around the middle east. he's in saudi arabia meeting the crown prince and is due in israel later. the bbc uncovers evidence of rape, torture and forced abortions by the founder of one of the world's biggest christian evangelical churches. and the first us space mission for more than half a century aimed at making a landing on the moon runs into early technical difficulties. hello, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. hezbollah has confirmed that one of it's senior commanders has been killed by an israeli drone strike in lebanon. wissam al tawil was the deputy head of the militant group's elite radwan

force and managed many operations in the south of the country. that news comes as intense fighting continues across gaza, with israeli strikes killing 249 palestinians and injuring a further 510 injured in the past 2a hours, according to the hamas run gaza health ministry. it comes as america's top diplomat, antony blinken, is back in the middle east, meeting officials in the united arab emirates, saudi arabia and israel, for further talks on the war in gaza. antony blinken is expected to call on israel to reduce the intensity of its fighting in gaza. yolande knell has the very latest. the scale of gaza's humanitarian crisis clearly visible along its southernmost border. hundreds of thousands are now crammed into tents. after fleeing their homes, most have been displaced several times over by the fighting with israel. angry and weary, this woman believes

herfamily remains in danger. "they killed us in schools, in our homes, they won't kill "us inside our tent? "there is no safe place," she says. "we came here because of poverty, fear." there is concern al—aqsa hospital in central gaza may close. now largely empty, but only because israeli strikes and evacuation orders have forced hundreds of patients and doctors to leave. on his latest trip to the region, the top us diplomat is telling arab allies that israel must do more to protect civilians and get aid into gaza. and he insists nobody will be forcibly displaced. palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. they cannot, they must not, be pressed to leave gaza. we reject the statements by some israeli ministers and lawmakers calling for a resettlement of palestinians outside of gaza. rapid gunfire on the ground, israel says the intensity of its offensive fits

the gravity of the threat posed by hamas. the defence minister says his country must act with enough force to deter israel's other enemies. during its war in gaza, the us has shown israel staunch support. but with growing tensions between these two close allies, the us secretary of state must be expecting some tough talks when he meets israeli leaders. and the stakes could not be higher. israel's military says it has carried out more strikes against the powerful lebanese armed group hezbollah, backed by iran. fears remain high that a wider, regional war could yet be on the horizon. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. i spoke to ghaith al omari, a senior fellow at the washington institute for near east policy. i asked how much of a difference antony blinken�*s visit will make. of course it will. i mean, it will not be

a breakthrough but without the constant american engagement with israel and with the arab countries, one could expect to see even further deterioration. so it's part of a crisis management approach, but there is no expectation of a breakthrough at the moment. and what do you think could feasibly come out of it, then? there is lots of different angles to this, people who want the hostages obviously to come home as soon as possible, there are many who want more aid to cross into gaza, and, of course, there is a question about what happens in a post—conflict gaza. these are just a few of the issues. i mean, there are also issues relating to lebanon, to the west bank, to the houthi militias in yemen, but when it comes to gaza in particular, i think the focus from blinken will be on israel lowering the intensity of the fighting. i think the us continues to support israel's objective of degrading hamas, of disarming hamas, yet the civilian casualties are such that it is making the conduct of the war very difficult in diplomatic terms. so i think blinken will be focusing

on changing the intensity of the war and moving towards a more targeted approach. providing more humanitarian access, but as you also said, what happens the day after? because the us believe that only the palestinians can govern gaza after the war, while the israeli government has been very clear in saying that they do not want the palestinian authority. so this is going to be yet another one of the points of tension between blinken and his israeli counterparts. and today, mr blinken is in saudi arabia for talks with the crown prince. what should we be looking out for from that meeting? i think primarily what he will hear in that meeting is similar to what he heard in other arab capitals. a call for a ceasefire and a rejection of any idea of forcible displacement of palestinians from gaza, these are red lines for arab countries, and frankly i have not seen the arab diplomacy so united as i have seen

