Plus: Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv, while Gaza's hospitals risk turning into morgues, officials warn
| | | | | | | Hello. We have the latest on the situation in Israel and the siege of Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is getting worse. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner explains why the Israeli government is facing a near-impossible situation in its attempts to rescue the children, women and men held by Hamas. In Poland, my colleague Sarah Rainsford spells out the fault lines dividing the country ahead of elections. Our final story today is about art pieces set to be destroyed in London, but you might think it's all rubbish. |
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| | | | Top of the agenda | | 'The most difficult hostage situation' | | | | Antony Blinken is expected to seek the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas, some of whom are American. Credit: Reuters |
| | US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Israel as air strikes keep pounding Gaza and little apparent progress is made on "the most difficult hostage situation Israel has ever faced", as the analyst Michael Milstein put it to the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner. Israel says the siege of Gaza will not end until Israeli hostages, which are thought to number at least 150, are released by Hamas. The group that murdered at least 1,300 people in Israel has threatened to "execute" hostages in retaliation for Israeli air strikes, but there is no evidence they have done so yet. Amid the siege, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the humanitarian situation is worsening in the Gaza Strip, with one official warning that local hospitals risk turning into morgues. | | • | The people: Here's what we know about the hostages - including children and elderly people - taken by Hamas. | | • | Claims of warning: A US congressman has said Israel was warned by Egypt of potential violence, three days before Hamas' deadly cross-border raid. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu previously said the reports were "absolutely false". | | • | The latest: More than 338,000 Palestinians have been displaced, the UN has said, while local officials say more than 1,200 people have been killed in Gaza, where hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties and sheltering families. Follow our updates live. |
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| | AT THE SCENE | Israel-Lebanon border | | Life on the other front | | Tensions on Israel's northern frontier have soared since Hamas' bloody incursion in the south. Israel says it has reinforced its northern area with thousands of extra units after trading fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Three civilians were injured by Israeli shelling, Lebanese state media said. | | | | In these northern Israeli border communities, people are nervous. They can see the high grey concrete wall that separates them from Lebanon, with Hezbollah observation posts towering up at regular intervals on the other side. One man shows me a video on his mobile phone of armed men firing on the very hillside we’re standing looking at. The sound of gunfire echoes loudly. These were Palestinian Islamic Jihad infiltrators who made their way over the barrier on Monday and killed Israeli soldiers. Families who live here are being told to stay as close to bomb shelters as they can. |
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| | | | World headlines | | • | Billionaire fraudster: Bernie Ecclestone, the former boss of Formula 1 motor racing, has admitted fraud after failing to declare more than £400m held in a trust in Singapore. | | • | Vape danger: As the UK considers restricting the sale of vapes targeted at children, a 12-year-old girl who suffered a lung collapse and spent four days in an induced coma has told the BBC children should never start vaping. | | • | Hitting the jackpot: A single ticket-holder has won $1.76bn (£1.4bn) on the US Powerball lottery - the second-largest jackpot in history. | | • | Megastars align: Beyoncé was among the stars who attended the world premiere of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. See how Swift mingled with fans on the red carpet. Meanwhile, our music correspondent Mark Savage has details of Madonna's first greatest hits tour, from the singer's musical director. | | • | Tree latest: The 150-year-old sycamore tree felled in northern England a fortnight ago - prompting outrage - is to be cut up and moved to protect the Roman-era Hadrian's Wall, which was damaged when the tree was chopped down. Chris Robinson tells the story of the much-loved tree. |
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| | | | Beyond the headlines | | Poland's fault lines | | | | Opinion polls put the governing Law and Justice Party ahead nationwide. Credit: Reuters |
| | Our Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford takes us inside the vitriolic campaign ahead of Poland's parliamentary elections this Sunday. The ruling right-wing Law and Justice party is ahead, according to opinion polls. But testy exchanges on TV and in market squares highlight divisions in the country, often along generational lines. | | | | |
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| | | | Something different | | Autumn leave | | The town that banned "leaf-peeping" Instagrammers. | | |
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| | | | And finally... | | A man who spent the last decade painting tiny pictures on lumps of chewing-gum discarded on London's Milliennium Bridge is going to see it all washed away. The sticky bits of art will be gone as the bridge gets a deep clean, starting on Saturday. "They're killjoys," artist Ben Wilson said. | |
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| | | | | | Future Planet | | Explore the wonders of our amazing planet. | | |
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– Jules |
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