strip. israel's bombardment of gaza continues. the hamas—run health ministry says 27 people have been killed in an airstrike near a un school. more foreign passport—holders have been able to cross into egypt from gaza, including us and uk nationals. storm ciaran sweeps across southern england and the channel islands with winds of more than 100mph, knocking out power to thousands of homes. the first global summit on al safety is coming to an end. the uk prime minister has warned that monitoring ai risks is too important to be left to the big tech companies. hello, i'm ben thompson.

the israeli army sets they have completely enclosed gaza city. they said 130 hamas fighters have been killed in the latest battles. at least 18 israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground offensive. israel's military says it's targeting hamas infrastructure, including tunnels and rocket launchers, and minimising civilian deaths. it follows another night of israeli air strikes all in retaliation for hamas�*s raids into southern israel on 7th october, in which israel says more than 1,400 people were killed, with 240 others kidnapped. israel's intense bombardment of gaza has also continued. the hamas—run gaza health ministry says 27 people have been killed in an israeli strike near a un school, the third deadly strike in as many days on the densely populated jabalia refugee camp. it says more than 9,000 people have now been killed in gaza

since 7th october. there are also reports of dozens killed in al burej, just south of the line which israel told palestinians from the north to move across for their safety. meanwhile, more evacuees from gaza have arrived in egypt through the rafah crossing. it comes a day after the border was first re opened to enable some foreign citizens and seriously ill and wounded palestinians to leave. today, egypt has said it will help to evacuate approximately 7,000 foreign nationals and dual—national injured palestinians who will be treated in a new field hospital. 0ur international editor jeremy bowen sent this report. live now tojon donnison who is injerusalem. two major developments we should talk about tonight. benjamin netanyahu says a troops are closing in on gaza city. the movement now becomes much more difficult and

deadly, doesn't it? it becomes much more difficult and deadly, doesn't it?— deadly, doesn't it? it does. first of all we had _ deadly, doesn't it? it does. first of all we had him _ deadly, doesn't it? it does. first of all we had him saying - deadly, doesn't it? it does. first of all we had him saying that - deadly, doesn't it? it does. first of all we had him saying that his| of all we had him saying that his troops were at the height of the battle and that they had passed into the outskirts of gaza city, advancing with the ground offensive, then this announcementjust in the last 30 minutes or so saying that they had now completely encircled gaza city. of course, gaza city runs down the coast, along the beach. we have not seen evidence of israeli forces on the beach, but i do think they have got their navy stationed off the coast so they feel that they have now got gaza city surrounded. where we thinking northern gaza where there are about 100,000 people who haven't evacuated to the south of gaza. ., ., , , .,, , of gaza. therefore many people still wantin: to of gaza. therefore many people still wanting to leave. _ of gaza. therefore many people still wanting to leave. we _ of gaza. therefore many people still wanting to leave. we know - of gaza. therefore many people still wanting to leave. we know the - of gaza. therefore many people still| wanting to leave. we know the rafah crossing is the focus of a lot of

attention, not only to get it into to get people out. an update that more foreign passport holders have been able to leave, but the numbers to remain very small. trier? been able to leave, but the numbers to remain very small.— to remain very small. very small. just a to remain very small. very small. just a tiny — to remain very small. very small. just a tiny fraction _ to remain very small. very small. just a tiny fraction of— to remain very small. very small. just a tiny fraction of gas - to remain very small. very small. just a tiny fraction of gas plasma l just a tiny fraction of gas plasma population of 2.2 million people. the egyptians had said they were going to try and get round about 500 people with foreign passport site today. they got quite close to that yesterday. the numbers seem considerably less today, although we do know some american passport holders and a few brits have managed to get sites. but there are over 7,000 people with foreign passports in gaza, so it is going to take a considerable amount of time. this morning another list was published. many, many people were disappointed when there were scrolling through

