across the uk. and the algerian boxer in the middle of a gender row, imane khelif, wins gold at the paris games. hello and welcome to the programme. i'm helena humphrey. we start with breaking news from the middle east. palestinian sources in gaza are alleging heavy loss of life after an israeli strike on a school in gaza city. the hamas—controlled civil defence agency says at least 90 people were killed and dozens wounded when the daraj district was bombed. mohamed taha from bbc arabic is with me in the studio. good to have you with us. what is the latest we're learning at

this hour?— is the latest we're learning at this hour? ~ . ~ ., ., this hour? what we know from different sources _ this hour? what we know from different sources coming - this hour? what we know from different sources coming from | different sources coming from gaza and from other outlets that has got access to gaza and footage from gaza, that the israeli aeroplanes struck a school and, israeli aeroplanes struck a schooland, in israeli aeroplanes struck a school and, in particular a prayer area in a school early this morning, causing around 100 deaths. and a bigger number of injured. the school was inhabited with more than 5,000 people who were evacuated to the school. the school was in al—daraj quarter in the city of gaza. and apparently, israel targeted the prayer area while the people in the school were performing the morning prayer. and i anticipate that if israel wanted to target members of

hamas, i think the best way of targeting them is during prayer as they would be performing the prayer at this time. 50. as they would be performing the prayer at this time.— prayer at this time. so, 'ust to be ceanl i prayer at this time. so, 'ust to be clear, from i prayer at this time. so, 'ust to be clear, from what h prayer at this time. so, just l to be clear, from what you're saying, the people who were inside that school — people who have been evacuated, who have fled other areas — and using that school to seek shelter? indeed, and this happened many times. the local authorities in gaza said that the start of this war in october, the seventh, there are 170 shelter positions were targeted. before this school, israel targeted al—mawasi area, where they advised people to shelter in al—mawasi when they wanted to target khan younis. so it became a little bit a pattern from the israeli forces to target the areas that the people would evacuate to, i think anticipating that members of hamas would be these people

in this evacuating area. the scenes that i saw in other outlets are really horrifying, but these are everywhere —— bodies are everywhere, bodies are unidentified. israel, in many occasions, gave warning to people before striking certain places. in this occasion, they didn't. and the tragedy is not only the 100 people and their families that died, but the tragedy also would be on over 4,000 people who were in the school, who evacuated the school, who evacuated the school and they have nowhere to go. this school and they have nowhere to to. �* , school and they have nowhere to go. as you say, this is the second — go. as you say, this is the second time _ go. as you say, this is the second time in _ go. as you say, this is the second time in two - go. as you say, this is the second time in two days l go. as you say, this is the i second time in two days that schools have been attacked in gaza. israel insists that they are targeting hamas militants. ijust wonder in are targeting hamas militants. i just wonder in these attacks have we had any confirmation that hamas militants are among the dead? we that hamas militants are among the dead? ~ ., ~ ., the dead? we would never know if anybody _

the dead? we would never know if anybody from _ the dead? we would never know if anybody from hamas - the dead? we would never know if anybody from hamas is - the dead? we would never know if anybody from hamas is the - if anybody from hamas is the dead. but we know for sure is that this school was inhabited with around 5,000 people, who sought shelter to be in the school. no confirmation from the ground about that. and no comment from israel at the moment about what happened, but what normally israel would say afterwards is either that hamas was using the school as a headquarters or a base for them, orthat headquarters or a base for them, or that they were targeting a top leader of hamas. this happened before in that fashion, if you remember, in the beginning of the war, in the hospital, when the hospital was targeted. and israel said at that time that happened by mistake and they launched an investigation with that, but with this war entering more than 10 months so far, and we

witnessed more than 40,000 people killed in this war, all of the people in gaza are really eager to have a ceasefire, to have an end of this war and we anticipated that there must be or there would be a negotiation round in cairo or doha on thursday. the people in gaza are tired, are exhausted, are shattered. they lost their families and also the hostages, the israeli hostages in gaza want to return back to their homes. everybody wants this war to end. i back to their homes. everybody wants this war to end.— wants this war to end. i 'ust wants this war to end. i 'ust want to bring i wants this war to end. i 'ust want to bring our�* wants this war to end. i just want to bring our viewers i wants this war to end. i just i want to bring our viewers back up want to bring our viewers back up to date with the situation that we are currently following at this hour and that is that news coming from the middle east that palestinian sources in gaza are alleging heavy loss of life after an israeli strike on a school in gaza city. these are live pictures that we're currently looking at. the hamas—controlled civil defence agency says at least 90 people

