israel's defence minister outlines plans for the future governing of gaza after the war, even as the violence continues. thousands mourn the late hamas leader, killed in a suspected israeli attack in lebanon. concerns are growing about violence spreading in the region. plus, muddling through the recent uk floods, in any way possible. this pub—owner enjoys a pint after the downpours. i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. israel's defence minister has been outlining plans for governing gaza once the war is over, even as concerns grow about violence spreading further in the middle east. in the �*four corner�* plan, israel would retain overall security control of gaza. a multi—nationalforce

would take charge of rebuilding the territory. neighbouring egypt would also have an unspecified role to play in the plan. and the document adds that as gaza residents are palestinian, therefore palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the state of israel. fighting in gaza continued alongside the plan's publication, with dozens of people killed in the past 2a hours, according to the hamas—run health ministry. us secretary of state antony blinken is due back in the region this week. he is expected to meet with palestinian and israeli officials. that visit comes after a top hamas leader was killed in an explosion in a suburb of beirut on tuesday. thousands of people attended the funeral of saleh al—arouri in the lebanese capital on thursday. crowds carried banners with his picture and waved palestinian and hamas flags through the streets. hezbollah, a powerful paramilitary and political group in lebanon, blamed that attack on what it has called �*flagrant israeli aggression�*. israel has not claimed responsibility.

our middle east correspondent hugo bachega is in beriut. crowds gathered in beirut for the funeral of saleh al—arouri, the deputy hamas leader who was assassinated in an attack here in beirut, on tuesday. some people were carrying placards with his face, some were waving hamas and palestinian flags. and this assassination was a blow for hamas, but it also hit its lebanese allies, hezbollah, because it happened in an area of beirut that is a stronghold of hezbollah. so this has raised fears of a wider regional conflict, but there have been some indications that both hezbollah and israel are willing to take steps to avoid an escalation in their confrontation. we heard from the israeli defense minister, yoav gallant, who said the israeli authorities were determined to change the security situation in northern israel to allow the return

of thousands of residents who have been evacuated because of those constant attacks by hezbollah. but he also said there was a short window of opportunity for a diplomatic solution to the crisis there. and those comments followed a speech by the influential leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah, in which he described the assassination that happened here in beirut as a flagrant israeli aggression. but crucially, he did not make any threat to act against israel. now, hassan nasrallah is expected to address his supporters again on friday, and any response from hezbollah is likely to be measured to avoid a strong israeli response and a potential catastrophic conflict for lebanon. hugo bachega there. the israel defence forces have confirmed that three israelis who were considered missing since the hamas attack on october seventh are now recognised as being held hostage in gaza.

according to israeli officials, this brings the number of people still being held to 132. 100 of the approximately 250 adults and children taken hostage during the attacks have been released. nearly three months after they were taken, the families of those who are still in captivity continue to campaign for their release. that includes the family of 35—year—old sagui dekel—chen. his step—mother gillian kaye spoke to my colleague caitriona perry a little earlier. it is 90 days since your son was taken from the kibbutz... do you have any information about how or where he is? we do. but about how or where he is? we d0- but we — about how or where he is? - do. but we have not heard from him, it has been many, many weeks since we had information. the majority of hostages taken were from the kibbutz where he

lived and my family and of course many of them who were released in the earlier releases that happened in november, did get a proof of life from someone who did know him and saw him but that was in november. so that was the last time we have had any word about him at all. i willjust share that my daughter—in—law had — gave birth to a beautiful little girl three and a half weeks ago. her name means dawn in hebrew and just praying every day that my son can hold that little girl in his arm. that must be of course very tough for you all and for his wife and other two daughters and that little baby that he has yet to meet. a large number of his neighbours and friends who were taken from the kibbutz that day have been released but

