a senior houthi leader warns that the us and uk would "pay a heavy price" and says the attacks on ships are set to continue. let me take you straight to these live pictures from the hague, where the international court ofjustice is hearing israels response to south africa s allegations that it's committing genocide in gaza. it's the second and final day of hearings at the united nations�* highest court. south africa is asking the icj to issue an injunction to stop israel's military campaign and protect the palestinian people. israel has said that south africa's demands would render israel defenceless and that that south africa had presented a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture.

on thursday south africa accused the highest levels of the israeli state of nurturing genocidal intent against palestinians in gaza. these are pictures outside the court. as you would expect, a huge amount of interest. these are israeli supporters. you can see the israeli supporters. you can see the israeli flags. we were also hearing that some of the relatives of the people being held hostage inside gaza are also in court today. that is the scene outside the international court ofjustice in the hague. they walked out a moment ago, because they are going on a break. let's hear a bit of what was said earlier. the applicant has regrettably put before the court a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture. the entirety of its case hinges on a deliberately curated,

decontextualised and manipulative description of the reality of current hostilities. south africa purports to come to this court in the lofty position of a guardian of the interest of humanity. but in delegitimising israel's 75—year existence in its opening presentation yesterday, that broad commitment to humanity rang hollow. and in its sweeping counterfactual description of the israeli—palestinian conflict, it seemed to erase bothjewish history and any palestinian agency or responsibility. indeed, the delegitimisation of israel, since its very establishment in 1948, in the applicant's submissions, sounded barely distinguishable from hamas�* own rejectionist rhetoric.

it is unsurprising, therefore, that in the applicant's telling, both hamas�* responsibility for the situation in gaza and the very humanity of its israeli victims are removed from view. the attempt to weaponise the term "genocide" against israel in the present context does more than tell the court a grossly distorted story, and it does more than empty the word of its unique force and special meaning. it subverts the object and purpose of the convention itself, with ramifications for all states seeking to defend themselves against those who demonstrate total disdain for life.

that was the israeli spokesperson for legal and foreign affairs, tal becker. we will be back in the court when that session resumes. the united states and britain have carried out military strikes from the air and sea against houthi locations in yemen, in response to the rebels�* ongoing attacks on ships in the red sea. the us central command said over 60 targets at 16 houthi positions were attacked, including command centres, munitions depots and air defence systems. a houthi leader, mohammed al—bukhaiti, has condemned the attack and vowed to continue its support for palestinians in gaza and its attacks on ships in the red sea. russia and iran have condemned the attacks and china has expressed concern. the labour party leader sir keir starmer was briefed about the military action in yemen against the houthis on thursday evening — he was asked about that by my colleague charlie stayt on bbc breakfast this morning. i did get a security briefing last night from the cabinet office.

obviously, i can't tell you what the contents of that briefing was, but i think it is important that we had that briefing. when rishi sunak became prime minister, i had a phone call with him on the first day, the first night, and amongst other things, we agreed that we would robustly challenge each other on the politics of the day, but when it comes to national security, issues of defence of the country, that we would seek to cooperate and work together. so it's not a convention, but i think it is good that as leader of the opposition, i was brought in for a secure briefing in relation to what was happening. and you have given this full military action your support, is that correct? yes, we are supporting this action. the houthi attacks have been carried now for some time in the red sea. it's on commercial shipping, that's civilians who are operating that commercial shipping, and not only is it disrupting

trade and shipping, but of course, it's putting civilian lives at risk and therefore, we do support this action. i do want the prime minister, obviously, to make a statement to parliament as soon as possible, because the scope, nature and extent of the operation needs to be explained. obviously, it's not for me to disclose what's been briefed to me, but i do think the public and parliament need to know, so that should happen. i'd also want a summary of the government's legal position to be published. i don't think that's going to be a problem, i anticipate that they'll do that, but we do need that level of transparency and accountability so that your viewers and everybody else gets a better understanding of what's going on. but the basic case, which is that these attacks can't go on, i think, is one which most people will pretty readily understand. i spoke earlier with liberal democrat mp, layla moran, who says the uk parliament should have been consulted before british forces were involved in the conflict.

first of all, all mps have constituents whose voices deserve to be heard in this, and just because the leader of the opposition has been consulted, the other party leaders, to the best of my knowledge, were not. there is also an important convention here, which was hard fought off the back of the iraq war, whereby even if it were retrospective, and there are examples of retrospective votes that have happened in the past, notably syria, that convention was only broken in those 20 years by the 2018 non—vote by theresa may where we didn't have a chance to have that vote. wanting a debate and a vote isn't necessarily dissent. it's about the questions that need to be answered. the most important question is the endgame and the risk of escalation. the liberal democrats have said repeatedly that what the houthis

are doing is against international law and that we support the un resolutions that say they must stop. but the response has to be balanced carefully with the chances of escalation. if you had had a chance to debate this, would you have said you supported the uk government taking action? we asked for the recall last night, hoping they might be able to recall parliament for today so that we can have answers to those questions. another question we have is over the overall strategy and approach to notjust what is happening in the shipping lanes, but the links between what's happening to the war in israel and gaza. the liberal democrats have called for an immediate ceasefire in part because we could see that the longer that this went on, the more likely it was that it would ignite the tinderbox in the region.

