been very damaging storm, unusually well forecast in this case. all the various computer models that we tend to look at from europe and america in the uk met office, they all seem to be telling the same story with the same sort of placement of this low—pressure system and the intensity of it. usually, there is a bit of uncertainty, different models telling a different story, taking it on a different track. different timings etc. we try and find the line of best fit that we can give the best forecast. in this case it was quite easy because they all sang from the same hymn sheet. when i started to show its face about five or six days ago. —— mccain started. so that enabled us to pass on the message to people to make the right kind of plans, he can't stop the weather from doing what it does but you can be ready for it and get the message out there. so it's been a blessing in that respect. find message out there. so it's been a blessing in that respect. and there was this red _ blessing in that respect. and there was this red warning, _ blessing in that respect. and there was this red warning, the - blessing in that respect. and there was this red warning, the highest l was this red warning, the highest warning that there is in terms of the danger to life and the disruption that could be cause. where is it in terms of that warning, is that finished or is it still at red?— still at red? you will have two for: ive still at red? you will have two forgive me. — still at red? you will have two forgive me, i've _ still at red? you will have two forgive me, i've been - still at red? you will have two forgive me, i've been a - still at red? you will have two forgive me, i've been a bit. still at red? you will have two l forgive me, i've been a bit busy with some interviews like this one myself this morning, so haven't been able to monitor what my colleagues backin able to monitor what my colleagues back in the office, whether the warning is still at right level or has been downgraded. if it hasn't been downgraded yet it is due to shortly. certainly the wind has abated now, it's still very strong but really the danger now out on the roads is the fact that a lot of the roads is the fact that a lot of the roads are impassable, a lot of the trees have been damaged and perhaps branches are still yet to fall, damage to buildings and so on. i think that's where the danger comes from now. a few hours ago the danger was in the weather itself. whereas now it's the aftermath of the weather. 50 now it's the aftermath of the weather. , ., , now it's the aftermath of the weather. , ., weather. 50 it is easing now? it does fill in _ weather. 50 it is easing now? it does fill in the _ weather. 50 it is easing now? it does fill in the worst _ weather. 50 it is easing now? it does fill in the worst is - weather. 50 it is easing now? it does fill in the worst is over? i does fill in the worst is over? yes, it certainly — does fill in the worst is over? yes, it certainly is- _ does fill in the worst is over? yes, it certainly is. i, _ does fill in the worst is over? yes, it certainly is. i, like _ does fill in the worst is over? yes, it certainly is. i, likejust_ does fill in the worst is over? yes, it certainly is. i, like just about - it certainly is. i, like just about everybody even with my knowledge, was pretty terrified last night, to be honest. the sound of it in the knowledge that my family, my children would also be kind of hearing these noises like your roof is about to get ripped off, i'm surprised anyone got more than a couple of hours sleep, anyone who did was blessed. ijust feel this sense of fear has really abated. daylight helps massively but also the winds have started to come down a lot. we can see a clearer picture out of the window, you can actually see the sea in the distance now and the huge waves. before it was just a blur of horizontal rain. the huge waves. before it was 'ust a blur of horizontal rain.�* blur of horizontal rain. things are caettin blur of horizontal rain. things are getting better- — blur of horizontal rain. things are getting better. thank _ blur of horizontal rain. things are getting better. thank you - blur of horizontal rain. things are getting better. thank you for - getting better. thank you for talking to us, we really appreciated. robert palmer, senior meteorologist at the jersey met, talking to us about the situation. it has seemed to be getting the worst of it in the channel islands but has he said, it seems to be easing now. just to say, we are getting a lot of pictures into the bbc news. this first one is from sidmouth in devon and was sent in byjim — one of the bbc weather watchers — it shows the large waves that have been crashing onto the seafront in the town. this next picture is from falmouth in cornwall — it shows one of the many trees that have been brought overnight blocking a road. to portsmouth next on the south coast where a boat has washed up next to submerged benches at canoe lake. these are some of the waves that have been crashing over the harbour wall in folkstone in kent. we know that the channel islands is one of the worst hit areas. this picture is from st saviour in guernsey and shows the damage the high winds has caused to some scaffolding there. finally for the moment another bbc weather watcher has sent us this photo in from frinton—on—sea on the essex coast, where the doors of a beach hut blew off. we will keep across everything going on, plenty of weather warnings are still in place around the south—east and the south—west of england and the south—west of england as we were saying, things have been pretty bad and the channel islands so we will keep across all of this. the israeli military says its forces have advanced deep into the gaza strip. the idf said the joint action of ground, sea and airforces had seen troops break through the hamas front lines of defence in gaza's north. the bbc understands that five different battles are taking place in northern gaza, with the biggest in the north west of the strip — but this can't be independently verified. the hamas—run gaza health ministry says more than 9,000 people have now been killed there. about 1,400 people were killed in hamas attacks on the seventh of october. more people are heading to the rafah crossing with egypt hoping to leave gaza today, following international efforts to open the gates there. gaza border officials said the crossing would continue to operate. some 7,500 foreign passport holders should be able to leave gaza in the next two weeks. palestinians who've been injured are also expected to be taken to egypt, where they'll be treated in a new field hospital. we begin with a report from our middle east correspondent yolande knell. it contains material you may find upsetting. gazans collect their gateway to the world, finally yesterday the rafah crossing open. for the first time in more than three weeks, some foreign citizens were allowed to leave the war zone for egypt, including some britons. the details were not given. many others are still waiting. this is the third time we came to the border and nothing happened. your name is not there. so i have to go back to the school, to the shelter, waiting. at the other end of the gaza strip more israeli strikes. hamas says nearly 200 people were killed here in two days. and across the region, the humanitarian crisis deepens. the head of the biggest un agency in gaza entered to see for himself. i was shocked by the fact that everyone there was asking for food, was asking for water. we saw almost every child trying to