to leave for their safety. images show craters and levelled buildings. the bbc can't verify most battlefield claims immediately but the idf say the target was ibrahim biari, a senior hamas battalion commander that the idf describes as pivotal to the planning of the october 7th attacks. jeremy bowen's report contains scenes you may find appalling. the israeli army says the strike killed a senior hamas commander. and some of his men. it said hamas was using these civilians as human shields in a cruel and brutal manner and that the air strikes caused the collapse of underground hamas bunkers. israel ordered civilians to leave this area. many did. many others did not. the un said some people even returned to their homes because conditions further south were so desperate. an unknown number of people are buried under the rubble. they were pulling out children. he says, "oh, god, my three children are gone. "three kids. "i hope i can find one of them alive. "i didn't bid them farewell." jabalia camp coversjust over half a square mile. 116,000 refugees were registered here with the un before the war. he says, "it's a massacre. "30 to a0 homes blown to pieces, bodies everywhere. "everyone�*s looking for their beloved ones." the local hospital was overwhelmed with casualties. the surgical director sent the bbc this video. he said they'd done 15 to 20 amputations. patients, he said, arrived packed into ambulances with the wounded alongside the dead. we have received about 400 injured patients between very seriously injured patients and inaudible. the majority of them are children and women. dr elron told me around 120 dead from this afternoon's attack are at the hospital. they ran out of space inside the building. hamas released these pictures of their men emerging from part of their extensive tunnel network. it's hard to work out with any precision what's happening in the ground war. both sides claim to have killed their enemies. hamas will try to use hit—and—run guerrilla tactics against a much more powerful army. israel released these pictures. it seems clear they're pressing forward. some reports say they're closer to gaza city without entering it yet. moving through relatively open villages is much less of a military challenge than advancing into a city. on their side of the gaza border, israel has plenty of force in reserve and, it says, a long fight ahead. we don't have much detail about what the israelis are doing inside gaza. they are working very hard to control the information battlefield, which is a big part of modern war. they are releasing some video and some generalized communiques about success, but they are minimising access. jabalia will fuel the controversy about killing palestinian civilians — unintentional casualties, israel says, in a just war. america warned israel not to be blinded by rage. and palestinians believe israel is inflicting another catastrophe on them. jeremy bowen, bbc news, southern israel. us secretary of state antony blinken returns to israel on friday and will meet officials, and make other stops in the region. it will be his second time in israel since the war began. let's look at some other diplomatic developments. the us senate confirmed jack lew as ambassador to israel, a post empty since the summer. bolivia and colombia cut diplomatic ties with israel over its military operations. over its military operations in gaza. the outgoing un human rights commissioner said the un is "failing to prevent genocide". in his final letter as an official, he was stepping down already having reached retirement age. we spoke to a senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for peace. he was adviser to a number of secretaries of state. very good to see you. there has been condemnation of this strike. israel says a senior hamas commander was killed. hamas infrastructure was targeted. but it was a refugee camp as well. what do you make of israel's response here, its defence? the framework was set on october 7th, which took the people of israel, the psychology of israel, to a completely different level. on october 6th, israel was one country, on october 8th, they were another. that is what the us ambassador said. it's clear, it's painful, it's cruel. but it is israel's policy. to the degree the israelis are able to abide by international humanitarian law, distinction, proportionality, the avoidance of civilian casualties, i think they will. i don't think this is an intentional effort to kill thousands of palestinians, but they are committed to eradicate hamas, not just the military arm. but to undermine its sovereignty and capacity to govern. the key question, assuming they are able to accomplish it momentarily, all these gains will amount to nothing if the underlying reasons for gaza being the way it is, the absence of security and prosperity — if those things aren't addressed, and tethered frankly to a comprehensive effort to make significant progress towards ending... right. i know it seems... i suspect this is just a brutal, cruel and painful round. the secretary of state is heading to israel and other visits in the region. he wrote an op—ed speaking about the imperative of defending israel and also aiding civilians in gaza. do you think he will be putting more pressure on israel? i think he will be reminding israel in the strongest terms possible, on the the question of humanitarian assistance in southern gaza, and perhaps the need for a humanitarian pause. remember, the humanitarian catastrophe is notjust displaced gazans in the south, it is the breakdown of social and economic order in and around gaza city. but the real question is clear. the administration made it clear on october 10th when the president gave that incredibly emotional and powerful address. he is prepared to give israel the time, space and support to do what they think they need, in the wake of october 7th, against hamas. as the israeli minister of defence said several days ago, "we will listen to our friends, but we will do what is right for us. we have also heard us officials have been pressuring israeli officials to give them some sort of insight into the plan for the day after this military operation, if hamas can be toppled. we saw secretary blinken say in the senate that he thinks a revitalised