he is a man fighting age who had of course fought against hamas that day during those attacks. he was not amongst those release. how are you preparing yourself for the possibility that it might be some time before he is released, given what we have seen with past hostage taken from hamas. yesjust to clarify, my son is not a soldier, he is a father, he is a business owner, he is someone who works for an international ngo in israel — i want to clarify that. regardless, how can we prepare for something like that? all we can do is demand that we have our family's home, that all of the hostages are released. we need to deal. we need a deal now because until we have a deal that we have nothing. until

they are home we have nothing. 90 days — that's three months. we know now from the other hostages who have come back, this is three months of our loved ones living in darkness, in starvation. we know the majority of hostages are wounded, or they are ill, because they are elderly or have illnesses and have not had their medication. it is unimaginable to think he will be there even a day longer. but your stepson is an israeli — american citizen. you have met with joe american citizen. you have met withjoe biden to try to get his help for their release. what is your view of how the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is handling the push for the release of the remaining hostages? i am not a politician. i am a parent, so i will say that we understand that all of the players, the united states, qatar,

egypt and israel, people are working to try to, we hope, move this forward immediately. hamas seems to be the problem and we are just asking, do more, everyone. and we have had wonderful experience with the american administration and president biden and we know they're doing all they possibly can, pulling every lever that is available. we have to keep saying "do more" to everyone. some hostage families have been quite explicit in their criticism of the israeli prime minister of the idf, of the sustained bombing campaign in gaza, of the large—scale loss of life there. as we know the how misled health ministry puts it at more than 22,000 at this point, deplorable humanitarian crisis. the people displaced in gaza and israel. —— hamas

health ministry what is your view on gaza and his situation? all i can say is it is a tragedy of such enormity, it is impossible to even wrap your head around, even now. no—one should be deprived of food, of medicine, of life, ofan ability to lead their life in freedom, whether it be our hostages, who are captive, or the palestinian people. secretary of state antony blinken is beginning another trip to the region. he will meet the prime minister while he is there. what is your view to secretary blink and to the prime minister in the days ahead? we hope secretary blink and in the prime minister move forward in a deal immediately.

, antony blinken i hope this secretary can bring, use is leveraged with the prime minister and the prime minister will uses sense, and they will come to a deal immediately so we can bring all of the hostages home. i have to underscore this — three months is too long, not another day longer, that's all we can hope for. indeed.— longer, that's all we can hope for. indeed. ask for. thank you so much _ for. indeed. ask for. thank you so much for— for. indeed. ask for. thank you so much for talking _ for. indeed. ask for. thank you so much for talking to - for. indeed. ask for. thank you so much for talking to us - for. indeed. ask for. thank you so much for talking to us and i so much for talking to us and as i say these moments i'm sure are not easy for you and your family, but we do appreciate you speaking with us on bbc news. . ~ , ., you speaking with us on bbc news. . ~ i., ., ., a regional branch of the islamic state has claimed responsibility for a deadly dual explosion in iran earlier this week. the country held a day of mourning on thursday, after 84 people were killed by explosions. they happened near an event to mark the fourth anniversary of the killing of the iranian general qasem soleimani in a us drone strike.

washington says they are in no position to doubt the responsibility of isis—k, an islamist extremist group seeking to merge eastern iran with afghanistan. uk monitoring officials say a merchant vessel in the arabian sea was attacked by a group of armed people. it's the 25th attack or hijacking of a commercial ship in the region since mid—november, the majority of attacks happening in the red sea. houthi rebels have vowed to continue attacks on ships in the red sea in support of hamas, despite several countries warning of retaliation. most shipping companies are now avoiding the region and opting to take a safer route, adding about nine days to routes. merchants are now warning consumers that their products could be delayed. carriers have already diverted more than $200 billion worth of trade over the past several weeks. the bbc�*s katy austin takes a look. the string of attacks on vessels by houthi rebels in the red sea means delays and increased shipping costs for businesses here in the uk.

