live from washington. this is bbc news. israel explains how three of its own hostages were accidentally killed in gaza. ukraine surveys the damage left behind after a barrage of russian attack drones as it calls for more western support. luton�*s premier league football match at bournemouth ends after their captain collapses on the pitch from a cardiac arrest. i'm helena humphrey, good to have you with us. we're learning new details about the three hostages an israeli soldier opened fire on killing them in a building in the suburbs of gaza city. the three men were mistakenly killed holding a white cloth on a stick, indicating surrender. an israeli defense forces official says a soldier felt threatened and opened fire after mis—idenfying them as "terrorists".

an official investigation said the shots were fired in breach of the army's rules of engagement. prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the hostage deaths "broke his heart", but that military pressure is still necessary. mr netanyahu has said his country is in a war for its existence, which it would continue, despite what he called the "heavy price" paid by israel. our correspondent hugo bachega reports on the fallout in israel to the hostage deaths, and growing pressure to rescue the others still held in gaza. for the families of the hostages who remain in gaza it's an agonising wait made worse by a tragic mistake. the israeli military has given new details of how three israeli captives were shot dead by its own soldiers. yotam haim, alon shamriz and samer talalka emerged shirtless from a building carrying a makeshift white flag. one of the soldiers

misidentified them as a threat and opened fire. two were killed instantly. a third, injured, returned to the building, and was later killed. translation: we will draw the lessons, implement - the lessons and remain relentless in our military and diplomatic efforts to bring back all the hostages home safely. with all the terrible sadness, let me clarify, the military pressure is necessary both for bringing back the hostages and to achieve victory. the instruction i'm giving the negotiating team is predicated on pressure. without this pressure, we have nothing. here in tel aviv thousands have gathered in what is known as "hostage square." their message — bring the captives home, now. there is shock and anger across the country after the killing of the hostages and fear that, without a deal, many other hostages may not return alive.

the families say time is running out. everyone that was taken out of gaza was a body and we don't want them as bodies. what is your message for the government? make a ceasefire until all the hostages are back alive cos every day that passes by we are just discovering more and more names of hostages that were taken alive and now they are coming back dead. gaza, too, is mourning its dead. this was the funeral for samer abudaqa, a well known palestinian cameraman who worked for the aljazeera network and was killed in an israeli drone strike. israel says military force will help bring back the hostages, but many here disagree. hugo bachega, bbc news, tel aviv. the world health organization says its delivered health supplies to the al—shifa hospital as part of a joint un mission.

it says they delivered medicine and surgical supplies. meanwhile, us national security advisorjake sullivan has been in the middle east this week, and met with israeli prime minister netanyahu. mr sullivan said that he had conveyed the position of the biden administration, that israel must revert to more precise tactics in its war against hamas. this fight against hamas, a deeply entrenched terrorist group in gaza is going to take time, and is going to happen in phases. and we said that from the beginning. and, so, there is no contradiction between seeing the fight is going to take months and also saint that ——the fight is going to take months and also saying that different phases will take place at different times over those months, including the transitions from the high intensity operations to more targeted operations. responding to recent reports

that much of israel's bombing of gaza has been "indiscriminate". an idf spokesperson said... gaza's health ministry, which is run by hamas, says more than 18—thousand palestinians have been killed in the war since october 7. mr sullivan's visit comes as international calls for a ceasefire grow, with negotiations stalled. our security correspondent frank gardner has more. the us has made it clear that they want this phase wrapped up by the end of the first week of january. the israeli government says, no, no, no, we need a lot more time than that. we need months more, that's not something which the international community is prepared to get. as already been votes in the un calling for a cease—fire, nonbinding, but the moment that the us says, ok, enough is enough, it's got to stop, that's

