The Darkest Days: Israel-Gaza Six Months On

Hamas’s 7 October murderous rampage through southern Israel provoked a major hostage crisis and a devastating war. More than 32,000 Palestinians are reported to have been killed so far in Israel’s retaliatory attacks, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Israeli operations, intended to root out Hamas, have left much of the territory in ruins.

Six months on, the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet presents searing accounts of the human cost on both sides, with eyewitness reports from both Israel and Gaza.

Black Dawn is a first-hand chronological account of the horror of the Nova massacre: 24 hours that began with an open-air music festival and ended with more than 370 people murdered by Hamas, and over 40 taken hostage. The film, from award-winning Israeli film-makers Duki Dror and Yossi Bloch, incorporates chilling footage shot by festival-goers as the tragedy unfolded and features raw and moving interviews with survivors.

Gaza 101: Emergency Rescue offers rare, intimate access to work of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) following the outbreak of the war. Within a week, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped 6,000 bombs on northern Gaza. Within four weeks, 10,000 Palestinians were killed. Filmed by local Palestinian journalist Feras Al Ajrami, this World Service documentary produced by BBC News Arabic shows the immense personal sacrifice Palestinian volunteer first responders are making in a time of war, cut off from the outside world.

Providing insight and context, Lyse Doucet brings her decades of experience of covering the region to explore how Israelis and Palestinians now view the prospects for peace and security after these darkest of days.