express that they need to eat, they need to have water. but the war continues relentlessly 21w. it is almost four weeks since hamas gunmen stormed the border and killed 1,400 israelies. hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation by the uk government. here, the israeli army shows what it says are the weapons used against its citizens on the attacks on the 7th of october. throw these into a room, close the door shut, and it takes the temperature inside a room to 3,000 degrees during that closure. it incinerates everything inside a room, nothing comes out. sirens warning of incoming rockets interrupted the event near tel aviv. when hamas launched its attack a retired israeli general drove down from tel aviv to rescue his son's family. using a rifle from a dead israeli soldier, he fought his way towards their home. this is the biggest failure in the history of the state of israel. it was a military failure. it was an intelligence failure. and it was a failure of the government. with both sides now preparing for a long, difficult war in gaza, those making it out of rafah are the lucky few. most are left to face the fighting, feeling nowhere is safe. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. earlier i spoke to rushdi abualouf, in southern gaza. not much fighting in khan younis, this is where israel wanted more than 2 million people wanted to come. the focus of the israeli operation is in gaza city and the north, we understand that five different battles are going on in the area, the biggest one is north—west of gaza strip, where fighting is going on. communication is very difficult and verifying a lot of information isn't easy, but we managed to talk to a couple of people in gaza city and they said last night was really heavy fighting, heavy air strikes along, some are in the hospital, some around real cuts hospital. israel keep asking the people inside to leave but people are taking the hospital as refuge. as i said, very conflicting reports about the movement of israeli troops but we are certain about the different areas, israeli troops on the ground engaging in a fight with hamas militants, who keep sending messages saying they are fighting the israelis, they are using anti—tank missiles and they said there is a real gun battle but what we understand is that air strikes are also continuing in central gaza, hitting places like in central gaza. today we have to say that the palestinian health ministry said the only hospital in the northern gaza is almost out of service. they said 90% of the services in the hospital including the main power generator, it is because of the refugee camp in the north, they said it is about to go out of service, so about 300 dollars 300,000 people in that area will be left without a medical centre. ., ~ ., g centre. talking about the jebali refu . ee centre. talking about the jebali refugee camp. _ centre. talking about the jebali refugee camp, we _ centre. talking about the jebali refugee camp, we have - centre. talking about the jebali refugee camp, we have had - centre. talking about the jebali| refugee camp, we have had the figures from hamas sing about 195 people have been killed in the israeli air strikes on the camp and israeli air strikes on the camp and israel talking about how it's actually managing to get some hamas fighters in those strikes. what are you hearing about what's going on there? ., , ., there? there were two separate strikes, there? there were two separate strikes. one _ there? there were two separate strikes, one because _ there? there were two separate strikes, one because jabalia - there? there were two separate - strikes, one because jabalia has two parts. the first strike which was the deadliest month in northern gaza so far in the war was injabalia town, it is about 20 houses and they were completely collapsed literally into the ground. until now this operation was going on there and they were trying to get some bodies out of this area. but they recovered about 125 people killed. and about 700 people injured. but they said there are many, many people missing. the hamas local authority here said about a thousand people and those two strikes were either killed, injured or missing. the second strike was yesterday and was smaller, not the same destruction as the first one. and it was injabalia camp, which is the biggest refugee camp, which is the biggest refugee camp in the heart of gaza, where about 170,000 people live in this tiny piece of land, the colour of the most crowded area on earth. i have been many times to this camp, is the most crowded area i have ever seenin is the most crowded area i have ever seen in my life. and this is in northern gaza, where of people remain, they are still in that area despite all of the israeli warnings for people to leave, because palestinians said, no place is safe. up palestinians said, no place is safe. up until a couple of days they were afraid of the air strikes on the so—called safe area and about 40% of those who were killed were from the southern part of gaza, not from the focus of the operation.— focus of the operation. rushdi abualouf talking _ focus of the operation. rushdi abualouf talking to _ focus of the operation. rushdi abualouf talking to me - focus of the operation. rushdi abualouf talking to me from l focus of the operation. rushdi - abualouf talking to me from khan younis in southern gaza. you're watching bbc news. a lot going on today to keep across. we will be hearing from the bank of england about the interest rates decision. we will bring you that as soon as we get it. we are also keeping an eye on what's going on at the covid inquiry over in paddington in central london because the former chief executive officer of nhs england is still taking questions, simon stevens has been taking questions since about ten o'clock this morning. if you want to keep following that, you can see it on our live stream on the bbc website. there's also plenty of analysis and summary of what's been going on throughout the inquiry for the past few weeks but particularly the last few weeks but particularly the last few days, we've been getting an into how the top of government was functioning during the height of the crisis. so we are standing by now to hear from the bank of england because it is set to announce its latest decision on interest rates in just a few seconds and it's expected to maintain the base rate at 5.25% which is already the highest for 15 years for the we remember that the bank kept interest rates on hold last month after previously making 14 consecutive rises since the end of 2021 to tackle inflation, which was 6.7% in september, unchanged from august despite the fuel prices rising sharply after last month. let's talk to our business presenter, ben thompson. you have the figures. as widely exneeted. _ you have the figures. as widely exneeted. the _ you have the figures. as widely expected, the bank _ you have the figures. as widely expected, the bank of - you have the figures. as widely expected, the bank of england | you have the figures. as widely i expected, the bank of england not opting to change interest rates, they remain at 5.25%, the highest level in 15 years. why have they been rising so quickly? because inflation has been rising sharply. the cost of living rising for all of us and one of the rather blunt tool is that the bank of england has to keep a lid on rising prices is to raise interest rates, but the effect of the recent rises in interest rates still filtering through to the real economy, to all of us, and that means the bank