really, i think, it's got to stop, that's really, ithink, going it's got to stop, that's really, i think, going to be the time when israel finds itself in a very difficult position, because it's unlikely to have finished the job of finishing off hamas. it's also going to survive as an ideology is not as a military force. the incident that took place in the last 2a hours has been really a sober reminder for israelis that they've got a real problem here but these hostages held and that the government isn't so far succeeding in getting them out. earlier, i spoke with marc garlasco, former military analyst and war crimes investigator for the united nations. he also served as chief of high—value targeting at the pentagon. i want to start with those comments from jake salomon in israel this mixing that essentially that israel must be more surprised and its targeting of hamas. up until now, how would you assess the tactics used by the idf in gaza? the idf has been anything

but precise, and the revelation this week that nearly half of all bombs dropped by israel and gaza are imprecise, unguided munitions, it's really quite shocking. up until now, we have seen approximately almost 30,000 bombs dropped on gaza by israel. you're talking anywhere from 10—15,000 have been unguided. that's really quite shocking to me when you consider that a precision guided munition, which is what most western militaries rely on has an era of three metres high, militaries rely on has an eroor of three metres, so a miss by a short distance, and unguided munition has up to a 30 metre miss, you're talking about a distance of potentially hitting a hamas checkpoint to hitting instead an apartment building filled with civilians. so i think that the 18,000 dead palestinians is the direct example and results of israel's bombing campaign that has been anything but precise. we should say that here at the bbc we do not have

all the specifics with regards to the munitions that have been supplied and used, but israel, for its part says that it has done a lot to prevent where possible or minimise the killing or wounding of civilians. how do you think it could be more surgical and precise in its targeting the way that the biden administration is now calling for? well, first of all, they have not been in plain precision guided munitions across the board. if we look at the way western militaries operate, in the 1991 gulf war in the us and uk dropped 8% guided munitions but by the war in libya it was 100%. we have seen in gaza at the israelis using the mi 17, which is a vietnam era unguided bomb. the first of all, by using the most precise weapons, the us in the last years has provided over 35,000 precision guided munitions to the israelis, but secondly, it's also in the targeting decisions. israel is making decisions to attack mid—level hamas leaders with high explosive bombs, such as the £2000

weapon, which have massive wide area affects, and we have seen the results, taking out a mid—level hamas leader, they have taken out that jabal your refugee camp refugee camp and killed over 120 civilians. so it is decisions like these that the israelis are making to give up palestinian lives to get mid—level leaders that really needs to stop. so at the same time we have also seen a rocket fire from hamas this week, including going into airspace near the airport, the iron dome and fending off that attack. how do you think israel should respond to that when, of course, israel makes the argument that this is about self defence. clearly, and all of hamas's attacks into israel are war crimes. these are indiscriminate weapons that are incapable of differentiating between a military object civilian object. butjust because hamas is committing war crimes,

it doesn't give israel carte blanche to do whatever it wants. it needs to implement civilian harm mitigation procedures in its targeting, improve the tactic techniques from the procedures that they are using but most importantly, move to a cease—fire as quickly as possible and stop the killing. if we don't see a scaling back in terms of the number of civilians who are killed here, do you think that the us could put conditions on its supplying of military aid. i mean, we saw earlier this week president biden talk about, "indiscriminate bombing", we then saw the administration try to walk back those comments, but what do you think that happened here? ——but what do you think could happened here? the impenetrable wall of us support has started to slowly erode as the number of civilians have increased. yet it's difficult to see how this is going to end. when we look at the us�*s weapon, the way we provide weapons to ukraine, we put destructions on the ukrainians. they have to record the number of weapons they use, where they use them, how they use them, the us monitors at. there is no monitoring of the weapon used by israel

and the weapons that the uk and others are getting them. perhaps it's time for the us to use its various laws and powers to actually either lynette or put controls on what israel is doing. otherwise, as israel looks to move to expand this conflict in to lebanon and other areas commit maybe time to pull back some of that unlimited support. former united nations military analyst and were crimes investigator who served as a chief of high—value targeting on the pentagon's joint staff in 2003, thank you for being with us. thank you for having me. to ukraine now, where russian drones have struck a hospital in the city of kherson, damaging one of the units and injuring a doctor — that's according to ukrainian officials. they said ukraine's air defences shot down 30 out of 31 russian drones over 11 regions across the country early on saturday. moscow has denied targeting ukraine's civilian infrastructure.

