this is the scene live in gaza — as israel continues to mass soldiers and hardware close to the border. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala, welcome to verified live. we start with breaking news from ashkelon, in southern israel, where a hospital has been hit by rockets fired out of gaza. let me show you the live pictures. that, the hospital, as you can see, the camera crews and reporters already there and some of the damage. this apparently is a child development centre at this hospital in ashkelon. it suffered a direct hit, officials are saying, by a projectile from gaza, as the camera just arcs around. we have been reporting just a barrage of missiles being fired out of gaza in the last little while and we saw the pictures from gaza city a short time ago. you could see just the vapour from the latest rockets being fired from gaza, as we now enter their fifth day of the exchanges from gaza. 0f day of the exchanges from gaza. of course, we have been seeing israel pounding different positions. we are being told by the afp news agency that there are no casualties at this hospital. but certainly it has been hit by the latest round of rockets. yolande knell. what are you hearing? from ashkelon, we understand — what are you hearing? from ashkelon, we understand the _ what are you hearing? from ashkelon, we understand the building, _ what are you hearing? from ashkelon, we understand the building, the - we understand the building, the medical centre, it's where i was on sunday, was hit directly by a rocket. certainly when i was there, there was intense rocket fire and we have seen that continuing through the day. many of the rockets being intercepted by israel�* iron dome defence system but this is just another reminder that some of these rockets do get through, they do hit homes and other buildings, like this hospital. it is a hospital that treated hundreds of people who had been injured in those surprise attacks by hamas on saturday and had been really overwhelmed by that. i was speaking to the director of the hospital. it has had another hit, it had won not long before i had arrived there. again, that had caused damage and had people rushing off to shelters but it hadn�*t caused any deaths or serious injuries. just any deaths or serious injuries. just a reminder of how dangerous the situation is and there has been for the last few hours just constant updates saying there are warning sirens going off in the south of israel, india locations close to the gaza strip. israel, india locations close to the gaza stri -. ~ ., israel, india locations close to the gaza strip-— gaza strip. what it does is underline _ gaza strip. what it does is underline that _ gaza strip. what it does is underline that five - gaza strip. what it does is underline that five days i gaza strip. what it does is l underline that five days this gaza strip. what it does is - underline that five days this that feeling of total and needs there from citizens in israel, that feeling that they still are unsafe in some sort of form? that is correct. indeed, in ashkelon itself, a big city in the south, there was another infiltration by palestinian fighters earlier in the day. these kind of things are of course extremely unnerving. it is all stuff which is completely unprecedented. the scale and complexity of what hamas launched on saturday in what has continued to have effect over the last few days, with new infiltrations, with fighters holding out and holding people hostage, it�*s extremely dramatic. just in the past hour, there has been another important development politically in israel, where we have had news that a new unity government is being formed in terms of benny gantz, an opposition leader, joining the existing government. he will be a more moderate force and he himself is a former chief of staff in the idf, the israeli military. another key member of his party is another former idf chief of staff. so this will bring a certain level of expertise to the government. there will be a new war cabinet formed, we understand, which will include benny gantz alongside the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the defence minister. all these key developments as israel looks to be preparing for a ground invasion of the gaza strip. at the moment, what we have is this extremely heavy bombardment of gaza continuing. thank you very much. we will consider later in the programme exactly what you are talking about. some of the options for the israeli government but important political government but important political government in terms of their politicians being pulled together in any sort of unity government. but in terms of the latest casualty figures, we heard their confirmation from the idf earlier, 1200 israelis have been killed since saturday. the numbers from the palestinian authorities saying that number for palestinians in gaza has now surpassed 1000. we can get more of the developments from today from nick beake. the missiles rained down on gaza for another night. israel said itsjets hit 200 targets in one specific part of the city which it claimed was home to those behind hamas�*s attack at the weekend. sirens wail many civilians were on the receiving end. taken to hospitals which were already said to be full. palestinian officials said half of the dead in gaza are women and children. killed as shops and homes