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the death toll continues to rise from an israeli airstrike on a building in northern gaza. more than two dozen children are among those killed. spain sees its deadliest flooding in three decades. at least 95 people have been killed and others are missing. in the final days before the u.s. presidential election, both candidates are circling back to those swing states that are likely to decide the race for the white house. ♪ hello and welcome to world news america. at least 110 palestinians are known to have been killed in israeli strikes on a residential building in northern gaza on tuesday according to gaza's hamas run health ministry. officials say 25 children are among those killed. and that several people are

still missing. a spokesperson for the u.s. called the attack horrifying. it's really officials say their troops were unaware displaced civilians were taking place inside the building when it was hit. on wednesday the un security council said it strongly warned against any attempts to dismantle or diminish the palestinian relief agency after israel's parliament passed a law banning it from operating inside israel. humanitarian agencies say the law can badly hinder deliveries to palestinians in gaza. the law is due to take effect 90 days after was passed on monday. israel is under pressure to avoid civilian casualties and allow more humanitarian as heston into gaza. earlier this month a letter from the u.s. was sent which demanded israel allow at least 350 aid laureates each day within 30 days or risk losing military assistance. a middle east editor has this

update. >> the u.s. has not received the answers at once from israel over the strike that hit a five-story building in northern gaza. hamas officials say at least 90 people were killed or missing. the idf has spoken to the bbc and several other outlets to give some kind of explanation of what happened saying troops spotted a man with an ocular's on the roof of the building. what they called a spotter and made a decision on the spur of the moment to take that individual out. they say they did not intend for the building to collapse. the building was not the target. this is perhaps a sign of how the israeli army operates in gaza and certainly something the u.s. is expressing more and more concerned about. this is the biden administration. the u.s. state department

spokesperson described it as horrifying. the u.s. has given israel a 30 day deadline to improve not just the way the battle is being fought in northern gaza against hamas but the dire humanitarian situation within a 30 day deadline. the u.s. has said if things don't improve during that time, it may have an effect on the way the u.s. supplies weapons to israel. >> israel's military attacked a historic city in eastern lebanon that is believed to be a key hezbollah stronghold. thousands of lebanese residents evacuated before it was targeted by is really airstrikes on wednesday. the city is home to the ruins of a roman era temple designated a unesco world heritage site. on wednesday hezbollah's new leader warned against terry's -- against israel's terry presence in lebanon -- military presence

in lebanon. he vowed to continue the presence -- the plans of his predecessor who was killed by a strike last month. he said the iran backed group is acting in its own interest. >> israel does not need an excuse. it is better for us to have a resistance with a defensive attack then to be waiting and doing nothing. waiting for israel to attack us and surprise us in one way or another. >> our correspondent in beirut gave us an idea of what the mood is like on the ground. >> today we have the first evacuation order given by the israeli military fort the entire lebanese city. it is home to over 100,000 people and the order came out around 11 :00 a.m. and just around three hours later the airstrikes began. we managed to baalbek baalbek speak to the mayor of who told us within that time -- we

managed to speak to the mayor of baalbek. many thousands chose to remain for various reasons. he was insistent that baalbek, it is home to large support for has blood that his city he says there was no weapons storage. the israeli military say the attacks they have been deaf the sites they have been attacking, they have been -- fuel has been given to them by iran. they have not heard of any casualties so far. outside in the water every other have been reports of dozens injured or killed in israeli airstrikes. those strikes took place as the new leader of hezbollah made his first public speech who said to the public the dachshund that hezbollah -- that has blood plans to continue down the path the previous ticket terry

general set. he did allude to the cease-fire. he said if israel is willing to come to acceptable terms of a cease-fire, they will too. that is respecting lebanese sovereignty and it implies hezbollah will pull back from the border of israel. >> u.s. mediators are working on a 60 day cease-fire deal for israel and hezbollah. two senior u.s. officials will travel to the region on thursday. lebanon's prime minister said on wednesday he is cautiously optimistic a cease-fire with israel may be possible within the coming hours or days. >> we want to see a diplomatic resolution that allows civilians both in lebanon and israel return to their homes. those white house officials are -- two white house officials are traveling to israel to engage on issues including a double medic

resolution in lebanon as how we get to an end to the conflict in gaza and other regional matters. one of the things they are going to discuss is how we can find a diplomatic resolution that fully implements the un security council resolution 1701. >> joining me to discuss the developments as the former u.s. special envoy for palestinian negotiations at the u.s. state department frank lowenstein. we just heard the state department spokesperson talking about the need for a diplomatic solution. how do the negotiators go about doing that at a time when we see israel calling for an evacuation of an entire city in lebanon? we sell those attacks in gaza with the high death toll. >> there probably is a path forward to a cease-fire in lebanon. the israelis will never agree to any kind of cease-fire before they have achieved what they can

