of england's target. we start this hour in the middle east, were diplomats are working towards peace, while hoping to avoid a wider regional conflict. the us government has stepped up efforts to persuade israel and hamas to reach a ceasefire in gaza. president biden said such a deal could deter iran from launching attacks on israel. the iranian government has dismissed calls from the uk and other western countries to refrain from retaliation against israel for the killing of hamas leader ismail haniyeh in tehran last month. during a meeting of the united nations security, which was punctuated by accusations the us ambassador said the temperature in the middle east must be turned down. earlier on tuesday, washington approved $20 billion worth of arms sales to israel. on the ground, the war in gaza continues, with israel claiming to have killed around 100 hamas fighters in rafah, in southern gaza in recent days,

and palestinian medics saying i9 people have been killed in israeli air strikes on tuesday. among them were four—day—old twins who were killed while their father was at a local government office registering their births. the strike also killed his wife and the twins�* grandmother. 0ur middle east correspondent lucy williamson reports from jerusalem. for four days, mohammed abu al-qumsan was a father. this day will haunt him for ever. the day he left his newborn twins, ayssel and asser, at home with their mother, while he went to collect their birth certificates, and returned to find them killed in a strike on their building in deir al balah. today, he prepared to bury them. a new parent, comforted like a child.

"i didn't even have time to celebrate them", he said. gaza's health ministry says 115 infants, including ayssel and asser, have been born and killed during this war. we asked the israeli army why the twins�* family home was bombed and are waiting for a response. fighting has continued across the gaza strip, with both israel and hamas under fresh pressure to agree a ceasefire deal to calm spiralling regional threats. today, hamas released this video which it said showed rockets being launched from gaza towards tel aviv. israel's army said one had crossed into israeli territory and fallen into the sea. in the southern city of khan younis, displaced residents, not long returned, fled artillery and air strikes again.

"who will breast—feed this baby?" one resident cried over the ruins of a building. "all her family were killed, even her mother." reem abu hayyah, three months old, was pulled from the rubble, bruised and battered, the only survivor of an air strike that her grandmother says killed her parents and eight siblings, along with ten other people. translation: they are the terrorists, the ones| that kill children. they are supported by america. out of 20 people, this one is the only one left. the focus on gaza now is shrinking as the threat of regional conflict grows. but each child left without a family, each father left without his children, is adding to the long shadow of this war. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. let's speak to ghada alhaddad, a communications officerfor 0xfam in gaza.

talk us through the situation on the ground right now.— talk us through the situation on the ground right now. actually there are no words to — ground right now. actually there are no words to describe _ ground right now. actually there are no words to describe how _ ground right now. actually there are no words to describe how horrific . no words to describe how horrific and horrible it is on the ground. people are pretty awaiting —— waiting everyday for news a ceasefire. they're waiting to go back to their homes in gaza city. waiting as if claimed the lives of women, children and young men. we only see other ways of evacuation orders in different areas of the

gaza strip. it is beyond being described as tragic. in terms of water, there is no water in any town in the gaza strip. we have been living with the water since the onset of the work. it shows people in the gaza strip, shown by 0xfam, live on 4.7 litres for laundry, cleaning, drinking, everything, and this is if you are lucky, you have this is if you are lucky, you have this amount of water. people have to rely on fetching water from the sea, walking four miles to fetch water for their usage. this speaks volumes of the disregard for humanitarian

law, having water. i can speak volumes about how we are rushing because water is unavailable. we keep asking the children to ration water as much as they can but children, as you know, our children. they want to enjoy water as any other child in the world. this is also exacerbated by the heat and humidity that we have. it is really hard, we are in the middle of the summer season, hard, we are in the middle of the summerseason, it hard, we are in the middle of the summer season, it is really hot and humid. there are lots of diseases spreading all over the gaza strip because of the lack of water, some of these diseases might be avoidable by giving aid. almost everyone or every family i know personally speaking have somebody who has been

contracted with hepatitis and usually doctors advise people to quarantine but we cannot because simply with the ongoing evacuation order people have to go in one tent, if they are lucky, under the roof, one roof or something like that. it is very dire. this is also exacerbated with the health situation, we are talking about how the hospital are overwhelmed with injuries because these are usually the result of the relentless air strikes for buildings, also safe signs in the gaza strip. pharmacies have relative medicines. and so on. also, in terms of food, food is scarce and gazza. people depend if

they are lucky on the aid they usually receive from aid organisations. this also leads to developing malnutrition among children, injuries, people with chronic diseases and so forth. the sanitation situation is really dire. there is no sanitation that works in the gaza strip. qm. there is no sanitation that works in the gaza strip-— the gaza strip. 0k, firstly, thank ou. -- the gaza strip. ok, firstly, thank yom -- ghada— the gaza strip. 0k, firstly, thank you. -- ghada alhaddad, - the gaza strip. 0k, firstly, thank you. -- ghada alhaddad, thank i the gaza strip. 0k, firstly, thank - you. -- ghada alhaddad, thank you. let's speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell who's injerusalem.

