live from washington, this is bbc news. israel's military admits three hostages mistakenly killed by its soldiers in gaza were shot dead while holding a makeshift white flag. families of israeli hostages protest in tel aviv, demanding the government immediately return to negotiations. benjamin netanyahu says military pressure will free them but hints at possible talks. translation: we will draw the lessons. translation: we will draw the lessons- we _ translation: we will draw the lessons. we will _ translation: we will draw the lessons. we will implement - translation: we will draw the lessons. we will implement the | lessons. we will implement the lessons. we will implement the lessons. and we will remain relentless in our military and diplomatic efforts. and two more shipping companies divert their ships away from the red sea amid attacks suspected by houthi fighters in yemen. i'm helena humphrey.

good to have you with us. israel is grappling with the fallout from the killing of three hostages. the israel defense forces has admitted the men were mistakenly killed in gaza while holding a white cloth on a stick, indicating surrender. an idf official says a soldier felt threatened and opened fire after misidentifying them as �*terrorists.’ prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the hostage deaths "broke his heart" but added that military, pressure is still necessary. translation: we will draw the lessons. translation: we will draw the lessons- we _ translation: we will draw the lessons. we will _ translation: we will draw the lessons. we will implement - translation: we will draw the lessons. we will implement the | lessons. we will implement the lessons. we will implement the lessons. and we will 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 deaths have prompted outrage among the families of hostages held in gaza, who are now demanding an immediate return to negotiations with hamas. protests in tel aviv are increasing pressure on mr netanyahu as more than 120 people remain hostage in gaza. the families say the only way to bring back their loved ones is by reaching a new deal. here's what one protestor told us. it's very frightening that this government is leading us all to more destruction and i'm really worried about also the hostages and the soldiers and it all feels a bit pointless at this point so i believe that we should promote another deal of releasing hostages. international calls for a ceasefire have been growing as negotiations have stalled. our security correspondent frank gardner has more. i think the israeli government is now in a really difficult

position because it's under a lot of pressure, increasing pressure, from the families and relatives of the remaining roughly 129 hostages were held in gaza to do a deal, to resume negotiations in the way that they worked before that got dozens of hostages out. yes, there's a price to pay and it's almost certainly going to be releasing large of palestinian prisoners from israeli jails, possibly more aid and possibly even some kind of a ceasefire which the israeli government is very relevant to do. now, the timing here is really important because us has made it clear — and us being the biggest backer of israel does make the us has made it clear they want this military operation wrapped up or at least the intense phase of it 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. and that's not something that the international community is prepared to give. they have

already been gives the microphone votes in the un for a ceasefire, non—binding, but the moment the us says enough is enough, it has the stop, that's really i think going to be the time when israel finds itself in a very difficult position because it is unlikely to have finished the job of finishing off hamas, it certainly 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 reminderfor hours has been really a sober reminder for israelis that they've got a real problem here with these hostages held and that the government isn't so far succeeding in getting them out. the assessment there of frank gardner. the world health organization says it has delivered health supplies to al—shifa hospital in gaza city as part of a joint un mission. a who staff member gave this assessment. it's completely overwhelmed with patients. very few staff remaining. we've been here for the last 30 minutes and there's

been a non—stop stream of injured people coming in on trolleys, on donkey carts, on stretchers, being pushed on the road. there are almost no medical staff here. this largest referral hospital here in gaza has become a trauma stabilisation point. they can only provide the most basic care for people with very serious injuries. the israeli offensive is ongoing in gaza with residents reporting fighting in northern, central and southern parts of the strip. reports say dozens of people have been killed in israeli air strikes injabalia in northern gaza, with many civilians said to be trapped under rubble. 0ur middle east correspondent, hugo bachega is in tel aviv with more on the latest on the ground. there is a massive operation happening right now in gaza. 0ne happening right now in gaza. one of the key targets of this military offensive is the city of khan younis in the south. this is where the israeli authorities believe that the leadership of hamas is hiding,

possibly in the vast network of underground tunnels. at the same time, hundreds of thousands of palestinians have been forced to flee their homes and there is a massive humanitarian crisis in gaza right now with widespread shortages of basic supplies and obviously, the areas and shelters that have been considered safe by the israeli military simply cannot cope with this new wave of displaced residents. so, the leadership of hamas hasn't yet been captured, hasn't been killed so i think the israeli authorities are really far from a i think the israeli authorities are really farfrom a position in which they can claim that they have eliminated hamas. hugo bachega in tel aviv. us national security advisor jake sullivan has been in the middle east this week and met with israeli prime minister netanyahu. mr sullivan said he had conveyed the position of the biden administration that israel must be more precise in its war against hamas. this fight against hamas, are

