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>> this is bbc world news ♪ america. the u.s. says it still considers israel's operation in rafah to be loaded in scope in the aftermath of sunday's deadly airstrikes. it tanks push further into the center of rafah. ♪ hello and welcome to world news america. i'm caitriona perry. israel has been accused of unleashing further devastation in and around the southern gaza city of rafa.

and israeli strike on tuesday killed 21 people, endangered dozens. the israeli defense forces denied the strikes, saying it has not targeted the area on tuesday. you will hear that directly from an israeli spokesman in an interview later in this program. video from the associated press shows people gathered around body bags location where the strike was reported. this comes after an israeli airstrike onunday sparked a massive fire that ripped rafah through a refugee camp in rafah rafah, killing 45 people. the strike was called a tragic mishap. meanwhile, israel has since strikes into the city center for the first time, where they are believed to have seized control of a key roundabout the heart of the city. roughly a million people have fled israel's operation in rafah over the past few weeks, according to the u.n. agency for pastinians. correspondent: rafah was once gaza's refuge, the safest place in a dangerous war. today, the city's western center was emptying.

those still sheltering here fleeing again, amid airstrikes and artillery fire. king whatever they need to survive, whatever they can't leave behind. there has been no evacuation order from israel's army, and for many, no sense of where to go. >> i am justcorrespondent: theyg two in the displacement camp to the west of the city. still scarred by fires triggered in an israeli airstrike on sunday. dozens dead, survivors spent. there is more than one way to is

and that sunday's strike on hamas commanders in the camp was carried out with precise munitions that would not by themselves have caused so many deaths. >> we are talking about munition with 17 kilos of explosive material. this is the smallest munition that are jets can use. following this strike, a large fire ignited for reasons that are still being investigated. our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size. correspondent: while people fled today, gaza's health ministry said more than 20 were killed in fresh airstrikes to the west, over half of them women. far beyond these borders, three european nations officially recognized a palestinian state, and gaza's last center begins to fall under israeli control.

lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. caitriona: the u.s. says it has expressed concern to israel over the civilian deaths in rafah and expect a full investigation, but the white house national security a communications advisor said the u.s. has no plans to change its israel policy based on those strikes, which the u.s. believes were targeting hamas. >> the strike did kill two senior hamas terrorists who are directly responsible for attacks against the israeli people. as we have also said many times, israel must take every precaution possible to do more to protect innocent life. caitriona: israel's offensive in rafah has continued despite the ruling by the united nations top court ordering it to stop. james smith is among the many international medics helping to treat wounded in gaza. >> my name is james smith. i am an emergency doctor

currently working in rafah in the south of the gaza strip. what we know now about what happened on the night of the 26th of may is horrific. some of the worst stories and testimonies that i have heard in the time that i have been in gaza, and over the course of the ongoing genocidal conflict. on the night of the 26th of may, the team that were working at the stabilization point we re working at, they started to receive from 9:00 p.m. onwards tens of injured patients and many people who had been killed. over the course of the night, they received at least 180 injured people and 20 people that had been killed. those who were injured were treated quickly, stabilized, and many of them, quite a significant portion, were referred on to hospitals for definitive care. the team was so overwhelmed,

they had to request support from doctors and nurses working in another clinic nearby. any patients that were received were presented with many extensive burns, open fractures, shrapnel injuries, explosive wound, major traumatic injuries. caitriona: to hear the israeli government's explanation of the strikes in southern gaza, earlier i spoke to the spokes person for the israeli prime minister's office. thanks for joining us on the show once again, david. i just want to start with the incident on sunday night. british foreign secretary david cameron has called for a swift investigation io how 45 people died following an israeli airstrike in rafah. what can you tell us about what happened? >> thank you for having me on. the israeli army this afternoon released its preliminary results of its investigation. what they found that, while of course we maintain the highest

standards of making sure all of our intelligence is completely correct to make sure that we do not harm civilians as we go after the terrorist masterminds, these two individuals in this case were a terrorist. while we were meticulous making sure there were no civilians in the area, the investigation has found what we did not know was that there seems to have an an arms dump in the hamas compound where these two were meeting to plan their next terrorist attack. it seems that even though two of the smallest munitions israeli has in its possession targeted these two individuals and eliminated them, thus preventing any further terrorist activities, unfortunately the munitions seemed to have caught fire, and from the fire,

civilians have been hurt and killed, which we are extremely sorry about. the prime minister described this as a tragedy, and it is a tragedy when any civilian is caught up in this dreadful war that we did not start. of course, ultimately, all casualties in this war must lay firmly at the feet of hamas. caitriona: you said to make sure there are no civilians in the area, but rafah is one of the most densely populated parts of the earth at the moment. so many people have been displaced there. clearly there were civilians in the area and 45 of them are reportedly dead. >> the first thing, those are hamas figures. we would not take figures from isis for from al qaeda. it is a mystery to me and all of us here in israel why anyone would believe they are the

