the gaza health ministry says more than 1,500 people have now been killed in israeli airstrikes. the un says the situation on the ground in gaza is "dire", with food and water running low. the us secretary of state has vowed unending american support for israel during a visit to the country. and in other news — the leading republican candidate for us house speaker suddenly drops out of the race. hello. i'm caitriona perry. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has told parliament that difficult days await at the swearing in of his new war cabinet.

those comments come as israeli forces continue to strike targets in gaza. israel has cut off fuel, water and electricity supplies to more than 2 million people in an effort to force hamas to release some 150 israeli hostages. amid the destruction on the ground, the un also warns some 50,000 pregnant women in gaza are unable to access essential health services or clean water. israeli tanks were seen gathering thursday along the boundary with gaza — signs of a possible ground invasion. meanwhile, the confirmed death toll continues to rise: gaza's health ministry says at least 1,537 palestinians have been killed in israel's retaliatory air strikes so far. that number includes 276 women and 50 children. another 6,612 palestinians have been wounded. and in israel, more

than 1,300 people have been confirmed dead from hamas�* surprise attacks over the weekend. us secretary of defense lloyd austin is travelling to israel on friday — one day after secretary of state antony blinken's visit — he'll meet with prime minister netanyahu

we couldn't. .. it's not... ..sustainable to live in a state of war for so long. and now it bursts, it burst. vivian was making light of it at first last saturday, until she couldn't. "we may be witnessing a massacre. "enough sense of humour — i'm just telling everybody, "telling you — i love you."

and i write back, "i love you, mum." she writes, "they're in the house now." i said, "i have no words. "i'm with you." she writes, "i feel you." and that was it, that's the last message. their kibbutz was one of the first targets of hamas last saturday, as it's right on the border. they shot dead the people in this car, stormed in and set about killing israelis. by the time the army fought its way back into be�*eri, you can see the ferocity of the fight. it was too late to stop the massacre. the body bags of residents are still being brought out of the ruins. volunteers from an organisation called zaka that recovers jewish dead for a religious burial took us to the house

where vivian silver lived, horrified by everything they've seen. it's not people. it cannot be people making something like that. it can't be! it doesn't go with people! there's not even a studio in hollywood that could make a horror movie as bad as what we have seen here. i can't understand, somebody take kids... they didn'tjust kill them, they mutilated, they burned, they... ..severed. it's impossible to describe. the army didn't allow us much time in the street where vivian silver lived and brought up herfamily. she moved here long before hamas emerged, for space and country air. we hope to find out more about what happened to her. but if there were clues, they were consumed by fire. vivian's house and her

neighbour's were gutted. we don't know if she's alive or dead. herfamily, like so many others, waits for news, good or bad. it's totally burned down. the remains of the house and destruction at the kibbutz are evidence for most israelis that it is dangerously wrong for peace activists like vivian to argue that a century of attempted military solutions to the conflict have failed. the survivors have left the kibbutz. now, it is a staging area as the army waits for the order to enter gaza. as the soldiers prepare, israel's government vows that, this time, its forces will destroy hamas. jeremy bowen, bbc news, kibbutz be�*eri. let's show you live pictures from gaza city now. it's a little after 5:00am there and we've seen sporadic

bombing of gaza through the night, as israeli forces aim to eradicate the hamas militant group in the wake of saturday's attacks. meanwhile, reports suggest that us officials have quietly stopped iran from accessing $6 billion in humanitarian funds in light of that attack. iranian assets were recently unfrozen as part of a prisoner swap deal between tehran and the us. republican critics claim the money empowered iran support for hamas — something the biden administration has categorically denied. during his visit to israel, antony blinken stressed that washington has full control over those funds. none of the funds that have now gone to qatar have actually been spent or accessed in any way. by iran — indeed, funds from that account are overseen by the treasury department and can only be dispensed for

humanitarian goods, food, medicine, medical equipment — and never touch iranian hands. we have strict oversight of the funds, and we retain the right to freeze them. for more on all this my colleague sumi somaskanda spoke earlier with representative mike turner, republican congressman from ohio. he also serves as chairman of the house intelligence committee. great to have you here. i want to start with reports that us is denying iran access to money as part of the prisoner swap deal. , ., ' ,., deal. first off, the reporting of this - _ deal. first off, the reporting of this - the _ deal. first off, the reporting of this - the heartbreaking l of this — the heartbreaking stories of survivors and about those who've been murdered and taken — this evil, murderous terrorist attack that hamas has perpetrated upon israeli civilians — isjust civilians — is just heartbreaking. civilians — isjust heartbreaking. it certainly rises to the scale to understand that actions need to be taken. hamas, as you know,

