live from london. this is bbc news. lebanon accuses israel of trying to ignite conflict across the middle east after a deputy leader of hamas was killed in beirut. junior doctors in england begin the longest strike in nhs history as they take part in a six—day walkout over pay. investigators in japan say they're still searching for the flight recorders from a passenger jet that caught fire on tuesday. aftershocks and heavy rain complicate rescue efforts injapan in the wake of monday's deadly earthquake which has now killed at least 64 people. hello and welcome to the programme.

lebanon's government has accused israel of trying to ignite conflict across the middle east after a senior hamas leader was killed by a drone strike in southern beirut. saleh al—arouri and at least five others died in the blast on tuesday. he was considered one of the founders of hamas�* military wing, the al qassam brigades. israel has been blamed for the attack but has not claimed responsibility. meanwhile hamas have condemned the strike calling it an act of terrorism and the armed group hezbollah said it was an assault on lebanese sovereignty. the strike marks the first targeted killing of a hamas official outside the palestinian territories. at least 20,000 palestinians in gaza have been reported killed since israel began bombing the territory in the wake of hamas�*s 7th october attacks. i spoke to our middle east correspondent yolande knell injerusalem for more on the latest. well, this is really reigniting the fears of a wider escalation in israel's war with hamas.

saleh al—arouri is the most senior hamas figure to have been killed since the 7th october attacks. he was in an office in beirut along with other members of the armed group we understand meeting members of a local islamist faction when this drone strike happened. israel has neither confirmed nor denied anything but it is widely assumed to have been responsible and that is why we have had the lebanese prime minister coming out accusing israel of a crime here, saying that this attack could lead to a new phase of confrontations with israel. we've had the lebanese armed group hezbollah, which is a powerful group, coming out and saying that this will not go without a response or without punishment. and we're waiting very much to see what the head

of hezbollah hassan nasrallah, has to say, he is already scheduled to give a speech later on in the day. so, in terms of this response that they are promising, or threatening, do we have any indication of what it might be and what the concerns are from other nations at the moment about how this may represent an escalation of the conflict beyond its parameters so far? so, already since 7th october what we have seen on the northern border of israel is actually the worst violence since the 2006 full—scale war between israel and hezbollah in lebanon. so, we've had almost daily cross—border fire. but up to now, hezbollah has been using its shorter range rockets across that border, flying attack drones across the border as well, and it's been relatively contained, the violence, to that border area. the fear now is of course that with much longer range, more precise rockets in hezbollah�*s

arsenal, that it could resort to using some of those. already we're seeing the israeli military moving some of its air defences up to the northern border, according to reports in the israeli media, the israeli military has said that it is prepared for all scenarios. and do we know how potentially this is going to affect israel's military efforts, because of course it is widening the number of fronts potentially that the war is being carried out on from their perspective? certainly, the biggest concern at the moment is about what this means with hezbollah but also a lot of attention to the occupied west bank, saleh al—arouri came from just outside of ramallah, he is somebody who directed west bank operations for hamas, continued to do that while he was living in exile away from here, and he is somebody who still has a considerable following. right now the different palestinian armed factions have called for an official day of mourning,

that is happening in the west bank and we're expecting demonstrations to take place in different palestinian cities within the coming hours. so i think israeli forces will also be on alert for retaliatory action coming closer to us here injerusalem, in the west bank or perhaps in israel itself. earlier i spoke to gideon levy in tel aviv. he is columnist for the haaretz newspaper. i asked him about his assessment on the strike on the hamas leader in lebanon. it is a childish game, i don't think that anyone serious has any kind of doubt that israel did it, i mean, who else can it be? but in any case, the outcome is problematic in my view, on the one hand it is very

impressive that mossad and the israeli army and god knows who know exactly how to target those leaders of hamas, but in the same time, one should remember that the middle east is full of graves of assassinated leaders, dangerous commandos of all kinds of organisations that israel has assassinated throughout the years. after each assassination everyone was praising israel or praising mossad for the great achievement, did it matter much? did it make any change? usually, the successors, or almost always, the successors were already more dangerous than those who were assassinated. so i don't applaud such kind of operations, very good for another netflix series or hollywood film but not much more than this.

