Life well planned. Narrator funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. And by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Announcer and now, bbc news. Rajini hello. Im rajini vaidyanathan. You are watching the context on bbc news. It is not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mother, the father, in the bedrooms, and how the terrorist killed them. It is not a war, it is not a battlefield. Its a massacre. Pres. Biden its an act of sheer evil. More than 1000 civilians were slaughtered, slaughtered, in israel. They said it they would attack askhalon. This is the fourth series of attacks. In all honesty, i try not to imagine. These other times i break come and i dont want to break right now because i want to keep pushing. We are faced with an explosive powder keg situation. Depriving them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited under International Humanitarian law. Rajini welcome. Israis and palestinians in gaza are spending a fortnight being bombarded by rockets and missiles, as Israeli Defense forces and hamas militants continue fighting. We will have the latest from where soldiers have been removing the bodies of residents killed by hamas, including women and children. We will also get an update from our correspondent who spent his entire life living in gaza. He says the attacks have been the worst he has ever seen. Well also talk to a Hostage Negotiator about the difficult task of bringing both sides to the table to save as many lives as possible. And we will bring u. S. Special interview with one of joe bidens top national advisors, john kirby. All that and more cong up tonight on the context. Thick black smoke fills the air over gaza tonight following a further day of intense israeli airstrikes. The palestinian litant group hamas has responded with barrages of rockets into southern israel. The number of dead on both sides continues to rise, with little prospect of a swift end to the violence. This with the scene in gaza today. U. S. Aid agencies have warned of the consequences of israels siege of the territory. Palestinian Officials Say more than 800 people have been killed by the strikes. The World Health Organization has called for humanitarian corridor to be open into the area. The families of more than 100 israelis taken hostage have been speaking about their agony. The Israeli Army Says it has contacted the families o50 soldiers seized by hamas. At least 123 Israeli Soldiers have been killed since saturday. At least 1000 israelis are known to have been killed in the hamas attacks. Earlier today israelis were sent fleeing again in the town of ashkelon after hamas fired more missiles. Well, our International Editor jeremy bowen has been to where soldiers have been removing the bodies of people murdered by hamas, including women and children. A warning that you may find som of the elements of this report distressing. Jeremy the first few days of war at this small Israeli Community are a microcosm of israels trauma, and a glimpse of what might come next. Israeli troops only sees back full control of the k ibbutz this morning. Wehn we arrived, they were firing on houses across on the gaza side. Israeli combat soldiers started their fight back here at around 6 00 saturday evening, around 12 hours after hamas attack. These men are experienced soldiers, combat reservists. They said fighting their way back in against a determined enemy was hard going. How difficult is the fighting . Cant imagine. Jeremy have you ever had to do anything like this before as a soldier . Not like this. Jeremy what happens next . What do you do next . What is israel do next . I dont know. I do worry i hope that we will go inside. Jeremy into gaza . Yeah. Jeremy that is going to be tough fighting. We are ready for it. Jeremy it was taken by surprise like everywhere else hamas attack. The kibbutz guard, civilian volunteers, died fighting back. As it took so long to secure the kibbutz, the army couldnt recover all the civilian dead until this morning. He is the body of these were the bodies of israelis. Decomposing hamas gunmen are lying where they were killed. The murder of the israelis was dubbed a war crime, but what about the Palestinians Israel is killing in response to the text . As you know, all armies have an obligation to protect civilian life within war zones are you doing this im sure that we fight for our value and our culture or our life. And you know, you keep your value at the same time, and i know that we will be very aggressive and very strong, but we keep our moral and our value. We are israeli, we are jewish, you know, war, its a very difficult there are a lot of problem. People stay in the battlefield are suffer a lot. You can see what happening here, but we come to kill the enemy, not civilians. Jeremy but in only a few days, israel has inflicted immense damage in gaza. They have cut off supplies of food, water, and power, and killed hundreds of civilians. Palestinian suffering, israel says, is the responsibility of hamas. Israel has already been accused of breaking the laws of war, and that will get louder as more Palestinian Civilians are wounded and killed. Israeli troops were thinking of what is