were levelled. translation: children are now playing here, l where they should be sleeping. what is this? this is not a life. we are living here, surrounded by rubble. gaza is destroyed. everything is destroyed. israel�*s intensified attack came after the discovery of a massacre, in the southern city of kfar aza. israeli soldiers recapturing areas from hamas, said mothers and children were among those who had been murdered in their homes. they have justjihad machine to kill everybody. without weapons, without nothing. just normal citizens, that want to take their breakfast and that�*s all. and it�*s a dreadful thing to see. it is very difficult to see it but we must remember who is the enemy and what is our mission. our mission is the justice, we�*re in the right side and all the world needs to be behind us. an official uk source has told the bbc there are now 17 british nationals who are either dead or missing, following hamas�* attack in israel. children are among them. many of these victims have not yet been named. israeli troops are gathering on the edge of gaza, in ever greater numbers. preparing for a much bigger battle. a ground operation into the heart of hamas controlled territory. here at israel�*s ministry of defence, they say they�*re preparing to carry out their mission, to make sure that hamas will not be able to kill israeli civilians in the future. but any advancing forces are likely to encounter fierce resistance from the hamas fighters. it�*s feared the bloodshed of the past few days will only intensify. nick beake, bbc news, tel aviv. let�*s ta ke let�*s take a look at the picture on the ground. live now to gaza — dr mohammed abu mughaisib, is msf�*s deputy medical coordinator and has been a doctor there for 23 years. we are so grateful for your time on a day like today. just describe what the situation is like all around you. actually, i mean, you can describe actually what is the situation now. i have been here 20 years. i managed to witness as well the previous wars. i think this is one of the intense and horrible once. in the five days, things are really deteriorating dramatically. 0n the ground, on the level of the hospitals, the basic life things are not available. their situation is really horrible, this is what i really horrible, this is what i really can say. the palestinian authority has been saying that 60% of the injured are women and children. is that what you are seeing first hand? i can confirm to you as well from our teams who are working in the hospital that 60% exactly of the wounded who arrived at the hospitals are children and women. and in terms of their capacities there at the hospital, how overrun are they, give me an idea of what it is like our two hour? the hospital, for example, the main hospital in gaza city, it has 12 operating rooms. they increased the number of operating rooms. they are working 2a hours, seven days. the high intensive care unit is 100% capacity. the teams are really exhausted. they are working... and under the strikes that you can hear all around gaza and the bombardments that are shaking everything. it is really... the electricity enough in the hospital for four hours really... the electricity enough in the hospitalforfour hours because the hospitalforfour hours because the generators are not working under the generators are not working under the all is enough only for four hours. sorry, four days. in four days, if there is no fuel entering gaza, i think the hospital will collapse, there will be a disaster in the hospital. just to underline what you have just said, you think you only have enough fuel to power where you are working for another four hours but close towards the end of the day... four da s. towards the end of the day... four days- four — towards the end of the day... four days- four days. — towards the end of the day... four days. four days, and _ towards the end of the day... four days. four days, and medical- days. four days, and medical sunplies. _ days. four days, and medical sunplies. how _ days. four days, and medical supplies, how long _ days. four days, and medical supplies, how long do - days. four days, and medical supplies, how long do you i days. four days, and medical. supplies, how long do you think days. four days, and medical- supplies, how long do you think they will last? the supplies, how long do you think they will last? . ., supplies, how long do you think they will last? , , , , will last? the medical supplies, before the _ will last? the medical supplies, before the war, _ will last? the medical supplies, before the war, the _ will last? the medical supplies, before the war, the hospitals i will last? the medical supplies, i before the war, the hospitals were having a shortage of 40% of the drugs and medical disposables. there was zero stock of these items in hospitals before this war. so imagine with the war and the number of wounded, which is more than 5000, i think there will be a huge critical impact on the patient�*s who are in the hospital. myself, tomorrow we are doing a second donation of medical disposables to the hospital. we donation of medical disposables to the heapital-_ donation of medical disposables to the hosital. ~ ., ., , . �*, the hospital. we heard from israel's prime minister _ the hospital. we heard from israel's prime minister that _ the hospital. we heard from israel's prime minister