around these particular issues. the un is concerned about the high number of journalists who the un is concerned about the high number ofjournalists who have been killed in gaza. it is demanding a probe into the situation. this comes as two journalists were killed in an israeli air strike on sunday. one of the journalists hamza al dahdouh was the son of aljazeera's gaza bureau chief and is the fifth member of his family to be killed during the conflict. according to the committee to protectjournalists as of january the 8th at least 79 journalists and media workers have now been killed in gaza with another 16 injured, three missing and 21 arrested. i'm joined now by tamer almisshal senior presenter for aljazeera and former gaza correspondent. tell us more about the friends that you lost at the weekend. it is tell us more about the friends that you lost at the weekend.— you lost at the weekend. it is a very difficult —

you lost at the weekend. it is a very difficult moment - you lost at the weekend. it is a very difficult moment and - you lost at the weekend. it is a very difficult moment and a - very difficult moment and a difficult time for us as a colleague and a friend and as a palestinian and a friend and as a palestinian and a friend and as a palestinian and a journalist who covered this area, i covered gaza for almost 16 years for bbc as a producer and then for aljazeera as a correspondent. it is a big loss, for us to see this genocide happening in gaza, and among the victims of this genocide, our colleagues, journalists, and the journalists are working in gaza and the last case was our colleague hamza, the son of the bureau chief in gaza, mr fry, and it is clear that what happened to them was an assassination operating —— most of that. they were deliberately targeted by an israeli drone, they targeted by an israeli drone, they targeted their vehicle when they were in the area north of rafah and

the number ofjournalists who have been killed in gaza, around 109 journalists have been killed in the last three months. the voice of our colleagues and the voice of the palestinian journalists in gaza, colleagues and the voice of the palestinianjournalists in gaza, who is next on the list? they are feeling they are the targets of israeli operations and israeli shelling and attacks on gaza strip, and the voice of me as a palestinian journalist and a colleague who worked in this area, my voice to the international community, to all the organisations who are concerned about the rights ofjournalists and the freedom of speech and protecting journalists, how manyjournalists do we need to be killed in gaza and to everyone says stop these crimes?

stop targeting journalists in gaza? want to read the statement that the idf has released in the wake of the death of your colleagues and they say that an aircraft identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to idf troops and we are aware of the report that during the strike two other suspects were in the same vehicle as the terrorists, they said, what is your response to that statement? that is what the idf says was behind what happened at the weekend. ~ . ~ ., ., weekend. what we know from the field and what is credible _ weekend. what we know from the field and what is credible according - weekend. what we know from the field and what is credible according to - and what is credible according to the sources in the field, that we had four in the car, a driver has been killed, and tojournalists had four in the car, a driver has been killed, and to journalists were killed, hamza and his colleague, and a fourth journalist has been injured

seriously. those who were in the car. it is clear, and i read the israeli statement, they publish a statement without any evidence, without any proof, and if you want to talk about the credibility of israeli statements, i will return to the case of our colleague, when she was killed in the west bank. the israeli statements and spokesperson, they change their narrative is five times and in the first they blamed the palestinian militants for killing her and then they said it was an exchange of fire and third they said, we will investigate, and in the end they admitted that she was killed by an israeli soldier. sorry to interrupt. i want to get back to the loss of your colleagues. israel says it needs to conduct this

operation after what happened on the 7th of october and because we have now seen tens of thousands of people killed in gaza in that conflict. but they would say that this needs to happen, the military operation, so what would your reaction be to that? it is right for palestinian journalists and anyjournalists to cover the truth and the facts on the ground, and this is our right as a journalist, and this is not the first war zone and this is not the first war zone and this is not the first war zone and this is not the first war to be covered by journalists but what is happening in gaza, israelis are targeting the palestinian journalists who are covering what is happening in gaza and if we want to go back to the numbers, we are talking about 109

journalists who have been killed in the last three months and since the war started, the israeli occupation has not allowed any foreign journalists to enter gaza freely and to cover it freely and theyjust allow for some journalists to be embedded with the israeli troops to cover what they need. what we are covering isjournalists, to cover cover what they need. what we are covering is journalists, to cover it freely, to cover the war zone and to protect the palestinian and any journalists who covered the war zone, and i believe what is happening in gaza now, the israelis do not want the truth to be published from gaza. and with all these targets, they want the facts on the truth to be hidden. we have run out of time _ on the truth to be hidden. we have run out of time but _ on the truth to be hidden. we have run out of time but of _ on the truth to be hidden. we have run out of time but of course - on the truth to be hidden. we have run out of time but of course we i on the truth to be hidden. we have| run out of time but of course we do send our condolences to you and your colleagues at this time. i

