this is bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: explosion. day five of the fighting. israel intensifies its attack on gaza and palestinian militants continue firing rockets at the israelis. a warning from the world health organization that year two of the covid pandemic is on track to be far deadlier than the first. india continues to suffer more than most, but is the government's own legislation hampering the battle? and as the countdown continues to the tokyo olympics, fresh concerns over whether the games will actually go ahead.

hello and welcome to bbc news. violent clashes between israeli troops and palestinians have spread across much of the occupied west bank following days of hostility in gaza. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has warned israel's biggest offensive against hamas in gaza in years is not over yet. it's estimated 10,000 palestinians have fled their homes due to the israeli bombardment. rockets were fired by militants towards israel from the territory for a fifth day. at least 122 people in gaza have been killed and nine have died in israel since fighting began on monday. from jerusalem, here's our middle east editor jeremy bowen. the sectarian crisis that nobody expected is deepening. tonight, arab protesters are on the streets of northern israel. this was nazareth.

israel's arab citizens have forced themselves back into the wider conflict that includes gaza and jerusalem. it is ugly and angry in towns shared byjews and arabs. violence between citizens could be a bigger crisis for israel than gaza. this was a burnt—out jewish school. yelling. police broke down the door of this family in haifa. they deny accusations their sons were attacking jews but police say their offices behaved correctly. woman screams. the father, the imam of a mosque, and his two sons were arrested for attacking police officers. the woman who filmed this said they are scared not ofjews, but of racist police. a local rabbi visited, she said, to apologise.

child cries. in gaza, they buried this 13—year—old. he was hit during an israeli air strike while he waited for a new haircut to celebrate the end of ramadan. half of gaza's 2 million palestinians are children. this is the boy's brother. in the occupied territories and in israel, events this week have exposed once again the mutual hatred and fear that are the essence of this conflict. this was hebron during a day of protest on the occupied west bank. more palestinians were killed. gunfire. injerusalem, palestinians pelted jewish settlers with stones and fireworks. the settlers hit back with live bullets. gunfire. this was sheikh jarrah, where attempts to evict palestinians from their homes helped the escalation to war. the conflict crosses borders.

injordan, the country next door, security forces kept protesters back from the frontier. palestinians make up more than half of thejordanian population — mostly refugees from past wars not permitted to return by israel. history never dies in this conflict. people do. jeremy bowen, bbc news. refaat alareer is an author and professor of world literature and creative writing at the islamic university of gaza. for the past week, refaat has been writing and sharing his eyewitness accounts of the devastation and suffering in gaza. we can speak to him now, live. thank you for talking to us on bbc news so let me ask you festival to give me an idea of what life is like in gaza right

now. but if you first of all. you can perhaps hear in the background there is always a bomb shelling, there is always strikes, drones and m—i6 is. the situation in gaza is utterly devastation. we are speaking about 104 palestinians slaughtered in four or five days by the israeli occupation forces and we are talking about almost total destruction to infrastructure, to roads in large areas around the gaza city where the roads to the hospitals were cut off, electricity was lost for hours and hours, even water and sewage, internet connection is still lost in the area in many places. schools were damaged, huge buildings were destroyed, homes were destroyed upon the

heads of the residence while they slept. this week about destruction that israel is particularly bringing against palestinians, we are speaking about 50% of those victims massacred by israel being children and women. we are talking about israel targeting clinics where covid—19 services are provided to palestinians who are plagued by the pandemic. israel is doing this and israel is doing this because the uk supports israel because the uk supports israel because america has given israel the green light and the people here are living in fear and the children in particular are terrorised and the kind of missiles, the m—16 is used, are ones that shake the whole area, evenif ones that shake the whole area, even if they strike two or 35

kilometres away, we will be shaking and shaking. i cavort to or three orfive. i shaking and shaking. i cavort to or three or five. i told my wife i'm afraid to shave because i don't want to cut myself. i'm afraid to even use my toothbrush because i don't want to poke my eye if israel strikes here or there. it is total destruction. - strikes here or there. it is total destruction. acro - strikes here or there. it is i total destruction. acro two, israel says it is targeting hamas, israel says that it is retaliation for hundreds of rockets fired into israel. what do you say to that? {131 rockets fired into israel. what do you say to that?— do you say to that? of course israel is going _ do you say to that? of course israel is going to _ do you say to that? of course israel is going to say - do you say to that? of course israel is going to say that. . israel is going to say that. i'm sorry to say this but the bbc itself is helping the israeli americans and the way that the reporting is being just framed, the discourse used, sectarian, the way your reporters are speaking about eight and how usually the

