sunday's deadly air strike. the first day ofjury deliberations wrap in donald trump's new york "hush money" trial. and votes are being counted after what could be a pivotal election in south africa. hello, i'm carl nasman. the us is under pressure to address reports us—manufactured bombs were used in sunday's deadly israeli strike in rafah. 45 people were killed when the air strike sparked a massive fire in a densely populated displacement camp. investigations by the new york times and cnn claim that debris from the strike is consistent with remnants from a type of bomb called a gbu—39 — similar to these weapons. the white house made clear it would limit weapons supplies to israel,

if forces entered rafah�*s "population centres" or launched a major ground operation. hugo bachega has more. the remarks by the israeli national security adviser appeared to reject the idea that we could be near the end of the war in gaza. he said fighting might continue for at least the rest of the year — although he didn't give details about how intense the conflict might be. now all eyes are on rafah, near the border with egypt. the israeli authorities say it is vital to enter the city because they believe four hamas battalions are still operating there. but israel is under a lot of international pressure to limit its operations in the city to minimise civilian casualties, and officials are describing what's happening there as a "limited operation". still, scores of palestinians have been killed in recent days, and the un says more than one million people have fled rafah because they are

concerned that the israeli military may launch a full—scale operation. virtually everyone outside israel — including the united states, which is the country's main ally — is against the idea of a major operation in rafah, because they fear that this could have a catastrophic impact on the civilian population, so the main phase of this operation is still to come. now, hamas still holds many israeli hostages, and recent efforts to try to reach a deal for those hostages to be released and also for a cease—fire in gaza have collapsed. so, as the israeli national security adviser suggested, the indications are that we are still far from the end of the war in gaza. earlier i spoke with former pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. barbara, great to have you back on the bbc.

i want to start with those reports by cnn and other us media saying that us weapons were likely used in this strike that killed dozens of people on sunday. if those reports are true, what do you think the fallout will be here? well, i think it'll clearly add to the pressure on israel. but look, what we're talking about is so—called precision guided bombs, 500lbs, laser—guided bombs by the israelis see the target they're aiming at, they let the bomb go from their launch platform and it drops to the ground. but it's supposed to be a military target — not a refugee camp, not an area where there are civilians over a wide area. because it's going to hit what it's aimed at because of this guidance system, this precision that these kinds of weapons have. so if they're going to use them in these kinds of areas, this is what will happen — and that's what will add

to the pressure on israel, because you either go in on the ground in rafah and have a major operation, or you do it from the air. history shows us air campaigns rarely, if ever win the war or the objectives a country has in going to war. this will be a very tough fall, and it's tough on the biden administration — unassailable us support for israel, but they don't want to see this happen, and they've already halted or postponed some weapons deliveries. we have to wait and see if they're doing that again. of course, it should be said that israel says this strike did kill two senior hamas officials. now president biden, as we heard, drew this red line earlier this month, warning against an israeli invasion of rafah, saying his policy might change if that were to happen.

how do you see that red line now? where does that red line lie, and how will the white house go about explaining where it is? well, that's the tough part — not the first president or us official to talk about red lines in a war zone, we can recall president obama talking about redlines vis—a—vis syria at one point. and these red lines — the cliche is they can turn pink as time goes on, they become more flexible. this week, we saw the national security spokesman john kirby actually be asked by a reporter, "what does this red line mean? how many bodies are you willing to see a pile up?" and kirby became a bit agitated, if you will, at the answer, saying that no civilian casualties are what they want to see. that's not realistic in a war zone, you won't see that from the israelis. so again, what you're seeing is a very tough spot for the biden administration, especially as these days tick down to the us election,

and all the controversy across this country here about us support for israel, and us support for the palestinians. if israel does a major operation in rafah, if we see another one of these incidents, it'll be tougher for president biden to come to any kind of decision about what, if anything, he wants to do to change us policy towards israel. and barbara, just looking ahead, we heard a senior israeli official saying this war at last through the end of the year — what might a drawn—out conflict mean for the parties involved here, for the us, israel, hamas, and the palestinians living in gaza? of course it's the palestinians living there that will obviously suffer the most, won't they? i think we all know that, unless something fundamentally changes on the scope of aid delivery into gaza, which does not appear to be likely, and a plan for after the war.

a lot of behind—the—scenes pressure for israel to develop the day—after—gaza plan, if you will. what will you do about governance and infrastructure about providing goods and services, about a political structure in gaza ? but i think, before you can even get there, it still comes down to the notion to eradicate — which is the israeli goal — a terrorist group — israeli goal again — via the use of military power from the air and ground. it's something the us has a very long and sad history of not achieving in iraq and afghanistan. the israelis have been cautioned an awful lot by senior, senior us military officials and national security officials to be very careful about this. what even is eradicating gaza — pardon me, eradicating hamas? how will you do that?