the list. different governments around the world are putting pressure on egypt and israel to prioritise their people and getting them out, but you cant get everyone out at once. them out, but you cant get everyone out at once-— out at once. john, really good to have ou out at once. john, really good to have you there. _ so, the israeli prime minister saying his trips are at the height of battle. colonel richard kemp, a former commanding officer serving in the british army in afghanistan gave us his assesment of the israeli troops operation as they advance to the outskirts of gaza city. very challenging, i think, for the israeli defense force. very clearly what they're trying to do now is to is to cut off gaza city completely, to prevent the escape of terrorists and to provide a base from which they will then attack into the city. and they will have a number

of targets identified within gaza city which are key hamas control and command points and hamas infrastructure and the locations where hamas leaders are located. and they will then, i think, progressively will attempt to deal with each of those locations by ground force assault, which is going to be tough because it's very, very close country, very close terrain. they will probably focus mainly on trying to move along the wider roads inside gaza city, both on foot and in tanks. and the major challenges they face, obviously, are ambushes, sniper positions, bombs hamas have positioned, but also trying to get to the targets and kill as many of the terrorists as they can while minimizing the death of innocent civilians, which is, of course, a very high priority for the idf. and at the same time, obviously trying to avoid also killing any of the hostages

that they encounter, particularly if they get to the point where they need to get down into the tunnels underneath gaza to either locate the hostages or to destroy hamas infrastructure there. yes, and you raise a few important points and i'll come to them in turn if we can. i'm just looking at the same time we're monitoring a press conference being given by the white house spokespersonjohn kirby, and he's talking about the idea of exploring as many pauses as necessary to get people out of gaza and aid in. that has been the ambition for a long time now. nothing has come of it. what is your assessment of this, that now perhaps israel will not be welcoming of the idea of a pause just as its troops get to the outskirts of gaza city? that is not what they will be planning. no, that would be a catastrophe militarily. a catastrophe militarily, when their objective is to kill and destroy hamas terrorists. the idea of stopping partway

through and allow potentially allowing terrorists to escape is problematic. now, of course, the idf also have a priority of trying to look after civilians, including getting humanitarian aid in. but i think what they'll be doing in their operations in gaza city, rather than focusing on getting aid in, is trying to encourage the population, those elements of the population that remain in gaza to leave, to head south into areas of greater relative safety. winds of more than 100mph have been battering parts of the uk as storm ciaran moves across the country. hundreds of schools have been closed in parts of southern england and the channel islands,

with people urged to stay indoors. danjohnson reports from jersey one of the hardest hit places. just look at the state of it. trees down, roof tiles everywhere, cars smashed, gardens blown to pieces. but then there are the houses. people's homes. we thought these seafront flats had been abandoned after being torn apart, but then we heard the voice of bob, sheltering beneath the ruins of his neighbour's home. my word! 12 o'clock, we hear this mighty bang. it's just devastating. you can see around here, look, everything went. i've never seen anything like it. it was so scary, it was really loud. really loud. next door, lorraine was assessing the damage to her house and herself. i got some cuts here. it's just crazy. what are you going to do now? no idea. i'm going to go to my sister's and try and relax a bit because i'm a bit shaky at the moment. that's a wall that's blown down. i think this is worse than people expected.

we're right on the seafront here, it's very exposed and these properties have been really badly damaged. it's not clear if or when people will be able to repair them or return at all. a couple of streets further back it is, in some ways, even worse. not just slates off, but entire roofs. people here believe they were hit by a tornado. we were just settling down, getting the kids ready for bed, then we heard that massive... and seen the black just come towards us. it was petrifying, it was horrible, i've never experienced anything like that in my life. within seconds itjust ripped through the estate. the noise was out of this world. the winds reached 100mph, forcing families to evacuate. watch this mum's reaction to nature's sudden power. ijust knew i needed to get out. yeah, it was pretty scary. it's quite a hard watch to look back on.

