live from washington, this is bbc news. families of those taken by hamas protest in tel aviv after israeli soldiers mistakenly kill three hostages and demand the government immediately return to negotiations. the world health organization says it has delivered essential medical supplies to gaza's al—shifa hospital and calls its emergency ward "a bloodbath". there's been a non—stop stream of injured people coming in on trolleys, on donkey carts, on stretchers being pushed down the road. and two more shipping companies divert their ships away from the red sea amid attacks by suspected houthi fighters in yemen. i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. relatives of those held hostage by hamas have rallied

in tel aviv, demanding that israel's government restart negotiations. prime minister benjamin netanyahu says israel's military campaign in gaza will continue, but that it is working with qatar and egypt for a possible deal. the israel defense forces on saturday admitted three 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". translation: we will draw i 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. protests in tel aviv are increasing pressure on mr netanyahu as more than 120 people remain hostage in gaza. here's what one protestor told us. it's very frightening that this government is leading us all to more destruction and death 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. udi goren�*s cousin tal, who was kidnapped by hamas on october the 7th, has now died. he told us he rejects benjamin netanyahu's message that the military operation is necessary to force hamas to free the hostages.

this is now just this is nowjust buying time. we could have understood this in the past, when it was proven to us that following the military operation we went onto the first hostage deal and some of the hostages began coming home and then, we were asked to wait again for home and then, we were asked to wait againfor1.5 home and then, we were asked to wait again for 1.5 weeks. during this time, we have learned that at least ten hostages that went into gaza alive are now dead. we know this for a fact. so this means that when the government or the idf was telling us to wait because the military pressure is going to bring the hostages home, well, every day we are waiting, we are losing another hostage. we know that there is now a deal on the table. we know. there is talk. the government can pull off a deal now. it's up to us. of course, it's not easy. of course, it's

a difficult negotiation but it can be done so as long as the mantra is we need to keep on fighting because this is the only way that the hostages are coming back, that's a false statement. 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 who are 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 that's going to be almost certainly releasing large numbers of palestinian prisoners from israeli jails, possibly more aid and possibly even some kind of a ceasefire, which the israeli government is very reluctant to do. now, the timing here is really important because us has made it clear — and us being the biggest backer of israel — the us has made it clear they want this military operation wrapped up by —

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 which the international community is prepared to give. there's already been votes in the un calling for a ceasefire — non—binding — but the moment that the us says, "0k, enough is enough. "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 going to almost certainly survive as an ideology, if 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 with these hostages held and that their government isn't so far succeeding in getting them out.

frank gardner there. 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. as we've been here for the last 30 minutes, there's been a non—stop stream of injured people coming in on trolleys, on donkey carts, on stretchers being pushed down the road. there are almost no medical staff here. this national — 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 and very serious health... 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. our 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. 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. and 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 the 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 farfrom a position in which they can claim that they have

eliminated hamas. us national security advisor jake sullivan has been in the middle east this week and met 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, a deeply intent — entrenched terrorist group in gaza, is going to take time and it's going to happen in phases and we've said that from the beginning and so, there's no contradiction between saying the fight is gonna 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 october 7. earlier, i spoke to elise labott, a journalist covering global affairs, and host of cosmopolitics on substack. elise, always great to see you. so, the israeli military now saying that the hostages mistakenly killed were holding a makeshift white flag when they appeared to emerge. what more do we know about the circumstances here? well, i mean, the chief of the military, of the idf, even said this was against military procedure. they were shirtless, they were wearing a white flag and according to the rules of war when someone is surrendering, they shouldn't be shot. two of them apparently — one of the soldiers recognised them. not them particularly, the hostages, but recognised that they could be hostages. the other one got a little nervous, thought that they seemed threatened

and opened fire. two of them died instantly. one of them apparently ran into a building and was screaming in hebrew, "help me, help me!" while the other one went into the building and apparently open fire again and killed the third one, even though the commander had said to stop shooting. so, it's obviously a horrible mistake, a horrible tragedy, but the military is saying this was against the rules of engagement and, as we know now, there is an investigation under way but it's certainly not a lot of comfort for the families. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has called it "heartbreaking". i just wonder do you think this will put more pressure on mr netanyahu to try and reach a deal with hamas for the release of the rest of the hostages? i think it's going to put a lot more pressure on him. i think that there's already

been a lot of pressure the families are saying, "listen, we want our "family members home". "the israeli military was negligent in defending us "and now, we want them home" and now that three of these hostages were killed in the line of fire, and you see the protests on the street, there will be even more pressure for the prime minister and the government to get them home, and you even see some of the comments coming out of israel. they're saying we feel as if the government has already given up on the hostages. now, of course, the government is not saying that. they say, "oh, it is the pressure that will get "these hostages home". what is going to get them out is negotiations and apparently, the chief of the mossad, the intelligence agency, is going back to qatar to reopen negotiations — that was scheduled before these hostages were killed — but, helena, ithink the question is will israel be able to deliver on its twin goals,

which are kind of antithetical in a way. one of them is destroying hamas and the other is getting the hostages out. if they get the hostages out, hamas doesn't really have any more leverage, so this is the leverage that hamas has. hamas also wants their hostages out, so i don't know if it's necessarily pressure that will get the hostages out but it will probably be on the negotiating table. and in regards to what we could see at the negotiating table if it does happen, from hamas's side, likely a call for, as you say, the release of many more palestinian prisoners, more aid and likely a cessation of fighting as well. do you see israel ever agreeing to that? i do see more aid coming in, and you've already seen — i mean, you know, there's as a kind of formula between the us, israel kind of figures out