palestinian authority could have governance and security responsibility for gaza. is that realistic? right now, the palestinian authority fecklessly observing, not able to do anything protecting palestinians in gaza. they are not even able to protect the palestinians in the area they have. the palestinian authority right now in its current form couldn't punch its way out of a paper bag. mahmoud abbas is in the 18th year of a four—year term. he's got very little credibility with palestinians. in order to revive the palestinian authority, you need tremendous help from israel, you need credible elections, probably for a new president and a new legislature. but above all, you need some sense, some hope, some way forward to end the israeli occupation and to work towards, i would argue, the least bad solution in this conflict. so one of the options put out, from the secretary of state, gaza's neighbours could govern it when hamas is out. president biden spoke with king abdullah of jordan as well. what role do you think the neighbours in the region can play? i think the arab states could play a key role. but the notion that arab states... 2.3 million people require, according to the peacekeeping rule, a force of 10,000 peacekeepers. it's hard to imagine that arab gendarmerie, let alone military forces, would be deployed in order to create law and order, and perhaps even be forced into doing some counter—insurgency work, if in fact hamas is able to maintain some residual presence. i find it hard to believe that an arabic peacekeeping force would be put in a position where they are not necessarily protecting, but maintaining law and order against a population, a percentage of which is going to be extremely angry. in the wake of what we see. we will have to leave it there. thank you forjoining us. the war in the middle east has set off a funding debate in us congress. secretary of state blinken and secretary of defence lloyd austin made the case for more aid to israel and other national security issues in the senate. they pushed senators to agree with president biden�*s request for a $106 billion package including $14.3 billion to support the israeli military and more than $9 billion for humanitarian relief for israel and gaza. the package also asks for aid to ukraine, the indo—pacific and the southern border. but the newly elected speaker wants to separate funding for israel and ukraine. president biden said he would veto any legislation that would cut monies to ukraine. in a new york police have arrested a man when a user with the man hamas threatened to shootjewish student. the student has been charged with the fbi for posting threats to kill using interstate communications. the crime is punishable with up to five years in prison and he is due to appear in court on wednesday. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's take a look now at some other headlines. king charles and queen consort camilla are on the second of a four—day to kenya. a state trip to kenya. he addressed crowds during a state banquet in the east african country, his first visit to a commonwealth nation since he became the king. today, mr president, you and i stood by the mighty tree which marks the spot where almost 60 years ago, the kenyan flag was first raised. it seemed to me that the tree is thriving, strong and deeply rooted, just as this great republic and her people continue to thrive. the monarch acknowledged the "painful aspects of the uk and kenya's shared history" but stopped short of a full apology for one of the british empire's bloodiest insurgencies. more than 10,000 kenyans were killed and others tortured during the struggle for independence. this during the mau mau uprising. in 2013, the uk compensated more than 5,000 people in a deal worth $24 million. you are watching bbc news. let's return to the top story. the aftermath of the israeli strike on the jabalia refugee camp. israel says it attacks a major target democratic hamas titles and bunkers. gordon correra takes a closer look in the network of tunnels and how it could shape the next phase of the war. the aftermath of today's strike on jabalia. israel claimed that as well as killing a leader of hamas, they also destroyed underground hideouts, collapsing them beneath the wreckage. so what do we know about these tunnels? back in 2015, the bbc was shown these tunnels in the south of gaza, run by a group allied to hamas. back then, they were being used to hide mortars, which could be fired into israel. in the years since, the tunnel network has grown enormously, as we can see from this footage released by hamas. you can see here the size of the tunnels with reinforced concrete to protect them. they have lighting and electricity and even what appears to be communication systems. images like this, issued by israeli forces, but said to be from hamas footage give a sense of the scale. foryears, hamas used the tunnels to emerge out of gaza and carry out attacks in israel. when israel built a fence around gaza, this even extended underground with concrete barriers to block tunnels. but on october 7th, hamas did notjust tunnel out, it also blew holes in the fences. and now israel faces a major challenge, because the tunnels are notjust a way to get out, but also a hiding place. so how big is this network? no one knows for sure. this map from israeli forces show why they call it the gaza metro. the best guess is there may be 300 miles of tunnels. jabalia hit today is in the north. the tunnels are right under the civilian population. destroying them almost certainly means civilian casualties. so what does this mean for any invasion? tunnels pose a real challenge for israeli forces. hamas can use them to retreat, hide weapons and stockpile supplies, plan operations and emerge behind, attacking soldiers. those who fought in tunnels say it's incredibly challenging. normal night vision goggles don't work. communication is almost impossible. you lose sense of direction. israeli forces have been training to fight underground, specialist robots and ground penetrating sensors may help. sponge bombs can expand to close up tunnels. but fighting hamas on its home terrain, where it's been preparing for years and laying traps, would be deeply challenging and israel may