next, perhaps a Ground Invasion of gaza. It was tough enough for the israelis to come into recapture this area, the small border communities. It is a different order of military challenge to cross th wire, to get into gaza, potentially to fight house to house at a time when hamas will have made its plans and will be waiting. Some of these men are moving north in case war starts with hezbollah, the powerful lebanese militia backed by iran. What happened here is why israel is shaken to its core, why it insists it must break hamas, and it points to the danger and uncertainty had. Ahead. Rajini our International Editor jeremy bowen there. Lets take you live to gaza and show you the scene there. A few moments ago we saw an explosion across the sky. You can see the aftermath of that, the smoke hanging in the air. We will be keeping across the scene from gaza throughout the show, and we have been seeing regular intervals, flashes of missiles exploding across the skyline. 900 people have been killed, including 260 children and 230 women, along with 4600 wounded in the gaza strip since saturday. Those figures have come to us from the Health Ministry there. They have come into us in the last few minutes. Other breaking news that also has come into the newsrom in the last few moments, and that is from america, where we are hearing that u. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken will travel to israel in the coming days. Now, lets go back to our International Editor jeremy bowen earlier. He gave us the latest on the claims from the Israeli Military that what happened was a massacre with women and children and babies killed by hamas. Jeremy well, it seems pretty clear that there was a massacre because, as i said in the piece, the army didnt get the israeli army didnt even start trying to regain the area for 12 hours after hamas got in there. Basically they were able to rampage around. The Senior Officers told me that the kibbutz civilian guard, which was composed of people with military experience, that they tried to fight back, but there werent many of them and they got killed, and their bodies were among those being recovered today. Outside, as you saw in the piece, there was a woman who was under a purple sleeping bag. One of the soldiers said to me that an officer said to me she had been beheaded. I have to say, i did not move the covering to see if he was telling the truth, but she was undoubtedly killed in the front garden of her own house. I think the word massacre is appropriate to what happened there. Buthat struck me was that it really does sum up all the reasons why israelis are so shocked, traumatized, why they are so angry, why they want not just revenge, but the government wants to change the strategic equation in gaza so hamas cant do anything like this again. But this is the middle east, its a volatile area. And the way ahead is not smooth for anybody. Rajini as israelis mourn, gaza is also reeling from the missile attacks. As we were saying earlier, Palestinian HealthOfficials Say the number of People Killed by rocket attacks in gaza has risen now to 900. The United Nations has told israel that its siege of the territory is illegal, with food, water, and power all cut off. The bbc has had a rare insight into the gaza strip through the eyes of our correspondent. Hes lived there his entire life and has reported on the conflict for decades. As im sure you will understand, the situation there is extremely dangerous, so much so that it is not possible for him t report live for us this evening. But he did send us this update earlier from gaza. If we can see the scale of destruction in this neighborhood, its the economic hub for gaza that has been completely targeted yesterday. Many buildings were destroyed, and behind me is an 11story building that was knocked down two days ago. The destruction in this area, it was targeted last night. Israel said they had carried out 20 airstrikes targeting the hamas infrastructure. In fact, they hit many buildings, government buildings belonging to the hamasrun authority. But look to this scale of destruction in the area now civilian homes were completely affected, and some of them were completely destroyed. This gentleman just told us that we have to leave the area because it seems that the israelis are warning the resident of that area that they should leave, they are going to target another building in the area. But look to the scale of destruction. This is happening over israel targeting houses, shops, ministries, mosques, everything. The whole neighborhood was leveled to zero. This is one of the most important economic hubs for gaza , where as you can see most of the shops were damaged, houses were damaged. The infrastructure, street this is the street that leads to the southern part of the city. Its completely blocked. Rajini to discuss this all further, im joined by the director of research at the s ufan group, where his research focuses on terrorism, international saturday, and geopolitics. Ive also joined by robin wright from the new yorker, an expert from the region who has been reporting from the middle east for decades. Thanks very much to both of you for joining us this evening on the