live from washington, this is bbc news. three men taken hostage by hamas are accidentally killed by israeli defense forces as the us urges israel to switch to precise targeting in its operations. a legal blow to rudy giuliani and his claims about 2020 election fraud. i have no doubt in my comments were made and were supportable and are supportable today. plus, the international fight for more military aid to ukraine as opposition to new funding in europe and the us grows louder. hello i'm sumi somaskanda. there's a growing response to israel admitting it accidentally shot dead three hostages in gaza, after mistakenly identifying them as a threat. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has called the incident "an

unbearable tragedy". yotam haim, alon shamriz and samer talalka were abducted on october 7th when hamas, which is deemed a terrorist organisation by the us and uk governments, carried out its deadly attacks on israel. just hours ago in tel aviv, relatives of hostages taken by hamas protested the accidental killings, while also calling for a ceasefire and agreement for the release of those still held captive. more than 100 hostages remain in gaza. our correspondent lucy williamson has more now on the incident from jerusalem. israel's army is in gaza to kill hamas fighters and bring hostages home. clear targets obliterated in the chaos of conflict. three of those shot dead in the northern district of shejaiya, not hamas gunmen but the captives israel came to save. one of them was yotam haim, 28 years old, a drummer with a heavy metal band, kidnapped from kibbutz kfar aza.

his mother spoke to the bbc last month. they are talking about to release a few here, a few there. i know that they are playing with us, with our minds, with our hearts. we must hope. another of those killed was 25—year—old samer talalka, the eldest son of ten children from kfar hura, who worked with his father and brother in a hatchery and loved motorcycles. and alon shamriz, kidnapped from kfar aza. israel's army said yotam, samer, and alon were mistakenly identified as a threat. prime minister benjamin netanyahu called it an unbearable tragedy. tonight, israel's armed forces are once again bearing the weight of their failure to protect. translation: the idf mistakenly identified three kidnapped israelis as a threat.

the force fired at them and they were killed. after the shooting, an immediate suspicion arose about the identity of the dead and their bodies were quickly transferred for examination in israel and there the hostages were identified. at a vigil to mark the end of hanukkah yesterday, alon�*s mother said she still had hope. translation: we yearn fora miracle, hoping that the hostages would be back for hanukkah. but unfortunately it didn't happen. even so, we remain in hopeful anticipation and optimism that it will happen soon. the torment expressed by the families of hostages has cut deeper tonight. already angry with israel's prime minister for not negotiating the release of more hostages, they also have his promise ringing in their ears that israel's military campaign in gaza would help bring their relatives home. we've also learned

that aljazeera journalist samer abu daqqa, was killed in khan younis, in the southern gaza strip by an israeli missile fired from a drone. one of his colleagues, wael al—dahdouh, was injured. 63 journalists and media workers have been killed due to fighting in gaza since october 7th, according to the committee to protect journalists. a un aid worker in rafah has told the bbc that khan younis has seen some of the heaviest bombardments by israeli defence forces yet. the hamas—run health ministry says more than 18,700 people have been killed since the start of the war. us national security advisorjake sullivan has been visiting israeli officials in tel aviv. he told reporters that the us is pressing israel to shift to precise targeting of hamas leaders rather than widespread bombing and ground operations. mr sullivan has also said he expects the war would last more than several months. in the occupied west bank, mr sullivan met with palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas in

ramallah. the white house says they discussed humanitarian assistance in gaza and the biden administration's desire for a "path to a two—state solution.". earlier, my colleague caitriona perry spoke with lieutenant colonel mark schwartz, former us security coordinator between israel and palestinian authority, about the deaths of the three hostage and pressure on israel to scale back its gaza offensive. you worked at all kinds of levels including the special you worked for the us military for 33 years, what do you think happened that led to the idf killing three israeli hostages? good to be with you. based on the information that the idf have released today it sounds like there was an ongoing direct fire exchange between hamas and the idf and we will never know for sure, but it sounds like that the three hostages, the gentlemen that were tragically killed, were caught in the crossfire and identified as a potential threat to the idf as well.