is basically a franchise from iran. they fund them. they train them. they give them weapons. they give them rockets. and they train them to be a terrorist organisation. so when they undertake a terrorist attack, it is exactly how iran intended for them to behave. so there can't really be an issue of "iran's not involved — iran's surprised." iran trained them to do exactly what they did. in this instance, since this administration just put $6 billion that came from south korea into funds in qatar for the purposes of them being, ultimately, as the secretary of state was saying, applied to humanitarian funds and expenditures to go to iran — this still is fungible sources. if anyone came to you and said, "i'll take care of your housing and food needs and medicine needs," you'd have funds left over to do other things. that's why this is so repugnant. 0ne why this is so repugnant. one of the large number for the

prisoner swap for the administration... i prisoner swap for the administration... i 'ust want to “um administration... i 'ust want to jump in h administration... i 'ust want to jump in there, _ administration... i just want tojump in there, if- administration... i just want tojump in there, if i - administration... i just want tojump in there, ifi can. i tojump in there, if i can. because you said that iran, as we know, has long supported hamas with weapons and funding. is there really any direct evidence that it helped prepare this attack?— this attack? well, again, the 're this attack? well, again, they're preparing - this attack? well, again, they're preparing and - this attack? well, again, - they're preparing and helping every attack, because they provide them weapons, they provide them weapons, they provide them weapons, they provide them training. certainly the analysis is being undertaken as to what extent iran did, but we have high officials from both hamas and hezbollah indicating direct involvement in this particular attack — both training and approval. this question of whether or not they pressed the button orjust put in set these motions that resulted in this terrorist attack really aren't big distinctions.— terrorist attack really aren't big distinctions. ok. we 'ust heard that fl big distinctions. ok. we 'ust heard that this i big distinctions. ok. we 'ust heard that this could i big distinctions. ok. we 'ust heard that this could be h big distinctions. ok. we just| heard that this could be seen by iran as provocative because the us has also warned iran and military groups it supports from joining this conflict. are you concerned about a possible response here from iran if these funds are, indeed,

frozen?— these funds are, indeed, frozen? ~ ., �*, . , , frozen? well, iran's incredibly provocative- _ frozen? well, iran's incredibly provocative. they _ frozen? well, iran's incredibly provocative. they fund - frozen? well, iran's incredibly| provocative. they fund hamas. they fund hezbollah. both franchise satellites of iran with weapons systems and terrorist groups and organisations. they're providing weapons systems in ukraine. i mean, this is a very provocative country that is resulting in people being killed both in europe and in the middle east. we should be very, very careful about handing them $6 billion at the time where, by their own actions, things are escalating in the middle east. chairman, i want to ask _ in the middle east. chairman, i want to ask you _ in the middle east. chairman, i want to ask you about - in the middle east. chairman, i want to ask you about what - in the middle east. chairman, i want to ask you about what we | want to ask you about what we have seen over the last six days. the attack by hamas on saturday — israeli intelligence is considered among the strongest in the world, birth we saw significant operational failures and intelligence lapses that led to this breach. bought what does the us know, at this point, about what went wrong here?— at this point, about what went wron: here? ., ., , , wrong here? yeah, obviously the united states _ wrong here? yeah, obviously the united states and _ wrong here? yeah, obviously the united states and israel- wrong here? yeah, obviously the united states and israel work- united states and israel work very, very closely together — both complementary and in areas

where we take turns — we take responsibilities and they take others. this is an area where israel obviously will have to do a triage, and i'm certain they'll do that hand in hand with our intelligence community as to what went wrong here. i do think, though, if you look across the intelligence community for the west and israel and the united states, we're beginning to rely too much on overhead imagery, over signals intelligence, and not the traditional generation of intelligence where we have actually hands—on understanding of what's going on in a region. we saw the house foreign affairs chair tell reporters that notjust israeli but us operations failed, saying, "we're not quite sure how we missed it." how do you see this from the us intelligence perspective? from the us intelligence perspective?_ perspective? we're complementary - perspective? we're complementary to l perspective? we're - complementary to israel and perspective? we're _ complementary to israel and so this certainly is an area where we're hand in hand with each other. this is obviously one where we were not seamless and there was a gap, and this is one we're going have to go back and figure out how we have to shore up our systems to make

