a peace agreement between israel and hamas and which they hope will prevent a wider war. a us official said thursday saw a �*constructive�* first day of talks, and that they would resume friday. our middle east correspondent wyre davies is injerusalem and spoke about the significance of the talks continuing. that in itself is a sign of progress but do not expect hostages to be released overnight. do not expect there to be a ceasefire overnight. these are very much talks about talks, about the framework to move on because the one thing that everybody in the region of fears is that the talks in qatar will collapse and that will allow iran or permit iran to follow through with its vow, with its promise to follow through with military action in response to the assassinations, assumedly by israel, which took place in iran and southern lebanon of a senior hamas figure and a senior hezbollah figure.

so one of the reasons why there is so much international diplomatic for these talks in qatar to succeed that they really want to avoid the escalation of this conflict into a much bigger regional war. gaza's hamas—run health ministry said thursday that more than 40,000 palestinians have been killed by israeli military action in the enclave since the october 7 hamas attack on israel. because israel blocks international journalists from having independent access to gaza, the bbc has been unable to verify many of the claims made throughout the war by israel and hamas. that includes the number of people killed in gaza , and how many of those killed are civilians. but pictures and videos that come into our newsroom on a daily basis, from agencies on the ground in gaza, show that women and children are frequently among the victims of israeli air raids. lucy williamson filed this report from tel aviv.

as the leaders of israel and hamas weigh the price of making peace, nadja is counting the cost of war. after ten months of conflict, he says, the cemeteries are full. gaza, always crowded with the living, is struggling to find room for its dead. "we are opening up old graves to bury people," he said. "we are putting bodies, one on top of another." israel says military pressure is pushing hamas to soften its demands. in khan younis, news of ceasefire talks in doha today not enough to stop people fleeing. the abu hammad family, 22 people in all, say they have been displaced almost ten times already. translation: the death toll has now reached 40,000. i what more do you want? do you want to wipe us off the earth completely? we are pleading with all the country's governing in doha to seek a ceasefire. enough. we are dying.

in israel, too, there is pressure for a deal, from protesters in tel aviv tonight, who say this is the last chance to get israel's hostages out. the chance to free the remaining israeli hostages in gaza is one of the most powerful incentives for benjamin netanyahu to make a deal, but so far, his promise of total victory over hamas has taken priority. now even his defence minister says total victory is unachievable and is reportedly pushing for an end to the war. israel's goal of reaching gaza's southern border was one reason it continued the war. the army said it destroyed 50 smuggling tunnels there last week. the withdrawal of israeli forces from this area is one sticking point in these talks. but many believe the real challenge lies with the two leaders themselves. mr sinwar, who is an arch terrorist and is trying to ensure his own personal survival and the survival of hamas in gaza, and we have mr netanyahu who was fighting for his own political future.

the question is whether we can find some neutral ground here that will provide for the breakthrough because if not, we are probably heading for a war. this conflict is threatening to spiral across the region. a ceasefire is seen as one way to stop it. but gaza's war is testing the limits of diplomacy and the limits of desperation. lucy williamson, bbc news, tel aviv. earlier, white house national security communications advisor john kirby reacted to the 40,000 death toll. we are never turning a blind eye to this and we have had multiple conversations with our israeli counterparts about being more discriminant, more precise, doing a better job of deconflicting to try to prevent civilian casualties. there have been way too many, and we have been very

honest about that. the israelis know where we stand about the issue of civilian casualties, we're not going to shy away from that and we also have to make sure, of course, that they can continue to defend themselves against what is still a viable threat by hamas. last hour i spoke with michael 0ren, former israeli ambassador to the united states. the us is describing the first day of negotiations as �*constructive', do you think would israel share that view? good to be with you. i hope so. i think israelis, whether they think israel should make major concessions to hamas in order to get the hostages released or insist on certain conditions such the continued israeli control over that route between egypt and gaza through which all these arms were smuggled, whether it be a temporary ceasefire rather than a permanent ceasefire, all israelis want to get the hostages back and they understand, we all understand that there has to be a price paid.

the question is, in getting the hostages back, say 33 hostages, will we down the road bejeopardising the lives of thousands of israelis because if hamas comes out of the tunnels and declares victory and reconquers the gaza strip, their own leaders said they will mount 10,000 october 7th until israel is destroyed. it is that kind of deep, deep dilemma that israelis face and the hope is they will be able to bridge the gaps in doha and bring our hostages back. do you think this could be the moment prime minister netanyahu prioritises bringing those individuals home over the goal he has had of eradicating hamas? it is notjust eradicating hamas, again, it is the question of whether hamas will take over the philadelphia route between egypt and gaza and the smuggling begins again. whether hamas will be able to under a permanent ceasefire will be able to take over gaza again. these are very crucial issues for israel so it is notjust about netanyahu's future, it is about the future of the people of israel and certainly the people who live close to gaza. hamas is still fending rockets at tel aviv.

