hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour. the israeli air force says it's carried out strikes against the hezbollah group in lebanon, after a rocket hit a football pitch in the israeli—occupied golan heights, killing 12 young people. the rocket struck a druze arab town close to the border with lebanon. the israeli defence minister blamed hezbollah but the group has denied any involvement. today funerals have been taking place in the town of majdal shams. barbara plett usher sent this report. impossible to count the losses when they are measured in the lives of your children. villagers gathered in their thousands to mourn their unspeakable tragedy. this druze arab minority stayed

in the occupied golan heights after israel captured it from syria — now part of the front line in israel's conflict with lebanon's hezbollah. so many children and teenagers killed, the youngest just ten years old. explosion. this is the moment the rocket struck — a football pitch in the middle of a game on saturday afternoon, with little warning and no time to run. rescue workers scrambled through the carnage to save who they could. translation: they heard sirens, they ran to shelter. _ it might have taken them, like, 15 seconds, but they couldn't reach the shelter because the rocket hit the site between the ground and the shelter. there were many people at the football pitch, so there were many casualties. the attack can't really be described. israel's border with lebanon has been in conflict for months, fighting in parallel with the gaza war. but this strike marks

a new and dangerous phase. hezbollah denied responsibility, but israel's not buying it — the defence minister personally consoling the residents and promising to hit back hard. translation: a terrible tragedy, innocent boys and girls, _ our heart breaks, and i told you, hezbollah is responsible for this, and they will pay the price. israel's leaders are talking now about what that will be. majdal shams is consumed with grief. many fear the tragedy could push a simmering conflict into a full—blown regional war. barbara plett usher, bbc news, jerusalem. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams is in the israeli occupied golan heights at the site of saturday's attack. this is exactly where the rocket landed around 20 hours ago. you can see how the force of the blastjust blew through this fence. there are bicycles and scooters

that are all charred from the fireball that followed. and there is an air—raid shelter, but as barbara was saying in her piece, the children had absolutely no time to respond to the siren. they had literally a matter of seconds. they had no chance at all. we've been out in the town for the last hour or two, talking to people. and, as barbara says, this is a town utterly consumed by grief. you walk around the streets here, there are little groups of people walking from house to house, everyone dressed in black. they are going from one grieving family to another to express their condolences. we have seen a procession of military officials, obviously a huge media presence, and israeli politicians, as well. and of course the question is, how is israel going to respond? some people want it to be an extremely forceful response, but i have to tell you — most of the people we have spoken to in majdal shams are really afraid of a wider escalation.

the uk foreign secretary, david lammy, has been responding to the strike, condemning what happened, in this tweet... since then, hezbollah says it has carried out two attacks on israeli soldiers close to the lebanese border in response to the israeli strikes into lebanon. our middle east correspondent, hugo bachega, is in tyre in lebanon and gave us this update. we had two statements from hezbollah saying they carried out attacks targeting israeli military positions today. one of those attacks happened in a town in northern israel. it seems that a house was hit but there have not been reports of casualties, so these attacks have continued today. about an hour ago we saw plumes

of smoke here near tyre in southern lebanon — we are about 30 kilometres from the border with israel. and this was possibly the israeli response to these attacks that happened today. so here in lebanon and indeed across the region, people are waiting for that israeli meeting with top israeli officials including prime minister benjamin netanyahu, a decision is likely to be made about how to respond to an attack yesterday, the deadly attack in the israeli—occupied golan heights, an attack that the israeli authorities are blaming on hezbollah. hezbollah has denied it was involved in the attack but these attacks by hezbollah have been happening every day since october and even though both sides have given indications that they are not interested in a major confrontation, there is always the risk of miscalculation and perhaps what

we saw yesterday was just that — an attack that could trigger a major escalation of hostilities here. we have seen that there have been intense diplomatic efforts to try to limit the israeli response, and even the lebanese foreign minister speaking with the bbc earlier today said the lebanese government is having conversations with hezbollah, trying to prevent any kind of response to a possible israeli attack and again trying to limit the possibility of a major escalation of hostilities here. hugo, you mentioned the lebanese foreign minister, who spoke to the bbc — in that interview he also said he didn't think hezbollah carried out that strike on saturday. the group has yet to claim responsibility although a lot of people are saying they are behind that strike. exactly. again, claims and counter—claims. what is very interesting and very important here is that before the scale of the attack became clear

