Hello, im christian fraser. The white house says israel has turned the water supply to Southern Gaza back on, after it was switched off following the hamas attack eight days ago. It said the decision followed a conversation between President Biden and the israeli Prime Minister, binjamin netanyahu. The Israeli Energy minister insisted the decision is in line Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Energy minister insisted the decision is in line with israels existing policy, which is to block all food, fuel, and waterfrom entering gaza until hamas agrees to hand back more than a hundred hostages seized in last saturdays assault. People in the northern half of gaza are continuing to flee the area ahead of an expected israeli incursion. Thousands of troops are already massed on the border with gaza. The israelis say they hit over a hundred military targets in air strikes overnight. Hamas has continued to fire rockets into israel, including towards tel aviv. The us Secretary Of State, Antony Blinken, is in egypt, he has been in riyadh, these are pictures of him leaving riyadh. Hes been pressing for humanitarian aid to be allowed into gaza through the rafah border crossing. Aid has arrived in sinai, but egypt says it wont allow foreigners to leave unless there are guarantees the aid will be sent into gaza. We start the hour with this report from nick beake. vt gaza is bleeding. Its hospitals already full, deluged with more patients. These some of the youngest victims in this latest chapter of an ancient conflict thats now erupted so violently. Israeli air strikes continue to kill civilians in gaza, bringing more searches amid the rubble, often in vain. Translation dozens of families were massacred. Were beyond capacity. Were treating people in the corridors and on floors. This is a very dangerous situation. Israel says this is self defense to ensure its survival and that this aerial bombardment is a proportionate response to the atrocities hamas committed a week ago from outside gaza. A glimpse of the aftermath of the israeli raids. All day we heard militaryjets heading towards their targets. Israel says its assault on gaza is onlyjust the beginning and that it will be followed by a major offensive by air, land and sea. United nations agencies say that gaza is being pushed into an abyss and that by forcing the evacuation of more than a million palestinians, it is, for the most vulnerable, a death sentence. Israel reinforced its ultimatum that civilians in the north of gaza must move to the south. It said it opened another supposedly safe corridor for three hours today. It accused hamas of blocking routes and that no residents of gaza city. Translation residents of gaza city, i call on you again. Hamas is trying to prevent your evacuation. We will allow it. Get out of gaza city and the surrounding areas for your own safety. Many gazans who have tried to seek shelter at schools run by the United Nations say getting out is impossible. Translation they said leave towards the south, but there is no transportation. Some cars got bombed by air strikes during the night. The children hug me and scream, save us, save us. Gazas border to the south with egypt has been closed, so leaving that way has not been an option. There are trucks full of aid waiting to go into gaza, but for now theyre going nowhere. A population of more than two million trapped as Israeli Forces say theyre on their way in. Nick beake, bbc news In Southern Israel. Our middle east correspondent tom bateman has been Monitoring Events for us from jerusalem he outlined the preparations being made following a meeting of the israeli war cabinet. Its hard to tell when. If a piece of activity is connected to the potential start of a ground invasion, because we were seeing artillery fire, for example, even by the middle of last week. Weve seen other activity with localised incursions actually over the last sort of three days where the israelis have tried to attack rocket launching squads. And in one of those, two or three days ago, they found, they said, information that could lead them to more information or knowledge about the hostages that being held in gaza. So theres a lot going on. It doesnt always mean that it is significant when it comes to the potential timing of this ground invasion. Clearly, it is going to happen. We knew that from a very detailed statement from the Israeli Military last night that this huge operation of logistics to supply a front line when it begins has been amassing. And what the Israeli Military are saying this morning now is that it is now a political decision about when it starts. So that would signify that they are ready, but waiting for the green light. Ive been following some of the interviews this morning with british officials here, tom, and the numbers missing keep changing. I know the number of dead and missing in israel keeps changing. Can you explain a bit of that to us a week on why the numbers fluctuate so much . Are they are they still uncertain of who is in gaza city and who is dead and bodies not yet found . It is exactly that. I mean, its been the task of identifying the remains as they found them. I mean, a lot of that area around the gaza strip was in utter chaos. And it wasnt until, in some of the places affected by the heaviest fighting, it wasnt until well into the week that the Israeli Forces were fully gaining control. And even then you were getting sort of sporadic reports of potential gunmen on the loose or in hiding. So it was chaotic. And in terms of the number of fatalities, a large number of bodies have been taken to a Military Base where they had been going through this