BBC News Briefing

5 September, 2025

Alex has short, dark blond bobbed hair and blue eyes and is smiling. She is wearing a pink jumper over a dark grey high-necked top

Alex Binley

Hello. Satellite images analysed by BBC Verify show that Israel has destroyed dozens of buildings in Gaza City as its offensive intensifies. In Lisbon, we hear from a woman who narrowly avoided being on the funicular that crashed. And experts explain whether repeated organ transplants could significantly increase our life spans. Plus, try our weekly quiz.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Israel destroys dozens of buildings in Gaza City as new offensive intensifies

Strikes have intensified in areas of Gaza City in recent weeks.

Israeli strikes and demolitions have destroyed dozens of buildings in Gaza City, satellite images analysed by BBC Verify show. It comes as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its offensive has established control over 40% of the city. The images, taken just one month apart, show several neighbourhoods have been levelled, and rows of tents - which were sheltering displaced Palestinians - have also disappeared. The IDF said it was "locating and destroying terror infrastructures". Israel's PM announced the intention to seize the strip and launch an incursion into Gaza City after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage deal broke down. UN officials have warned the impact of a full-blown offensive would be "beyond catastrophic".

Take a look

GET UP TO SPEED

A number of police officers wearing dark blue T-shirts or hoodies stand with people who appear to be factory workers and who look like they have their hands tied behind their backs

Hundreds of Koreans held after Hyundai ICE raid

South Korea's foreign ministry expressed concern about possible "unjust infringement" of the workers' rights.

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A smiling Joe Biden has white hair and is wering a blue suit and tie, and white shirt. He is sat in a chair and holds some papers in his hands. The background is blue

Joe Biden undergoes skin cancer surgery

The former US president had been spotted with a wound on the right side of his head in recent days.

Read more >

A man with short black hair wears a navy blue suit and white shirt. He is smiling and has his hands raised in front of him, with his palms together.

Thailand names third PM in two years

Multiple administrations have been deposed by court interventions and military coups in recent years.

Who is new PM? >

A woman with. short, bobbed blond hair wears a pink scarf and smiles in a close-up photo.

The Duchess of Kent dies aged 92

The Prince and Princess of Wales said she would be a "much missed member of the family" who had "tirelessly" helped others.

More on her life >

AT THE SCENE

Lisbon, Portugal

'I missed Lisbon funicular commute that killed my friend'

A woman with dark red hair wears a black and white patterned top. She has her hair in a ponytail and looks sad. She is standing in a sunny street

Sonia Silva said she rode the funicular every day with her friend who died in the crash.

As Sonia Silva prepared to leave work in Lisbon on Wednesday, she was asked to help with a quick task. It meant she missed her regular funicular commute home with a colleague. When she arrived at the stop a short while later, the funicular had crashed and her friend was amongst the 16 dead.

Alice has long blond hair which is parted in the centre. She is looking straight and ahead and wearing a green jumper

Alice Cuddy, senior international reporter

“I can’t express [how I feel] - it’s very difficult. I am grateful but at the same time I’m very, very angry because my colleagues and lots of people died,” Sonia said. She told how she would travel to and from work each day with her friend Sandra Coelho. “I was very fond of her because I always took the funicular with her - going home and in the morning. It’s very difficult because I’m not going to see her anymore,” she said through tears.

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On their commute, she said the two women would gossip and talk about their days. But now, she said: "I’m not going to use it anymore."

Keep reading

What we know: Here's everything we know so far about the deadly crash.

Watch: BBC correspondent Alison Roberts reports from the scene and explains what the investigation may look into.

Eyewitness: Rasha Abdo, who was in the other funicular, recounts what happened in the moments surrounding the crash.

PICK OF THE WEEK

Organ transplants for immortality: Might Xi and Putin be onto something?

Two surgeons in surgical gear and masks look down on the camera in an operating theatre with one of them using a scalpel

Organ transplants certainly save lives but having surgery is a big undertaking with significant risks.

Could repeated organ transplants be the ticket to immortality? That was the unexpected topic of discussion this week between Chinese and Russian presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin when they met at a military parade in Beijing. Experts explain if there's any truth in what the leaders said, and if not giving recipients eternal life, whether organ transplants could extend the human lifespan.

What they said