and gideon, some israeli commentators have already been saying since this attack, that this represents a good development for the overall war, and for leading towards peace, because it has taken out, in theory, somebody who is high up in hamas leadership. what do you make of that argument? as i say, there are always successors and replacements, and above all, nobody speaks about the real danger of this operation, namely for the safety of the hostages. when israel has over 100 hostages being kept in gaza, to go and to assassinate a senior hamas commander is really risking their lives. israel will not be able to claim any more that those to claim any more that those goals,

crushing hamas and releasing the hostages, are equally important for it, because in this operation, they are saying, no, we prefer crushing hamas over releasing the hostages. this is not very promising for the safety of the hostages, which, from my point of view, are the main goal and should be the main goal of israel. what is public opinion looking like at the moment within israel domestically? well, the overall support for the war continues, yesterday, people were, as far as i canjudge, people were a little tense for the retaliation from the reaction of mainly hezbollah, not hamas, but hezbollah, is frightening mainly in places which were not hit by hamas, and i know people who checked their shelters again. we know also the capabilities of hezbollah, that is not a game. but in any case, everyone is also very proud about the operation, how...the size it was and things that really fit more a netflix series,

but i don't see much... ..comes out of it. why is it clever to do it now in the middle of the war when we have so many hostages in gaza? i can't take it. but most of the israelis don't share my view, obviously, as usual. i suppose israel has always stated that its aim was to try and wipe out hamas and this would be working towards that, but it was interesting getting your perspective on the domestic response and attitude towards this, what do you think the international reaction is likely to be as the dust settles from this, because of course, this is in theory an assassination on foreign sovereign territory? one of many. i don't think that that is a strong point because israel assassinated, if you want, over 20,000 people of gaza, most of them civilians, 8,000 babies,

this is not also only israeli sovereign land, and still that is the real crime, the mass killing in gaza, and not this one assassination. maybe there will be some lip—service by all kind of arab states mainly and others, but in the west, the governments at least in the west are willing that hamas will be crushed. i mean, that is a mutual interest between israel and the west, to crush those kind of fundamentalist organisations, because finally, they are risking not only israel but also many countries in the west.

in gaza, israel's military continues its campaign with shelling and air strikes of residential areas. the army also said it raided a weapons storage compound in the southern city of khan y0unis. and the palestine red crescent society says it's crescent society says its headquarters was struck twice by israel bombardment killing at least five people, including a new born baby, and injuring three others. the chief of the world health organisation condemned the attacks on tuesday, described the bombing as unconscionable. hundreds of displaced palestinians were seeking shelter at the premises. junior doctors working in england's public health services have started a six—day strike. it's the longest industrial action in nhs history. people are being warned to expect significant disruption as urgent and critical care are prioritised over routine appointments. in the summer the government gave junior doctors in england an average rise of 8.8%. but medics said the increase was not enough to address pay erosion over the past 15 years. further took place at the end of the 2023 but they failed to reach an agreement. junior doctors in wales are planning a 72—hour walkout from 15th january while doctors in training in northern ireland

are being balloted for potential strike action. those in scotland have already come to an agreement with the scottish government. dr vivek trivedi, co—chair of the bma junior doctors committee explained why they had to resort to this long strike. ultimately because doctors are not worth any less than they were in 2008. we've seen our pay fall by more than 26% in that time and we've got doctors who are graduating after £100,000 of debt from five to six years of medical school being paid £15.50 an hour. and what that send signals to for doctors as they progress is that they're not valued, especially after all the hard work they put in to train and they're being, you know, poached, in some situations, by places like australia, new zealand and ultimately we are losing our workforce and we need to do something about that. our health correspondent

