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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". ♪ christian: hello. i'm christian fraser, and this is "the context." >> demanding an immediate, unconditional cease-fire without an agreement requiring hamas to release the hostages will not bring about a durable peace. >> we are calling for a stop in the fighting right now. we think that what we need is a pause in the fighting and the hostages to come out and aid to come in. that should happen straightaway. >> this is the worst situation i've been in in my life. working in the darkness. >> we have heard from numerous

members saying that the suffering of palestinian civilians was intolerable, unbearable, and that they think there is real urgency to call for a cease-fire. christian: the u.s. has called for a temporary cease-fire in gaza. the british foreign secretary says it should happen right now. we will speak live to correspondents in new york and jerusalem. rishi sunak tells farmers he has their back. a 200 million pound package for productivity. but does it alleviate the concerns? and julian assange fighting extradition from britain to the united states. we will hear from his brother, who is flown in from the -- who has flown in for the appeal. a very good evening. the u.s. has rejected an algerian proposal at the you went security council but -- at the u.n. security council that

called for an immediate cease-fire in gaza. 13 voted in favor, the usa voted against, the u.k. abstained. the american team are circulating an alternative resolution which calls for a six-week temporary cease-fire in return for a phased release of all the hostages. the u.s. draft reiterates president biden's position that an imminent israeli ground offensive in rafah would be disastrous. here is washington's ambassador to the u.n., linda thomas-greenfield. >> demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasfire without an agreement requiring hamas to release hostages will not bring about a durable peace. instead, it could extend the fighting between hamas and israel. extend the hostages' time in captivity, an experience described by former hostages as hell. christian: that said, there is a

hardening of the american position which reflects the same political maneuvering in the u.k. today the prince of wales ventured his opinion in reference to the word cease-fire, but at a meeting with aid workers involved in the humanitarian effort, he said he wanted to cnn to to the fighting as soon as possible -- see an end to the fighting as soon as possible. too many lives, he said, had been killed. it is important that the u.k. speaks with one voice as a nation, but are we speaking with one voice? tomorrow the smp have laid a motion before the commons calling for an immediate cease-fire. mps will get to vote on that and on the wording of a labor amendment which calls for an immediate cease-fire, but with qualifications. and the foreign secretary david cameron, was been visiting the falkland islands today, struck a similar tone. >> we are calling for a stop in the fighting right now. we think that what we need is a pause in the fighting and the hostages to come out and aid to go in.

that should happen straightaway. then what we need to do is to turn that pause into a sustainable cease-fire, and things will have to have it for that to be the case and for fighting to not resume. we will have to see hamas leaders leave gaza, we are going to have to see the machinery of terrorism taken down, we are going to have to see a proper horizon for the palestinian people and new palestinian government. but let's make that happen. let's have a stop to the fighting now and have that hostage release and then build on it from here. that is what we need to happen, rather than the offensive in rafah. christian: let's get the view from both sides. in new york is nada tawfik, in jerusalem paul adams. nada, if i could start with you -- if you read down this draft amendment, draft resolution that the americans have circulated, there is more criticism of the israeli position on settlement, buffer zones between israel and gaza, on this imminenincursion

into rafah. what do you see in the wording, what does that tell us about the relationship behind the scenes? nada: yeah, i think it tells us t thingswo-- two things, christian. the united states has been under intense pressure to use its leverage, and part of that is in the security council, whe it holds its veto and has been exercising it to shield israel. here the united states said that despite criticism from some members that this proposed alternative resolution is a cover for israel or distraction from our veto, that actually we are very concerned about the fate of civilians in rafah, the 1.5 million civilians there. i think it is very much a public expression for the united states of its position and where it differs from israel, perhaps even expressing their frustration with its allies that continues to ignore its calls. the united states is trying to

accomplish that. nevertheless, kristen, what we have seen -- nevertheless, christian, what we've seen from other members is not buying into this as much as the united states would like, them underscoring that there is overwhelming international consensus for a cease-fire and that would not jeopardize the talks the u.s. is engaged in now. if anything, it would bolster them. christian: sorry, on that point, are you saying not everyone on the security council would support the amendment because they want to go further? nada:eah, we have already heard from russia and china, no strangers to divisions with the united states. china has said that the u.s. position is untenable, not calling for cease-fire, that it is essentially a green light to continue the slaughter in gaza and that it is destabilizing the middle east, the only way to get the middle east back under control is to have the issue in gaza settled. russia as well said that the