ukraine is critically dependent on eu and us funding as it continues to fight occupying russian forces. mr zelensky visited washington at the start of the week to call for more money from congress, without sucess. members of the house of representatives have already left washington for the holidays, but senators will be back next week to try to hammer out a deal that includes ukraine aid and immigration reform. our news partner cbs reports senate negotiators hope to have the framework of a dea lready as early as sunday. meanwhile support from the eu hit a stumbling block too — when hungarian prime minister viktor orban blocked 50 billion euros in eu aid for ukraine — just hours after an agreement was reached on starting membership talks. i spoke earlier with sergey radchenko a professor at thejohns hopkins school of advanced international studies and ukraine's challenges as russia's vladimir putin pledges to dig in. thank you for being with us. i would like to begin by touching

her and put in�*s press conferences we, he appeared confident, he conferences we, he appeared confident.— conferences we, he appeared confident, ., confident, he said there would be no peace — confident, he said there would be no peace until— confident, he said there would be no peace until russia's- be no peace until russia's goals are met. what do you make of what he had to say? i goals are met. what do you make of what he had to say?— of what he had to say? i think exactly that's _ of what he had to say? i think exactly that's what _ of what he had to say? i think exactly that's what he - of what he had to say? i think exactly that's what he said. i exactly that's what he said. russian aims have not changed. he did not really elaborate on this, though he did talk about so called demilitarisation those are things that he has talked about repeatedly throughout this conflict. great successes by the russian military. of course, this conference of hymns comes in the wake of, i would say, failure of the ukrainian counteroffensive and a sense that putin was trying to build on that, and project a certain ending this war and how he

tried to come across. i5 ending this war and how he tried to come across. is there any sense _ tried to come across. is there any sense of— tried to come across. is there any sense of growing - tried to come across. is there any sense of growing fatigue | any sense of growing fatigue with the war or a special operation as it's known in russia? he did say in that press conference there will be no further mobilisation. he did. no further mobilisation. he did- you — no further mobilisation. he did. you have _ no further mobilisation. he: did. you have to rememberas did. you have to remember as well that putin is looking at an election in a few months from now. and you could almost tell that some of the questions that were being posed to him that were being posed to him that there is great concern among the people both about the war itself, where it's going but also about the economic situation in the country, inflation was brought up, for example. so putin i think is very anxious to project confidence and to calm down the people before suggesting that he is on the right track and the country is on the right track. , ., ~' , the country is on the right track. ,. ~' , track. do you think they can trust his _ track. do you think they can trust his word _ track. do you think they can trust his word when - track. do you think they can trust his word when it - track. do you think they can | trust his word when it comes track. do you think they can - trust his word when it comes to mobilisation? i trust his word when it comes to mobilisation?— mobilisation? i don't think that he can _ mobilisation? i don't think that he can be _ mobilisation? i don't think that he can be trusted. - mobilisation? i don't think that he can be trusted. he