sharon barbour was outside the royal victoria infirmary in newcastle and gave me this update. well, luxmy, the doctors here on the picket line firstly are losing six days pay, three days before christmas, and i ask them about that, they feel so strongly about this dispute that they are willing to carry on the fight for what they say is pay restoration. they are also telling me a little bit about what conditions have been like in the number of patients they are now treating on trolleys, notjust in a&e but trolleys that are being part in wards because there is no more room. we know this hospital is at capacity, it is full, which is not where you want to be, as half your medical workforce walk out for six days, and that is days and nights, leaving the consultants to try and cover, and that has meant tens of thousands of operations have been cancelled and appointments have been cancelled, 1.2 million appointments have been cancelled through industrial action over the past year.

so, that is the view of the picket line here in newcastle. and sharon, there is a concern about the impact on patients, what is the advice for anyone who is concerned about any scheduled operations? well, obviously, if yourappointment has been cancelled or delayed, they're saying, do check with your hospital to make sure your appointment has been cancelled, because it may not have been, not all appointments are being cancelled, so do come in unless you've been contacted. the main focus for the hospitals here, the big concern i think is around staffing and emergency patients, the main focus is going to be in the emergency department and seeing those patients that come in. the concern is that from age concern this morning is that some elderly patients might not come in, might not want to be a bother or be worried about waiting

in the emergency department so they are saying, if you have a life or limb emergency, do call 999, make sure you come to a&e. they are also worried about the length of time others may have to wait. we may see waits in a&e that we have never seen before, over six days, there is going to be a real build—up because these juniors work incredibly hard not only with the patients but also discharging patients and that means more can come in the front door, if they're not being discharged, they are going to run out of room, so, worries about the emergency patients being seen to, being reached by ambulances that may also be delayed when they come to hospital and that takes them off the road, so concerns around those emergency patients and concerns around waits and around safe staffing in all the hospitals. 0ur health correspondent sharon barbour outside the royal victoria infirmary in newcastle. i willjust give you a word on the

government's response. a spokesman for the prime minister has said pay deals with other healthcare workers show thatjunior doctors are, they say, outliers. they say, we have sought to come to a fair resolution for everybody. that is a line on the government response. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. provisional data from the met office suggests 2023 was the uk's second warmest year on record. this puts itjust behind 2022, which recorded an average temperature of only 0.06 degrees celsius higher. for both wales and northern ireland, the data says that 2023 was their hottest year on record. a law that makes paying for sexual services a crime in northern ireland has led to just one conviction since 2015. there have been calls for a review of the legislation which was

trafficking. it comes as the charity women's aid says there was a significant increase in the number of trafficking victims they are supporting. firms in the uk warn that attacks on commercial vessels in the red sea could lead to delays and price rises. the atatcks have prompted long diversions to avoid one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. the attacks are being carried out by the houthi group which has declared support for hamas and has said it was targeting ships travelling to israel. you're live with bbc news. an investigation is under way injapan into the crash between a japan airlines airbus and a coast guard aircraft at tokyo's haneda airport that killed five crew members. these are the pictures of what's left of the airbus a350 after it caught fire following the collision. all 367 passengers and 12 crew managed to escape from the burning aircraft and there has been widespread praise for the cabin crew.

five of the six people on board the coast guard aircraft died. the japanese government is stepping up the emergency response to monday's earthquake which is now known to have killed 64 people. prime minister fumio kishida announced that the number of military personnel involved would be doubled to 2,000. but the emergency effort is being complicated by further aftershocks as well as heavy rain and the risk of landslides. 0ur correspondentjean mckenzie is in the region and has spent the day trying to reach the town of wajima close to the epicentre. sirens. this is a race for survival. rescue workers stream throuthapan�*s isolated noto peninsula, the roads blocking their way. they're trying to reach these worst—affected areas in the north where people are trapped under their collapsed homes.