task of identifying remains. Now that its taken a long time and its still going on. So in terms of them understanding who is. Whos missing but has died as opposed to who is being held in the gaza strip, you know, they havent known. That was tom bateman reporting from jerusalem. I want to show you this picture. You should be able to see Antony Blinken� s playing on the runway in cairo. They are sorting out the cameras now. We are expecting to hear from Antony Blinken any second. Any ideas, we will dive out from what we are here. He has been meeting today with the president. The americans are trying to get all of their citizens out of gaza, dual citizens still in gaza. Also, the french and uk have similar motivations. They said they would not allow them to do that until they can get the aid in. The aid been forestalled in parts of the Sinai Peninsula and is ready to go. They want assurance from the Israeli Defence force that aid will be allowed in unfettered. A two minute warning there, we are being told, from the Secretary Of State. We will watch that. The reason, then, that would suppose that that is the reason why, from cairo, he is going back to tel aviv tonight, to communicate that message to the israeli authorities. Let me also show you pictures that we have where we watch that, of gaza city tonight. The sun is just going down. We watch that, of gaza city tonight. The sun isjust going down. We have seen a lot of activity today in gaza city. That is a plume of smoke. I have been sitting here for almost the last three or four hours on the horizon. Plenty of bombardment of areas where they are targeting the hamas militants. Also, we have seen areas close to sderot, in the no mans land between sderot on the israeli side and the palestinian side before the more built up areas that are being pounded as well. So, the Israeli Defence force are softening off those areas that you would presume the incursion will travel through towards gaza city. Trying to ensure that, when they cross the border, they do not walk straight into a trap, because, as many of our contributors have been saying this afternoon, hamas know full well that it was going to mount this operation In Southern Israel, and therefore, you must assume, it is as ready for the inevitable that would respond the other way. Letting me show you the natures of the runway in cairo. This is a picture there. We are told that the Secretary Of State will arrive promptly. The americans have some leveraged over the egyptians, they do supply them with an awful lot of military aid. In september, they gave 250 million to the egyptians, that was money which had been held back because of the situation in egypt, the repression in egypt, which the president , President Biden talked about a lot. He says that the fact that they have given that money over does not mean that they approve of the way that the president controls his opponents and Opposition Forces in the country is a lot of tension in egypt at moment. They do not want to take 2 million refugees from gaza. The Security Application of that and it would be very difficult to set up Refugee Camps in the sinai where they do not have water or supplies. Very difficult to keep people in the desert he will need all sorts of support when they come out of gaza. In the background, the conversations are that, whether pressure to build on to the Israeli Defence force going into gaza, and people are pushed further south, does it build to such an extent that that border, the rafah crossing, that will have to open to alleviate the pressure . That is what the egyptians will be worried about, they will be seeking reassurances from The Americans and the Secretary Of State, Antony Blinken to that effect. It has been quite a Whirlwind Tour for the Secretary Of State, he has been to qatar, he has been tojerusalem to speak to Benjamin Netanyahu, then to jordan, then to riyadh, where he spoke to the crown prince yesterday. And then, this trip to cairo. 0f and then, this trip to cairo. Of course, the concern for The Americans, having made so many inroads diplomatically, the Bilateral Agreement between arab countries, not african countries with israel in recent years, not all that work does not unravel. We may see a realignment of some of the alliances in the middle east because of what is going on, but from their perspective, from the white house perspective, from the white house perspective, they would very much want to give the talks between saudi arabia and tel aviv on that will much depend on what happens on the ground in gaza. Let mejust quickly show you some of the pictures as we wait for Antony Blinken that we have had from across gaza today. These are pictures from the biggest hospital, the biggest medical facility in gaza city today. I should warn you that some of the pictures are distressing. Arsenal has continued to receive a steady flow of injured people through the last few days. The Palestinian Health minister said that 300 people, mostly children and women, had been killed in 2a hours. More than 800 injured. You can see a number of these patients are young children. I said number of these patients are young children. Isaid before number of these patients are young children. I said before that 40 of the population in gaza is under the age of 15, a very young population. 