this is bbc news. i'm philippa thomas, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the un pleads for peace in the middle east conflict, on the deadliest day since the latest hostilities began. civilian casualties continue to rise, with children and the elderly among those killed and injured. previous wars between israel and hamas have ended with mediation — generally with egypt involved — leading to a cease—fire. now contacts have been made, but it's a difficult process. questions for india, after the death from coronavirus of up to 1,600 teachers instructed to help with last month's elections. 140 million doses short — the international covax scheme, to ensure equal access

to covid—19 vaccines is interrupted, as the serious outbreak in india stops large—scale exports. and fears of a covid—i9 outbreak at a hotel in rotterdam force four teams to withdraw from the opening ceremony of the eurovision song contest. hello, and welcome. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has brushed off international appeals for an immediate ceasefire in gaza, saying it will take time to restore calm. he says the military operation against palestinian militants will continue with full force. the un secretary general has appealed for an immediate end to the fighting — but in gaza, health officials say 42 people were killed in the latest israeli bombardment — among them ten children.

meanwhile, israel says hamas has launched 3,000 rockets in the last week, killing ten israelis. 0ur middle east editor jeremy bowen reports. not much is left of this street in the heart of gaza city, after the heaviest israeli strikes since this war started — and the deadliest day for palestinians. they were looking for survivors. he says, "raise your voice so we can hear you — are you 0k?" not many were found alive. families escaped with children who won't forget this day. 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 the city. benjamin netanyahu, israel's prime minister, convened his security chiefs. a cabinet meeting did not

discuss a ceasefire. 0n the way down to the gaza border are some of the communities the government here says must be saved from rockets before it will stop its attacks. israel's leaders said the same thing during the other wars with hamas. the israeli army showed off their anti—missile system, iron dome. they say it shoots down around 90% of the missiles fired out of gaza. previous wars between israel and hamas have ended with mediation — generally with egypt involved — leading to a ceasefire. now, 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 weight of israel's firepower. well, civilians, of course, aren't our target. they never are. but you do kill them. and any loss of life on both sides of this conflict, any loss of civilian life is tragic. but it does happen an awful lot in gaza. and i hear that. and, again, any loss of civilian life is tragic. it happens here as well. 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. but this wasn't a fatal attack. in gaza, a six—year—old girl was pulled out of the rubble.

her mother, two sisters and two brothers were killed. until he saw her, her father thought he was the only one left. "thank god," he said, because one day she might recapture the smiles of all his daughters. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. we'll hear more from jeremy later in the programme. i've also been speaking to steven cook, middle east expert at the council on foreign relations in washington, about whether he sees the possibility of a ceasefire on the horizon. it strikes me that the parties really aren't quite there yet. hamas has a lot of rockets yet to fire, the israeli security cabinet didn't even really debate a cease—fire when it met earlier today, and the president of the united states has basically taken the position that israel has the right to defend itself. so, although it may sound callous, itjust seems that the parties aren't ready

and will continue to fire at each other — and unfortunately, putting civilians in the crossfire. so what is the us envoy doing on the ground? well, the united states sent a deputy assistant secretary of state, which is a very mid—level position in our system, to go and evaluate the situation, to hear out what the israelis have to say, to speak with the palestinian authority — which is not really a party to this conflict — and to report back to washington to determine whether there is an opportunity for more senior—level officials to get involved and try to establish a cease—fire and de—escalate the crisis. clearly that's not the message that he's been sending based on what we're seeing on the ground, as well as what the president of the united states and other senior officials are saying. what do you think when you hear impassioned pleas — and we've heard this again today at the un —

for negotiations towards a two—state solution? well, the two—state solution is a foreign policy unicorn. it is something that american diplomats and others fall back on during these times of crisis. but it seems clear now that there really is no two—state solution — the israelis seem intent on keeping those areas of the west bank that are intended, or believed should be a palestinian state. the fact of the matter is that neither the israelis can provide the minimal needs for the palestinians in a negotiation, and the palestinians can't provide for israel's minimal needs. based on that structural conflict, there really isn't a resolution that will lead to a two—state solution. and we know the structural conflict is very deep because there is a denial of the other side's right to be there. indeed, it's very hard to imagine a successful diplomatic effort if the parties themselves don't even recognise