try to avoid it. another issue is the more than 200 hostages who may be held underground. one who was released described walking for miles in what she called a damp, humid spider's web of tunnels. the presence of hostages makes some tactics, like blowing up or flooding tunnels more problematic. israeli bombs, seen here targeting the tunnels in recent days. if israel is to dismantle hamas, it will have to destroy its hiding place. but that may be costly for israeli forces and the people of gaza. gordon corera, bbc news. the bbc has received, quote, credible reports from various sources of the egypt border may open the rafah border crossing on wednesday morning to allow anyone severely wounded palestinians to enter egypt. the rafah crossing remains the only open crossing point into gaza after the other two were shut following the humblest attacks. as of civilians make their way south hundreds more are getting caught in crossfire —— hamas attacks. earlier i spoke with alexandra, had a humanitarian aid policy and advocacy at save the children international about this. israel was not military has confirmed it carried out the airstrike on the jabalia refugee camp in gaza and the israeli defence forces say the strike was aimed at hamas militant command and they were able to kill him at the same time it is a refugee camp. what is your organisation know about civilians on the ground and children who have been impacted?— children who have been impacted? children who have been imacted? , ., ., ., impacted? the situation in gaza over the last — impacted? the situation in gaza over the last few _ impacted? the situation in gaza over the last few weeks - impacted? the situation in gaza over the last few weeks has - over the last few weeks has been truly shocking and what's worse is we know it can always get worse, so today the reports were hearing from jabalia camp are truly horrifying and we're hearing that dozens of people were killed, presumably some of them, many of them may be children. earlierthis them, many of them may be children. earlier this week save the children reported that the total number of children killed in gaza over the last three weeks is higher than the annual number of children that have been killed in conflict zones all over the world since 2019. so the numbers that we are seeing are truly unprecedented. we know that one child is killed every ten minutes in gaza. children make up minutes in gaza. children make up nearly half of the total number of people that have been killed. most of the people who have been killed in the last three weeks have been killed in their own homes. this three weeks have been killed in their own homes.— their own homes. this is truly horrifying- — their own homes. this is truly horrifying. what _ their own homes. this is truly horrifying. what has - their own homes. this is truly horrifying. what has made - their own homes. this is truly | horrifying. what has made the conflict in particular so deadly for children is like as i mentioned, most of the attacks have taken place in homes but also gaza is a very densely populated area and so we are seeing the use of explosive weapons in residential areas and this really disproportionately impact children. children are smoke bodies _ impact children. children are smoke bodies are _ impact children. children are smoke bodies are not - impact children. children are smoke bodies are not like i impact children. children are | smoke bodies are not like the bodies of adults, they are more fragile, so seeing more children being killed every single day. it is truly horrifying. in addition to the number of children killed, we know around 1,000 children are feared to be missing or under the rubble and you will have seen many images of, images that are very hard to watch people pulling out bloodied children from under the rubble with their own hands, with their bare hands. gaza does not have equipment to save people from under the rubble, so with their bare hands. if from under the rubble, so with their bare hands.— their bare hands. if you look at the children _ their bare hands. if you look at the children who - their bare hands. if you look at the children who are - their bare hands. if you look| at the children who are living in gaza right now, in terms of aid, what do they need most at the moment? in aid, what do they need most at the moment?— aid, what do they need most at the moment? in addition to the number of _ the moment? in addition to the number of children _ the moment? in addition to the number of children who - the moment? in addition to the number of children who have i number of children who have been killed, around 6000 children are injured. they are not able to get the medical treatment they need. they don't have access to clean water. there is no electricity. 0ver there is no electricity. over the last couple of weeks we have seen aid trickle and but the only thing in these trucks are food, water, and limited medical supplies. what we need now is fuel to come. hospitals unable to operate without fuel. water pumping stations aren't able to resume pumping clean water without fuel so we're children are, reports of children are, reports of children dying out of severe dehydration because they don't have access to clean water. this is one of the most important things that we need to see comment that this moment. to see comment that this moment-— to see comment that this moment. ., ., , moment. right. how does the trauma of— moment. right. how does the trauma of witnessing - moment. right. how does the trauma of witnessing the - trauma of witnessing the violence on the ground affect these children in the short—term and long—term? short—term and long—term ? children short—term and long—term? children in gaza have seen, have witnessed and experienced several escalations of violence over the last ten years. if you are 18—year—old in gaza, you've experienced at least three escalations of violence, severe blockade, so these are experiences that remain with children in gaza ——10 years old. we conducted research into the mental health of children in gaza prior to the escalation in gaza prior to the escalation in 2021 and found most children suffer from in 2021 and found most children sufferfrom anxiety, nightmares, suffer