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i'm thriving by helping others everyday. people whonow, know bdo. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". ♪ >> hello. i am lewis vaughan jones and you're watching the context on bbc news. >> i am happy for being rescued. we will not stop until all 154 hostages will be free. lewis: for the israeli prime minister this is something of a vindication for his point of view which is to get the hostages back. israel has to use force. >> it really is impossible we

think to see how you can fight a war amongst these people. there is nowhere for them to go. ♪ lewis: more pressure on israel not to launch a full military operation in rafah in gaza. will it make a difference? the king of jordan is in the u.s. right now currently meeting with president biden. also on the program, the marathon world record holder dies in a car crash. people across the globe paying tribute and remembering his talents. a species on the edge of extension. a new report says many migratory animals are threatened because of what people are doing to the planet. and it has been difficult to avoid, the super bowl of course. we will look at the stars on and off the field.

we will be heading to israel in a moment but i want to start with some breaking ns here in the u.k. the labour party has withdrawn its support for its candidate in the by election after criticism of comments he made about israel. he reportedly said the country had allowed the october 7 attacks to go ahead so we could do whatever it wanted in response. in the last half an hour or so, a spokesperson has said they have withdrawn support quote, following new information about further comments made by him. it's understood he has also been suspended by the party. let's get more now from our correspondent. what do we know? ben: labour will not be endorsing him in this bye election. they will not be campaigning for him. they are completely distancing

themselves from him and what he said about the hamas attacks on israel back in october. he faced a barrage of condemnation and criticism for people within the labour party and from various jewish groups during the day. but labour's bind has always been that the nominations for this bye election have closed. it was legally impossible to take his name off the ballot as their candidate. that remains the case. when this bye election happens february 29 his name will be on the election and he will be the labour party candidate. but labour has said he has nothing to do with us at the moment. we understand he has also been suended as a labour party member pending an investigation. what does that mean? if he wins this by election, and he has been -- and it has been until now a pretty safe labour seat, he is already facing

suspension as a labour mp. it's a complete mess. it is a real shambles. labour is trying as hard as they can to draw a line under it and try to show to voters that the party has changed and has totally got a grip on anti-semitism which of course it has been mired in allegations of anti-semitism for a number of years under jeremy corbyn. so this is a reaction to that history in many ways. lewis: i presume we don't know this yet but i want to read this line from labour saying new information about further comments made came to light. i am presuming this is in the last 30 minutes or so so we don't have any details? ben: not yet. labour are not forthcoming but that clearly has been critical

this evening. determining labour's move here. this story first broke in the mail sunday. they sretly recorded video of him at the meeting, saying israel had allowed this attack to happen to justify its action against gaza. completely false and sperry us claim. today you had comments saying, as well as accepting an unreserved apology and promises to build bridges with the jewish community. mr. thomas simmons said he accepted his view that he had been suckered, taken in by an online conspiracy around the hamas attacks. and that this morning was enough for it labour to stand by him in his campaign. not so this evening. lewis: ben, thank you very much. here's a full list of candidates standing in the rochdale by election. if you want more information,

head to the website. now we are going to get the latest on the israel-gaza war and had to rafah in gaza. it seems israel is planning a ground operation. the international warnings against that are stacking up. we have heard from the united nations and from president biden saying there must be a plan to protect civilians. the uk's foreign secretary says israel must stop and think carefully before any more action. around 1.5 million people are in rafah and there is nowhere for them to go. these are the latest pictures we have from the israel defense forces. this is rafah, these pictures showing the rescue operation which freed two hostages. you can see the blue circle. after 130 days in captivity. israel says a battle took place during the operation. with all the very latest here is lucy williamson.

lucy: last night, israel's army came to rafah. special forces backed by airstrikes on homes and mosques. left behind more than 60 people dead and took with them two israeli hostages. snatched from a second-floor apartment. these pictures released by the israeli army show the moment counterterrorist police went in. a 60-year-old and seven-year-old were kidnapped from kibbutz on october 7. their arrival back in israel, a rare moment for the country's prime minister. covered by special forces on their way out of gaza. covered on arrival with love. military operations have so far freed three hostages.

relatives say it deal with hamas is still the best way toet the others out. >> mentally they look ok. physically they look ok. please be serious and strike a deal. the israeli people need a deal done not yesterday, not tomorrow, today. we want it done as soon as possible. we want to go back to our ordinary life. lucy: for gazans, ordinary life has disappeared. buried in the rubble of their homes, and the quivering of their children. >> we were at home when the airstrikes were going on. i told my mother that i wanted to use the bathroom. suddenly all the walls of the bathroom and all the water containers above it collapsed on me. lucy: rafah is the next target for israel's army. the war has pushed half of gaza's polation south into

