♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program

is provided by... woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. man: cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor. diverse destinations. and immersive experiences. a world of leisure... and british style. all with cunard's "white-star" service. 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: and now, "bbc news"

caitríona: i'm caitríona perry in washington, and this is "bbc world news america." israeli forces recover the bodies of three hostages abducted from the nova music festival october 7. the u.s. military confirms the first deliveries of aid have arrived into gaza via temporary floating pier. president biden makes an appeal to black voters on the 17th anniversary of the landmark civil rights-era ruling that desegregated u.s. schools. hello, and welcome to "world news america." i'm caitríona perry. three israeli hostages taken captive by hamas october 7 have

been found dead in gaza. israeli forces recover the bodies of itzhak gelerenter, amit buskila, and shani louk on friday. shani louk was confirmed dead at the end of october. the israeli army believes all three were killed at the nova music festival. they were among more than 250 hospitals taken -- hostages taken into gaza, of which roughly half are still unaccounted for. the idf expressed condolences to the victims' families. >> our hearts go out to them, to the families, at this difficult time. we will leave no stone unturned. we will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home. we will not rest until we do. caitríona: meanwhile, lawyers for israel have told the court of justice that south africa is making a mockery of genocide. it comes after south africa implored the u.n.'s top court to

order israel to stop its inclusion in rafah, setting the genocide convention. now that both sides have presented arguments, it is up to the icj's judges to find out if it is necessary to issue a ruling. reporter: israel describes south africa's case as an inversion of reality divorced from facts, and accused south africa of exploiting the genocide convention by presenting outlandish allegations, such as accusing israel of creating extermination zones, using language reminiscent of the holocaust, and comparing the situation in rafah to the genocide in sir bonita -- s rebe nica. israel set a state wishing to commit genocide wouldn't provide aid as israel has, and w wouldn't have waited to commence the operation in rafah to give civilians time to evacuate. they said if the icj granted

and allowed idf troops to medially withdraw, it would be violating israel's right to defend itself and enabling hamas to continue to commit crimes. israel said that if hostages were released and hamas laid down its arms, hostilities would cease. caitríona: for more on the recovery of the israeli hostages from gaza and the hearing against israel at the icj, i spoke to former israeli ambassador to the u.s. michael oren. thanks for joining us on the program. the sad news that the idf has recovered the bodies of three of the hostages, the condition or whereabouts of all of the other remaining hostages is not known israel believes about 90 or so are still alive. the families of those hostages think that prime minister netanyahu should be doing more to try and bring them home. do you agree? michael: the situation is very complex and painful.

on one hand israel made an offer which secretary of state blinken described as extraordinarily generous, to have a 40-day cease-fire, release hundreds of palestinian terrorists from our jails -- you gotta go to all the families of people who were killed by the terrorists and expand why they are getting out of jail -- in return for 33 terrorists, because the initial offer 40, there were not enough hostages left alive to get to 40, so we agreed to 33 hostages. hamas turned it down. right now there doesn't seem to be any option. hamas is demanding that israel declared defeat, that we withdraw all of our forces from the gaza strip, and go back to october 6 and enable hamas to emerge from the tunnels to reorganize and rearm and mount the next strike, as hamas's own commanders said they will keep doing this 10,000 times until we are destroyed. it doesn't leave a lot of

maneuvering room for any israeli decision-makers. i think the israeli government will remain open to suggestions, but i don't -- if one of the suggestions is that israel loses the war and hamas wins, i think that is a new starter. caitríona: the u.s., though, very clear that it wants israel to let more aid into gaza to relieve the dire humanitarian situation we are seeing in there. michael: and i agree with them. i've been an early advocate of flooding gaza with aid, because starvation situation in gaza only aids hamas. hamas likes to see palestinians dead -- caitríona: sorry for interrupting -- there is a delay on the line, michael -- but we are not seeing that situation where aid is flooding into israel. in actual fact, we are seeing the opposite, were a couple of the crossings have been closed, and the reports from the u.n. and aid agencies in the south of gaza say that aid has all but dried up. michael: across the rafah

