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narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. brook: these are pple who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. i'm thriving by helping others everyday. people who know, know bdo. narrator: 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". >> live from london,c news. the israeli army says it has completely encircled gaza city, as prime minisr benjamin

netanyahu says the height of the battle has been reached in the north of the gaza strip. israel's bombardment of gaza continues. the health ministry says 27 people have been killed in an airstrike near a u.n. school. more foreign passport holders have been able to cross into egypt from gaza, including u.s. and u.k. nationals. also today, a storm court sweeps across southern england in the channel islds with winds of more than 100 miles an hour, knocking out power to thousands of homes. and the first global summit on ai safety draws to a close. the u.k. prime minister warns that risks are too important to be left to the tech giants. ♪ hello to you. welcome to the program. we start with news that the israeli army says it has completely encircled gaza city,

as the prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the height of battle had been reache. the idf said soldiers were engaged in close quarters combat with hamas fighters, staging hit and run attacks from underground tunnels. they said 130 hamas fighters had 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 is targeting hamas infrastructure, including tunnels and rocket launchers, and minimizing civilian deaths. but it follows another night of israeli airstrikes, all in retaliation for hamas' raid into southern israel on the seventh of october, in which israel says more than 1400 people were killed, with another 240 others kidnapped. israel's intense bob balmer's of gaza -- intense bombardments of gaza continues. 20 people have been killed in a strike near a un's school.

more than 9000 people have now been killed in gaza since the seventh of october. there are also reports tonight of dozens killed just south of the line which israel told palestinians from the north t move across for their own safety. meanwhile, more evacuees from gaza have arrived in egypt through the rafah crossing. that comes a day after the border was first reopened to enable some foreign citizens and a seriously ill and wounded palestinians to leave. today, egypt said it will help evacua aroximately 7000 foreign nationals and dual national injured palestinians, who will be treated in a field hospital there. let's take you live to john donnison, who is live in jerusalem. two developments to talk about tonight, one from the israeli prime minister, who says his troops are closing in on gaza city. but this is the point where the movement becomes much more difficult and deadly, doesn't it? >> it does.

first of all, we have benjamin netanyahu saying his troops are at the height of the battle, as you say, and they have passed into the outskirts of gaza city, advancing with their ground offensive. this announcement in the last half an hour from an israeli military spokesperson, saying they have 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 think they have certainly got their navy stationed off the coast. so, they feel they have got gaza cityurrounded, where we think certainly in northern gaza where there are still people who have not evacuated. >> and therefore many people still wanting to leave. we know the rafah crossing between gaza and egypt is the

focus of a lot of attention, not only to get aid in, but get people out. an update that more foign passport holders have been able to leave, but the numbers remain very small, don't they? >> very small. it is just a tiny fraction of gaza's population of around 2.2 million people. the egyptians had said they were going to try and get roundabout 500 people with foreign passports out today. they are quite close to that yesterday, but the numbers seem considerably less today, although we do know some american passport holders and a few brits have managed to get out. but there are over 7000 people with foreign passports in gaza, so it igoing to take a considerable amount of time. this morning, another list was published. we saw people scrolling through e names, looking to see whether they were on the list,

and many people disappointed. of course, different governments around the world are putting pressure on egypt and israel to prioritize their people in getting them out, but you cannot get everybody out at once. >> john, really good to have you with that update. john donnison joining us live from jerusalem. as we have talked about, hearing from the israeli prime minister, sang his troops are at the height of battle, and circling gaza city. but what does that mean and what could happen next? we have a former commanding officer who served in the british army in afghanistan. i spoke to him earlier and he gave his assessments of those operations as those troops advanced to the outskirts of gaza city. >> a very challenging thing for the defense force. what they are trying to do now is to cut off gaza city completely to prevent the escape of terrorists and 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 locations where hamas leaders are located. and they will then progressively attempt to deal with each of those locations by ground forces salt. --ground force assault. it will be very close terrain. they will be focused on trying to move along the wider roads inside gaza city. the major challenges they face obviously are ambushes, bombs that hamas has positioned, but also trying to get to the targets and kill as many terrorists as they can while minimizing the death of innocent civilians, which is a very high priority for they idf. and at the same time, obviously trying to avoid also killing any

of the hostages they encounter, particularly if they get to the need to get into the tunnels underneath gaza to either locate the hostages or destroy hamas infrastructure. >> yes, and you raise a couple important points. i am just looking at a press conference being given by the white house spokesperson john kirby. he is talking about the idea of exploring as many ways is necessary to get people out of gaza and aid in. that has been the ambition for a long time. nothing has come of it. what is your assessment of this, that perhaps israel will not be welcoming of the idea of a pause just as it's troops get to the outskirts of gaza city? that is not what it will be planning. >> no. that would be a catastrophe militarily when their objective is to destroy how mass terrorists -- hamas terrorists.

