impassioned shouting families of israeli hostages storm the knesset — in protest — at the government's failure, to bring their loved ones home. palestinians in southern gaza say the israeli bombardment is the most intense they've experienced since the war began. india's prime minister narendra modi has inaugurated a hindu temple on a disputed site where a mosque was torn down three decades ago. storms in the northern hemisphere — the us sees more than 90 weather—related deaths. and in the uk — storm isha leaves at least two dead. and florida governor ron desantis drops out of the republican race for the white house — and backs donald trump. welcome to verified live.

families of israeli hostages — who are still being held in gaza — have broken through security and stormed a finance meeting in the israeli parliament, the knesset. they were protesting that the finance committee was sitting, deliberating, while their children were still in captivity. shouting "shame on you" and demanding that committee members get up and act — the families called for the government to do more, to secure the release of their loved ones. the protest highlights growing domestic dissent in israel, about the war with hamas that's now in its fourth month. it comes as palestinians in southern gaza say the israeli bombardment is the most intense they've experienced since the war began. the gaza health ministry says that 190 palestinians have been killed in the past 2a hours. earlier i spoke to our middle east correspondent mark lowen who is in jerusalem.

he gave us a sense of the pressure benjamin netanyahu is coming under from hostage families. pretty significant pressure and growing by the day. these were dramatic scenes, although the numbers were quite small, but the fact that these family members managed to get into that finance committee meeting... we think they were probably invited by another committee and then when they finished their appearance they pushed through security into the finance committee. you could see the depth of emotion. one person said, "you will not breathe "until our children come back." another one said, "you will not sit here while they die there." there was a real sense from many of the relatives of the 130 or so hostages who are still not back in israel, and we do not know how many are dead,

that the government is not doing enough to prioritise their release. last night benjamin netanyahu gave a press conference in which he said he would flatly reject any hostage release deal that would make sure that hamas could regroup in gaza and that israel would have to withdraw its troops and that would allow palestinian prisoners to be released from israeli jails. he said he would not do a deal with those hamas monsters, as he put it. so he's determined to push on with the offensive with the aim of complete destruction of hamas, in his words, but the families of the hostages and the majority of the israeli people, according to opinion polls, say more needs to be done to help the hostages. we have heard it is the most intense bombardment since the war actually began? the health ministry in gaza, run by hamas, said 50 people were killed in overnight bombing.

there is intense bombardment around khan younis which is where israel believes the top commanders of hamas are holed up and they are focusing around a couple of hospitals in the south. one of the hospital's has been stormed with the medics being taken away for questioning. another has been surrounded, we understand, by israeli tanks. israel insists the medical facilities are being used by hamas to launch attacks against israeli soldiers, something denied by the medics and by the authorities in gaza. there is a real sense that the south remains the focus of the military activity and that front from khan younis, more refugees are moving further south to rafah on the border with egypt which is where most gazans are taking refuge. a city which had a population of around 280,000 but now has 1.3 million, 1.4 million people, sheltering there, which gives you a sense

of the inundation of people who have gone down to rafah. the bbc estimates around 75% of khan younis which is the main city in southern gaza is now under israeli control. i spoke to moshe lavi — his brother—in—law is a hostage in gaza. i started by asking his reaction to those events in the israelii parliament — and whether he shared their frustration. yes, of course, i'm part of the families and we communicate all the time. this weekend was very intense. ever since hamas published another psychological warfare video on friday, it led to a lot of frustration, anger, sadness among the families. and so today, every monday, families of hostages go to the knesset, to parliament, to go to the different committees. one of the committees, the finance committee, there was an issue of entering, so families decided to enter

without permission and voiced their pain. i spoke with one of them earlier today, and i understand the reasons why they did it. they want the committees to continue discussing the issues of the hostages. can you also see why they're questioning the basic strategy, the notion of maximum force to get more hostage releases? except it hasn't yielded anything. and there is a growing frustration among some of the family members about the basic strategy here. yeah. i think there are varying opinions among the families about the strategy, about the policy of the government. and this weekend we saw several rallies, one of which was held in front of the prime minister's residence in caesarea. i understand why there is criticism of the policy. as you said, it didn't yield the results we wanted. hostages are not returning home. and then we receive news about killed hostages every week. and so we begged...

