this comes asjoe biden heads to the region to show support for israel, even asjordan cancels a planned summit involving the us president. hello. i'm sumi somaskanda. we start with the latest developments in the israel—hamas war. jordan has cancelled a planned summit with palestinian and arab leaders, even as presidentjoe biden heads to the region to show his support for israel. he had been scheduled to attend the gathering in amman before tuesday's attack on a hospital in gaza city. that blast has killed hundreds of palestinians according to health officials in gaza. hamas has blamed the devastation on an israeli air strike. israel says the blast was caused by rockets misfired by another group,

palestinian islamichhad. both sides deny responsibility. let's get more on tuesday's hospital attack. here's our international editorjeremy bowen. loud blast the missile hit the hospital not long after dark. man shouts you can hear the impact. the explosion destroyed al—ahli hospital. it was already damaged from a smaller attack at the weekend. the building was flattened. very soon, video was posted from gaza of bodies laid out near the ruins of the hospital. so many dead and the size of the explosion, together looked to be having a profound impact on what was already the most dangerous crisis in the middle east in a generation. the wounded were taken across gaza city to shifa hospital.

the israeli army's first response said hospitals were highly sensitive and not targets of its military and urged caution about what it called the unverified claims of a terrorist organization. that statement will not be believed by palestinians and by millions of others in the middle east who see these images. the wounded and the dying pouring into shifa from al—ahli arrived at a hospital already overwhelmed by thousands of casualties from israeli air strikes. it was already struggling to treat patients after israel cut off fuel, water, food, and deliveries of medical supplies. jordan and egypt condemned israel for a dangerous escalation. jordan said the international community should pressure israel to stop its attacks to prevent what it called

wide cycles of violence. as fury and fear gripped palestinians, israel denied that it was responsible. two i can confirm that a marriage of —— intelligence from few sources that we have in our hands indicates that the islamicjihad he is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in gaza. teachers taken on social media show the many children in gaza. so many people needed treatment, the corridors of shiva hospital were packed. the

destruction of al—ahli hospital is also spreading fear among the hundreds of thousands of palestinians who fled to gazaposmac southern border with egypt after israel told them to leave their homes.— leave their homes. there is 8000 peeple _ leave their homes. there is 8000 people here - leave their homes. there is 8000 people here at - leave their homes. there is 8000 people here at night. leave their homes. there is l 8000 people here at night. it is usually raucous, loud, people are running, kids are running around. tonight there is silence, absolute silence. you can't hear a thing. the people are in absolute shock about what has happened. it is really shocking and i don't know what to say, i have no words. �* u, know what to say, i have no words. �* u, ., know what to say, i have no words. �* ., ., ., words. anger came out onto the streets in _ words. anger came out onto the streets in the _ words. anger came out onto the streets in the occupied - words. anger came out onto the streets in the occupied west - streets in the occupied west bank. the other part of the palestinian territories that separated them from gaza. on the 7th of october, there being fears that mass casualties caused by israelposmac response could ignite west bank towns that had been the centre of

unrest for over a year —— israelposmac road. they will not believe israelposmac denials. the latest from prime minister blaming what they call barbaric terrorists. the attack is a seismic event in a war that might spread elsewhere in the middle east. the palestinian president has cancelled a meeting with the us president who is due in israel tomorrow morning on a mission that was aimed at easing the plight of palestinian civilians and who will now walk into an even deeper crisis. jeremy bowen, bbc news, in southern israel. our gaza correspondent rushdi abualouf has been covering the conflict from the ground, and has this update on the hospital.

we were treating people in the corridors of the hospital. they were doing surgeries for people seriously injured. they are volunteers, people, nurses, students of the medical and the universities rushing to the hospital to help and support the doctors in the hospital are really struggling to save people's live. it's like more than three hours now since the explosion in the hospital. and people are still trying to remove the rubble and find any survivors. transporting, finding the bodies and taking bodies to the hospital. there is no place to put the bodies. they put the bodies in the courtyard of the hospital and they are making surgeries in the street. the bbc has spoken to officials from both the israeli and palestinian governments. both have different takes on who is responsible for the strike. we start with mark regev,

senior adviser to prime minister netanyahu and former ambassador of israel to the united kingdom. all indications are that this was not israeli orders, that this was rather a hamas rocket that fell short. i want to explain this. from past conflicts with the terrorists in gaza, we know that on average about 33% of the rockets that they shoot at us fall short and land in gaza. that's the fact. that's documented. number two, we know that at the time of this tragedy in gaza, there was a huge barrage against target in central israel. i urge you to be cautious. there are indications, very, very serious indications that it's not us. hamas wants to have a propaganda victim saying israel has killed innocent civilians. there's no evidence to support that claim and let's just wait and see how this develops.

