this is bbc news. the headlines at six: as the conflict between israel and palestinians in gaza enters its seventh day, ten children are among the dead in an israeli strike on gaza, the un pleads for peace. fighting must stop. it must stop immediately. rockets and mortars on one side and aerial bonbardments on the other must stop. i appeal to all parties to heed this call. efforts to combat the india variant of covid ramp up in england, as the health secretary urges caution. i'm confident that we can take the step tomorrow, but we should all be careful about how we take that step. parents pay tribute to their two year—old son,

george hinds, who was killed in a suspected gas explosion in lancashire. and if you fancy a job as a live—in officer at a medieval castle on a remote island, st michael's mount is hiring. good evening. the united nations secretary general has appealed for an immediate end to the fighting between israel and the palestinians. it comes as health officials in gaza report that forty two people were killed in the latest israeli bombardment, among them ten children. israel says hamas has launched 3000 rockets in the last week, killing ten israelis. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen reports from sderot, in southern israel.

these were the heaviest israeli raids on gaza since this war started. it was also the deadliest day for palestinians. at the centre of the killing in the heart of gaza city, they were looking for survivors. he says, "raise your voice so we can hear you. "are you 0k?" there were not many survivors, body after body was taken away. translation: when i was carrying my small boy, he told me, - "dad, i don't want to die." what more do you want from him? there is no safety in this city. benjamin netanyahu, israel's prime minister, met military advisers at the ministry of defence in tel aviv. leaks said a cabinet meeting did not discuss a ceasefire. the israeli army showed us its anti—missile system, iron dome, very close to gaza's boundary wire. they say it shuts down around 90%

of the missiles fired out of there. previous wars between israel and hamas have ended with mediation, generally with egypt involved, leading to a ceasefire. contacts have been made, but it's a difficult process, because each side needs to get to the point where they can say to their people that the sacrifices, the damage, the killing, were worth it. if israel takes this to the next level, with a ground invasion of gaza, that process gets knocked on further into the future. the 2014 war lasted for nearly two months. iron dome is one reason why israel suffers fewer casualties than gaza. another is the intensity of the israeli attacks. civilians of course aren't our target. they never are. but you do kill them. any loss of life on both sides of this conflict, any loss of civilian life is tragic. while we were there, they launched.

a volley of missiles was heading out of gaza, north towards the israeli town of ashkelon. iron dome didn't stop all of them. this is where they hit. back in gaza, rescue teams were still looking for survivors and still finding bodies. eventually, there will be a ceasefire, but until the essentials of the conflict are tackled and settled, the killing will not stop. jeremy bowen, bbc news, in southern israel. as i mentioned, the un security council is meeting the king ofjordan has been involved in mediation efforts between israel and the palestinians, and there's a lot of this going on behind the

scenes. there's a council meeting which took place this afternoon to discuss the violence. secretary—general antonio guterres opened the meeting a short time ago and called for peace. we meet today amid the most serious escalation in gaza and israel in years. the current hostilities are utterly appalling. this latest round of violence only perpetuates the cycles of death, destruction and despair and pushes further to the horizon any hope of coexistence and peace. fighting must stop. it must stop immediately. rockets and mortars on one side and aerial bonbardments on the other must stop. i appeal to all parties to heed this call. the united nations is actively engaging all sides towards an immediate ceasefire. the hostilities have already caused unconscionable death, immense suffering and damage

of vital infrastructure. apologies for the noise. there was distortion on his microphone on his computer. nothing to worry about. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu appeared on cbs' face the nation earlier today, where he responded to international criticism of israel's attacks, including the deaths of palestinian civilians. hamas is criminally attacking us from civilian neighbourhoods, from schools, from homes, from office buildings. that's what they're doing and we're taking action, trying to target them with as great precision as we can. unfortunately, there are occasionally civilian casualties which we regret, but here's what happens. when the international community attacks israel, they're actually encouraging hamas to continue these attacks because hamas, we're both killing israeli civilians and unfortunately, they're happy with

their own casualties because they're focusing their attacks on israel instead of hamas. that's unproductive because what it does, is prolong the conflict and escalate and increase the number of casualties that happen as a result. benjamin netanyahu benjamin neta nyahu talking benjamin netanyahu talking to face the press on cbs. police are investigating video footage appearing to show anti—semitic language being shouted from a convoy of cars in london. footage on social media showed cars covered with palestinian flags, with passengers shouting offensive language. borisjohnson wrote on twitter: 0n the eve of a big step in lockdown