yesterday, hezbollah had claimed responsibility, had said it was behind an attack using an iranian—made missile, targeting an israeli base in that area in the occupied golan heights, so that raised the possibility that this missile missed its intended target and ended up hitting this football field yesterday, killing at least 12 people. so hezbollah says it wasn't behind the attack, the israelis are saying the evidence — all the intelligence available — indicate that the group was indeed behind this attack. they say the fragments of the missile indicate this was an iranian—made missile that has been used by hezbollah in these attacks and israeli authorities have been promising a very strong response. we have seen the israeli government, the israeli authorities have,

for a very long time, been under pressure from some in israel — not only members of the public but also of the israeli government — to act against these attacks. tens of thousands of israeli residents have been displaced because of these attacks. the authorities are saying the situation is unsustainable, so we could see a major response from the israeli military, trying to stop these attacks coming from lebanon. we also heard from this resident of majdal shams, the town hit by the strike. translation: our children are not more precious or more innocent - than children killed anywhere else, including in southern lebanon and in gaza. our children are not more precious than them. we are human beings, we want to live our lives in peace and tranquillity. we need to strive now to sign a deal and stop this war. we want to live, we don't want to die. while all this is going on,

the latest round of talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire in gaza and hostage release deal are due to begin in rome. on saturday an israeli strike on a school in central gaza killed 30 palestinians, most of them children. it follows multiple air strikes on schools sheltering palestinians in gaza, in which many more were killed. us secretary of state antony blinken — who's currently in tokyo — said securing peace in gaza was the only way to prevent wider escalation and bring peace to the region. one of the reasons we are continuing to work so hard for a ceasefire in gaza is notjust for gaza but also so that we can really unlock an opportunity to bring calm — lasting calm — across the blue line between israel and lebanon. we are determined to bring the gaza conflict to a close. it's gone on for far too long, its cost far too many lives.

we want to see israelis, we want to see palestinians, we want to see lebanese live free from the threat of conflict and violence. that was us secretary of state antony blinken speaking there. there is more on all the developments that are moving quite fast in the middle east and the bbc news website. the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, says we now have a fuller picture of the manchester airport incident, after new footage emerged late last night showing the moments before a police officer kicked and stamped on a man last week. the new video — obtained by the manchester evening news — shows two police officers being punched to the ground after trying to restrain one of the men. a warning you may find this report by phil mccann distressing. you have got him on the floor, stop being aggressive! you have got him on the floor. the man in blue here is now known to millions as the man who had his head stamped on by a police officer. this new footage, obtained by the manchester evening news, shows what happened just beforehand.

as police appear to try to apprehend the man in blue, a man in a grey top comes in and punches are thrown. the man in blue breaks free and more punches are thrown between him and two other officers, who fall to the floor. he then drags the other officer down as he holds a taser towards the man in grey. one of the other officers tasers him. and this footage ends as the man in blue is kicked in the head. a man with his hands up, who is later hit in the back of the head with a taser, appears to be the same man seen in grey in the new video. it is an extremely difficult situation, but at least this morning it has moved forward, i'd agree, because people now a degree, because people now have a fuller picture. and it confirms what i said last week, which is that this is a situation that escalated very quickly, it was a very violent situation. issues on both sides. four people were arrested after the incident and released on police bail.

a police officer is now facing a criminal investigation over kicking, stamping, and using incapacitant spray. shame on you! the original video sparked protests, including in the hometown of the brothers involved in the incident — in rochdale. we should be clear in that the actions of the officer, of kicking that person on the ground in that particular way, is very uncharacteristic of british policing and something that we are not used to, and should be called out as equally as the violence towards the police. greater manchester's chief constable has said the shock and upset caused in some communities is a matter of profound regret. phil mccann, bbc news. let's speak to former metropolitan police chief superintendent, dal babu. welcome to the programme. i would like to begin getting your reaction to the video. like to begin getting your reaction to the vide0-_ like to begin getting your reaction to the video. ~ . ., ., to the video. well what we have now seen as a very _ to the video. well what we have now seen as a very violent _ to the video. well what we have now seen as a very violent attack- to the video. well what we have now seen as a very violent attack on - seen as a very violent attack on police officers were multiple punches are thrown onto female officers and a male officer is