look, israel does not target hospitals. full stop. we do not do it. the bbc also spoke with mustafa barghouti, a palestinian legislator and leader of the palestinian national initiative. he pointed the finger squarely at israel, saying the strike was years in the making. it's an unacceptable, deliberate war crime against the civilian population of gaza. bombarding the hospital where thousands of people were thinking they were in a safe place, where patients were there for getting treatment and this israeli air strike, which took the lives of 500 people at least. and i'm sure the number will rise because there are so many badly injured people, who could die at any moment. this was deliberate attack, an acceptable attack. a war crime that should not have happened and should not be accepted and this in my opinion reveals to you the level of israel's feeling of total

impunity and lack of accountability, not only to international law but to human beings everywhere. as we mentioned earlier, jordan has cancelled a planned summit it was going to host in amman with president biden and the egyptian and palestinian leaders. according to jordan's foreign minister, there is "no use in talking now about anything except "stopping the war." earlier, the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, had already pulled out of the summit with mr biden, instead returning to the west bank to hold an emergency meeting of the palestinian authority's leadership. biden is currently on his way to the middle east, where he is still expected to meet with israel's prime minister on wednesday. while aboard air force one, john kirby of the us national security council expressed optimism they will be able to get aid into gaza. our north america editor

sarah smith has more on the president's trip. i mean, this is an extraordinary trip, which was a very high stakes gamble even before the news came in of this hospital bombing. it's a visit with two purposes, really. and both of those twofold missions got considerably more difficult today. firstly, he wants to go there to demonstrate what he calls his ironclad commitment to israel and to its right to defend itself. now, that is a position that joe biden has had for well over 50 years now, but it is a position that is much, much more uncomfortable to defend tonight than it was even just this morning. the other thing he wants to try to achieve is to get israel to allow emergency humanitarian aid into gaza and to put in place some kind of measures to try to protect innocent civilian lives. that just looks a lot more difficult now as well, because you've got the american president flying into a situation where the hamas leader says it's the fault of the us, that this hospital bombing has happened, because america gives israel cover for its aggression, he says.

as you were reporting, the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, has cancelled his meeting withjoe biden and then at the same time, israel are going to ask him for over $10 billion worth of emergency military aid. so he is arriving in a situation that was already complex and it is now considerably more volatile before he even touches down. daniel byman is a senior fellow at the center for strategic and international studies, and has written extensively on the middle east. hejoined me earlier. daniel, very good to have you won bbc news tonight. we will get to president biden�*s trip in a moment. i first want to start with this horrific attack on the hospital, and further escalation in this conflict and get your thoughts on it. so, as you said, this is one of the worst things you could imagine. 500 perhaps far more people, innocent people, horribly killed. as your reporting indicated, we do not know who is responsible so far.

but i would say even if responsibility is determined there will be audiences that don't believe it. certainly, hamas and others will always claim israel is responsible, even if it is determined to be palestinian islamichhad or another palestinian group. this is going to harden views on israel and is already causing damage to the united states in the region where people have been very critical of the very strong biden administration support and it is the sort of terrible tragedy that has marked this conflict in the past, where it sounds a bit... we have seen the sorts of mistakes occur where lots of innocent people died as military operations escalated. what do you think it will mean to israel's stated aim of eradicating hamas from gaza?

so, eradicating hamas from gaza is an exceptionally difficult angle. more realistically is doing hamas a lot of damage. it would be measured in terms of killing or capturing leaders and destroying a lot of hamas infrastructure whether that's arms caches or its overall military support in gaza. israel is preparing to go in on the ground in gaza. that will be exceptionally difficult and a bloodied operation, simply the terrain of gaza where everything is built up and hamas colocated military and civilian infrastructure means it's very hard to target hamas leadership without destroying large amounts of civilian infrastructure. some people have left the area but many remain and there will be unfortunately far more dead people as this operation commences. that is something that will be impossible for israel to avoid. i want to also ask about president biden�*s

trip to the region. the summit that was intended to be held injordan because of this hospital strike. where do you think this leaves his trip in terms of the stated mission to work on the humanitarian crisis in gaza? so, president biden is going in part because he wants to go and show israel and many americans that he stands 100% largely behind israel. and he's also doing it because he believes that if he does so he will have more ability to get israel to make concessions on things like humanitarian issues. i do believe that this trip has been warmly received by israelis and makes biden popular, far more popular than the democratic president has been for quite some time. and it does allow the united states to push israel on things like humanitarian corridors, things like supplies... just to jump in there.