just knowing what could have happened if i wasn't in the room with her at the time. with boarded—up windows, you are going to live here? yeah. here's some hardy islander resolve after the most frightening night of mags' life. i was too scared to stay in the bedroom. the kitchen was the safest place, to be honest. i was just sat in the kitchen chair. i haven't had a wink of sleep yet. i felt desperate, to be honest. this is only a small part of the island, but this neighbourhood's been turned literally upside down and it will take a lot to put it back together again. dan johnson, bbc news, jersey. let's look at some other stories making news. the bank of england has held its benchmark interest rate at 5.25%, the second consecutive time it's left it unchanged. the bank held rates

in september after 1a hikes in a row since the end of 2021. the uk rate is at its highest in 15 years. glastonbury festival organisers have pushed back the sale of tickets for next year by two weeks. they had been due to go live this evening but the organisers say it would be unfair to go ahead as some people have had issues with registration. tickets for 2024 will now go on sale on 16th november. the royal mint has begun producing a new set of coins inspired by britain's natural habitat. the first coins to be struck include the one pound featuring british bees, the 5p featuring an oak leaf, and the 50p featuring an atlantic salmon. the first of the new coins are expected to enter circulation at the end of the month. you're live with bbc news. an australian woman has been charged

with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder after serving her guests including herformer in—laws a beef wellington cooked with poisonous mushrooms. herformer husband, simon patterson, had also been invited to the meal, but was unable to make it at the last minute. for more i spoke to steph ferrier,, who has been reporting on the story for abc news. we note that 49—year—old aaron patterson was finally arrested yesterday. she was taken in for questioning by homicide detectives in victoria. she was charged with five counts of attempted murder and three counts of murder in relation to this meal that was served allegedly using these death cap mushrooms back on 29thjuly. the people who died, that relate to the

murder charges, was her ex—husband because my parents. they were donna and gil paterson, also gael�*s sister, heather wilkinson. and gil paterson, also gael�*s sister, heatherwilkinson. she also sadly away after becoming ill and going to hospital. all three people died in hospital within days of eating this meal. also in hospital and critically ill was heather's husband, ian. he is a local pastor. he managed to recover, thankfully, and was released nearly two months later from and was released nearly two months laterfrom hospital. that is in relation to the attempted murder charges, but there are also these three separate attempted murder charges which police say relate to separate incidents that happened in 2021 and 22. that is in relation to a 48—year—old man that lived very

close to here. that is in relation to meals that he allegedly consumed at the time. just to meals that he allegedly consumed at the time. , , ., .,, ., , at the time. just an astonishing sto . here in the uk, the covid inquiry has heard that the former health secretary matt hancock wanted to decide "who should live and who should die" if hospitals became overwhelmed. the man who led the nhs until 2021, lord simon stevens, told the hearing that he wanted to discourage the idea that a secretary of state should decide. fortunately, he said, "this horrible dilemma" never crystallised. with more on this our health editor hugh pym joins me. 0nce once again, some incredible testimony coming in the inquiry. the testimony coming in the inquiry. tue: background testimony coming in the inquiry. tte: background today says that in

february 2020 ad group of officials had modelled the likely worst scenario for covid—19. at that time there weren't many cases in the uk and there was a general sense of business as usual, life as usual. these officials had carried out the worst case scenario acts aside concluded... there have been a discussion about some very difficult choices if hospitals were overwhelmed in that scenario and whether frankly some patient should be given treatment enabling them to survive that others would not be so fortunate, would not get the treatment and would not survive. matt hancock, then health secretary covering england, had said they had heard today that this secretary it should be he did make that decision rather than medical professionals or

the public. i wanted to discard the idea that in the most _ i wanted to discard the idea that in the most exceptional circumstances should _ the most exceptional circumstances should be _ the most exceptional circumstances should be deciding how care should be provided. ithought should be deciding how care should be provided. i thought we were well served _ be provided. i thought we were well served by— be provided. i thought we were well served by the medical profession to the greatest extent possible making those _ the greatest extent possible making those decisions. matt the greatest extent possible making those decisions.— those decisions. matt hancock will have its own _ those decisions. matt hancock will have its own version _ those decisions. matt hancock will have its own version of _ those decisions. matt hancock will have its own version of events - those decisions. matt hancock will have its own version of events and j have its own version of events and have its own version of events and have a chance to give those at the inquiry in a few weeks' time when he appears. i should say that lord stevens went on under questioning to say that in his view, despite all the accusations made in the last couple of days that mr hancock at times had been untruthful, he personally had seen no evidence of that. also questions today about the

