Newshour

Israeli warplanes pounded the city of Nabatiyeh in south Lebanon today. The Lebanese health ministry said six people were killed, there, in strikes on municipal buildings, with a local mayor reported dead. The United Nations has warned of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Lebanon as huge numbers of people are displaced.

Also in the programme: A BBC reporter returns to his home and birthplace in Sudan which is in the midst of a civil war; and we hear from the first visitors to a new museum celebrating the wonders of ancient Egypt.

(Picture: Civil defence members of the Islamic Health Authority work at a site damaged by an Israeli strike in Qana, southern Lebanon on October 16, 2024. Credit: REUTERS)

The US has sent a strongly worded letter to Israel demanding it allows humanitarian aid into Gaza, after deliveries dropped by more than 50 per cent in the six months since the Israelis promised to do better.

We ask one of Congress’s strongest supporters of Israel whether Washington should be prepared to cut arms supplies if Benjamin Netanyahu's government fails to comply,

Also in the programme: we hear from the British climber who's conquered the world's 14 highest peaks - in her twenties; and cinema legend Al Pacino tells us how he nearly didn't make the final cut of The Godfather.

(IMAGE: U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken speaks during a ministerial meeting of the Foreign Ministry Channel for Global Health Security, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York / CREDIT: Heather Khalifa/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)

A powerful audio diary from Gaza: Two Gazans film a year under attack by Israel. Aya and Khalid's stories are two of four featured in a new BBC World Service and Storyville documentary, Life and Death in Gaza. The film, and the radio documentary, form part of a group of programmes on BBC, marking one year on from 7 October and the war between Israel and Hamas.

Also on the programme: Why North Korea is blowing up roads next to South Korea; why Google wants to go nuclear; a big advance in treatment for cervical cancer.

And Al Pacino explains why, at the age of 84, he has decided to publish his memoirs.

(Photo: Khalid and his son. Credit: BBC)

Lebanon says the number of people killed in a presumed Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon has risen to twenty-one. The strike hit Aitou, a Christian-majority village in the mountains near Tripoli. We hear from the Lebanese Red Cross.

Also in the programme: a former Stasi officer sentenced for murder; and NASA's Europa Clipper mission successfully blasts off.

(Picture: Lebanese army soldier stands near destroyed vehicles at a site damaged by an Israeli air strike in the Christian-majority region of Aitou in north Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said, October 14, 2024. Credit: Reuters)

Taiwan's president Lai Ching-Te has been holding emergency meetings with security chiefs, as China has conducted what are thought to be its biggest war games yet around the self-governing island. The Chinese government has always insisted that Taiwan is part of its own territory. But last Thursday, in a speech in Taipei marking Taiwan's National Day, President Lai insisted that Beijing had "no right to represent" the island. Taiwan's key ally, the United States, said China's actions were unwarranted and risked escalation.

Also in the programme: a Hezbollah drone attack killed four Israeli soldiers at an Israeli army base south of Haifa. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Hamas-run authorities say an Israeli attack on a school used as a shelter killed 22 people on Sunday, including 15 children; and a NASA spacecraft on the hunt for the extra-terrestrial is due to blast off today.

The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL is demanding explanations from Israel after two tanks drove through the gates of one of their compounds in southern Lebanon earlier today. We hear from UNIFIL's spokesperson Andrea Tenenti.

Also on the programme: a moment of history in marathon running today. Kenyan runner Ruth Chepngetich is the first woman to run a marathon in under two hours and ten minutes; and new research on the remains of Christopher Columbus suggests he was a Sephardic Jew from Spain.

(Picture: An Israeli soldier drives through southern Lebanon, as part of an incursion during hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. Credit: REUTERS/Artorn Pookasook)

The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a direct appeal to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to remove UN peacekeepers from areas in south Lebanon where Israeli forces are fighting Hezbollah. Our reporter is with Israeli troops as they enter a Hezbollah-controlled village in southern Lebanon. We also hear from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Also on the programme: We revisit the 1920s jazz-scene in Berlin, before the Nazis; and we hear from the US campaign trail in Las Vegas.

(Picture: Israeli military strike hits a commercial market in Nabatieh, Lebanon Credit: stringer/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

As an Israeli military offensive in northern Gaza continues, the UN agency says no new food has arrived since the start of October. Meanwhile, residents, who have been asked to evacuate the area by the IDF, hesitate as Hamas tells them to stay. We hear from one woman who is staying put for now, and from the former IDF general who addresses rumours circulating about a siege on the area.

Also on the programme: We hear tributes for Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland who has died at the age of sixty nine; and Spanish scientists say they have found the final resting place of Christopher Columbus.

(Picture: Displaced Palestinians take shelter in a stadium, in Gaza City. Credit: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas)

We ask whether Israel is now implementing the so-called generals plan - the mass expulsion of civilians and the creation of a military zone in the north? The World Food programme says no food has been able to enter northern Gaza since October the first. The Hamas-run health ministry says forty nine Palestinians have been killed in the north in the past twenty four hours. We hear from Gaza's Civil Defence and from our correspondent in Beirut.

Also on the programme: How the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny foretold his death in prison in diaries he wrote while detained; and the blessing scam - cash to protect your loved ones from evil spirits.

(Picture: Palestinians flee areas in northern Gaza Strip following fresh Israeli evacuation order Credit: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas)

President Biden says he is asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, after two incidents in which UN personnel were wounded by Israeli shots. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of UN Peacekeeping, tells us that it is important for the blue helmets in Lebanon to stay and keep positions manned, but that their ability to fulfill their mandate in southern Lebanon is "limited".

Also in the programme: We hear from the Acting Director of Al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza - Mohammed Salha - about how the week long Israeli siege of Jabaliya is affecting residents; and why authorities in Cameroon claim that President Paul Biya's health is now a matter of national security.

(Photo: United Nations peacekeepers (UNIFIL) look at the Lebanese-Israeli border, as they stand on the roof of a watch tower ‏in the town of Marwahin, in southern Lebanon, October 12, 2023. Credit: Reuters/Thaier Al-Sudani)