literally, 100% of the lines are delayed. the difficulty what we have is that a valentine's day order is no good to a customer and a consumer on 15 february. here's the problem — on this map, you can see the difference that avoiding the red sea makes to the journey of goods coming to europe from asia. they'd use it to reach the suez canal, through which 30% of the world's shipping—container volume passes. the alternative route is around africa's cape of good hope. the extra 3,500 nautical miles can take 10 days longer. this animated video shows the movements of container ships in the few days after the first attack in november. compare that to the past three days. you can see just how many are now taking the longer route. today, next became the latest major retailer to warn deliveries of its stock could be delayed. hopefully, it would be resolved in the next month or so, but if it isn't, what we're

likely to see is probably slightly reduced choice of the things we'd normally see in things like clothing retailers, in electrical retailers, and also maybe longer delivery times, particularly of new products, because they will take longer to take come from the factories in the far east to our stores here in britain. the united states, britain and ten other countries have warned rebel forces in yemen that they will face consequences if attacks on commercial ships continue, warning they posed a direct threat to freedom of navigation. i'm not going to spell that out but it is quite clear to me that this is unacceptable, illegal. it is not to do with gaza or israel, this is about the freedom of navigation and the ability of ships to carry their cargo and the world economy, every economy, will suffer if ships keep coming under attack in this illegal and unacceptable way. global shipping has been rocked by other crises in the past few years — the huge container ship ever given got stuck in the suez canal in 2021, and the covid pandemic caused

extensive supply—chain disruption. how much of a headache this latest problem becomes for businesses and consumers will depend on how long the threat to one of the world's biggest trade routes continues. ——busiest trade routes katy austin, bbc news. the white house says it has uncovered evidence that russia is using north korean ballistic missiles against ukraine. it says russia used the missiles in at least two attacks this week. the us also says russia is also engaged in talks with iran to obtain close—range ballistic missiles. white house national security council spokesmanjohn kirby condemned the moves. this is a significant and concerning escalation in the dprk support for russia. the most effective response is to continue to provide ukraine with vital air defence capabilities and other military equipment. to do that we need congress to approve our supplementalfunding request supplemental funding request for ukraine supplementalfunding request for ukraine without delay.

now is the time to initiate the $61 billion package that biden had requested. it remained stalled in congress without any kind of agreement. the congress will resume onjanuary 8 in terms of its negotiations. he was really urging them, saying that if russia or iran and north korea can stand with russia, then the ukrainian people deserve to know that the us stands with ukraine. another batch of us court documents in thejeffrey epstein case have been released. it comes after 900 pages

were unsealed on wednesday, with dozens of references to the uk's prince andrew, including testimony from a young woman who says that prince andrew groped her. the documents name high—profile associates and friends of the late convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. the records form part of a civil case against ghislaine maxwell, epstein�*s british ex—girlfriend who's in prison in the us for assisting him. prince andrew has previously denied all the allegations against him. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at a story making headlines in the uk. rishi sunak says the uk's much—anticipated general election is likely to be held in the "second half of this year". speaking on a visit in nottinghamshire, the british prime minister did not rule out an earlier vote but said his "working assumption" was that it would be later this year. an election has to be held by january of 2025. 0ur political editor chris mason has more now on the potential strategy behind the prime minister's timing.

why might he be tempted, then, by the second half of the year? if the election was in the autumn, in october or later, it would mean that he had two years as prime minister before the election. go earlier than that, where the opinion polls suggest he might lose, and he would end up with less than two years. labour leader sir keir starmer has accused sunak of "squatting "in downing street for months on end'. "in downing street for months on end". speaking in bristol on thursday, he said both the country and the labour party are ready for an election. you're live with bbc news. scientists have welcomed the discovery of a new type of antibiotic, raising hopes it could control one of the most dangerous superbugs. the new drug is still at the experimental stage, but if human trials work out, it would be the first new treatment against this type of bacteria in more than half a century. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh, has that story. bacteria are constantly evolving and some are now able to resist even the most