deeply intense, entrenched terrorist group in gaza, is going to take time and it's going to take time and it's going to take time and it's going to happen in phases and we've said that from the beginning and so, there is no contradiction between saying the fight will take months and also saying that different phases will take place at different times over those months, including the transition 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 18,000 palestinians have been killed in the war since 7 october. 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 jake sullivan's comments

this week in israel, saying that israel must be more precise in its targeting of hamas. up until now, how would you as is the tactics which have been used in israel's military campaign in gaza? the idf has been anything but precise, and the revelation this week that nearly half of all bombs dropped by israel on 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 error of three metres, so cam miss by a short distance. an unguided munition has up to a 30 metre miss. so, 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 result of israel's bombing campaign that has been anything but precise. marc, 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 employing precision—guided munitions across the board. if we look at the way western militaries operate, in the 1991 gulf war, the us and uk dropped 8% guided munitions. but by the war in libya, it was 100%. we have seen in gaza the israelis using the m1—17, which is a vietnam—era unguided bomb. so, 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 pound 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 jabalia 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 more rocket fire from hamas this week, including going into airspace near the ben gurion airport, the iron dome 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. 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 and procedures that they are using but, most importantly,, move to a ceasefire 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, quote, "indiscriminate bombing". we then saw the administration try to walk back those comments. but what do you think that 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 restrictions on the ukrainians. they have to record the number of weapons they use, where they use them, how they use them, the us monitors that. there is no monitoring of the weapon used by israel and the weapons that the us, uk and others are giving them. perhaps it's time for the us to use its various laws and powers to actually either limit or put controls on what israel is doing. otherwise, as israel perhaps looks to move to expand this conflict into lebanon and other areas, it maybe time to pull back some of that unlimited support. marc galasco, a united nations military analyst and war 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. 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 traveling to and from israel. the us said it destroyed 1a 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—mandab 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 we want to protect the international rules based system that we have to enforce the law at sea and if i can take the analogy further, below houthis, the somali pirates even some of the great powers like russia and china trying to interfere with the freedom of

the seas are a bit like malware in your computer system. they will completely sort of interfere with what you're trying to do. what we have to do in these situations as a look, if we believe in the freedom of the seas we have to protect its use for those who wish to go about, as we used to say, 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 insecurity fuelled by the israel—hamas conflict. the international organization for migration isays 61 migrants, including women and children, have drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of libya. the organisation quoted survivors, saying the boat, carrying around 86 people, departed the libyan city of zwara. it said the victims were from nigeria, gambia, and other african countries. survivors were taken to a detention centre in libya and are receiving medical support. the incident comes as italian premier giorgia meloni

and her british counterpart rishi sunak held talks in rome, to discuss illegal immigration to europe, along with the albanian premier edi rama. the leaders pledged to intensify cooperation to stop migrants from north africa reaching european shores. russian drones have a regional hostpital in the ukrainian city of kherson, damaging one of the units and wounding 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. meanwhile, support from the eu hit a stumbling block too, when hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban blocked 50 billion euros in eu aid for ukraine just hours after an agreement was reached on starting membership talks. for more about the challenges ahead ukraine faces, i spoke earlier with dalibor rohac, a senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, a conservative think tank. thank you for being with us. we are managing their hungary blocking the aid this week. i wonder, watching that, what do you think that vladimir putin made of that? it you think that vladimir putin made of that?— made of that? it is a significant _ made of that? it is a significant event - made of that? it is a significant event in l made of that? it is a i significant event in the made of that? it is a - significant event in the sense that it adds to the overall climate of uncertainty around western support to ukraine, including uncertainty about the supplemental currently in the

us congress. thankfully, the european union does get together around the veto. it was in january whether european leaders will decide to perhaps a bribe 0rban into compliance, the way they did with the hungarian succession talks. he tried to create a workaround by basically setting up the so—called ukraine facility as a fund based on intergovernmental treaty, leaving hungary out of the process. it will be more expensive than if it constituted a part of the eu. it would also take away the leverage that mr 0rban thinks he has. leverage that mr orban thinks he has. ., ., he has. you mentioned the possibility _ he has. you mentioned the possibility of _ he has. you mentioned the possibility of the _ he has. you mentioned the possibility of the eu - he has. you mentioned thej possibility of the eu finding he has. you mentioned the l possibility of the eu finding a workaround in the new year. all of this is coming when the supplemental bill here in the

