four israeli solders were killed and many others wounded as the middle east conflict continues on multiple fronts. taiwan has condemned large—scale military exercises by china, taking place on all sides of the island. the uk government says the issue should be settled peacefully through constructive dialogue. health officials in zimbabwe have confirmed the country's first two cases of mpox. and nasa prepares to launch a mission to europa, one ofjupiter�*s moons — seaching for signs of life. hello, welcome to bbc news now. three hours of fast moving news and interviews. our lead story today — the conflict in the middle east which is continuing on multiple fronts. in the past few minutes lebanon's health ministry says 18 people have died in the north of the country, the first

time is right has targeted the christian majority northern region of lebanon since the war began. we can take you to some live pictures from lebanon. this is beirut, the capital city, of course. and this is the scene in tyre. these images coming into us. israel's army chief has admitted that a drone strike by the lebanese based group hezbollah on a military training base that killed at least four soldiers on sunday, was a painful blow. 60 others were wounded in the incident in binyamina, just south of haifa. hezbollah, which is backed by iran, said it had launched "a swarm of attack drones". raising questions

in israel about how its sophisticated air defences failed. meanwhile israel says its air force struck 200 hezbollah targets, and that israeli soldiers have also been involved in what it called "close—quarters encounters" against the group. and the war continues in gaza too — the latest figures from the hamas run health ministry says 42,289 palestians have now been killed. the figures include both hamas fighters and civilians. the un has found the numbers from previous conflicts reliable. on monday at least four people have been killed in a hospital courtyard. israel says it was being used as a command centre by hamas militants, a claim hamas denies. the world health organisation says a second phase of its polio vaccination campaign has now begun in central gaza. earlier i spoke to our news correspondentjonah fisher — who's in northern israel.

he outlined the latest on israel's investigation into the drone attacks. israel's minister of defence, the chief of staff of the army have both been at the army base near binyamina this morning. as part of those questions that are being asked as to how this drone was allowed to get through to such devastating damage yesterday evening. now, just to give you a little bit of context on israel's air defences, we are right up near the border with south lebanon. it's just over the hills in that direction. over there. we quite frequently see the iron dome air defence system intercepting hezbollah rockets as they are fired towards northern israel. what is different with the drone is that they don't have a predictable trajectory. they can, of course, go at lower altitudes and change direction easily. so they are much harder for the israeli air defence system to track. and what appears to have happened, according to israeli media reports who've seen preliminary findings from the investigation,

is that yesterday evening there was a sustained barrage of rocket fire as well as drones being launched from southern lebanon, and that two drones ended up above the mediterranean sea, flying south. one of them was taken down by the israeli military, but one was lost and it was that drone which was lost by the israeli military, which then went on to fly south of haifa and to hit the canteen of this military base near binyamina. and over the last few days, we've been reporting about those contacts between israeli forces and the forces of un peacekeepers, unifil. just in the last few minutes, we've seen this from ireland's deputy prime minister micheal martin, who has accused the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, of undermining the united nations and its peacekeeping force in lebanon. also in the last hour, the french foreign ministry, rejecting mr netanyahu's demands for those

unifil forces to pull back from their positions in lebanon. how much pressure is this row putting on benjamin netanyahu and the israeli government? that's a very good question, because so far the israeli government has largely been able to turn away from international pressure and press ahead with its own agenda and what it says it is doing in southern lebanon, which is is effectively pushing back hezbollah militants from the border area to try and pave the way for displaced people to go back. our news correspondent jonathan head, is in beirut. he told me he's not convinced that the us moving more military assets into the region will have much influence on hezbollah�*s plans. we don't know whether the air defence system will cope or how iran will react when they launch their —— they have to

defend against the much anticipated retaliation from israel. this morning we have had reports of an air strike in the northern village which is a christian village, although hosting a lot of displaced people, we have had reports of 12 people killed there, some in one single house which was hit by presumably an israeli bomb, i have seen pictures of one dead woman there. the lebanese know that after the deadly attack on israeli reservists yesterday by a drone that was presumably launched from here or near here, they are expecting a lot more israeli action, seeking out hezbollah targets, and they could be anywhere. right above me at the moment there is an israeli drone circling a very loud, it has been up there for the last couple of hours. no air in

beirut here since late last week but every time we hear the drones everybody in the city knows they are looking for targets and people to take out, and that is the reality of conflict. it is a very unsettling place to be. buzzing. ican hear i can hear the drone there above your head. so what sense do you have of the number of people who are currently displaced and on the move? liih displaced and on the move? un fiuures displaced and on the move? iii», figures from the start of the conflict, more than 600,000, maybe 700,000, lebanese government figures, in total around more than a million displaced but some of those are from earlier conflicts. there are those who register with shelters but they are full and many people cannot go to the