appreciate you must be a very distressing time for the aljazeera network and we appreciate you coming onto the programme. downing street said it would look to revoke the cva of paula reynolds, because of her role in the horizon scandal in which hundreds of sub—postmasters were convicted of fraud and other offences after problems with a faulty it system. the justice secretary problems with a faulty it system. thejustice secretary in the post office and minister —— and the post office and minister —— and the post office minister met this afternoon to discuss the problems. ed davey has defended his role in the scandal. i has defended his role in the scandal. . , , ., scandal. i was the first postal affairs minister _ scandal. i was the first postal affairs minister to _ scandal. i was the first postal affairs minister to meet - scandal. i was the first postal affairs minister to meet alan | scandal. i was the first postal - affairs minister to meet alan bates and to listen to him against the advice i received because i was concerned by his letter and i listened to him and i put his

concerns to the officials and the post office and it is clear that the post office and it is clear that the post office and it is clear that the post office lied to victims and judges and to the public and to me and other postal ministers over 20 years, and this is a conspiracy by the post office to deceive people. someone should be held accountable? something needs to be done? i full? something needs to be done? i fully su orted something needs to be done? i fully suworted the _ something needs to be done? i fill; supported the independent inquiry and it needs to get to the bottom of it and i will happily give evidence to the inquiry so that people are held to account and when you talk to sub—postmasters, i have a sub—postmasters, i have a sub—postmaster who was a victim in my own constituency and he was convicted and sent to prison for 16 months and it makes you sick in your stomach to think there was an innocent man in prison for that time. my heart goes out to those people. we need to make sure the convictions are overturned and we

need to make sure they are fairly compensated and quickly. paula re nolds, compensated and quickly. paula reynolds, should _ compensated and quickly. paula reynolds, should she _ compensated and quickly. paula reynolds, should she have - compensated and quickly. paula reynolds, should she have her. compensated and quickly. paula reynolds, should she have her cbe scrapped? i reynolds, should she have her cbe scra ed? .,, reynolds, should she have her cbe scra ed? ., , , , scrapped? i was surprised the conservatives _ scrapped? i was surprised the conservatives gave _ scrapped? i was surprised the conservatives gave it - scrapped? i was surprised the conservatives gave it to - scrapped? i was surprised the conservatives gave it to her . scrapped? i was surprised the j conservatives gave it to her in scrapped? i was surprised the - conservatives gave it to her in the first place and they can answer for that. do first place and they can answer for that. , ., ~' first place and they can answer for that. ,, ~ , ., , that. do you think it should be taken away? _ that. do you think it should be taken away? she _ that. do you think it should be taken away? she has - that. do you think it should be taken away? she has got - that. do you think it should be taken away? she has got it. that. do you think it should be l taken away? she has got it now. that. do you think it should be - taken away? she has got it now. more than a million people say that it should go. flit than a million people say that it should 90-— than a million people say that it should no. , ., , ., , should go. of course. you should be in the first place _ should go. of course. you should be in the first place and _ should go. of course. you should be in the first place and the _ should go. of course. you should be in the first place and the committee| in the first place and the committee needs to make that decision. you work minister _ needs to make that decision. you work minister government when you are contacted and you say that the post office misled you but others will say that you knew about this but you did not take it seriously enough. would you apologise to the victims? i enough. would you apologise to the victims? , ~' ., enough. would you apologise to the victims? , ~ ., ., victims? i wish i knew now then what i knew how. — victims? i wish i knew now then what i knew now, that _ victims? i wish i knew now then what i knew now, that the _ victims? i wish i knew now then what i knew now, that the post _ victims? i wish i knew now then what i knew now, that the post office - victims? i wish i knew now then what i knew now, that the post office was| i knew now, that the post office was lying on a industrial scale, this is quite a national scandal.

