blinken said president biden will focus on securing the release of hostages taken by hamas — while underscoring the need to minimise civilian casualities in gaza — in the announcement that camejust after 3am injerusalem. on wednesday president biden will visit israel. he is coming here at a critical moment for israel. forthe here at a critical moment for israel. for the region and for the world. and he is coming here to do the following. first, the president will reaffirm the united states �*s solidarity with israel and our ironclad commitment to its security. president biden will again make clear as he has done unequivocally since hamas's slaughter of more than moo people slaughter of more than m00 people including at least 30 americans at that israel has the right and, indeed, the duty to defend its people from hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks. the president will hear from israel of what it means to defend its people as we continue to work with congress to meet those needs. second, president biden will underscore our crystal clear message to any actor, state or nonstate, trying to take advantage of this crisis to attack israel. do not. to that end, he has deployed two aircraft carrier groups and other military assets to the region. third. the president will continue to co—ordinate closely with our israeli partners to secure the release of hostages taken by hamas including men, women, small children, holocaust survivors and american citizens. as an indispensable humanitarian effort. fourth, president biden will receive a comprehensive brief on israel's moorings and strategies. fifth, the president will hear from israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in gaza in a way that does not benefit hamas. to that end, today, and at our request, the united states and israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organisations to reach civilians in gaza, and them alone, including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harms way. it is critical that aid begin flowing into gaza as soon as possible. we share israel's concern that hamas may seize or destroy aid entering gaza or otherwise prevented from reaching the people who need it. if hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians including by seizing the aid itself, we will be the first to condemn it and we will work to prevent it from happening again. we welcome the government of israel's commitment to work on this plan. the president looks forward to discussing it further when he is here on wednesday. the president's trip will include a stop in amman where he'll meet with king abdullah ofjordan, egypytian president al—sisi, and palestinian authority president abbas. president biden met earlier on monday with his national security council in the oval office. spokespersonjohn kirby, told reporters after blinken�*s announcement — that the us is not dictating directions to the israelis, when asked about the timing of an expected ground offensive around the president's visit. now the announcement comes as hundreds of thousands of palestinians are trying to escape gaza at this hour — amid a near—total israeli blockade. israel's siege has plunged gaza into a deepening humanitarian crisis, cutting off fuel, food and electricity supplies. the un says hospitals are close to complete collapse, threatening thousands of lives. people hoping to flee across the rafah border crossing in the south of gaza are are still unable to escape because egypt won't open the border. this, despite diplomatic pressure for the evacuation of foreign nationals. on the egyptian side of the crossing, a convoy of humanitarian aid waits — blocked from delivering vital supplies — as the crisis inside gaza deepens. and on monday, an air strike hit the rafah crossing — on the egyptian side. there are no reported casualties at this time. israeli airstrikes have killed more than 2,750 people in gaza over the past week, according to palestinian health officials — as israel targets members of hamas. hamas has continued their strikes on israel, with air raid sirens triggered injerusalem and tel aviv. the group is designated as a terror organisation by many western governments — and is responsible for last week's attack that killed more than m00 people in southern israel. israel now says the number of people they believe are being held hostage in gaza is up to 199. hamas has released a video showing one of the people it took hostage during the assault on israel that triggered the war. the video shows a young woman speaking hebrew who identifies herself as 21—year—old mia shem. it includes footage of the same woman receiving treatment foran arm injury. in it, the woman says she is from central israel and appeals for her release. a spokesman for the family said they agreed these pictures could be shown. our international editorjeremy bowen has the latest from southern israel. anotherwar, of words, has started over who is responsible for the suffering of palestinian civilians in gaza. israel is dropping the bombs. it says blame hamas for killing and kidnapping and, says israel, hiding behind civilians. gazans crowded into un schools after israel told them to move south towards the egyptian border. they are supposed to be protected by the laws of war. america has felt it necessary to deliver repeated reminders of that to israel, along with military aid. this grandmother blames israel, then