studio. newsday. hi there, thank you for being with us. we begin in gaza, where fighting is intensifying and communications are down for a third time. our correspondent rushdi abualouf in gaza has told us that tonight's bombardment seems to be the most intense since the beginning of the war, targeting the north—west of the gaza strip, in particular. and in the last few hours, the idf said it has now split gaza into two parts — north and south. it comes as the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has visted iraq and the west bank. and in the last hour, he has landed in turkey's capital, ankara, for a round of talks with leaders in the region. he has said that discussions are ongoing about a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting. mr blinken said the pause would advance several priorities, including getting more aid in to gaza, and getting the hostages out. yogita limaye reports. the bombing of gaza has intensified tonight, communication lines have also been cut off, which means tomorrow will likely begin for many gazans like today did. digging through rubble, looking for families and survivors. this was a crowded refugee camp. it's not one of the areas that israel had asked civilians to leave. hamas says it was an israeli air strike that killed dozens here. israel says it's investigating. "can anyone hear me?" he shouts. "i think there are people trapped here." his wife and daughters were injured, taken to hospital. for weeks, mohammed has taken photographs documenting death and loss in gaza. today, they've become a permanent part of his life. this is his son. "i've lost all my children except one, i've lost my only daughter, i don't know what else to say," he said. israel says it has made advances in gaza, effectively dividing the strip into south and north, but it insists it is doing what it can to minimise civilian casualties. the military claims to have dropped 6 million leaflets and made tens of thousands of phone calls warning people to move to safer areas. but it's not clear where in gaza is safe, and only a tiny number have been allowed to leave the strip. more people being let out has been one item on us secretary of state antony blinken's agenda. today, he stopped in the occupied west bank, meeting palestinian leader mahmoud abbas, who called for an immediate ceasefire. blinken has been pushing for shorter pauses in fighting. everyone would welcome a humanitarian pause. it could advance things we're all trying to accomplish, including getting hostages back, including getting a lot more assistance into gaza, including getting people of gaza. including getting people out of gaza. one of the more than 200 hostages being held is 84—year—old elma. her family found this photo online, where she is seen being taken by hamas. herson, uri ravitz, showed us the medicines his mother needs to take every day to stay in good health. he's hoping someone can take these to her. right now, we are four weeks after that, four weeks and one day, and they're still not here. and they should be here yesterday. not today, yesterday. i'm like in some horror movie that i'm stuck. but, yeah, i still have hope. yogita limaye, bbc news, tel aviv. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams explained more earlier. he's certainly putting in the air miles. he's been to israel, jordan, the west bank, iraq. he's now in turkey. he's talking to everyone, he's going everywhere. what is he achieving? well, the americans say that they're getting a lot more aid now into the southern gaza strip than was the case a week ago. antony blinken says it's still "grossly insufficient", i think that was the term he used. they want to see not the 100 trucks that are going in every day at the moment, but 400 or 500. a lot more. then there are the humanitarian pauses that you've been talking about. that still seems to be stuck, and the problem does seem to be the fate of the hostages. the israelis are saying, no pause until we get more information about the hostages. they want the red cross to go in and meet them and report on their condition. hamas is simply not accepting that. the americans aren't giving up. william burns, the cia director, has arrived in israel tonight, at the start of his own mission. he's well—known and well—regarded in the region. and the fact that you have america's top diplomat and top spy in the region at the same time, and american surveillance drones flying over the gaza strip, tells you just how much attention the americans are now paying to the crisis here — an administration that, until about a month ago, thought that everything here was more or less under control. paul adams reporting. since october the 7th prospects, for a ceasefire in gaza — let alone wider peace in the region — have been frozen. but there are individuals on both sides of the conflict with a commitment to peace that goes beyond this war. this is the story of two such men. our special correspondent fergal keane is injerusalem and has sent this report. frame by frame, one casualty after another... ..the trauma of the war is captured. and it is reverberating outwards. in his london flat, ahmed alnaouq mourns the 21 family members killed in an air strike. nieces, brothers, a sister. father, nephews. the summer video of a vanished family. no—one in the world will understand how i feel, if they do not live or experience what i have experienced. and i really, really, really hope that no—one will ever experience what i'm experiencing. they can see that i'm all the time anxious, restless. i can't sleep at night. in this image, all the children's faces you can see are dead. their uncle ahmed was a man who tried to build bridges. he worked on a website with israeli journalist yuval abraham to bring stories of palestinian life in gaza to israeli readers. then, on the 22nd of october, the air strike. and from that moment, you know, i cried and i spent the entire day trying to write him something. i didn't really know what to say. will you keep trying to build a bridge with him? i think you'll have to ask him. i don't know. i mean, for me, as i said to him, i made a commitment to ahmed and i will not stop. our aim was to prevent these wars from happening, but we have failed. so right now, i don't know how i will convince other palestinians to write for the israelis after the massacres that they have endured, after the loss of lives and houses. despite everything that has happened to you, do you still believe in the possibility of a peaceful future? i will keep on writing. i will keep on campaigning for peace