that this _ the hospital. we heard from israel's prime minister that this is _ the hospital. we heard from israel's prime minister that this is only - the hospital. we heard from israel's prime minister that this is only the l prime minister that this is only the beginning. given what you have just said, can you imagine what the coming days are going to be like and on a human level, for you trying to work, to operate, to look after people with all of this shelling going on around you, give me an idea of what that is like as well. really, i don�*t want to imagine. i don�*t want to imagine. it is terrifying now. if it is going to continue, continues for more days, i think there were not the any more. we have to leave it there but thank you so much forjoining us on the programme and of course you can see on that screen the number of people now displaced in gaza over 250,000. those figures coming from the un. we continue to monitor the situation there on the ground after again more rounds of rocket fire out of gaza and more of the israeli strikes going in. let�*s turn to a development here in the last half an hour in the uk. king charles has been reacting to those events are unfolding in the middle east. we can go to the newsroom and get more from nicholas witchell. tell us more. yes, a very robust statement from king charles iii, the head of state. his spokesman this afternoon says his spokesman this afternoon says his majesty is appalled by and condemns their barbaric acts of terrorism in israel. the spokesman goes on to say this is a situation which his majesty is extremely concerned about and he has asked to be kept actively updated. his thoughts and prayers are with all of those who are suffering, particularly those who have lost loved ones but also those actively involved as we speak. we know that king charles as prince of wales has had a long—standing interest in spiritual matters, of interfaith relations between the great faiths of this world. i think this is certainly a robust statement. i don�*t think it would be construed as a political one. it is the statement of an appalled citizen which reflects the feelings of many millions of people. itjust so happens that this appalled citizen is king and head of state of the united kingdom. but it is certainly a strong statement in which he says he is appalled by and condemns the barbaric acts of terrorism in israel. nick witchell in the newsroom, thank you very much for that. thank you. around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news. let�*s take a look at some of the other stories making the headlines here in the uk. flights are expected to begin departing from london luton airport — after it was closed since last night. a large fire caused the partial strucutral collapse of a multi—storey car park at one of the airport�*s terminals. four firefighters and a staff member were treated for smoke inhalation. around half of the flights scheduled to depart today have been cancelled. the labour leader sir keir starmer has pledged to �*get tough�* with with any of his own mps who stand in the way of his plans to remove red tape around planning rules if he wins the next election. he told the bbc he�*d take on mps and local councils in order to build more new homes. a watchdog report has found wandsworth prison in southwest london is �*unsafe and inhumane�*. the independent monitoring board blamed underinvestment in the site and said the findings reflected the failures of the prison system as a whole. the report was written before the alleged escape of the prisoner daniel khalife last month. some of the stories making the headlines. you�*re live with bbc news. back now to our continuing coverage of the situation in israel and gaza. diplomacy now beginning to ramp up in the region. the arab league is holding an emergency meeting in cairo and western foreign ministers are arriving in israel to stop the uk's are arriving in israel to stop the uk�*s foreign secretary james cleverley arrived a little earlier and in the coming hours, the us secretary of state antony blinken will depart for israel. we can get the latest from washington. in terms of that mission from the secretary of that mission from the secretary of state, to underline the us support for israel but what else does he go therewith? yes, he is going to essentially deliver that very impassioned and forceful speech delivered by president biden yesterday, which is that the us stands unequivocally with israel. but he is also going to be giving military support as well. already we know the aircraft carrier has arrived in the east mediterranean carrying warplanes and cruisers and destroyers to help israel. that is just to begin with. there will be more military assistance for israel which blinken will reiterate to benjamin netanyahu. he is also going to be, as part of this trip, visiting jordan, and meeting with king abdullah. he was one of the first people that president biden spoke to on saturday following the attack by hamas. just to remind, jordan and israel do have a peace treaty and king abdullah has already said that he wants de—escalation because he is worried that this could flare up even more and could get even worse and that could pose huge security problems in the region. i imagine there will be lots of those sorts of discussions being held and of course we heard overnight from president