genocidal organization hamas says. caitriona: are you saying that as far as you are aware, nobody was killed in this incident, that the footage we are seeing is not of this incident, is that what you are saying? >> obviously that's not what i'm saying. that is a ridiculous comment to make to me. we are saying the figures are very often inflated by hamas, even the united nations has eaten a good dose of humble pie over the last few days for relying on hamas figures. hamas has got a long track record. not of this takes away from the fact that civilians have been killed, and that is certainly tragic and not our intention, but it is the hamas strategy. this attack took place 1.8 kilometers, more than a mile away from where the save zone is where we asked civilians to move into. we have asked people and they have heated our warnings in

arabic with emails, text messages, and flyers. we told them to move out of the battle zone, and they have taken her advice. we are happy about that. where they've got access to shelter and food and medical help as well. caitriona: just to jump in, when you mention almost -- both reuters and the afp have reported that is really strikes have hit a cluster of tense where you are saying the idf have told people it is safe to move to, and there have been strikes on tents there. what can you tell us about that? >> if the last two days has taught us anything, it is not to rely on anything which comes out of hamas's mouth. caitriona: this is reuters and afp. >> and they will be quoting hamas. there is little news which comes out of gaza which is -- caitriona: ok, just to get your

view, what is your view of what happened there? we have moved civilians -- >> we have moved civilians out of harms way, put them in the saison in al hiwassee. we are making sure there is food therein that we are taking care of humanitarian needs, but we have move them out of harm's way specific the for the reason that we can go after the hamas, the genocidal, murderous organization of hamas themselves. caitriona: so you have any information, sorry, to bring it back to my question, do you have any information on strikes on tents there today? >> i can tell you categorically that the idf does not strike tents. the tents which israel bought and provided for palestinian civilians and gaza civilians, we do not strike tents. there have been incidents on sunday evening where rockets have been fired from us and only

45 meters away from this, the site that we struck on sunday evening, where we struck these twoerrorists. of course, we go after terrorists and on after civilians. the only people keeping civilians safe right now in gaza is israel. it is not hamas. hamas wants to maximize civilians. caitriona: just on what israel is doing and the idf, we are hearing reports from the bbc and local journalists and people in rafah that the idf has reached the center of rafah, that there are is really tanks at a number of locations at the center of rafah. can you confirm that? >> i can confirm our intention is to take rafah, because that is where the last four battalions of hamas will exist, and we are going to take the last quarter strength size of hamas. it is essential to meet our war aims. caitriona: so you are confirming

what i asked you about the idf being in the center of rafah as we speak. >> i can confirm that we used tanks to fight this genocidal organization -- caitriona: ok, we have to leave it there. thanks for joini us. before we move on, there has been a setback for the delivery of aid from a floating peer constructed by u.s. forces. officials confirmed on tuesday that the pier sustained damage in rough seas and it will not be able to facilitate aid deliveries for at least the next week. here in the u.s., closing arguments in donald trump historic hush money trial are wrapping up after nearly five weeks of testimony. the former president faces 34 counts related to falsifying business records to hide a 130 thousand dollar payment to adult film star stormy daniels. mr. trump's defense team in closing arguments tried to convince the jurors that he is

not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the standard required by u.s. law. the prosecution followed the defense, urging the jury to convict mr. trump of falsify business records to commit election fraud. after closing arguments, the jury could begin deliberations as soon as wednesday, and only a unanimous verdict in convict donald trump. if found guilty, he would become the first former u.s. president with a criminal conviction and the first major party candidate to run for the white house as a felon. mr. trump denies all charges and today reiterated his claim that no climb has been -- no crime has been committed, describing the trial as election interference. for more on today's goings on, let's speak to our north american correspondent. it has been a long day for the jurors sitting through all of this summing up. the prosecution making its case until the end. where is that now? correspondent: the manhattan district attorney alvin bragg

has sat there as prosecutors lay out what is going to be the biggest case of their career. because of that, they are going meticulously through every piece of evidence that they believe corroborates their narrative that donald trump covered up election fraud by falsifying documents to disguise the hush-money payments to stormy daniels. what prosecutors have donis basically hit back, saying that michael cohen is a credible witness because donald trump chose him precisely because he was willing to lie and cheat on donald trump's behalf, and that they catch and kill scheme that they laid out could have very well been responsible for getting donald trump elected. they tell jurors that it is when money changed hands in those hush-money payments as part of that scheme to kill negative stories that would hurt donald trump that they say broke campaign finance laws.