if he's seen meeting with israel and not engaging with palestinian and arab leaders, how do you think that will come across the region? there's no question the region is already very critical for the united states. we have seen widespread demonstrations where people have been chanting anti—us slogan. and this is before the hospital bombing. people do not, then probe, blame the united states for providing... our governments will be cautious as a result but the key issue right now is trying to make sure that there's some israeli military co—ordination with the humanitarian operations. that it's not simply israel going on 100% on the military side. but, yes, there is no question the strike makes it much harder. you've written or said that what we're seeing a decline of us power and engagement in certain parts of the world, including the bitterly. —— including the middle east. what did you mean by that? at least 600,000 palestinians

have fled the northern gaza strip, there were hundreds of palestinians in the hospital who had been seeing shelter. the priorities does make the middle east has a way of sucking the the us back in. we have seen a range of regional powers and that in my view has made... so far we have seen limited as galatian and aggressive israeli response to that. we've seen strikes in israel from syria. we have not seen it escalated to an all—out regional war but tensions are really high, passions are really high and things like the hospital strike mean that popular anger is going to propel groups like his brother and also governments

are going to try to act. daniel, really interesting. —— his brother. thank you so much. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. us congressmanjim jordan has fallen short in the first round of voting to become us speaker. 20 fellow republicans voted against him. he could only afford to lose four members in a floor vote. the party will soon vote in a second round, withjordan hoping to win over some holdouts. he is looking to fill the role left empty after the former speaker kevin mccarthy was ousted two weeks ago. ukraine has used long—range missiles supplied by the united states for the first time. that is according to president volodymyr zelensky. his comments follow reports that the weapons, known as atacms, destroyed nine helicopters at russian bases in the east of the country. russia's military has not commented. belgian police have shot dead a man who killed two swedish nationals in brussels on monday. the 45—year—old man

was shot in a cafe. a third swedish citizen was seriously injured in the attack. the shooting took place 5 kilometres — or about 3 miles from the stadium where belgium was playing sweden in a euro 2024 football qualifier. you're live with bbc news. let's look more closely now at the fallout from tuesday's events in gaza city, and see how they are rippling throughout the region. our correspondentjohn donnison has more on that. gunfire fury tonight in the west bank. in ramallah, youths battled with palestinian security forces, who responded with tear gas and sound grenades. earlier, as reports of the hospital strike came in from gaza, thousands took to the streets in protest. there is anger directed at israel, but also at president mahmoud abbas and his palestinian authority, which many perceive as weak and lacking legitimacy.

mr abbas announced he was cancelling a meeting with president biden, scheduled for tomorrow injordan, and was flying home. chanting there were mass protests there this evening too, and clashes outside the israeli embassy in amman. translation: during | the foundation of israel, when it occupied this area, they are breaching international humanitarian law. geneva agreement is obvious in this regard. medical centres or hospitals should not be touched. in turkey also, thousands rallied against israel. as the war in gaza escalates, it is a dangerous moment for the wider region. jon donnison, bbc news. the us state department has raised its travel alert level for lebanon, advising citizens not to travel there. that's because of recent clashes between israel and hezbollah fighters. in the latest conflict, the israeli army says it has

killed four militants trying to cross from lebanon. overnight, the israeli airforce carried out more air strikes inside lebanon on targets linked to the iranian—backed group hezbollah deemed as a terror organisation by the uk government. the concern is that the israel—hamas war could spill over to other parts of the middle east. when �*sergeant i' saw these men crossing the border, she knew what to do. translation: i was on my shift, and i recognised a group of terrorists on the screens. i understood that something was wrong. i won't lie, it was very scary to stand here by the border. the observers in the south, all the forces who were caught up in the attack there, i know a lot of people who have been abducted or murdered. for more than a week, there have been exchanges of fire between lebanon and israel, and as they intensify, this is where israeli soldiers keep tabs on the border. they call this the �*war room'. there is another one exactly the same right behind it, and all of these screens, all of the time, right around

the clock, are being watched and monitored, and they're trained on the border —— showing cameras that are constantly trained on the border with lebanon, people are watch and waiting. if they see anybody try to come across that border, they immediately raise the alarm. translation: they are | the eyes of the soldiers, they eye of the forces in the field, of the entire border, and they are playing an important role. we are a company of strong women, female soldiers that know theirjob and mission, and know that they play a very important role in this war. israeli troops are now massing in the north in large numbers. it is a visual reminder of what is at stake and how seriously the threat is being taken. the us is working behind the scenes to stop an escalation. but iran, which backs hezbollah, isn't ruling out opening a new front.