biden some really just straight talking, in terms of the administration�*s assessment of what is happening on the ground. president biden didn�*t mince his words. he got straight to the point. as far as america is concerned, this is a butchering, he said. this was unadulterated evil. he compared hamas to the so—called islamic straight, who gruesomely murdered american citizens in syria and iraq and he said israel will be supported by america. he said, we stand with israel. president biden has had a relationship with israel that stretches back longer than most living democrats. he has always been, he has had that moral conviction, he had said when it comes to israel. just another thing to add, when blinken arrives in israel tomorrow, that will be the last time he went to israel was in january this year. that was when there was a spike in violence in the occupied west bank, 35 palestinians and eight israelis had been killed. it was hugely tense. he had gone to try and de—escalate the situation, to support israel and establish a relationship with benjamin netanyahu the prime minister and his far right government. there was a feeling the americans had when they left that they had a limp —— limited influence on that. that was a tense situation so you can only imagine what it is like for blinken going now. he is entering completely new uncharted territory. but as we heard from president biden, he will be heading to israel to deliver that message from america, which is that whatever israel wants, america will deliver it. thank you very much. let me take you back to the live pictures in gaza city. smoke still over the skyline. we have seen just in the last half an hour or so, we have seen just in the last half an hour orso, more we have seen just in the last half an hour or so, more strikes from the israelis but rockets going out toward southern israel and hitting that hospital in ashkelon. the smoke continuing to waft across the skyline there over gaza. 0f continuing to waft across the skyline there over gaza. of course, so much focus on what israel does next. we got a little glimpse of that. mark regev, is an adviser to israel�*s prime minister benjamin netanyahu. here he is speaking to the bbc injerusalem — explaing what the israeli government is hoping to achieve by bombing gaza. well, if we don�*t respond, you�*ll have to ask, what happens? so, hamas stays strong and we have an attack like this in another month, in another two months, in another year. what�*s the point? and, i�*d remind you that people are watching. israel has friends but israel also has enemies and hezbollah is watching from lebanon and the iranians are watching from iran. and if israel does not respond with force, i�*m afraid the lesson will be learned across this region that you can hit israel with impunity — that�*s not acceptable. the goal is to come out of this with a different reality in gaza. a quick fix takes you back to square one, gets you nothing. we want a serious change in the situation in gaza and we want a result where there is not a terrorist organisation in gaza which has both the desire and the capability to inflict this sort of brutal damage that we�*ve seen over the last four days. in other words, we will come out of this with a new reality, a more stable reality, where we see the israeli people safer and the situation stabilised. that was mark regev. we can speak now to sam cranny—evans, who is an associate fellow at the think tank rusi, and an expert on modern warfare. thank you for being with us. is that a possibility at all, to fundamentally change what is happening there in the region? i mean, i think it is to be expected that israel would approach this operation with quite maximalist goals in mind, just due to a long—term frustration of not being able to achieve this. i think the complete disassembly of the armed forces supporting hamas in gaza will be a lengthy and a very difficult operation for the israeli forces but it is certainly possible. take me through the military options and the risks. so, to give some context, i think what appears to be happening at the moment is the preliminary response is targeted strikes against hamas and�* command and control, its leaders and where it organises its fighters, as well as shelters and ammunition depots. that will be an ongoing operation to kind of disrupt them. then a ground operation is very likely. that is really the only way that the israeli forces would be able to completely dismantle the infrastructure that hamas has built up infrastructure that hamas has built up over the years and deliver that kind of decisive victory. so we know the israelis are in a state of war, which means they will have a heightened level of risk acceptance and they will be looking to deliver and they will be looking to deliver a conclusive result that really sends a message and is likely to involve troops on the ground, with tanks and artillery and air support. i think probably depending on how much resistance hamas puts up, it may end up looking a lot like the fighting in mosul against isis in 2016-17. , ., fighting in mosul against isis in 2016-17. ,., ., fighting in mosul against isis in 2016-17. ., ., 2016-17. tell me the sort of tactics ou would 2016-17. tell me the sort of tactics you would exoect _ 2016-17. tell me the sort of tactics you would expect if _ 2016-17. tell me the sort of