we don't beg. we demand the government take our voices into account and ensure that the policy they implement in the gaza strip ensures that hostages return home. that needs to be the short term goal of the government and of this operation, irrespective of the long term goal of dismantling hamas. i'll come back to that point in a moment. but let me ask you when and what you've heard most recently about your brother in law. so the last we've heard about my brother in law was in late november from one of the hostages who was released. he was alive then. but sadly, we have no news about him or about any of the hostages held captive by hamas. i wish i had a better answer, but we don't receive proof of life. the israeli authorities do all they can to provide us information. but obviously that's

limited to an extent because of security concerns. and hamas will not provide us that information. all they do is provide psychological warfare videos, as they did last weekend and then on friday. president biden�*s middle east coordinator is now in cairo trying to make progress on all of this. us officials were reported as saying one of the further complications is that hamas�*s demand is for a permanent ceasefire for any further hostage releases. is that, in your view, a price worth paying? i'm not responsible for making that decision. i think israel has a viable interest that it needs to preserve. if i look outside as an analyst, let's say, rather than a family member, i understand the complexity, the political complexities that the government is facing. i think that we cannot

allow hamas to remain in power in the gaza strip after this operation, after this war, for the mere fact they committed to continue doing october 7th over and over again. and so i hope the different stakeholders will be able to bring both israel and hamas and their accomplices closer in the negotiations. it seems like there are different proposals. families met the prime minister today and he said that israel provided a counterproposal over this weekend. it couldn't elaborate about it. we hope that proposal will bring about some progress in negotiations. a final question, then, because we're seeing a real intensification in terms of the intensity of attacks in the south around khan younis. how difficult, how excruciating is it for families every single day to watch events on the ground when they have no idea if their loved ones

are in that vicinity? i think it's difficult, generally. we don't want to witness war and suffering in our region, so it's difficult to to see it, difficult to read the news, difficult to wake up every morning worrying that we hear about a loved one of us being killed. whether those who are held hostage, like my brother in law. or soldiers on the ground. i have compassion to any non—combatant who is involved in the middle of this fight. it's difficult, and i don't trust hamas to be a good faith partner in solving this crisis. the opposite — they're doing the opposite. they already killed a few of the hostages and released videos that really make our life very excruciating. i hope this will end soon for the sake of everyone. but i understand that it cannot end without the release of the hostages, without the dismantling of hamas.

the indian prime minister, narendra modi, has consecrated a hindu temple on a disputed site in ayodhya — where a mosque was destroyed three decades ago. it's widely seen as the start of his election campaign. millions of hindus are celebrating the temple opening, saying it's a long—standing dream come true. but it evokes painful memories for muslims — a mosque that stood on the site was illegally torn down, triggering religious violence across the country. many accuse mr modi of violating india s secular constitution by opening the temple. our reporter nitin srivastava explains the significance of the new temple — and its site. between heavy security presence and almost 11,000 invited guests, india's prime minister has inaugurated this new ram temple, built at a cost of more than $200 million.

this is exactly built on the site where a mosque stood until 1992. it was razed down by hindu mobs. the hindus have believed that the place where the new temple has been constructed was the birthplace of lord ram, worshipped by millions of hindus worldwide. whereas the muslims have always maintained that there was a mosque which was used to worship and, of course, it was built by a former mughal emperor. the longstanding dispute between hindus and muslims was eventually settled after india's supreme court ruled in 2019 that the disputed site will be given to the hindu side to build the temple while also allotting a separate land for a mosque. now, all this has happened at a very interesting time. india is due for general elections, and many believe that the ruling bjp party, which has always identified the ram temple as one of its main manifesto, something which they really wanted to do, they will go back

to the voters asking for votes as they fulfill the promise. many hindu seers also have boycotted the ceremony, along with india's main opposition party's top leadership, which did not participate in this function, which was broadcast live all through the country. there have been screens which have been set up for people to see it out here on the streets. there are cars, vehicles, with digital screens highlighting the whole event. many indian states have asked schools to be closed today. the government offices also have a holiday and it's quite an atmosphere of pomp and show for the ruling government and a lot of dignitaries, bollywood stars and celebrities, cricketers who have arrived here to witness this mega event. nitin shrivastava, bbc news, ayodhya. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other