around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news in the uk. the environment agency has warned that more homes could still be hit by flooding, despite a cold snap beginning across the uk. there could be a mix of snow, sleet and rain on monday. this there could be a mix of snow, sleet and rain on monday.— and rain on monday. this could result in travel— and rain on monday. this could result in travel disruption. - research commissioned by bbc panorama suggests police forces in england and wales need an extra 18,000 officersjust to keep up with population growth. the home office says officer numbers are at a record high. but the figures — from an independent criminal justice think tank — indicate recruitment has fallen behind the 9% increase in population recorded since 2010. thousands of old green metal street cabinets — once used to store broadband and phone cabling — are set to be converted into charging points for electric vehicles. bt group is setting up a pilot

project which it's hoped will boost the number of charging stations across the country. you're live with bbc news. evidence of rape, torture and forced abortions by the founder of one of the world's biggest christian evangelical churches has been uncovered by the bbc. tbjoshua was the late founder of the synagogue church of all nations in nigeria and built an evangelical empire that counted dozens of political leaders, celebrities and international footballers among his associates. former church insiders have gone public — for the first time — with claims of atrocities that span almost 20 years. peter murimi reports. a warning, you might find some elements upsetting. everyone here in the stadium say, i lovejesus! tbjoshua was one of africa's most famous pastors, drawing presidents, premier league footballers and millions of followers across the globe. he had huge resources,

huge amounts of influence, notjust in nigeria, throughout africa, israel, mexico, singapore. tbjoshua performed televised healings, where members of his congregation claimed to have been cured of aids, cancer and a range of chronic conditions. negative tested for hiv and hiv 2. everybody wanted the privilege to go with, to meet this... ..big giant. tb joshua's closest followers were known as disciples, and lived together for years inside his compound in nigeria. it was a psychological prison. we all thought we were in heaven, but we were in hell, and in hell terrible things happen. dozens of these insiders alleged that the pastor repeatedly assaulted, raped and tortured women

behind closed doors, with the most recent incidents in 2019. it became so robotic. i disconnected from my body. i just became like... ..a puppet. rape became like a normal, terrifying thing that he would do. it's like you are an animal being slaughtered. i was 17 years old. he would be calling girls in one after the other. . i stayed here almost 14 years. they will be in thousands. some women claim they were forced to have abortions inside his compound following the alleged assaults. i had three abortions at synagogue. and from speaking to other women, i'm not the only one. women that he rapes, he forces them into abortion. i never had a choice

whether i could keep a potential child or not. people tried to speak up to expose him, but nobody would listen. tbjoshua died in 2021. his wife, evelyn, is now leading the synagogue church of all nations. good morning, viewers, all over the world. the bbc contacted the church with allegations in this report. they did not respond to them, but they said previous claims against tb joshua have been unfounded. today, the church still attracts millions of viewers to its online platforms. some people, they are still living in fear for their lives, in fear for the retribution that will come if they do open their mouths. peter murimi, bbc news. you can watch disciples: the cult of tbjoshua on the bbc africa youtube channel and listen to the new season of world of secrets wherever

you get your bbc podcasts. the first american space mission for more than half a century aimed at making a landing on the moon has run into an early technical hitch. the peregrine one robot lander was launched earlier today but has been unable to point its solar panels at the sun. the company behind the project, astrobotic, says it's trying to fix the problem, but if it can't, the mission won't be able to proceed. our science correspondentjonathan amos our science correspondent jonathan amos gave our science correspondentjonathan amos gave us the latest. we had a picture perfect launch this morning and the craft on top of the new vulcan rocket left cape canaveral in florida

and everything seemed perfect and then about seven hours after liftoff we had a statement from the private exploration company in pittsburgh in the us. it said their spacecraft had experienced an anomaly of some kind, that is the word they used. the spacecraft, they were going through the standard checkouts that you do on a spacecraft when it comes off the top of the rocket and you go through its systems and power up everything and check the data to see it is working properly. one of the things the spacecraft has got to do, one of the first things, is to point its solar panels at the sun which is how you maintain power, because without power you have no mission. but unfortunately the spacecraft has not been able to point at the sun stably. it is not quite clear what it means but maybe it is doing at some