shelters and there are many who do not register and also many who do not leave their home, they get evacuation orders but if you do not have anywhere to 90, if you do not have anywhere to go, you have a home, it is very hard to leave especially if you are trying to move elderly or disabled people. israel routinely issues evacuation orders, it has issued some again for 25 villages in the south, some of those it has issued evacuation orders for in the past. one town was smashed by israeli bombing on saturday night, completely destroying its ottoman era market, and ten people were killed, and today israel gives the explanation that it was targeting a senior hezbollah commander, and anti—tank missiles, that is why they went after it, there is a constant of israel justification saying they are going after hezbollah targets, and the lebanese powerless to stop the strikes and never knowing when they are going to

come next and this is keeping this wave after wave of people moving around the country. some of the people who have been affected in beirut have been displaced from other places earlier, people have been displaced two, three, four times. , times. our correspondent in istanbul talked _ times. our correspondent in istanbul talked to _ times. our correspondent in istanbul talked to us - times. our correspondent in istanbul talked to us early i istanbul talked to us early about developments in gaza. last year israel asked all of the people who are living in gaza city and the north, about 1.5 million people, to move to the south because they said they will attack gaza city and they will attack gaza city and the north, and many people, hundreds of thousands, have left and gone to the south, and now israel has draw to drawn the line. we have a checkpoint we have about maybe 90% of the population, in the southern part of gaza, in an area near

the coast of gaza, and there were people who refused to leave the north and who remain in the north throughout all of this year. about nine days ago, the israeli military issued a statement saying that you have got to leave and move to the south, because they want to evacuate the north of gaza and they started by surrounding the biggest camp which is jabalia with about 200,000 people, and they are living a very difficult situation since october, and they have not received any medical or food or fuel, so we feel israel is pushing them hard to leave. according to the hamas how to the ministry about 300 people were killed in the north and there is still more suffering and israel keeps sending messages, dropping messages

from planes, telling them they want them to move to the south. just to remind you about the news we are hearing about an israeli strike in the north of lebanon. we can show you a map. the lebanese red cross says 18 people have been killed in a rare israeli attack on the north of lebanon, this aitou region of predominantly christian people. the lebanese red cross say about 18 people have been killed in that israeli attack in the north of lebanon. around the world and across the globe, this is bbc news.

a public inquiry into the salisbury novichok poisonings has opened this morning.

it's heard that dawn sturgess — the 44—year—old mother who died after coming into contact with the nerve agent — appears to have been an innocent victim caught in the crossfire of a quote "illegal and outrageous assasination attempt". the inquiry heard the bottle contained enough poison to kill thousands. the inquiry is expected to last several weeks. our correspondent duncan kennedy reports. this was dawn sturgess just a week before she died. the tragic conclusion to months of events concerning spies, nerve agents and perfume bottles. dawn was 44 and the mother of three children. the story had begun four months earlier here in a quiet cul—de—sac in salisbury. it was the home not of dawn sturgess, but of a russian man. he was sergei skripal, who's believed to have worked for british intelligence, and he became the target of an assassination attempt by moscow. he and his daughter yulia, who was visiting him, came to be poisoned with a nerve

agent called novichok. the front door of mr skripal�*s house had been smeared with the agent. what happened here will be just one of the points of investigation for the new public inquiry. sergei skripal never did return to his home here and after months of decontamination work, it was later sold. thejudge in the inquiry says neither mr skripal nor his daughter yulia will give live evidence because, he said, they still face a significant risk to their safety. central to the public inquiry will be the role these three men played. they're all believed to have worked for russian military intelligence. two of them were filmed in and around salisbury at the time sergei and yulia skripal were poisoned. russia has always denied any involvement. it's believed the two men delivered the novichok in this perfume—like bottle that was discovered by the partner of dawn sturgess.