mobilisation? i don't think - that he can be trusted. he said there would be no him mobilisation, but he has said these kinds of things before and then an these kinds of things before and the ., , these kinds of things before andthe ., ,, and then on his promises. he added _ and then on his promises. he added when _ and then on his promises. he added when he - and then on his promises. he added when he talked| and then on his promises. - he added when he talked about there _ he added when he talked about there not— he added when he talked about there not being _ he added when he talked about there not being mobilisations. there not being mobilisations except— there not being mobilisations except for— there not being mobilisations except for now _ there not being mobilisations except for now there - there not being mobilisations except for now there is - there not being mobilisations except for now there is no . there not being mobilisations. except for now there is no need for it— except for now there is no need for it for— except for now there is no need for it for now. _ except for now there is no need for it for now, but, _ except for now there is no need for it for now, but, of _ except for now there is no need for it for now, but, of course i for it for now, but, of course this— for it for now, but, of course this for— for it for now, but, of course this for now— for it for now, but, of course this for now can _ for it for now, but, of course this for now can change - for it for now, but, of course this for now can change anyl this for now can change any moment, _ this for now can change any moment, and _ this for now can change any moment, and if— this for now can change any moment, and if russia - this for now can change anyl moment, and if russia can't avoid — moment, and if russia can't avoid serious _ moment, and if russia can't avoid serious operations, i avoid serious operations, mititary— avoid serious operations, military operations - avoid serious operations, military operations in - avoid serious operations, - military operations in ukraine into the — military operations in ukraine into the spring, _ military operations in ukraine into the spring, it _ military operations in ukraine into the spring, it seems- military operations in ukraine| into the spring, it seems they will require _ into the spring, it seems they will require more _ into the spring, it seems they will require more people - into the spring, it seems they will require more people for. will require more people for that — will require more people for that so _ will require more people for that so the _ will require more people for that. so the meat _ will require more people for that. so the meat grinder. will require more people for that. so the meat grinder isj that. so the meat grinder is likeiy— that. so the meat grinder is likely to _ that. so the meat grinder is likely to continue. - that. so the meat grinder is likely to continue. they - that. so the meat grinder is likely to continue. they will| likely to continue. they will have — likely to continue. they will have to _ likely to continue. they will have to draw _ likely to continue. they will have to draw on _ likely to continue. they will have to draw on more - likely to continue. they will - have to draw on more mobilised servicemen _ have to draw on more mobilised servicemen i— have to draw on more mobilised servicemen-— servicemen. i want to touch on a domestic— servicemen. i want to touch on a domestic economic _ servicemen. i want to touch on a domestic economic situation | a domestic economic situation as well in russia. hejust mentioned there that high inflation. we also know that there are workforce shortages due to the ongoing war right now. ijust wonder due to the ongoing war right now. i just wonder whether you think that could pose any potential problems for president putin as he seeks to take his fifth term in power. i think he will try to maintain

public discussion within certain bounds, the purpose of this press conference was to suggest an idea of the tsar coming down to the people and facing some criticism. the reality in russia is the propaganda machine is still very much in control and putin is unlikely to face any real opposition. i mean, he will not face any real opposition, let's put it straight like this. it will be fa collection. so he is somewhat worried, i'm sure because he is approaching an election, that's why he's putting on this whole show, but he can be reasonably confident, i think in winning it since he's not going to face any opposition. he's not going to face any opposition-— he's not going to face any opposition. talking of that opposition _ opposition. talking of that opposition we _ opposition. talking of that opposition we know - opposition. talking of that opposition we know three | opposition we know three figures are behind bars right now, including the russian dissident lx and a bounty in that department says they are concerned that they haven't heard any news about ten for at

least a week with regards to his whereabouts. what do you think could be happening there? it is of course very worrying, as lawyers have not been able to get in touch with him, some indication is there that he may be in the process of being moved somewhere else —— alexei navalny. that is a possibility. of navalny. that is a possibility. of course we can also be concerned about his health because we know that he was put into strict isolation for prolonged periods of time, conditions and russian prisons are horrible and all the more horrible for political activists and opposition leaders like alexei navalny. putin seems to derive almost sadistic pleasure from this sort of situation, so putin, alexei navalny in communication with the rest of the world, sort of disappearing him and that's not saying anything about him in the press conference. it's very much on style for vladimir putin. find

style for vladimir putin. and we did hear— style for vladimir putin. and we did hear him _ style for vladimir putin. and we did hear him talking that press conference about the imprisoned wall street journal correspondent saying that he would be open to a deal that is "mutually acceptable to the united states." what do you think he means by that? is he serious about that? what could he deal look like? i serious about that? what could he deal look like?— he deal look like? i thought this was a _ he deal look like? i thought this was a very _ he deal look like? i thought this was a very interesting i this was a very interesting moment of the press conference, the new york times raised this question, of course, he has been held in russia on completely ridiculous charges and there has been some discussion of his possible exchange for maybe a russian spy exchange for maybe a russian spy or somebody like that in the west. we know that negotiations have been taking place behind the scenes but obviously he is still behind bars in russia, so an agreement has not been reached. vladimir putin publicly spoke about