we've already seen hamas come back in the areas that israelis thought they had cleared and moved on. barbara starr, thank you very much. thanks. day one ofjury deliberations in donald trump's hush—money trial has wrapped up without a verdict. thejurors — seven men and five women — will return to court on thursday. they're tasked with deciding whether the former us president is guilty of falsifying business records to cover up a hush—money payment to adult film star stormy daniels. just hours after the jury began meeting behind closed doors, they returned to the courtroom to request to re—hear testimony from david pecker, publisher of the tabloid the national enquirer. he testified early on in the trial about a "catch—and—kill" scheme to buy and bury stories that might harm mr trump's political campaign. before deliberations began, judgejuan merchan told jurors they should set aside whatever bias they might have about mr trump, and only consider the evidence presented in court.

during the six—week trial the jurors heard from 22 witnesses, including miss daniels, who described in detail the 2006 sexual encounter she says she had with the former president — mr trump denies the affair — and from michael cohen, donald trump's former attorney and fixer, who paid ms daniels $130,000 to allegedly buy her silence shortly before the 2016 presidential election. mr trump said the case against him was built on lies. mother teresa could not beat these charges. - these charges are rigged, the whole thing is rigged. | the whole country's a mess, between the borders - and the fake elections. and you have a triali like this with a judge who's so conflicted, he can't breathe. i he's gotta do hisjob — and it's not for me, i that i can tell you. n-s a disgrace - — and i mean that, motherteresa

could not beat those charges, but we'll see. _ mr trump faces 3a charges of falisfying business records, which he has pleaded not guilty to. if all 12jurors agree that donald trump is not guilty on every count, he will be acquitted of the crime. there could also be a hung jury, if they can't come to a unanimous decsion on at least one count. if the jury remains deadlocked after much deliberation, judge merchan will declare a mistrial. and if the jury finds him guilty — all 12 must agree that prosecutors proved mr trump's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. if convicted, he could face anything from a large fine to prison time — although that is unlikely. 0ur correspondent nada tawfik has more from outside the new york courthouse. the jury went home without reaching a verdict on the first day, deliberating for nearly five hours. the judge started off the morning by instructing them, telling them to not let any bias against donald trump

get in the way and to decide this case on the facts. and he instructed them that they need to find two parts to find donald trump guilty. first, that he personally or in concert with others falsified business records. and secondly, that he did that to conceal and with intent to conceal another crime. they said that other crime could include a violation of new york or federal election law, or even tax violations. and he also told them that they can't convict donald trump on michael cohen's word alone. he said under the law, michael cohen is an accomplice and they must find corroborating evidence to back up his testimony. well, jurors got the deliberations under way. the first time they were able to discuss the evidence after nearly five weeks of testimony, hearing from 22 witnesses. and after about three—and—a—half hours, they came back with a note asking to see testimony from

the first witness in the trial under the prosecution's case, the former publisher of the national enquirer, david pecker. they also wanted testimony read back to them from the prosecution's star witness, michael cohen. they were concerned about an august 2015 meeting in trump tower, a meeting which prosecutors said was where the so—called "catch and kill" scheme was formulated, where david pecker would notify michael cohen about any negative stories about donald trump to try to buy them and then bury them — and all of that to help donald trump's campaign. so the jury, clearly wanting a closer look at what was said in that meeting with pecker, cohen and donald trump. they also want to see pecker�*s testimony from a call he had with donald trump, where trump allegedly told him that he knew karen mcdougal and also testimony where pecker said he ultimately abandoned

a plan to be reimbursed by trump for paying karen mcdougal, the former playboy model, hush money to also stay quiet about her story. and then after a bit more time, jurors had another note for thejudge asking that he reread his instructions to them from the morning. all of this signalling that the jury is taking their job extremely seriously. these notes are common during deliberations when jurors have additional questions and want clarification. but here we are, day one of deliberations down, and they will return again to resume those deliberations on what will be a historic decision. meanwhile, presidentjoe biden has been campaigning in philadelphia, in the battleground state of pennsylvania — courting black voters before november's presidential election. he was joined by his running mate, vice president kamala harris. wednesday's rally came

as mr biden continues to lose support among this critical voting bloc with polls showing support for his rival, donald trump, on the rise. recent data from pew research shows president biden�*s support among black voters is at 77% — which is 15 percentage points lower from where he stood in 2020. mrtrump, meanwhile, won just 8% of support among black voters in 2020 — fast forward to 2024, he's up ten points to 18%. hours after the rally in philadelphia, president biden continued his push to mobilise black voters, saying on x... also at the rally, mr biden addressed campaign promises he believes he's made good on, like addressing police misconduct. he also repeatedly attacked donald trump, with president biden saying