of the time but then is losing track of where the sun is in the sky so maybe it is topping up its battery a bit and then losing track of the sun and batteries are starting to discharge. engineers are working on this and they will have rehearsed many times scenarios like this and they will have a process they are going through to try and sort it out so by no means is the mission over yet. they will be working their way through what they think is wrong with it and it should be said, spacecraft have a fair degree of autonomy, so the spacecraft itself will recognise it is not doing what it is supposed to do and then it will prioritise its systems. it will prioritise power and maintenance, obviously, and also communication to earth. hopefully, they will be able to recover the situation. how typical it it for this kind of mission to get its power from solar panels? is this something which is the first time? no, this is standard operating procedure.

they all go with solar panels. very few spacecraft go with nuclear batteries, radioisotopes which produce heat and then from that you can produce electricity, and the vast majority of space missions use solar panels because it is free energy. we have some footage of someone making the best of a bad situation. this is burke's year in england which was badly hit by flooding —— this is berkshire in england. just take a look at this. one man has used the conditions to his advantage. he has been filmed wake boarding through the flood pretty impressive. 2a flood warnings and 30 flood alerts issued across the county of berkshire and the environment agency says more than 1800 properties in england have been flooded and that more rain is likely

over the coming days and indeed we are also hearing of the possibility of snow. these are the latest pictures now from the middle east, us secretary of state antony blinken arriving in saudi arabia. he will be having talks with the crown prince before he moves on to israel for talks. a lot of people watching on what happens here. plenty more on the bbc news website. we have a live page on that story. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. there are still well over 100 flood warnings in force, so the flooding situation hasn't fully resolved itself, but things should improve over the next few days. today, though, the main talking point, isuppose, is the chance of seeing a few

flurries of snow working in across parts of the east. it's not very exciting snow, to be honest with you. in most cases it's not going to settle, you'lljust see a few flakes like this. in one or two areas, you might see an odd centimetre or two building in. i think the main threat, though, is that the weather could turn quite icy across these parts of east anglia and south—east england. the satellite picture shows extensive cloud cover today and with the winds continuing to blow in from the east, it does feel cold if you're out and about. a few showers coming into eastern areas of scotland, mostly falling as rain. we've also got some rain showers moving in across northern ireland. it's a day where those temperatures are really struggling with highs between four and six degrees for most. heading into this evening and overnight, particularly where we've seen showers by day, there's a risk of some ice developing, so east scotland, northern ireland, eastern and southern areas of england probably the iciest spots,

if you like, but anywhere where we see water seeping in from those fields after that recent spell of very heavy rain could also have the roads and pavements turn pretty icy. tomorrow morning, another cold day, a frosty and icy start. we continue to see the winds coming in generally from an easterly direction. there should be a much better chance of seeing cloud breaks across parts of midlands, eastern and south—east england, there's a bit more sunshine here, but otherwise still probably quite a lot of cloud around, thick enough to continue to bring showers into eastern scotland and north—east england. little difference for the temperatures — it will be another very cold feeling day. the wind starts to turn more to a north—easterly direction on wednesday and that will push the cloud southwards, so most areas having a cloudy day. maybe a few breaks for northern ireland, west scotland, north—west england, but the best of the sunshine is most likely across southern counties of england. temperatures still below average for the time of year for most of us. really, as we look at the forecast through the rest of the week and into the weekend, it stays generally on the chilly side, with some further sharp morning frosts to come. however, into next week, things get a bit more exciting. the winds come round to a more northerly direction.

it stays cold, but there's an increasing threat next week that we could see some snow. that's the latest.

this is bbc news, the headlines.

a senior hezbollah commander is killed by an israeli drone strike in southern lebanon. america's top diplomat antony blinken is due in tel aviv as part of his attempts to stop the gaza conflict from spreading. the covers forced straight and abortion by the founder of evangelical church. oppenheimer has won big at the golden globe awards in los angeles, taking home five of the night's big prizes. let's bring you some breaking news that franz beckenbauer has died at the age of 78. he was nicknamed the