0utside age of 15, a very young population. Outside the hospital, these are pictures taken by a freelance cameraman of people lining up, looking for loved ones. The local medical centres, the morgues, they have been overwhelmed with the number of dead recovered. They are now putting the body bags out on the streets. Local people are carrying them onto the road as families looked on. Some of them are looking for people that are missing. And these pictures here, i will show you some of the explosions that we have been talking about from Inside Northern gaza city, this was a few hours ago. They continue to bomb the israeli airforce areas hours ago. They continue to bomb the Israeli Air Force areas of the city that they are targeting with drones and aircraft. The reserve force, around 300,000 people, they are still waiting on the border, waiting for orders. And, we are still waiting to hearfrom for orders. And, we are still waiting to hear from the unity government, from the new wall cabinet what the planners and when they will go. I willjust take you back to the runway in cairo. Whether or not Antony Blinken, and his trip back to tel aviv, and therefore to jerusalem, is going to come became a manchester when they go, i do not know. Lyse doucet said that she does not think that will be factored in by the Israeli Military, that they would go when they want to go, when they are getting ready, not because of who is in the country. Let us in fact listen to lyse doucet as we wait for Antony Blinken. She is in ashkelon at the moment. Thousands of troops which have been amassing on the borderfor the past week, the artillery and armour that we have seen racing past when we have gone down toward sderot, towards the edge of the closed military zone. There is also the nonstop bombardment. Almost since those massacres by hamas on saturday morning, the israeli army keeps updating us on how many targets, hundreds, sometimes thousands of targets a night. We also had a few days ago that they had carried out with Reconnaissance Units a limited raid Inside Northern gaza. They said that they were looking for some signs of where the hostages could be. And that also they had been able to track down some hamas cells. So, phase by phase they are building up to what they have. Not said that the political order has taken, but the military operations are almost there. I have to say, we woke up this morning and there was rain, and we know that there are reports that they might. We have contemplated starting a bit sooner, but this bad weather held them back a bit. Weather matters a lot in war. On this side of the border there were a lot of rockets into sderot this morning. You should have a viewer to the scene. We have spent the last few days right on that corner. Sderot was evacuated today when we were there earlier in the week, the mail was frustrated that some people were leaving and they said they didnt have resources, nowhere to go. Now, we understand an official evacuation took place today. That border town, about 30,000 people, most had gone. But there were still some stragglers. Ashkelon, today, is relatively quiet. Yesterday, almost every hour there was an Air Raid Siren into the night. So far today, relatively quiet. But there have been rockets in tel aviv too. Well, i dont think, even though the relationship is so strong, that the staunchest of allies, i think the military has its own clock whether or not Antony Blinken easier. Antony blinken is here. It is interesting that he has come back. He will come back with a number of messages, i think, he talked to the king injordan, he was in qatar where many of the hamas political leaders are based, in saudi arabia where of course the saudi leadership, they play a major role in the region as the custodian of the two holy shrines. Before this all happened, they seem to be on a parfor the recognition of the jewish state. Of course the message from egypt which always plays a mediating role, it is right on gazas southern border, it has a role to play in terms of the humanitarian side. With all of this discussion of a possible buffer zone. I think Antony Blinken is gathering all of those messages from the arab world and arab leaders who are watching this so closely and with nervousness, and then coming back to see what he hears from the israeli side. Whether or not there is some way that they can align. But it is rather the jagged edges right now. A lot of moving parts, as lyse doucet says. Let us focus on events in london. Hundreds of people gathering in a vigil at the centre of the city to celebrate victims of the hamas incursion last week. Simon jones is at parliament square. It is very busy. Jones is at parliament square. It is ve bus. ,. , jones is at parliament square. It is ve bus. Very busy. Hundreds of people here remembering very busy. Hundreds of people here remembering last very busy. Hundreds of people here remembering last weekend, very busy. Hundreds of people here j remembering last weekend, around 1300 people lost their lives in israel. It has been a pretty sombre mood here today. They have been prayers, songs, people having lighting candles. I think that perhaps the most striking thing is that people have been wandering with posters of people who have been taken hostage. When you look at those posters, showing the faces, what is striking is the age range of people. One poster shows a little boy who is only four years old, and shows a man who is 80. It gives you a sense of the age range of the people who have been caught up in this, and i think that the mood here is one, really, of desperation. People are wondering what exactly they can do. What is interesting is that, this time yesterday, there was, here in central london, pretty much in the same spot, a pro palestinian protest. The mood of that was very different, a lot of anger there. Today, things have been more contemplative and sad. Speaking to people, theyjust are saying that they want the hostages released as soon as possible. The fate of tho