mr trump wants to erase black history — and criticising him forjanuary 6th. what you think he would've done onjanuary 6th if black americans had stormed it? think about this. what would've happened if black americans had stormed the capitol? i don't think he would've been talking about pardons. this is the same guy who wanted to tear—gas you as you peacefully protested george floyd's murder. i spoke earlier with what's at stake for the biden campaign with rebecca pearcey, who served as political director and senior adviser on elizabeth warren's 2020 presidential campaign. you heard the comments there from president biden, he also said during that rally, "i'm still optimistic, "but i need you," speaking to the audience there. how badly does the president need the black vote in november? i think he needs it very badly. i think it was a major building block of what his winning

coalition was in 2020 — and to see these numbers now, i think it's critical that he doubles down on the black community. and i don't think the biden campaign or his allies can spend enough in the black community to ensure he wins again in 2020. he's been taking criticism from democrats and his supporters, saying that the campaign is essentially taking the black vote for granted — do you think that's true? i don't, and i think this today announcement is a demonstration that they are definitely not taking black votes for gra nted. they're doubling down on the record — which is the lowest black unemployment in over 30 years. they're doubling down on black small—business growth being at its highest in decades. they're doubling down on the doubling of the aca enrolment for black americans — so black americans are insured at a 90% rate. aca, also known as 0bamacare. it is 0bamacare, so they are showing that they've delivered time and again for black americans, and i think it's really important that the biden campaign show black americans

what they've done, and not let donald trump drive this narrative that there's been nothing done in the black communities forfour years. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making news. rishi sunak has been campaigning in south west england. he pledged his party would replace what he called "rip—off" university degrees and fund 100,000 more apprenticeships instead. the south west is a key battle ground for the conservatives. 0ur political editor chris mason has been following the prime minister on the campaign trail. first up, a rail maintenance depot to talk up his idea on apprenticeships in england. a future conservative government will take the bold action of closing down underperforming university degrees that are letting our young people down, and instead using that money to fund 100,000 new high—quality apprenticeships. meet, greet, talk, and move on is the rhythm for all the party leaders

out and about. meanwhile, labour's diane abbott said "the national party is insisting" she be banned from being a labour candidate in the general election. she was suspended from the party, following comments on race that she made in a letter to a newspaper last year. sir keir starmer denied the party has decided to bar herfrom standing. you're live with bbc news. officials have begun counting hundreds of thousands of ballots in south africa's most competitive presidential election in 30 years, since the end of apartheid. africa correspondent barbara plett usher has more from pretoria. vote counting has already begun, and the results will be coming into this centre over the next couple days in what seems to have been quite a significant election. voter turnout was quite high, it looks as if it was higher than the election in 2019, and there were long queues outside voting stations as the day ended — not because people were excited to exercise their right

to vote, like 30 years ago, but because they are unhappy with how they've been governed since. there's a lot of anger about high unemployment, high crime, corruption scandals, ongoing power cuts, and so on. i found that the older voters tended to be more loyal to the african national congress, the governing anc, because of that legacy of liberation. one man said to me, "i'm voting for mandela's party "because it gave me dignity." also because they are bit more wary about the new parties thinking they might make things worse. but when it comes to young people, especially those who have not experienced apartheid, they are much more critical. i spoke to a number of them who are voting, or who were voting for other parties — and theirjobs was a really big thing, because more than 40% of the youth are unemployed. there was a certain amount of scepticism about whether anything would change, how much things would change — but it is the most hotly—contested and uncertain election that south africa has had since the end of apartheid. the anc has had an absolute

majority until now, and it looks as if it could lose that — in which case, it would be forced to share power. that is uncharted territory which could lead to some instability in governance — but it might mean a coalition, meaning some south africans feel they are better able to hold their leaders to account, than if it's a single dominant party. i talked about the election with international foundation for electoral systems�*s rushdi nackerdien. we've seen some reports on the ground there in south africa that there've been these long lines at polling stations, many staying open for several hours even after the deadlines tonight, to allow people to finish voting. what do you make of the way the vote has been taking place out there? is this out of the ordinary? thank you. it definitely reminds me

of the 1994 election, i think there's definitely a sense of the power of the vote and the belief in democracy. and for me, also sitting outside the country in washington, dc, it's really heartening to see that belief still firmly rooted in people's ability to stand in long queues, not going home, convinced that they will actually be able to cast a vote. so i think that's really great to see. i was going to ask you, this seems like it's set to be a very large turnout there in south africa — what are you seeing, and why do you think that turnout has been so big? you compared this to 1994. yes, i mean, ithink there's a general excitement. in the last election, we only saw turnout of 66%. i think definitely people's belief in the fact that change lies within their hands is bringing them to the polls. and we will see as the numbers start coming out exactly how big the turnout will be.