easing for much of the uk, there's a warning for people to be cautious because of rising cases of the so—called india variant. the health secretary says he's optimistic that existing vaccines will work against the variant of the disease. matt hancock has also defended the decision to press ahead with lifting more lockdown restriction in england tomorrow, despite concerns about the spread of the strain. 0n the eve of life tiptoeing one step closer to normality in england, scotland and wales, this was bolton today. hundreds of people one step closer to a jab in a hotspot for the so—called indian variant of the virus. no, not concerned. should be ok with, hopefully, the vaccine to squash it. very concerned, but hopefully with the injections, we'll be fine. do you think the government should continue to open up from tomorrow? yeah, i think as long as everyone's cautious and follows the rules. - yeah, i think it's -

important, definitely. of the 18 people in hospital in bolton with the indian variant, most have not had a vaccine. but... there are five people who have ended up in hospital having had one jab, and this is why it's so important to get the second jab. so, nobody who's had two...? well, we think there's one person, but that person was frail. scientists acknowledge there's still a lot they don't know about the variant. we are still quite uncertain about many, many things, | including the effectiveness of the vaccine. _ so, i think it's very. early days, i think it's a very difficult decision. there are two ways you can go — try and stamp on it locally or- try to improve vaccine . coverage across the uk. the clunk of cutlery polished in oxford the night before the day to come, with the health secretary circumspect rather than celebratory about this

latest localisation of the rules. i'm confident that we can take the step tomorrow, but we should all be careful about how we take that step. so, you asked me about eating and doors with people. it's still safer to eat outdoors rather than in when the weather allows. you asked about hugging people. when people have had both jabs, then it is... that is pretty safe. ministers insist they restricted travel from india as soon as the evidence made that essential, but labour says the government was to slow. they should've put india on the red list at the same time as pakistan and as bangladesh. since then, we've had this three—week period in which thousands of people have returned from india, and that probably includes hundreds of the new variant covid cases. from tomorrow, the prospect of a drink without being drizzled

on for many, nerves remain about the new variant. but a taste of near normality beckons. chris mason, bbc news. blackburn has been given the go ahead to rapidly increase vaccinations, according to health officials. the public health director for blackburn with says areas where covid is spreading will get additional supplies of the pfizerjab for all residents over the age of 18. last week, blackburn recorded the third highest infection rate in england, with an 89%jump in cases compared to the previous week. dominic harrison has previously said it was �*illogical�* that the government refused surge vaccinations. in other words, all adults being eligible at the same time to be vaccinated. for business that can re—open tomorrow or begin to use their indoor spaces again, it will be a big moment after more than a year of disruption. but many are worried about how they will break even

because of the continuing rules on social distancing. here's our business correspondent katy austin. getting the ball rolling again. this site's been shut for most of the past year. so if you could clean our new lane dividers, that would be fantastic. the team are in, making sure everything's safe and ready for customers. during the total period of lockdown, it's cost us over 100 million in revenue. the boss of this chain believes people will flock back, but he says challenges remain that firms need help with. with regards to the pent—up rent bills and rent demands, a business like ours, we've worked very closely with a lot of our landlords, but there are still some landlords that aren't engaged with the mounting rent bills that are around. it's thought only a third of cafes, restaurants and bars have opened for outdoor dining. and for many of those, poor weather has hit their trade. this group of cafe—bars can't wait to open indoors in england and wales tomorrow, though under government guidelines, it still won't be business as usual. everything is much more military. we're greeting people

at the door, we're taking them to their table, table service. we love to get back to what we do. limits on numbers under social distancing means turning a profit or breaking even will be hard for many. what will make us a lot happier is, the 21st ofjune, we need to see those restrictions lifted because opening on the 17th of may will give us a certain amount of revenue, but we still have half the number of covers in our restaurants that we need to survive. i asked the business secretary what would be done to help businesses with rent debts built up during lockdowns. the government is working very. closely together with the treasury i and my department to see if we can. come up with an arrangement whereby tenants and landlords can work - together to make sure that this rent issue doesn't cripple businesses. as the lights come back on this week, firms are desperately hoping this lockdown has been the last.