context. Colin, where do you see things standing right now in regards to this ongoing conflict . Thanks for having me. It seems like the israelis are trying to decide whether or not they will launch a fullscale Ground Invasion of za. And with that comes its own set of complication. This is a densely populated area. We know theres a subterranean network of tunnels, and moreover, unlike previous conflicts, this one is further complicated by the presence of large numbers of hostages. The israelis are going to invade and potentially occupy the Israel Defense forces, the idf have their hands full. Rajini robin, lets bring you in. You have been reporting from the region for many, many years. When do you think there might be a land incursion from israel . Robin oh, i think its probably imminent. The question really is can israel actually defeat hamas, can it eliminate it to the point is no longer a Major Political or military challenge. I think there are real questions. Short term, israel has the might, the will to impose Severe Damage to whether it is command posts, hamass arsenal, its leadership, its infrastructure its leadership, its infrastructure. But what happens then, who rules gaza . How do you make sure gaza is not a threat to israel down the road, whether from hamas or others . And the Bigger Picture is, as the ground assault begins, what might other parties in the middle east do . United states is a scrambling to help israel with military equipment and employ its own forces around the region, not in israel, but as a warning to other parties not to get involved. The real danger is a threat from particularly hamas on israels northern border does it at some point engage, not because it wanted to at the beginning, but it now feels it is obliged to help another proxy ally under the uranian socalled axis over iranian socalled axis of resistance . We all know what is going to happ next, we all know that israel can probably prevail. But the bigger issues are what happens longterm in strategy and how do you counter the potential for other threats in a wider conflagration. Rajini colin, lets look at the military capabilities of both israel and of hamas. I was looking at some of the numbers according to the International Institute of strategic studies that says the Israeli Armed forces have close to 170,000 people, including 126,000 in the land army, 400,000 reservists or so hamas on call, compared to, which has 20,000 in the brigades. How do both armies, as it were, matchup to each other . Colin its david and goliath, really kind of asymmetric conflict. However, with the help of iran and allies like hezbollah, hamas has prepared to fight in asymmetric conflict to win the battle of hearts and minds in international opinion, and really they are fighting on their home turf. I just mentioned a subterranean network of tunnels. They are going to go to ground and wage guerilla tactics and likely attempt to continue to penetrate israel, shooting rockets. What we saw over the weekend was a combined arms maneuver that we havent seen from hamas in previous conflicts. Think about it, the operation in 2008,9, pillar of def ense israel has attempted to wipe out hamas numerous times, and i dont see anything that proves to me now that they will be able to follow thrgh and finish the job this time. Rajini robin, can i bring you in on that point as well . We heard from colin saying he doesnt think they will be able to follow through on that. Robin i covered the 1973 war a halfcentury ago and that was a far easier kind of equation. This was state vs. State that israel knew the address of its enemy and what the Diplomatic Options were, knew what the military options were, as army army. Ever since the 1973 war, israels mai rivals have been nonstate actors, militias. As israel discovered in lebanon during the war with hezbollah, its very hard to beat a militia. United states learned that lesson in afghanistan against the taliban and in iraq against isis. Israel in 2000 ended up withdrawing unilaterally from lebanon because he knew it couldnt defeat in the conventional sense a militia. That is the challenge that israel faces today, even though it is far better armed, far better trained, far better equipped in confronting a much smaller and in some ways ragtag militia. Rajini robin wright and colin clar, thank you very much for bringing us her insight on this story. Your insight on this story. Around the world and across the u. K. , this is bbc news. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news across u. K. The International Monetary fund says the u. K. Faces another five years of huge Interest Rates to stem rising prices. The organization expects the u. K. To have the highest inflation and slowest growth next year of any g7 economy, including the u. S. , france, germany, canada, italy, and japan. Holly told itv she will not be returning to this morning, adding it had been an honor to be part of the story but she had to make the decision for her and her family. A 36 roman was charged over an alleged plot to knapp and murder her. She was to kidnap and murder her. She presented the program for 14 years. The home offices as it has begun notifying asylumseekers they will be sent back to a migrant barge of the south coast of england after the vessel completed all necessary tests. 