what i do not know is what time of day this occurred, whether evening or even dust which would have made identification even more challenging, but it sounds like they were mistakenly engaged by idf ground forces during the conduct of combat operations against hamas. the us has asked israel to move from high intensity military operations into low intensity military operations which would include more of these ground forces operations and less of those wide scale rocket attacks. what does that movie look like to you? i believe that that is what is being asked of the idf and obviously prime minister netanyahu so certainly it would be a higher risk in terms of risk to idf ground forces but certainly a lower risk to the protection of innocent palestinian civilians who fundamentally are at the nature of this dialogue when united states leadership in israel. so a lot more deliberate room

clearing within the engagement of buildings and other structures that the idf believe hostages are being held in to reduce the likelihood that you are going to kill innocent palestinians that are caught in the crossfire or to provide some level of protection against hamas. israel would say it is doing everything it can currently to minimise civilian deaths in the operation it has run to date, but figures from the health ministry in gaza with over 90,000 people killed and a deteriorating health situation in gaza with all of the images coming from there —— 19,000. is that what in operation minimising civilian casualties look like? is there anything working? i don't think there is a thing

as effective as what the idf are claiming and i don't believe the idea for doing everything that they can hood to be doing. to your last point of the humanitarian assistance, i really don't understand why israel have not opened up another major line of supply along the axis that they are using to move israeli forces in an out of gaza as well, they could easily do that and fully secure it as it is brought into palestinian populace in gaza. in terms of combat operations, it is high risk and i understand that as a former soldier. but, you have a responsibility to reduce the likelihood of a threat to innocent civilians. that is the first order and i do believe that more could be done in the way that fighting is occurring it also the nature of the targeting that is being done both from airto ground, and also ground to ground, using artillery and other missile capabilities. so, not to second—guess,

but i do believe that there is more that could done to reduce the likelihood of civilian casualties. the biden administration has been very concerned since october seven for the potential of a regional spread in we have seen attacks on the west bank recently. you spent a lot of time in the region, what is your assessment of where things are going? it is still a strong concern. i was in contact with some individuals that live in the west bankjust as recently as yesterday and the tensions are extremely high, they are grateful that they have not seen violence outbreaks, but there has been a reduction in settler violence against palestinians which is positive. it is not significant reduction, but it appears that there is more

accountability. but it is absolutely a concern and the idf central command and the other security forces from israel that are working in the west bank have to be very conscious of the fact that a miscalculation could easily result in increased violence, notjust protest but actual lethal violence that could occur. so it is something that needs to be watched very carefully and monitored. former us security coordinator between the us in the palestinian authority, thank you forjoining us. here in washington, a federal jury has ordered former president donald trump's former personal lawyer rudy giuliani to pay more than $1118 million — that's £116 million — to two women over lies they tampered with votes in the 2020 presidential election. a judge had already found mr giuliani liable of making defamatory claims about

the georgia poll workers. the verdict came after a four—day trial to determine the penalty. mr giuliani told reporters outside the court he has no regrets. i have no doubt that my comments were made and you were supportable and are supportable today. ijust did not have an opportunity to present the evidence that we offered. one of the election workers who brought the case and won the damages had this to say after the ruling. todayis today is not the end of the road, we still have work to do. rudy giuliani was not the only one who spread lies about us, and others must be held accountable as well. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal has been covering the story and has more. a judge had already decided rudy giuliani had spread false information about these two women. ruby freeman and shaye moss, mother and daughter. during the civil trial, they both described how their lives had almost been

destroyed after december three 2020 when rudy giuliani suggested both women, election workers, they were counting ballots, that they had somehow taken part in election fraud to try and turn the election result against donald trump in the key swing state of georgia. both women gave emotional testimony in which they talked about in detail how they had received racist and threatening messages, phone calls, people turned up at their homes calling for them to be killed. and even ms moss's teenage son was targeted in such a way he could not finish his school education and had to finish it at home. in terms of what rudy giuliani had to say, he never actually gave evidence, never testified but his lawyer said he should not bear responsibility for the abuse directed towards these women. whether or not he can actually pay this huge amount we don't actually know.