crossing on the south, the border between gaza and egypt, the egyptians won't open that crossing. israel has opened up four additional crossings, and you have the peer established by the u.s. military, and israel has to bring thata id in because united states won't put boots on the ground. aid has increased tremendously. whether it is adequate enough, let's keep addressing it. that is a work in progress, and i'm very much in favor of continued aid, because the absence of aid aids hamas. there will be pressure on israel to agree to a permanent cease-fire. caitríona: i want to ask you about the hearing at the international court of justice that has been underway the past two days. south africa seeking a declaration preventing israel from mounting a full-scale invasion of rafah. israel has rejected this case as false and grossly distorted. while these hearings or any potential order that may come from them influence israel in any way, have any impact on the

plans for rafah? michael: i am often asked that question and the answer i always give is no, it won't, because we are dealing with the situation in which the vast majority of israelis field is an existential situation. we have tens of thousands of internal refugees who cannot return to their homes as long as they believe hamas can mount a second attack, and they will. that is what their leaders pledge to do. if the icc passes a ruling against israel and even issues warrants for arrests of our leaders political and military, israel will have no choice but to pursue the aims of this war because as far is israel is concerned, there is no choice, this is an existential battle. let's not forget, while this battling is going on in the south, hezbollah is pummeling the northern part of the country, killing israeli civilians and soldiers. 75 rockets fired today. that is an utterly intolerable situation, the entire northern part of the country is uninhabitable. we are fighting a two-front war

against islamist extremists and terrorists. we are committed to winning this war. caitríona: michael oren, former israeli ambassador to the u.s., we will have to leave it there, but thank you so much for joining us on bbc news. the u.s. military says a temporary pier constructed off the coast of gaza is operational, and the first shipment of aid has gone ashore. the u.s. and britain began building the floating aid weeks ago. an agent of the palestinians says he welcomes the aid pier but it is not a long-term solution. >> we welcome all efforts to get assistance of gaza strip given how desperate the situation is. but this was intended to be compliment retail land routes, not the solution -- complementary to land routes, not the solution. we have reach a situation where the land crossings have all been

close. so we welcome it. caitríona: as you heard, deliveries of humanitarian aid by land have been added near standstill. the u.n. continues to one that palestinians are on the brink of famine. doctors say the lack of food, clean water, and medical supplies are pushing gaza's health system to near collapse. one of the last functioning health care facilities, where doctors from around the world have been volunteering -- a professor and consulting surgeon is one of them. here is part of a video diary he sent to the bbc. >> very different from the first trip we had. what we did see were the most appalling effects of the malnutrition we are seeing in gaza. >> severe malnutrition prevents wound healing, and will prevent these patients from recovering from injuries that otherwise they would recover easily from. you get this vicious cycle where they really rapidly deteriorate

in their health. they will then die of that if they are not treated. these are often very young people who under normal circumstances would recover fairly well from the operations. but because they have such severe malnutrition, their wounds will not heal properly at all. one about patients was an 18-year-old girl who had significant explosive injuries. there is no doubt in my mind she would've survived these injuries if she had not been malnourished. very sadly she died the day we left gaza. caitríona: for more on the delivery of critical aid into gaza and that new pier, i spoke to the penny got's deputy -- the pentagon's debbie press secretary. thanks for joining us on the program. the first aid has arrived in gaza to this u.s.-built pier. can you tell us the details come how much has arrived, what sort of aid? >> thank you so much for having

me on today. we are getting the details on the numbers. we hope you have more releasable information tomorrow. what i can tell you is exactly what you said, that we go to this temporary -- built this temporary pier to serve as a purpose of getting more humanitarian aid into gaza. very early hours this morning east coast time, you saw the initial trucks rolling off that pier, going into gaza to distribute that aid. we will get you the final numbers from the first few days over the weekend, but what we have emphasized at the department's this is going to be a crawl, walk, run. you will see a small amount of trucks coming off that pier to begin with, and as the days go on we will increase the capacity f. caitríona: has israel guarantee they will let a limited amount of aid come via the sea? sabrina: we have work with partners and other ngos to ensure that aid can get in and

be disrepute it freely and flow frequently -- distributed freely and flow frequently into gaza. those are some of the assurances we do have. we don't anticipate that we would see any aid routes disrupted. again, we have two deconfliction cells set up, one in israel and one in cyprus, coordinating the movement of aid. i have to emphasize that the pier is an additive measure. the best way to get humanitarian aid into gaza and the palestinian people are through the land routes and we want to see those open so that aid can flood the zone into the people that need it most. caitríona: have you had any success speaking to the israelis about reopening those land routes? sabrina: some of those crossings have begun to open, but it is not enough trucks that we have seen go through. those are some of the conversations we are having. the secretary spoke to his counterpart yesterday and this