39 men were moved onto the vessel in august but were removed when bacteria was found on board the vessel. You are live with bbc news. Lets take a look at at how one of israels closest allies, the u. S. , has been reacting. U. S. President joe biden and his team have met in the situation room to discuss next steps, and you can see the president here, also amongst those in the room, Vice PresidentKamala Harris and secretary of state Antony Blinken, who we have just heard is going to be traveling to israel in the coming days. President iden said the team connected to directly with israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu to discuss coronation to support coordination to support israel, deter possible actions, and protect innocent people. In the last hour the president has been speaking directly to the american people. Mr. Biden confirmed that americans are among the dead and among those being held hostage by hamas. He also called the attacks from hamas an act of sheer evil, and said the u. S. Is ready to send additional assets to israel to give any support it needs to respond. Pres. Biden in this moment, we must be Crystal Clear we stand with israel. We stand with israel. And we will make sure it has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack. There is no justification for terrorism. There is no excuse. Hamas does not stand for the palestinian peoples right to dignity and selfdetermination. Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the state of israel and the murder of jewish people. Rajini we can cross live to joel rubin, a democratic centers and former Deputy Assistant secretary of state in president obamas administration. Good to have you with us on the context on bbc news. Let me start by getting your reaction to that address to the nation that President Biden just delivered. Joel thank you, rajini, for having me. This was a powerful statement, it was brief, six think, to the point succint, to the point. President biden explained his view, embedded in the historical narrative of the jewish people and the jewish peoples suffering, but his personal direct experience with israel. He recalled his meeting with golda meir 50 years ago where she told him that the israelis had a to go but there, that had nowhere to go but nobody go by there, to paraphrase it. Rajini we just heard that secretary of state Antony Blinken is going to be visiting israel. They dont say when exactly, but in the coming days. What will that trip likely achieve . Joel you know, its probably going to be this combination of heart and hardware, where secretary blinken, who is jewish, im confident he will be there to mourn the deaths and do it in accordance with jewish tradition. I am jewish, too, and there is a period of mourning, and israel will be in mourning for a number days. And then he will be strategic and talk brass tacks and the will be a unity government in israel that he can work with that can spend the whole spectrum of israeli politics. He will coordinate with israel and lay out of what could be an american position of how israel should go about conducting its likely war and potential invasion into gaza. Rajini as we have been recording in the last few days, this was unprecedented. We havent seen anything like this in decades. Does it in any way change the course of u. S. Foreign policy on this ongoing issue in the middle east . Joel you know, rajini, ive been talking to a lot of people in washington about this, and the trend that comes to mind most frequently used is this is an infection point. We are now in a new moment on israel and palestine. Washington has woken up to a new reality on the ground. Its different today than it was a few days ago. What that means in terms of policy is still to be determined, but without a doubt, the status quo both from a diplomatic perspective and military perspective, that no longer exists. Rajini and we are just over a year away from a u. S. President ial election. How much if at all does this play into this . And you are running as well, is that correct . Joel thats right, running for congress. Its been a very disheartening few days, quite frankly, as an american and a national secured expert, to watch republicans take cheap shots at President Biden. Before we even knew the full extent of the attacks, republicans were attacking President Biden and lambing him for somehow appeasing terroristblaming him for mehow appeasing terrorist and getting money to israel from the deal with iran, a falsehood in itself, approvable one. Now the house of representatives is dysfunctional, without a leader. Republicans need to get their house in order and stand with United StatesForeign Policy and hopefully we will see that in the coming days rajini narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Narrator Financial Services firm, Raymond James. Narrator funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. And by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Narrator pediatric surgeon. Volunteer. Topiary artist. A Raymond JamesFinancial Advisor tailors advice to help you live your life