no sign of a breakthrough, we expect these talks as take place in probably qatar tomorrow, we had the mediating countries' leaders are urging israel and hamas to come to a final round, last—ditch talks they are being presented as to secure second axis for and bring home hostages held by hamas in gaza, antony blinken, us secretary of state, seems to have called off a scheduled trip for the moment. we had president biden talking about high stakes, seeing this as a route to averting a wider regional war, saying that... if there was a ceasefire deal, that could stop the run from carrying out its threat of

a retaliatory strike after the killing of ismail haniyeh. coolly it -- clearly it _ killing of ismail haniyeh. coolly it -- clearly it is _ killing of ismail haniyeh. coolly it -- clearly it is impossible - killing of ismail haniyeh. coolly it -- clearly it is impossible to - killing of ismail haniyeh. coolly it| -- clearly it is impossible to know —— clearly it is impossible to know what the response will be and when. talk to us about the response for a run towards the uk telling them to refrain from the attack on israel. different messages all closely watched in recent days. a call between the british prime minister and the iranian president, for example, where they were urging iran to show restraint. the message coming back from a run suggesting that those parties, western powers that those parties, western powers that have been reaching out to it, that have been reaching out to it, that they should be doing much more to stop the killing of palestinians in the gaza and it looks like the messages we are getting from iranian officials as well at the moment via

the news agencies and the like speaking anonymously is that they also do see this linkage between having a second axis ferndale and the next move. so that does put a lot of pressure on the talks due to take place but at the moment hamas are saying they will not take part in the talks. 0fficial saying they do not see the israeli premier benjamin netanyahu negotiating in good faith. the media saying they will send a delegation along to this round of talks but one official part of the negotiating team being quoted as saying we were the chances of success depend on the parameters that the israeli prime minister sets for his negotiating team, if they are wide enough for them to be able to conclude a deal.—

to conclude a deal. thank you, yolande- _ to conclude a deal. thank you, yolande. this _ to conclude a deal. thank you, yolande. this is _ to conclude a deal. thank you, yolande. this is bbc _ to conclude a deal. thank you, yolande. this is bbc news. -

next to greece, and you have probably seen the images of those huge wildfires that had been threatening the capital athens. the good news is authorities now say they have been brought under control. at least one person has died, while dozens have been injured, and thousands of others have had to leave their homes. greek media are reporting that more than 100 buildings have been damaged around the capital. officials have also said that less than 10% of the burnt areas were forests. let's speak to our correspondent azadeh moshiri, who's in a suburb of athens. stays about assessing the damage, you can see some of it about me, this is a of athens. if you look behind you will notice that there is

a collapsed basketball hoop, this was a basketball court before the fires came here and over here are stands where rows of children would come to watch the french pipe was a staff member told me about 500 children used to come here every day. if you look at the pictures, the photos of what this used to look like beforehand, you can see the scale of the damage. the rooftop was the very first thing that caught fire. i have seen helicopters fly over, dousing the land with water. there is this concern there could still be flare ups. what the government is particularly focused on is how to help communities like this, these people who have lost businesses like this, rebuild, 4.7 million euros has been allocated to that effort. we know many were

offered temporary housing since sunday. matter how much help they receive, it will be a long time before businesses like this can get up before businesses like this can get up and running again. talk us through the background, azadeh moshiri, a part of the world used a very hot conditions at certain times of year, what has been the trend over the years?— of year, what has been the trend over the years? wild fires are not uncommon _ over the years? wild fires are not uncommon to _ over the years? wild fires are not uncommon to greece, _ over the years? wild fires are not uncommon to greece, they - over the years? wild fires are not uncommon to greece, they hit. over the years? wild fires are not | uncommon to greece, they hit the islands as well, i was here last year, hundreds of tourists fleeing from hotel rooms in rhodes. six years ago there was a devastating summer where more than 100 people were killed in a seaside town where the fire consumed homes, cars,

people killed as they swam to safety. the temperatures, the hottestjuly on record, what scientists say is that these sorts of conditions, the dry heat, wind, these are what are contributing to these are what are contributing to these wildfires and global warming, climate change, could be contributing to the severity and frequency of these fires. if you speak to people in greece, residents themselves, they say these temperatures, the way they have to live there summers, they say it is not normal. live there summers, they say it is not normal-— not normal. thank you, azadeh moshiri. here in the uk, the latest figures on price increases have just been released, showing an uptick. however, the silver lining is that the increase is slightly smaller than expected. the consumer price inflation rate forjuly has come in at 2.2%,

