hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. israel says it has killed the leader of hamas, yahya sinwar, the man widely believed to be behind the october 7th attacks. dna tests confirmed the 61—year—old died along with with two other hamas members during an israeli ground operation in the southern city of rafah on wednesday. one of israel's top targets, officials hold sinwar responsible for organising and directing the worst—ever attack on the country.about 1200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage. the family members of two israeli hostages held in gaza have told the bbc — sinwar�*s death is a "brief window of opportunity" for benjamin netanyahu's government to negotiate the return of the hostages. here is the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu speaking after the confirmation of sinwar�*s death. this is a milestone in taking

down the evil of hamas. translation: hamas will no longer rule of gaza. - this is the beginning. of the day after hamas. this is opportunity- for you residents of gaza to finally liberate yourself from his tyranny. - to hamas terrorists let me say this — your leaders are runningi away and it will be taken down. if you take on your weapons a return on hostages, - we will allow you to come out and live. _ but at the same time, - let me also say if you hurt our hostages, you will be taken down. - we will settle - the score with you. us state department officials are calling this a "seismic event," saying the us is "determined to try to seize that opportunity" to end the war. presidentjoe biden has announced he'll be sending his top diplomat, antony blinken, back to the region next week. just after landing in germany, mr biden shared details from his conversation today with mr netanyahu. i called him now to congratulate him on getting to hamas. they have a lot of blood on his hands. american blood. israeli blood and others.

and i told him that we were really pleased with his actions. and further to that, now�*s the time to move on. move on, move toward a ceasefire in gaza. make sure that we're moving in the direction that we're going to be in a position to make things better for the whole world. it's time for this war to end and bring the hostages home. our international editor, jeremy bowen has more on the dramatic events of today from jerusalem. at the beach south of tel aviv, a lifeguard picked up his microphone. "attention, all bathers. "it's not 100%, but there's a strong chance that the rat from the tunnels known as yayha sinwar is dead." and then it was confirmed. they knew sinwar�*s death was a big victory for israel and a big defeat for hamas. the israeli army released drone footage showing he was still fighting in his last moments.

they said sinwar, on a chair at the back of the room, had thrown two grenades and obviously wounded, tried to fend the drone off with a stick before he was killed. it had been a chance encounter and at first they didn't realise who they'd killed, then soldiers saw the dead man resembled sinwar. yahya sinwar, born in 1962, grew up in a refugee camp in gaza. he spent 22 years in israeli jails for killing four palestinians who'd collaborated with israel, so the security services had dental records and dna to identify his body. injail, he learned hebrew, studied his enemy and believed he'd worked out how to fight them. on the 7th of october last year, in a meticulously planned series of attacks, sinwar and his men inflicted israel's worst ever defeat. and a collective trauma that is still deeply felt.

the killing of civilians, the hostage—taking and the celebrations of their enemies recalled for many israelis the nazi holocaust in the second world war. prime minister netanyahu said the war would go on. today he said, "we made clear once again what happens "to those who harm us. "we showed the world the victory of good over evil. "but the war is not over yet. "it is difficult and it is costing us dearly." israel's response, a year of war, continued this morning. around 25 palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded in the latest big raid onjabalia camp in northern gaza. israel said it bombed a hamas commander centre. doctors said the casualties they saw were civilians. israel's response to the 7th of october attacks has killed at least 42,000 people in gaza.

its war aims of destroying hamas and freeing its hostages have not been achieved, so killing yayha sinwar is its biggest victory yet. the hamas organisation that sinwar and others built before the 7th of october attacks is largely broken. israel does not let us report independently from gaza, but this reaction in khan younis was filmed for the bbc. this war is not dependent on yahya sinwar or any other official, this is a war of extermination against the palestinian people as we all know and understand. the issue is much bigger than yahya sinwar or anyone else. many leaders have beenl assassinated before him, like ishmail haniyeh, i but someone else will always step in and the j struggle will continue. back in israel, a few

people stop to celebrate at the forensics lab where sinwar was taken. tonight israelis are relieved and happy with that the enemy has been killed but hamas still has its hostages, is still fighting and will get a new leader. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. general david petraeus is a former director of the cia. he also commanded us forces in iraq and afghanistan. i spoke to him earlier about the killing of yahya sinwar. we've heard a number of voices seeing this as an opportunity to change the course of the war and the us defence secretary released a statement saying it was a chance to end this quote terrible war and bring relief and hope to palestinians. what do you think of that perspective?

i think there should be vision provided how israel these are going to improve the life of thousand people. they should then go about informing that —— palestinian people. if they do not complete the destruction of hamas and bear in mind the leadership has been depleted and the forces are degraded substantially, but they are still able to constitute and there are still tens of thousands of extremists and would be extremist from which they can recruit hamas 2.0 and unless real control is exercised over the gaza territory and it is secured very precisely and carefully you will not have a situation and prevent hamas from continuing.— and prevent hamas from continuing. and prevent hamas from continuinu. �* ., ., , ., continuing. but what does that look like, _ continuing. but what does that look like, to _ continuing. but what does that look like, to secure _ continuing. but what does that look like, to secure it? - look like, to secure it? because that is the question. you start in the north, go a mile in, put on east walling, north—south walls, gated