for the rest of my life. i will never call for wars. we deserve to live. we deserve to live a decent, human life. tonight in gaza, the war speaks. for now, louder than hope. explosions rumble fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. the in—laws of scottish first minister humza yousaf have arrived back in scotland, after being trapped in gaza for more than three weeks. mr yousaf confirmed the news on social media and posted a photo of the reunion. elizabeth el—nakla and her husband managed to cross into egypt via the rafah crossing on friday. about 100 young people clashed with riot police in edinburgh, with fireworks and petrol bombs being thrown directly at officers. video footage from the niddrie area showed officers in riot gear standing in a line, while youths threw explosives at their feet. the deputy prime minister, 0liver dowden, has denied the conservative party covered up rape allegations against an mp. a report in the mail on sunday says a former party chairman, sirjake berry, raised concerns with the police because he felt the claims hadn't been properly dealt with. mr dowden told the sunday with laura kuenssberg programme that all allegations were taken exceptionally seriously. a council leader and nine other councillors have resigned from the labour party over the leadership�*s position on gaza. burnley council leader afrasiab anwar had previously called for sir keir starmer to resign over his position. instead, he has quit the party, along with colleagues. a number of labour mps — including shadow ministers — have called for a ceasefire. but sir keir starmer has rejected the calls. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. - this is dawn, named to mark a new era of uk technology. it's the country's fastest ai supercomputer and it's housed in a high—security data centre at the university of cambridge. you can barely hear yourself think in here. this is 95 decibels of noise, you have to wear earplugs for safety. but that's the sound of the system which cools this computer. we have 7,000 processes in here, performing 19 million, million calculations per second. now, that generates a lot of heat. this place is air and water filled for energy efficiency. why do we need it? without the ai capability, science is held back. think of cancer research. cancer is being driven by genomics, huge amounts of data, we just can't process it. with machines like this, researchers can process 100 times more data. so one of the biggest challenges facing us right now is climate change and we are struggling in the uk to try to come up with the computing capacity we need to tackle this challenge. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. - you're live with bbc news. later today, australian prime minister anthony albanese will meet chinese president xijinping in beijing, becoming the first australian leader to visit china in seven years. beijing and canberra have clashed over a number of issues in recent years, including the origin of covid—19, a trade dispute and china's growing military assertiveness in the indo—pacific region. live now to canberra and speak to benjamin herscovitch, who is a research fellow at the australian national university. thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. the relationship hasn't been great in recent years. in your view, what has been the main sticking point and what is change now? it sticking point and what is change now? , ., ., , , ., now? it is wonderful to be with you. look, now? it is wonderful to be with you. look. there — now? it is wonderful to be with you. look, there are _ now? it is wonderful to be with you. look, there are so _ now? it is wonderful to be with you. look, there are so many _ now? it is wonderful to be with you. look, there are so many sticking - look, there are so many sticking points, beijing and canberra, despite all the smiles right now and despite all the smiles right now and despite the beat photo opportunities in shanghai and beijing are divided on a wide range of fundamental considerations —— upbeat. china is frustrated with stringy �*s plan to acquire nuclear powered submarines, beijing is frustrated with the way stringy has criticised chinese human rights records and there is concern about the way australia has lodged to roll back the presence of chinese companies in the australian business sector, reject some investments, chinese companies out of a stringy�*s critical telecommunications infrastructure. and australia is deeply concerned about china's military modernisation coming at on the world stage and human rights records and the like. so we have these really serious point of disagreement and they are not going anywhere. we are in a phase right now where the relationship is repairing and getting warmer and more positive, we have news of a range of trade restrictions been removed and this dialogue at the very highest level with this visit to beijing and shanghai by the australian prime minister. but underneath all that, these deep—seated points of disagreement will continue despite the positivity. will continue despite the positivity-— will continue despite the ositivi .�* . ., positivity. but at least one ositive positivity. but at least one positive news _ positivity. but at least one positive news headline - positivity. but at least one i positive news headline ahead positivity. but at least one - positive news headline ahead of this visit was australian journalist cheng lei been released, others like yang hengjun remain in detention. so what will both leaders try to gain from these meetings? the? what will both leaders try to gain from these meetings?— what will both leaders try to gain from these meetings? they will both be lookin: from these meetings? they will both be looking to — from these meetings? they will both be looking to get _ from these meetings? they will both be looking to get very _ from these meetings? they will both be looking to get very specific - be looking to get very specific things out of these discussions. of course the australian side will be raising all of the australian concerns stringy has about international security, the nature of the us and china relationship, china's human rights relationship and the like, but camera will press beijing human rights concerned —— camera. despite the release of cheng lei, we have an australian writer yang hengjun who has been in detention for many years and other australians being detained for extended periods. and then you have theissue extended periods. and then you have the issue from the australian government of australia wanting china and united states to engage more fulsomely and have more dialogue. and of course, the remaining trade restrictions china has in place. we have a plan for the removal of china's duties on a stringy�*s wine, but australian lobster and beef are still being restricted to the chinese market and canberra want announcements of the removal of those restrictions. there are still specific things canberra will be looking for. from beijing's point of view, two key goals. 