i know people think you go into parliament and you already know how you are going to vote. actually, when it comes to military action in putting service personnel on the front line, we are the only other country in active military operation with the us on this, so it is important that mps take that seriously and have the debate and then the conclusions. it may well be that parliament would have voted for it. but now that this has happened, do you support what the uk government has done injoining the us in these attacks, or not? not until we have had a debate. we haven't even had a chance to have the proper briefing. who did they consult? did they speak with saudi arabia, egypt and jordan? these are all important players in the region. as much as it does affect the cost of living crisis with the way it has impacted the shipping lanes, every person watching this today will have higherfood prices and energy prices as a result of what is happening, but if that gets out of control, it could become even worse.

there are questions that need to be answered. there is also a 20—year—old convention that came out of the debacle that was the iraq war that has been broken again. these things need to be debated, and then we could make up our minds. but to the principle of whether the houthis should be stopped, i would put it to the government that if they put pressure to have that immediate bilateral ceasefire, they take the rug out from under what the houthis are using as their excuse to commit these heinous acts. to put the government side, they say they are acting in self—defence. you will have heard them talking about how a british ship was attacked in the last 48 hours and that it was self—defence to disrupt the capacity of those attacks, notjust on commercial ships, but on a british warship. absolutely, i do understand.

when we were talking of legislating for this, and it is liberal democrat policy to legislate this convention into law, it was understood that there will be times when the timing of these things is out of our hands, either in a quick response or because we are working with allies who decide the timing for us. it sounds like it's the us who have decided the timing on this one. we understand that that can happen, but that's why we are calling for an immediate vote. and even if it is retrospective, this might not be the end of it. we have heard of potentially retaliatory measures from the houthis and others. is this going to ignite something bigger? what is our plan for that? who have we spoken to? i don't think it is unreasonable that as mp5, we are able to ask this question on behalf of our constituents and then hold firm to the hard—fought conventions we forged in the wake of the iraq war.

layla moran, the liberal democrat spokesperson on foreign affairs. i asked our political correspondent peter saull what effect these military strikes in yemen would have in westminster. the rhetoric has been getting stronger in recent days. the defence secretary grant shapps said, "watch this space" a couple of days ago, about this growing concern about attacks on ships in the red sea. and now, alongside american allies, they have decided to take this action. there was a hastily convened cabinet called last night. the leader of the opposition, sir keir starmer, was invited too, as was the speaker of the house of commons. together, they were briefed on what the government was intending to do. it has, in a way, come as a bit of a bolt from the blue. it was not something that was dominating the agenda here in westminster. the focus was really on lots of more domestic issues, but nevertheless, a huge decision

that the prime minister has taken to get involved in this american military action, a decision that no prime minister would take lightly. the line from the government is that this is an act of self—defence because of those attacks from houthi rebels on ships in the red sea, that this is a proportionate, measured approach. we'll wait and see whether there are more attacks in the coming days and whether this does escalate, because that is always the risk when you intervene militarily overseas, that things get out of hand. we've seen that with previous foreign interventions, so this is a decision they won't have taken lightly. the question is, what is the endgame here? there are countries like the iranians, who are allied with the houthis, the chinese and the russians — britain has difficult international relations with russia because of what is going on in ukraine. quite a delicate situation in that

region and one that the uk will not want to exacerbate. but domestically, rishi sunak has made getting inflation down one of his top priorities, and the concern is, with ships having to take much longer routes around the african continent to avoid these attacks, it will push up costs and prices for consumers in the shops in the uk, so no doubt that would have been a consideration. the impact is already happening in terms of the price of goods and there could be further increases on fuel as well. there has been criticism from opposition parties, particularly the lib dems, talking about how there should have been a debate in parliament about this. as you said, it wasn't dominating the agenda in recent days and they didn't get a chance to discuss it before britain took action. what has the government said in response? parliament is not sitting today. it doesn't tend to on friday, so the liberal democrats have put out a statement saying parliament should be recalled to sit over the weekend. the scottish national party, the third largest party in westminster, say the same thing,

that parliament should be consulted on this. the labour party, though, their leader keir starmer has been on the airwaves saying they support this action. there may be labour mps who disagree, there may be conservative mps too. no doubt the prime minister will give a statement next week, but in a way, it has already happened. the air strikes have taken place. if there were to be more, it would be difficult for the british government to row back at this stage. the liberal democrats believe there should be a retrospective vote on military action in the red sea. a lot of people in westminster are just digesting what happened last night, because it all came very quickly. some of the opposition parties will still be formulating their responses, frankly. but the prime minister will be aware that whenever you take military action overseas, it is going to be controversial and it is going to come in for criticism.