the idea of stopping halfway through and potentially allowing terrorists to escape is problematic. of course, the idf also has a priority of trying to protect civilians, including getting humanitarian aid in. but i think what they will be doing in operations, rather than focusing on getting aid in his encouraging the population, those elements of the population that remain in gaza, to head south into areas of greater relative safety. >> that was colonel richard kemp speaking to me earlier. we will return to events in the middle east a little later view. here at home, winds of 100 miles an hour have been battering parts of the u.k. as storm ciaran moves across the country. thousands of homes have been left without power. hundreds of schools have been closed in parts of southern england and the channel islands. there is also widespread travel disruptions. our correspondent

reports from jersey, one of the hardest hit areas. >> look at the state of it. trees down, roof tiles everywhere, gardens blown to pieces. but then, there are the houses. people's homes. we thought the seafront flats had been abandoned. but then we heard the voice of bob, sheltering beneath the ruins of his neighbor's home. >> oh my word. >> 12:00, we hear this mighty bang. it is just devastated. everything went. >> i've never seen anything like it. it was scary. it was really loud. >> next door, lorraine was looking at the damage. >> i've got some cuts here. it is crazy. >> what are you going to do now? >> i have nodea. go to my sisters and try to relax because i am shaky at the moment. >> that is a wall that has blown

down. i think this is worse than people expected. we are right on the seafront. these properties have been badly damaged. it is not clear if or when people will be able to repair or return at all. >> a couple of streets further back, it is in some ways even worse, not just sles off but entire roofs. people believe they were hit by a tornado. >> we were just sitting down, and then we heard that massive and seen that black coming towards us. it was horrible. >> within seconds, it just ripped through the estate. the noise was just out of this world. >> winds reached 100 miles an hour, forcing families to evacuate. watch this mum's reaction to nature's sudden power. >> i just knew i needed to get out.

it was pretty scary. it is quite hard to watch and look back on it, kwing what could have happened if i was not in the room at the time. >> and here is some hearty islander resolved, after the most frightening night of mag's life. >> i was too scared to stay in the bedroom. the kitchen was the safest place, to be honest. i just sat in the kitchen chair. i hav't had a wink of sleep. >> this is only a small part of the island, but this neighborhood has been turned literally upside down. it will take a lot to put it back together again. don johnson, bbc news, jersey. >> around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. let's have a look at some of the other stories here in the u.k. the bank of england held its benchmark interest rate of 5.2 5%. that is the second consecutive time it has left it unchanged.

the bank held rains in september after 14 hikes in a row since the end of. 2021 but at the u.k. inch ash the u.k. interest rate still at its highest level in 15 years. glastonbury festival organizers have pushed back the sale of tickets by two weeks. they were due to go online this evening but the organizers said it would be unfair to go ahead because some people had issues with registration. tickets for 2024 will go on sale on the 16th of november. the royal meant 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 first of the new coins are expected to enter circulation at the end of the month. there is more on all those storie on the website, bbc.co.uk/news. you are live with bbc news.

let's turn to a story that has gripped australia. a woman there has been charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. that is after she served her guests a beef weington dinner that was cooked with poisonous mushrooms. her former husband has also been invited to the meal, but he was unable to make it at the last minute. for more, i spoke with ou correspondent, who has been reporting. >> we know that 49-year-old eric patterson -- erin patterson was arrested yesterday. she was taken in for questioning here in victoria. about four hours later, she was charged with five counts of attempted murder and three counts of murder in relation to this meal that was served allegedly using mushrms back on july 29. the people who died related to

the murder charges were her ex-husband's parents. they were john and gail patterson, also gail's sister. she sadly passed away after becoming ill and going hospital. three people died in hospital within days of eating this meal. in hospital, critically ill was heather's husband ian. he is the local pastor. he managed to recover, thankfully, and was released nearly two months later from hospital. that is in relation to the attempted murder charges. there is also separate attempted murder charges which police say relate to separate incidents that happened in 202 and 2022. that is in relation to a 48-year-old man.