israelis retaliate, this is totally wrong. israel is targeting everybody, everybody is a target. it is not something that we feel, it is not something we have in mind. you can see this in the pictures and in the videos. this is not an israeli war on hamas or hamas members, this is a total war on each and every single child and woman and sick person here in the gaza strip. the issue here is not hamas, this is not an issue of rockets, this is an issue of brutal colonial occupation, massacring us, not today, not last year, not last decade, because there was no hamas in the 40s and there was no hamas in the 60s or 70s or 80s. there were no rocket 15 years ago and

still, israel is getting palestinians —— killing. there are no rockets in the west bank and injerusalem, you have seen the pick is how the racist are pied —— racist apartheid programme of israel is pushing people, to bomb us into surrender, into accepting to be occupied, we are humiliated, and never asking for our sick human rights, a right to freedom or rights for independence or rights to be treated as a human, as human beings, so this is not something between hamas or palestinian, their legitimate resistance. at the same time when we talk about hamas firing rockets, it's not forget that israeli stations, its military officers are deep inside its cities. israel literally uses its citizens as human shields

around the gaza city. look at the tanks israel is rolling around the gaza borders. they are stations between houses and omits the city so what i'm saying here is that even this is the new wave of israeli aggression, that is the symptom and if we want to deal with this... ,, ,, �* and if we want to deal with this... ,, ,, ~ ~ ., ., i. this... crosstalk. what do you want to see _ this... crosstalk. what do you want to see happen? _ this... crosstalk. what do you want to see happen? where - this... crosstalk. what do you want to see happen? where do. want to see happen? where do you think the answer lies to get out of this?— you think the answer lies to get out of this? the end to the occumtion- — get out of this? the end to the occupation. an _ get out of this? the end to the occupation. an end _ get out of this? the end to the occupation. an end to - get out of this? the end to the occupation. an end to the - occupation. an end to the israeli occupation. realistically.- israeli occupation. realistically. israeli occupation. realisticall. , , realistically. this is the same issue, realistically _ realistically. this is the same issue, realistically israel, - issue, realistically israel, netanyahu can just come in a phone call, can enter this but he doesn't want to do this because he is using palestinians to make political gains —— can end this. crimes on palestinian bodies to make, to protect himself politically.

netanyahu and other israeli leaders, we've seen them, we've heard them, they have always used gaza, especially gaza, palestinians in gaza particularly, to brag about how many palestinians they killed, how many palestinians they massacred in order to win more israeli... 0k. so i want an end israeli... ok. so i want an end to western — israeli... ok. so i want an end to western support. britain started this in 1917 giving palestine to the zionist movement, america is giving israel the green light to kill and massacre, the billions given to israel have to stop, germany has to bear responsibility for what it did in the 30s and 40s, another palestinians, not the native palestinians, not the native palestinians in palestine. thank you very much once again refaat for answering our questions. refaat for answering our questions— refaat for answering our questions. refaat for answering our cuestions. ., ~ ., ., questions. thank you for having me. the head of the world health organization says the second year of the coronavirus pandemic will be deadlier

than the first. tedros ghebreyesus urged rich countries to reconsider plans to vaccinate children and instead donate jabs to the covax scheme for poorer countries. i understand why some countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents but right now, i urge them to reconsider and instead donate vaccines to covax. because in low and lower middle income countries, vaccine supply has not been enough to even immunise health and care workers. for more on this, here's professor martin mckee from the london school of hygiene & tropical medicine. i think if you look at what's been happening in india, you see why he is saying it and now, of course, we are seeing the same thing happening in nepal and neighbouring countries in asia. there's still a lot of potential for spread in africa that we have not seen yet. but clearly, there's a real risk there. as long as this virus continues to circulate, it will continue to mutate, and that is the real worry. until we can get levels down everywhere, that means getting

everyone vaccinated and, as dr tedros said, such as the vaccination, it's a combination of the vaccination and the public health measures. then we can be more optimistic, but we're still far away from that yet. so we understand the concept that if the coronavirus is somewhere, it is everywhere. so your priority in that case of the international community is to do what? priority is to get as many people vaccinated as possible while keeping it under control with the continuation of public health measures, which we can do now everywhere, of course. this is bbc news, a reminder of our headlines: as israeli strikes against targets in gaza continue, prime minister benjamin netanyahu warns the offensive against hamas is not over yet. the world health organization has warned that the second year of covid is on track to be far deadlier than the first. the indian prime minister narendra modi has warned that coronavirus is spreading at great speed in the vast rural areas of the country.