but i predict it'll be more than what we saw in 2019. we will have to wait a little bit because there's three ballots — as opposed to two which were cast in 2019 — so the count might take a little bit longer. but by saturday, we should start to see the real impact of people. i would say one thing, just as a voter sitting outside the country — in 2019, only about 19,000 people registered to vote outside the country. this year, the numbers are over 50,000. and that for me tells me that what we're seeing outside the country could also be an indication of what we might see inside the country, and excitement to actually go to the polls this election. once these votes are actually counted, and you said that could take a couple of days, what happens next? just remind us of the ways south africa's political system

goes about selecting its next president. so basically, what we should see by about sunday is the declaration of the election results from the election commission. once that happens, parliament needs to convene, and one of its first tasks will have to be the election of a speaker. we will have to see how the vote turns out, and there's lots of talk about coalitions, and so forth. but it is for parliament then to elect — and parties will have to get 50% plus one of the vote to be able to elect the president, and the president can then form the cabinet. so everybody will be waiting with baited breath to see on sunday what the outcome will be, and if there will be any talk of coalition governments, as has been theorised by many pundits. you mentioned some 50,000 voters expected to cast their ballots overseas — are there any demographic groups within south africa itself that could be voting may

for the first time, or larger numbers that might tip the results here? forsure, and i think it was mentioned in the clip just before that younger voters are coming out with different kinds of issues, and i think everybody still has that sense that they can actually do something. for folks like myself who voted for the first time in 1994, we might be more entrenched in the way we think about politics, but the younger generation definitely might have a big impact on the outcome of the selection. it certainly is a different political landscape. can you just put, generally, into perspective — this is being called potentially the most important election since the end of apartheid. yes, we are kind of looking at a situation where there's possible talk of the ruling party not getting the 50% plus votes that they are needing.

we've seen them trending negatively over the past couple of years. and for the first time, people are talking about the reality of possible coalitions being formed going into parliament. and we'll have to wait until sunday to see what the outcome is. we will be waiting for those results on sunday along with you, thank you very much for your analysis. thank you. we leave you with some developing news now. hong kong's high court found 14 pro—democracy activists guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion in a landmark trial — here's the scene outside as the verdict was read. the 14 were among 47 democracy advocates who were prosecuted for their 2021 involvement in an unofficial primary election. more on that coming up on the top of the hour, stay with us on bbc news. hello there. well, wednesday was certainly

a day of contrast. the sun is strong at this time of year, and if you get some, well, those temperatures start to climb. in fact, it was a beautiful afternoon in surrey with a high of 21 celsius — 70 fahrenheit. it was a different story however, further north and east, we had a real cluster of thundery downpours across eastern scotland and they drifted their way into northeast england, threatening—looking skies to close out wednesday across sunderland. and those showers are continuing to move their way steadily southwards as we go through the day thursday. so, some of the showers will continue to be quite heavy. not too bad a day across much of scotland, and northerly winds still feeding in a few scattered showers here. but there is a greater risk across the east midlands, east anglia, and southeast england by the middle part of the afternoon, seeing some sharp thundery downpours. and if you catch one of them, well, they could bring a lot of heavy rain. now, further west, we will see the best of the sunshine. fewer showers here, 19—20 celsius not out of the question. a pleasant afternoon for northern ireland on the whole, fewer showers

generally through scotland. and, if you get more in the way of sunshine, fewer showers here, 19—20 — again, it's quite possible in sheltered western areas. now as we go through thursday evening and overnight, those showers will ease away. but that northerly wind always just feeding in a little more cloud off the north sea. a relatively mild start to our friday morning. and with clearer skies out to the north and west, there will be some early morning sunshine around. but, because of the wind direction, we always run the risk across eastern england, down towards the southeast of seeing a few scattered nuisance showers. and if you don't get the showers, you could have quite a grey day. further north and west, there'll be a lot of sunshine, maybe some cloud continuing to linger in the northwest of the great glen. but where we get the best of the sunshine, again, we could see temperatures into the high teens, possibly 20 celsius. a little bit cooler on those exposed east coasts. as we head towards the end of the week, this high pressure will continue to feed in from the west.

we will be chasing cloud amounts around from time to time, but it's certainly going to be a drier story. some significantly drier weather. we haven't seen a good five—day stretch quite widely across the country of dry, settled weather since january. so enjoy the sunshine and the warmth.

welcome to hardtalk with me, mishal husain. nearly eight months into the current war in gaza, there have been further devastating scenes this week with palestinian children among those killed in rafah in the south after an israeli air strike and a fire. no—one can say yet when the fighting will end, or how many of the israeli hostages who remain in gaza will come home alive. among palestinians, hamas has had a long rivalry with the palestinian authority, which governs from the occupied west bank. my guest today was, until february, the prime minister in that government. what did he deliver? how does he see the future for gaza? and could he be a credible future leader for all palestinians?