they say that amounted to an illegal campaign contribution, and that is why donald trump should be found guilty. caitriona: earlier, the defense had its turn in summing up. how did the former lawyers frame his -- how did the lawyers for the former president frame his position? correspondent: they really put this to michael cummins credibility, the prosecution's star witness. they said the jury could not convict donald tru alone based on michael cummins words. they painted him as the human embodiment of reasonable doubt and the greatest liar of all time. that was really the core of their argument. though they did also try to undercut some of the prosecution's other claims. they said, for example, that donald trump was busy running the country and the white house when he signed those checks to michael owen, and even though there was nothing illegal about them, he says michael cohen was

paid for legitimate legal work that donald trump also had nothing to do with how those records were labeled in the corporate records. they also tried to say that donald trump never had the intent to influence the election . a very different narrative from the prosecution, the defense saying there is nothing to see here. caitriona: we have seen donald trump that starts out -- star powered supporters on many occasions, but today for the first time, joe biden had a presence of sorts outside the court area tell us about that. -- outside the courtroom. tell us about that. nada: president biden has tried to stay away from commenting on this trial, preferring the criminal justice system play out separate to politics, though he did make a passing reference when he challenged donald trump to a debate. but this is the first time we are seeing the biden harris campaign have a presence at this trial. when asked about that, they said

because correspondence are here incessantly covering the store i'll -- covering this trial, but clearly they want to get on the coverage -- get in on the coverage. so they called robert de niro, the actor was here. he just put out a hat with the -- put out an ad with the biden-harris campaign. he did not touch on the trial at all, but he did pay donald trump as a threat to democracy itself. he says that gift trump wins the white house, there is a real possibility that he will never leave and will destroy american democracy and the values americans take for granted. i asked robert de niro about the fact that the campaign was here and it underscores how concerned they are about donald trump winning the election, and he said he absolutely was concerned. presence here from robert de niro. we will see if the campaign uses the final days of the trial as the jury deliberates to make further statements.

caitriona: nada, thanks for that. for more on what is going on in the courtroom, let's bring in a u.s. federal prosecutor. the court has been fairly uniform in finishing up on time every day, but today they started wider early, running quite late, making it 10 hours or so for the jury. how much information can injury take in, does a jury need to take ian on this final day? >> they will not take in everything, but the reason to do this today is to try to be fair. by that, i mean force both sides , defense and prosecution, to finish up today so that no one goes home tonight and gets a second bite at the apple. that is part of it. secondly, just as marchand certainly assumes that these jurors have heard a ton at this point. i think the idea is to get this

in the can, so to speak, to be very respectful over the juror'' time and just to get it done. i expect that he will try to force this to be finished up in the next hour. caitriona: of course, the burden of proof is on the prosecution. do you think of the case? have they met that high bar of establishing their allegations beyond a reasonable doubt? faith: as mentioned in the last few minutes, each site has an incredibly different word. -- different burden. on the defensive side, they go first because they do not have the burden, but the defense is trying to raise a doubt in at least one juror's mind. that is all they have to do. their point is the case is built on a liar, michael cohen, as mentioned, and that the president, who is the leader of the free world, i think that was said several times in closing, would not have bothered to personally review triple biz -- trivial business ledger records

in his business's recordkeeping, that that would not have been his role. he was nowhere close to it. also, implicitly there is that this is a trivial case that should not be brought against a presidential candidate in a former president. explicit lee, the defense is saying this is election interference, a democratic prosecutor in a democratic state trying to take down trump, but also saying if you are going to attack the president, bring a significant case. do not bring a case that is about small business records that anyone, a ceo or a president, would never have their hands on. on the others, the prosecution is saying this is an incredibly significant case in american history. they would not have brought it otherwise. it has to do with the fact that this presidentl candidate in a very close case where the axes hollywood tapes have been

released that show real vulgarity towards women by trump could not withstand the revelation that he had had an affair or had slept with acorn star -- a porn star. the prosecution emphasized over and over again that this case is worth the jurors' time and is a really important point in american history. the prosecutors painstakingly went through every single transaction in the case, not just about cohen. they me the point that cohen was picked by trump because he will is a liar, because he was dishonest, because he could do these terrible things and trump knew that. the importantly, for the prosecution today, they went with a line of evidence, including tapes with trump on it , and tried to --with cohen's

testimony. caitriona: we have heard a lot of salacious detail that centers on financial charges, 30 or of them and a lot of fine detail -- 34 of them and a lot of fine detail to go through. does the jury have quite a body of work ahead of them once they get into the juror room? faith:hey do, and it depends on what the jurors want to do. they may quickly take a straw poll amongst themselves and say we really have consensus here and could see a quick verdict. consensus could be this is a trivial case, that donald trump is cash talking about this conspiracy, let's get out of here. jurors have been sitting there for a long time. maybe a quick verdict. i would think that if the viewers, -- i would think that the jurors, if they want to reach consensus, will take their time here, knowing the stakes. caitriona: faith, thanks for bringing us your thoughts as always. faith: thanks.

caitriona: before we go, some space news for you. new radar images on venus's surface are challenging scientists' perception of the planet's volcanic activity. researchers compared this 3d model on venus's surface of those taken from the early 1990's. scientists say the new rock formations were possibly created by fresh lava flows, suggesting active all cano's on the planet researchers have long suspected venus has active volcanoes, but research points to more volcanic activity on the planet than previously believed. you can find out all about the day's news on our website, bbc announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the newshour tonight, the defense and prosecution make their closing arguments in former president trump's criminal hush money trial. geoff: israeli tanks reach the center of rafaas outrage and tensions intensify in the wake of sunday's deadly strike on a refugee camp. amna: and sudan's brutal civil war brings mass killing, torture and looming famine to millions