coming through, generations to come. coming through, they are all going to join up their act for you family photograph there at the summit and it is a moment to meet european leaders, so early in his new premiership or new post as prime minister of the uk. of course, illegal immigration is one of the major issues, more than 380,000 illegal i'm prince crossed the borders last year. with tens of thousands making their way to britain. he promised to smash gangs during the campaign and reference that this morning. at the start of the meeting. there is also going to be a bilateral meeting which will take place, there will be a private dinner or private meeting with

president macron, the french president, to discuss a potential agreement which might allow the uk to send back some small boat migrants in return for accepting a number of asylum seekers from europe. that is potentially something they might announce later on. there also, potentially, a multi—million pound package that we might hear about later to support eu measures to stop migrants coming from africa. i can't quite tell... have actually taking the photograph? i think so. they're all going to be wandering back in. it's a dramatic setting there for that big meeting of european leaders. let's leave that now. we will of

course bring you the speeches and news conferences throughout the day and you can catch up on our website. we have got continuous coverage of the meeting. that will be updated and my colleague will bring you up later on. let's move on now to other news. palestinians in the last 2a hours. these are the latest pictures from across the border in southern israel, showing a large explosion in gaza. israeli forces are bombing refugee camps in central gaza and pushing deeper into rafah in the south. (00v)and the us military has ended its mission to deliver humanitarian aid into gaza via a temporary pier. navy vice admiral brad cooper said deliveries by sea from cyprus would now go to the israeli port of ashdod. the pier had limited success, partly due to bad weather. president biden announced the project in march because israel was holding up deliveries by land. aid agencies say it still is.

israel frequently blames the delays on the un. in the coming weeks, we expect millions of pounds of aid will enter into gaza via this new pathway. the establishment of this new route builds on logistics and coordination best practices from thejlots pier. while the us military pier is no longer required, the us will maintain coordination elements in place in the near term to ensure humanitarian assistance continues to flow into gaza through this maritime pathway. he told us the project failed. this he told us the pro'ect failed. this is a new in _ he told us the pro'ect failed. this is a new in a — he told us the project failed. this is a new in a series _ he told us the project failed. ti 3 is a new in a series of failures to provide aid to the people who are in bad need of this aid in gaza. the peer work is less than 25 days in the life of the peer of two months. for weather and security reasons, aid agencies are saying this was a

waste of money, a waste of effort, and the situation in gaza. they are insisting that the fee israelis are using salvation as a weapon of war in gaza and they should allow aid to enter across land. most of them are closed and the ones that are open are not working in full function. let's get some of the day's other news now. germany is proposing halving military aid for ukraine next year to four billion dollars. germany's finance minister insisted ukraine's financing was secure for the foreseeable future thanks to a g7 scheme to raise $50 billion from interest on frozen russian assets. the authorities in bangladesh have deployed thousands of soldiers across the country to restore order after days of protests. students have been leading demands for an end to the quota system for governmentjobs. they've said they will try to enforce a nationwide shutdown on thursday.

a humanitarian truce in the eastern democratic republic of congo has been extended by 15 days. government troops have been fighting m23 rebels backed by rwanda, in north kivu province, for more than two years. the rebels have almost completely encircled goma, the provincial capital. humanitarian groups describe the situation there as "catastrophic". in russia, a second hearing is taking place behind closed doors in the espionage trial of wall streetjournal reporter evan gersh—kovich. the 32—year—old american went on trial last month in yekaterinburg. prosecutors allege that he gathered secret information for the cia, about a company that makes tanks for russia's war in ukraine. he denies any wrongdoing. you can catch up anytime our website, details about the summit which is happening. do stay with us

on bbc news. published within minutes. it will lay out the failures and weaknesses in the uk's pandemic preparations, and focus on how ready the country was to tackle such an event. it is not finished, what is happening though is that each of these sections will get a report and what we are getting today is a report into the first section which happened about a year ago. six weeks of evidence was taken here at the inquiry from 69 different people, including the former health secretary and another. we also heard

from the former prime minister david cameron. they go into the evidence about how prepared the united kingdom was to deal with a pandemic. a baroness who came into the inquiry about 90 minutes ago is going to deliver herfirst about 90 minutes ago is going to deliver her first report. we do not know what it is going to say, what is happening at the moment is that all of the health journalists, including my colleague, inside the building, they are looking through a copy of the report. they will be allowed to come out at midday and tell us what is in the report. we are expecting it to be quite critical, here is our health reporter on the events leading up to the report being published. spring 2020, and the country was deep in lockdown. shops were shut, schools were closed. four years on, and life might feel back to normal. but what needs to change if or when

the next pandemic hits us? good morning. a public inquiry has been trying to answer that question. shall be the truth... ..the whole truth... ..and nothing but the truth. today, its first findings will look just at the time before covid, including planning and the state of the nhs, after a decade of spending constraints. we were at the bottom of the table on number of doctors, number of nurses, number of beds, number of itus. if you lose control of your debt and you lose control of your deficit and you lose control of your economy, you end up cutting the health service. dr saleyha ahsan is a documentary—maker and trained army medic. ijust remember it being a really brutal time, i think. she filmed this working in a covid ward during the pandemic. we were dealing with a killer virus. we hadn't a vaccine at that point. ppe was short.