up from the 2% bank of england target seen in may and june and that is below the forecasted 2.3%. as a result, london stocks advanced on wednesday, strengthening bets that the bank of england will cut interest rates in the next policy meeting. to a big political story out of japan. the prime minister, fumio kishida, says he will not stand in his party's leadership contest next month, clearing the way for a new premier. mr kishida — who came to power in 2021 — said it was important to show the public that his liberal democratic party was changing. they have governed japan for most of the period since the second world war. the number of violent attacks against women and girls on britain's railways has increased by more than 50% in two years, according to the british transport police. its survey found that more than a third of women have been subjected to sexual harassment or sexual offences while commuting by train or tube. 0ur correspondent nick eardley has this report.

doors beeping. put your bags on the floor. this is the moment when edgarjr was arrested by british transport police last year. the 50—year—old had sexually assaulted a woman on a train. he admitted it and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. but new figures show that this is far from an isolated case. british transport police figures show an average of 31 reports a day involving violent crimes against women or girls. the number being reported has jumped 50% in just two years. reports of sexual harassment have more than doubled in the same period, with sexual assault reports up 10%, too. most women and girls have experienced incidents of sexual harassment and other types of non—contact sexual offending on the transport network for a very long time. it isn't new to many women and girls that this is happening, but we also know perpetrators can target busy transport network times

so that they can access women and girls in that way, as well. so we shouldn't be surprised that there are a huge number of perpetrators. there have been a number of campaigns encouraging women to report violence on the transport network. like this app, railway guardian. police say the increase in cases is not necessarily more crime, but could be a sign that more women are comfortable coming forward to report it. we're starting to see the impact, i think, of the public campaigns and the encouraging of people to come forward and report. so that's definitely a strategy to carry on. but what we do need to see is action taken by the british transport police in response to all of these reports, because if we don't start to see action, then people won't feel it's worthwhile coming forward and reporting it. but charities also warn the reported cases are likely to be the tip of the iceberg. the government says the violence women face on the transport network

is completely unacceptable, and ministers are pledging to halve violence against women and girls in the coming years. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. let's get some of the day's other news now. talks are due to begin later to try to end the civil war in sudan, which has claimed thousands of lives, and driven millions from their homes. the talks in switzerland come after sixteen months of brutal civil conflict between the sudanese army and the rsf paramilitary forces. however, the sudanese government, whose forces have been fighting the paramilitary rsf, will not be represented. a fast—spreading new variant of the highly infectious disease mpox has been declared a public health emergency in africa. since the beginning of the year, there have been nearly 14,000 cases and 450 deaths recorded in the democratic republic of congo. the disease has also been recorded in other african countries. the former england cricket captain turned tv presenter freddie flintoff

has opened up about his life since he was injured in a high—speed crash whilst filming an episode of the bbc top gear show in 2022. he was left with severe facial injuries and broken ribs after the car he was in flipped off a test track. for his new series, freddie flintoff�*s field of dreams on tour, he's returned to his hometown of preston to take his cricket team to india — a trip he'd planned before his accident. our sports correspondent patrick geary has this report. i promised you a trip to india. um, i'm wondering if you still want to go. freddie flintoff has been on many a cricket tour before, but none quite like this. representing england, but we're representing something far bigger than that — representing preston. a team of lancastrian youngsters who, until a couple of years ago, mostly didn't know the rules of cricket, heading to india, where the sport is woven into everyday life. catch! this is the second series of freddie flintoffs field of dreams. are you all right? miss me?

where the great ex—cricketer turns ambassador, coach and mentor. using the sport he loves as a force to try and improve the lives of young people from his home town of preston. i want to be involved. i think it brings the best out in you. yeah. production began not long after the first series aired in 2022, but soon everything would have to stop. in the last few minutes, _ it's been announced that the former england cricketer freddie flintoff has been taken to hospital - after being injured in an accident. exactly what happened in that accident while filming for top gear at dunsfold park in surrey has never been publicly spoken about. but the programme showed us for the first time the effect it had on flintoff. genuinely should not be here after what happened. it's going to be a long road back. i've only just started. got to look on the positive — i'm still here, i've got another chance. i've got to go at it. i'm seeing that as how it is — a second go. he would reach a settlement with the bbc, which hasn't broadcast top gear since.