readiness of hospitals and the nhs as a whole, with a particular focus on delayed discharges, that is where people are staying in hospital beds because they can't be cared for in the community.— because they can't be cared for in the community. that was addressed, wasn't it? yes. _ the community. that was addressed, wasn't it? yes, it _ the community. that was addressed, wasn't it? yes, it was _ the community. that was addressed, wasn't it? yes, it was one _ the community. that was addressed, wasn't it? yes, it was one of- the community. that was addressed, wasn't it? yes, it was one of the - wasn't it? yes, it was one of the big questions — wasn't it? yes, it was one of the big questions of— wasn't it? yes, it was one of the big questions of the _ wasn't it? yes, it was one of the big questions of the time - wasn't it? yes, it was one of the big questions of the time in - wasn't it? yes, it was one of the i big questions of the time in march 2020 when the uk's nations finally went into lockdown, about patients in hospital, would it be betterfor them to be discharged or not to actually free up space fourth covid patients and discharge into care homes. that was a very difficult topic and it was said that those who had gone into care homes, it was the decision that had to be made and the biggest risk was from the local community, but that is a very contentious issue, there will be more on that in due course. 0ne contentious issue, there will be more on that in due course. one of the problems the nhs had was people stuck in hospital unable to be

discharged, and that was a long—standing problem for the nhs, which hadn't been fully tackled by the time covid came along. thank you very much. i want to return to our top story. the israeli prime minister had been saying that the israeli ministry —— is really miserable military has now surrounded gaza city. this is the long discussed aim of that military involvement on the ground within gas of the israeli military. within the last few minutes we have had an update from the israeli defence forceful stop here as their spokesman. translation: , ., , translation: the idf have completed their encirclement _ translation: the idf have completed their encirclement of _

translation: the idf have completed their encirclement of gaza _ translation: the idf have completed their encirclement of gaza city. - translation: the idf have completed their encirclement of gaza city. in - their encirclement of gaza city. in recent hours, our military along with airforce had been recent hours, our military along with air force had been outpost headquarters and additional terrorist infrastructure used by hamas leadership and its terrace. they are also dismantling explosive so that the troops can move freely within this area. the trips are killing terrorists and face to wherever there is a battle. the idf always come out with the upper hand. we are constantly guiding fire from the air and we are constantly guiding fire from the airand from we are constantly guiding fire from the air and from the sea. if we need, we retreat to and use more fire from the air, from the sea. this repeats itself from one battle to the next. we are going to continue to fight like that. the trips are led by the commanders who are laden with bravery, with terrorism, along with the troops, marching forward. that is the spirit

of the battle. this is how the idf fights, in full force as it faces hamas in the gaza strip and we must admit —— must make no mistake, we need to pay attention to a deficit of one of the leaders of hamas, this murderous organisation, to iran today. people fly there on a private jet and the reception he will get from the edge —— of the iranian leader is very significant. it is a rant behind the various proxies surrounding us in order to deviate us from the focus on gas and hamas, but we are focusing on hamas, dismantling hamas and making every possible effort to bring back or hostages. we will not digress from that focus. well he flies in private jets and will sacrifice gaza, that this is his entire purpose, to

sacrifice gaza for their own personal survival. sacrifice gaza for their own personalsurvival. in sacrifice gaza for their own personal survival. in the north of israel, idf attacked the fighter jets many targets of hezbollah, this includes military positions at the terraced headquarters and launching sites and warehouses for weapons. many targets were struck tonight and that was in retaliation to rocket fire that was launched from the lebanese border to the north of israel. in the north, the idf will retaliate with actions, not with words, not words, and we are very much prepared. the idf along with the israeli security agency continue to fight against palestinian terrorism, arresting dozens of wanted individuals every night, intercepting many terror acts every night and there are various operations, post offensive and

