Strikes hitting buildings in the territory earlier. Israel has cut off fuel, water, and electricity supplies to more than two Million People in an effort to force hamas to release some 150 israeli hostages. Amid the destruction on the ground, the un also warns some 50,000 pregnant women in gaza are unable to Access Essential Health services or clean water. Israeli tanks were seen gathering thursday along the boundary with gaza signs of a possible ground invasion. Meanwhile, the confirmed death toll continues to rise. Gazas Health Ministry says at least 1,537 palestinians have been killed in israels retaliatory air strikes so far. That number includes some 276 women and 50 children. Another 6,612 palestinians have been wounded. And in israel, more than 13 hundred people have been confirmed dead from hamas� surprise attacks over the weekend. Us secretary of defence lloyd austin is travelling to israel on friday, one day after Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken� s visit, to meet with Prime Minister netanyahu and members of israels newly formed war cabinet. The European UnionCommission PresidentUrsula Von Der Leyen will also arrive on friday. And on thursday night, Prime Minister rishi sunak spoke by phone with mr netanyahu to reaffirm the uks support for israel. The uk is also deploying Suveillance Aircraft and two Royal Navy Ships to the eastern mediterranean. 0ur bbc correspondents are reporting across the region. International editorjeremy bowen begins our coverage from kibbutz be� eri in southern israel. He sent this report and a warning, it contains distressing details. More of gaza has been flattened by israeli bombing. Israel insists its targets are all based on intelligence, to kill the men who massacred israelis and to continue the job of breaking hamas. But hundreds of civilians of all ages have also been killed. And israel has been accused of answering the war crimes of hamas with ones of its own. Antony blinken, us Secretary Of State, flew in. He offered solidarity, more military aid and assurances for benjamin netanyahu, israels Prime Minister, that america has israels back. We are here, we are not going anywhere. He compared hamas to the killers of Islamic State and said, the way israel fights them matters. The value that we place on human life and human dignity, thats what makes us who we are. And we count them among our greatest strength. Thats why its so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. At this Police Station in tel aviv, israelis report relatives who have been missing since hamas attacked. Yonatan� s mother disappeared from kibbutz be� eri, on the gaza border. His family believe that if peace diplomacy worked, the Americans Last tried 10 years ago, israelis and palestinians might have been spared this agony. Yonatan is here to give a dna sample, but hes hoping his mother is alive as a hostage. Vivian silver, his mother, is one of israels best known campaigners for peace with the palestinians. She was Holding Meetings only a few days before the hamas attacks. What do you think your mother would be saying about everything that is happening right now . That this is the outcome. This is the outcome of war, of not striving for peace. Weve been, you know, israelis have, lets say, living on our soul. And this is what happens. You know, its very overwhelming, but its not completely surprising. We couldnt. Its not. Sustainable to live in a state of war for so long. And now it bursts, it burst. Vivian was making light of it at first last saturday, until she couldnt. We may be witnessing a massacre. Enough sense of humour, im just telling everybody, telling you, i love you. And i write back, i love you, mum. She writes, theyre in the house now. I said, i have no words. Im with you. She writes, i feel you. And that was it, thats the last message. Their kibbutz was one of the first targets of hamas last saturday, as its right on the border. They shot dead the people in this car, stormed in and set about killing israelis. By the time the army fought its way back into be� eri, you can see the ferocity of the fight. It was too late to stop the massacre. The body bags of residents are still being brought out of the ruins. Volunteers from an organisation called zaka that recovers jewish dead for a religious burial took us to the house where Vivian Silver lived, horrified by everything theyve seen. Its not people. It cannot be people making Something Like that. It cant be it doesnt go with people theres not even a studio in hollywood that could make a horror movie as bad as what we have seen here. I cant understand, somebody take kids. They didntjust kill them, they mutilated, they burned, they. Severed. Its impossible to describe. The army didnt allow us much time in the street where Vivian Silver lived and brought up herfamily. She moved here long before hamas emerged, for space and country air. We hope to find out more about what happened to her. But if there were clues, they were consumed by fire. Vivians house and her neighbours were gutted. We dont know if shes alive or dead. Herfamily, like so many others, waits for news, good or bad. Its totally burned down. The remains of the house and destruction at the kibbutz are evidence for most israelis