let's be very specific about this. it is still quite a formidable military force. but their hope is, yes, we can do this. my big concern and i want to stress, i am not a representative of the israeli government, is that mr sinwar if he does not get a permanent ceasefire, would want to see a war between israel, iran and hezbollah, because that would greatly magnify the pressure on israel, both the military pressure, economic, and international diplomatic pressure to concede serious concessions to hamas. do you think doing a deal at this point would prevent the likelihood of that regional conflict to spread? ismail haniyeh, sorry sorry, hassan nasrallah, the head of hezbollah has said that if sinwar accepts a ceasefire, he will accept a ceasefire. it will certainly bring an end to the daily bombardment of the upper galilee. today there was a massive bombardment of upper galilee by hezbollah. and it would put and end — certainly a temporary end to the fighting up there.

the big problem is that hezbollah will remain along the northern fence between lebanon and israel, and 100,000 israelis have been displaced up north, many will not go back to their homes if hezbollah is still deployed along the northern fence. when you look at the humanitarian crisis that we're seeing in gaza, the images that we see on our screens daily, the hamas—led health ministry puts the death toll in gaza at $40,000. obviously as i said earlier we cannot independently verify that but after 10 months of fighting, hamas has not been wiped out. at what point do you think the prime minister decides that this approach has not worked and for all the reasons you have mentioned, it is time to do something a little different and do a deal? it is a good question. i'm not privy to the prime minister's thinking. as a citizen of israel i think the criteria should be when hamas is no longer capable of firing rockets at israel and hamas is no longer capable of taking over hospitals

and schools and mosques and using them as military headquarters to direct terrorist attacks against israelis. i think it is a fair set of criteria for israeli citizens. how long this will take, i don't know. according to military experts in israel it is a matter of several months to keep on degrading hamas to that degree. it is in the interest of israel, in the interest of palestinians and the entire middle east that hamas will no longer have the ability to either reconquer and rearm gaza or mount 0ctober 7th—type to attacks in the future. israel is not letting international journalists into gaza to independently report what is going on in gaza. would you like to see that change? do you think israel should let in internationaljournalists? it has been long my position that the greater opening to journalists would be in israel's favour. it has been my experience over many years of both being in the army, being in wars and working with the international press, i do not know the considerations that led

to that decision not to let journalists in but i think it should be revisited. russia's defence minister says moscow has set up a council to co—ordinate its response to ukraine's military offensive in the kursk region. this comes as ukraine's military commander announced the army has set up an administrative office inside russian territory. 0leksandr syrsky said the office would "maintain law and order" and meet the needs of the local population. meanwhile, on the ukrainian side of the border, residents have been told to leave the town of pokrovsk in the donetsk region as russian forces close in. 0ur correspondent will vernon has more on russia's efforts to stop ukraine's incursion. in russia, evacuations from parts of the border regions continue. thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. "big guns were firing

constantly", this woman tells russian state tv. "my house was shaking and the furniture was moving "around." the russian military is desperately trying to stop the ukrainian advance, releasing more pictures, allegedly of strikes against ukrainian forces. translation: in our sector, | everything's under our control. we are destroying the enemy. a little further along, they got through, but we're seeing to them. but these satellite images show that trenches are being dug in the region. russia is urgently bringing in workers to build the defences. that means moscow is concerned about further gains for ukraine, and kyiv says it continues to make progress, albeit at a slower pace. ukrainian soldiers have released more footage, apparently showing them removing russian flags from buildings in villages they've seized during the incursion. president zelensky claims his forces are moving forward.

translation: we needj other weapons, missiles and we continue to work with our partners on long—term solutions for ukraine because these are needed for victory. and ukraine's allies seem to be listening. today, the uk government said kyiv can use british supplied weapons, such as these challenger 2 tanks, inside russian territory. in a statement to the bbc, the ministry of defence said ukraine has a clear right of self—defence against russia's attacks, which includes operations inside russia. the battle for the kursk region rages on, but there's politics at play here, too. ukraine wants to show its western backers that it can still fight and win. will vernon, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

let's look at some other stories making news. a 15—year—old sunderland boy become the first person in england to be charged with the offence of riot following recent disorder in parts of the country. rioting carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison — double that of a charge of violent disorder. the teenager cannot be named for legal reasons. a landmark ruling is likely to see up to 7a,000 prosecutions for alleged rail fare evasion in england and wales quashed. rail companies had fast—tracked alleged ticket—dodging offences through a process called the single justice procedure, which allows magistrates to hear cases behind closed doors. but on thursday, the uk's chief magistrate declared six test cases to be void, saying the process should never have been used. a review of the metropolitan police has found the force is not adequately investigating crimes, nor managing the risks posed by sex offenders. his majesty's inspectorate of constabulary found improvement was needed in almost all the areas it scrutinised. the met said it is "using every available resource to deliver more trust, less crime and high standards".