this, and that suggests that these negotiations continue but he is obviously, you know, angling for some sort of major concession on some part of western countries to get them back. this is hostage taking, thatis back. this is hostage taking, that is what it is. is taking hostages and he's demanding, he's blackmailing the west to pay him to get him back. thank ou for pay him to get him back. thank you for being — pay him to get him back. thank you for being with _ pay him to get him back. thank you for being with us _ pay him to get him back. thank you for being with us here - pay him to get him back. thank you for being with us here on . you for being with us here on bbc news. you for being with us here on bbc news-— you for being with us here on bbc news. ., ,, y., ., ., bbc news. thank you for having me. more major shipping companies are suspending operations in the red sea. it follows drone attacks on ships there, believed to have been launched by iranian—backed houthi rebels targeting vessels travelling to and from israel. the us said it destroyed ia attack drones on saturday and a uk navy warship downed another one. the red sea is one of the world's most important routes for oil and fuel shipments. four of the five biggest commercial shipping companies say they will no longer allow their vessels to use

the bab al—man—dab strait. about 17,000 ships and 10% of global trade pass through it every year. but the houthis have been stepping up their attacks, as part of their operations aimed at supporting palestinians in response to the war in gaza. the bbc spoke to rear admiral dr chris parry, a former royal navy warfare officer about maritime security on the red sea. if they want to protect the international rules —based system, we have to enforce the law at sea, if i can take the analogy further, people like the houthis, the somali pirates, even some of the great powers like russia and china trying to interfere a bit like malware in your computer system, completely well, what we have to do is if we believe in the freedom of its ease, we have to protect the wishes of those who go about, we used to say it lawful occasions.

us defense secretary lloyd austin will travel to the middle east next week in response to the houthi attacks on american forces in the region and to contain the growing insecurity fueled by the israel—hamas conflict. a british teenager who was missing for six years has arrived back in the uk from france. alex batty, who is now 17, disappeared on a family holiday to spain with his mother and grandfather in 2017. he was found on wednesday morning by a motorist who saw him walking through the rain near toulouse. lorna gordon reports. this is the secluded guest house where alex batty is thought to have lived with his grandfather for the last two years. off the beaten track, high in the foothills of the french pyrenees. it is the home and community that he left for good last week. now 17, alex disappeared while on a family holiday to spain with his mother and grandfather in 2017. neither adult had parental guardianship of the teenager. he told the authorities he had spent the last few years on the move

from country to country. alex had left his home in the north of england to go to marbella on holiday with his mother and grandfather. it was in malaga a week later that he was last seen on the day they were due home. alex's grandmother said she'd believed he had been taken to morocco to live with a spiritual community. the french police said he could have been there for around two years before moving to spain. then finally coming to france and living with a travelling community in the mountains. the teenager reappeared after he was picked up by a motorist in the early hours of wednesday morning. the driver took him to police for safety. alex told them his mum had wanted to move to finland and he had had enough of his nomadic lifestyle. he also told them that his grandfather had died around six months ago. but speaking to locals today, the bbc was told by three people that, in fact, his grandfather had been seen alive at the guest house

here where they had been staying as recently as last week. tonight, alex batty is on his way back to will be reunited with his grandmother. there are many questions which the authorities will now be trying to answer. lorna gordon, bbc news, in the french pyrenees. some tense moments now in the midst of a premier league game between bournemouth and luton was abandoned this afternoon, after luton s captain tom lock—yer collapsed at the vitality stadium. joe lynskey reports. luton town's manager was visibly moved. his team and bournemouth came back out when their match had been abandoned, brought to an end as players from both teams saw luton's captain fall to the ground. tom lockyer had suffered a cardiac arrest. he was treated on the pitch and was responsive when he went off on a stretcher. he was transferred to hospital where his club said...