the other as being legitimate and legitimately a people. so from that starting point, any negotiation to finally resolve the conflict between israelis and palestinians seems doomed to fail. over the last year or so, we've been reporting the normalisation of relations between various arab states and israel. and it does seem there is readiness in the arab world to accept a status quo of a cease—fire rather than a negotiated long—term solution. i think that arab states, like the united arab emirates and bahrain, both believe that their interests are served by establishing normal relations with another powerful country in the region called israel, regardless of what the situation is with the palestinians. i think some of this was based on the false notion that the conflict between israel and the palestinians was well—contained. that isn't the case. i should also note that bahrain and the uae are not democratic

states, so the people of those countries really didn't have an opportunity to weigh in on this normalisation. but, be that as it may, these countries normalised relations because they saw it as in their best economic and security interests to normalise ties with israel, it really had very little to do with the palestinians. stephen cook. in india, as many as 1,600 teachers have died from covid—19 after being draughted in to help run polling stations during local elections last month. their union says many begged to be released from election duty — fearing for their health as india's ferocious second wave took hold. from the state of uttar pradesh, our international correspondent 0rla guerin reports. now, they must stand alone, without their father to guide them and with their grandmother, rajvati, crushed by grief. she tells us the election

killed her son, sushil kumar. he was forced to attend election training. by voting day, he was gasping for breath. that night, he was dead. it was the very picture of a superspreader event, an election in a pandemic in uttar pradesh, a state with more than 100 million voters. critics say for prime minister narendra modi, votes count more than lives. this 21—year—old says her family lost its guiding light. my father was like the god of us. he was everything for us.

i can't forget him in my entire life. i love him, and my mum also. her mother, vimlesh, is gone, too. she watched her husband die. two hours later, she had a heart attack, leaving another empty space that cannot be filled. and across the state, the death toll is growing, lives not lost, relatives say, but squandered. the primary teachers�* union claims 1,600 of its members died because of election duty. we've just arrived at another house where another family is in mourning. the teacher who lived here became ill when he had to go for training before polling day. by the time the election came around, he was in critical condition. he was rushed to hospital, but died a few days later.

lokesh kumar left behind a five—year—old daughter and infant son. his wife, smriti, says he lived for teaching and was their sole breadwinner. his was a death foretold like so many more here, victims of covid, but also of negligence. the teachers�* union tried hard to get the election postponed, but in the end, it was powerless, like its members. 0rla guerin, bbc news, uttar pradesh, india. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why four teams competing at the eurovision song contest in rotterdam have withdrawn from the opening ceremony.

this morning, an indian air force plane carrying mr gandhi's body landed in delhi. the president of india walked to the plane to solemnly witness mr gandhi's final return from the political battlefield. ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour in doing so, it's become the first country in the world to approve the change in the national referendum. it was a remarkable climax to what was surely the most extraordinary funeral ever given to a pop singer. it's been a peaceful funeral demonstration so far! - but suddenly, the police i are tear gassing the crowd, we don't yet know why! the prelaunch ritual is well established here. helen was said to be in good spirits, butjust a little apprehensive. in the last hour, east timor has become the world's newest nation. it was a bloody birth for a poor country, and the challenges ahead are daunting. but for now, at least, it is time to celebrate.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines... the un pleads for peace in the middle east conflict — on the deadliest day since the latest hostilities began. in his latest statement, president biden has insisted his administration is working towards a "sustained calm". i asked our middle east editor jeremy bowen injerusalem if that is as much as can be hoped for, given the level of mistrust between israelis and palestinians. might even be a little ambitious, the way that people are talking at the moment. both sides in this are expressing their determination to go on — of course, they will keep saying that probably until the last minute when they have a cease—fire. president biden himself has always been a very strong, staunch supporter of the israelis — back to the time when he

was a young senator. he's been under quite a bit of pressure from inside his own democratic party — from progressives within that group who would like him to speak out against what's happening in gaza. but that's something that the biden white house has not been doing, and the line which the americans always use in these circumstances — and they've used again — is that israel has "a right to defend itself" and they support that right. you do see some of the paragraphs of activists in the democratic party now saying "#palestinianlivesmatter", trying to align it with black lives matter perhaps. but the biden administration must be very wary of it becoming a domestic story, as well? i think they must be, because the attitudes towards israel have shifted in the united states. they're much more

nuanced than they were — there's still an extraordinary large amount of support for israel in the us — much more than, for example, in europe where there's a lot of loud voices raised in support of the palestinians on this — and incidentally, of course, this is a conflict which polarises people like no other. but there's a group in the states called j street which is designed as a counterpoint to aipac, which is the much more right—wing israeli lobbying. j street goes for an approach which is more centrist and, in israeli terms more leftist — in other words, saying that there has to be an accommodation, and in that accommodation, it must be fair to palestinians, as well — more than fair, it has to be pretty equal. one of the phrases you hear a lot when talking about this in the states is still "two—state solution" — we've heard that from the un today, saying, "this

