gaza according to the killed in gaza according to the hamas— killed in gaza according to the hamas run health ministry. but yahya — hamas run health ministry. but yahya sinwar would definitely ya hya sinwar would definitely have — yahya sinwar would definitely have been one of israel's biggest _ have been one of israel's biggest targets. there have been — biggest targets. there have been occasions where it has been — been occasions where it has been claimed he has been successfully hit in a strike and — successfully hit in a strike and they have proved to be false, — and they have proved to be false, but there are several indications that they may have -ot indications that they may have got yahya sinwar this time but we will— got yahya sinwar this time but we will have to wait and see. one — we will have to wait and see. one of— we will have to wait and see. one of the reasons why people have _ one of the reasons why people have been cautious at this estate _ have been cautious at this estate is— have been cautious at this estate is there has always been an assumption that yahya sinwar has always been surrounded by a human_ has always been surrounded by a human shield of several israeli hostages. there are 101 hostages. there are 101 hostages still being held in gaza, — hostages still being held in gaza, about two thirds of those are thought to be still alive and — are thought to be still alive and it— are thought to be still alive and it was always assumed that many— and it was always assumed that many of— and it was always assumed that many of these hostages would have _ many of these hostages would have been held around yahya sinwar, — have been held around yahya sinwar, bizarrely, for his own protection _ sinwar, bizarrely, for his own protection. no hostages have been — protection. no hostages have been found in the immediate vicinity— been found in the immediate vicinity of the strike which may— vicinity of the strike which may pour cold water on the theory— may pour cold water on the theory that it is yahya sinwar but other— theory that it is yahya sinwar but other features including

photographs which do resemble yahya _ photographs which do resemble yahya sinwar have been released but they— yahya sinwar have been released but they have not been verified and we — but they have not been verified and we cannot say for sure yet that _ and we cannot say for sure yet that yahya _ and we cannot say for sure yet that yahya sinwar has been killed — that yahya sinwar has been killed but the israelis say they— killed but the israelis say they are looking into it. and american — they are looking into it. situc american intelligence they are looking into it. fific american intelligence has always suggested that he operates in bunkers deep underground for his safety. if it is him, and we are stressing that it it is him, and we are stressing thatitis it is him, and we are stressing that it is and if, how significant would that be, coming so soon after the targeting of ismail haniyeh? it would be huge because it would be decapitating the top of the operation. yahya sinwar is a big figure in israeli jails, he had been released as a hostage release deal many years ago so he is regarded as a very hard line figure, an enforcer in hamas before he became the leader in the gaza strip and he

is so senior that he has been credited with organising that huge invasion of armed hamas fighters across the border with israel on october the 7th last year where 1200 people were killed and hundreds were taken hostage. israel blames him for that and he will have been their number one target. whether this brings closer an end of the conflict is yet to be seen. whether hamas can continue without yahya sinwar as leader and how effective he has been as leader in the last few weeks and months is open to question because he will have been very closely guarded but also communications between him and other hamas units in gaza will have been increasingly difficult, as well as taking a strong stranglehold over the territory but it will be a big development in this war if yahya sinwar has been killed. are correspondent injerusalem. are correspondent in jerusalem. and are correspondent injerusalem. and we will look again at what

the idf have posted on x about this. there is the statement on your screen. they are talking about idf operations in gaza and not only the idf mentioned in this but also the isa, one of the israeli intelligence branches, the military intelligence branch, checking the possibility that one of the three people eliminated in this operation is yahya sinwar, although at this stage the identity is not confirmed and the statement goes on to say that there were no hostages present in the area. that is because he was said to surround himself with a human shield of hostages in orderfor his protection, acutely aware that he was a key target of israel and often said to operate deep underground. our security correspondent frank gardner is still with me. there has been a lot of focus on israel's

actions in lebanon in the last week or so but this is a reminder that israel is operating a number of fronts. yes, the gaza conflict has not gone away, it is unfinished business there. israel set out an immediate aftermath —— in the immediate aftermath of october the 7th atrocities to eliminate hamas as a military force and to do that it knew it would need to target its military leader yahya sinwar. it's also widely assumed it was responsible for the assassination of the political wing leader of hamas, which it did in tehran. everybody assumes that mossad was responsible for that on july 31. but yahya sinwar is someone they have gone after for a long time and somebody who will have taken enormous care over his personal security and his

digital and physical security. it has been widely assumed, perhaps wrongly that he would always surround himself with living israeli hostages, some of the original 250 survivors who were kidnapped on october the 7th last year and taken into gaza, into tunnels where obviously a large number of those have been released, some have been killed, but 101 remain, many of whom are thought to be still alive, and it was thought his best chance of survival would be to surround himself with them. there is no evidence of that in this particular case so i would think by the end of today, we should have a definitive yes or no, was it not? —— was it him or not? no, was it not? -- was it him or not?— no, was it not? -- was it him or not? how do you think this fits into the _ or not? how do you think this fits into the overall— or not? how do you think this fits into the overalljigsaw - or not? how do you think this fits into the overalljigsaw ofl fits into the overalljigsaw of what's happening in the middle east, hamas, hezbollah in lebanon are allies of hamas, hezbollah is backed by iran, so

how does this particular, if it is yahya sinwar, how does this fit into the overall picture? israel is on a mission at the moment, it's clear, first of all, to ignore any us calls for restraint and eliminate all its enemies at once or at least degrade their capability to attack israel. they have launched attacks on the houthis in yemen who have been firing missiles at them, they are 12 months into their campaigning gaza which has killed over 42,000 palestinians, the majority of whom are civilians but a lot of hamas fighters as well, they have embarked on an invasion of lebanon, a targeted and precise operation but in the end it's an invasion, including bombing hezbollah strongholds in the south of beirut to try to eliminate hezbollah's rocket and ability