stories making news... the nhs has launched a new campaign to encourage more people in england to get their children vaccinated against measles. cases are on the rise and new figures show more than 3 million children under the age of 16 have not received their jabs. vaccine take up is especially bad in parts of london, the west midlands and the north west of england. some of the uk's biggest airports are likely to miss the government's deadline ofjune for installing new scanning technology — that would allow passengers to take more liquids through security. currently, liquids in hand luggage have to be in containers of 100 mililitres or less. the new scanners would get rid of that limit. the composer lauriejohnson, who provided some of britain's best loved television themes and film music, has died at the age of 96. his memorable themes include the avengers, the professionals, animal magic, and this is your life. his family said in a statement that his music touched the lives of millions around the world.

you're live with bbc news. more than 90 weather—related deaths have been recorded across the us — after the country was pummelled by ferocious winter storms for the past week. this footage is from grand haven in michigan — and you can see just how freezing it is there. tennessee has been worst hit with 25 people dead and 400,000 people unable to get water supplies. and there's a state of emergency in oregon where 16 people have died. tens of thousands of people remain without power, across large parts of the country. experts say the icy conditions are expected to thaw this week, which could in turn lead to widespread flooding. meanwhile, in the uk — storm isha has caused havoc across large parts of the country. with winds of up 107 miles per hour — or 172 kilometres per hour — overnight, it left tens of thousands of homes without power, especially in northern ireland and scotland.

in falkirk, an 84 year old man died after the car he was in hit a fallen tree. another man died in northern ireland, after a tree fell on his car in county londonderry. our ireland correspondent chris page reports. storm isha smashed into northern ireland with blasts of wind up to 80 miles an hour. at one point, 53,000 homes were without electricity. after darkness passed, people saw the frightening scale and severity of the damage. sights like this are very common in northern ireland today. the emergency services have received almost 1,000 reports of trees coming down. you really get the idea ofjust how dangerous conditions were for a time last night. there were tragic consequences in county londonderry. it is understood one person has died

after this incident. people are just very shocked. as elected reps, we are putting posts on facebook to ensure people stay safe and letting them know where trees are down and other incidents, and to wake up and realise the result of a tree coming down is someone losing their life is just devastating. across the irish sea, the isle of man felt the force of ferocious gusts. further east in cumbria, the authorities put in place almost a dozen flood warnings, including here in the town of kendal. some motorists in wales also had to navigate waters on the roads. in lincolnshire, a driver narrowly avoided being hit by roofing torn off by the storm in belton. and around the uk, many thousands of families are clearing up collapsed fences and sweeping up what used to be garden furniture. the transport network is moving again, but scores of flights were cancelled or diverted, with passengers ending up a long way

from where they were supposed to be. so, it is 1:19 in the morning. we were supposed to land at gatwick at what time? 9:20. 9:20pm. we were diverted to charles de gaulle because of the weather and it is completely deserted here, and we haven't got our luggage yet, so i don't know what we are going to do. in glasgow central station this morning, rail travellers still weren't sure when they would get going. i did have a flight booked. the flight was cancelled so i then booked this, and this is now delayed as well. who knows when we will get there? have travelled from ayr so a bus this morning, i that was delayed and now this is delayed. _ hopefully, we will get there. we are looking at the board right now. it says delayed. it has said that about an hour now so we are wating to see if we can get any updates. it's a day of continuing disruption following the devastation of storm isha.

chris page, bbc news. in the united states — the governor of florida, ron desantis, has dropped out of the republican presidential race, and endorsed donald trump. the surprise video announcement came ahead of this week's republican primary in new hampshire — where desantis was polling in the single digits. his departure leaves nikki haley as mr trump's only rival. here's a snippet of the governor's message to his supporters. if there was anything i could do to produce a favourable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, i would do it. but i can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory. accordingly, i am today suspending my campaign. trump is superior to the current incumbent, joe biden. that is clear. i signed a pledge to support the republican nominee and i will honour that pledge. he has my endorsement because we can't go back

