hello and welcome, everyone. i appreciate your company. i m michael holmes with our continuing coverage of israel at war. and we begin with new remarks from the u.s. president joe biden, who is warning that israel should not try to occupy gaza, as an israeli ground invasion seems all but inevitable. mr. biden says he believes israel has to respond to the hamas attacks that killed 1400 people, but issued a call for restraint. i think it would be a big mistake. look, what happened in gaza, in my view is hamas and the extreme elements of hamas don t represent all the palestinian people, and i think that it would be a mistake to for israel to occupy gaza again. but to go in and taking out the extremists, the hezbollah is up north, but hamas down south is a necessary requirement. do you believe that hamas must be eliminated entirely? yes, i do. but there needs to be a palestinian authority. there needs to be a path to a palestinian state. now those comments as tens of th
agreed a truce in southern gaza. these are the latest pictures from the rafah crossing, showing the crowds there. we understand that un fuel trucks did make it across the border this morning. in the past couple of hours, america s top diplomat, antony blinken, is back in israel, from egypt, where he was trying to persuade officials to reopen the border point. egypt s foreign minister is reported as saying israel had not yet taken a stance that would allow the crossing to open. over the weekend, mr blinken held talks in six arab states, with a view to alleviating gaza s humanitarian crisis and to prevent the war from escalating. our correspondent nick beake has the latest. in gaza, families who have been forced from their homes are heading south to the border with egypt. but this, the rafah crossing, has remained closed to them, trapping palestinians as well as foreign nationals. they say they ve lost everything in israel s response to hamas s killing of civilians just over a
hello, i m sarah campbell, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we start with the war in the middle east, the border has been closed all day but despite hopes from washington that it would be open for a few hours. let s look for a moment at the geography of gaza. the opening of the rafah crossing would also allow some foreigners including us citizens to leave. at the same time, hamas and israel have denied reports that they ve these are the latest pictures from the rafah crossing, showing the crowds there. we understand that un fuel trucks did make it across the border this morning. america s top diplomat, antony blinken, is back in israel, from egypt, where he was trying to persuade officials to reopen the border point. egypt s foreign minister is reported as saying israel had not yet taken a stance that would allow the crossing to open. over the weekend, mr blinken held talks in six arab states, with a view t
in the past couple of hours, america s top diplomat, antony blinken, has arrived back in israel from egypt, where he was trying to persuade officials to reopen the border point. egypt s foreign minister is reported as saying israel had not yet taken a stance that would allow the crossing to open. over the weekend, he s held talks in six arab states, wanting to alleviate gaza s humanitarian crisis and stop the war escalating. he returns to israel, as it prepares a major ground operation in the gaza strip. we are expecting a news conference shortly involving antony blinken and we will bring you that as soon as it begins. this is a fast moving story, but here are some other key points. the united nations is warning that hospital fuel reserves in gaza are likely to run out in the next 2a hours potentially endangering thousands of patients. conditions in the territory are worsening, with shortages of food, water and aid. at least 2,750 people have been killed. palestinian source
middle east into the abyss . he s demanded hamas immediately release hostages and israel let in aid. it comes as the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, says his military is ready to begin a ground offensive at any moment aimed at crushing hamas, after its fighters killed more than 1,400 israelis and took more than 150 people hostage last week. an estimated 300,000 israeli troops are massing near gaza, but israel has given no indication of when an attack might begin. meanwhile, israeli airstrikes on gaza continue. israel says it is targeting hamas positions. hamas is designated as a terror organisation by many western governments, including the us and uk. we can show you these live pictures of gaza city right now, where it s currently 7am. gazan health officials say the number of palestinians killed has risen to 2,670 with 9,600 others wounded. hamas says that less than half of the 1.1 million people living in northern gaza have now moved south in the last 48 hours,