speaks of tragedy, hunger, death, fear, horror and destruction. in rafah, at the closed border with egypt, palestinians with foreign passports are hoping to get out, to escape the pressure israel has imposed on civilians, amid reports of another air strike in the area tonight. you cannot ask people to move out of harm's way without assisting them to do it, to go to places of their choice, where they want to be safe and with the humanitarian aid that they need to make that journey safely. and right now, the movement that has happened has not had those provisions. antony blinken, us secretary of state, returned to israel after a rapid tour of america's arab allies. the us is giving israel all the military aid it wants. but it is trying to stop the war spreading. as for benjamin netanyahu, in parliament today he is under great pressure. some of his many political enemies say he was so preoccupied with staying prime minister that he neglected israel's security. ehud olmert, prime minister when israel went to war in lebanon in 2006, was scathing about mr neta nyahu's performance. and he did it. therefore he holds the ultimate responsibility for the weakening of our resolve in dealing with hamas. and it was a military failure, no doubt about it. an intelligence failure of the highest order, no question about it. in tel aviv, tech companies are working with intelligence agencies to try to locate the hostages in gaza. some who've served in the israeli military�*s cyber units don't want to be identified. they have built an algorithm that searches postings from gaza for faces and places. we upload photos of the missing person that we get from mostly the families but other sources as well. and also with collaboration with army units and huge lists of people that we have identified, and we try to understand from day one what happened to them. are they killed, injured, kidnapped in gaza? just trying to get answers for the family. we can see here, this is the same people in different position, 0k? and we try to find more and more data to understand if they are alive or, as i mentioned, death. they believe the hostage in that image is alive. their information goes to families and to the army. in israel, there is unity about fighting hamas. the argument is about why hamas could break through israel's defences, and how to deliver israelis and palestinians from another generation of bloodshed. jeremy bowen, bbc news, southern israel. i'm joined now by elise labbott, ceo and founder of zivvy media, a digital platform engaging the gen z audience. she has covered the israeli—palestinian conflcit and us foreign policy for years. it is great to have you on especially as we have seen a flurry of diplomatic news so i want to start with the announcement that president biden will head to israel. what do you make of that? it is do you make of that? it is obviously _ do you make of that? it is obviously to _ do you make of that? it is obviously to show - do you make of that? it 3 obviously to show support for israel, unequivocal support that the us is standing by its ally. it is also a message to iran, hezbollah, do not even think of getting involved because the us has israel's back. i would also say that as he is going tojordan and meeting with king abdullah and the egyptian president and mumbled a bus that is about the humanitarian situation in gaza and i think what president biden is trying to do right now is hug the israelis close and show the us is on their side, to have that leverage on how this ground offensive is undertaken and to try and have leveraged over the israelis as they do this to be mindful of they do this to be mindful of the humanitarian situation in gaza and keep an eye on the day after, remind them that israel was working towards a full integration into the region and preserving space for diplomatic solutions to the crisis is the best way to do that.- solutions to the crisis is the best way to do that. also seen antony blinken _ best way to do that. also seen antony blinken shuttling - antony blinken shuttling between middle east capital trying to work with leaders specifically on this issue of balancing and battling hamas on one side but also ensuring that civilians in gaza are protected and he has been talking about the need for both. from what you have seen, what do you think he has been able to achieve?— think he has been able to achieve? , ., ., ., achieve? they are negotiating heavily with — achieve? they are negotiating heavily with the _ achieve? they are negotiating heavily with the egyptians - heavily with the egyptians about opening the border. the egyptians have concerns. they do not want a lot of refugees crossing the border and they do not want to see a lot of palestinians going back into the sinai because that evokes an issue of what they call the forced palestinians from their land. there is psychological effect to that. thirdly, they want to get aid in but the us has been saying to the egyptians you need to open up the border so we can let foreign citizens out and the egyptians are saying, listen, yes it is important for those citizens to get out that it is also important for aid to get in. so right now egypt is using the border is leveraged. i in. so right now egypt is using the border is leveraged. i want to also ask _ the border is leveraged. i want to also ask you _ the border is leveraged. i want to also ask you about - the border is leveraged. i want