katy austin, bbc news. the latest figures on coronavirus showjust over 1900 new infections recorded in the past 2a hours and four deaths. 0n vaccinations, the number of people who have had a firstjab has risen above 36 and a half million, or nearly 70% of the uk's adult population. just over 20 million people have had both doses, and that is getting close to 40% of all adults. let's get more on all of this from adam finn, professor in paediatrics at university of bristol, and a member of the government's joint committee on vaccination and immunisation. he is speaking in a personal capacity today. good to speak to you again. thanks

for talking to us this afternoon. i want to talk to you about what's happening in blackburn because when we spoke last week, there was a debate about whether or not vaccines should be made available to all adults rather than going for the sequencing currently planned. what do you think is tilted that the government's view to say to local elf people, go ahead, you can have these vaccines —— health people. i wasn't aware they done that, so i'm ad—libbing now. the approach that we've advised was it was important to focus on providing the vaccines to focus on providing the vaccines to the people at the highest risk, which is the people at the upper end of the age range in their late 30s. as well as accelerating the administration of second doses to older people and people at higher risk. so, that's certainly been the

priority as far as i was aware. maybe things have changed during the course of the day, and i've not been close enough to the news to be aware of that. i’iiii close enough to the news to be aware of that. �* , ., ., ~ ., of that. i'll tell you how we know this. it actually _ of that. i'll tell you how we know this. it actually came _ of that. i'll tell you how we know this. it actually came from - of that. i'll tell you how we know this. it actually came from our. this. it actually came from our colleagues at bbc and northwest tonight to, and it was a tweet from dominic harrison, the public health director, delighted to say they now have a green light to increase vaccinations rapidly, an additional supply of over a thousand of pfizer for both hi variants and all residents over 18, so i know you don't make the policies. but from your point of view, there is nothing changed evidentially that somebody made that more necessary than a —— a few days ago. made that more necessary than a -- a few days age-— few days ago. know, there's not been an further few days ago. know, there's not been any further discussion _ few days ago. know, there's not been any further discussion on _ few days ago. know, there's not been any further discussion on this. - few days ago. know, there's not been any further discussion on this. this i any further discussion on this. this may be a government or a local decision that's been met independently of our advice. in terms of what you're watching with

the vaccinations and the indian variant, we heard from the health secretary this morning that one person in hospital had both their jabs, but apparently, they were described as frail. whether that means they were frail before the had the jabs or before, —— after, i don't know. most of them are people who have had no jabs. it makes it quite difficult from your point of view without small evidence to assess what the risk is and how effective or not effective particular vaccinations may be against this new variant.- particular vaccinations may be against this new variant. yes, it is against this new variant. yes, it is a small number, _ against this new variant. yes, it is a small number, although - against this new variant. yes, it is a small number, although i - against this new variant. yes, it is a small number, although i thinkl a small number, although i think it's compatible with what we thought, which is the two doses of vaccine at least once you've had the second dose are highly likely to protect you against severe disease. of course, that doesn't mean it'll

of course, that doesn't mean it'll guarantee 100% that you'll be protected against severe disease, so there will be exceptions to that. it sounds as though the people at the highest risk are the people who've not been immunised at all. so, that would all point to, and a preliminary way, to what we thought, which is that the vaccines will continue to be useful and protective against serious illness.— against serious illness. speaking at the start of your _ against serious illness. speaking at the start of your personal— against serious illness. speaking at the start of your personal capacity, | the start of your personal capacity, are you comfortable with the decision to carry on with the plan with the option for people to be meeting indoors from tomorrow, including in hospitality?- meeting indoors from tomorrow, including in hospitality? well, it's a calculated _ including in hospitality? well, it's a calculated risk. _ including in hospitality? well, it's a calculated risk. of _ including in hospitality? well, it's a calculated risk. of course, - including in hospitality? well, it's a calculated risk. of course, the i a calculated risk. of course, the more people are in contact with each other, particularly indoors, the more transmission of the virus will occur. we already knew that. as the lockdown restrictions are relaxed,