united states is just doing this, again, to prevent the international community from getting a cease-fire. even if the united states has support from other councilmembers, we could likely see of each from russia and china if and when this proposal becomes a vote in the u.n. secured counsel. christian: paul, i'm not sure they are changing fundamentally anything they've been saying up until now, the americans. they have talked about pauses before. what has been the response from the israeli side? paul: it is a change in the sense that this is languished, that the u.s. has proposed to put to the security council. beyond the white house, now to the security counsel. there is a key phrase in this draft text, which is "as soon as practicable." that leaves an awful lot of room for interpretation, i would say. this isn't an official draft, it is not circulating officially, and therefore there is no

response from isra yet. all we have had this evening from prime minister netanyahu is yet another in his almost daily repetition of the need for israel to be allowed to pursue its goals of getting its hostages back and destroying hamas, and anything less than that would represent defeat. you can sense a kind of stiffening of his resolve, anticipating problems with the united states if this resolution is brought to the security council. but we are not -- we don't sense that this is imminent, and in fact, if anything, the americans do not seem to be in a tearing hurry about this. christian: when you listen to david cameron, though, paul, clearly he sees a temporary cease-fire as a bridgehead to build out from, to sort of put in place a longer-lasting indefinite cease-fire.

but a lot of things have to happen for that to take place. most notably, of course, the release of all the hostages. we are talking about the israeli response. what is crucially important is how hamas would respond if the resolution were to be passed. paul: indeed, and that remains a very hard thing to gauge. we know that hamas leaders are in cairo, so the negotiations which qatar and the egyptians are brokering are still going on. they appear for the last few days to have been pretty deadlocked with the israelis describing the hamas demands as delusional. hamas doesn't seem to be willing to give up --hamas does seem to be willing to give up the hostages in stages. it won't want to give them all up, because it fears that as soon as the last hostage is back in israel, israel will have a green light to finish the job,

to pile into rafah, to destroy rafah the way it has already destroyed gaza and khan yunis. the kind of mechanics, the various pieces that have to fall into place, all of this is so immensely complicated still that no one really sense is that we are getting any closer to seeing a relution of this. essentially what we are seeing is the proposals that have been circulating among the qataris, americans, egyptians, seeing those essentially being brought or perhaps being brought to the u.n. security council, and that will be when and if it happens quite an important moment. christian: just a final one, nada. clearly prime minister netanyahu has not been entirely receptive to the u.s. position, but he has a problem, first of all with the egyptians, who would suspend their peace treaty with israel if he did go into rafah and

then with our most important supporter, the united states. were he to be ignored further, with their be a risk to israeli aid which is so crucial? nada: you know, christian, more than 30,000 palestinians have been killed, the countries here are warning of a looming catastrophe. we have seen smuch of gaza leveled. as you say, netanyahu is not pulling back from plans to go into rafah, which the u.n. has underscored, civilians are victims of an assault that is unparalleled in intensity, brutality, and scope. all of that to say the u.s. has yet to suspend any weapon deliveries ot israel -- to israel or to do anything beyond sanctions on settlers in the west bank. it's hard to see exactly what the u.s. line is. that is a question that quite literally members of the security council have been asking, at what point will the

united states sign onto a cease-fire. it is a difficult question to answer, but as we have been pointing out, we've seen over 140 days now, months, the united states bit by bit getting tougher in its language, but whether that will lead to any actual changes on the ground, christian, i mean, it is just unclear. christian: final year on -- final word from you, paul, on what is happening at the nasser hospital. the who said they had two operations to pull out people in the hospital. what is the situation there tonight? paul: just a qui word on american pressure -- i was here in 1991, the last time the united states applied financial pressure on the government of israel to achieve what the u.s. was after. it's been a very long time since that particular tool was deployed. don't expect to see that anytime soon.