for months, we saw and heard nothing from freddie flintoff until he appeared in cardiff last september among the england cricket coaching staff. but travelling abroad to film field of dreams on tour would be a huge step. last night's programme showed us how big a challenge it was. i think about it all the time and i think about going and how good it will be. i rewind and thinking, well, i don't want to leave the house, either. get on a plane and got to be away for two and a half weeks. yeah. some of these lads have had a tough life. you've got to try and put it into perspective. yeah. — and i feel guilty i can't do that. i don't want to sit here and feel sorry for myself. and i don't want sympathy. but it's going from being here for seven months, really, and then going to india. which is like the extreme. for 2.5 weeks. everywhere i go, at the minute, i've got a full facemask and glasses on. i can't do that. i struggle with anxiety. you know, i have nightmares, i have flashbacks.

it's been so hard to cope with. but i'm thinking if i don't do something, i'm never going to go. i've got to get on with it. in some ways, like, the lads might help you out. i'm a bit nervous about that, as well. you know, seeing them for the first time, being in front of them. flintoff, as he has so often, rose to the challenge and, injanuary, he reunited with his team... oh, my god, it's you. ..to make good on his offer of the tour of a lifetime. whatever�*s happened this last year for me, one thing i've been very aware of and desperately wanting to do is take you. i've heard they love you over in india. notjust india, sean! are you feeling 100% now? not really. i don't know if i will again, to be honest. i'm better than i was. i don't know what completely better is. you know what i mean? i am what i am now. i'm different to what i was. that's something i'll probably have to deal with for the rest of my life. so, better? no, different. and that was freddie flintoff ending

that report by kevin geary. stay with us here on bbc news. more on their website and app. tuesday wasn't as hot or as humid, but still with some sunshine across norfolk and suffolk before we got a few light showers, temperatures reached a very warm 29 degrees. other parts of the uk have cooled down a bit already, and it's still quite mixed through the rest of the week. there'll be some sunshine at times, but we're also going to find some spells of rain, and our weather essentially is going to be coming in from the atlantic. at the moment things have slowed down a bit and this weather front still bringing some rain early in the morning, particularly across the midlands. but a sunny start and a chilly start in scotland.

some sunshine for northern ireland. it will cloud over here in the afternoon and later in the day into western scotland. but more sunshine develops across northern england, wales and the south—west. and even though we've got more cloud, the midlands towards the southeast, that should tend to thin and break up a little bit. we will trigger a few showers in the southeast in the afternoon. it's not going to be as warm here as it was on tuesday, of course, 23 or 24 degrees and elsewhere, those temperatures very similar to what we had on tuesday. so our weather is coming in from the atlantic, and this is the next weather system to bring some wind and rain in from the north west. and it could be quite wet through much of thursday across scotland and northern ireland. this band of rain is only moving slowly into northern england and wales. it's going to be late in the day before we see some sunshine, but through the midlands, towards the southeast it may well be a dry day with more broken cloud we've got a chance for things to warm up again. temperatures could reach as high as 27 degrees, but for scotland and northern ireland, it's likely to be a cooler day on thursday. that rain is slowly moving its way southwards, and that weather front will eventually take some rain into more southern parts of england.

it could hang around for a bit on friday, we're likely to find the rain tending to move away from the south—west, but the south—east it could be a bit more of a struggle. that rain could still be around into the afternoon at least more cloud. we've got sunshine elsewhere once again until you reach the far northwest, with a bit of rain coming in here again as the breeze tends to pick up. so temperatures scotland and northern ireland 19 degrees at best. otherwise our top temperature further south 23 or 24 celsius. i think it's those sort of temperatures that we'll see over the weekend. so not a hot weekend, but it looks like a fairly decent weekend. most places will be dry with some sunshine. just a few showers, perhaps towards the north—west.

this is bbc news. the headlines... president biden urges israel and hamas to reach a new ceasefire in gaza, saying it could deter iran from attacking israel. another russian border region declares a state of emergency as ukraine's offensive enters a second week. devastation in greece following wildfires on the outskirts of athens, reports say more than a hundred buildings have been damaged. wembley bans �*tay—gating'. extra checks introduced

at taylor swift's london shows after her austria concerts were cancelled because of a terror plot. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. the us government has stepped up efforts to persuade israel and hamas to reach a ceasefire in gaza. president biden said such a deal could deter iran from launching attacks on israel. iran has blamed israel for the killing of a hamas leader in tehran. during a meeting of the un security council, which was punctuated by, the us ambassador explained what washington was hoping to archive. the united states' overall goal remains to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against any future attacks, and avoid regional conflict. that starts with finalising a deal for an immediate ceasefire with hostage release in gaza. we need to get this over the finish line. the palestinian ambassador to the un

accused the security council