you can't advise lebanon's hezbollah to have restraint, but tell netanyahu you have the freedom to commit whatever crimes you like against civilians. these are tense hours along this fragile dividing line. if it breaks, the whole region will feel the consequences. anna foster, bbc news, on the israel—lebanon border. we've learned in the past few hours that 31

americans were killed and 13 are still accounted for since the hamas attack and the events that followed. that is according to john kirby of the us national security council. meanwhile, more stories are coming to light of the victims of the violence, both israeli and palestinian. right now, we want to bring you the story of a 13—year—old british girl, yahel, who had been missing from her home in israel since the hamas attacks ten days ago. her family has now confirmed that she was indeed killed. lucy manning has more. 13—year—old yahel, just a few months ago, celebrating the moment a jewish girl enters adulthood, a future she now won't realise. murdered by hamas, her older sister noiya, missing. her british family shared these pictures. they said yahel was beautiful, full of adventure and mischief,

a bundle of unbridled energy and joy, cheeky and sharp. "we will forever miss her," they said. yahel truly lived her life. brave enough to jump out of a plane, with the family on a skydiving trip. she made them all laugh before shejumped. this family hamas tried to obliterate. yahel, murdered. british—born mum lianne also murdered. sister noiya and dad eli missing. yahel, she was the funny one from the girls. she was speaking very fast, and i remember telling her, "yahel, just slow down!" she would sit with me and show me pictures on her phone. yahel�*s uk relatives said she and herfamily loved coming here for christmas and easter, enjoying the british festive season. lianne, her mum, had moved

to israel when she was just 19 to volunteer on a kibbutz. lianne was the one you want to celebrate with. she knew how to sing, she taught me how to drink beer, and we were good friends. you still have hope for noiya and for eli. of course, of course. until we get a clear message, i do not want to say it, but now i have to arrange the funeral of lianne and yahel, and i don't even know how to do it, because i never did one funeral. how can you arrange two or three orfour? "yahel brought light into our lives," said herfamily, "for the too short time she was with us." lucy manning, bbc news. the crisis is ongoing, and so is the bbc�*s coverage. for the latest please

visit our website, bbc.com/news or the bbc news app. we have the latest news and analysis from our teams on the ground in israel, gaza and around the world. thanks for watching. i'm sumi somaskanda. i'll be back in 30 minutes with the latest headlines. thank you for watching. hello, there. it's been a fine start to this week, but things are set to turn more unsettled, very autumnal, and even quite stormy, as we see strong winds, gales and heavy rain spreading northwards across the uk. so some of this rain and strong wind likely to cause some disruption towards the end of the week. now, it's storm babet, which the met office have named, will be pushing northwards during wednesday, wednesday night, across the uk, then parking itself across the north of the uk for thursday and friday. so rainfall totals really will be mounting up, and i can show you this, in fact, on the rainfall

accumulation anomaly — you can see all areas seeing a lot of rainfall, but it's eastern scotland, parts of northeast england, that bear the brunt. some of the heaviest of the rainfall sits here, where we have some concerns with the risk of some localised flooding, but because of the recent flooding across scotland, the ground is saturated, the met office have issued an amber warning for this east—northeast corner, it could see up to 50—200mm of rain by the time the week's out. that could cause some disruption. wednesday starts off fine for many — central, northern, eastern areas, plenty of sunshine. it will be windy, mind you. rain starts to pepper northern ireland, and then southern britain, first signs of storm babet pushing in here, later on wednesday. some of this rain could be quite heavy and thundery, but strong and gusty winds for all areas, even though it will be quite mild, 14 to 16 degrees — might not feel like that, because of the strength of the wind. storm babet continues to move northwards across the uk during wednesday night, parks itself across northern

england, northern ireland, southern scotland. that starts thursday morning, some showers pushing in to southern areas later on. it will be a mild night to come. this is the pressure chart, then for thursday — it looks like the weather front will be hanging around across northern and eastern scotland. rainfall totals really mounting here, strong, gale—force winds, particularly for the northern isles and north sea coast here. further south, it'll be a mixture of variable cloud, some showery bursts of rain, some of which could be heavy and thundery, but mild, despite the wind and the rain — 15 to 18 celsius. similar story as we head into friday — it looks like the northern half of the country will see the heaviest of the rain. again, northeast england could bear the brunt of the heavy rain on friday. elsewhere, it's clear spells, but also a mixture of showers, some of which could be heavy and thundery. again, mild in the south, cooler in the north. see you later.

voiceover: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. dozens of towns and villages are flooded in ukraine after a major dam is breached. on the 6th ofjune 2023, the kakhovka dam, a critical infrastructure in the south of ukraine, was destroyed by an explosion. a huge reservoir of water

on the dnipro river was unleashed downstream, with devastating consequences. we understand 16,000 residents on the banks of ukraine—controlled areas are in immediate, critical danger. shouts. ukraine and nato accused russia of committing the act. the un warned of grave and far—reaching consequences, which are being felt across ukraine and beyond.