that was security correspondent frank gardner and sebastian usher, our arab frank gardner and sebastian arab affairs editor talking to me a bit about what is happening in the area. lots of questions coming in from many of you on bbc news. to keep those questions coming. pope francis has called for an end to the attacks in israel and gaza. speaking in his weekly address to crowds in st peter's square, he said that terrorism and war would not solve any problems, but only bring further suffering and death to innocent people. he said he was following events with apprehension and sorrow. let's ta ke let's take you live to gaza to look at the pictures we are getting. at the moment looking a little bit quiet. but over the last few hours, we've seen a number of strikes by the israeli defence for is hitting various parts of the gaza city. we have also had pictures coming in earlier in the day. in particular, i wanted to show you these, artillery movements just outside the border with gaza city. there has been a lot of international reaction to what has been happening, comments from the us secret

let's move to sebastian usher, - aware of the israeli demand.le east correspondence. people asking who controls gaza? could you just explain. what we're seeing today is based so much in history, it's important to understand the history to understand what is on now. the u-rou to understand what is on now. the a-rou that to understand what is on now. the group that controls how mass now, that controls gaza, is how must. it is controlled — that controls gaza, is how must. it is controlled completely essentially there since 2007. in 2005, israel pulled _ there since 2007. in 2005, israel pulled out — there since 2007. in 2005, israel pulled out of gaza, there were about 9000 _ pulled out of gaza, there were about 9000 settlers there at the time. there _ 9000 settlers there at the time. there was— 9000 settlers there at the time. there was a palestinian wide election— there was a palestinian wide election held in 2006, that was won by her— election held in 2006, that was won by her mass — election held in 2006, that was won by her mass and its contro

with me now is the bbc�*s middle east analyst, sebastian usher, and joining us from jerusalem is ourdent tom bateman. we have a question from robert saxon who asks, what does hamas hope to achieve? i who asks, what does hamas hope to achieve? ~ , .,, , . achieve? i think in its most basic terms it wants _ achieve? i think in its most basic terms it wants to _ achieve? i think in its most basic terms it wants to show _ achieve? i think in its most basic terms it wants to show is - achieve? i think in its most basic terms it wants to show is a - achieve? i think in its most basic| terms it wants to show is a bigger power and has more capability than has been expected and taken into the is really equation and the way the world views palestinian issues. it wants to show the stability israel somehow leaves despite being surrounded by enemies and an existential crisis, —— is real sometimes believes. as an entity and a country under state it is no longer really under threat. this was an attempt to shore that was the case and israelis themselves are not safe and we have seen that with the ho

been looking at what people have been searching for on search engines, andjoining me now, is sebastian usherur chief international correspondent lyse doucet in southern israel. so, let's get started with the questions. this is one of the most popular questions. why does the us support israel so much? 0ne one thing is certain is that the us has given extremely powerful support to israel for decades. it essentially has been seen as the most important back—up both financially, and i think it's almost $4 billion a year in financial assistance to israel but also at the un when the resolutions that are raised over the settlements, the us provides a veto, and this applies to any government, democratic or republican. part of the reason, there are many you can give, but one of the main reasons is a sense amongst many americans, and it may have been changing in recent years, to a small extent, but a sense that israel is really almost an extension of the us in the middle east, that it embraces a democratic ideal, that it embraces a democratic ideal, that it is surrounded by countries that perhaps ameri

with me are our security correspondent, frank gardner, our middle east analyst, sebastian usher, andt started with the questions. why is president biden travelling to the region? this is incredibly unusual, it normally takes weeks if not months of planning for a us president to make an official visit like this, the secret service will deploy first weeks in advance, searching everywhere he will be with sniffer dogs, wrecking the route he will take. the air force one to come in at this critical time shows just how seriously and concerned the white house says about this war spinning out of control, the us has two concerns, one is the fact that there are clearly a huge amount of civilian casualties, these are not so—called surgical strikes, and awful expression, but they understand israel's need to respond to the atrocities committed on the 7th of october, but they want israel to show restraint which it doesn't appear to be showing much of at the moment, and the second is they are deeply worried about it were —— about it spinning out of control, sucking in other countries like iran. i su

