it s singapore, this is bbc news. it s news. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we start with the us secretary of state antony blinken, who is headed to the middle east to visit israel, the west bank and seven countries over the next week. the us state department says during mr blinken s trip he will seek immediate increase in aid to gaza as the strip continues to deal with a humaniatarian crisis. the trip comes as the uk foreign secretary, david cameron, warns israel must allow more aid into gaza in order to avoid starvation and large outbreaks of disease. and there are reports of dozens more deaths from air strikes in southern gaza as israel continues its military operation there. and in lebanon, people gathered for the funeral of deputy hamas leader saleh al arouri. he was killed earlier this week in an explosion. hezbollah a powerful iranian backed group in lebanon has blamed that attack on what it says was flagrant israeli ag
hello and welcome. let s begin with the tensions around taiwan where chinese military forces are conducting drills for a third day. taiwan s defence ministry says it has detected 11 chinese warships and 59 aircraft around the island, 39 entered taiwan s air defence zones on monday morning. these are some of the latest images of the drills released by china s military and shown on the country s state television. the chinese display of force has added to tension between china and the united states. and the us navy says it has sailed a guided missile destroyer through contested waters claimed by china near the spratly islands to assert navigational passage rights. with the latest on the drills, here s our correspondent shaimaa khalil in tokyo. this is the third day of military drills. drills which china calls operationjoint sword. it is surrounding taiwan, a self governing island. china s military exercises happened hours within the return of the taiwanese president from her