that it is dangerously wrong for Peace Activists like vivian to argue that a century of attempted military solutions to the conflict have failed. The survivors have left the kibbutz. Now it is a staging area as the army waits for the order to enter gaza. As the soldiers prepare, israels government vows that this time its forces will destroy hamas. Jeremy bowen, bbc news, kibbutz be� eri. Lets show live pictures from gaza city. We can look at the scene there. It is a little after four oclock in the morning and weve seen afterfour oclock in the morning and weve seen sporadic bombing of gaza right through the night as is forces aimed to eradicate the Hamas Militant Group in the wake of saturdays attacks. More than 1500 people have been killed since israel washed those recurrent literary reports suggest the us officials have highly. From providing Military Funds in light of the target him spot israel. The assets were initially unfrozen as part of a prettiness swap deal between tehran and the us. Republican critics say the money is support for hamas, something the Biden Administration categorically denied stop. During his visit to israel, Antony Blinken stressed that washington has full control over the funds. None of the funds that have gone to Carter Michael have been spent perhaps earth in any way by iran. Indeed, funds from that account are overseen by the treasury department, can only be dispensed for humanitarian goods, food, medicine, medical equipment, and never touch iranian hands. We have a strict oversight of the funds and we retain the right to freeze them. Heres our Diplomatic CorrespondentBarbara Plett usher. The news comes from a closed door Briefing Given by a senior treasury official. The lawmakers who attended said he told them us had reached a quiet understanding with qatar the money for a run would not go anywhere any time soon. Administrator and officials have neither confirmed nor denied that the fund has been frozen, some have indicated this is really about politics because therapy a lot of pressure about this from republicans, now some are joining in as well. Secretary blinken did say the us has the right to freeze the funds but he focused on what he called the facts. That it is set up in qatar, it is for humanitarian goods only, the us has decided more transactions, it has strict oversight, and the fund was only recently set up to the money had not started moving anyway. But the hirai did have anyway. But the hirai did have a response. Un mission put out a response. Un mission put out a statement to say the Us Government knew it could not renege on the deal and it would be a provocative move especially as The Americans are trying to prevent iran and Militant Group setbacks from joining hamas� s war against israel and thats very much going to be the message Secretary Blinken takes with him as he continues his trip in the region. He is visiting jordan, saudi arabia, qatar, the uae and egypt and will ask the uae and egypt and will ask the countries with ties with the countries with ties with the right to pass on the message and will look at ways, efforts to try to rescue the hostages. In that sense qatar will be key because it has been having contact with him most about that and mr blinken will look at ways to protect civilians and they would discuss with egypt or has been discussed with agent a possible safe passage out of gaza for civilians. Although egypts president has said he does not want the palestinians from gaza to settle in the country, so it is a composite issue. Complicated. Earlier, i spoke to former us Congresswomanjane Harman about the us response to the israel gaza war. Thanks forjoining us. Secretary of state Antony Blinken has arrived in israel. He met the Prime Minister there. One of his goals is to try to secure the release of the 100, 150 people being held hostage including some americans. How likely is it that he will succeed at that . It is a very hard project because they are also held with others who are is and maybe others who are is and maybe other nationalities as well. Sorting people out will be very difficult. What seems to me to be happening and i applied both the us and israel for doing this is that troops are now mastered around the border of gaza but the Ground Offensive has really not started, and just maybe this is a moment for hamas, such that it is, to think, wait a hamas, such that it is, to think, waita minute, we hamas, such that it is, to think, wait a minute, we will be obliterated if this goes ahead. And maybe we would like to negotiate a different outcome for our shelves. It is also moment perhaps for the whole neighbourhood and has been worked as well to call on cooler heads. I think that would be great but i want to state that as tony blinken then this is a moment for moral clarity. It is a Domenic Perre clue who the aggressor is, very clear which side committed these horrific war crimes, and israel has a right to defend itself. . , itself. Their affairs in the area though itself. Their affairs in the area though that itself. Their affairs in the area though that could. Area though that could spread to westbank, lebanon, further afield. Do you think it can be contained . I afield. Do you think it can be contained . Afield. Do