powerful antibiotics, posing a major threat to human health. the new antibiotic, zosurabalpin, defeated one of the toughest of all superbugs. it's called carbapenem—resista nt acinetobacter baumannii, or crab for short. it's one of the three most critical drug—resistant pathogens, according to the world health organization, because it's so hard to kill. crab thrives in hospitals, where it preys on patients with already weakened immune systems. it's resistant to nearly all antibiotics and has a mortality rate of around 50%. archive: a life-saving drug which has revolutionised - medical science. since the discovery of the first antibiotic — penicillin — these precious drugs have saved countless lives. but there's been no new class of antibiotics against the most resistant bacteria, known as "gram—negative", in over 50 years.

research in the journal nature explains the new compound was able to eradicate crab infections in petri dishes and in mice. but getting any new antibiotic from the lab to patients could take up to a decade of human trials. this could definitely save lives, because we urgently need antibiotics, because if there are no antibiotics, particularly against gram—negative infections, we might see the end of modern medicine because any minor infection, people will die, because drug resistant infection people can die within weeks. antimicrobial resistance is linked to around five million deaths worldwide each year, so the battle against superbugs is one humanity can't afford to lose. fergus walsh, bbc news. the world's only reigning queen, margrethe ii of denmark, has ridden in her golden carriage for the last time before she gives up the throne. (fanfare) thousands lined the streets

of copenhagen to watch her make her annualjourney from her residence to the christiansborg palace to hold a new year's reception with military officers and other dignitaries. margrethe shocked danes when she announced on new year's eve that she will abdicate on the 14th of january. when the throne passes to her son, frederik, it will be the first time since 1926 that no country in the world has had a reigning queen. let's turn to some other news around the world: authorities says a sixth grade student was killed by a 17—year—old at a high school in perry, iowa. five others were injured in the shooting. police say the shooter, who was armed with a pump action shotgun and a small calibre handgun, was found dead with a self—inflicted gunshot wound. police also say they found an improvised explosive device while searching the building. authorities injapan say the death toll from this week's earthquake has risen to 92. an additional 2112 people have now been confirmed as missing. thousands of rescue workers continue to search for survivors, days

after the devastating tremor set off landslides and a tsunami. tens of thousands of residents are still in shelters. some towns are still without power or water. hundreds remain isolated from help due to blocked roads, heavy rain and aftershocks. after more than 2,000 people plunged to their deaths off san francisco's golden gate bridge since it opened in 1937, the iconic structure now has a "suicide net".work has now been completed on 20—foot—wide stainless steel mesh nets on both sides of the 1.7 mile—long bridge, that began in 2018.it comes after two decades of persistent advocacy from a group of parents who lost their children to suicide at the bridge. up to 1,000 vehicles were stuck on a motorway in southern sweden due to extreme weather. strong wind and heavy snow stranded drivers. defence forces delivered food and drinks to people in their cars, and helped to shovel them out. most of the vehicles were able to leave, though some trucks remain stranded. in england, there have been hundreds of flood alerts today

as heavy rain continued to batter parts of the country in the wake of storm henke. and there are fears the river trent, could come close to its highest water mark on record this century. it's the eighth storm since september to have hit the uk.0ur reporter navtej johal has more from nottingham. storm henk may be gone, but it's certainly not forgotten. this is what it left behind in nottinghamshire, where a major incident has been declared and water levels on the river trent are as high as they've been in more than 20 years. the council is making the decision could see the river surging past their headquarters, but not every seat here was suitable for a good view. it's similar levels to that of 2000, so it's that serious, and we must ask people to be aware and stay safe. flooded roads are causing problems and making it harder for people to evacuate. in places, it's become

difficult to tell what's river, what's canal, and what's supposed to be dry land. in the village of east bridgeford, many people have never seen it so bad. we went to bed last night knowing the river was coming up, so my partner set the alarms to check it every couple of hours in the night. the river started coming into the property at 6:00 this morning. we've spent most of today keeping it out, which we did a very good job of until about 2:30pm this afternoon, where the river trent got the better of us. in radcliffe on trent, the fire service needed to be carried in at this static caravan park and rush hour was proving difficult. the yellow warning for heavy rain covers most of the southwest, southeast, and parts of the midlands, and there are more than 200 flood warnings across england. and in wiltshire tonight, flooded fields have led to flooded homes and frustrated residents. we've got water flooding underfloors, we've ta ken stuff u psta i rs. the council have the phone off the hook.