were killed, dozens wounded when the daraj district was bombed. coming back to you, mohammed, we werejust bombed. coming back to you, mohammed, we were just talking about the context that all of this exists in, not least the humanitarian situation in gaza at a time when there are these broader concerns about the possibility of a wider war in the middle east, but talking about the situation specifically in gaza, that humanitarian situation remains very difficult, doesn't it? also traces of the wild polio virus found in waste water, according to the world health organization this week. yeah. the humanitarian _ organization this week. yeah. the humanitarian situation i the humanitarian situation in gaza, i would say, one of the worst in the whole world. people in gaza do not have clean water. they do not have enough food. they eat the animals' food. there are lots of diseases because of this situation. the garbage management is not possible at the moment. as you said, not

only polio, we had reports with bbc arabic about liver diseases and children do not get their vaccinations. mothers have difficult labour and their babies are immuno—compromised. can you imagine two million people in a siege, they do not have a place to go, they do not have a place to go, they do not have a place to go, they do not have a toilet to go to even. the situation in gaza is very dangerous. the people who are dying from diseases and hunger more than the people who are dying from the israeli shelling, very little aid is coming to gaza. very little hospitals are functioning. children are losing their school years because they don't go to scale all of this time, the situation in gaza is really, really dire. everybody wants to see this war to end and funnily enough that we were

anticipating iran or hezbollah to strike israel. we were waiting for that for many days and now we see israel striking gaza, striking in syria, strike in south lebanon, strike in west bank and four fronts at the same time as pre—emptive strikes before anything else to happen. strikes before anything else to ha en. �* �* ., . strikes before anything else to hauen. �* �* ., . ., happen. and we'll touch a little bit _ happen. and we'll touch a little bit more _ happen. and we'll touch a little bit more on - happen. and we'll touch a little bit more on that - happen. and we'll touch a - little bit more on that complex picture in a moment, but something i did want to ask about with regards to those long—term health consequences that you start to see when you have a conflict which runs in, as you say now, to the ten—month mark, the fact that people haven't been able to get access to medication and so on that they need — when it comes to polio, for example, who has said that it wants to gain access to gaza to carry out this immunisation. ijust this immunisation. i just wonder what this immunisation. ijust wonder what you've been hearing about health workers, aid workers being able to get access to gaza where they need it. what are you hearing about

that? ~ ., . that? we have some evidence that? we have some evidence that some _ that? we have some evidence that some health _ that? we have some evidence that some health officials - that some health officials would have some access to gaza. i spoke to some charities here in the uk who told me they managed to fund some doctors to get into gaza for two weeks or three weeks and they come back. world health organization, as you said, sometimes they have some officials that can go to gaza. but the biggest organisation that is overseeing what's happening in gaza was the unrwa. it has the biggest funding. it has the biggest facilities. it had schools, hospitals and many things and now israel is considering that unrwa is a terrorist group. they are considering some members of unrwa par tit patted in the 7 october attacks so without unrwa working in gaza, it's very difficult to cover everything so, yes, there is sock access but it's not

enough. there are two million people who need hospitals and many people injured, many people have diseases. i saw reports — and we broadcast the reports — and we broadcast the reports in bbc arabic, with people with diabetes, that they do not have their medication, people with high blood pressure, they don't have their medication. medications are not exist... does not exist in gaza. so officials without equipment and medications wouldn't do much, would they? yeah, yeah, indeed. cancer patients as well, kidney dialysis and so on. for people who arejustjoining us, the situation we are currently looking at is some breaking news that we've had coming in here at the bbc, with palestinian sources in gaza alleging heavy loss of life after an israeli strike on a school in gaza city. now, the hamas—controlled civil defence

agency says at least 90 people were killed, dozens wounded, when the daraj district was bombed. we are discussing it here with bbc arabic�*s mohammed taha. mohammed, talking about the military and the political situation in all of this after touching on that humanitarian situation, of course we know this past week that yahya sinwar has been named as the head of hamas and you were talking about, of corks this fatigue from civilians, this desperation for peace and a ceasefire, but ijust wonder what your assessment is with regards to how likely that is for an end to this conflict, also for the release of hostages as well now who have been held in gaza for a very long time in light of the fact that sinwar now heads up hamas. so everyone is in a positive atmosphere that this new round of negotiations that the united