defensive, directed with precision targets in several areas simultaneously. dozens of our aircraft are filling the skies of the middle east at any given moment. 0ur enemies see this aerial picture, they see the air force under capabilities to act with precision on these targets that are provided. they understand what this means. the air force along with the directorate are covering for our troops out there in the field, both in gaza and in the north. the aerial defence along with the maritime branch continue their efforts to protect the citizens of israel and the skies of israel in all areas, in all borders. the chief of the general staff visited the air force base and said that the idf is completely prepared and deployed for every development in every arena. the air force is now utilising less than half of its power and it is completely ready to be dispatched in

every theatre and a very short notice for whatever is needed. so far 242 hostages's families have been informed and we have informed the families of 330 539 macro of fallen soldiers, our hearts are with the families and we will continue to be with them and support them in these very difficult moments. we will also support those who were injured and wished them a quick return to health and a return to their families. return to health and a return to theirfamilies. those return to health and a return to their families. those who were killed in action made a significant overwhelming contribution to the safety and security of the state of israel. moreover, their contribution in the spirits of their combats and the compass they provide to all the trips we are now fighting both in gaza and then the north of israel and what moves them is to serve as a beacon for those who have fallen. it

is for their sake that we will continue to fight until we win. is for their sake that we will continue to fight until we win. over the next few weeks all of us will need to display resilience and patience. that is daniel hagari there, the spokesman for the idf. we will also speak soon to a family who have relatives stuck in gaza. this is because the city tonight in darkness. very little power there right now. we will have the headlines coming up injust a moment. you're watching bbc news. hello there. good evening. damage and plenty of disruption following on in the wake of storm ciaran, which has been sweeping eastwards affecting mainly southern areas of the uk today with record low pressure for november, coastal overtopping, very large waves.

strong gusts of wind too, particularly for the channel islands, 93mph gusts recorded earlier on this morning atjersey airport. 78mph gusts of wind in dover and kent. of course, the storm has now eased and the center of the low pressure associated with it will be out into the north sea as we head through tonight. still bands of showers and longer spells of rain swirl around this low pressure. still strong, gusty winds for a time too for eastern scotland and north—east england. here we will see some more showers throughout the night. elsewhere, a few showers, particularly for northern ireland, but some clear spells, as well. temperatures down to between four and eight degrees celsius. tomorrow will be a calmer looking day. the low continues to spin its way further northwards and eastwards. there is another area of low pressure that's going to be with us from the south—west on friday night into saturday. for most of us it's a calmer looking day on friday. still strong, gusty winds, gusting as high as 45 to 50mph for eastern scotland, north—east england. perhaps still some more showers

here falling on saturated ground could cause some more issues perhaps as the total start to mount up. another rash of showers too for northern ireland, western wales and for south—west england. elsewhere, largely dry some sunny spells, temperatures ten to 14 degrees celsius north to south. on friday night into saturday we look out towards the south—west again, with another deep area of low pressure approaching. again, it's set to affect mostly southern areas of the uk, southern england and parts of south wales with heavy downpours of rain on saturday morning. pushing northwards, weakening, but some more showers following on in its wake. across northern england, northern ireland and for much of scotland away from the far north it should be largely drag in. the winds are set to pick up towards channel coasts, but not as windy as it was earlier on today with the storm. as we head through saturday night, that area of low pressure again pushes out into the north sea. we develop more of a north—westerly wind, so the focus of the showers on sunday will tend to be out towards the north and the west. for most of us, it should feel a little drier, a little cooler and there will be some sunshine, i think,

for much of the second half of the weekend, so a calmer picture. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines. israel prime minister declares that his troops are at "the height of battle"— advancing into gaza city — after pushing through hamas's front

lines in the north of the gaza of the gaza strip. storm karen sweeps across the channel islands with winds of more than a hundred miles an hour. of more than a hundred miles an hour — knocking out power to thousands of homes. music and the final song from the beatles put up now and then has been released. we will play that for you and find out exactly how it was made. all that still to come in the next half hour. all that still to come in the next half hour. israel's prime minister — benjamin netanyahu — says his country's troops are at "the height of battle" in their ground operation in gaza

and have made significant progress. video footage from both sides shows israeli tanks and troops