As an Israeli Ground operation into gaza appears imminent, the u. S. , the u. N. And others are scrambling to get palestinians out of harms way. Im Boris Sanchez alongside Brianna Keeler in washington. And today Secretary Of State tony blinken is in israel trying to help open the only viable option for palestinians to leave gaza which is the Rafah Crossing Into Egypt in the south. At the same time blinken stressed that israels obligation to defend itself after the hamas Terror Attack On October 7th that killed at least 1,400 people. You know, our deep commitment to israels right, indeed its obligation, to defend itself and to defend its people, and in that you have and will always have the support of the united. I want to go right now to Nic Robertson along the gaza border. Nic, what have you been seeing . Reporter yeah, literally two seconds ago three rockets coming out of gaza right on the horizon there. There was a couple of rockets, 30 seconds before that, coming over our heads, i
Lets go back to that defection from the Conservative Party to the labour party by a conservative mp. Dr dan poulter, who works part time in the nhs, has been welcomed by his new leader, sir keir starmer, who said the former minister would help his party get the Health Service back on its feet. Well, mr poulter has been speaking about why hes done this on the Laura Kuennsberg programme. Lets listen to the interview. Well, id been thinking about it for a little while and it was alongside my work as an mp. I work still work as an nhs doctor and have done. The Health Service that i saw under huge strain is very different to the Health Service of maybe a decade ago, and the struggles and the challenges that patients have been experiencing in accessing timely good care were something that really resonated with me and stayed with me, and ifound it increasingly difficult to look my nhs colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye, and my constituents in the eye with good conscience. And i fee
Hello, im lewis vaughanjones. Welcome to The Programme. We start in the middle east, where the palestinian president says only the us can prevent an Israeli Attack on rafah, where more than a million have fled. Mahmoud abbas is at the World Economic forum summit in riyadh. He will be joined there on monday by the us Secretary Of State, Antony Blinken. Other Key International figures are expected in the saudi city and Sideline Meetings are expected to discuss the war in gaza and the way forward. That could include further Ceasefire Talks a hamas delegation is reportedly in cairo for discussions there on monday. This is the appeal from palestinian president , mahmoud abbas, to the us, urging it convince israel to reconsider any offensive in rafah. Translation and i say here whats happening now in gaza, | and what will happen in the coming few days, and what israel will do by invading the city of rafah, all the palestinians from gaza are gathered in rafah and its only one small strike tha
Lets get more on our top story, the palestinian president says only the us can prevent an Israeli Attack on rafah, where more than a million have fled. Efforts are under way to negotiate a truce between israel and hamas. The us Secretary Of State is heading to riyadh, where he will meet arab leaders to discuss the situation. Lets speak to Gina Abercrombie winstanley, president of The Middle East Policy Council and former us ambassador. Thank you very much for coming on the programme. Antony blinken on his way. What you think he is hoping to achieve . Hes got a tough road ahead, he has got to convince the players he is meeting in riyadh are several things. Players he is meeting in riyadh are severalthings. Number players he is meeting in riyadh are several things. Number one, players he is meeting in riyadh are severalthings. Number one, he has got to convince the saudis there is a deal ahead, that the us Security Guarantees are going to make it worthwhile for them to continue forward.