tactics you would expect if we _ 2016-17. tell me the sort of tactics you would expect if we would - 2016-17. tell me the sort of tactics you would expect if we would see i you would expect if we would see that ground move from the israeli forces, what would you are expected in response from hamas? they have the tunnels, they will have prepared forjust the tunnels, they will have prepared for just such the tunnels, they will have prepared forjust such a scenario in the quite closely planned attack that this was. yes, so i would expect the israeli defence forces to operate at... inaudible that would be 120—150 troops, supported by heavy armoured vehicles, supported by tanks and armoured bulldozers and they will look to combine their effect across domains. they will look at air power to strike at hamas command and control centres. they will use cyber effects to disrupt their ability to communicate an electronic warfare to do the same. again, a lot depends on hamas�* will to resist. if hamas decides to dig in, it�*s likely to use tactics like improvised explosive devices, which they have used in the past against israeli forces to some effect. i would be very surprised to not see the use of commercial drones that we have seen a lot of in syria and ukraine and iraq. so they have the theoretical ability to exact quite a high price from the israeli forces upon the commencement of any operation but i think the israelis are readying themselves for that. we think the israelis are readying themselves for that.— think the israelis are readying themselves for that. we have to leave it there, _ themselves for that. we have to leave it there, sam, _ themselves for that. we have to leave it there, sam, but - themselves for that. we have to leave it there, sam, but thank l themselves for that. we have to i leave it there, sam, but thank you so much forjoining us. i am going to take you back to the live pictures over gaza and show you the scene there. here in the next half an hour, we will talk more to our security correspondent frank gardner and also a journalist who is in tel aviv and we will get to speak to our other teams across the region, as we continue to monitor the latest developments on this day five of the aftermath. hello. for some of us over the last few days, it has felt as if summer has been trying to cling on deep into 0ctober. but autumn is going to be arriving over the next few days. in fact, already feeling quite autumnal in the northern half of the uk. here some sunshine, but some rather cool air working its way in from the north—west. conversely, south—westerly winds bringing warm and muggy air down towards the south, and the dividing line between those air masses is this weather front bringing some outbreaks of rain across parts of wales, the midlands, into east anglia and lincolnshire. particularly heavy rain, i think, across parts of west wales with the risk of some flooding and some disruption. to the south of that, often quite murky but warm and humid. further north, something cooler and fresher. 12 degrees, for example, in aberdeen and glasgow. some sunshine, scattering of showers, the winds slowly easing a little bit in the north of scotland. now, overnight, ourweatherfront moves a little bit further southwards and then tends to stall across southern counties of england, parts of wales and the midlands, very mild here, 16 degrees in plymouth overnight. compare that with two or three degrees for many spots further north. but here, we will see some sunshine to take us into tomorrow morning. a scattering of showers, particularly in the north—west of scotland. this band of cloud never really clearing the south of england or south wales. we could see some pockets of rain and drizzle at times. some warmth trying to cling on here, but for most a cooler feel. 17 degrees there for london, 13 for belfast, 12 degrees in glasgow. but instead of clearing through, that weather front actually tries to push northwards again during thursday night into friday, looking very wet for parts of england and wales. at the same time, this cold front pushes its way into scotland and northern ireland. so quite a complex look to the weather chart on friday, but we will see some outbreaks of rain, particularly across england and wales. but across scotland and northern ireland we see sunny spells and some showers. some of those showers could start to turn wintry over the very highest ground as some colder air starts to dig its way in. and that�*s the story for the weekend. we finally lose all of these weather fronts, all of us get into this cold north—westerly wind. if anything, temperatures by day will be a touch below the average for the time of year. and at night, we�*ve got the chance for quite a widespread grass frost. bye for now. this is bbc news. the headlines: the israeli prime minister and opposition leader agree to form an emergency government to manage the war with hamas. rocket fire from gaza hits a hospital in the israeli city ashkelon, we will bring you more of the latest details. israel helens gaza for a fifth day as gaza�*s only power station runs out of fuel. palestinian officials say over 1000 people have been killed and that 60% of the injured are women and children. israel says 1200 people are known to have died in the attacks by hamas as a shocking details continue to emerge. king charles condemns what he calls