because during the actual civil trial, rudy giuliani refused to disclose exactly how much he is worth. the us senate will delay its christmas break in efforts to find common ground on funding for ukraine. republicans and democrats are split on supplying more aid, republicans seeking tougher immigration policies at the us—mexico border in exchange for funding for ukraine. even if the senate does pass a deal, it could still be blocked by the republican—controlled house of representatives. it comes as hungary's prime minister said he's prepared to stop any further attempts to send european union money to ukraine. viktor orban vetoed an $55 billion aid package at the eu summit in brussels, but he also suggested he could lift his veto on money for kyiv if the eu released more funds destined for hungary. still, the accession talks will likely come as welcome news for ukrainians but as the war gets closer to its two—year anniversary

and battlefield gains have been slim, ukraine is left to wait for help to come. jessica parker is in kyiv with more on the harsh reality faced by ukraine's people. a school day in ukraine can often end up here — underground, but safer from missile threats that pepper their days and nights. it is very scary when you manage sleep and you heard "boom". 13—year—old ivan dreams of being a pilot, and at peace. we need in future to build our country and it will be very hard, but i know that we will do it. teachers�* wages are among the many things that eu aid helps pay for, but fresh funds are stuck. so is new us defence money. we need this help very much now. don't be, you know,

just a side. participate, help our children. we do our best but with the help of other countries, we will do even more. we've been down here for more than an hour now and, of course, it's highly disruptive to the children's education — they can't be taught properly down here. that being said, everyone's very calm, they're just getting on with it. they are used to it — this is the reality of daily life for ukrainian children. singing. on the streets of kyiv, patriotism can't disguise these difficult days after efforts to take back territory from russia stalled. an application to join the eu did progress this week but for elena, it's the story of her home, occupied luhansk, which absorbs her. translation: it's very painful for me to watch | what is going on in our territory. do you feel hopeful

for ukraine at the moment? i believe ukraine will be free and willjoin the eu but i don't know when it will happen. getting on the next step of a long ladder to possible eu membership is a boost for morale here, but you also need money — and lots of it — to fight a war. if president zelensky wanted to counter narratives of wavering western support, this hasn't been the week he would have hoped for. back in the bunker, the children wait to hear when it is safe to leave. a generation raised in the exhausting realities of war. jessica parker, bbc news, in kyiv. earlier, i spoke about the path forward for ukraine to potentiallyjoin the eu and opposition to eu support for the country from hungary's orban with princeton university professor kim lane scheppele. we saw hungary vetoing aid to

ukraine, russia then congratulated hungary on the move. what did you make of all of that? , . , of that? there is a bigger icture of that? there is a bigger picture going _ of that? there is a bigger picture going on - of that? there is a bigger picture going on behind l of that? there is a bigger. picture going on behind the scenes and i know that it is tempting to think that victor —— putin got orban to do this and that is that orban, a year ago, the eu blocked about 30 billion euros in funds to hungary because hungary is now a dictatorship and it violates the rule of law. and so, orban is trying to hold out the votes to get sort of a ransom from the eu and in fact this week, they actually gave him 10 billion of those euros in order to get his vote, i think, on the ukraine accession, it's just it wasn't enough money to clear his veto on the aid to ukraine. clear his veto on the aid to ukraine-— clear his veto on the aid to ukraine. , ., . ~ ukraine. kim, 'ust going back to what you — ukraine. kim, just going back to what you said, _ ukraine. kim, just going back to what you said, calling - to what you said, calling hungary a dictatorship. how do you square that with the fact hungary is considered a democracy and is in the european union? democracy and is in the euroean union? ., ,

european union? nobody actually considers it _ european union? nobody actually considers it a _ european union? nobody actually considers it a democracy - considers it a democracy anymore so you look at the freedom palace and the varieties of bureaucracy and even the eu parliament passed a resolution last four bits of that hungary is no longer a democracy and by my whites, country is a democracy if you can change leaders through elections and orban rigged the elections and orban rigged the election rules in 2013 and it doesn't matter how much the opposition has support, orban will continue to win elections so the eu knows that and they are trying to figure out what to do with the fact that you've got a country in its midst but is no longer a democracy. you mentioned — is no longer a democracy. you mentioned hungary _ is no longer a democracy. you mentioned hungary was looking to unlock those eu funds that have been frozen over this rule of law dispute. was it a mistake from the eu? i think so. it's been _ mistake from the eu? i think so. it's been a _ mistake from the eu? i think so. it's been a long - mistake from the eu? i think so. it's been a long time - so. it's been a long time trying to get the eu to kurt volker where it matters, which is funding. that's really the main language that he understands. as long as the eu withholds that funding, it could try to compel orban to