many families were out at temples celebrating new year's day whenjapan was hit by its strongest earthquake in 12 years. nomura—san thought his shrine was going to collapse. "the whole gate was swaying. "the alleyway was swaying too. "the children had to squat on the floor so as not "to fall over," he told me. alerts chime. as we travel towards the epicentre, we're alerted to another earthquake. these aftershocks keep coming. further in, old wooden homes have been brought to the ground, not made to withstand the ferocity ofjapan�*s enduring quakes. toshio iwahama lives here alone after losing his wife. at 82, he doesn't know how he'll manage the repairs. translation: we always have

earthquakes around here, - but i just didn't think we'd get a big one like this. i didn't take it seriously. i thought we were safe here. this is only the tip of the destruction. we are trying to get closer to the epicentre, to a city where we know that at least a dozen people have died and many more are trapped in their homes that have collapsed. but we are struggling because, if you look at this road here, it is completely ruptured. and this is what we keep coming up against, these roads that are totally blocked off, and even these emergency services here, these rescue teams, have been struggling to reach people in these worst—affected areas. so we are still trying to piece together the extent of the damage, and how many people have been killed and injured. some firefighters have managed to get into the wrecked city of wajima and are searching for survivors.

but the death toll is expected to rise. the people here have lived through many an earthquake, but never felt tremors of this magnitude, which have shaken both their surroundings and their sense of safety. 0ur asia correspondent suranjana teqari told me how the conditions are hampering the rescue effort. there is actually heavy rain forecast and potential landslides, and the authorities have said that that will hamper rescue efforts further. the peninsula where the earthquake struck on monday is a very narrow peninsula, it's not heavily populated, but the roads are quite narrow and they have been damaged in the earthquake and that has made it really difficult, asjean�*s report mentioned not only for our teams to reach the most affected areas, but also those rescue workers. the other problem that is hampering rescue operations is after—shocks and tremors.

just this morning there was another big tremor, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake, and that is further hampering the rescue efforts, in fact, we understand that rescue workers that were trying to rescue people from a collapsed building had to pull out because of that tremor. does the government, do the authorities there, have the resources necessary to try and deal with this situation? of course they can't do much about the weather conditions but do they have the resources necessary? yeah, japan is very active in seismic activity, one of the most active on earth, and therefore government has a lot of structures and procedures in place to deal with these types of situations, but as you mention, they can't control the weather. the prime minister has deployed

more army personnel, doubling the number of forces to 2000, they are also sending in sniffer dogs and the government says they have rescued 18 more people since yesterday, but still, very challenging circumstances all around and even with help from other countries, the us for example has offered help, it is going to be challenging to reach those people in time, we're more than 48 hours now since the earthquake first struck so we're losing that window of time in order to rescue the maximum number of people. very briefly, what is happening to the people who have been displaced so far? many of them have been in evacuation centres, that is part of the government's preparedness for these types of situations. people often know where they can go to seek shelter.

some of them are moving back home because it is deemed to be safe so the government has said there are less people staying in those evacuation centres, but things like food and water are becoming scarce, so, people might end up leaving those evacuation centres, returning home, if it is deemed safe to do so. 0ur correspondent in tokyo, suranjana tewari, for us. the president of harvard university has announced her resignation. claudia gay the first black woman to hold the post leaves her position after facing heavy pressure to step down following criticism of her handling of anti—semitism on campus. she also faced allegations of plagiarism. her resignation emerges after nearly 700 staff members rallied behind her as the university said she would keep herjob despite the controversy. the resignation is being celebrated as a high—profile victory by conservatives, who had objected to her on ideological grounds since she

took thejob injuly her on ideological grounds since she took the job in july 202a. her on ideological grounds since she took the job injuly 202a. staying took the job in july 202a. staying with the took the job injuly 202a. staying with the us... the vendors who pack new york's famous brooklyn bridge selling souvenirs and trinkets are to be banned from today. the bridge is popular with tourists. and city officials said 311,000 people visit you can't have a bridge lined up on both sides with vendors creating this bottleneck, so you needed an emergency egress to get off the bridge, people would have trampled over each other. just bridge, people would have trampled over each other.— over each other. just to remind you of our to over each other. just to remind you of our tap story. — over each other. just to remind you of our top story, the _ over each other. just to remind you of our top story, the hamas - over each other. just to remind you of our top story, the hamas deputyj of our top story, the hamas deputy leader saleh al—arouri has been killed in a blast in beirut. we will have all the details on that coming up have all the details on that coming up next, stay with us.