charlie rowley took the bottle home to dawn and three days later she fell ill. their flat in amesbury was sealed off. dawn never recovered and died a few days later. in the years that followed, their home was demolished, leaving just a patch of grass and trees, as well as questions about how it had all happened. salisbury�*s mayor says everyone involved wants the new inquiry to bring justice. when she was poisoned four months later, the real possibility emerged that she had been caught, and it's an infant —— an innocent victim, of a terrible assassination

attempt. the public inquiry is chaired by lord hughes of ombersley. it will hear evidence in salisbury and in london, and is due to report next year, producing the definitive version of this extraordinary, tragic story. duncan kennedy, bbc news. health officials in zimbabwe have confirmed the country's first two cases of mpox. an eleven year old boy and twenty—four year old man who had both recently travelled outside the country are recovering in their homes. the world health organisation declared a global public health emergency in august after a new type of the virus spread from the democratic republic of congo to neighbouring countries. more than 7,500 cases have been reported in 16 countries in africa this year — with 32 deaths recorded so far

china says it's ended a military exercise in which its armed forces conducted large scale drills surrounding taiwan. this map — from chinese state media — shows the scale of the military exercise, involving the army, navy and air forces. beijing said the drills — thought to be the biggest yet — were a warning to those in taiwan who want independence. it's thought to be a reaction to a strident speech by taiwan's president — lai ching—der — who said his government would not accept chinese control. china sees taiwan as a breakaway province but the island sees itself as distinct and has its own government and military a spokesperson for china's foreign ministry said peace and an independent taiwan were incompatible. translation: taiwanese independence and peace l in the taiwan strait is irreconcilable. if you are concerned about peace and stability in the taiwan strait, the first thing you should do is oppose taiwanese independence. a spokesperson for taiwan's

government said this... translation: at present, i the international community's consensus is to maintain peace and stability in the taiwan strait in the indo—pacific region. china should face the fact and the existence of the republic of china taiwan respects the choice of the taiwanese people for a democratic and free lifestyle and refrain from military provocations that would jeopardise the peace and stability of the region and threaten taiwan's democracy and freedom. our correspondent in beijing has more on the story. our correspondent in bei'ing has more on the story. these exercises _ has more on the story. these exercises are _ has more on the story. these exercises are becoming - has more on the story. these | exercises are becoming bigger and more frequent and closer to taiwan, and what it seems to be, this time, is a dress rehearsal for a be, this time, is a dress rehearsalfor a blockade be, this time, is a dress rehearsal for a blockade of taiwan, and i say it seems to be, i'm getting that from the pla itself, the chinese military said the goal of this exercise is to practice

attacking taiwan from all directions and to take control of key ports, various landmasses, while being able to take out other targets at sea. in terms of taking out other targets, that could pay to eventually be forces coming from countries —— that could potentially. the taiwanese government and the us have criticised the deal is, saying beijing is increasing instability in the region but according to the chinese government, look, this is essentially a rogue province and one date must be unified with the mainland of china, and so they no apologies for the pressure they are putting on taiwan with a view to, i guess, somehow using it, whether it is a blockade or a full—scale military invasion, for that island to reunify with the mainland. the problem is, the more you put threats up like this, the less likely ordinary taiwanese people are going to

be wanting to unify with the mainland, and the other funny thing that seems to be happening in taipei and the rest of taiwan, people are becoming quite blase about this, as these exercises just keep going on, it isjust another exercise, this is the fourth time in two years that mainland china has had a major military war game surrounding taiwan, and so if it is meant to intimidate the population, it is possibly having the opposite effect because everyone is getting used to it. in terms of the taiwanese military, they say it is enabling them to prepare their own defences for any attack, should it come from the mainland. so who knows whether it is going to work. and also, i should add, we're not saying that it's going to be some imminent invasion of taiwan or anything like that.— anything like that. stephen

mcdonell- _ the digital banking company revolut was named in more complaints about fraud last year than any of the uk s biggest banks and online payment and saving services. a freedom of information request by bbc panorama uncovered nearly ten thousand reports about revolut logged with the uk s national reporting centre for economic crime — 2,000 more than barclays. our business correspondent, marc ashdown, reports. lets go through the payment details. he lets go through the payment details. ., r' lets go through the payment details. . ,~' ., ., lets go through the payment details. . ., ., ., ., details. he asked me to go onto the website _ details. he asked me to go onto the website and _ details. he asked me to go onto the website and do _ details. he asked me to go onto the website and do some - details. he asked me to go onto | the website and do some checks. the fraudster tells laura her account is under attack and he

is there to help but in reality he is trying to get access to her money. he asked me to go onto the website and do some checks. the fraudster tells laura her account is under attack and he's there to help. in reality, he's trying to get access to her money. he relentlessly kept saying he was trying to help me, that i shouldn't be worried. yes, it is definitely fraud. what this means is somebody might have your personal pins and passwords. the scammer convinced laura to download software he said would securely connect her computer to revolut, but in fact, it gave him remote access to her laptop. within seconds, my computer was flashing, my screens were flashing. i was like, "what are you doing?" he started transferring large chunks of money, £24,000 in total, draining her account in minutes. 1540 00:22:57,