as far as nasser hospital is concerned, the who has run two, possibly three recovery missions extracting more than 30 patients from the hospital. there are still 130 there. the u.n. would like to see more people taken out. there is complete disagreement about the state of nasser hospital. th u.n. saying it is basically not fit for purpose, and the israelis saying to us and others today that it is still basically -- officials who went there today and yesterday were pretty shocked at what they saw and they want to get everyone out. christian: paul, nada, thank you very much indeed for that. let's bring a former u.s. army at cachet in yemen and pentagon-- attache in yemen and pentagon advisor. you heard paul adams talking about what levers the americans have to pull at the moment. clearly there is growing frustration with some of the intransigence in israel. is he right that actually,

suspending aid is not an option that is on the table? >> thank you for having me. i do think this is a very difficult option. i understand the frustration, and it has been part of these tough discussions, and so it will be interesting to see what from a diplomatic standpoint what the u.s. can do to try to maintain these humanitarian corridors to make sure they remain open. normal -- not only in the southern part of the gaza strip, but to other areas that might need it. it puts tremendous pressure on egypt and any spillover that might happen there. on the military standpoint, diplomatic standpoint, and then this whole conflict contextuay still has quite a big impact and the middle east, egypt is just one, and continued impact on form reserves, whether they can achieve suez canal passings. lots going on. christian: benny gantz, one of

the senior figures in the israel war cabinet, has given hamas till the start of ramadan to come up with a hostages. it is possible they're playing for time, knowing full well what the u.s. position is. they have to keep pressure on hamas. adam: yes, you're right. it has been well published as far as the pressure within the administration, as far as put more pressure on the israelis to stop its campaign, at least to have some type of pause. and so you are right, lots of different messages as well. we have seen publicly from president biden himself some pressure publicly stating come wanting to put some pressure on israel, and israel is defiant, as you said. with the un security council resolution, the third time the u.s. have at let not supported such resolution. christian: even if hamas release

of the hostages, even if hamas was displaced from gaza, prime minister netanyahu has made it quite clear he is opposed to a two state solution and he wants the israeli parlient to vote against it. it would seem benny gantz's on his side in that respect. how do you move -- how can you possibly talk about a grand bargain and what comes after this when the israeli side are not a partner in that process? adam: i think it is very diffult, now's attempt to bring in other regional states. saudi arabia and other regional states have been involved well before this as far as formal the opening diplomatic relations with israel. the saudi's and other gulf states want even more, and in this case a two state solution, as part of some way to rectify and at least bring some type of clure in the medium-long term to what is going on. there still continues to be a

lot of different dynamics, a lot of things change each day, even within the israeli government as well. you just mentioned some of those dynamics and what continues to change on a daily and weekly basis. christian: just a quick one, there are some who see the political fix joe biden is in who are urging him to go to israel and to speak over the head of the prime minister to the israeli public to try to win hets and minds for the plan he is pushing. is that a sensible approach? adam: that very difficult in an election year for the united states. it is definitely an option. prime minister netanyahu has come to the u.s. to speak to the u.s. congress. it is possible, but it matters now, there has been a lot of talk and media and information discussions trying to surround it and shape what each government, each side is thinking, but now comes down to implementation. will the u.s. used tangible levers to pressure the israeli

governmentnto allowing more humanitarian access and trying to end its campaign? there are other factors that behind closed doors become very difficult to overcome. a large number of hostile -- hostages, that naturally requires a military posture, and it is not something where we can do a pinpoint stke or raid. from a practical standpoint that puts tremendous pressure internally on israel and any government and its military campaign. christian: adam clements, really good to get your thoughts this evening. adam: thank you for having me. christian: around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. for our u.k. viewers, let's look at other stories making news today. the chief inspector of immigration has been sacked. the home-office statement said he breached his terms of his appointment. he had been quoted in a publication saying the u.k. border force failed to check the occupants of hundreds of private

jets arriving last year. his contract had been due to expire next month. the sentence of the man found guilty of stabbing three people to death in nottingham is to be reviewed. he was given an indefinite hospital on the basis of a diminished responsibility. the attorney general said the sentence was unduly lenient. and the national trust is reopening the farne islands off the northumberland coast for the first time in two years. the sanctuary is home to about 200,000 seabirds, including puffins and arctic turns. it had been closed because of an outbreak of avian flu. visitors will soon return. you are watching bbc news. all across europe and beyond, farmers are out in protest. today it was poland, nationwide protest against achieve ukrainian grain flooding the

market and eu regulations of the use of pesticides and fertilizer. in spain they have been at it for two weeks, blocking highways and major ports over prices and unfair competition. in greece, farmers hit by flooding and wildfires say they are facing higher energy bills and rising costs. and in india, thousands of farmers are on the march towards delhi demanding a guaranteed minimum for crops. approximate causes for this widescale farmers revolt different and unique in each country, but there is a common sense of grievance uniting them. farmers say their livelihoods have been sacrificed on the altars of free trade and climate change. from poland, here is adam easton. adam: in europe they are saying the proposals to cut the use of pesticides and fertilizers will be even more damaging to them, but particular in parliament, it is because of this chief ukrainian grain which has flooded the polish market.