this border town. the u.s. has warned an offensive here without proper planning would be a disaster. israel is so far sticking to its plan. >> united nations and international actors now face a fateful choice. do they want to save hamas or save palestinian civilians? they cannot stop israel from dismantling the last four hamas battalions and securing the release of the 134 remaining hostages. lucy: the price of israel's war is rising. for families in rafah today, the cost, incalculable. the u.s. is urging israel to consider a potential hostage deal to pause the fighting. israel worries that a deal would mean a mass surviving. but after four months of war, it is not the group's leaders who are dying. lucy williamson, bbc news. lewis: let's speak now

lieutenant colonel peter, a spokesperson for the israel defense forces. thank you very much for coming on the program. are we right and understanding that a large ground operation in rafah is coming and coming soon? peter: the government has instructed the idf to advise a plan to continue implementing our goals of this war, of dismantling hamas as a governing authority. as a terrorist entity in the strip. and to bring home the hostages as rightly reported. that we did this morning and continue that effort. at the same time they have instructed us to create a plan of evacuation in accordance to the excitations of our operations as we have conducted them up until now. of course we are listening extensively to ourllies around the world. those who are raising concern. and those concerns weigh heavy on us. our role in this is to make sure that hamas never have the

ability ever again to launch attacks to conduct, kill, murder, massacre, butcher, and rape from the gaza strip. this is a goal that we need to achieve and we need to bring back the 134 remaining hostages at are in the clutches of hamas and most probably in the area of rough out. lewis: let's look at raphfah th. if you look at it and frankly cannot find a way to keep civilians safe, to move them to anywhere, will that change your operational objective? will that change your decision? peter: we are not in the position to raise a white flag to hamas and say get on with it and we will hope and pray that you let go of the hostages that you are holding onto. our position is to utilize our military operations to create the conditions to bring a

hostage release as soon as possible. it can be through diplomacy but it also can be, as we have demonstrated in the early hours of this morning here in israel, through boots on the ground, through the military operation. with regard to broadening the scope of that operation with a wide scale, a potential widescale operation in the area of rafah, of course we need to take into consideration the urban environment, the civilians packed into the rafah area. of course that is not missed a biosy any stretch of the imagination. but of course we need to weigh up on all of those components in order to achieve our goals on the one hand, but differentiate and establish between civilians and noncombatants and hamas on the other. lewis: whe you expect people to go then? peter: since the beginning of this operation and this war that we have faced since october 3 -- october 7, sorry. if we go back a few months we were telling people for weeks to evacuate the northern gaza strip

and indeed they did. so it can be done. where there is a will there is a way. and we believe that if we are instructing people to move from a to b to get out of harm's way, without defining exactly at this stage where it is, then it will happen. we have proven with quite an elaborate plan of action of evacuation to temporarily evacuate people from combat zones that it can be done. that is despite the fact that sometimes international players have been saying constantly that it cannot be done. we have proven time and time again that things can be done. lewis: on the hostages, we heard from the families of some saying do a deal, get a deal done and do it now. what is your response to that? peter: imagine being in their position for months. their loved ones, 134 of them, remaining in the clutches of hamas. i cannot imagine the pain, how their lives have been to into pieces. of course the government is

listening to them. the idf is listening to them. we are accompanying the families day in and day out. and indeed our efforts are to create two realities, one that will bring them back, bring every last one of those hostages back through negotiations, through diplomacy. but if not to create the operational conditions to bring them home as we did this morning. lewis: so do what understand that diplomacy is not an option from your side or from the other side? peter: no. our role, the idf's role is not to manage the diplomacy but to create the conditions, meaning increasing the pressure on hamas so that hamas relies there is a diplomatic way out of this i releasing hostages. 134 people. they are being held by hamas. many of them we believe in rafah . and they need to be brought home. they need to be brought home

immediately. hamas can release them. hamas could end this war today. all they would need to do is release the hostages and create a reality of unconditional surrender so that they never pose a threat to israel ever again. lewis: thank you very much. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making the news in the u.k.. double child rapist and murderer will face a fresh hearing after challenging indecision to keep him behind bars. he was jailed for life or raping and strangling two 15-year-old girls in the 1980's. he was granted parole. this was challenged and denied his release in december. schools are spending tens of thousands of pounds a year to meet rising costs of contracts with private firms.

they are locked into a 25 to 30 year contract in which charges rise more than other schools. investors say the contracts give long-term value for taxpayer money. they will take no further action againsthe conservative mp after he was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault, and misconduct in public office. the evidence threshold for criminal prosecution was not met. you are with bbc news. tributes have been paid to the world marathon record holder kelvin kiptum, who has been killed in a car crash at the age of 24. he died alongside his coach when their car came off the road in western kenya. he set the world record in the chicago marathon last year with a winning time of two hours, 35 seconds. reporter: he was no doubt

destined for greatness. at only 24, kelvin kiptum had run three of the seven fastest marathon times in history. this is him in london last year. he broke away from the leading pack and went on to win and set a new course record. late in the year he broke the world record in chicago, shaving 34 seconds off his compact tree it's time -- of his compatriot's time. > to beat a world record it is so hard. you have to work hard. rerter: he was going to attempt to run the rotterdam marathon in under two hours this april. but over the weekend he crashed on this road close to his birthplace in kenya. >> he lost control of the vehicle, veered off the road, and entered into a ditch.