to get the wider view on all this, i turned to sebastian usher, bbc world service middle east editor.ent's position is, obviously it's in a terrible bind. its aim in that is to ensure that as much as possible humanitarian aid goes into gaza, but that it is enough to prevent people in gaza from coming out, but very, very strongly, and for a variety of reasons, making clear that they are not going to accept a large number of palestinians to come across. that's not because they don't want to protect them. it's because they don't want to facilitate to one extent what they see as a kind of return of what happened in 19118. as far as the palestinians are concerned, there's a mass exodus of people and they're never able to return. so they would be responsible, essentially, they would feel, for doing israel's work. they also, economically, are in a terrible state. so having a big influx of people to look after. a huge, huge issue. there's an election that's coming up. it's been moved forward to december. politically, egypt has been much more stable in one way under abdel fattah al—sisi. i mea

answering some of your questions about the israel—gaza conflict with the bbc�*s middle east analyst sebastian usherin touch using the hashtag bbc your questions to send in any questions you'd like answering here on bbc news. before we go, let's leave you with this live shot of gaza. some of us will have a dry, sunny and warm days, others have rain exacerbating the flooding risk, particularly where the ground is already saturated. there is a weather warning for western scotland for rain. we have showery rain moving from northern ireland into northern england and wales. but south of that, a lot of dry and sunny weather, away from the irish sea and channel coasts that are prone to hang on to mist and murk. temperatures up to 25 somewhere in south—east england. tonight this band of rain moves south. as it crosses england and wales, it is going to rejuvenate. some patchy fog ahead of it. showers behind it. and under clear skies a chilly night in sheltered glens with temperatures down to five or six. but mild in england and wales. on the other signed side, sunshine and blustery showers. fresher condition

coming up at 1138 bst we'll bejoined by a our middle east analyst sebastian usher and from jerusalems live. so get in touch using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions — or email yourquestions@bbc.co.uk stay with us here on bbc news. hello. the weather will be feeling much more autumnal for many of us over the next couple of days. we've had that warm air mass with us. but if we look at what's happening with the air mass, it is going to be clearing towards the south, so gradually over the next few days, some colder air into the north. a brief spell of warmer weather again towards the south. but by the end of the week, we are all in the cooler, fresher conditions. three bands of weather today, mostly dry, fairly mild in the far south. this area of rain at times through the central swathe of the uk, and windy with sunshine and showers further north. so the showers quite frequent across the north west of scotland, gales developing up towards the northern isles, but some sunshine for northern ireland into the likes of northumberland and cumbria as well. there's that heavy rain sitting across wale

most trending questions that people are asking online search engines is our middle east analyst sebastian usher

coming up at 11:40am bst, we'll bejoined by a our middle east analyst, sebastian usher, and from jerusalem popular over the last few days, because so many of you have questions to ask about why this is happening, and also the background to some of the stories that we've been telling you. so get in touch using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions, or email yourquestions@bbc. co. uk. would seek you very briefly live to the scene in gaza, and leave you with his view of buildings, smoke, and gaza city. i am back in a few minutes, stay with us. hello. the weather will be feeling much more autumnal for many of us over the next couple of days. we've had that warm air mass with us. but if we look at what's happening with the air mass, it is going to be clearing towards the south, so gradually over the next few days, some colder air into the north. a brief spell of warmer weather again towards the south. but by the end of the week, we are all in the cooler, fresher conditions. three bands of weather today, mostly dry, fairly mild in the far south. this area of rain at times through the central swathe of t