polish grain stockpiles are at record highs, and they are saying that basically they can't make a living and farmers are asking european union and asking the polish government to put pressure on the european union to impose a complete ban on agriculture imports from ukraine. christian: hearing the u.k., rishi sunak has been keeping praise on british farmers at the annual conference in birmingham. it is the first time in 15 years prime minister has addressed the national farming union. some polls suggest he is in danger of losing the robo to labor, which is why he came -- the rural vote to labor, which is why he came armed today with a sweetener, 250 million pounds for productivity schemes which he described as the biggest ever package of grants. prime min. sunak: as president eisenhower said, fighting looks mighty easy -- farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a

pencil and you are thousands of miles from a cornfield. we are changing the culture. that means trust, support, cooperation. it means cutting red tape that is stopping you from diversifying. in april, for instance, legislation so you can crate bigger farm shops or outdoor venues. it means more funding for grassroots mental health support because we know what a tough job farming is. christian: shortly after the speech i caught up with the deputy president of the national farmers union. >> i think things are certainly bubbling up right away across the u.k. but what we've seen is the policy is going have an acute impact on farming, and that is where the challenge is the greatest. if you look across europe there have been trigger points, whether it be diamond policy, whether it be the dish whether it be climate policy or the rebate on diesel, there have been policy impacts th have triggered the protest. i don't feel in england we are at that point at the moment, but

we need fairness in the supply chain and we need farmers to receive a fair price for the product of their producing. it is critical that government recognizes the importance of domestic food action. we now need policy that delivers food production for the country. christian: the hill farmers, some of the poorest, say the crisis is coming because the-derived basic payment -- the eu-derived basic payment scheme is phased out by 2027, and the government on analysis shows it is those poorer tenant farmers will be hardest hit. what did you hear from the prime minister today that would reassure you? tom: specifically on hill farmers, there wasn't much in the speech that gave them confidence. there has been 400 million pounds of funding, which would've been lost at the end of this parliament that had originally been committed to agriculture. it will be made available in grants and productivity. we are concerned for tenant farmers at the moment. production, it is about wildlife

delivery, not about the shared ambition of food production alongside environmental delivery. there are many concerns at this moment in time. but i do believe with that we don't have the acute issues in any one specific area that will galvanize the industry in the way we have seen across europe. christian: for the benefit of our viewers, taking land out of production is fine if you own the land. but a lot of these farmers don't. they are tenant farmers by definition. they wouldn't get these payments. tom: i also think it is a short-term policy. when you look at the global impact around climate change, geopolitical instability, the fragility of food production, taking this land out of production does not guarantee -- 17 million people living on an island, and when we look at global and securities, we need to prioritize domestic food production in balance with nature. but at the moment one of the things that is creating the biggest imbalance is that we are able to import products which

haven't been produced to the standards we are proud to produce it here in the u.k. that is undermining our domestic market, making it very difficult to get the returns necessary to reinvest in our food supply chn. christian: are you saying it is the government's post-brexit trade agreements which are causing some of the problem? and how receptive is the government to those types of concerns? tom: those initial trade fields that were done with australia and new zealand absolutely undermined our industry. we have seen them walk away from the canadian trade deal. that was a real step change in the negotiation. they really did try to make sure that agriculture was represented in the negotiation. we need to see course standards implemented that make -- core standards and limited that make it illegal to import procts below the standards in the u.k. christian: expressing some of the concerns we are hearing right across europe at the moment. our thanks to our viewers on pbs who are about to leave us. for those staying with us, the

other side of the break we will talk to the brother of julian assange. first date of his appeal of extradition to the united states, which was her today at the high court. what are his chances? we will 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 pbs anytime, anywhere.

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... george: actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. know bdo.