states put a specific date for it to start on thursday, that this new round would bring peace. each and every time this happens, people are really looking forward to that this would result in positive results, would result in ceasefire, would result in the end of this war. the united states is really keen for this this round to succeed. they want to keep the superiority, the military superiority of israel intact as israel is now in a superior situation after they managed to kill ismail haniyeh, the leader of hamas, kill fuad shukr, the leader of hezbollah, and even last night, israel killed also a hamas leader in southern lebanon, so israel is obviously in a superior military situation. we see the situation in gaza at the moment. there are

two—thirds of the buildings in gaza, according to the un, are destroyed, so the united states would say, you know, now israel is in a superior situation, let's go to negotiations with this spirit. let's go to the negotiations maybe to delay any strike from hezbollah or from iran. let's go to these negotiations before any escalation to the situation happens. let's go to these negotiations to avoid any more bad economic situation in israel or in the region because of this anticipation of wide yelping the war. let's go to these negotiations to end maybe these negotiations to end maybe the biden term in glory and, you know, show him as he managed to do something really good and peace in the region.

so everyone is really want this round to succeed. whether this round to succeed. whether this round will be led by sinwar or not, of course israel is not happy with having sinwar as the head of hamas. he's obviously a hardliner. ismail haniyeh was much more soft on the negotiations and we heard last night that the military wing of hamas approved or... inaugurated sinwar as the leader of the movement and now israel has to face this situation and has to deal with this matter but at the end of the day, we always hear reports from israel and our correspondent injerusalem, always saying that binyamin netanyahu as the head of the israeli government, is not

willing to reach a deal. he is the man who wants this war to continue, to protect his political future. continue, to protect his politicalfuture. and he political future. and he wouldn't politicalfuture. and he wouldn't ever accept a full israeli withdrawal from gaza or a permanent ceasefire to stop fighting in hamas. —— to stop fighting hamas. fighting in hamas. -- to stop fighting hamas. this is the question, _ -- to stop fighting hamas. this is the question, isn't _ -- to stop fighting hamas. this is the question, isn't it? - is the question, isn't it? because for example the war cabinet can speak about the eradication of hamas and you can see that pressure coming from washington, particularly president biden, looking to his legacy, would very much like to see peace there in the middle east, but, you know, what is the understanding about what essentially netanyahu will want essentially neta nyahu will want to essentially netanyahu will want to see when there are people, critics of netanyahu, who say that this war is also linked to his political survival instincts? �* , , instincts? apparently, the anal sts instincts? apparently, the analysts and _ instincts? apparently, the analysts and the - instincts? apparently, the analysts and the reports l instincts? apparently, the - analysts and the reports coming from israel is saying that

binyamin netanyahu and the right—wing in his government, led by his foreign minister, sm, tric and his security —— smotric and the minister of security, ben gvir, they want this war to continue endlessly. they do not want this war to end at all. they want to continue with the presence in gaza, keep fighting hamas forever, keep fighting in the west bank forever. they want to see the scenes in the west bank as similar to the scene in gaza. they want to launch a full war against hezbollah. they want to strike beirut. they want to strike beirut. they want to continue the war also against the houthis in yemen. they want to continue striking syria. they want to eliminate iran. they do not want a deal to happen between iran and the united states, as

they see any peace between the united states and iran is harmful to israel's security. they want to see the nuclear facilities of iran destroyed. they want a war between the united states and iran. analysts are saying that this right—wing part of the israeli government are keen to involve the united states in a full war in the middle east and we can see some signs of this happening by the united states sending more aeroplane carriers, by sending the f—22 raptor to the region, by reorganising their troops. if iran would really strike israel hard, the united states might respond. hard, the united states might resond. �* , , hard, the united states might resond. �*, , , ., hard, the united states might resond. h , ., respond. let's 'ust update our viewers on — respond. let's 'ust update our viewers on the— respond. let'sjust update our viewers on the breaking - respond. let'sjust update our viewers on the breaking news| viewers on the breaking news that we are currently covering at this hour — that news coming in with palestinian sources in gaza alleging a heavy loss of life after an israeli strike on

a school in gaza city there. you are seeing live pictures of a hospital, the al—aqsa hospital there, so there is that heavy loss of life that is being reported after that israeli strike on a school in gaza city with the hamas—controlled civil defence agency saying that at least 90 people were killed and dozens wounded when the daraj district was bombed. we are discussing the latest developments in the studio here with mohammed taha from bbc arabic. mohammed, the backdrop to all of this — and i think it's fair to say what so many of us had been watching this past week was the possibility of an attack from iran, which has vowed revenge after the killing of ismail haniyeh, and potentially that attack coming through iran's proxies as well. do we have any indication, any understanding, what that could look like? what israel is bracing for? we what that could look like? what israel is bracing for?— israel is bracing for? we had a cuest israel is bracing for? we had a guest also _ israel is bracing for? we had a guest also with _ israel is bracing for? we had a