is the only long—term outcome." i talked to a guest in washington earlier today who said this is a "foreign policy unicorn", it's simply not going to happen. well, they've been talking about it now, and there was a real breakthrough when those words were first uttered about, well, 30 years ago now by a us president. but i think, after 30 years of talking about it, the chances of it happening now are vanishingly small not least because of the attitude over many years of the israeli government which has settled, against international law, hundreds of thousands of its own people in the occupied territories that the palestinians want for that two—state. and, more than that, they've built an enormous infrastructure there which allows for much further expansion. you know, because of the covid

pandemic, this is my first trip back here since just before the pandemic struck in, i think it was february last year. and even in that period, a little over a year, i can see big changes in terms of the road systems that are being built around jerusalem, the way that settlement blocks are being linked up, new tunnels, new bridges, new highways. and they're notjust doing this to solve a traffic problem. for the israeli government, this is all about nation—building and securing territory — the old phrase is "facts on the ground", which means that it stays israeli, it stays injewish hands and doesn't become part of some future state. so the chances in that set of circumstances, of that two—state solution that still gets blithely talked about, you know, is really, really receded. plus, massive lack of

trust on both sides. jeremy bowen. the international scheme set up to ensure equal access to covid—19 vaccines is currently 140 million doses short, due to the continuing covid crisis in india. the serum institute of india is the largest single supplier to covax, but it hasn't made any of its planned shipments since the country's prime minister temporality banned exports in march. now, unicef is calling for the powerful g7 countries — the leaders of which will meet in the uk next month — to urgently share their surplus of doses. the bbc�*s global health correspondent tulip mazumdar reports. it's a global collaboration that's never been tried on this tight time scale before. the aim of the covax scheme is to ensure all people in all countries get equal access to vaccines to protect them against covid—19. some progress is being made, but doses remain vastly unevenly distributed. and now, the pipeline

providing vaccines to some of the world's poorest countries is being squeezed. as india continues its devastating battle against a raging outbreak, the country's prime minister has temporarily banned exports of covid—19 vaccines so that all doses can be used in country. the serum institute of india was due to supply around half of the two billion vaccines for covax this year, but nothing's been shipped since march, leaving a shortfall of around 140 million doses — which is due to rise to 190 million by the end ofjune. unfortunately, we are in a situation where we just don't know when the next set of doses will materialise. our hope is things will get back on track, but of course, the situation in india is uncertain itself. and how much of a concern is that? it's certainly a huge concern, and that's why we are calling on higher—income countries that

have access to doses to start sharing those doses now. the countries are not being forthcoming with donating doses — data commissioned by unicef suggests that the rich g7 nations, as well as the eu could make a big dent in the vaccine deficit in poorer countries by donating 20% of their supplies injune, july and august. this would free up around 153 million doses. so far, france the only country to have already shipped vaccines in view of the crisis in india, pledging half a million doses by mid—june. nations including rwanda, senegal, and here in ghana are using up some of their last remaining doses. it's very important that the global promise of solidarity for those countries that have enough vaccines distribute and share those doses. because, unless we stop the transmission everywhere, it will be very difficult

and this pandemic — even in places where people have been completely vaccinated. —— to end this pandemic. new deals with different vaccine suppliers and manufacturers are already under way to try and get the covax scheme back on track. but right now, there's a gaping hole in supplies which is threatening the global plan to end this pandemic. tulip mazumdar, bbc news. as much of the uk looks forward to easing the lockdown, there's a warning for people to be cautious because of a rise in cases of a covid variant first identified in india. the health secretary, matt hancock, says he's optimistic that existing vaccines will work against the variant. he's also defended the decision to press ahead with lifting more restrictions. in a few hours' time, pubs and restaurants in england and wales will be allowed to serve customers indoors. social distancing is still required, limiting the number of customers. four teams competing at the eurovision song contest

have withdrawn from sunday's opening ceremony, as a precaution against coronavirus. the delegations from malta — one of the favourites to win — and romania have been staying at the same hotel in the dutch port of rotterdam as those from poland and iceland, which have both had a member test positive. anna holligan reports from the hague. holding a singing contest in the midst of a global pandemic was always going to be risky. iceland's quirky 10 years is one of the favourites to win. after a routine test, one of their team was found to have contracted the virus. the result came a day after a member of the polish delegation also tested positive. this was rafal rehearsing poland's entry, "the ride", on stage inside the rotterdam ahoy last thursday, at which point they were all in possession of a negative test. malta, another one of the bookie's favourites,