that before the war, i think there were about 500 aid trucks a day that went in. 200 of those were of a humanitarian nature as opposed to a commercial nature. so, if you're getting 200 trucks in, you kind of think in this situation, it is a good day. so, that's been going on right now but it's certainly not enough compared to the need, but i think that's going to be a steady flow of aid. i think you will see more fuel get in, more aid get in. i don't know that you'll necessarily get a pause infighting. when you see the hostage negotiation, it's usually israeli hostages are much more valuable to israel than the palestinians consider, so you've kind of seen this 3:1 and a lot of those hostages are real high—value targets that it's a real hard choice for israel to let go. a lot of them, though, were in what we called administrative detention, where they were not really charged, they were held without charges, so you could see thousands, potentially, of palestinians let go. i don't know if you're going to really get hamas, you know, leaders out.

but in terms of the cessation of fire, the prime minister is saying that israel is going to head, he does not adhere to this pressure that's being felt by the international community, particularly by the united states. i think that might be a little bit of kind of for public consumption. there does seem to be an agreement between the us and israel, as jake sullivan said, this new phase seems like it be a lot less bombardment, a lot more surgical. elise, we only have about a0 seconds left. i just wanted to ask you, what do you think, looking into the crystal ball, all of this means for the political future of prime minister benjamin netanyahu in the long run? i think he's out. i mean, i think the day that october seven happened, there was already so much discontentment with him over the whole thing with the supreme court. he was already kind of hanging on by a thread. and i think there's pretty much consensus in israel that once

the war is over, there will be a new election and netanyahu will be out. elise labott is a journalist covering global affairs, and host of cosmopolitics on substack. elise, great to talk to you as ever. thanks 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, then we have to enforce the law at sea. and 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 with the freedom of the seas are a bit like malware in your computer system. they'll completely sort of interfere with what you're trying to do. so, what we have to do in these situations is say, "look, if we believe in the freedom of the seas, "we have to protect its use for those that wish to go "about, as we used to say, their 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 says 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 orban 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 for ukraine, 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 werejust mentioning

there hungary blocking the aid to ukraine this week. i wonder, watching that, what do you think that russian president vladimir putin 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 have tools to gather around the veto. it was in january whether european leaders will decide to perhaps a bribe orban into compliance, the way they did with the hungarian lack of veto of ukraine's succession talks. or they will try 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. that would have cost. it will be more expensive than if it constituted a part of the eu. it would also take away the leverage that mr orban thinks he has. you mentioned the possibility of the eu finding a workaround in the new year. all of this is coming, as you just mentioned, 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.

moreover, the uncertainty on both fronts means that on the battlefield, it is having a detrimental effect on ukraine's morale and certainly not helping. it is not helping vladimir putin's long—term calculations, that the collective west will eventually get tired and try to move on. i think it is important that on both sides of the atlantic, our leaders prove him wrong. talking about the morale of the ukrainians in this current stage, we did see the european union backing membership talks for ukraine and we saw prime minister orban abstaining. is that a win for ukraine? on the one hand it is significant psychologically, symbolically, the 2017 maidan 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 validation, a path forward. however, it is not a guarantee that this process will be completed in time and in fact it gives mr orban plenty 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. here in the us, next year an election year, donald trump, the current frontrunner for the republican nomination, we know that trump and orban know each other. what do you think the relationship might look like in the year ahead? certainly the case that orban has captured the imagination of the trump wing of

the republican party, whether it is his opposition to migration, his restrictive policies around the border and asylum and so forth. or his pro—nato policies at home. i think the discussion is missing on part of conservatives have a recognition that orban never had us interests at heart. many will remember the rebuke he gave to the trump administration over the chinese presence in hungary's telecommunications network and the embrace of huawei. so whether the deeper ties with russia or china, orban might now be the darling boy of american conservatives but he is very much a bad faith

actor who is betting on america getting weaker, not stronger, in the years to come. dalibor rohac, a senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, very good to have your analysis. thank you. let's turn to some important news around the world. 17 million people across florida are under threat of severe weather. forecasters say the storm system will produce tropical storm—like conditions. residents are also being warned about tornadoes. it whipped up waves, shook palm trees, and flooded parking lots in hollywood, florida on saturday. governor ron desantis activated the state's national guard to respond to the low pressure system, which is expected to exit the area by sunday afternoon. 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 presidentjavier 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. one last story to leave you with. a sparse christmas tree, bought more than 100 years ago forjust sixpence, has been sold for £2,600 — that's around us $3,300 — 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.

stay with us here on bbc news. i will have more but the top of the hour. — l. —— goodbye for now. 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. i have got an appalling feeling that i am in one of those historic catastrophes. jeers. the covid inquiry has seen revelations... this matters massively to people in this country. ..interruptions... mr gove, i ask the questions here, please. ..and accusations... you call ministers morons. i'm sorry, if you don't sit down i will ask the ushers to get you to leave. there was powerful testimony from the most senior politicians in charge, along with officials and scientists advising them.