to also ask you about the - the border is leveraged. i want to also ask you about the fact. to also ask you about the fact that we have seen hamas militants release a hostage video of one person taken hostage, nearly 200 people are being held hostage at the moment we have the secretary of state say that will be one of the topics that president biden will address. the topics that president biden willaddress. how the topics that president biden will address. how much has that shaped what israel and the united states are trying to do here? i united states are trying to do here? ~ , ., , , ., here? i think it shapes it a lot. because _ here? i think it shapes it a lot. because of— here? i think it shapes it a lot. because of what - here? i think it shapes it a| lot. because of what israel here? i think it shapes it a i lot. because of what israel is trying to undertake, hamas has these hostages hidden somewhere and it will be very hard to find them if the israelis have a rough idea of where they are, deepin a rough idea of where they are, deep in gaza where hamas could be hiding and israel does not want to do anything to hurt these hostages. two dozen of them are americans and obviously that is a consideration. i would say however that i do not think it is as much of a consideration for the israelis now is going after hamas. they obviously do not want to lose their citizens and we have seen over the years how israel when there was a soldier shot they spent five years —— soldier taken hostage they spent five years negotiating for him. but for israel, they need to know if they want to negotiate with thomas and qatar and egypt are involved, they have good relations with hamas and are talking to them about getting hostages released. do they make that bargain? do they let hamas prisoners out of israeli jails? it is a tricky situation. you wrote a piece in politico about the us and its role in middle east policy and interestingly i think you said it is time for a new kind of peace process where the us is not the sole broker. indeed, we see president biden meeting with the king ofjordan and the egyptian president and the president of the palestinian authority. what role do you think they will take? , ., role do you think they will take? , . ., ., take? they have a role in pushing _ take? they have a role in pushing and _ take? they have a role in pushing and reminding i take? they have a role in. pushing and reminding the egyptians but really the jordanians and king abdullah have been continually reminding the united states and israel about, we have seen the abraham accords where israel forms relations with arab states including the gulf states and thatis including the gulf states and that is great and could help the region grow with tourism and commerce and better relations between people of the region. but you cannot move forward on that until there is a solution to the occupation and to the palestinians get their own state. so what i am talking about and what i think president biden is also trying to do right now you are going back to basics. that is the core quartet, king abdullah, president lcc and michael tobias. that is really who it was originally. we have other players such as the uae and bahrain and saudi arabia which the us has been trying to make a big relationship with. i think they will have a bigger part in original pres process. they will have a bigger role in trying to top with reconstruction of gaza. we know that there will need to be a lot of work to rebuild gaza and i think they are going to want the arabs to really have a hand on this. it cannotjust be that the arab states want kosher hotels and tourists, israeli tourists coming in and getting tourism dollars. they need to step up and show some responsibility. they said they want peace with israel, having the bigger part in the peace process is what they need to be doing. process is what they need to be doinu. ~ ., , process is what they need to be doina.~ ., , ., ., :: doing. we only have about 20 seconds left, _ doing. we only have about 20 seconds left, do _ doing. we only have about 20 seconds left, do you - doing. we only have about 20 seconds left, do you think - doing. we only have about 20j seconds left, do you think the us is disengaging with the middle east, would president biden going to israel? lilo. middle east, would president biden going to israel? no, us presidents — biden going to israel? no, us presidents have _ biden going to israel? no, us| presidents have unsuccessfully presidents have u nsuccessfully tried presidents have unsuccessfully tried to disengage from the middle east, perbet to china, war in ukraine. they was come back. it is important reason for the us and they will continue to remain engaged. it could be bigger players playing more of a part along with us but the us is always going to be indispensable in the region. elise labbott, great to have you want. thank you forjoining us tonight. as we've been hearing, the situation on the ground in gaza is getting worse by the day. the un is warning that more help is needed to support the hundreds of thousands of palestinians who've moved from the north of the territory, to the south. but there are also those who are refusing to leave their homes, saying there's little help for them if they do move. our former gaza correspondent, jon donnison has more. much of the north of gaza looks unlivable. this is jabalia. once one of the