change enough of his system to create an opening for democratic rule or at the very least what they were trying to do was to restore or do slightly better on judicial independence and corruption so orban passed a flurry of laws and it looked like he was trying but if you understand how those laws work on the ground you realise nothing really substantial had changed so the eu took the laws that confuse laws with reality, shall we say, and gave orban the money allegedly because the complied with these dictates that the eu set out but the timing was suspicious to get the moneyjust before this eu council meeting and that's why a lot of people are saying this was money for nothing, right? they got orban... in fact, orban did not vote for ukrainian accession, but was... crosstalk. ukrainian accession, but was... crosstalk— crosstalk. the other 26 inaudible _ crosstalk. the other 26 inaudible and _ crosstalk. the other 26 inaudible and he - crosstalk. the other 26 inaudible and he would | crosstalk. the other 26 - inaudible and he would vote backin inaudible and he would vote back in but he didn't go along with funding which is really

the more crucial thing in the moment. the more crucial thing in the moment-— the more crucial thing in the moment. ,, ,, ~ ., ., moment. crosstalk. to ask you about the funding, _ moment. crosstalk. to ask you about the funding, next - moment. crosstalk. to ask you about the funding, next year - about the funding, next year orban will hold the rotating presidency of the eu, that's from june— december. if the war is ongoing which we anticipated to be, what would it mean ukraine?— ukraine? this is really serious. _ ukraine? this is really serious. orban - ukraine? this is really serious. orban beholdj ukraine? this is really - serious. orban behold the rotating presidency which means his country is basically in charge of setting the agenda or the council of ministers which is like the upper chamber of the eu parliament so to speak, where countries vote and the country in the rotating presidency gets to set the agenda so if for example there is a question about something with ukraine, orban cannot put it on the agenda and so it's a serious power that orban has in the second half of the term, the second half of the term, the second half of the term, the second half of 2024, and it comes after the european parliament elections in which orban is expecting that far right parties that are aligned with him i going to win over

europe and he is working towards a goal so insignificant. towards a goal so insi . nificant. , ., insignificant. interesting. to see that happening - insignificant. interesting. to see that happening across . see that happening across europe, the rise of further right—wing parties. one more question with about one minute left, orban would refute his country is a dictatorship and he has these clashes with brussels. how does that play out for him at home? test brussels. how does that play out for him at home? at home, he does a _ out for him at home? at home, he does a masterful _ out for him at home? at home, he does a masterfuljob - out for him at home? at home, he does a masterfuljob of- he does a masterfuljob of spinning things to after he voted to block the funding to ukraine, gave an interview this morning in hungarian at home and said i'm preventing the money that is owed to us from going to ukraine. he portrayed this is a zero—sum game, which it wasn't. the other thing he said recently, just in an interview this week, we are not aiming to have, not aiming to try to have brussels control us. we aim to take brussels. so this is his plan for 2024, so this is his plan for 2024, so this is his plan for 2024, so this is just the opening act of

something we will see a lot more of in 2024.— more of in 2024. kim, an interesting _ more of in 2024. kim, an interesting discussion. i more of in 2024. kim, an - interesting discussion. thank you forjoining us. a medical examiner has ruled the death of the actor matthew perry was an accident from the acute effects of ketamine. the actor, who was best known for playing chandler bing in friends, was found unresponsive in a pool at his home in october at the age of 54. the effects of air pollution on hearts and lungs are well documented but there's now growing evidence that different pollutants also affect our brains. fossilfuels, cigarette smoke and wildfire smoke are the primary contributors to air pollution in 2023. researchers found that americans who live in areas of the with high emissions from agriculture have a greater risk of dementia. similarly, a study by the environmental protection agency found that fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke can reduce attention in adults within just hours of exposure. people in united states and canada are seeing a significant increase of wildfires in the north and west coast. as climate change brings more intense weather each year, the consequences pose a greater threat to our health.