you think it can be contained . , � ~. , ~. , contained . I dont know. I know that robust contained . I dont know. I know that robust diplomacy contained . I dont know. I know that robust diplomacy is contained . I dont know. I know that robust diplomacy is going l that robust diplomacy is going on. I dont know exactly whats happening and i dont think we should know. Ithink happening and i dont think we should know. I think there should know. I think there should be quite conversations. I dont know if tony pignata was coming home or to have these conversations but there certainly is leveraged by other countries if they choose to use it. I am very disappointed that egypt is not loading gaza and refugees into egypt. You would think they could control that and they are the southern border of gaza and a lot of the tunnels start right there, so they have been tolerating some of the bad action and they are now in the ire of israel and this is a chance for egypt to show what a good citizen it is which obviously i think would be helpful to egypts cause. I also hope that other governments in the region think the emirates, saudi arabia, maybe bahrain, certainlyjordan have leveraged as well and they have leveraged as well and they have a lot to lose if this Thing Spirals down out of control. ,. Thing spirals down out of control control. Israel has been accused control. Israel has been accused of control. Israel has been accused of breaking accused of breaking International Law by the un, by the eu, in terms of how it is endangering as the claims go civilian life in terms of the bombardment but also the blockade, the dying people access to food, fuel, water, canned the us are due more to persuade israel to take greater care of those people . As below we are all for not incurring casualties of innocent civilians. ,. , innocent civilians. The blocade is a very tough innocent civilians. The blocade is a very tough measure, innocent civilians. The blocade is a very tough measure, on i innocent civilians. The blocade. Is a very tough measure, on the other hand, compared to what . Moving on the ground is a tougher measure. Im hoping what this will lead to is some form of negotiation. I do not note that it will lead to a negotiation, it would be a big deal if the neighbourhood were to participate in trying to be helpful and i hope it will participate. So helpful and i hope it will participate helpful and i hope it will participate. Helpful and i hope it will articiate. , ~ participate. So would you like to see israel participate. So would you like to see israel allowing to see israel allowing humanitarian aid corridor into gaza . ~. ,. , humanitarian aid corridor into gaza . ,. , ~. , gaza . Well, i do not know enou h gaza . Well, i do not know enough about gaza . Well, i do not know enough about what gaza . Well, i do not know enough about what is gaza . Well, i do not knowl enough about what is going gaza . Well, i do not know enough about what is going on on the ground. Of course, i am for humanitarian aid. What i am fourin for humanitarian aid. What i am four in addition however is getting the hostages back, not just us hostages, although that is the primary interest of the us, but other hostages are so unfairly taken, and trying to find a way forward here that will end the violence and, remember, this is hard and cruel but lets focus on the photos from four or five days ago that cupboards on the gaza border, where there was outright murder and mayhem, and the most brutal crimes of babies and soldiers and others, decapitation and bullets into babies and you cannotjust say, oh, dear, lets forget about that, obviously no one is saying that but what im saying is there is a strategy going on here. I do not know if it will work. Is it difficult . Yes, it is but war is hell and i think if all the parties can try to get the hostages back and figure out a way to diminish or eliminate hamas leadership, im not talking about palestinians living in gaza, am talking about hamas. That would be a good outcome. Good outcome. Thank you for oininu good outcome. Thank you for joining us good outcome. Thank you for joining us congresswoman. I good outcome. Thank you for joining us congresswoman. Thank ou. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. Lets look at some other stories making news. Us senator Robert Menendez has pushed back against a new federal charge that he acted as a Foreign Agent of egypt, saying he is only loyal to the us. Mr menendez and his wife are accused of providing sensitive Us Government information to cairo. The pair have already pleaded not guilty to bribery charges. Mendendez has refused calls to resign. Russias Olympic Committee has been banned with immediate effect from 0lympic participation. Thats after the body recognised four Sports Organizations from territories taken from ukraine. The decision means that russia will not be eligible for any 0lympic funding. But individual russian athletes can still participate in future olympic games, as neutral competitors. The former boss of formula one racing, bernie ecclestone, has pleaded guilty to fraud. The 92 year old failed to disclose nearly 500 million that he held in a trust in singapore. Ecclestone has agreed to repay hundreds of