of the polio campaign and there had been a big strike there just next door to one of the tented camps last
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night. some of the remnants were still smoking. we saw a number of the patients who were in really bad shape. while the hospital is open and functioning, it doesn't have the supplies, doesn't have the equipment to address those patients' needs. one burn victim in particular, we saw a very young person, could have been under 18, with quite shocking third degree burns. was just lying on a gurney out in the car park. it was heart wrenching because you could see his open wounds. he was in the sun, there were flies around. there was somebody taking care of him trying to get him into an ambulance to move him to one of the field hospitals set out by one of the ngos. we have seen those sorts of scenes at the hospitals all the time and it's tragic and
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heartbreaking. caitríona: hamish mesh of unicef in khan yunis. israel continues its campaign against hezbollah in lebanon. the lebanese red cross says at least 10 people were killed in a strike hitting a northern town. israel has yet to comment. in lebanon south, hezbollah described violent clashes with israel on monday. the militant group says it fired rockets across aid was really town, where israeli soldiers were killed by a weekend drone strike. benjamin netanyahu visited that site on monday and vowed to continue striking haslett targets. netanyahu also rejected accusations from the international community that israeli troops had targeted u.n. peacekeepers in the benign. the prime minister said he regretted harm to u.n. personnel but repeated his call for the mission to temporarily leave lebanon. >> israel is not fighting the people of lebanon. it is fighting iran's proxy has
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a lot, which es lebanese territory to attack israel. we regret any harm done to uniformed personnel and the idf is doing its utmost to prevent such incidents. the best way to ensure the safety of personnel is for unif il to temporarily get out of harm's way. caitríona: let's go to retired brigadier general mark, who served as u.s. assistant secretary of state for political military affairs under president george w. bush. thanks for being with us. to pick up on the last point we heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu, appealing for the u.n. peacekeeping troops to leave southern lebanon. we have seen those strikes over a number of days. is it ever acceptable for a country to strike at a u.n. peacekeeping force? >> it certainly isn't, but one has to wonder what a u.n. peacekeeping mission is doing by
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staying inside lebanon without a mission, without the ability to carry out the mission. while a u.n. facility should never be attacked, i think there needs to be a little bit of common sense within the u.n. with regards to keeping those people, as prime minister netanyahu says, in harm's way during this operation. caitríona: to talk a little about the u.s. involvement, we saw yesterday the u.s. say it was to send high-altitude missile-defense systems to israel with about 100 u.s. military personnel to operate these systems. what does that mean as far as you are concerned? is this increased u.s. involvement? >> i don't think it's quite significant involvement. we have been sending patriot missiles in and out of the region for years, with american troops on top of the weapons systems. of course there hasn't been the amount of missile fire we have seen from hezbollah and iran as
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we are seeing in this current conflict, that does increase the risk. the united states says it is committed to the defense of israel well protected with missile batteries inside of israel. to me that seems in line with our policy and defense of israel. caitríona: the question is, how is israel going to retaliate to the iranian strike of two weeks or so ago? the u.s. has been appealing to israel not to hit oil or nuclear targets. the washington post reporting israel has told the u.s. it will hit iranian military targets. does that show there is some level of u.s. influence at plaistow? >> i think it shows not only u.s. influence, but is reay common sense. there are plenty of targets that can be struck inside iran if you want to demonstrate to iran that you are out to reestablish
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deterrence, which is the policy of israel. not destroy, not defeat, but reestablish deterrence. we have the capability to attack some civilian infrastructure that doesn't have world consequences. you can go against military targets. you can go against research facilities. and you can conduct targeted assassinations as they have been so far. i think the redline the united states drew was oil infrastructure and nuclear facilities, and it seems the united states has come to a good middle ground with israel, if they do carry out an attack. caitríona: we have seen israel carrying out further strikes in lebanon north and south and gaza as well, striking a school where families were sheltering. this apparent escalation in gaza and north and south of lebanon, what do you think is the strategy there? >> i think the strategy is consistent with what prime minister netanyahu laid out on
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october 7, return of hostages, defeat of hamas, defeat of the hamas infrastructure inside of gaza. and he has added a fourth consequence, to destroy hezbollah's capabilities south of the litani river. he has not veered off of those objectives and i think he would consider it a major feet in each of those errors -- areas and a return of the hostages as a goal he has set for his country as a response to what happened october 7. caitríona: we are seeing a high civilian casualty count in recent attacks and it's bringing a barrage of rockets onto the israeli streets. we have seen four idf members killed and 60 injured as a result. >> that's true and nobody is going to defend the unnecessary and needless loss of civilian lives in any type of war. these modern days, we have reduced our tolerance for
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civilian casualties tnear zero, but i would remind the audience that during wor war ii, it was routine for both british and germans to be categorically febombing civilian population centers. in this day and age, the expectation of zero civilian casualties, and that's where i believe both sides are attempting to push out ever since october 7. however, there has not been a blood this war that has not fected civilians since war has begun. caitríona: thank you so much for joining us. let's go to jerusalem, where we can speak to our international editor jeremy bowen. we are seeing israel carrying fronts.vy bombardments on two is that prime minister netanyahu's new strategy? are there any hopes for a cease-fire now? remy: i think it's a
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continuation and intensification of the strategy they have been having. they believe they can establish deterrence again, they can make their enemies fear them. as for a cease-fire, i don't think there is any chance at the moment in gaza or lebanon. to start with, talks are not going on, and also the sides are way apart. you can see how there could be a cease-fire, you can see the kinds of conditions either side would have to accept. i don't think there is, certainly in the minds of the israeli side, room for that right now. caitríona: these bombardments and high civilian casualty count are coming despite international pressure and condemnation over casualties and also the strikes on u.s. peacekeepers. is there a sense that anything is a deterrent for the prime minister? jeremy: i think there's a couple of themes emerging at the moment.