we've still got viruses circulating all around the country, and that is inevitably going to result in more cases. the worrying situation right now is that there is uncertainty around this, but there's a strong possibility that this strain may be more easily transmitted between people, in which case that relaxation is likely to result in a more rapid and a larger rise in the number of cases than we had been hoping and expecting. so, we'll have to watch very carefully and see what happens next. to watch very carefully and see what happens next-— to watch very carefully and see what happens next. professor adam 's sin, thank ou happens next. professor adam 's sin, thank you very _ happens next. professor adam 's sin, thank you very much. _ happens next. professor adam 's sin, thank you very much. -- _ happens next. professor adam 's sin, thank you very much. -- adam - happens next. professor adam 's sin, thank you very much. -- adam firm. | the parents of george hinds, the two—year old who died following a suspected gas explosion in lancashire, have paid tribute to theirson, calling him a beautiful little angel. at least two houses in heysham were destroyed in the blast in the early hours of this morning, and several others were badly damaged. paul murphy has the latest. from above, the incredible force of this explosion is apparent.

two homes were destroyed, many more have been damaged. debris is scattered across the neighbourhood. residents described the blast atjust after 2:30am this morning as something that felt like an earthquake. it sounded like a bomb going off this morning just after two o'clock and it literally shook the whole bed. we felt like we were going through the floor and then we jumped out of bed and wejust ran, just to see what was going on. it's just awful. this evening, the child who died has been named as two—year—old george hinds. his parents were both injured, but not seriously. another man and a woman are critically ill in hospital. around 30 residents were evacuated overnight to a nearby leisure centre. some of them must now wait while their damaged homes are safety checked. many residents are still in their houses or have gone to friends, so it is quite a small number of people who are actually at

the evacuation centre at the moment, but it is there if people needed. as fire investigators begin their work, george hinds' parents said they were devastated at the loss of their beautiful and precious son and had no words to describe how they were feeling. paul murphy, bbc news. police scotland says that five of its officers were injured, one of them seriously, while trying to disperse thousands of rangers' supporters in the centre of glasgow last night. scotland reporter alexandra mackenzie said it began as celebration for rangers fans before it became violent in the evening. all this started as a day of celebration yesterday for rangers fans, but turned into an evening, as we saw, of drunkenness and violence. around 15,000 supporters and fans had walks from the stadium into the

city centre. now, they have been told not to gather. this was a breach of covid restrictions and we have seen an increase in the number of cases of coronavirus in the city of cases of coronavirus in the city of glasgow. initially, police said it was peaceful, but as the evening progressed, many people left. but those who were still in the square, police said it did turn more violent. the fans that were left became drunk, they started to turn on each other and they started to become violent towards the police. as you said, there are five police officers injured. we understand that one of them has been seriously injured. police scotland decided that the safest thing to do was to move in and disperse the crowds that were left, and earlier, we spoke to police scotlandassistant chief police scotlandassista nt chief constable. police scotlandassistant chief constable. ~ police scotlandassistant chief constable-— constable. where extremely disappointed _ constable. where extremely disappointed that _ constable. where extremely disappointed that people - constable. where extremely disappointed that people do | constable. where extremely . disappointed that people do not listen _

disappointed that people do not listen to— disappointed that people do not listen to the government advice. to show_ listen to the government advice. to show better personal responsibility at a time _ show better personal responsibility at a time when we're still in the midst— at a time when we're still in the midst of— at a time when we're still in the midst of up— at a time when we're still in the midst of up covid pandemic. it's bad enough _ midst of up covid pandemic. it's bad enough that they gathered despite that advice, but the scenes we saw last night— that advice, but the scenes we saw last night were completely unacceptable. drunkenness, loutish behaviour. — unacceptable. drunkenness, loutish behaviour, foolishness.— behaviour, foolishness. there has been reaction _ behaviour, foolishness. there has been reaction to... _ behaviour, foolishness. there has been reaction to... nicola - behaviour, foolishness. there has. been reaction to... nicola sturgeon has been on social media and she said "to say that i'm utterly disgusted by rangers fans who rampaged through glasgow would be an understatement." she called the behaviour sectarian and selfish. she said that she hoped that rangers football club would reflect on what more could be done to tackle the behaviour of fans, albeit a minority of fans, she said. she also thinks