his warning came as the country is reeling from a second wave of the virus. but laws brought in by the indian government are hampering the battle against covid because they prevent some aid teams from distributing donations of vital oxygen equipment. sima kotecha reports. the horror continues to unfold in india, asker and batters every corner of the country. -- is —— is coronavirus batters every corner of the country. story after story of losing loved ones. now, those trying to help are saying that they are paralysed by government legislation. the aim is to make sure that you are not caught up in so much paperwork that you're not able to work, or that you have to shut up your operation. it is to do with the foreign contributions act which was amended at the height of the first raid of coronavirus last year.

the rules mean that ngos and charities must register under the fcra before they can function. any funding coming from abroad must be put into specific branches of the state bank in india in new delhi as notified by the government. ngos can no longer distribute foreign contributions to other charities, so subcontracting is forbidden. however, we have spoken to several ngos who say that they are preventing key supplies from getting to those who need them the most. our capacity to prevent deaths and do what we have to do, to fight covid has been severely compromised because of this legislation. so are you saying that it is potentially causing deaths? well, that is the damage, definitely, a lot of it. narendra modi and his government is suspicious of foreign funded

activity. in the past it has accused mainstream charities of holding economic development. his critics have said that they are implementing legislation to silence those speaking out against him. but the indian government says that it is about greater transparency, and stopping the misuse of foreign funds. these are wrong and malicious interpretations. some of these are big names, we have spoken to amnesty international, others that i don't want to name. the point is that we have laws in this country, if you want to look at india with different eyes, that it is some small banana republic, i am sorry, we can help it. we make up our own laws, we are a sovereign country. as the covid crisis in india deepens, some ngos are worried about even more deaths because of what they call unnecessary bureaucracy, and restrictions. china is on the brink of becoming the second country ever to successfully land a rover on mars, after the united states.

the zhurong rover has been circling the planet since february, while the craft that that carried it there maps out a safe landing site, avoiding boulders and craters. china expects to make the landing sometime between saturday and wednesday. dean cheng is a senior analyst at the heritage foundation think tank focusing on china's space programme, and joins me now. has a rover on mars been a long—term plan of china or is it something it has been working on quite recently? china has been planning a variety of exploratory programmes for some time. the mars probe looks like it is bubbly about five years old, from conception to completion, but it ties into the long—term chinese effort that dates back several decades.— chinese effort that dates back several decades. how difficult is this mission _ several decades. how difficult is this mission going - several decades. how difficult is this mission going to - several decades. how difficult is this mission going to be - several decades. how difficult is this mission going to be for| is this mission going to be for the chinese, is a tricky one to do? �* , , ., ., ., the chinese, is a tricky one to do? �* , i. ., ., ., do? any time you are landing on another planet's _ do? any time you are landing on another planet's surface, - do? any time you are landing on another planet's surface, that i another planet's surface, that is quite a challenge, and in

the chinese case it is notjust landing, they want to deploy a rover. that seems to be literally as we speak —— that seems to be occurring literally as we speak. not many countries have done this, the us has deployed two rovers on mars, china has deployed one on the moon, but that is about it. if the chinese mission is successful, they will only be the second country to successfully land and explore mars. . , , , successfully land and explore mars. . ,, , . , mars. that is pretty incredible isn't it if you _ mars. that is pretty incredible isn't it if you think _ mars. that is pretty incredible isn't it if you think about - mars. that is pretty incredible isn't it if you think about it, i isn't it if you think about it, how important is the space mission to the chinese government?- mission to the chinese government? mission to the chinese covernment? , government? the chinese view sace as government? the chinese view space as tied — government? the chinese view space as tied to _ government? the chinese view space as tied to every - government? the chinese view space as tied to every aspect . space as tied to every aspect of what they call comprehensive national power. a successful project like this will give them bragging rights in diplomacy, in military aspects, in science and technology, it will be a very proud moment for the chinese communist party relative to their own people, it will send a signal throughout asia about who is

the technological leader, the success of this programme would be a giant shot in the arm for the chinese.— the chinese. how much cooperation _ the chinese. how much cooperation has - the chinese. how much cooperation has there l the chinese. how much - cooperation has there been between the chinese and the us on this, because i imagine they would need to be a little bit at least to get this to happen? the american scientific community has always been very open with its data, so data from curiosity, from perseverance, all the previous mars missions are a matter of public record, so that presumably has provided the chinese with some initial data about where to pick a landing site. american images of mars would provide you with a sense that this place has a lot of boulders, it is very rocky, we think the chinese are going to land at utopia planitia because we think there is ice there, that probably facilitated by american data but in terms of direct cooperation between nasa and the chinese space agency there has been none stop us laws prohibit that interaction