world's most densely populated neighbourhoods, and where those who've survived are clinging on. not far away, abu jalil is one of them, trying to squeeze the last drops out of gaza city's water system, cut off for days. "we will not leave," he says, "we can't." "even if they destroy our homes, where will we go, with a family of five or six?" multiple families are now packed into apartments after their homes were destroyed, but they say it's not safe to move south. "the bombing is happening without warning," says this man, "and if i leave with 50 members of my family, where are we going to get food and water?" and this is where people are being told to go. amid the destruction in southern gaza, the homeless and the hungry who fled the north in their hundreds of thousands are trying to survive. "we have nothing that we need to live," says this man, who fled south. "we are living in a dump, and if we move, we'll die." amid the detritus, and with too few toilets, many are fearful about the spread of disease. there's food, but not enough. "all this will feed less than 2,000 people," says amir. just a fraction of those in need. there are long queues to get bread, but it's being rationed. "we've been waiting here since six in the morning," he tells us, "just to get food to feed the kids." "we will run out of flour," the baker says, "in two days maximum." clean water is also in short supply. and all the while the hospitals in the south, like in the rest of gaza, are overwhelmed with patients, from the old to the very young. ten days? four days? born amid the chaos less than a week ago, what kind of life lies ahead of her? jon donnison, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a us federaljudge has imposed a partial gag order against donald trump in his trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. the judge said she would not allow the former president to launch a smear campaign against people involved in the case. special counseljack smith had filed a motion arguing that mr trump's rhetoric threatened to undermine the trial. nearly all the votes have been counted in poland's general election, and it appears that the right—wing law and justice party has lost its majority. and opposition parties, led by the former european council president, donald tusk, may be able to form a coalition government. mr tusk has vowed to improve relations with the eu and continue strong support for ukraine. two gun manufacturers in the us state of texas are now barred by from selling products that can be quickly converted at home into firearms, known as "ghost guns". the us supreme court granted a request by president biden's administration to once again block a federaljudge's order. it says was intended to back gun manufacturers. you're live with bbc news. returning now to the conflict in the middle east. and iran, a key supporter of hamas, says the risk of the war spreading to other fronts is becoming inevitable. on monday, the israeli army said it's evacuating 28 towns and villages within around a mile of its northern border with lebanon because of threats of rocket fire from hezbollah. israel has accused iran, which backs hezbollah, of ordering recent attacks. overnight israel carried out more strikes on southern lebanon, targeting infrastructre belonging to hezbollah. anna foster reports from the israel—lebanon border. they sing. a family says goodbye to theirfallen soldier, murdered by hamas. inab's grief at her nephew's death is still raw. and now, she's packing to leave home, too. it isn't safe here any more. translation: we can't. stay here now, the bangs are very serious. it's really scary. i have to get out of here. i've prepared my suitcases and i'm ready. nearly 30 israeli towns and villages along the lebanese border are being evacuated. even the government doesn't know what lies ahead. mr gantz, bbc. you're concerned enough to move lots of people from the border, do you think there will be a war with hezbollah here in the north? i hope for them that not, but we do all of preparations needed. thank you very much. most people didn't wait for the order to leave. as the firing intensified, day after day, they fled. you can see how empty it is and that is why communities right along the northern border look like this now. all way from west to east, people are being told they are not safe. that is why they are leaving in such big numbers. well, this is the playground. guy is one of the few that's left. in normal times during this hour, we should be packed, especially on vacation time. it's about lunchtime now, isn't it? there is nobody here at all. about 80 or 90% of people are left. it's a shame. it's heartbreaking to see this place like — see my place like this. even as tens of thousands of people are moved away, fierce exchanges of fire continue. and despite words of diplomacy, it's actions that will decide whether this border ignites. anna foster, bbc news, on the israel—lebanon border. turning to belgium now. federal prosecutors in belgium say a terrorism probe has been opened in the shooting deaths of two swedish citizens in the country's capital brussels. police are still looking for the suspect. the attack prompted the country to raise its terror alert in the brussels region to its highest level, as our europe correspondent sophia bettiza reports. now, a short while ago we were sent a video and in the video a man is filming himself on a scooter and he