you're live with bbc news. human rights groups are criticising what they say is a weak response to abuses by the ruling taliban in afghanistan. it is three years to the day since the group returned to power in the country. under the taliban, women and girls face what the un calls "a widespread and systematic attack" on their rights. but in a joint statement nine ngos, including human rights watch and amnesty international, say the international community is taking what they say is an "increasingly ineffective and sometimes even harmful" approach to the group. the ngos also point the finger at the un, criticising the world body for holding a summit with the taliban, weeks after it reintroduced the stoning of women accused of adultery. the charities want countries to use global courts and targeted sanctions to punish the taliban for abuses, while boosting support for refugees and rights groups.

for more, i spoke with lisa curtis, senior fellow at the center for a new american security, and previously a senior us national security official handling afghanistan during the trump administration. it is three years that the taliban are back in control. women and girls are denied so much in afghanistan. how would you characterise the situation? well, i think this is the most devastating thing about afghanistan right now is the repression, the severe repression of women and girls. look, three years ago when the taliban took over, everybody was saying they would be different, they are taliban to .0, they have changed, and that simply has not happened. girls are not allowed to go to school beyond six grade, women cannot attend university, women cannot work in mostjobs, they cannot travel without a male companion. women are being married off at young ages. they simply have no rights and it is a devastating situation and i think what is most troubling is that the international community is marginally remaining silent. the united nations in latejune

held a meeting with over 25 afghan convoys and human rights was not even on the agenda. after us and other countries have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into empowering women, providing girls education for 20 years, to simply turn their backs on the women of afghanistan is not only morally reprehensible, it does not make strategic sense, because the more women are denied an education, denied the ability to have jobs, the more the entire country will suffer. the social and political and economic development of the country will suffer and extremism will flourish.

so this does not make sense. if they or can there be any opposition to the taliban within afghanistan? well, i think this is another disappointing reality. even though it has been three years since the taliban took over, the anti— taliban opposition is in complete disarray. they are divided along ethnic lines, they have not developed a coherent unified position among themselves. there are various groups, hundreds of different groups, but they need to come together and they would have a stronger voice if they spoke with one voice, but that simply is not happening, so unfortunately, i think the taliban is going to be with us for a long time to come. looking at it from a us perspective, what about the tens of thousands of us allies who are still in afghanistan, who did not

make it out and their families. what is their fate? i think this is one of the reasons the us maintained lines of communication with the taliban, because they are still able to work with the taliban to relocate afghans outside of afghanistan, as well as, you know, they either allies and partners, so it is still happening, planes are still living with people who want to get out of afghanistan, it is at slow pace and if there are still people who are in danger, human rights workers, people that worked with the previous government, with the afghan military, so there are a lot of people whose lives are in danger and still need to get out and this is one of the reasons that the us continues to have communication lines with the taliban so they can organise these flights and get these people out and to safety. and briefly, you mentioned

the us keeping channels of communications open with the taliban, should they be issued to tackle the issue of human rights, particularly the rights denied to women and girls? absolutely. the us could be doing a lot more to condition assistance under the taliban improving the rights of women and girls and also to be sanctioning those taliban leaders who are most responsible for repressing women and girls. now, the state department has sanctioned to individuals behind the decision to forbid girls from going to school and this is positive, but they need to be doing more of this. they need to be penalising the taliban for abusing the rights of women and girls, for persecuting women and girls. no other country in the world does not allow girls to go to school. this is unacceptable and the us needs to be levelling consequences on the taliban, even as it tries to engage on certain issues like humanitarian assistance

or relocating afghans. i think it is possible to be able to do both. authorities in california have charged five people in connection with the death of friends star matthew perry. one of the charged is mr perry's personal assistant, who pleaded guilty to injecting him with ketamine, and who later found the 54—year—old actor in a hot tub at his los angeles home following an overdose. mr perry had been open about his history of addiction and depression. ketamine is a potent anaesthetic that is increasingly used as a treatment for mental health issues. it can be deadly in large doses. investigations revealed that two of mr perry's doctors, his assistant, and two other acquaintances were part of a criminal network supplying him the drug. i talked about the investigation with the bbc�*s peter bowes in los angeles.

this case gives us a glimpse into a different side of hollywood — addiction, wealth, vulnerable people. what did we learn today about what prosecutors say was going on? it is a different side to hollywood, although i would suggest that perhaps it is a different side to the united states that many people from overseas might consider about this country because it is well—known there is a very significant problem here with the abuse of prescription drugs and, in this case, a drug ketamine that matthew perry was using in small doses for legitimate reasons, but when he became seemingly dependent, a lot of people had hoped matthew perry's drug problems were behind him, but when it became obvious that was not the case, he wanted more of the ketamine and that is a point he was reached out, was refused and was taken advantage of by these doctors and other individuals to provide him with more and more ketamine. the motive? the motive would be to make profit.

