The bbc s chief international correspondent, whos in southern israel. Also our international editor, jeremy bowen, who is injerusalem. Now, we dont know how events in gaza and israel will unfold in the coming hours, much less days. But as soon as hamas attacked on october 7th, there was no doubt that israel would respond. So lets start with this question. Hello, this is david from sydney, australia. Ive just listened to your gaza question podcast,| but for me the most interesting question wasnt asked at all. I given that hamas would have known their barbaric attack i would result in a massive reaction, why did they do it . Was it to provoke an overreaction that would lose israel the support of its allies . And lyse, well come to you for that one. Its a very difficult question to answer because we are not really hearing from the people in charge of this operation, and thats the military wing of hamas, the izzedine alqassam brigades. But what we have heard from some of the political lead
Have the very latest on what has been happening overseas as the siege in gaza and in israel continues at this hour. I want to share just a bit of the news that weve been able to get israel pounding gaza city this morning. The barrage of airstrikes coming as Hundreds Of Thousands of israeli troops amass at the border for the Israeli Military says they havent exactly decided on a Ground Incursion into gaza yet. However, they are preparing for it. Meantime the Us Government maintaining it will stand with israel as it strikes back against hamas, who infiltrated israel over the weekend. And more than 1200 israelis are confirmed dead at this hour. 22 american citizens also confirmed dead and 17 others remain missing. The us has sent munitions to israel as well as moved ships from the navys uss Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean sea. President biden and congress grappling now with how best to help israel as the conflict in the middle east grows. Meantime, a Bipart