between the two space programmes.— between the two space programmes. between the two space rourammes. ~ , ., ., programmes. and explain to viewers at — programmes. and explain to viewers at home, _ programmes. and explain to viewers at home, what - programmes. and explain to i viewers at home, what exactly what this rover be doing what it lands? . ., it lands? once the main spacecraft _ it lands? once the main spacecraft has - it lands? once the main spacecraft has landed . it lands? once the main l spacecraft has landed and it lands? once the main - spacecraft has landed and the rover debarked, it will basically drive around a certain distance of probably a few hundred metres. it will be pinging the earth with a ground penetrating radar to see what is underneath the surface. again, utopia planitia, where we believe it has landed, we think there is a mass potentially, a mass of ice underneath the surface. water is incredibly important if we are going to send people to mars, because you really cannot take all of your consumables. like matt damon, you would like to be able to draw upon the resources of mars. but unlike matt damon _ resources of mars. but unlike matt damon you _ resources of mars. but unlike matt damon you don't - resources of mars. but unlike matt damon you don't want l resources of mars. but unlike | matt damon you don't want to starve yourself to death halfway through the film. laughs. no.— halfway through the film. laughs. no. ~ ., ., , laughs. no. we want a better endinu. laughs. no. we want a better endin9- yes- — laughs. no. we want a better ending. yes. you _ laughs. no. we want a better ending. yes. you do _ laughs. no. we want a better ending. yes. you do want - laughs. no. we want a better ending. yes. you do want to i laughs. no. we want a better| ending. yes. you do want to be careful and _

ending. yes. you do want to be careful and you _ ending. yes. you do want to be careful and you don't _ ending. yes. you do want to be careful and you don't want i ending. yes. you do want to be careful and you don't want to i careful and you don't want to have to do a i am man routine. the chinese themselves have said the rover will collect rocks in expectation they will send a future retrieval mission, retrieval mission, so they can bring back rocks from the red planet, which has never been done before. that the red planet, which has never been done before.— been done before. that is an incredible — been done before. that is an incredible feat _ been done before. that is an incredible feat to _ been done before. that is an incredible feat to have. i been done before. that is an incredible feat to have. we l been done before. that is an l incredible feat to have. we are getting very —— various unconfirmed reports of the landing status as i speak, some good and some bad. what would be a good landing status and the bad landing status? at, be a good landing status and the bad landing status? a good landin: the bad landing status? a good landing status _ the bad landing status? a good landing status is _ the bad landing status? a good landing status is a _ the bad landing status? a good landing status is a lot - the bad landing status? a good landing status is a lot like i the bad landing status? a good landing status is a lot like an i landing status is a lot like an aeroplane landing, any landing you can walk away from. if the rover, if the spacecraft lands, soft lands, the rover is able to deploy and send any images back, the chinese team will be ecstatic, and rightfully so. a bad landing would be one if, for example, the lander comes down out of control, if it

lands on top of a boulder, so it tips over, if the tracks that are supposed to allow the lander to come off the vehicle don't deploy, there are a lot of ways things can go wrong, because you are operating very, very far away. in fact the landing process itself is often termed the seven minutes of terror, because as it starts the descent you are hearing messages from seven minutes ago, so for seven minutes you have no idea whether that craft has landed or ploughed into the martian surface.— martian surface. unbelievable, thank ou martian surface. unbelievable, thank you very _ martian surface. unbelievable, thank you very much, - martian surface. unbelievable, thank you very much, for i thank you very much, for explaining so eloquently what the rover is all about and what they are hoping to achieve, thank you once again. thank you for having _ thank you once again. thank you for having me. _ and it was the martian, matt damon film that we were referring to there. japan has declared a state of emergency in three more regions hit hard by the pandemic, casting further doubt over whether the tokyo olympic games should go ahead.