most trending questions that people are asking online search engines is our middle east analyst sebastian usherwelcome to you. thank you for being with us with your eskimo teas. before we go to those questions, let's get some analysis of where we are at. —— with your expertise. can you tell us what is happening, why it so important and if it's possible that israel will allow people out? i tend to agree that we are in a holding pattern. the big story is when and if israel will launch its offensive in the north. down at the rafah crossing, one of two crossings, this one is into egypt, is where the anticipation is around this morning. we had reports that there was going to be a temporary truce to allow a very, we are talking very small number of palestinian americans across into egypt. as you were saying in your introduction there, there are several thousand people at the rafah crossing waiting to go. but the temporary truce has not been agreed. we have actually had a statement from the israeli prime minister's for saying that there is no ceasefire. when we talk about a ceasefire, we only talk abo

coming up at 11:40am bst, we'll bejoined by a our middle east analyst, sebastian usher, and from jerusaleme. so get in touch using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions, or email yourquestions@bbc. co. uk. london luton airport has suspended all flights until 12pm local time today after fire broke out at a car park. part of the building collapsed — and the airport has asked passengers on departing flights to stay away — and check with their airline before turning up. 0ur reporter greg mckenzie has more. oh, my god! huge flames and smoke billowing from the terminal 2 car park. many hundreds of people who were inside the airport awaiting to board flights were told to leave immediately. there was this massive gout of flame that shot across the car park like a flame—thrower. er... so... and then cars were just exploding. so every few minutes, you just got another one — another explosion, another explosion. ten fire engines attended the blaze, which was still burning into the early hours. a member of the public and six firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation as the car park fire spread. in an overni

with me, we are joined by our security correspondent frank gardner, and our arab affairs editor sebastian usher happening, what is gaza city, where is it and why is it this little enclave that contains so many people? as you say, it is a tiny enclave on the coast. i think the late estimate was 2.3 million people are squeezed into it. it was given, israel left it back in 2005, but rather than having time to establish its own political unity, very swiftly after that, there was a major fracture between the two main political factions, major fracture between the two main politicalfactions, hamas and major fracture between the two main political factions, hamas and the palestinian authority. hamas won elections across the palestinian territories and the palestinian authority reacted against that, hamas as you know is prescribed by many countries, regarded as a terrorist entity, by the us, the european union, etc. and hamas was strong enough militarily to defeat them and take over control and has beenin them and take over control and has been in control of gaza since 2007. and the condition is alread

with me we are joined by our security correspondent, frank gardner, and our arab affairs editor, sebastian usherk you both so much forjoining us. frank, many people are asking the bbc to go back to the very beginning, what it is we are talking about, this conflict goes back many decades so talk us through how we got here, i know it is not easy! let's go back to 1948, the birth of the state of israel. this is about land, primarily, not so much about religion, it is about land and if you look at the map of the world, a really tiny bit of real estate is wanted by both the israelis and palestinians and britain withdrew 48 from what was called the british mandate for palestine and they were coming under terrorist attack by jewish groups, setting off bombs and basically chasing the british out of their and israel, the new state of israel took over land which in some cases had belonged to palestinians and then a number of other things, you had so is that in 1967 the big arab—israeli war, the first of the big ones, it was a massive defeat for the palestinians, and the arab armies that attacked israel. a

to get the wider view on all this, i turned to sebastian usher, bbc world service middle east editor.y strongly, and for a variety of reasons, making clear that they are not going to accept a large number of palestinians to come across. that's not because they don't want to protect them. it's because they don't want to facilitate to one extent what they see as a kind of return of what happened in 1948. as far as the palestinians are concerned, there's a mass exodus of people and they're never able to return. so they would be responsible, essentially, they would feel, for doing israel's work. they also, economically, are in a terrible state. so having a big influx of people to look after. a huge, huge issue. there's an election that's coming up. it's been moved forward to december. politically, egypt has been much more stable in one way under abdel fattah al—sisi. i mean, rememberthe turmoil after 2011, the muslim brotherhood came to power and so on. but the price of that has been far more repression, essentially, of free speech of the people. and part of that was a sense that this iss