this is not the first time this has happened to this player. back in may, lockyer collapsed in the championship play off final. as luton won promotion, his teammates held aloft his shirt. lockyer was diagnosed with an atrial fibrillation, but, aftersurgery, injune he was cleared to play again. it's an abnormal rhythm that occurs in the upper chambers of the heart. although we are able to fully screen individuals, we don't always identify every condition that may be underlying, and there may be also an evolution of that which may have changed. lockyer had resumed his career in the same way as christian eriksen. he's now at manchester united, two years on from a cardiac arrest while playing for denmark at the euros. tom lockyer is 29 and a wales international. he'd worked his way up to his first year in the top flight. a whole sport is now

behind him on a day when match results became irrelevant. joe lynskey, bbc news. finally, in paris, france's historic notre—dame saw a milestone in its reconstruction since a devastating fire in april 2019. a crane hoisted a new gold copper rooster back to the top of the cathedral�*s spire. a previous rooster was damage after crashing through the church's roof during the blaze. the flame—shaped bird, which is also a weather vane, was blessed by the paris archbishop saturday morning. it aslso contains religous relics. workers are racing to finish rebuilding the cathedral in the next 12 months. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello there. part two of the weekend looks pretty similar to saturdays with a lot of cloud around for many, glimmers of brightness here, and there and it remaining pretty mild for mid—december. there will be some very wet weather, though, continuing across the north and west of scotland, thanks to almost stationary weather front here. but you can see on the air mass charts, the mild air moving up on a brisk south—westerly wind. however, this weather front will continue to bring some problems across northwest scotland, some heavy rainfall. it does start to weaken a little bit as it sinks southwards into more central parts of the country for sunday evening. but we're concerned about the northwest highlands. by the end of sunday, we could be looking at up to 200 millimetres of rain falling in places. that's likely to lead some localised flooding and even some landslips in some sensitive areas. so the amber warning the met office have enforced throughout sunday continues for the north and west highlands. the rain beginning to edge a bit further southwards into argyll, towards the end of the day pushes into dumfries and galloway, northern ireland,

into the evening, probably across cumbria and northwest wales. elsewhere it's rather cloudy, glimmers of brightness, southeast england, east of the pennines, east wales, and that'lljust make it feel even more mild, with temperatures at the low to mid—teens for many. that weather front begins to weaken as it moves southwards during sunday night. but it starts to reinvigorate across wales, south west england by the end of the night, and it turns a bit colder for the very far north of scotland. otherwise, it's a largely mild night to come for most 8—11 degrees. for monday, we have a couple of weather fronts across the country. these will reinvigorate as they move their way eastward. so it starts off again, rather cloudy for many, limited brightness. the rain peps up across northern ireland, central southern scotland, northern england, the midlands, wales for a time and then pushes out into the north sea, leaves the legacy of cloud, further spots of rain and drizzle. and once again, for the time of year it'll be fairly mild, temperatures low to mid—teens. as we move out to monday to tuesday, this more active weather front will bring some wet weather for england and wales throughout the day on tuesday.

turns briefly colder across the far north of the country, you can see there. but generally we're in the influence of low pressure. so next week will remain fairly unsettled. rain at times, generally mild for most of us, but it will start to see a little bit colder, particularly towards the end of the week across northern areas. and you can see that evidence here for the end of the week. but generally speaking, generally mild for mid to late december with outbreaks of rain, a little bit of brightness here and there.

this is bbc news, we have the headlines at the top of the hour just straight after this programme. i've been an opera fan for decades, and i want to share my passion with you. so i'm on a mission to find out how opera is trying to attract new audiences and reinvent itself. this time, i'm in athens to celebrate the centenary of the birth of one of the most famous opera singers of all time — the greek—american soprano maria callas. music: carmen by bizet. she's the most important opera star of the 20th century. when she was singing, you are spellbound. this is stuff legends are made of. but despite the fame and fortune, she died

a tragic, lonely figure.