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)
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Hello and welcome to News hour from the BBC World Service.
Coming to live from London with me, Sean Lay.
Today we're going to hear about what it's like to do rehab in Singapore, a country known for its zero tolerance approach to drugs.
Also, the 23 year old mountaineer who became the youngest woman to climb all 14 peaks over 8000 meters.
And the Hollywood legend al Pacino talks to us about his career, becoming a father again in his eighties and a near death experience during the pandemic.
All of that coming up in the next hour.
But first to our top story this hour.
And that is the letter that has been sent by the United States to Israels government, giving it 30 days to dramatically improve humanitarian aid access in Gaza or face having some us military assistance cut off.
Matthew Miller, who speaks for the US State Department, told a news conference that the Biden administration is asking Israel to adapt the way it prosecutes its war.
There are implications under us law, under policy that im not going to speak to here, largely because we hope that Israel makes the changes that the secretary outlined in the letter.
We have seen Israel make changes before, and when they make changes, humanitarian assistance can increase.
So was this letter from the State Department and the Defense Department meant to be made public or was it leaked?