to the old republican guard of yesteryear or repackage forms of warmed over corporatism that nikki haley represents. live now to matt terrill — he's a republican strategist who was chief of staff on the presidential of marco rubio. he's now managing partner at firehouse strategies. thanks forjoining us. ron desantis pulled the plug on his campaign last night. he had a terrible start and then reboot after reboot, where did it go wrong? it is then reboot after reboot, where did it go wrong?— it go wrong? it is like any other experience _ it go wrong? it is like any other experience -- _ it go wrong? it is like any other experience -- it _ it go wrong? it is like any other experience -- it is _ it go wrong? it is like any other experience -- it is not - it go wrong? it is like any other experience -- it is not like - it go wrong? it is like any other experience -- it is not like any| experience —— it is not like any other experience, so candidates who are new to this sometimes can struggle at the stump or not breakthrough but in the end, whether it is ron desantis or any other candidates, they are facing a force thatis candidates, they are facing a force that is much bigger than we have seenin that is much bigger than we have seen in recent history in the

republican party, and that is the front runner donald trump who has a very wide lead and very strong backing amongst the gop base of voters. you can look at any campaign that does not work out and dissect what went wrong and what could have been done better and candidates will do that, but in the end, these candidates were facing someone in former president trump who is a very strong front runner in the race and clearly has very strong standing amongst the gop base voters and we saw that in iowa and we are likely to see that in new hampshire. emir; saw that in iowa and we are likely to see that in new hampshire. only a few da s to see that in new hampshire. only a few days ago — to see that in new hampshire. only a few days ago he _ to see that in new hampshire. only a few days ago he said _ to see that in new hampshire. only a few days ago he said you _ to see that in new hampshire. only a few days ago he said you could - to see that in new hampshire. only a few days ago he said you could be - to see that in new hampshire. only a few days ago he said you could be a l few days ago he said you could be a fantastic republican candidate but if you did not tug the forelock to donald trump he would trash you, and yet we saw him indoors donald trump. —— endorse. did that surprise you?

not at all. president trump is the presumptive nominee, and unless nikki haley wins new hampshire, the race is fundamentally over, and donald trump had a big victory in iowa and he will look for a big victory in new hampshire and if you cannot stop him in new hampshire the race is done so ron desantis, but also other major players in the party, like marco rubio, ted cruz, and otherformer party, like marco rubio, ted cruz, and other former officials and party, like marco rubio, ted cruz, and otherformer officials and party leaders, they are now back in donald trump which shows you the strong standing he has and that many see him as the presumptive nominee. fix, him as the presumptive nominee. a couple of quick final questions. is there any sort of path for nikki haley to actually get to the white house? ., . ., ., house? you have got to win new hampshire _ house? you have got to win new hampshire if— house? you have got to win new hampshire. if she _ house? you have got to win new hampshire. if she wins _ house? you have got to win new hampshire. if she wins new- hampshire. if she wins new hampshire, this is a different race, but if you look at the polling right now, donald trump has a very strong

lead as he does in south carolina and nevada, so in answer to the question, you have got to win states and you cannot win new hampshire, in the case of nikki haley, it is very hard to see how she has a path towards the white house or denomination. 50 towards the white house or denomination.— towards the white house or denomination. , . , , denomination. so it could be wrapped u . denomination. so it could be wrapped u- in da s denomination. so it could be wrapped up in days or — denomination. so it could be wrapped up in days or weeks _ denomination. so it could be wrapped up in days or weeks and _ denomination. so it could be wrapped up in days or weeks and if _ denomination. so it could be wrapped up in days or weeks and if that - up in days or weeks and if that happens, and donald trump is the candidate, does that help the democrats? they know who they are fighting and the strategy then gets very much activated?— very much activated? contested rimaries very much activated? contested primaries can — very much activated? contested primaries can be _ very much activated? contested primaries can be a _ very much activated? contested primaries can be a good - very much activated? contested primaries can be a good thing, l very much activated? contested| primaries can be a good thing, it helps candidates get used to debating again, often they may not have debated in quite some time, primary debates can do that, but for donald trump, he is a pro at this and he has been a former president and he has been a former president and he has been a former president and he was the nominee of the party in 2016 so the bottom line is, this