that was our political correspondent peter saull in westminster. rishi sunak is on a rare visit to ukraine to meet volodymyr zelensky. his visit coincides with an announcement that britain will give ukraine more than $3 billion in military support for the next financial year. it's the largest annual commitment the uk has made to ukraine since russia's invasion nearly three years ago. mr sunak is also expected to sign a new agreement which will commit britain to supporting ukraine's long term security. officials said the package would be focused on providing long range missiles, air defence and artillery shells. the inquiry into the horizon it scandal has today turned its attention to the failure by the post office to hand over documents to the inquiry team on time. hundreds of sub—postmasters were convicted after the faulty software made it look as if money had been missing. on thursday, the inquiry heard from a post office investigator accused of intimidating and mistreating sub—postmasters. ben king reports.

this inquiry has been going on for more than three years, but there has never been interest like this. the fancy new computer system that they've spent an arm and a leg on is faulty. no one else has ever reported any problems with horizon. the itv drama, mr bates versus the post office, brought the plight of the subpostmasters to the nation's attention like never before. i swear by almighty god. yesterday we heard from investigator stephen bradshaw, who said he had never been told horizon was faulty. you have shown in your evidence today that you are prepared to be aggressive. you tell people in interviews to get up earlier. other people have described you as very confrontational. this is the way you behaved, isn't it? that's not correct, no. do you accept you behaved unprofessionally? no. do you accept that it was part of the culture within the investigation team to intimidate

and abuse subpostmasters? no, no. a phone call will be made to arrange an interview at a convenient time and date. watching at home was pauline, who ran a post office near sunderland, and was given a criminal conviction for false accounting. it feels quite just that they get a bit of their own medicine, that they should answer for their... ..for their attitude and their behaviour. the inquiry has been delayed multiple times before by late disclosures of documents. is it appropriate...? sir wyn williams, the chair of the inquiry, has called it "grossly unsatisfactory". we will accept your plea, but only if you don't blame horizon. the post office said, "we have absolutely no interest in delay", and called the disclosure process "extremely challenging", involving around 70 million documents. and the inquiry continues next week,

when employees of fujitsu, the company which built the horizon system which started all this trouble, are due to appear. ben king, bbc news. let's ta ke let's take you back to the hague, whether session has resumed at the international court ofjustice. they were on a break earlier, but south africa has brought this case, allegations that israel is committing genocide in gaza. this is a two day hearing. it's the second of the two days. we are going to hear a bit of what is being said by the israeli side in a moment. first, let's hear some of what was said by the south african side yesterday. south africa's justice the south african side yesterday. south africa'sjustice minister delivered the opening statement. in extending our hands across the miles to the people of palestine, we do so in full knowledge that we are part of a humanity that is as one. these were the words of our founding president, nelson mandela. this is the spirit in which south africa

exceeded to the convention. on the prevention and punishment of crime of genocide in 1998. this is the spirit in which we approach this court, as a contracting party to the convention. this is a commitment we owe to the people of palestine and israel is a like. as previously mentioned, the destruction in israel did not begin on the 7th of october, 2023. the palestinians have experienced violence for the last 76 years. on the 6th of october 2023, and every day since october the 7th 2023. israel has been arguing that south

africa presented a distorted factual and legal picture. let's have a listen. ., , , ,. listen. houses, schools, masks, un facilities and — listen. houses, schools, masks, un facilities and shelters _ listen. houses, schools, masks, un facilities and shelters are _ listen. houses, schools, masks, un facilities and shelters are all - facilities and shelters are all abused for military purposes by hamas, including as rocket launching sites. hundreds of kilometres of tunnels dug by hamas under populated areas in gaza often cause a structure is about to collapse. in the flood before you, you can see a militant climbing projectiles for launch on idf forces in gaza. you can see the holes in the residential house to hide and launch them. here, you can see projectiles discovered underneath a bed in a child's bedroom. here, a rocket being fired from a school. the launch site is circled in red. here, you can see firing from a un school. you can see

the letters un on the roof and the fire is circled in red. and here, long—range rocket launch is hidden inside a scouts club building. finally, you can see part of a tunnel that runs for four kilometres, including the arrows crossing, which is adjacent to israel. gaza's infrastructure has certainly been harmed during the conflict. however, south africa would have the court believe that israel is deliberately and unlawfully destroying homes without cause. but harm caused to lawful military objectives and harm caused as a result of hamas' actions is not evidence of genocide. south africa also alleges that israel has waged an assault on gaza's health system. what south africa has neglected to bring before the court, however, is