millions of dollars to british authorities. He was sentenced to 17 months in prison, which has been suspended for two years. Youre live with bbc news. The un says more than 423,000 residents in gaza have been forced to leave their homes. The densely populated territory has suffered heavy damage, and civilians deaths and injuries continue to mount, though israel says it is only targeting buildings used by hamas fighters. Were hearing reports that there has been sporadic bombing through the night. These are pictures that were coming to us in the last hour or so. And we can also show you live pictures of gaza city now. Its four in the morning there. Bushra khalidi is palestinian policy lead at the charity 0xfam. Shes from gaza, and currently lives in the west bank. She told the bbc about the reports she is receiving from herFamily Members back home. It has been devastating. The messages do not stop. It is constant. I have been trying to get updates from a lot of different people. My colleagues, seven of them have had their homes destroyed by israeli airstrikes. All of them have been displaced and relocated with Family Members and neighbours. We have received a message about an hour ago, a photograph, received a message about an hourago, a photograph, of our colleaguess house completely obliterated. Neighbourhoods have been wiped out. People are unable to leave. Those that are still in homes or relatives homes cannot leave because there is nowhere to go. The streets are completely destroyed. They cannot even walk on the street. I mean, this situation. I have stopped counting how many Family Friend have lost their homes. Us congressman Steve Scalise has dropped out of the running to be the next speaker of the House Of Representatives. The Surprise Announcement comes as the lawmaker struggled to win enough support from fellow republican representatives to win a full vote of the house. Only a day earlier he narrowly won a Secret Ballot among party members, defeating Judiciary Committee chairjim jordan. Theres still some people that have their own agenda. I was very clear, we have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs. This country is counting on us to come together. This House Of Representatives needs a speaker and we need to open up the house again. Lets bring in cbs news Chief Election and Campaign Correspondent robert costa. Steve scalise was the front runner, hes out, what happens now . It isa it is a scramble inside of the House Republican congress tonight. Ijust got back from the capital and it is evident that at this moment there is indecision about the path forward. Steve scalise, the number two House Republican, had been trying all day, in private meetings, to get to that number, 217 republican votes necessary to win the speak� s gavel. It became clear by early this evening, votes were not moving, some republicans against were not budging so now the favourite is representative jim jordan of ohio, who representativejim jordan of ohio, who ran against scalise just days ago for the speaker position. He is likely to get back into the speaker race but at this point there is no real path forjohn to get to the 217 votes, the necessary special. Im also hearing from sources that republicans in the house, under the pressure of trying to the house open again and looking to consensus candidates who are out there, representative tom powell from oklahoma or the representative 0klahoma or the representative from inaudible. Oklahoma or the representative from inaudible. From inaudible. Ukraine funding. From inaudible. Ukraine funding, legislation from inaudible. Ukraine funding, legislation that. From inaudible. Ukraine funding, legislation that might be required, this lack of speaker, No End In Sight to the race, where does this leave the house . It race, where does this leave the house . , race, where does this leave the house . ,. , house . It leaves the house in chaos and house . It leaves the house in chaos and there house . It leaves the house in chaos and there is house . It leaves the house in chaos and there is a house . It leaves the house in chaos and there is a lot house . It leaves the house in chaos and there is a lot of chaos and there is a lot of frustration tonight among my sources in the gop about what this means about how the bill looks at the republican party, especially party inside of the House Of Representatives. But they are at such a stencil, it is on a multiple Political Parties within one party. They do not know exactly what to do at this moment. There is talk of going back to Kevin Mccarthy and getting him to reconsider running for speaker but there is also another question of whether mccarthy can get to that number of 217 number as well. They are in such a desperate moment politically that there is talk of giving Patrick Mchenry who i mentioned from north carolina, serving as speaker pro tempore, kind of the temporary speaker, talk about giving him my power so the house can at least reconvene and legislate some kind of support for israel and deal with other issues, but until this is addressed, until a speaker is running the house, you are looking at a dysfunctional legislative body in the united states. Gill dysfunctional legislative body in the united states. In