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first, the fact that israel is getting more isolated. the current big european countries, the british, germans, french, italians, allies of israel, have said that attacks on unifil peacekeepers are contravention of international humanitarian law and must stop. israel has quite a long record of attacking unifil. i went to a u.n. base in 1996 after it had been heavily shelled by israel, killing i think 106 civilians who were taking shelter there. it's not the first time these kinds of things have happened. i think israel is determined to carry on. it feels that what happened to the israelis last seven of october is absolute justification for what's going on and also their determination to make sure it doesn't happen again. there is now this pending retaliation against iran. i don't know if those reports
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about hitting solely military targets are correct. we will have to see what happens when it happens. i think it's going to be pretty certain that anything other than a very small response will elicit another response from the iranians. caitríona: jeremy bowen in jerusalem, thank you for that. with just three more weeks until the u.s. presidential election, both candidates are hosting campaign events in battleground pennsylvania. former president donald trump is set to hold a town hall just outside philadelphia, where he is seeking to boost support from suburban women. ms. harris is holding a rally in erie, a predominately democratic city surrounded by rural republican communities. the vice president has also agreed to her first sit down interview with fox news later this week. the harris-walz campaign unveiled new policies to attract
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more black male voters, following recent polls following -- showing a possible enthusiasm gap among black voters compared to last elections. the proposals include adding $1 million in forgivable small business loans, federal recreational marijuana legalization, and investment in training and mentorship for black men. the white house bureau chief for the washington post taught me how each candidate is trying to appeal to voters. both candidates are in pennsylvania today. it sometimes feels like they are running to be the presidt of pennsylvania because of how much time they spend in this must win state. they are targeting different constituencies today. what do they each need to do? >> pennsylvania is the whole ballgame in the minds of these campaigns. they feel if they win pennsylvania they will likely win the presidency. vice president harris is trying
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to focus on black men this week. she is trying to rollout an economic agenda for black men because a lot of the people giving her advice are telling her if she does not perform better with black men, she could lose states like pennsylvania did donald trump, who has been making inroads with that card -- crowd. trump is trying to make inroads with working-class voters, shore up support among working-class and traditional republicans and cut into paris's lead with black and hispanic men and younger people of color who have shown openness to vote for him. if he is able to succeed, he could prevent harris from putting together the coalition she needs to win pennsylvania, and that could be difficult for her to win the race. caitríona: when you mention concerns about kamala harris needing to win over young black men, why are they so concerned? >> they have been looking at the same polls a lot of us have been able to look at and it shows
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there has been an erosion of support in the black community free democrats probably, for joe biden and now kamala harris. a lot of people thought that when harris became the nominee, a lot of the problems biden was having with black voters would disappear. they have not. she continues to face troubles among black voters and black men specifically, doing worse than biden was in 2020. biden was able to win by slim margins because he was able to put together a coalition that included black men. it only takes a small demographic shift for harris to lose ground to where biden was in 2020. they are looking at the polls, saying that if the numbers and those polls are theumbers that show up on election day, with black men not being enthusiastic voting for harris, she could lose the states joe biden won in 2020. if she loses a handful, trump will be president again.
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caitríona: is it they are not enthusiastic about kamala harris or that they are very enthusiastic about donald trump and would actively vote for him, or that they may not vote at all? >> it's important to note that the large majority of black men are going to vote for kamala harris. upwards of 70%, 80% of black men in the polls are showing support for kamala harris versus a small number for donald trump. because it's likely to be a close race, even a small shift from harris to trump could change the race. we are seeing a small subset of black men showing enthusiasm for voting for donald trump because he is a businessman, because he has this macho persona. they are more comfortable voting for him then kamala harris. you have a larger subset of black men who are unenthusiastic about the entire election, don't feel the biden administration has helped their lives but also don't support donald trump and i
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thinking of sitting the election out. that will benefit donald trump, who likelyill get a lot of voters enthusiastic about voting for him. kamala harris needs every voter on the fence to be enthusiastic. the fact there are a number of black men unenthusiastic about the presidential race, don't think kamala harris will do much for them, that's a big challenge for her, part of the reason she is rolling out this big agenda and making that a big focus of the final stretch of the campaign, trying to convince voters to turn out for her. caitríona: are they the same arguments when it comes to latino voters? we are seeing an outreach mission into nevada and arizona this week. >> similar situation. younger working-class latino men are showing interest voting for donald trump or sitting out this election because they don't feel kamala harris and joe biden have changed their lives. they are worried about inflation, the economy, some of
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them worried about the border and the fact things have changed so drastically the last four years with immigration. it is a challenge kamala harris has. she is making up some ground with suburban white voters, doing better than joe biden, but it's a source of concern for democrats that harris has been losing ground with key democratic constituents. who have in the past supported democrats in large numbers, now showing interest in voting for trump or saying i am not going to vote at all. if that happens, donald trump could have a 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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wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪ amna, good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff, and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight, civilians in both gaza and lebanon are once again caught in the crossfire, while the u.s. promises to send an air defense system to israel. amna: vice president kamala harris works to shore up support from black voters while former president donald trump ramps up his dangerous political rhetoric. geoff: and, how some prominent colleges are reaching out to
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