claims that he is the gunman, that he carried out the attack and, speaking in arabic, he said that he killed three people in the name of god. now, the motive of the attack at the moment is unclear, but what some local media here in belgium are saying is the two victims were wearing sweden football shirts and so they could have been football fans. now, there is a match here tonight in brussels, sweden versus belgium, and that has now been suspended and all fans have been asked to remain in the stadium as a precaution. now, the federal prosecutor here in belgium has treated this as a terror attack and we should see that the government does gunman is still at large, the police are still looking for him, and because of that the alert level has been raised to 44 the alert level has been raised to 1m brussels, which is the highest level. and it means that a threat could be imminent. —— raised to four four brussels. prosecutors say there's no evidence of any connection to the war in the middle east at the moment. that is our show at this hour. and you can get all the latest about the situation in israel and gaza on our website bbc.com/news or the bbc news app. we have a live page that is constantly being updated, with news and analysis from our teams on the ground in israel, gaza, and around the world. and you will find images and videos from our correspondence. we will continue our coverage of president biden's the coming trip to israel and jordan as well. more of that at the top of the other. give a watching bbc news. i'm semi somaskanda in washington. do stay with us —— | in washington. do stay with us —— i am sumi somaskanda. hello there. it's been a fine start to the week, thanks to a ridge of high pressure. we've had some sunshine, chilly nights, mind you, with some frost and fairly cool days. tuesday, the last of this settled, chilly weather, because by wednesday onwards, we start to see low pressure taking over, bringing gales, heavy rain, but also milder air too. now this area of low pressure has been named storm babette by the met office. that's going to continue to push northwards, affects our shores wednesday, thursday, merges with a larger area of low pressure — and that area of low pressure itself will affect us for the end of the week and into the weekend. so rainfall totals really mounting up across the board, but particularly so across more northern and eastern parts of the country. and we do have some concerns for eastern scotland, which could see heavy and persistent rain throughout this week, which could lead to localised flooding. of course, the ground is pretty saturated here as well. however, for tuesday, it's a fine day. chilly start there, there'll be some early mist and fog, plenty of sunshine around. the breeze picking up across southern britain, and we'll start to see this weather front bring some patchy rain to southwest england, southwest wales, then push up towards northern ireland later in the day. and temperatures will be a little bit higher than monday, 12 to 16 degrees. but the winds will continue to pick up through tuesday night. rain will splash its way northwards, into northern ireland and scotland. elsewhere, largely dry, variable cloud, some clear spells. there will be some further rain pushing into the southwest by the end of the night, but nowhere will see frost. it's going to be a much milder night, nine to 12 degrees. wednesday, then, we see storm babette start to push up in towards southern britain, bringing gates and heavy rain. initially, we'll start off with that early rain across scotland. that will tend to clear away. much of central and northern britain will have a fine day on wednesday. quite windy, though, those winds picking up through the day from the southeast, and it turns much wetter across south wales, southern england later in the day. some heavy, thundery rain here as storm babette pushes northwards. widespread gales developing as well. but on the mild side, 13 to 17 or 18 degrees in the south. on thursday, storm babette will be affecting the north of the uk, rain piling into eastern scotland, strong and gusty winds here. further south on thursday, something a little bit quieter, but it's going to stay quite windy, with sunny spells, showers or longer spells of rain, and temperatures up to 18 or 19 degrees here, mid—teens further north. but we see further very wet and windy weather on friday, certainly across the south and the east of the country. that lasts as we head into the weekend as well. see you later. ten years of belt and road. on the anniversary of china's multinational investment initiative we look at the winners and the losers. plus australia has plans to end the exploitation of migrant workers but the problem could be bigger than it seems. hello and welcome to asia business report. we will begin the programme with china's belt and road initiative because this month marks ten years since beijing kicked off that massive infrastructure project designed to link beijing with asia and the rest of the world by following the old silk route. these are all the countries that have signed up for the initiative and it has been a massive undertaking with some winners and some losers. nick marsh has more. the first thing you need to know about the bri is the sheer scale. in the last ten years more than ms countries have signed up, three quarters of the world population, over half of the total wealth of the globe.