Hello and welcome to NewsAv from the BBC World Service.

We're coming to you live from London.

I'm James Menendez.

And we're going to begin the program today with what's happening in Gaza.

Because in the past couple of hours, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said

that he's ordered the start of immediate negotiations to end the war

and secure the release

of the remaining Israeli hostages being held by Hamas on terms, as he put it, acceptable to Israel.

We'll be hearing what that means in practice in a moment, because it comes at the same time as Israel

starting to expand its military operations in the territory, something we touched on

last night, with the bombardment of districts on the outskirts of Gaza City and some

fighting on the ground too. It is an offensive that's been widely condemned internationally.

It's the head of the UN agency for Palestinians, Philippe Lazzarini.

For the Palestinians who are in Gaza, city and in the north, it's a population that is

already starved. It's a population that is weakened and that certainly won't find the necessary

resources to get to the south. It's a huge military operation that we're talking about today,

and we're still talking about a million civilians who are in the region. So everything you've heard

in recent weeks, all the appeals from the international community from the UN Secretary General,

please talk about a ceasefire and a truce rather than a military offensive.

Rada Akhul is a journalist we've heard from often during the course of this war.

She's from Gaza City.

She's been displaced many times, but she's now back on the western side of the city.

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