70% of japan's population is now under coronavirus restrictions. courtney bembridge has the details. the countdown to the olympic games continues, with the opening ceremony less than 70 days away. but it's infections continue to rise injapan, the government has declared a state of emergency and three more regions. of emergency and three more reuions. �* ,, �* j regions. translation: by implement _ regions. translation: by implement things - regions. translation: by implement things such i regions. translation: by - implement things such measures we will protect people's health and lives and i think it is more possible to hold a safe and secure games and i wish to push forward with preparations. many people injapan aren't convinced. this week there have been protests and a petition with more than 350,000 signatures, calling for the games to be scrapped. recent polling shows 37% of respondents want the game is cancelled, and another 28% want them postponed. the union representing hospital doctors agrees, it has warned the games could become a super spreader

event for global coronavirus variants. event for global coronavirus variants-— event for global coronavirus variants. �* ,, ~ , event for global coronavirus variants. �* ,, ~ variants. translation: it is a tou~h variants. translation: it is a tough story — variants. translation: it is a tough story for— variants. translation: it is a tough story for athletes, i variants. translation: it is a tough story for athletes, but i tough story for athletes, but someone has to say that the games need to be cancelled. we think medical workers are required to speak up. sponsors who are nervous, _ required to speak up. sponsors who are nervous, one - required to speak up. sponsors who are nervous, one major. who are nervous, one major olympic partner, toyota, said this week: we are conflicted every day over what the best course of action is. test events are already under way. on friday it was skateboarding. the sport is due to make its olympic debut at tokyo. the world athletics president says we must move forward. it is important — we must move forward. it is important to _ we must move forward. it is important to reflect - we must move forward. it is important to reflect on i we must move forward. it 3 important to reflect on one statistic, and it is a sobering one. 70% of olympians only make it to one games. so, you know, too lightly, too lightly as some are suggesting move it a year down the line pull stumps on this, is effectively saying

for three quarters of olympians, that's it, that's your chance. and i think we should make every effort, if we can do it safely and securely which i believe we can, i think we really should go that extra mile. , ., mile. elsewhere in the world they are getting _ mile. elsewhere in the world they are getting ready. i mile. elsewhere in the world they are getting ready. this| mile. elsewhere in the world | they are getting ready. this is brazil's government vaccinating its athletes, coaches, referees and accredited media. overseas spectators have been banned, and a decision on whether the japanese public can attend is due injune. if it does go ahead, this is sure to be a very different olympics. if you enjoyed watching bbc news you can go to our website, bbc .com, for the latest stories you have been watching here. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @bbcmaryam. thank you for watching, goodbye from us.

hello there. if you're waiting for a prolonged, dry, warm spell of weather, you'll have to keep on waiting because this weekend it is going to stay cool and there will be plenty more heavy, thundery downpours. on the atlantic satellite picture you can see this big pipeline of cloud just ploughing its way from west to east. you can think of this line of cloud as something of a barrier. it's keeping the warm air away from our shores. that air will lift temperatures across parts of southern spain this weekend into the low to mid 30s. but for us, we are stuck in cool air and we are stuck under the influence of low pressure. this will bring showers or longer spells of rain through the weekend.

a band of cloud with outbreaks of rain drifting northeastwards across england and wales, clipping into northern ireland as we head through saturday morning. behind that, well, we revert to that mix of sunshine and showers. some of the showers will be heavy with hail and thunder. not too many showers across scotland. certainly across the northern half of scotland as we go through the day. although for shetland it will stay pretty grey and damp all day long. temperatures struggling for north—eastern areas, just 11 degrees. even in the best of the sunshine, 15 or 16, through saturday evening the showers will try to fade but actually i think through the early hours of sunday morning, the showers will pep up again down towards the south—west. that is the first sign of what is going to be quite a turbulent day of weather on sunday, as this area of low pressure moves right on top of the uk. that means the air will be very, very unstable. so while most places will start with some dry weather and some sunshine, keep an eye on the skies, you will see big thunder clouds developing.

some really intense downpours with frequent lightning, some hail, some very squally, gusty wind and some particularly strong winds down towards the channel islands. there will be some sunshine between the showers but temperatures below par, 11 to 15 degrees. and as we head to the start of next week low pressure will still be close by. that means we will see further showers or longer spells of rain through the week ahead. some of those showers always with the potential to be heavy, possibly thundery. some sunshine in between, but no sign of anything warm on the horizon.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

violent clashes between israeli troops and palestinians have spread across much of the occupied west bank. israel's prime minister has warned that israel's biggest offensive against hamas in gaza in years is not over yet. it's estimated 10,000 palestinians have had to leave their homes to flee the bombardment. the head of the who says the second year of the coronavirus pandemic will be deadlier than the first. dr tedros ghebreyesus urged wealthier countries to donate vaccines surplus to low income countries instead of vaccinating children. there have been more than 160 million cases of covid worldwide. japan has declared a state of emergency in three more regions hit hard by the pandemic, casting further doubt over whether the olympic games in tokyo should go ahead. a petition has been submitted to the capital's governor, calling for the entire event to be cancelled. now on bbc news, click.