certain that we understand what's going on on the ground. chairman, i also want to ask you about concerns that are arising about the humanitarian situation in gaza, as israel has upped its air strikes there. what can the us do to ensure that civilians do not come in harm's way as much as possible, as israel continues its air strikes? this will be very difficult because as a result of hamas, which is also victimising the palestinian people, controlling the area, then using it basically is a military base to do attacks on israel. the ire and dome exist solid because of the rockets coming out of gaza supplied and supported by iran. —— iron dome. you have vulnerable populations so what will be required is for them to be militarily taken out so hamas can't continue this terrorist attacking of israel when they have a siege and a

grip on gaza. d0 when they have a siege and a grip on gaza-— grip on gaza. do you think a humanitarian _ grip on gaza. do you think a humanitarian corridor - grip on gaza. do you think a humanitarian corridor would grip on gaza. do you think a i humanitarian corridor would be possible? i humanitarian corridor would be ossible? ~ , possible? i think there is certainly _ possible? i think there is certainly - _ possible? i think there is certainly - already, - possible? i think there is certainly - already, this. possible? i think there is - certainly - already, this isn't certainly — already, this isn't an unusual operation, in the area — certainly israel has had two faces in other conflicts with hamas and hezbollah. the united states will provide assistance and work with them on their plans to hopefully lessen casualties and provide humanitarian assistance at the same time as understanding this needs to be accomplished. you have been looking at live pictures of gaza, they are, where we have seen flashes in the last few minutes. we will bring you more as we learn what is happening on the ground. around the

the former boss of formula i racing, bernie ecclestone, has pleaded guilty to fraud. the 92—year—old failed to disclose nearly $500 million that he held in a trust in singapore. ecclestone has agreed to repay hundreds of millions of dollars to british authorities. he was sentenced to 17 months in prison, which has been suspended for two years. you're live with bbc news. the un says more than 423,000 residents in gaza have been forced to leave their homes.

the densely populated territory has suffered heavy damage, and civilians deaths and injuries continue to mount, though israel says it is only targeting buildings used by hamas fighters. these are pictures that were coming to us in the last few hours. and we can also show you live pictures of gaza city now. it's a bit after 5am, and we have seen some flashes in the last few minutes. 0ur bbc arabicjournalist, adnan elbursh, and his team have been reporting on the over—worked hospitals in their own community in gaza. his report contains upsetting scenes.

translation: my name is adnan elbursh, a reporter for bbc arabic and a resident of gaza. here in shifa hospital, bodies lay everywhere. the injured scream for help. you can never forget these sounds. among the dead and wounded my cameraman, mahmoud,

has seen his friend malik. malik has managed to survive, but his family have not. this is my local hospital. inside are my friends, my neighbours. this is my community. today has been one of the most difficult days in my career. i have seen things i can never unsee. this young girl's home was destroyed. her relatives have been killed and she needs help. my daughter is the same age. i want to give her a hug. in the chaos, we try to understand what is going on. a mother sits next to

the bodies of her family. translation: we were sleeping and they bombarded our house, | like everyone else. we don't have any resistance fighters in our building. all the building is full of residents. 120 people lived there. the corridors of the hospital are filled with bodies. the morgue can no longer cope. the bodies of the dead have to be laid on the floor outside the hospital entrance. you never want to become the story, yet in my city, i feel helpless as the dead were given no dignity and the injured are left in pain. turning to other news here in the us. us congressman steve scalise has dropped out of the running to be the next speaker of the house of representatives.

the surprise announcement comes as the lawmaker struggled to win enough support from fellow republican representatives to win a full vote of the house. only a day earlier he narrowly won a secret ballot among party members, defeating judiciary committee chairjim jordan. there's still some people that have their own agendas. and i was very clear, we have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs. this country is counting on us to come back together. this house of representatives needs a speaker and we need to open up the house again. a short time ago, i spoke about this developing story with robert costa, chief election and campaign correspondent at cbs news. bob, steve scalise was the front—runner — he's out, what happens now? it is a scramble inside of the house republican conference tonight. i just got back from the capitol and it is evident that at this moment there is indecision about the path forward.

steve scalise, the number two house republican, had been trying all day, in private meetings, to get to that number, 217 republican votes that's necessary to win the speaker's gavel. it became clear by early this evening, votes weren't moving, some republicans who were against him were not budging — so now the favourite is representative jim jordan of ohio, who ran against scalisejust days ago for the speaker position. he is likely to get back into the speaker's race, but at this point there is no real path forjordan, either, to get to the 217 votes, that necessary threshold. so at this point i'm also hearing from sources that republicans in the house, under the pressure of trying to get the house open again are looking to consensus candidates who are out there, like representative tom cole of oklahoma, or representative patrick mchenry of north carolina. there are some very important issues facing american lawmakers at the moment — ukraine funding, any legislation that might