punished severely by one of the suspects. i think one of the suspects. i think one of the suspects was tasered, i think that is totally appropriate use of force, and what we need to understand is the level of force police have to use has to be reasonable and proportionate and i think in this case, given the way those police officers were attacked by the suspect, the police used appropriate, proportionate and reasonable force in subduing him. obviously this is now subject to an investigation butjust to reiterate what you have said, you think the force used by the police, including kicking somebody who was on the ground, you think that... ida. kicking somebody who was on the ground, you think that. . .- kicking somebody who was on the ground, you think that. .. ground, you think that... no, no no, i didn't say — ground, you think that... no, no no, i didn't say that. _ ground, you think that... no, no no, i didn't say that. i _ ground, you think that... no, no no, i didn't say that. i said _ ground, you think that... no, no no, i didn't say that. i said in _ ground, you think that... no, no no, i didn't say that. i said in terms - i didn't say that. i said in terms of the incident... the new video, sorry, i am talking about. the new video that we have seen. the police officer has been attacked, punched

and severely attacked by the two suspects. the force that was used by those police officers to subdue those police officers to subdue those individuals was proportionate and reasonable, including the use of taser in that new video that has been shown. taser in that new video that has been shown-— taser in that new video that has been shown. thanks for clarifying that. been shown. thanks for clarifying that- what _ been shown. thanks for clarifying that. what would _ been shown. thanks for clarifying that. what would you _ been shown. thanks for clarifying that. what would you have - been shown. thanks for clarifying that. what would you have done l been shown. thanks for clarifying | that. what would you have done if you were in charge of greater manchester police?— you were in charge of greater manchester police? well, i think the second video... _ manchester police? well, i think the second video... sorry, _ manchester police? well, i think the second video... sorry, that - manchester police? well, i think the second video... sorry, that has - manchester police? well, i think the second video... sorry, that has been shown, or that original video that shows a police officer then kicking the man lying down who has just been tasered and stamping on his head was the video that caused quite an outcry. that ice think is excessive force, i have said that before. what's greater manchester police should have done was the chief constable should have come out straightaway and submit community members and i should have released this video much sooner than they did

and i am not sure this being released by newspaper said of gmp. to give a fuller picture, all of this information should have been put into the public domain and people could have made their own decision. but there are two issues here. the amount of force, which i think is proportionate and reasonable. arresting these two individuals, including use of taser and i think that is appropriate given the way they are attacking the police officers. i think the part which i think is excessive force is when the man was down, after being tasered, then being kicked in the head and stamped on his head, i think that was it not reasonable and i think now the matter is being investigated. we have had the independent office for police conduct it will take hold of the investigation so it will be independent of greater manchester police, which is what should have happened. and i think now is a time

for calm. i don't think it is necessary for any demonstrations or people to come out on the street. they just people to come out on the street. theyjust need to wait for the outcome of the independent office for police conduct investigation. they move fairly quickly in saying they are going to interview, under caution, the police officer who struck the man in the face and then stamped on his head. find struck the man in the face and then stamped on his head.— struck the man in the face and then stamped on his head. and you mention to the community _ stamped on his head. and you mention to the community reaction. _ stamped on his head. and you mention to the community reaction. both - stamped on his head. and you mention to the community reaction. both of - to the community reaction. both of those videos have elicited a very strong and passionate response from all sections of the community, and the family involved who have a police officer in the family have urged people to stay calm, but of course there are people who are very upset about this so i wanted your thoughts on that and what you would advise would be the best way to ensure that the investigations continue fairly and that people remain calm about this. you are riuht. i remain calm about this. you are right- ithink— remain calm about this. you are right. i think you _ remain calm about this. you are right. i think you need - remain calm about this. you are right. i think you need to - remain calm about this. you are right. i think you need to listen | remain calm about this. you are i right. i think you need to listen to what the family are saying. they are not supporting the demonstrations.