that is in relation to meals that he allegedly consumed and became ill at the time. >> just an astonishing story. here in the u.k., the covid inquiry has heard that the former health secretary matt hancock wand to decide who should live and who should die if hospitals became overwhelmed. the man who led the nhs until 2021, simon stevens, told the hearing that he wanted to discourage the idea that the secretary of state should decide that. fortunately, he said, this horrible dilemma never crystallized. let's talk to our editor. some astonishing evidence emerging at the covid inquiry, and the very idea that a health secretary, a politician, could be in a position to decide who should live and who should die. >> yes. the background to this is in

february 2020 a group of officials had modeled the likely worse case scenario for covid-19. at the time, there were not that manycases in the u.k. there was a general sense amongst the public of life as usual. but these officials had carried out their worst case scenario exercise and concluded there might be 840,000 deaths over four months. in the wake of that, we heard today, there had been discussion about some very difficult choices if hospitals were overwhelmed in that scenario and whether, frankly, some patients should be given treatment enabling them to survive but others would not be so fortunate, would not get the treatment and would not survive. matt hancock, then health secretary covering england, had said the secretary of state should be the person who made that decision rather than

medical professionals over the public. but lord stevens giving evidence today, he disagreed. here's what he had to say at the inquiry. >> i certainly wanted to discourage the idea that an individual secretary of state should be deciding how care would be provided. i felt that we are well served by the medical profession in consultation with patients to the greatest extent possible making those kinds of decisions. >> matt hancock will have his own version of events and will 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 that at times hancock had been untruthful, he had seen personally no evidence of that. >> huw, 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 because they cannot be cared for in the community. that was addressed today as well. >> it was one of the big questions at the time in march 2020 when the u.k. finally went into lockdown, about patients in hospital. would it be better for them to be discharged or not, to free up space for code bid patients, but discharged into care homes? that was a difficult topic, but it was said those who got into care homes, it was a decision that had to be made and the biggest risk was from the local community. that is a very contentious issue. one of the problems the nhs had

was people stuck in hospital unable to be discharged, and that was a long-standing issue for the nhs, that had not been fully tackled by the time covid came around. >> thank you. much more evidence to here is the inquiry continues. that is our health editor. i want to return to our top story because we have been reporting that the israeli prime minister is saying his military has now completed and encirclement o gaza city. it has been attacking outposts, headquarters, and other hamas infrastructure. the long discussed aim of the military's involvement on the ground of the military. we have had an update from israel defense forces. take a listen. >> the idf troops have completed encircling ga city, which is the center of the hamas

organization. in recent hours, our infantry along with various aircraft have been attacking outposts, headquarters, launching sites, and additional terrorist infrastructure used by hamas leadership and its terrorists. the engineering troops are also identifying ied's and explosives, dismantling them so the troops can move freely within this area. the troops are killing the terrorists in face-to-face battles wherever there is a battle, even if it is a difficult one. the troops always come out with the upper hand. we are constantly guiding fire from the air and the sea. if we need, we retreat and use more fire from the air, from the sea, and continue. this repeats itself from one battle to the next. and we will continue to fight like that. the troops are led by the commanders, who are leading combat with bravery, heroism, along with the troops marching forward.

that is the spirit of the battle. this is how the idf fights. the idf fights in full force as it faces hamas. if we want to understand who is involved in the war, we need to pay attention. one of the leaders will fly to iran on a private jet. the significance is iran is behind the various proxies surrounding us, the houthis, hezbollah, and others. but we are focusing on hamas, we are cusing on dismantling hamas, and to make every possible effort to bring back all of our hostages. that is our focus and we will not digress from that. while he flies on private jets and will sacrifice gaza, that is

his entire purpose, to sacrifice gaza for their own personal survival. north of israel, the idf attacked with fighter jets various targets of hezbollah in lebanese territory. this includes military positions, terrorist 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. the idf will retaliate with actions,, not words and we are very much prepared. along with the israel security agency, we continue to fight terrorism, arresting dozens of wanted individuals every night. there are various operations,

both offensive and defensive, directed with precision targets in several areas simultaneously. dozens of our aircraft's are filling the skies of the middle east at any given moment. our enemies see this aerial picture. they see the air force, and our capabilities to act with precision on these targets. they understand what this means. the air force are covering for our troops out there in the field, both in gaza and in the north. the aerial defense system, along with the maritime branch, continue their efforts to protect the citizens of israel and the skies of israel in all areas. today, the chief of staff visited the air force base and said the idf is complety prepared and deployed for every development and every arena. the air force is now utilizing only less than half of its power, and it is completely

ready to be dispatched in every theater and at a very short notice for whatever is needed. so far, 242 hostages' families have been notified. we have notified the families of 335 fallen soldiers. we will continue to be with them and support them in these very difficult moments. we will also support those who were injured and wish them rapid health until they can return to their families. those who were killed enact and made a significant, overwhelming contribution to the safety and security of the state of israel. moreover, their contribution in the spirit of combat and the compass they provide to all the troops who are now fighting both in gaza and the north of israel, and what moves them is to serve

as a beacon for those who have fallen. and it 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 the spokesperson for the israel defense forces speaking a little earlier. in the next half hour, we will hear the story of one family that is stuck inside gaza city right now as israel defense forces say their troops have broken through hamas front lines and past outskirts of gaza city. let me show you the scene live. that is gaza city tonight, in darkness. there is a very little power right now. we will have the latest headlines for you coming up in a narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors.

narrator: 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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