guest also with bbc— israel is bracing for? we had a guest also with bbc arabic - israel is bracing for? we had a guest also with bbc arabic in i guest also with bbc arabic in the last hours from iran who said why we are rushing around for a response? said why we are rushing around fora response? iran said why we are rushing around for a response? iran is studying its response carefully and it will respond at the right time and it will hit the right time and it will hit the right target. it looks like iran is very keen to strike. whether they are preparing their strike, whether they are waiting the right moment, but also in the last hours we saw iran intensifying their military and intensifying their missile systems and they are doing drills also on that. it looks to us that iran is preparing for a strike and all the reports coming from hezbollah, from houthis in yemen, from iran, from the iraqi resistance, the islamic resistance in iraq, all of the indications coming from these

different countries is showing that this response, this revenge, might be coordinated between all of these parties. that's why we can see this panic in israel, if i may say. there are many airliners cancelled their flights to israel. many of them from the... from europe and from the united states. there are around 100,000 israelis stranded outside. they cannot come back to the country. there is a high alert in israel. there is... the deficit in the israeli budget because they are stretching their abilities so much and directing more finance to the army, this whole or thanks this —— this hole or this deficit in the budget

reaches $44 billion. so we can see a scene in the region that anticipating a coordinated revenge from iran and their allies in the region but the question is when this response will happen and will it lit civilians or not and what would—be the israeli response for that. that's why the security council in israel took a decision to do a pre—emptive attack on hezbollah. they did it last few hours. it wasn't targeted hezbollah, it targeted lebanon. it killed a leader in southern lebanon and these pre—emptive attacks are continuing. i put this attack on this play area earlier in

the school where 100 people died, according to the authorities in gaza, in that context of a pre—emptive attack from israel. context of a pre-emptive attack from israel— from israel. many unanswered questions _ from israel. many unanswered questions at — from israel. many unanswered questions at the _ from israel. many unanswered questions at the moment. - from israel. many unanswered questions at the moment. butj questions at the moment. but covering all those latest developing elements there for us, mohamed taha from bbc arabic, thank you so much. and do stay with us for continued coverage of that. just to remind our viewers, that breaking news that we are covering at this hour — and these are live pictures of the al—aqsa hospital there with palestinian sources in gaza alleging a heavy loss of life. that's after an israeli strike on a school in gaza with the hamas civil defence agency saying at least 90 people killed, dozens wounded as well, when the daraj district was bombed and of course we will continue to keep you up to date with all of the latest developments in that story. now to events in russia. moscow is introducing strict new security measures in three regions bordering ukraine

in response to this week's surprise incursion by ukrainian forces into the kursk region. there are also concerns from the un nuclear agency, which has urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint, as fighting moves closer to a nuclear power plant. fighting has been raging since ukraine's army launched its surprise incursion this week. reports suggest they could be operating up to 30km inside russia, with intense fighting close to the town of sudzja. let's speak to jay schnell, a journalist in kyiv. a warm welcome to you. thank you for being with us. just to begin with, that surprise counter—offensive which we saw this week inside russia, what is the latest you can tell us on that? i is the latest you can tell us on that?— on that? i think you said it correctly- _ on that? i think you said it correctly. it's _ on that? i think you said it correctly. it's definitely i on that? i think you said it correctly. it's definitely a l correctly. it's definitely a surprise. both to me and many of my colleagues, the ukrainian people, it's very much a testament to the operational resilience of ukraine. i'm

quite surprised to see this kind of attack occur. i can honestly say that morale has slightly lifted since this attack has occurred but once again lowered by the recent attack which resulted in 14 casualties yesterday when the strike happened on a market in eastern ukraine. jeu. strike happened on a market in eastern ukraine.— eastern ukraine. jey, i'm interested _ eastern ukraine. jey, i'm interested in _ eastern ukraine. jey, i'm interested in what - eastern ukraine. jey, i'm interested in what you i eastern ukraine. jey, i'm i interested in what you think the ukraine ran military is looking to achieve here. this could be an effort to gain ground or perhaps something more symbolic, a message for example, from the ukrainian military. example, from the ukrainian milita . ~ �* , example, from the ukrainian milita . ~ �*, ., military. whether it's a message _ military. whether it's a message to _ military. whether it's a message to provoke i military. whether it's a message to provoke -| military. whether it's a | message to provoke - i military. whether it's a - message to provoke - i think message to provoke — i think ukrainians have been provoked since 2014, but since the full—scale invasion, many civilian attacks could be called provoking to the ukrainian population. what does it mean? do i think that it's maybe a message of fear? no. i presume that it is strategic