they want the matter investigated by the iop sea, which is being done, and as you have rightly pointed out, the brother of these two individuals who was detained and subsequently bailed is a police officer. what we need is some calm, we need people not to demonstrate, accept that the iopc is investigating and they seem to be acting quickly. there are probably lessons for greater manchester police to learn here in terms of engagement with communities quickly, sharing information at the earliest opportunity, and i think when you have those doubts and uncertainty, people were asking lots of questions but i think now we have two sets of video. well, there are several videos but we have two clear ones. one of the arrest where the brothers are being attacked by police officers quite violently and have been subdued using sufficient amount of force. and then that is

followed where one of the brothers has been kicked in the face and stamped on, which there was concern from the public and in my opinion that was unnecessary.— from the public and in my opinion that was unnecessary. thank you, dal babu, for that was unnecessary. thank you, dal babu. fervour— that was unnecessary. thank you, dal babu, for your thoughts _ that was unnecessary. thank you, dal babu, for your thoughts on _ that was unnecessary. thank you, dal babu, for your thoughts on this - babu, for your thoughts on this tourist. ., ~ , ., ., babu, for your thoughts on this tourist. ., ~' , ., ., , tourist. thank you. -- on this sto . now it's time for a look at today's sport with gavin. lots going on in the sport. more star draws at the olympics today, where simone biles has been out for the artistic gymnastics. and a star—studded cast has been in attendance at the bercy arena. biles put a calf issue to one side, with stunning performances in the floor, and vault in qualifying in front of fans like tom cruise — hoping to see it's not mission: impossible for her and team usa! along with snoop dogg, ariana grande and others, they saw usa finish with a team total of 172.296 to put them in the lead. gold for france to tell you about in

the women's mountain biking. pauline ferrand—prevot came first in an emotional win for her — a first olympic crown to go with her five world titles. she dominated this race, finishing two minutes and 57 seconds clear of usa's haley batten, who takes silver. jenny rissveds of sweden crossed the line third to take bronze, with team gb�*s evie richards coming home a respectable fifth. tennis continues today, too. rafa nadal is playing his singles match against hungary's martin fucsovics, despite concerns over a thigh injury. nadal won his doubles match with carlos alcaraz on saturday, but hinted he may pull out of the singles. he won the first set comfortably, 6—1 but lost the second. now into the decider. since last year, nadal only played six tournaments ahead of his first—round match at roland—garros. convicted child rapist steven van de velde made his olympic beach volleyball debut on sunday, to a mixed reaction in paris, with audible boos. he and volleyball partner matthew immers lost 2—1 to italy's alex ranghieri and adrian carambula at the eiffel tower stadium earlier. his playing partner immers,

speaking after the match, says he feels it was right that van de velde could compete at the games. we talked about it one time and we want to enjoy every moment on this stage because we qualified for it, we gave everything together for the past three years, two years, to qualify. i am really happy about it, that we can stand here and show, ok, next match we will give everything. you believe it is right that he is here at the olympics? yes, of course. we qualified. we gave two years, everything for it. i think it is right. the final race before formula one's summer break produced thrilling drama with britain's george russell beating compatriot and mercedes team mate lewis hamilton at the belgian grand prix. ferrari's charles leclerc started from pole after max verstappen was handed a ten place grid penalty for using too many engines this season. three laps from the start hamilton had risen from third on the grid to lead. tactics came into play with russell gambling onjust having one pitstop when everyone else made two. it paid off with him claiming his second win of the season and the third of his career.

verstappen finished fifth, but more importantly a place ahead of his title rival lando norris. england put on a scintillating display at edgbaston to clinch the third and final test against west indies in style at edgbaston. chasing 82 to win on day three, captain ben stokes, who promoted himself to open, finished the game off in style with a six. stokes had earlier secured a place in the history books — with england's fastest ever test half—century. mark wood took five wickets after lunch as west indies were bowled out for 175. england winning by ten wickets, and claim a 3—0 series win. to football, and manchester united face an anxious wait to discover the extent of injuries suffered by rasmus hojlund and new signing leny yoro as pre—season preparations continue. hojlund had scored in united's 2—1 defeat by arsenal in the opening match of their us tour in los angeles, but suffered a muscle injury soon afterwards and had to go off. hojlund's team—mate yoro needed treatment during the game, as well — and united will hope both can be fit for the start of the premier league season in fewer

than three week's time. and that's all the sport for now. reports from northern ethiopia say at least 19 people have drowned after their boat sank on saturday. the vessel was taking passengers across the tekeze river, which runs up to and along ethiopia's northern border with eritrea. media access to northern ethiopia is heavily restricted by authorities. the region has seen recent clashes between the military and an ethnic amhara militia known as the fano. our reporter kalkidan yibeltal has been following the story and he gave this update from ethiopia's capital, addis ababa. here is what we know so far. as you said, there is little access to media organisations that to media organisations so the information is coming out slowly,