militarily with their troops on the ground. they may be getting to that point now. the cease-fire that has been floated will allow them to continue to conduct airstrikes over the border. they will continue some military operations in a limited way but get hezbollah back to the border and stop firing the rockets which is the only way they will get civilians back to northern israel. we have had cease-fire is in the past. netanyahu has agreed to and his coalition partners on the extreme right have raised objections and he has backed down. >> how will president biden's two special envoys be approaching this on the ground? >> their first stop will be israel and they will have to go ansi what to -- to go and see what netanyahu is willing to do. they are going to check with some of the far right extremists in his cabinet and see what they say because netanyahu has agreed

to these things and pulled back. there is a broader political situation in israel those guys will be having. >> we have heard many calls for the full implementation of the security council resolution 1701. the full implantation has not happened in 20 years since it was passed. what makes things different now? >> hezbollah is much weaker now and there is an understanding the needs to be a different kind of enforcement mechanism for 1701. it is clear that you had forces with a mandate not to engage militarily which has been the case up until now is not going to be sufficient. the lebanese armed forces are never going to engage with them. empowering the lebanese armed forces in hopes that will provide better implementation. >> if we talk about the humanitarian situation, a dire situation in gaza and increasingly so in lebanon.

the bill passed by israel's parliament to ban our what from operating within israel. the warnings that might lead to the starvation of the gaza people. will reversing that bill be a precursor to any sort of deal at this stage? >> i would be surprised if the israelis reverse that bill because of the way the political situation works. i can see them failing to implement it. they have 90 days so there is time to sort that out. the bigger question is whether the u.s. is going to follow through on our threat to cut off military assistance if the israelis don't improve the humanitarian situation. they're only providing 10% of the food we required them to provide. the ambassador at the u.n. today issued very tough comments and accused the israelis of trying to starve the people of northern gaza. the israelis luck to think long and hard about whether they want to change their approach or

whether they wanted take their chances that biden will not enforce the provisions of this letter which is the way they have handled it in the past. >> the deadline has been set as november 15 to two and a half weeks away or so to will the u.s. followthrough on that threat to look again at military aid or condition it if the situation does not improve? >> my guess is they may do something similar to the last time around in may when they had issued findings about whether israel was complying with u.s. law and international law. blinken issued a letter indicating there was a lot of evidence they have done counter to those provisions but not enough to be definitive about it. you will see something similar now. either they will fudge the conclusions or extend the deadline or they will delay implementation. i would be surprised to see them cut off military assistance this time around. the israelis are like family to biden. every time they do something we don't want them to do, he always

gives them another chance. >> is there a consideration happening at some part of the u.s. government the u.s. could be viewed to be partially culpable for the humanitarian situation? >> i think there are a lot of folks in the united states that think our government is culpable and around the world. . they are balancing right now i the middle of the last week of a presidential election, there are balancing the potential downside risk politically of getting into a big fight with the israelis right now. after the election, we will see if the posture changes. wherever the next president is will have a big say in that. >> former u.s. special envoy for palestinian negotiations at the u.s. state department. thanks for joining us on bbc news. these 95 people are now known to have died in spain's worst flooding in three decades and several people are still missing. southeastern spain saw one years worth of rainfall in hours on tuesday this the of valencia being the hardest hit.

-- the city of valencia being the hardest hit. the prime minister facing criticism for his decision to limit the emergency unit after taking office. more than 1000 troops have been deployed to help with rescue operations but the king of spain warns enormous disruption is making it difficult for rescue and recovery teams to reach affected communities. our correspondent has more. >> three days morning have been declared in honor of the victims of the flooding. rescue workers are still searching through the debris of the flooding to try to find survivors and they are trying to rescue people who have been stranded by the floodwaters. people who have taken refuge on the roofs of buildings or in their cars and waiting for the floodwaters to subside. the floods have caused a tremendous amount of damage and a tremendous amount of disruption in terms of transport links. many roads remain closed in

particular in the valencia region which has been so heavily effect -- heavily affected. the region has accounted for almost all of the deaths that have been confirmed. one town in particular with 27,000 inhabitants, 34 of its inhabitants have been confirmed to have died in the flooding. there have been disruptions while on a rail links. the high-speed rail line between madrid and the lancia has been closed down to it is not going to be operating for the foreseeable future. around 155,000 people in the valencia region have and without electricity because of the flood . the government and authorities are warning in the next few hours people in the south avenue -- the south of the country and in the northeast should be aware because heavy rainfall is expected in those areas as well.

