welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start with breaking news. the israel defense forces announced this evening it is expanding its ground operations against hamas in gaza. this was the scene just moments ago. it has been nearly constant rocket fire and explosions. gaza residents tell cnn that these are the most intense air strikes that they have experienced since the war began 20 days ago. and there are reports of widespread power and cellular and internet outages across the gaza strip. it is unclear what these ramped up attacks will mean for hostage negotiations. today israel said it believes hamas is still holding 229 innocent people that they kidnapped october 7th. in the united states, the white house says it is in, quote, active conversations with israel about a humanitarian pause to work on the release of the hostages. diplomatic sources told cnn earlier today that significant progress had been made. u.s. officials are insistsing those talks are going to continue
have already shut down after running out of fuel and those still operating have been forced to stop all but emergency services. 0vernight, eight trucks carrying food, water and medicine crossed the rafah border from egypt into gaza but israel has banned fuel from entering the territory, saying hamas would use it for military purposes. these are the empty fuel pumps in southern gaza. an adviser to israel s prime minister has told the bbc there are hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel in the hands of hamas. the bbc has not been able to verify this. hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by the uk and other western governments. there are growing international calls for a humanitarian pause in the fighting, to allow aid to reach gaza which continues to come under intense bombardment. the health ministry in the hamas controlled territory says more than 6,500 people have now been killed there 2,704 of them children. israel says more than 1,400 people were killed in t
take the time you need to build trust. that, any peace negotiator will tell you, is the way to find a solution. this week on political thinking, my guest, the health secretary for england, victoria atkins, suggests it could be the way to find peace in the nhs, to end the strikes that have dogged the health service for more than a year. it s been a big week for her, when talks are starting once again with thejunior doctors and after a new report highlighted the horrorfor some mothers and soon to be mothers of nhs maternity services, something she has some rather powerful experience of. victoria atkins, welcome to political thinking. thank you so much, pleasure to be here. you ve said when talking about women s health, you ve said when talking about this searing indictment that we saw this week of maternity and childbirth services, this is personalfor you. why so? well, i m a mum as well as the secretary of state for health. and i had my baby on the nhs, and i have a long histo
entered southern israel, where a state of emergency has been declared. here s what we know so far: these rocket attacks have struck tel aviv and areas surrounding gaza. the town of ashkelon saw several major explosions. israel s news is now reporting that at least a0 israelis have been killed, with 740 injured. details of the palestinian incursions are unclear, but gunmen have been reported in towns near the gaza border and israelis have been warned to stay inside. there are also reports of a number of israeli soldiers taken captive by fighters, with hamas saying it has a big number of captives, among them senior officers . israel s military has been striking targets in gaza in response. at least 198 palestinians are confirmed dead there. let s hear more from prime minister benjamin netanyahu. he addressed the nation in a video statement released on social media. translation: citizens of israel. we are at war. not an operation, not an escalation, a war. this morning, hamas l