the overwhelming evidence of hamas' military use of such hospitals. hamas militants retreated to a hospital in gaza on october the 7th with hostages from israel whom they then held in the basement. in the slide before you, you will see a militant going into another hospital with an rpg. hamas fired at idf forces from within that hospital. at gaza's largest hospital, hamas managed operations from a closed off area. here you can see an opening to the terminal that ran for hundreds of metres directly under the hospital. here, you can see the weapons found in different wings of the hospital. and here, cctv footage showing armed militants bringing hostages into the hospital's lobby.

more than 80 militants hiding inside another hospital surrender themselves to the idf. and here, you can see a weapon that idf forces discovered hidden inside incubators at the hospital. the director of the hospital has admitted that numerous members of hospital staff belong to hamas' military wing. in the indonesian hospital in the region of jabalia, hamas managed operations from that hospital until the idf reached it. idf forces recovered the bodies of five murdered hostages from a tunnel dug underneath the hospital. the list goes on. in every single hospital that they idf has searched in gaza, it has found evidence of hamas military use. israel is acutely aware that because of hamas' use of hospitals as shields for its military operations,

in grave violation of international humanitarian law, patients and staff are at risk. this is why the idf has reached... are at risk. this is why the idf has reached- - -— are at risk. this is why the idf has reached- - -_ reached... studio: that israel's representative, _ reached... studio: that israel's representative, giving _ reached... studio: that israel's representative, giving israel's i reached... studio: that israel's l representative, giving israel's side in this case at the international court ofjustice, south africa accusing israel of committing genocide in gaza. it is the second of a two day hearing. plenty more on that case throughout the day on bbc news. hello. we've got a window of slightly less cold weather for the next couple of days. we didn't see such widespread ice and frost around this morning, certainly compared to earlier in the week. so still quite chilly and cloudy for many of us, but temperatures not as low as they have been. high pressure holding on to the weather. the winds rotating, coming in off the atlantic and the north sea, bringing quite a lot of moisture and that blanket of

cloud for most of us. clearer skies today across scotland. could be the odd lingering misty patch around. temperature 2—4 across scotland but for most of us, typically 6—8. into the evening, and we will see this weather front in the north slipping further south, bringing a bit of overnight train to scotland and some snow on the very highest mountains. that will slip further south across parts of northern ireland and northern england on saturday morning, but either side of that, clear spells. a bit of frost first thing tomorrow, a colder morning than this morning. through the day on saturday, a fair amount of dry and bright weather, a few splashes of light rain for northern ireland, north wales and perhaps in the midlands. sunny spells breaking through the cloud either side of that. reasonably mild, 5—8 on saturday. still lower than average, but not as cold as it has been. into sunday, the wind turns more northerly. you can see the white colours of snow showers starting to move on across north and north—eastern scotland in particular. most of us still relatively dry and quiet on sunday. the change in wind direction through sunday into monday brings

a chance of some snow showers, particularly parts of scotland and also some exposed coasts around the irish sea and the north sea as well. heading through into tuesday, we could well see this area of low pressure starting to move in. the potentialfor a bit more sleet and snow for parts of northern ireland, scotland, perhaps into northern england for tuesday and wednesday. midweek onwards, as we head through wednesday and into thursday, we still have a cold northerly wind in the north. low pressure may well stay across france but it has the potential to be a bit further north. just a small chance on wednesday and thursday of snow in the far south of england but again, it will mostly be parts of scotland and northern ireland that see the chance of something a bit more wintry. either way, next week looks colder, with northerly wind setting in. some snow showers, could be some disruption. keep tuned to the latest forecast.

live from london, this is bbc news. this is the scene live inside the international court ofjustice, where israel is outlining its defence against accusations of genocide in gaza — brought by south africa. explosions across yemen as us and uk forces launch air strikes against houthi targets — in retaliation for attacks on ships in the red sea. uk prime minister rishi sunak says that the strikes are a "limited, necessary and proportionate action in self—defence".

a senior houthi leader warns that the us and uk would "pay a heavy price" and says the attacks on ships are set to continue. hello, i'm lucy grey. let me take you straight to these live pictures from the hague, where israel is presenting its response to the international court ofjustice — after south africa claimed its actions in gaza were genocide. it's the second and final day of hearings at the united nations' highest court. south africa is asking the icj to issue an injunction to stop israel's military campaign and protect the palestinian people. the israeli argument is that all of its actions in gaza amount to self—defence — and that they were caused by hamas, an organisation which israel says is dedicated to its destruction, with instructions to evacuate, how

to do so. broadcast countless