was a topic of conversation. he raised directly, we have to see more trucks going through those crossings. we are heartened that some of them have opened, but we have to see the aid flow increase every single day. caitríona: the u.n. has said whether aid comes by sea or by land, it desperately needs fuel. no matter how the aid comes, if they have no fuel they cannot get it to people who need it. have the israelis said they are letting fuel and? sabrina: they are letting fuel in and we believe there is enough to allow the distribution of the aid via these ngo trucks to go all over gaza, whether it be the north were south or anywhere else that the people that need it most. we believe there is enough fuel to distribute that aid and for those trucks to drive off -- on and off the pier. caitríona: but the u.n. is saying there isn't enough aid. just today the debbie spokesman said there is not enough fuel to get the aid around gaza. sabrina: what i can tell you is right now on the ground we

believe there is enough fuel to continue to allow our trucks -- allow these ngo trucks to get into gaza and distribute that aid. caitríona: in relation to the pier, is the security of that pier guaranteed, the personnel around it. sabrina: we do have guarantees from the israeli defense forces that our sailors and soldiers will be protected. the israeli defense forces on the ground operate within gaza and have assured us of our security. but of course we are going to take any measures that we need to protect our forces. that is something that the secretary has a priority on, making sure our forces are protected so we do have a destroyer in the region in the eastern med. again, we shouldn't need to use it, as the sole purpose of this temporary pier is to get humanitarian aid income a life-saving aid into the palestinian people. caitríona: the administration has firmly pledge there will be no u.s. boots on the ground in gaza, but what if those

guarantees, something happens to them and there is an attack on the pier while there is u.s. personnel there? sabrina: look, can't really go down the route of hypotheticals, but what i can tell you is what the president has that is our firm stance, there are going to be new boots on the ground in gaza. when it came to anchoring that pier into the beach, we used idf engineers trained by u.s. army soldiers, engineers, to help anchor that pier. there were no boots on the ground in the process. we feel really confident in our security position right now. caitríona: of course there would be no risk to american troops and there wouldn't be all of this expense if the aid could come in through land, if it could be driven to gaza. why hasn't the administration been able to convince the israelis to allow aid to come into their territory? sabrina: i think it's important to take a step back and remember that we are in this position because hamas brutally attacked, launched a brutal attack on

october 7. now, the israelis have committed to going after and defeating hamas within gaza, and we are supportive of their efforts to defeat hamas. but of course we have seen a dire humanitarian situation get worse in gaza, and that is why you saw the u.s. military come to help. we have done air drops alongside other nations, and of course at the direction of the president and his stated the union he directed a maritime corridor to be set up. we are urging more land crossings, we absolutely want to see that. we are having those tough and frank conversations without israeli counterparts. we want to see those land crossings opened up and more aid to getting in, and we are doing our part to make sure aid is getting into otherwise through this maritime corridor. caitríona: some members of the democratic party including senator kathy manning on this program have spoken about the confusion in the messaging coming from the u.s. israel, withholding delivery of large bombs last weekend and this week approving a $1 billion i'm

still. how do that -- $1 billion arms deal. how do those actions sit together? sabrina: i really don't think there is any confusion here. we pause a shipment of high-payload ammunition that we do not feel would be useful or necessary in any type of operation within rafah in such a densely populated environment. however, we are committed to israel's defense, and we stand with our partner and ally in the region. israel is in its fight against a terrorist organization that uses civilians as human shields and berries itself within tunnels. and as you probably remember, and as i know you have covered on your program, just a few weeks ago we sign unprecedented attack by iran towards israel, and we came to israel's defense. we have to remember the security environment israel is living in. israel is under attack from iran and hamas and hezbollah, and they have a right to defend themselves and we will give them the supplies they need to defend themselves. but we can have those tough

conversations and we are urging them to take great care of the civilian population within rafah, which is why we don't feel that 2000-pound bombs are necessary in an area with a densely populated community. caitríona: t theo war in ukraine now and intense fighting continues in the kharkiv region after russia made its biggest territorial gains in 18 months. russia's defense ministry said it is taking control of 12 villages in the northeast in the past week. president putin says moscow has no current plans to capture the city of kharkiv. he says his latest military offensive is to establish a buffer zone to protect russian border areas. however, police in the region are going door-to-door in a town to evacuate any remaining residents. russia's foreign ministry warned that the u.s. and the u.k. on friday that they were playing with fire by allowing ukraine to use western missiles and weapons to strike russia. it added that moscow would not leave such actions unanswered. the u.s. state department the accusations.