the police aren't interested in closing the road, i'm amazed there hasn't been an incident. the fire brigade isn't interested, no—one is interested. we were sat having a nice glass of wine by the fire and my partner's friend texted and said, i hope you are ok, and we were, like, 0k, what's going on? so we came out and went, oh, yeah. the rain is disrupting rail services and all sorts of journeys. it's difficult to get around, even for those who know the land best. this is gloucestershire. these cows and horses won't be roaming far on their new island in leicestershire. some have been able to see the lighter side of it all though. good afternoon, welcome to the rose and crown, riverside view, and probably the best guinness... the landlord of this pub has no chance of a dry january.

finally: british actress glynis johns, who played mrs banks in the original mary poppins movie, has died at the age of 100. johns was a tony award—winning stage and screen star who appeared in dozens of films over her 60—year career. she was best known for playing the suffragette mother in the 1964 musical mary poppins. johns also introduced the world to the sondheim classic send in the clowns, send in the clowns, during the original broadway run of a little night music in the 19705. in a statement, her manager said that in her passing: "we mourn the end of the golden age of hollywood." "today is a sombre day for hollywood." that's all for now, i'm helena humphrey. i'll be back in 30 minute with more. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. after the exceptional rainfall and the significant flooding of the last few days, you may well be pleased to hear that the weather is set to change. the next few days will be drier, yes, also colder, but i'm sure some lower temperatures will be a small price to pay for less in the way of rain. we certainly saw some rain on thursday in the south of the uk, thanks to this hook of cloud. that's an area of low pressure still close by for the first part of friday morning, still bringing some rain across eastern parts of england. we've also still got some showery rain from this weather system, centred across the north of scotland. so, as we head through the morning on friday, yes, still a little bit of rain across eastern england, quite a brisk wind, as well. still windy for the northern isles, and generally cloud and some showery rain across the northeast of scotland. further west, though, some brighter skies, some spells of sunshine and, while there will be some showers, there probably won't be too many, and a decent amount of dry weather. those temperatures a touch lower than they have been — 6 degrees for aberdeen,

nine for cardiff, for plymouth, maybe 10 for the channel islands. and then, as we head through friday night, we'll keep some quite large amounts of cloud, especially across the eastern half of the uk, with some showery rain. drier out west with some clear spells and just one or two showers. that will give rise to some fog patches and a touch of frost for some. temperatures across parts of northern england, scotland, northern ireland are likely to drop below freezing. so, frost and fog to start the day for some of us on saturday. quite a lot of cloud across the eastern half of england. that will break up to some extent, and i think we will see some spells of sunshine. just one or two showers here and there, but a much drier story than we've been used to. temperatures coming down again, 5—9 celsius at best. through saturday nights, the last remnants of this weather system really clearing away, as high pressure builds more strongly across the uk. that will set us up actually for the forecast for next week and certainly on sunday, we're looking at a lot of dry weather. some early mist and fog, touch of frost in places, but some spells of sunshine. small chance of one or two showers

maybe across northeast scotland, also grazing the southeast of england and the channel islands. and it certainly will be a colder—feeling day, 3—7 degrees. and actually, into the start of the new week, the winds will really pick up across the south, so that will add to what will be a really cold feel to the weather. but it'll be a mostly dry week ahead, some spells of sunshine with some frost and some fog at night.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. misty copeland made history as the first black woman to become a principal dancer at the prestigious american ballet theatre. we had the absolute thrill of meeting her onstage at lincoln center in new york.