here's our science editor rebecca morelle. breathing in polluted air in the name of science. briony evans is a volunteer at this manchester university lab, where scientists are trying to learn about the impact of fumes on the brain. here, we've got everything that we need to conduct the experiments, to expose the participants to air pollution. the team is looking at four different kinds of pollution — diesel from an engine, cleaning products, wood smoke and cooking fumes from a pork chop. the pollutants are carefully measured and piped into a giant plastic bag. are you feeling ok? the volunteers are exposed to a different fume on every visit to see which ones have the biggest effect on the brain. you could imagine that we find that wood burning is worse than diesel is worse than cooking, for example. this would then allow people to make lifestyle choices about their exposure to the different pollutants.

the world health organization says that almost all of the global population — 99% — are breathing in air that exceeds the who limits on common air pollutants and the combined effects of outdoor and indoor air pollution is contributing to seven million premature deaths every year. this makes it the leading environmental cause of premature death. are you ready? begin. the participants carry out cognitive tests before and after their exposure. while we know how air quality affects the lungs and heart, less is known about the brain. the quality of the air you breathe over the long term is associated with increased risks of mental illness, poor cognitive development in children, and dementia. so, what we're trying to do in this study is understand not the nature of the association but why there's an association. deep breath

in and blast it out. taking part in the experiments is a big commitment, but one that briony says is worth it. anything that can be done to find out things that cause us damage just in our normal way of life that can be changed seems like a really valuable thing to do. it will take several months to analyse the data but the results could mean we think differently about how our everyday activities affect the air we breathe. rebecca morelle, bbc news. meanwhile, before we go in mexico city, christmas is in full bloom. poinsettia flowers, known as �*nochebuenas�* or �*christmas eve' plants, are thriving in crisp sunny weather. the crimson blooms are native to mexico and adorn homes, churches, squares and avenues this time of year across the country. millions are sold each year at christmastime. thank you so much for watching. stay with us.

hello there. it was a stunning end to the day that we had across north east england with some amazing sunsets reported pretty widely caused byjust a few gaps in the cloud opening up at the right time to allow those setting sun rays through. now, it was across eastern england and parts of eastern scotland that we had the day's lowest temperatures — just six degrees in fylingdales. here, though, it is set to get a lot milder into the weekend — temperaturesjumping up to about 11 degrees. it's mild because it's cloudy, and that cloud sheet is with us for the next few hours. some damp weather moving across scotland, where it's quite breezy. a few patches of drizzle around western coasts and hills and there may well be one or two mist and fog patches but certainly no frost around. it's going to be a mild start to saturday. this weekend, though, does see a weather front that gets stuck across the north—west of scotland and this will bring some very large rainfall accumulations. with the rain building up, then, through the weekend, the met office have issued

an amber warning for this. potentially as much as 200mm of rain across the high ground in the highlands — enough to cause flooding concerns and maybe one or two landslips as well. the weekend, though, also dominated by these mild southwesterly winds, so temperatures will be reaching double figures widely. saturday, then. rain across the far north—west of scotland. a bit of damp weather to start the day in the west with a few patches of drizzle, a bit of mist and fog around. otherwise cloudy. but the chance of a few breaks developing, given there's more a bit more wind over the welsh mountains and the pennines, so to the east of the high ground here and across the midlands, you might actually start to see some breaks in the crowd and a bit of sunshine. otherwise, probably staying cloudy for most of the day. and it's a similar story, really, on sunday. a bit more in the way of rain, more extensively across scotland, north west england, some some damp weather for northern ireland, too. but at the same time, a better prospect of seeing some cloud breaks move up from north france. you could see a bit of sunshine across the south of england and southern parts of wales for the second part of the weekend.

monday continues with that mild flow of air. one or two weather fronts around, bringing some areas of rain, mainly across western areas. the east having the best chance of a few breaks, a few bright or sunny spells. with temperatures up at 13 or 14 degrees, it is going to be a very mild day for december. beyond that, though, the weather does turn colder and it may well be cold enough for some of these showers to start to turn wintry towards the end of the week or perhaps the following weekend.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. it's incredible to think that this thriving metropolis was once a sleepy little fishing village. it became an international port, a crucial meeting point between east and west, a fusion of cultures and a global financial centre. hong kong is always evolving. it's often at the sharp end of political debate, and right now, it's in a fascinating time of transition. this former british colony was handed back to china in 1997, and ever since then, its connection with the past, the mainland and its future has been evolving.

the transition hasn't always been smooth, but hong kong