it was ridiculous. it felt that we were making do, and the people that were being pushed to the front were health care workers. in 2020, dr ahsan�*s father caught covid. he died weeks later. it's so super important to make sure that we learn lessons and i say learn from those who did it well because we're going to lose lives unnecessarily. the inquiry will look into why some other countries seemed better prepared. south korea, for example, used fast contact tracing to suppress early outbreaks. professor adam kucharski advised the government at the time. one of the things that covid really showed is just the amount of damage a pandemic can do, particularly if countries aren't adequately prepared. and a lot of that wasn't just about the decisions they made in the middle of the outbreak, it was about all of the data infrastructure, resources, protocols, policies they had before

that that put them in a much better position. many countries were caught offguard in 2020. the scars are still visible today. another reason why scientists say planning for the next pandemic is not important but essential. jim reid, bbc news. asi as i said, gin and other health correspondence are right, at the moment, in the building reading the report and seeing what recommendations the baroness has made. i must say that the recommendations are not legally binding, so in the interest of seeing what the government will do with the recommendations and what they will do. i have asked him how significant is the publication of the report today is. it has to look into a lot of different aspects of the pandemic, which is why they are

divided into modules, different sections one after the other. later on, we will listen about the impact on, we will listen about the impact on care homes and children's education. those conclusions of the first section which looks at planning for a pandemic and preparedness. they speak to scientists, they speak to experts. they say that, this is one of the most important thing is that they will look at because, at some point it will be inevitable that there will be another outbreak, michael vince, we do not know, but we need planning. we vince, we do not know, but we need -~lannin.~ ., �* vince, we do not know, but we need ”lannin.~ ., �* ~ ., vince, we do not know, but we need ”lannin. ~ ., �* ~ ., ., planning. we don't know what the baroness will _ planning. we don't know what the baroness will stay _ planning. we don't know what the baroness will stay but _ planning. we don't know what the baroness will stay but have - planning. we don't know what the baroness will stay but have some | baroness will stay but have some clues about the evidence given. 0ne clues about the evidence given. one of the issues being that the uk treated this as a flu or influenza and that's what they plan for. there is this fatalistic _ and that's what they plan for. there is this fatalistic approach _ and that's what they plan for. there is this fatalistic approach to - is this fatalistic approach to covered. notjust in the uk, but in much of the western world. whether plans were all drawn up based on a

flu pandemic, the idea there is that you use the vaccines, use anti—viral medication but you accept the fact that essentially, the virus will spread over the populations to a certain extent where you don't really use in a certain way is with flu. things like contact tracing, which we did use a lot of ink covered. when you compare the uk with south korea or taiwan, these were countries that were caught out by different. by to were countries that were caught out by to be able to clamp down on earlier outbreaks, to keep a lid on it, if you look at the data like in south korea, they did much better at reducing infections and deaths

especially in the first wave of the pandemic in comparison with the uk. she will make some recommendations as we expect. does the government have to follow the recommendations? no, it is a public inquiry. they can completely ignore them if they want to. that, it will be a brave government to completely dismiss them. it is quite interesting because when the government came in, the chief scientist was named as one of the new health ministers. it was quite a surprise. it would not at all shock me if he is the person who was given thejob all shock me if he is the person who was given the job takes the recommendations and make them into policy. no, they do not have to them it will be up to the government. as i said, he is inside the inquiry reading the report and they will come out on a after that, the baroness will make a statement about five past midday which will happen on bbc news and will watch what she

saysin on bbc news and will watch what she says in her report. it will not only be the politicians but it will be people who will be giving evidence. it will also be relatives of those who died during covered snack. 0ver thousands of people lost their lives to covert or covert related illnesses. it is very crucial what this report says about those families. 0ne this report says about those families. one of those is this lady. her father was healthy and she he died during covered and was diagnosed with covert before lockdown started. she has been speaking about her feelings because, she rang iii and was told to stay at home. do not go to hospital and died at home. she spoke to was earlier about her feelings about the fact that this report is now out. he was told to stay — that this report is now out. he was told to stay at _