attack likely towards infrastructure, that's attacking ukraine. is there potential for more of these attacks to occur within russian territory? who is to say? if they do, it's most likely i believe they'll occur with the main target, being those zones where they're striking and attacking ukraine from. let's 'ust attacking ukraine from. let's just remind _ attacking ukraine from. let's just remind our— attacking ukraine from. let's just remind our viewers - attacking ukraine from. let's just remind our viewers in i attacking ukraine from. let's just remind our viewers in all of this, of course, we know the ukrainian military military using weapons given to it from western allies. do you think there's the possibility for escalation here? what kind of response are you anticipating from president putin?- response are you anticipating from president putin? what kind of response _ from president putin? what kind of response to — from president putin? what kind of response to anticipate - from president putin? what kind of response to anticipate from i of response to anticipate from president pietyin? i mean we've seen a response yesterday with that attack with 14 casualties. i believe there will be more attacks on civilian infrastructure and more provocations over here. we've seen an increase in air alerts. we've seen an increase in

strikes since that offensive began about four days ago. i believe it's extremely important ukraine relies very much on western support but this is also a testament to another variable which is the technological advancements of warfare. an important point to make. thank you forjoining us from kyiv. thank you for having me. investigators are trying to work out what caused a plane crash that killed 61 people in brazil. president lula has expressed solidarity with the families and friends of the victims, and the sao paulo state governor has declared three days of mourning. the flight from the city of cascavel came down on the approach to the international airport in sao paulo. there were no injuries on the ground. our correspondent ione wells has the latest. no time to prepare for landing. only a terrifying spiral to the ground. just miles short of its

destination. its final moments captured by horrified onlookers on their phones. this was a short internalflight on their phones. this was a short internal flight from the brazilian state of para in, a to sao paulo, never reaching its destination. translation: it went down nose first. i thought something had happened, that it had run out of gas. i ran out because i live near there. translation: i thought it was going _ translation: i thought it was going to fall into our back yard _ going to fall into our back yard it_ going to fall into our back yard. it was scary. but thank god — yard. it was scary. but thank god there _ yard. it was scary. but thank god there was no—one killed on the ground. 5? god there was no-one killed on the ground-— the ground. 57 passengers and four crew members _ the ground. 57 passengers and four crew members were - the ground. 57 passengers and four crew members were on i four crew members were on board. local authorities say there are no survivors. news reached brazil's president lula da silva while he was speaking at a conference. he held a minute's silence. he said all his solidarity was with the families and friends of the victims. there are no answers yet for the friends and families of those on board,

only unimaginable grief and shock. back to our breaking news. palestinian sources in gaza alleging heavy loss of life after an israeli strike on a school in gaza city. we're talking about it here in the studio with mohamed taha from bbc arabic. i know you are tracking the latest developments, mohamed. what more are you learning? the scenes. _ more are you learning? the scenes, helena. _ more are you learning? the scenes, helena. the - more are you learning? tie: scenes, helena. the scenes are horrifying that are coming from gaza, from social media and different outlets. the scenes are horrifying. bodies are everywhere. think cannot move to anywhere. the people who are injured, they cannot get any help. they're dying at the scene. body parts are everywhere. 100 people is a rebig number of people to die in a strike and the injured people are really a lot. ladies

are mourning their loved ones and sitting close to them, crying and grief and agony in the scene. there are... there is no hospital that can accommodate this number of injured people are these bodies. people do not know when they can bury these bodies that are spread in that scene in daraj, an area of gaza. it's a horrifying scene in gaza this morning, and people are in despair. people are in grief. people are really sad. and people in gaza want this war to end.

are civilians were sheltering in this school, you understand? we understand more than 5000 people sheltering in the school. these people were already evacuating the school, we don't know where to go and this situation is really difficult at the moment. mohamed taha, thank you very much for bringing us up to date. you are watching bbc news and can always get the latest on our website, bbcnews.com. thank you for your company. more news at the top of the hour. join me then if you can. goodbye for now. hello there. heat and humidity is set to build as we go through the weekend but we do need to caveat that with saturday, there is going to be quite a lot of cloud around for most of us. but it will turn increasingly very warm and very humid from sunday onwards. let's take a look at what's happening, then. this weather front will bring more cloud on saturday into south west england and wales and with isobars quite tightly packed together further north,

that's going to feed in plenty of showers,