tremendous amounts of money when they were selling vials of ketamine for $2000 that were worth about $12. because of the potential that to make profit. and that is what we're learning about what has been described as this underground network of individuals, especially in terms of the doctors, knew the dangers of catamaran and knew what could potentially happen but they were still determined to make money from someone like matthew perry and so many other people who are vulnerable. is there any indication further charges may be brought against these individuals in relation to this case? it is quite possible. we had about one additional charge relating to one of the individuals, the alleged drug dealer, the so—called ketamine queen that provided the drug to another individual who in fact had died

and if there is an additional charge that but clearly this investigation has been going on for some time but investigators continued to learn more and more about the circumstances so there is absolutely the possibility, maybe not directly associated with matthew perry, but the potential for the charges and clearly they will be looking into whether other individuals have been supplied drugs, whether ketamine or other drugs by this group of people. thank you very much for those details. let's turn to some other important news around the world. sweden has confirmed what it says is the first case of a more dangerous type of mpox outside the african continent. the incident comes just after the world health organization declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern. and now china says it will take steps to monitor people and goods coming into the country from areas with cases of mpox. a russian court has sentenced amateur ballerina

ksenia karelina to 12 years injailfor treason for donating $51 — about £39 — to a charity supporting ukraine.karelina, who is a us—russia dual national, pleaded guilty last week after a trial held behind closed doors.she had been living in los angeles and became a u—s citizen in 202i.she was arrested while visiting family in russia last january. hurricane ernesto has strengthened to a category 2 hurricane as it heads towards bermuda. it battered puerto rico wednesday with torrential rain and heavy winds. officials say the hurricane could bring as much as 12 inches of rain to bermuda. and before we go, some new protections for one of nature's prickliest creatures have been announced in the southwest london borough of kingston upon thames. in a move to protect the city's hedgehogs, new �*hedgehogs crossing' roadsigns have been installed. it's part of efforts to reduce the number of hedgehogs killed on busy roads. some 150,000 of the animals are killed each year in road accidents in the uk,

according to reports. that is it for the moment. i'm caitriona perry. do stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. the summer holiday season is in full swing, and if you have plans for the weekend, well, it looks likely that the weather is going to behave itself. it will be largely dry, sunny and pretty warm. now, we have got a little bit of rain clearing away from the south and east as we speak and this area of low pressure to the far north—west. that's at risk of driving in a few isolated showers, chiefly to the north—west of the great glen, and here, a brisk wind with it as well. but elsewhere, a lot of sunshine. any early morning residual cloud will ease away from the kent coast. the sunshine break through and temperatures should peak between 15 and 20 degrees in the north, highs of 25 in the south. that comes at a cost if you are a hay fever sufferer.

certainly across england and wales, we are likely to see high pollen levels through friday afternoon. but as we go into the start of the weekend, we'll have clear skies across england and wales. still a bit more of a breeze and a few isolated showers to the far north—west. but that means during the early hours of saturday morning, under those clear skies, temperatures will fall away to single figures in a few spots. so a slightly fresher, more comfortable night for sleeping. but we've got high pressure building in from the south and west, quietening things down. again, that low to the far north could still drive in just one or two isolated showers, but on the whole, it's a dry picture for many of us through the weekend. we will be chasing cloud amounts around, particularly with that south—westerly wind. some cloud lapping onto west—facing coasts. here, not quite as warm, but these temperatures are where they should be really for this time of year, ranging generally from mid—teens in the north to the mid 20s in the south. then on sunday, scattered showers are likely to be continuing into the far north and west,

maybe one or two through the irish sea — very fleeting, few and far between. we keep the sunshine for most. and once again, if you are planning any outdoor activities, the weather should behave itself then into next week. there is a potential for weather fronts to push its way into the far north—west. just how much rain we'll have in the south—east corner is really subject to question. here is where we're likely to see the driest of the weather, but a little more unsettled further north and west, and as a result, not quite as warm. take care. bye— bye.

voice—over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. imagine being belarus's dictatorial president alexander lukashenko. you tie yourself ever closer to vladimir putin in moscow, you're apparently hosting russian nuclear weapons and remnants of the mercenary wagner group, and then you watch as ukraine launches an extraordinary offensive inside russia. what do you do? and what does the belarusian opposition do? well, my guest is pavel latushka, a leading figure in that opposition.

how is the ukraine war impacting the struggle for regime change inside belarus? pavel latushka in warsaw, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me here today. it is a pleasure to talk to you. now, you are a leading figure in the struggle for regime change inside your home country, belarus. to what extent is that struggle today inextricably tied to the fate of ukraine and ukraine's war with russia?