he drove through that ditch for 60eters. before hitting a big tree. reporter: tributes have been paid to him in kenya and across the world. the world athletics federation ratified the record only last week. its president described him as an incredible athlete who is leaving an incredible legacy. also paying tribute to kelvin kiptum, the four time olympic medalist. he was an amazing talented athlete and it already achieved so much. he truly had a special talent and i have no doubt he would have gone on to have had had an incredible career. and this from the highest british athlete in the london marathon last year. >> i was in a state of shock. you never expect anybody so young to pass away.

it is even more shocking when it is a generational talent like kelvin kiptum. reporter: kelvin kiptum ran his first major competition in bordered -- in such a short time he had achieved so much before the accident robbed the world of exporting great. lewis: there are so many tributes there to an extraordinary talent. next, hopes that two new drugs aimed at slowing the progress of alzheimer's could pave the way for the development of future treatments for the disease. the medicines architected to be licensed within months but charities are one of the uk's national health service is not ready for them, meaning many patients could lose out. our medical editor reports. reporter: dawn is 62 and about to get her first dose of a new

alzheimer's drug as part of a trial. her memory problems were identified early and she has only mild cognitive impairment. >> i was so grateful that i noticed in that i investigated further and that i know. because knowledge is power. and it could mean that it just slows at all down. and if it slows it down, then i will be able to function as i would like to. reporter: in trials, two drugs slowed cognitive decline by between a quarter and a third in patients with early-stage alzheimer's. >> that gives you over that 18 month period about five months at a higher level of function. for me that is meaningful, but it is small. i think these drugs do represent a turning point in our research in alzheimer's. i also think they are just a

beginning. reporter: if the drugs are approved, patients would need a specialist rains can, o -- brain scan or spinal puncture to check if they are eligible. at present just 2% of alzheimer's patients have either of these tests. we're worried that tens of thousands of people could miss out on having treatments because the nhs is not ready to deliver them. we need to have a really clear plan from the nhs about how they are going to scale up services. reporter: the department of health says early dementia diagnosis is vital, and it's working to identify and treat more people as new drugs become available. david, who is 79, has been on the drug for over three years as part of a study. although his alzheimer's is progressing, his wife feels the drug has helped. >> they are not saying this is a complete cure.

just giving individuals more time before they cannot remember who their children are. it's given me longer with david as my husband. so, that's worth all the money in the world. reporter: we drugs can cause swelling and bleeding in the brain, so patients like dawn need careful monitoring. but despite their side effects and modest benefits, many scientists believe they represent a defining momenti -- moment in the fight against alzheimer's. lewis: next, migrating animals face a growing threat of extinction from hunting, fishing, pollution, and habitat destruction, according to a new report. overall, more than 40% of migratory species needed -- many could be wiped out, wit

marine animals in greatest danger. the report by the u.n. environment program is being presented at a gathering in uzbekistan. let's go and speak now to susan lieberman, vice president of international policy at the wildlife conservation society. thank you very much for coming on the program. susan: my pleasure. lewis: so, what is the interest here in these migratory species that travel these large distances? what are the risks they are facing susan: migratory species are exposed to even greater threats than species that do not migrate from across multiple countries, because they are exposed to serious threats across their entire migratory route. a whale that migrates from antarctica, up the atlantic ocean into the northern hemisphere, is exposed to tremendous risks. the same for migratory bird species, batpecies and many other species. this report is a wake-up call that governments and all of us

need to do more for migratory spies. lewis: what are some of the threats, then? what are humans and people doing that is putting them at risk? sue: one of the greatest threats as climate change of course. but because animals are forced to change their habitats to adapt. but in addition, habitat loss, habitat destruction, and overexploitation, killing of wild species and destruction of the habitats for agriculture, for timber production, for mining, those are the greatest threats for these species. but we can do something about them. lewis: ok. well, tell me what. sue: we, citizens and governments, need to work together to set aside protected areas, to look and say what are the migratory species need, and the locapeople who depend often on those species, what do they need in terms of protected areas. how can we reduce or limit the

overexploitation? we know how to do conversation -- conservation. we know how to help governments set up protected areas. governments need to commit to do that, or we're going to lose these precious species. lewis: dr. sue lieberman, thank you so much for cong on and talking us through that. sue: my pleasure. lewis: let's bring you up-to-date with that breaking news in the last 40 minutes or so when we came on the air. breaking news from here in the u.k. the labourarty says it has quote, withdrawn support for the rochdale by-election candidate following his candid -- comments about israel. the bbc understands he has been suspended from the labour party pending an investigation. the decision was taken after quote, new information about further comments made by him

came to light. we do not know what those further comments are, or alleged to have been, and we do not know what new information about them that the labour party has seen, but we are chasing all of those details for you. do stay with us here. i am lewis vaughan jones. this is bbc news. bye-bye. ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app lets you watch the best of pbsnytime, anywhere.

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... brook: these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me.