us is also blocked in congress. does that increase the urgency for europe to find a solution or the other way around? it does because both in the us case and in the european case, the money that has been allocated to helping ukraine is very quickly running out. the eu does not have any other form of facility for helping ukraine. from 2024 onwards. this was considered the main vehicle for european assistance. the uncertainty on both fronts means that on the battlefield, it is having a detrimental effect on ukraine and morale and certainly not helping. it is not helping vladimir putin's long—term calculations, that the collective west will collectively get tired and try to move on. i think it is important that on both sides of the atlantic, our leaders prove

him wrong. the atlantic, our leaders prove him wrong-— him wrong. talking about the morale of _ him wrong. talking about the morale of the _ him wrong. talking about the morale of the ukrainians - him wrong. talking about the morale of the ukrainians in l morale of the ukrainians in this current stage, we did see the european union backing membership talks for ukraine and we saw prime minister 0rban abstaining. is that a win for ukraine?— abstaining. is that a win for ukraine? ., ., , ukraine? on the one hand it is significant _ ukraine? on the one hand it is significant psychologically, - significant psychologically, symbolically, the revolution, the revolution of dignity that prompted this russian aggression against ukraine. motivated primarily by desire shared across the ukrainian population to forge deeper ties with the european union, to make ukraine part of the community of european democratic nations. from that perspective, it provides a validated, a path forward. however, it is not a guarantee that this process will be completed in time and in fact it gives mr 0rban 20 of

opportunity to derail the process. decisions will have to be taken by consensus along every step on the way. i would not quite call the glass half full yet. not quite call the glass half full et. ,, full yet. here in the us, next ear an full yet. here in the us, next year an election _ full yet. here in the us, next year an election year, - full yet. here in the us, nextj year an election year, donald trump, the current frontrunner for the republican nomination, we know that trump and 0rban know each other. what do you think the relationship might look like in the year ahead? certainly the case that 0rban has captured the imagination of the trump wing of the republican party, whether it has opposition to migration, his restrictive policies around the border and asylum and so forth. and his crew policies at home. i think the discussion is

missing on part of conservatives is recognition that 0rban never had these interests at heart. many will remember the rebuke he gave to the trump administration over the trump administration over the chinese presence in hungary's telecommunications network and the embrace, so whether the deeper ties with russia or china, 0rban might not be the darling boy of american conservatives but he is very much a bad faith after who is betting on america getting weaker, not stronger in the years to come. aha, getting weaker, not stronger in the years to come.— the years to come. a senior fellow at — the years to come. a senior fellow at the _ the years to come. a senior fellow at the american - fellow at the american enterprise institute, very good to have your analysis. thank you. 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. a local resident said the teenager had been living in la bastide on and off over the past two years. french authorities said he ran away from his mother because she wanted to take him to finland. his grandmother, susan caruana, who is his legal guardian, says she can't wait to see him. 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. let's turn to some important news around the world. a vatican court has sentenced an italian cardinal to 5.5 years in jail for embezzlement. 75—year—old angelo becciu, a former adviser to pope francis, is the most senior vatican official charged with financial crimes. he was even once considered as a papal contender. the 2.5—year trial centered on a london property deal that led to huge losses for the church. becciu's lawyer says his client is innocent, and intends to appeal. argentine president javier milei raffled off the last salary he recieved as an lawmaker before being sworn in earlier this month. he held the raffle during a live broadcast on instagram. milei's month salary as national deputy was about 2.1 million argentine

pesos or about $2,500. the winner was a woman named veronica gomez, according to a notary that supervised the draw. and a sparse christmas tree, bought more than 100 years ago forjust sixpence, has been sold for £2,600 — that's around $3,300 usd at auction. 84—year—old shirley hall inherited the tree from her mother, who was gifted it in 1920. the auctioneers called it an �*astonishing price' for the �*humblest christmas tree in the world'. and finally, australian rockers ac/dc are mourning the band's original drummer colin burgess, who has died aged 77. burgess was a founding member of the group, best known for the 1979 hit highway to hell and the 1980 album back in black. you are watching bbc news. more

at the top of the hour. join me then. 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.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. undercover in a global church led by a billionaire bishop. the church claims to transform lives, but it can come at a price. the church is accused of putting pressure on members to donate, leaving some struggling...

you're constantly trickling money into the church