an alert has been issued to inhabitants of those regions. >> six days to go until the u.s. presidential election to the democratic nominee per vice president, harris is targeting three swing states on wednesday he stops in north carolina, pennsylvania and wisconsin. her opponent, former republican president donald trump is holding rallies in two of the same states, north carolina and wisconsin. the rallies by each candidate in north carolina showed voters to start contrast in their choice for president. vice president harris spoke for under 20 mitts focusing on closing campaign messages well i'll trump's off-the-cuff remark stretched for more than an hour and a half. ms. harris entered her first speech around the concept of saving democracy and unity even as her campaign was ripped -- was interrupted by protesters. a recurring theme. >> i pledge to you i will listen to experts. i will listen to those impacted

by the decisions i make and to people who disagree with me. hey, everybody. ok. this is the thing because we are actually fighting for a democracy. and unlike donald trump, i don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. he wants to put them in jail. i will give them a seat at the table. >> harris's pledge to listen to republicans as well as two democrats came after she was asked about comments made by the current u.s. president joe biden that his critics say show him referring to all trump supporters as garbage. the white house and president biden himself offered a different excavation saying he

was referring to the comedian at a trump rally earlier this week who referred to puerto rico as a floating island of garbage. the 81-year-old president biden was speaking on a call with latino voters. >> just the other day, a speaker at his rally called puerto rico a floating island of garbage. i don't know the puerto rico that i know or in my home state of delaware they are good decent honorable people. the only garbage i see floating out there is his supporters. his demonization is -- it is unconscionable. it is un-american. it is contrary to everything we have done should >> here is how, harris responded when she was asked about president biden's comments earlier. >> he clarified his comments. i strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for. >> republicans have jumped on

the opportunity to flip the narrative surrounding the use of the word garbage and what was meant by it. trump responded to the controversy while speaking in north carolina. >> joe biden finally said what he and kamala think of our supporters. he called them garbage. and they mean it. even though without question my supporters are far higher quality than joe dachshund in crooked joe dachshund then crooked joe . >> recently referred to the u.s. as a garbage can for the world when he has been referring to immigrants arriving into the united states. over the past several days donald trump has been wrapping up allegations of voter fraud in the election particularly he says in the swing state of pennsylvania. this morning on social media donald trump claimed pennsylvania is cheating and getting caught at large-scale levels rarely seen before.

report cheating to authorities, law enforcement must act now. at the north carolina rally earlier donald trump repeated his accusations of fraud saying if the elections were administered by god he would win california. a state that for years has voted for the democratic nominee. >> i believe if we had an honest election, if god came down from on high and god said i will be the voting tabulator for the day, i believe i would win california. i do great with the hispanics. i believe i would win. we need god as our vote counter. one day every four. >> let's talk about these latest developments on the campaign trail. i am joined by man caldwell, reporter and live anchor for the washington post. thanks for being with us again.

calling puerto rico a floating island of garbage was a gift for the harris campaign at the beginning of the week. has that been reversed by president's comments last night? >> the republicans and the trump campaign think so. they think this was a gift for them. not only because it is something they can use in fundraising messages, something to motivate and anchor their supporters but also they say something that will minimize the remarks a comedian made about puerto ricans, about puerto rico being a garbage island. we will see what the effects are. my colleague has been in allentown, pennsylvania talking to puerto rican voters. of course it has a high puerto rican population for she has found a renewed sense of desire to vote and enthusiasm for kamala harris. that is happening in pennsylvania which is a key

state not only for kamala harris but especially for donald trump to win. what sort of impact president biden's comments make if this angers people enough -- president biden's comments about trump's garbage supporters as he says is this is enough to anger trump supporters or people who were wavering between trump and harris. we will have to see. we might not ever find out. >> we have seen a number of celebrities who have been spurred to speak out against donald trump in the wake of these comments. will their voices particularly given the followings they have on social media and elsewhere encourage some of those coveted younger voters that both campaigns are chasing to get out to vote? >> so endorsements are always a good thing. you don't want to not be endorsed.

what sort of impact endorsements have, it depends on the arena really. when there is someone who is extremely popular, has a massive following someone like bad bunny who is so popular with young latinos, that could in fact have an impact may be on the people who were weighing if they were actually going to get out to the polls. who were maybe like maybe i will go vote. this could. motivate them to turn out. i know the harris campaign is pulling out all the stops with celebrity endorsements and celebrity appearances at her rallies in these final days. it has been going on for a couple weeks now. they think it does help them and it will turn out the voters they need in order to get over the finish line.

>> on that point briefly we have seen both candidates crisscrossing the battleground states in these last few days. are there any undecided voters out there at this point? >> oh my gosh. maybe. it is really hard to tell if there undecided voters left. there might be people wavering on if they are going to vote or not. that is probably when i am talking to strategists the bigger question and the campaign's jobs in these final days is to get those people off their couch into the voting booth. >> we will wait to see. not long to go. thanks so much for joining us. staying with election matters, in 6-3 decision, the u.s. supreme court has ruled the state of virginia can remove 1600 alleged noncitizens from its voter rolls days before the 2024 election. typically these removals can only be done up to 90 days before federal elections but

this ruling blocks that provision. president biden and voting rights groups said actual citizens are among those who have been struck from the list. let's have a quick look at other news around the world. polls open wednesday in botswana's election. the botswana democratic party is calling for change despite having been in charge since the country became independent in 1966. the president is seeking a second term in office after his first five years saw on employment rise to 27%. canada accused india's interior minister and eight -- and the prime minister of being behind plots to seek 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. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

♪ amna:amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the news hour tonight kamala , harris and donald trump make swcr