time around, he does not need a contested primary to be a stronger candidate because he is constantly at the stump delivering speeches, so we will enter the general election and whether this will help president biden or donald trump, time will tell, but we are likely to seek the tv ads start sooner and both of the candidates will draw contrasts amongst each other and attacking each other, and that process will start sooner now with the nomination wrapping up. you start sooner now with the nomination wrapping up— wrapping up. you said donald trump is constantly — wrapping up. you said donald trump is constantly on _ wrapping up. you said donald trump is constantly on the _ wrapping up. you said donald trump is constantly on the stump _ wrapping up. you said donald trump is constantly on the stump and - wrapping up. you said donald trump is constantly on the stump and he i wrapping up. you said donald trump is constantly on the stump and he is| is constantly on the stump and he is also constantly in court and he was briefly in court today which was postponed until tomorrow in new york. that has not proven to be a problem so far when you look at the polling, but does it still have inherent risks in the months ahead? we will see. a majority of voters

out there either like donald trump or they don't and these court cases, like the access hollywood tape and the impeachment, none of that appears to be hurting him when it comes to winning the nomination, but in terms of the general election, voters either like him or they don't so the election coming up will come down to the independent voters by and large in places like wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, just like in 2016, where about 80,000 voters decided the election and i think we could see a similar case in the next election. we could see a similar case in the next election. ~ . ., ., . election. we have got to leave it there but thanks _ election. we have got to leave it there but thanks for _ election. we have got to leave it there but thanks forjoining - election. we have got to leave it there but thanks forjoining us. i there but thanks forjoining us. live here on the programme. we will take a short break but we will have more on the headlines and more on the india story and we will also have the business news of the day.

hello, there. good afternoon. as storm isha clears our shores, we prepare for the next named storm that will be with us on tuesday, storm jocelyn. of course, we're still dealing with the impact from isha today. gusts of wind across the central belt last night got to 70 to 80mph quite widely, with higher wind gusts elsewhere, of course. it does stay windy for the rest of the afternoon with some sunshine, but also some blustery showers. if we just take a look at the forecast map, you can see the isobars, a tight squeeze on those. it does stay windy for the rest of the day. still gusts of wind a0 to 50mph quite widely, higher towards irish sea coasts. the winds easing down a little across shetland. there will be blustery showers, most frequent towards the north and the west, but wintry over the hills of scotland. cooler feeling air too — eight to 11 degrees celsius. as we head through this evening and overnight, a quieter looking picture as a brief ridge of high pressure keeps us a little more settled. it will feel quite chilly out towards eastern areas, perhaps even a touch of ice across eastern scotland —

lows here of two or three degrees celsius. but we start to see cloud and rain edge in from the south and the west as we head into tomorrow morning. that sets the scene for storm jocelyn. that will be with us on tuesday. again, damaging gusts of wind with trees and structures already weakened from storm isha. it's taking the same sort of track. this deep area of low pressure swings northwards and eastwards just to the north of scotland. it's across western areas of scotland and towards the north of scotland where we could see gusts of wind of up to 75 to 80mph as we head through tuesday. widely gusts of wind of 45 to 50mph, higher than that towards exposed coastal areas. most of the rain will be towards the north and the west, but some more heavy rain swings in eastwards further south through the day. some very mild feeling air too. but the storm clears. by the time we get to wednesday, we are drawing more of a north—westerly wind and this will usher in some slightly cooler feeling air again. it's a much quieter looking day of weather on wednesday, with some showers again across north—western areas of scotland, perhaps across parts of wales,

but also some sunshine. many of us should stay dry. still rather blustery, though. we look out towards the west again on thursday as there will be more weather fronts pushing eastwards. a quieter day of weather again on friday with some sunshine. do keep an eye on the forecast. bye—bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines...

families of israeli hostages storm the knesset in protest at the government's failure to bring their loved ones home. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has inaugurated a hindu temple on a disputed site where a mosque was torn down three decades ago. more in that story in a moment. and storms in the northern hemisphere — the us sees more than 90 weather—related deaths, and in the uk, storm isha leaves at least two dead. time for a look at the business news now, with marc ashdown. we start with the cost of energy because, despite disruption in the red sea, uk households are still on track for cheaper bills from april. that's according to a report out today from a leading forecaster. according to cornwall energy, the annual bill for the average household is expected to fall from £1,900 a year or so tojust