be required relating to the israeli gaza war — this lack of speaker, no end in sight to the race, to the campaign, where does this leave the house? it leaves the house in chaos and there is a lot of frustration tonight among my sources in the house gop about what this means in terms of how the world looks at the republican party, especially the republican party inside of the house of representatives. but they are at such a standstill, it's almost like multiple political parties within one political party. and because they are at a standstill, they really don't know exactly what to do at this moment. there is talk of trying to go back to the former speaker, kevin mccarthy, and getting him to reconsider running for speaker, but there is also another question about whether mccarthy could get to that 217 number as well. they're at such a desperate moment politically that there's talk tonight about giving patrick mchenry, who i mentioned from north carolina,

who is serving as the so—called speaker pro tempore, kind of the momentary speaker, without much power, there is talk about giving him more power so the house can at least reconvene and legislate some kind of support for israel and deal with other issues, but until this is addressed, until a speaker is running the house, you are looking at a dysfunctional legislative body in the united states. and bob, all the while, the clock is also ticking on agreeing funding for the government. i mean, they're essentially in borrowed time at the moment, having agreed that temporary stopgap measure a week or so ago. in just over 30 days, the government is set to shut down, unless there is a new agreement on federal spending. what's complicating all of this, including the race for speaker, is that it's expected that president biden and that democrats will seek additional money, beyond just the funding of the government, a supplementalfunding

package to deal with issues like china, to deal with ukraine, and israel, of course, and other issues including the border, and that would be in addition to what republicans had already been at a stand—off about that led to the almost—government shutdownjust weeks ago. any person who now enters the speaker's race in the house gop in the coming 2a hours will immediately have to answer questions from colleagues about how they would handle these major spending showdowns and as we know, in congress, spending is never easy if you are a republican. 0k. bob costa, we will leave it there for now. thank you very much for that. and the ousted speaker, kevin mccarthy, has weighed in on scalise withdrawing from the race. here's what he had to say. he was unable to get there. inaudible ijust think he was unable to get there. inaudible i just think the conference as a whole as to figure out their problems, solve it, collectively. that's all for this now. i'm caitriona perry

in washington, dc. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. well, so far this month, many parts of the country have been experiencing unseasonably warm weather but now the transition to something colder is upon us and before that happens, a lot of rain through the early hours across many parts of england and wales. the colder weather has already reached scotland and northern ireland. the colder winds are coming in from the north, so clearer spells here and colder in the morning, but across the bulk of england and wales it's overcast, outbreaks of rain heavy at times. this is the weather front and once it clears away, that colder weather will sweep in from the north. so still a very mild morning in the south, the mid—teens. and then it's difficult to summarise the weather through friday across england and wales because it will change quite a bit from heavy rain to sunny spells, perhaps some thunderstorms, gusty winds. it's about 50 miles an hour on the south coast. so really changeable picture on friday across england and wales. but scotland and northern

ireland hear different story, scattered clouds, a few showers, windy, cold winds in the north and temperatures around 12 degrees there in edinburgh. so once that weather front clears away friday night into saturday, it opens up the doors to those cold winds coming in from the north. nothing particularly unusual for the time of the year. it's just that it's going to be quite a shock to the system, especially for those of us that have been experiencing these high temperatures so far this month. so here it is saturday. the winds are coming in from the north now for a change rather than from the south. and these are the temperatures on saturday 1a. so a degree maybe also around the average, colder than average i think in aberdeen around eight degrees celsius. and then saturday night into sunday, the winds will fall light in the centre of the country and with clear skies, that means cold weather, a touch of frost, i think even barely above freezing in rural spots in the south of the country. but with that and with an area of high pressure building over the uk, it's going to be fabulously sunny apart from some showers in

the northwest of scotland, but below average temperatures i think across the board, whether you're in the north or the south, it'll be around say 10, 10 to 13 degrees. and that high pressure is with us monday and into tuesday. we're right in the middle of that high. that means light winds, perhaps a touch of frosts and murky, foggy mornings. but i think towards the end of the week, it looks as though things could turn a little more unsettled and once again, a little milder. that's it for me. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. yeah. so if you can just start off just introducing yourself and, you know... 0k. my name is enrique tarrio, and i am the international chairman of the proud boys. chanting: whose streets? 0ur streets! whose streets? 0ur streets! 0njanuary 6th, 2021, a mob of protesters stormed the us capitol. more than 1,000 people are facing charges. the most notorious is enrique tarrio. he's banned from everything. he's the most banned person in the world. tarrio was the leader of a right—wing extremist group. he stands accused of trying to overthrow the us government.

well, the proud boys were central because they were ready and willing to fight.