hello. we may be done with the worst of the wind and the rain for this coming week, but the impact of what has fallen is still being felt. plenty of flood warnings still across the country today. for the impact, bbc local radio is your best ports of call for what's happening where you are. now the storm which brought some of the rain yesterday, storm henk, that's now in across parts of northern europe. still low pressure with us and that's why it's not a dry day out there. still got some showers around, some of those heavy and thundery around the coast. fairly frequent, but fast moving showers through parts of wales and southern england. fewer showers northern england, far south of scotland and northern ireland, some staying completely dry here throughout the day, but some lengthier bursts of rain into the west of scotland and some snow in shetland, where it's still chilly — three degrees here.

elsewhere, temperatures above average, but down on yesterday. now into tonight to continue with some rain across the north and east of scotland, some snow in shetland at times. isolated showers elsewhere, turns drier. but some clear skies around, colder night than recent nights. don't be surprised if one or two sheltered valleys see a touch of frost into the morning. so your thursday commute will be a colder one, but a brighter one for the most part. a lot more sunshine around. still some outbreaks of rain to the north and east of scotland. a few showers elsewhere, scotland, parts of northern ireland, northern england, but channel islands turning wet through the morning and some of that rain could edge into southern counties of england. bear in mind that could be a bit further north than shown on these charts. and that's because of this system here, which is moving out of france. just how far north it gets a bit of a question mark, but it will get out of the way as we go into friday. still got low pressure to the north—west of scotland. so still the focus for the bulk of the showers here. but there will be a few showers elsewhere. as you can see, though, the winds for many of you will be still on the lighter side. some sunshine in places, temperatures dropping closer to where we should be injanuary and they will be set to drop further.

low pressure that has dominated for so long gets squeezed away by high pressure building in scandinavia and out from parts of the atlantic. and that will eventually not only turn things drier but also colder across the country. with the arrival of more widespread night—time frost will be some mist and fog by night as well. but i think the crucial thing, especially with all those flood warnings around at the moment, very little rain. there will be a few showers, it's not to be a completely dry picture, but the emphasis for most of you is some longer, drier spells and that will continue through much of next week. this is bbc news, the headlines: lebanon accuses israel of trying to ignite conflict across the middle east after a senior hamas leader is killed in beirut. junior doctors in england begin the longest strike in nhs history as theyjoin a six—day walk—out over pay. investigators in japan say they're still searching for the flight

recorders from a passenger jet that went up in flames on tuesday. and, archaeologists unearth a rare medieval cemetery not far from the end of the runway at cardiff airport. just want to take you to some live pictures in guildford where the lib dems leader, ed davey, has been speaking there. the liberal democrat leader vowed to tear down the blue wall as he treads into territory held by senior conservative ministers. bit of a blast from the past, but if you remember, that is where traditionally long held blue seats for poised to turn, back in the 2019 election it was the other

way round, red seats turned blue and so ed davey referred to as being a long conservative seat to be turned, he hopes 0range, to the liberal democrats. that is what was happening a few minutes ago in guildford. let's get more now on our top story, junior doctors working in england's public health services have begun a six day strike. it's the longest industrial action in nhs history. people are being warned to expect significant disruption as urgent and critical care are prioritised over routine appointments. we'rejoined now by sirjulian hartley, the chief executive of nhs providers which represents trusts in england. thank you forjoining us. we have been hearing about the impact these strikes might be having on patient care. but i suppose the big question really is how do you see this dispute being resolved? you are

absolutely right. _ dispute being resolved? you are absolutely right. this _