from anxiety, nightmares, bedwetting, heartbreakingly we found that most children are not able to dream, unable to her, they don't have hope for the future, so this will remain with them for a very, very long time. but we need now is an immediate ceasefire. this is the only way to ensure the preservation of human life and calling on world leaders to immediately call for a ceasefire and allow aid to come in, allow people to grieve, mourn their loved ones, this is what we need now. fine this is what we need now. one last question _ this is what we need now. one last question before _ this is what we need now. one last question before we - last question before we finished. has your organisation are others like unicef been able to find anything out about the plight of children being held captive in gaza right now? we have not been able to get in touch. what we know from families, from media reports, is that we have heard that children are being held captive but we've caught for the immediate release. we have called for the immediate release of all civilian hostages and no child should be a target. it is really important that we reiterate that civilians must be protected and including children.— protected and including children. . ., ., ~ protected and including children. . ., ., children. alexandra, thank you for our children. alexandra, thank you for your time _ children. alexandra, thank you for your time today. _ children. alexandra, thank you for your time today. thank - children. alexandra, thank you | for your time today. thank you. you can find — for your time today. thank you. you can find the _ for your time today. thank you. you can find the latest - for your time today. thank you. you can find the latest from - you can find the latest from the israel and gaza war on the website where we have news and analysis and headlines from around the world. let's take a quick look at other headlines. saudi arabia is set to host the men's 2034 world cup after australia decided against bidding to stage it. football confirmed the decision hours before the fevered outlined declarations of interest stopped arabia was the only other nation to bed. dick's senior use —— critics say they're using the bed to distract from human rights abuse. rising anti—semitism after 60 stars of david were paid on paris was a monday note. political leaders that acts recall the 1930s. the country interior minister says more than a anti—semitic incidents have been reported since the hamas attacks on israel in early october and paris authorities are investigating. the ad has been's green, princess leanne swore an oath to the countries constitution and a formal ceremony in madrid. the 18 very old received call order after a joint session of the spanish congress and senate. she vowed to respect the rights of citizens and uphold the law. before we go, it was halloween this evening in the united states with millions getting dressed up in the scariest or silliest costumes to go trick—or—treating or attend parties with loved ones. we know it's been a difficult time for many so we hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. i am sumi somaskanda in washington. thank you for watching bbc news and do stay with us. hello. after what was a very wet october for many places, the beginning of november promises more rain, particularly through wednesday night into thursday thanks to storm ciaran — this storm named by the met 0ffice. it will bring widespread heavy rain, but in the south of the uk and the channel islands, there is the threat of damaging winds. on our earlier satellite image, you can see that storm just beginning to develop, this hook appearing in the cloud. that's an area of low pressure that is deepening, and will continue to deepen as it pushes in our direction. in the short term, this frontal system pushing its way north—eastwards through wednesday. that's going to bring some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain, some squally, gusty winds across the south—east corner first thing as this band of showers works its way eastwards. a band of heavy rain pushing out of northern ireland and northern england and then up across scotland, briefly some snow over high ground in northern scotland, then turning back to rain, windy in the north and in the west of scotland. sunshine and showers developing for northern ireland, england and wales. temperatures of 7—14 degrees in most places. and then, as we head into the evening and overnight, this is where storm ciaran starts to make its move. very heavy rain swinging its way across the south of the uk and some really strong winds. see the isobars here on our pressure chart really squeezing together. there a met office amber warnings that have been issued for parts of southwest wales, more especially south west england, and then along the english channel coast and up into parts of east anglia. inland gusts of around 70 mph. coastal parts likely to see gusts of 70—80 mph. and not covered by met office weather warnings, but the channel islands could see the worst of the weather — gusts here could well touch 90 mph. with those strong winds, some very heavy rain across many parts of england, wales, southern and eastern scotland, perhaps fringing into northern ireland as we go through the day on thursday, and temperature—wise, ten, 11, 12 degrees. so that rain could cause some issues with flooding, those strong winds bring the risk of damage and disruption. and our area of low pressure will still be with us as we move on into friday, weakening as it goes, so the winds should ease just a little. but it does remain very unsettled with more rain as we head into the weekend. v0|ceover: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. as the death toll from israel's military operation in gaza mounts, as the fate of the israeli hostages held by hamas becomes ever more uncertain, here's a bleak observation — this middle east crisis could get much more dangerous, much more costly very quickly. the key to a spread of the conflict lies on the israel—lebanon border. if that becomes a second front in a hot war, the entire region will then feel the heat. my guest is lebanon's foreign minister, abdallah bou habib. his government is on the front line, but is it powerless?