but what we managed to find from local authorities so far is at least 26 people were travelling using a wooden boat and they were travelling from one village to another and they were crossing over the tekeze river, one of the major rivers in northern ethiopia. it happened that there was a flash flood when they were crossing the river and the boat capsized and they drowned. so far the authorities have confirmed four of these passengers are dead because they have managed to retrieve their bodies from the river, but seven others were rescued and they were hoping for more people to swim to safety on the banks of the river, but there are still several people who remain missing. there is a high possibility of them being presumed dead. that is what we know so far. and the amhara region is one of great political instability, isn't it?

yes, definitely — since august last year, there had been conflicts between local militias and the government, and because of that ongoing conflict, the government was forced to declare a state of emergency for ten months. they only lifted that state of emergency a few months ago. the fighting has continued and that has impacted humanitarian access for other emergencies because this is not the only emergency in the region — there have been areas impacted by drought, leaving millions of people dependent on aid. there's also the impact the conflict itself and now extreme weather events like this are happening, but because of the conflict, providing aid quickly has been impacted and has been hampered. let's ta ke let's take you to the scene live in

caracas. venezuelans are going to the polls in what has been described as the biggest challenge to the governing socialist party since it came to power 25 years ago. the socialist president has cast his ballot in caracas. there are long lines and the opposition and analysts believe a high turnout could help. we will have more in a moment. hello. sunny skies with temperatures well into the 20s across much of the uk, and whether you like it or not, the first half of the week will be really quite hot — particularly across southern and central areas of the uk. let me show you the satellite picture with the jet stream superimposed. here it is — this big ridge allowing the hot air to come in from the south, and the dip in thejet stream with the weather fronts there — that's the bad weather that recently affected paris and the opening ceremony. here in the uk, admittedly it is not gin—clear everywhere, the blue skies are further south. in scotland and northern ireland

here, it's a little more hazy with fair weather clouds, and cooler — around 2! in belfast and glasgow, but the rest of the country, typically inland, in the mid 20s. so after a warm and sunny day, it's going to be a warm and clear night, but just to the north—west this weak weather front is trying to push in, it doesn't make much progress. but maybe some cloudier skies and damp weather here in the far north—west. the rest of the country — it's a dry and sunny morning. and we do it all over again on monday, with high pressure in charge, and just weak weather fronts trying to move into north—western parts of the uk. so right from the word go, it is blue skies once again across many parts of england and wales. a little bit more cloud here in the north—west of the uk, and just the risk of a shower here and there. so cooler — around 20 or so — but the bulk of england and wales again well into the 20s and the high 20s expected across the south—east and east anglia. and that heat will

continue to build. as we head through the course of tuesday, we see that hot air spreading in from france, really quite oppressive for the olympics — in the south of france pushing a0 celsius, paris the mid 30s. here in the uk in the extreme case, we might even get around 3! or 32 in some southern and south—eastern part of the country. now i'm going to speed up the weather forecast — tuesday into wednesday, then wednesday night with the heat, we are going to see some showers and thunderstorms developing, i think more especially by the time we get to thursday. but trying to pinpoint where they are going to be at this stage is going to be very hard. but here is the summary, then, for the week ahead. this increasing cloud here on the weather apps, that's an indication of those storms starting to build by that stage. bye— bye.

this is bbc news — the headlines. funerals are taking place for a dozen people killed by a rocket attack in the israeli—occupied golan heights. israel has blamed the lebanese militant group hezbollah, which denies involvement. venezuelan president nicolas maduro has cast his ballot in caracas in a crucial presidential election. he is seeking a third consecutive term in office, amid allegations that the opposition has been harassed and the vote may not be free and fair. the biggest wildfire to hit california this year

is continuing to spread rapidly, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes. the so—called park fire — which started after a suspected arson attack — has consumed over 350,000 acres of land. it's day two of the paris olympics — and one of the most decorated gymnasts in history, simone biles, has returned to competition to try to add to herfour gold medals. let's return to one of our main stories today — the olympics — and day two of the paris games is well under way. my colleague maryam moshiri is following events in paris. welcome to paris. day two at the olympic games after days of torrential rain affecting the opening ceremony, the sun is finally shining. the beautiful weather has brought out the visitors but it's been a bit late for the