to fire rockets at them, and it has embarked on targeted assassinations, notjust yahya assassinations, not just yahya sinwar assassinations, notjust yahya sinwar but other people they have been after, hamas leaders in gaza, and they believe the senior leadership of hamas or certainly a large part of it. with hezbollah, they have eliminated, i hate that word, that's what appears on the new stories, killed the man who ran hezbollah for 32 years and was perhaps the most important person in the middle east who was the torchbearer for iran's entire programme of exporting its islamic revolution. tote entire programme of exporting its islamic revolution.- its islamic revolution. we are “ust its islamic revolution. we are just seeing — its islamic revolution. we are just seeing from _ its islamic revolution. we are just seeing from the - its islamic revolution. we are just seeing from the news - just seeing from the news agency that the israeli army is carrying out dna tests on the body in question to confirm if it is yahya sinwar, that's the latest line on that. while you

and i talk about this, we still have the hostages and their families waiting to be reunited. and we still have the grave humanitarian situation in gaza and millions of people displaced in lebanon so it's unclear at the moment how all of these military operations might lead to any change in circumstances for all of those groups. circumstances for all of those urou s. . groups. one thing that will chance groups. one thing that will change things _ groups. one thing that will change things as _ groups. one thing that will change things as a - groups. one thing that will. change things as a ceasefire groups. one thing that will - change things as a ceasefire in gaza which has been very elusive. about two weeks ago, i attended a joint press conference in london at the foreign and, development office with antony blinken, us secretary of state, and david lammy, britain's foreign secretary, who both said we are close to a ceasefire in gaza, we are 90% there, but it's getting the last 10% over the line this difficult. there are two sticking points, it seems

the most problematic one is the status of gaza's... the israeli cabinet is not keen on giving up cabinet is not keen on giving up control of it, why, because it has been used to sneak in weapons from egypt through tunnels, through that border into gaza which hamas have then used to fire rockets and missiles at israel. they want to stay put their at least for the time being. that may change. hamas which is ultimately negotiating what's left —— ultimately negotiating with what's left of hamas, they don't want to give up the hostages unless they can be certain that israeli forces are going to withdraw from gaza so there is an impasse, a logjam at the moment. if there is a ceasefire in gaza, hezbollah have said they. firing rockets but israel is on such a role in terms of assassinating and invading that i don't think they are going to stop there.

frank, thank you very much. just to recap, israel's security official saying the army is carrying out dna tests on one of the bodies in that latest strike to determine if it is the hamas leader yahya sinwar. more coming up with our international editor and gaza correspondence and former spokesperson for the idf. it's been a drier morning with sunshine around, a far cry from this time yesterday which again started to top up the rain gauges again. in some places 60 or 70 millimetres fell on what had already been a wet start to october. the rain clearing away and the cloud a little hazy for east anglia and the south—east and there are a cluster of showers in northern ireland, western scotland, western parts of england and wales and temperatures a few degrees down on yesterday when we had 22 in london but with more sunshine

that compensates. as we go through the evening and overnight under the starry skies, great viewing for the hunters moon tonight and high tide as well but we will start to see fog forming and it will be cooler and more comfortable for sleeping as temperatures fall to single figures in most areas but the west to seize the wind picking up again ahead of this atlantic low pressure system. the next area of wind and rain so it looks as though we will see gales for the hebrides by the time we get to that morning hours in the strongest winds across western areas and rains across the east pushing east so much so that it might hang onto the dry weather all day but the fog will take its time to clear across england and wales and in the sunshine in the east, 16 or 17 but tempered by the wind that goes through the west of the uk and tomorrow night, as you can see, it pushes its way east, so you will see more rain as we head toward saturday morning.

behind it, drierand brighter and scatters of showers and the wind will ease down after a blustery day or a fairly windy day on friday night, so feeling quite pleasant again when the sun comes out but the temperatures will have dropped away a little bit. that's the first part of the weekend. we are really concerned about the second part of the weekend with a deep area of low pressure rapidly developing and rushing in for sunday, likely to be the windiest spell of the autumn so far and potentially bringing the stormy weather and gales or severe gales with lots of rain wrapped around the area of low pressure and certainly one to watch. there are warnings already in force and there is more on that on the website.

live from london. this is bbc news. the israeli military says it is checking whether they have killed the hamas leader, yahya sinwar. sinwar was the architect of the october 7th attack on israel that killed more than 1,200 people, and saw more than 200 taken hostage. we'll talk live to the bbc middle east editor who's injerusalem. on this programme — we'll get the latest details as they emerge, and assess what sinwar�*s death would mean, if it's confirmed, for the year—long conflict in the region.

hello, i'm matthew amroliwala. let's start with major breaking news from the middle east. the israeli military says its investigating the possibility that it has killed the hamas leader — yahya sinwar — in the gaza strip. the attack is said to have killed several people, described by the army as terrorists — but the statement added that at this stage,the identity of those killed has not been confirmed. sinwar was the architect of the october 7th attack on israel that killed more than 1,200 people, and saw more than 200 others seized as hostage, triggering the current conflict. let's speak to our international editor, jeremy bowen tell us the latest you are hearing. tell us the latest you are hearing-— tell us the latest you are hearin.. , ., . ., hearing. first of all, i cannot confirm anything _ hearing. first of all, i cannot confirm anything but - hearing. first of all, i cannot confirm anything but what i l hearing. first of all, i cannot i confirm anything but what i can

tell you is a picture has been circulating which i