0ne point of view, two key goals. one will be having the australian government adopt a more permissive approach to chinese investments. 0ver approach to chinese investments. over the course of this year, we have had two significant chinese or china linked investments rejected in a stringy�*s critical minerals industries. china wants more access to that industry for chinese investment and they will push the australian government to be more open on that front. and of course, beijing wants tojoin open on that front. and of course, beijing wants to join a comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans—pacific partnership. while china's trade restrictions were in place, there was no chance of china getting in from australia wielded veto power over china's future membership, but now trade restrictions are tumbling on the diplomatic relationship is back on track, china will be hoping they can win canberra over to support their bid to enter into the trade agreement.— support their bid to enter into the trade agreement. support their bid to enter into the trade aareement. �* . . ~' , ., trade agreement. ben'amin, thank you so much forjoining — trade agreement. benjamin, thank you so much forjoining us _ trade agreement. benjamin, thank you so much forjoining us and _ trade agreement. benjamin, thank you so much forjoining us and we - trade agreement. benjamin, thank you so much forjoining us and we will- so much forjoining us and we will be watching that very tricky balancing act of the australian prime minister has to plague later today. —— has to play. thousands of people are being forced to spend nights outdoors, after their houses were damaged by a strong earthquake in nepal on friday. 157 people have died and more than 300 were injured in the quake. shreejana shreshta reports from nalgad area, in western nepal. iam in i am in nalgad municipality, you can see a tragic scene behind. 13 people have been cremated together. those 13 people were killed in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that occurred on friday night. locals told us that all 186 houses have been damaged in the village and the people affected by the earthquake have been eagerly waiting for the relief operation in the area. translation: . ., , the area. translation: , , , the area. translation: , , translation: our clothes, beds and food urains, translation: our clothes, beds and food grains, everything _ translation: our clothes, beds and food grains, everything is _ translation: our clothes, beds and food grains, everything is inside - food grains, everything is inside the rubble, we have not been able to recover them, the rubble, we have not been able to recoverthem, it the rubble, we have not been able to recover them, it is cold outside and the government should look after us urgently. there is a risk that even those alive might die from the cold. translation: fill" those alive might die from the cold. translation:— translation: our houses are destroyed. _ translation: our houses are destroyed. we _ translation: our houses are destroyed, we are _ translation: our houses are destroyed, we are now- translation: our houses are l destroyed, we are now sleeping translation: our houses are - destroyed, we are now sleeping on agriculturalfields. our children are sick, we don't have clothes and blankets, it is cold outside, we don't have tents. thejew drops are falling over us. it has been two nights, we have made our children sleep in the barren fields.- sleep in the barren fields. locals told us that _ sleep in the barren fields. locals told us that this _ sleep in the barren fields. locals told us that this is _ sleep in the barren fields. locals told us that this is the _ sleep in the barren fields. locals told us that this is the first - sleep in the barren fields. locals told us that this is the first time | told us that this is the first time they have ever witnessed such a tragic incident in this area. to the war in ukraine now, and ahead of winter, both russia and ukraine are trying to consolidate their recent military advances. ukrainian counteroffensives in the east saw small territorial gains around such cities as robotyne and bahkmut. but there are growing concerns that the war has now reached a stalemate. renewed russian assaults on the town of avdiivka, with increasing use of heavy artillery along the front line is forcing thousands of ukrainians to leave their homes. and it's notjust in the east. our correspondentjenny hill has travelled to the south of ukraine to speak to refugees from kherson, who have been forced out because of heavy russian bombardments. on the shifting tides of a relentless war, fear and loss surge into odesa. this coastal city, a haven for those fleeing the front line. nina survived the second world war. now, at 91, she's a refugee again. "i couldn't sleep in kherson," she tells us. "i couldn't eat. there were explosions. i want to die in peace, not war." alone, among strangers, they wait for help. odesa's aid workers struggling under the load of so many ruined lives. almost everyone who arrives here turns up with little more than the clothes on their back. some have described to us fleeing underfire. they're terrified, they're shocked. and it's here that they have to begin the process of starting a new life. this is what they've left behind. once vibrant communities, ghost towns now. those who've not yet fled under near—constant attack. translation: two months ago, we were getting one or two aerial bombs a day — now it's 40. and shelling by artillery tanks and mortars has doubled. all along the vast front line, bitter and bloody battles — usually, for a few kilometres of territorial gain. ukraine's counteroffensive is making slow progress, and russia is also on the attack. a ukrainian unit sent us their footage as they defend the fiercely contested town of avdiivkja, in the donbas region. russia's suffered reportedly massive casualties, but ukrainian soldiers are dying too. so imagine this family's fear. daria knows her husband was sent to fight in avdiivka. they lost touch with him two weeks ago.