and romania are staying at the same hotel. as a precautionary measure, they will have the more stringent pcr tests and self—isolate. wave to the people over there! these two cases have occurred, despite the strict covid measures in place. every country was told to remain in a bubble, as the uk's james newman, who is staying in a different hotel, explains. we have to isolate, and then when we get there, we go straight to the hotel and we get tested constantly, obviously, and it is all covid—safe, with social distancing and everything. and we are not allowed to leave the hotel at all, unless we go into the arena, and then we get picked up and we're not allowed to travel with anyone else, and we get separately taken there. and then, you know, in the arena, it's all totally kept separate. every one of the 39 acts competing has a back—up recording in case they are unable to perform on the night.

the organisers pointed out the event is taking place with the support of the dutch government and, in a statement said... but across this host nation, there is a growing concern about the wisdom or otherwise of putting on the world's biggest televised singing competition, designed to unite a continent on one stage, in a time of covid—19. and when there are now approximately 5,000 new infections recorded every day here in the netherlands. and this second positive test is evidence eurovision is not immune. anna holligan, bbc news, in the hague. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @philippabbc. david will be with the from the

next hour. thanks for much for watching. hello. it may come as a shock to those of you who sat under sunny skies on sunday, but elsewhere, there was some severe storms, some flash flooding and also this was sent into us from one of our weather watchers. a funnel cloud, the early stages of a tornado on the west coast of somerset. and the turbulent atmosphere which brought those conditions still with us through the next few days. more thundery downpours to come, nice in the sunshine where you've got it, but overall, rather cool and then potential for something much wetter and windier later in the week. now, out there into the start of monday, the area of low pressure that was with us on sunday moves a bit further eastwards. that allows a bit more of a northwesterly flow across the country and a subtle shift in where we will see some of the heaviest of the showers. now, some of the showers will continue through the night into the morning. a fair bit of cloud around to start your monday, but it will be frost free — temperatures around

5—8 celsius. best of the brightness will be in the west, in fact, in western areas, it will be a drier day overall. 1—2 showers though in the west to begin with, but notice how they are tracking their way eastwards, and as we go into the afternoon, as temperatures rise, its eastern parts of scotland, eastern england, where we are most likely to see some severe thunderstorms, hail and potentially some gusty winds with the risk of flash flooding in one or two spots. western areas, though, as i said, always that bit drier compared with yesterday. nice enough in the sunshine, it will be cooler where the showers occur. the showers will last into the evening, gradually fading away for the vast majority. there will be 1—2 around, particularly for coastal areas as we go through the night and into tuesday morning. and with some clearer skies around, perhaps cooler through the night into tuesday morning, an isolated chance of frost for southern scotland, northern ireland, but most places will be frost—free. the details for tuesday, then, we'll begin with some sunshine, a few early mist and fog patches. cloudier and breezier to the north of scotland, where it will be a rather cool day. a greater chance of showers in northern scotland. showers return, though, to northern ireland, wales and southwest england. this is where the heaviest will be.

fewer showers in southern scotland, northern and eastern england compared with monday. nice in the sunshine, cool out of it. that showery story continues into wednesday. the shower risk pushes a bit further north, then through thursday into friday, it all depends on how quickly an area of low pressure will start to push its way in. there is potential that thursday could be dry, but this deepening area of low pressure will push in with some extensive rain and some strong winds with gales possible in many areas. stay tuned to the forecast to keep up—to—date with that. bye for now.

this is bbc news.

the headlines... palestinian officials in gaza say it's been the deadliest day since the fighting with israel began nearly a week ago. the israeli army says so—far palestinian militants have fired more than 3,000 rockets towards israel. the un secretary general has appealed for an immediate end to the fighting. india is facing international criticism — after the death from coronavirus of up to 16—hundred teachers, ordered to help with last month's elections. the indian teachers union says, many begged to be released from election duty — fearing for their health — as india's ferocious second wave took hold. covax — the international scheme to ensure equal access to covid vaccines is one—hundred—and—forty million doses short. it's intended to supply many of the world's poorest countries but the serious outbreak in india — a major vaccine manufacturer — has stopped large scale exports. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.