Plus: Lebanese capital reeling from increasingly heavy nights of strikes, and a tool non-verbal people faces controversy ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| Hello. On Saturday 7 October, 2023, about 1,200 people were killed in Israel by Hamas members who broke through the border in Gaza. Since then, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's response, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. One year later, as Israelis commemorate the dead and demand the liberation of hostages, the Middle East is on the edge of a deeper war, writes Jeremy Bowen. He takes stock of the devastation in Gaza, the destruction in Lebanon and the fear across the region that a broader, all-out war is inevitable. | |
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TOP OF THE AGENDA | Middle East on the edge of deeper war | | Israel said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in Beirut on Monday morning. Credit: EPA | A year ago today, Hamas fighters burst through Gaza's border and killed around 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians. It was the worst day in the country's history, after well over a century of unresolved conflict. Twelve months later, nearly 42,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israel's response in Gaza according to its Hamas-run health ministry. The Middle East is "on the edge of an even worse war; wider, deeper, even more destructive", writes our international editor Jeremy Bowen. In a wide-ranging piece covering devastation in Gaza and the international response, as well as escalating conflict in Israel, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Iran, he writes: "The last year of war has shown yet again that dreams of peace cannot come true while deep political, strategic and religious fault lines remain unbridged."
Watch: Hamas took 251 people hostage on 7 October last year. Ofer Kalderon is one of those who are believed to remain in captivity. The mother of his children tells the BBC how they are fighting on, pressing Israel's government for a deal.
War in maps: Israel does not allow journalists to enter Gaza, which organisations like the BBC cover with the help of Palestinian freelancers. Thanks to satellite imagery and official data, my colleagues are able to assess destruction in the enclave.
Follow live: People across Israel and the world are remembering the 7 October attacks, after more Israeli strikes were carried out on Beirut and Gaza, and rockets fired from Lebanon at Israel injured 10 people on Sunday. | |
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WORLD HEADLINES | | Political violence: The mayor of a Chilpancingo, a Mexican city plagued by drug violence, has been murdered less than a week after taking office. | Gene genius: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024 has been awarded to US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on microRNA, which helps explain how the same DNA in different cells can produce different tissue. | | US Supreme Court: A new term begins for the country's highest court, with high-profile cases on transgender care, ghost guns, and age verification in online pornography expected over the coming months. Here's a guide. | | Marburg virus: Rwanda has said it will begin vaccine trials for the virus which has already killed at least 12 people in the country - most of them health workers. | | Madonna: The pop star has paid tribute to her brother Christopher Ciccone, who has died at the age of 63, describing him as "the closest thing to me for so long". | |
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| Capital reeling from night of strikes | | An Israeli air strike on the Dahieh neighbourhood destroyed a clinic, the building on the left. Credit: Joel Gunter/BBC | About 30 Israeli strikes pounded the Dahieh neighbourhood overnight from Saturday to Sunday. The southern suburb of Beirut has been heavily targeted by Israel, whose military said it had "conducted a series of targeted strikes on a number of weapons storage facilities" belonging to Hezbollah. |
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| | | Dr Taghrid Diab does not follow Colonel Avichae Adraee on social media, so she didn’t see the IDF’s spokesman warning when it was posted late on Saturday night. But her daughter did, and she forwarded it to her mother with an urgent question. “Is this your clinic?” Col Adraee sometimes posts evacuation warnings on social media ahead of an Israeli air strike in Lebanon. The posts contain an aerial image with the target building highlighted in red. Dr Diab, a gynaecologist who provides care to hundreds of women in the Beirut suburb of Dahieh, studied the image. She recognised the apartment building directly next door to her clinic, shaded by an ominous red square. She began to cry. “After 30 years of work, I knew my clinic was going be destroyed,” she said. “I felt like my heart was going to explode.” |
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BEYOND THE HEADLINES | Tool for non-verbal people under question |
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| | | Marlena says the facilitated communication method has allowed her to "connect". Credit: BBC | Facilitated communication uses a bespoke keyboard and the help of a "facilitator" guide to allow non-verbal people to communicate. Advocates insist it is a miracle tool, but a growing chorus of experts, families and even former facilitators want it banned, saying "the science isn't there" and that it can open the door for abuse. |
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SOMETHING DIFFERENT | Cheesy heritage | Turkey is not famous for its cheese. But Kars, off the border with Armenia, is. | |
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World of Business | Gain the leading edge with global insights for the boardroom and beyond, every Wednesday from New York. | |
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