This is the Global Use Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Gareth Barlow and at 13 hours GMT on Monday the 16th of October.

These are our main stories.

Amid a severe shortage of supplies in Gaza, the UN Humanitarian Affairs Chief, is heading

to the Middle East to try and broker an agreement to allow aid in.

Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has returned to Israel for more talks

after visiting six Arab capitals.

And the Israeli military is evacuating dozens of villages near the Lebanese border

because of the threat of rocket fire from the Hezbollah militant group.

We'll bring you all the latest from across the region.

Also in this podcast, Russia has agreed to return four Ukrainian children to their families

as part of a deal broken by Qatar.

It was painted by both sides as a vote about which direction Poland takes

and the opposition are talking about this being the vote for change.

It's Poland about to take a new political course with big implications for the EU and Ukraine.

We start the podcast in the Gaza Strip and even before the conflict in Gaza erupted just over a week ago,

the population of almost two and a half million people was largely reliant on aid.

Days of fighting and an Israeli imposed siege has made living conditions dire for those

trapped in the Gaza Strip.

Today, efforts to get food, water, fuel and medicine into Gaza have all intensified.

As we record this podcast, we've just heard from the White House that the US is hopeful

that the wrath of crossing between Gaza and Egypt will open for a few hours later today.

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