-- rejected the accusations. president biden addressed crowds at an event commemorating a landmark 1950's ruling that desegregated u.s. public schools. biden is making a fresh effort to bolster support from black voters, with recent polling suggesting that the president's support among them is eroding. a washington post/ipsos poll found that only 38% of black americans is a president biden's policies have helped black people. the president began his remarks at washington's african-american museum by declaring lack history as american history--black history as american history. pres. biden: when we make real the promise of america for all americans, the nation changes for the better, everything grows. after the brown versus board of physician, public schools much too slowly were integrated. graduation rates for black and latino students increased significantly, though. the brown decision proves a simple idea, we learn better when we learn together. caitríona: in that landmark

brown decision in 1954, the u.s. supreme court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. the case served as a catalyst for the expansion of the civil rights movement in the u.s. however, its 70 anniversary comes as a new report suggests that school segregation in the u.s. is worse now than it was in the 1980's. researchers found that increasing school choice options and a lack of legal oversight in integration efforts were the main factors fueling the increase. the daughter of one of the brown versus board of education plaintiffs says the fight for school integration continues until every child in the u.s. has the same academic opportunities. >> we are still fighting the battle over whose children do we invest in. anytime we can talk about failing underfunded public schools, there is a problem. there should be no such thing. public institutions where most of us got our education should be world-class educational

institutions. i'm not understanding that, and i want us to roll up our sleeves and get back to the hard work of educating our children. caitríona: the top golf player in the world, scottie scheffler teed off, and kentucky hours after police handcuffed and arrested him before the start of the second round. scheffler was charged with four counts including assaulting a police officer after allegedly trying to driver on traffic over a fatal accident that did not involve the golfer. the champion said the ordeal was a big misunderstanding. pga of america said in a statement that it is fully cooperating as local authorities review what took place. cubans are enjoying some of their bleakest economic times since the cold war, amid worsening inflation and a scarcity of basic goods in the decades-long u.s. embargo. a minister was arrested in march for corruption. many think it will take more

than one ministerial head to roll to pull cuba from its economic woes. will grant traveled to the heartland of one of cuba's most quintessential industries, sugar, to see how tough the situation has become. will: sugar is in cuba's dna. there is a saying on the island, without sugar there is no country. but this year sugarcane harvest will be one of the poorest on record. sugar is supposed to be the mainstay of the cuban economy, is emblematic to the island as its tobacco. but a series of factors, principally the lack of available fuel and use of underinvestment, have made cuban sugar and industry in the near-terminal decline. there is not enough trucks, and the fuel shortages sometimes mean we cannot work for days," says miguel. it is the situation made worse by the decades-long u.s. sanctions on the island. cuba needs the sugar, in part

for its famous rum. but the problems are not just the fault of the u.s. embargo. there is mismanagement of cuba's centralized economy. this sugar mill runs on rusting, obsolete technology, one of two dozen working mills on the island. once unthinkable, cuba now imports sugar to meet domestic demand, a far cry from the glory days when cuban sugar was exported to the world. one man who can get his hands on enough sugar is martin, part of a new breed of cuban entrepreneur whose business produces yogurt and ice cream. the production of food stuffs in private hands is a big change in cuba, yet it has been hailed by the cuban president as a model for the future. this is capitalism, pure and simple, no matter how much the businessman behind it display revolutionary credentials. >> the government has never proposed anything that benefits

me economically. it treats me like just another private entrepreneur, no special privileges whatsoever. will: amid spiraling inflation, cuba's government recently imposed a five folding crease on subsidized fuel at petrol pumps. ordinary cubans say they are suffering more than any other time since the cold war. the u.s. election brings no hope of respite from washington. no matter who wins. cuba's problems extend beyond the race for the white house. with the plants barely operational, the island is in danger of losing part of its soul, its once-iconic trade network ghost industry, a mere shadow of its former self. will grant, bbc news. caitríona: that's it from us for today. you can find all the days news on a website, bbc.com/news, or check us out on your favorite social-media platform. i'm caitríona perry. for all the team here, thanks for watching "world

announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. cunard is a proud supporter of public television. 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.