police scotland for the job that they did last night and what she described as difficult. in dangerous circumstances. police scotland have said they will be going through cctv footage of last night, and they said those involved will be identified and arrested. i noticed a tweet on social media. it was one former general secretary of the scottish police federation a few minutes ago. he said this was the worst violence that police in scotland had faced in the last 20 years.— the last 20 years. alexandra henderson _ the last 20 years. alexandra henderson in _ the last 20 years. alexandra henderson in glasgow. - has lockdown left you yearning for the wild outdoors? st michael's mount, a remote island only accessible by boat or at low—tide, is advertising for a live—in employee to work at its medieval castle. andrea 0rmsby has been to find out more. they say an englishman's home

is his castle. well, st michael's mount is quite literally that for around 30 people. now there's room for one more, a live—in castle officer. we've had an overwhelming response, which has been fantastic. we need people who are happy with boats, happy with heights. i just think a real passion for people coming to cornwall or the tourism industry really. newsreel: here in the west, where the cornish coast flings sheltering i on against the atlantic in ireland where loneliness is only another| name for enchantment. st michael's mount has been capturing the imagination for years. i'm the castle steward, and i've been living here for around two years now. what i love about the mount is having a sea view from every window and having the support of the community around you. everyone is really friendly here, and the challenge of living here — it's different from living on the mainland. you can't get a takeaway pizza,

so be prepared for that. if you can cope with that, have good sea legs and fancy a pretty cool address, this might be what you need to hear. don't be scared to apply. i think a lot of people on the socials last night was saying, it's my dream job but i couldn't do this or that. don't be put off by that. it will probably be one of the most life changing experiences for someone to come over. there's no official closing date, but interest has already been huge. andrea 0rmsby, bbc news. doesn't it look stunning? what a job. first we had electric lamps. then we had lasers. now cambridge scientists are developing the next revolution in light that could change the world. they have developed a way of isolating and detecting single particles of light, called photons, at room temperature. that matters because it could help power the next generation of super—quantum computers. here's our science

correspondent richard westcott. so much modern technology already relies on light but there is still more potential locked away in these beams. in a lab in cambridge, this team says it is working on the next light revolution. first we had lamps and then we had lasers which completely revolutionised our lives and our technology and now we may be on the cusp of the third stage in the history of light. we have single photon sources, devices that can emit one particle of light at a time. and that's the key here, being able to separate off those individual light particles. i'll explain why that's important in a second but first, here's how they do it. on this disc here, you can't see it, is a crystal that is one atom thick and it's got little defects on it the size of an atom

and when you fire a laser at those defects they ping out individual out individual photons, individual particles of light, and you can actually see them here. these bright yellow areas are the defects with the photons are coming out. this is where it gets weird. by singling out photons, you can unlock what's as the quantum world, where very, very small things behave very differently. you'll need to pay attention to this bit. so, there are two main properties that we can harness. the first one is superposition and the second one is entanglement. superposition is a particle being in two states at the same time so being up and down at the same time. same time, so being up and down at the same time. entanglement is two particles being inextricably linked, so no matter where they are in the universe, whatever happens to one affects the other one. so, say one is up, the other one has to be up.

when we put these two effects together, we can build something like a quantum computer which is in orders of magnitude more powerful than anything that we can compute today. you then need matthew's sensors to detect them. so, what about practical uses? the quantum world is the only place you can generate genuinely random numbers — the team is now building a quantum random number generator to encrypt things securely online. we are at the start of the quantum revolution, if you like. this is going to be like the industrial revolution. what we have done is develop a room temperature components which are much simpler than the current state of the art which will unlock the potential of quantum technologies. from next level computing to better cameras to more accurate clocks and a more secure internet, the surreal quantum world is hard to grasp,

but the benefits are simple. richard westcott, bbc news, cambridge. a bit easier to grasp thanks to the talent of our weather presenters is the forecast. here's matt taylor. hello. whilst it's been a dry and sunny day for a few of you, for others, there's been some intense showers and thunderstorms and there are more to come again on monday, some of the worst of them in slightly different areas to where we saw through today. still some sunshine in between and whilst we've got the showers around at the moment, some of them will fade through the night, but there will be some continuing, particularly across parts of england and central scotland. a reasonably mild night, i think, for many, with temperatures dropping down into low single figures probably in northern ireland and south—west scotland. now, as we start monday, a fair bit of cloud around, but some sunny spells. many will start dry. there will still be some showers from overnight across scotland, northern and central parts of england, butjust notice how the showers blossom, again, perhaps fewer across the western half of england and wales compared with what we saw through today, but more intense