that this report is now out. he was told to stay at home _ that this report is now out. he was told to stay at home and _ that this report is now out. he was told to stay at home and take - told to stay at home and take paracetamol— told to stay at home and take paracetamol and _ told to stay at home and take paracetamol and there - told to stay at home and take paracetamol and there was i told to stay at home and take| paracetamol and there was no told to stay at home and take - paracetamol and there was no regard whatsoever_ paracetamol and there was no regard whatsoever about _ paracetamol and there was no regard whatsoever about his _ paracetamol and there was no regard whatsoever about his medical- paracetamol and there was no regard whatsoever about his medical historyj whatsoever about his medical history all his_ whatsoever about his medical history all his symptoms _ whatsoever about his medical history all his symptoms. they _ whatsoever about his medical history all his symptoms. they were - whatsoever about his medical history all his symptoms. they were reading j all his symptoms. they were reading from scripts — all his symptoms. they were reading from scripts. that _ all his symptoms. they were reading from scripts. that was _ all his symptoms. they were reading from scripts. that was when - all his symptoms. they were reading from scripts. that was when he - all his symptoms. they were reading from scripts. that was when he wasl from scripts. that was when he was able to _ from scripts. that was when he was able to through _ from scripts. that was when he was able to through because _ from scripts. that was when he was able to through because he - from scripts. that was when he was able to through because he had - from scripts. that was when he was able to through because he had to i able to through because he had to take able to through because he had to lake i_ able to through because he had to lake i and — able to through because he had to take i and hours— able to through because he had to take i and hours to _ able to through because he had to take i and hours to get _ able to through because he had to take i and hours to get through i able to through because he had to take i and hours to get through to| take i and hours to get through to the service — take i and hours to get through to the service it _ take i and hours to get through to the service. it was _ take i and hours to get through to the service. it was clear— take i and hours to get through to the service. it was clear that - take i and hours to get through to the service. it was clear that the i the service. it was clear that the system — the service. it was clear that the system was _ the service. it was clear that the system was hot _ the service. it was clear that the system was not in _ the service. it was clear that the system was not in place - the service. it was clear that the system was not in place to - the service. it was clear that the system was not in place to deall the service. it was clear that the - system was not in place to deal with a catastrophe — system was not in place to deal with a catastrophe like _ system was not in place to deal with a catastrophe like this. _ system was not in place to deal with a catastrophe like this. there - system was not in place to deal with a catastrophe like this. there was i a catastrophe like this. there was nowhere — a catastrophe like this. there was nowhere to— a catastrophe like this. there was nowhere to turn. _ a catastrophe like this. there was nowhere to turn. the _ a catastrophe like this. there was nowhere to turn. the only- a catastrophe like this. there was nowhere to turn. the only way- a catastrophe like this. there was nowhere to turn. the only way he| nowhere to turn. the only way he managed — nowhere to turn. the only way he managed to — nowhere to turn. the only way he managed to get _ nowhere to turn. the only way he managed to get into _ nowhere to turn. the only way he managed to get into hospital- nowhere to turn. the only way he i managed to get into hospital which was where — managed to get into hospital which was where he — managed to get into hospital which was where he died, _ managed to get into hospital which was where he died, is _ managed to get into hospital which was where he died, is that - managed to get into hospital which was where he died, is that a - managed to get into hospital which was where he died, is that a family friend _ was where he died, is that a family friend who — was where he died, is that a family friend who was _ was where he died, is that a family friend who was a _ was where he died, is that a family friend who was a doctor— was where he died, is that a family friend who was a doctor coached i was where he died, is that a familyj friend who was a doctor coached us on what _ friend who was a doctor coached us on what to— friend who was a doctor coached us on what to say— friend who was a doctor coached us on what to say to _ friend who was a doctor coached us on what to say to get _ friend who was a doctor coached us on what to say to get medical- on what to say to get medical attention— on what to say to get medical attention and _ on what to say to get medical attention and when _ on what to say to get medical attention and when the - on what to say to get medical- attention and when the paramedics came _ attention and when the paramedics came they— attention and when the paramedics came they took _ attention and when the paramedics came they took him _ attention and when the paramedics came they took him straight - attention and when the paramedics came they took him straight to - came they took him straight to hospital— came they took him straight to hospital and _ came they took him straight to hospital and two— came they took him straight to hospital and two days - came they took him straight to hospital and two days later- came they took him straight to hospital and two days later hel came they took him straight to - hospital and two days later he was on a it is mid—day and humid here in our health editor has literally come out of the reading of the report and what does the report say? well, as has been widely _ what does the report say? well, as has been widely predicted - what does the report say? well, as has been widely predicted it - what does the report say? well, as has been widely predicted it has i has been widely predicted it has been a damning indictment of the uk's lack of preparedness ahead of

the coronavirus pandemic which struck