the united states. All the while, the in the united states. All the while, the clock in the united states. All the while, the clock is in the united states. All the while, the clock is also while, the clock is also ticking on a green funding for the government. They are essentially in borrowed time at the moment, having agreed that temporary stopgap measure a week or so ago. In temporary stopgap measure a week or so ago. Temporary stopgap measure a week or so ago. In ust over 30 da s, week or so ago. In ust over 30 days, the t week or so ago. In just over 30 days, the government week or so ago. In just over 30 days, the government is week or so ago. In just over 30 days, the government is set i week or so ago. In just over 30 days, the government is set to | days, the government is set to shut down unless there is a new agreement on federal spending. What is complicating all of this, including the race for speaker, it is that expected President Biden and democrats will seek additional money, beyond just the funding of the government, Supplementary Funding Package to deal with issues like china, ukraine and israel, of course, and other issues including the border, and that would be in addition to what republicans have been at a stand off that led to the honest Government Shutdown just weeks ago. Any person who now enters the speakers race in the house gop would immediately have to answer questions from colleagues about how they would handle these major Spending Showdowns and as we know, in congress, spending is never easy if you are a republican. We will leave it there for now. Thank you very much for that. And remember you can get all of the latest on this developing story and the situation in israel and gaza on our website. We have a live page constantly being updated as well. Thank you very much for watching. Do stay with us here on bbc news. Take care. Hello. Well, so far this month, many parts of the country have been experiencing unseasonably warm weather but now the transition to something colder is upon us and before that happens, a lot of rain through the early hours across many parts of england and wales. The Colder Weather has already reached scotland and Northern Ireland. The colder winds are coming in from the north, so clearer spells here and colder in the morning, but across the bulk of england and wales its overcast, outbreaks of rain heavy at times. This is the Weather Front and once it clears away, that Colder Weather will sweep in from the north. So still a very mild morning in the south, the mid teens. And then its difficult to summarise the weather through friday across england and wales because it will change quite a bit from heavy rain to sunny spells, perhaps some thunderstorms, gusty winds. Its about 50 miles an hour on the south coast. So really changeable picture on friday across england and wales. But scotland and Northern Ireland hear different story, scattered clouds, a few showers, windy, cold winds in the north and temperatures around 12 degrees there in edinburgh. So once that Weather Front clears away friday night into saturday, it opens up the doors to those cold winds coming in from the north. Nothing particularly unusual for the time of the year. Its just that its going to be quite a shock to the system, especially for those of us that have been experiencing these high temperatures so far this month. So here it is saturday. The winds are coming in from the north now for a change rather than from the south. And these are the temperatures on saturday 1a. So a degree maybe also around the average, colder than average i think in aberdeen around eight degrees celsius. And then saturday night into sunday, the winds will fall light in the centre of the country and with clear skies, that means cold weather, a touch of frost, i think even barely above freezing in rural spots in the south of the country. But with that and with an area of High Pressure building over the uk, its going to be fabulously sunny apart from some showers in the northwest of scotland, but below average temperatures i think across the board, whether youre in the north or the south, itll be around say ten, ten to 13 degrees. And that High Pressure is with us monday and into tuesday. Were right in the middle of that high. That means light winds, perhaps a touch of frosts and murky, foggy mornings. But i think towards the end of the week, it looks as though things could turn a little more unsettled and once again, a little milder. Thats it for me. Bye bye. The World Trade Organization warns of a real impact on global trade if the war in The Middle East speads through the region. Makers of personal computers see a rebound in sales after a two year slump. But growing geopolitical uncertainties could stop that momentum. Hello and welcome to Asia Business report. Im arunoday mukharji. We begin with a warning from the head of the World Trade 0rganization that the war in The Middle East could have a really big impact on global trade flows if it spreads througout the region. Ngozi 0konjo iweala is in marrakesh this week for annual meetings of the International Monetary fund and world bank. She told our business editor, faisal islam, on the latest geopolitical tensions and how it could drive up prices