NewsHour

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial plans for a new military push in the Gaza Strip have raised warnings from the army leadership, opposition from hostage families and concerns that more Palestinians will be killed.

We'll hear from a resident of the territory and find out why the Israeli government thinks an intensification of the war will work now.

Also in the programme: We'll hear about fresh allegations against the Australian woman who poisoned three of her relatives; and why some of France's most prestigious mineral water companies are up to their necks in crisis.

(Photo shows Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at a conference in Jerusalem on 27July 2025. Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been meeting with his security cabinet and says he wants a complete military takeover of the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City. The Israeli leader believes a full takeover is “the only way” to destroy Hamas and free the remaining Israeli hostages.

Also on the programme: reports that Sudan’s military destroyed a UAE plane carrying Colombian mercenaries; and a tribute to the pioneering Latin-jazz musician Eddie Palmieri, who has died aged 88.

(Photo: A damaged Israeli flag stands in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border between Israel and Gaza, 7th August, 2025. Credit: Amir Cohen/Reuters)

Sweeping new tariffs on more than 90 countries around the world - which US president Donald Trump has advocated for - have come into effect.

Producers of staple goods such as Brazilian coffee say the tariffs will have a big impact on their industry.

Also in the programme: The Kremlin says presidents Trump and Putin will meet in the coming days to talk about Ukraine; and we'll get a rare glimpse into a besieged city, el Fasher in Sudan, where people are starving and terrified.

(Photo shows shipping containers in Frankfurt, Germany on 7 August 2025. Credit: Hannes P Albert/EPA)

The United States is imposing an extra twenty-five percent tariff on imports from India because Delhi continues to buy Russian oil. President Trump is using this to increase pressure for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Delhi's called it 'unfair'. The executive order came after the US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Also on the programme: As dozens are injured and killed in Gaza when four aid trucks tipped over, we take a look at how the crisis is being reported in Israel and whether public opinion is changing; Italy plans the longest suspension bridge in the world; and the new research that shows how female gorillas form strong friendships with each other that last years.

(Photo: Russian President Putin meets U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow Credit: Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/via REUTERS)

The US Health Secretary has stopped about $500m worth of funding for the development of vaccines against viruses that cause illnesses like flu and Covid-19. Robert F. Kennedy - a vaccine sceptic - claims they pose many risks. Newshour hears from Dr. Paul Offit who disagrees.

Also in the programme: we hear from a Hiroshima survivor; and the gorilla sisterhood.

(Picture: A nurse prepares a booster dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, Spikevax, against the coronavirus disease at a vaccination centre in Berlin, Germany, January 1, 2022. Credit: Reuters)

The UN's food agency has warned that families trapped within the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher face starvation. Also on the programme, an investigation into the gangs running illegal migration from France to Britain; we speak to 93 year-old Nobel prize winner Setsuko Thurlow about surviving the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.

(Photo: Houda Ali Mohammed, 32, a displaced Sudanese mother of four, prepares food at a camp shelter amid the ongoing conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Jamal/File Photo)

Israel has authorised the gradual re-entry of goods including food supplies to Gaza via private traders for the first time in ten months. How does food distribution operate at the moment, and how often can it be a case of survival of the fittest?

Also in the programme: as the final push for a global plastics treaty begins in Geneva, we hear from the head of the United Nations Environment Programme on why it needs to happen; and we report from a camp for Ukrainian children trying to cope with the trauma of parents missing because of the war with Russia; plus why Dolly Parton has been given the status of global icon.

The former head of the Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet, Ami Ayalon, tells Newshour why he thinks Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu needs to end the Gaza war. Meanwhile, reports suggest that the prime minister may order the Israeli Defence Forces to seize and hold the entire Gaza Strip.

Also in the programme: the family of a Hiroshima atom bomb survivor reflect as the 80th anniversary of the bomb approaches; the devastation plastic pollution is wreaking on human health; and why Indian cricket fans have been ecstatic over today's game in London.

(Photo: Protest outside Israeli PM Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem. Credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)

The Israeli prime minister is reportedly planning to expand military operations in Gaza. It comes as hundreds of retired Israeli security officials have written to President Trump, urging him to pressurise their government to end the war. They say Hamas is no longer a threat and the war is no longer just. We speak to one of signatories of the letter Ami Ayalon, a former director of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic secret service agency.

Also in the programme: More than 70 migrants have died in a shipwreck in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen; why Texan Democrats are running away from a vote; and Sir David Attenborough's latest BBC One series documents how parents from across the animal kingdom sacrifice everything in order to raise their young.

(Photo: Protest outside Israeli PM Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem. Credit: Reuters)

Pope Leo XIV has implored a million young Catholics from around the world to aspire to great things and not settle for less at a special Jubilee celebration in Rome.

We have a report on the Catholic social media influencers who spread the gospel online.

Also on the programme: Arab nations have condemned a visit to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem by Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir; and Kim Kardashian’s new facial wrap you wear while sleeping generates much online chatter.

(Photo: Pope Leo XIV presides over Holy Mass on the occasion of the Jubilee of Youth, at Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, 03 August 2025. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)