communities and clear them painstakingly and get the people back into the areas of their homes even if they are destroyed. their homes even if they are destroyed-— their homes even if they are destroyed. their homes even if they are destro ed. ., ., , ., , destroyed. you administrate is this? then _ destroyed. you administrate is this? then you _ destroyed. you administrate is this? then you repeat - destroyed. you administrate is this? then you repeat the - this? then you repeat the process — this? then you repeat the process again _ this? then you repeat the process again and - this? then you repeat the process again and again i this? then you repeat the l process again and again and this? then you repeat the - process again and again and you can bring in the palestinian security forces that we trained in jordan and security forces that we trained injordan and arab forces will come in and you can have organised provision of humanitarian assistance and restoration of basic services by ngos and international organisations and contractors come in and you progressively clear and hold. what they are doing is clear and leave which is what we did prior to the surge in iraq which we had to reverse when we conducted the search. we did this and all of these population centres. israel continues to carry out more air strikes in northern gaza. gaza's hamas—run civil defence agency says at least 22 people are dead and dozens more injured in an israeli strike on a un—run school building injabalia. officials say the school was

sheltering displaced families. the israeli military says the site was an operational meeting point for hamas and islamichhad operatives. it also named 12 men who it said were among �*dozens' of hamas operatives in the building at the time. hamas denies the claims. there's much more analyis on the killing of the leader of hamas — on our website — including this piece from our international editorjeremy bowen. ukraine's president zelensky visited brussels where he's urged leaders to accept his plan to strengthen kyiv�*s military position, to force russia into peace talks. speaking at both the eu and nato headquarters, he called for fast—tracked nato membership for his country as well as more military and financial support to help ukraine on the battlefield. our defence correspondent jonathan beale is at nato's headquarters in belgium — and sent this report. president zelensky has presented what he calls his victory plan to eu leaders and then now defence ministers meeting at nato headquarters. the uk's defence secretaryjohn

healey said it was a basis for discussions and he hoped it would succeed but there has been some reserved reaction to it because of two fundamentals. it asks, this plan, for ukraine to be a member of nato and nato says ukraine will eventually be a member of the alliance but doesn't say when and there is no timetable. ukraine would like a clear timetable of when itjoins and one of the other key aims of the plan is to get western countries to back ukraine to allow them to use western long—range weapons to hit targets inside russia. they've been talking about this for months but there's not been in agreements on the two key issues, part of the five—point plan, they are still dragging theirfeet as far as plan, they are still dragging their feet as far as ukraine is concerned. just asked president zelensky at a news conference whether he thought the plan was realistic and he said his response was he had been asked plenty of times before and if

you go back to the start of the war people did not think ukraine would be supplied with the weapons they wanted and would not be supplying f—i6 jets and they are now in ukraine in limited numbers so he's making the case that things in the past which seemed impossible have happened. that said, what he is asking for now is a long stretch, getting into the third year of this war. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. a seven—year—old boy who died in a house explosion in newcastle — early on wednesday morning — has been named as archie york. the blast, which happened just before 1am destroyed three houses in the area of benwell. police also confirmed a second person was found dead. an investigation into the cause of the explosion is under way. the wife of a conservative councillor has been jailed for 31 months after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred on the day three girls were murdered in the southport attacks in july. lucy connolly from northampton

called for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire in a post on the social media platform x. and the bbc has found that over 140 million litres of sewage has been illegally discharged into lake windemere in the lake district, during the last three years by the water company united utilities. data obtained by the bbc shows the environment agency was unaware of the extent of the pollution in england's largest lake. you're live with bbc news. tributes continue to pour in after the death of liam payne, the former member of the boy band one direction. payne fell from a hotel balcony late on wednesday. the singer rose to global stardom as part of one direction, selling 70 millions records worldwide. his former bandmates have paid tribute to him, �*saying the memories we shared will be treasured forever. our culture editor katie razzall has more.

# the story of my life, i take her home... the hotel where liam payne died, there's comfort to be found in gathering and remembering. it was late yesterday afternoon when the former one direction star fell from the third floor of the casa sur hotel in buenos aires. staff had called emergency services, worried about the safety of a guest. the call was obtained by local newspaper la nacion. translation: what is happening at the location, sir? _ it's translation: well, we've got a guest who has had too many| drugs and alcohol and, well, when he's conscious he's a trashing the entire room and we need you to send someone urgently because, well, i don't know whether his life may be in danger, the guest's life. he's in a room with a balcony and well, we're a little afraid he... but help came too late. liam payne died of multiple traumatic injuries, according to local officials. a lovely day here,

in argentina. he'd been in the city on holiday, spending time with his girlfriend, kate cassidy. attending a concert of his former band—mate, niall horan. # fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars #. liam payne's career path was set from 2008, at his first x factor audition. the 14—year—old belting out frank sinatra. thejudges spotted something magical. come back in a couple of years, simon cowell told him. # now you say you love me #. when the boy from wolverhampton returned in 2010, singing again in front of the woman who would later become the mother of his child, the answer was... one massive fat almighty yes. this was very much his dream. he loved, he just loved to sing. - he's had worldwide fame for basically half his life. | # you don't know

you're beautiful #. one direction were global chart toppers, reinventing the boy band for the 21st—century — the first group in us history to see their first four albums debut at number one. # you don't know # you don't know you're beautiful #. you're beautiful #. madison square garden, madison square garden, the well�*s most famous arena. the well�*s most famous arena. that sums it up. that sums it up. —— madison square garden, the world's most famous arena. —— madison square garden, the world's most famous arena. children when they first found children when they first found fame, in the documentary fame, in the documentary made about their rise, made about their rise, their parents reflected their parents reflected on losing their teenage on losing their teenage sons to the touring life sons to the touring life when they werejust 16. when they werejust16. "he goes away for so "he goes away for so long," liam's mum said. long," liam's mum said. today, friends have today, friends have been remembering him. been remembering him. i don't know if people i don't know if people really know is that behind really know is that behind the camera he was so kind, the camera he was so kind, like, to everyone, like, to everyone, and always just wanted to put and always just wanted to put a smile on people's faces. a smile on people's faces. the band were all so the band were all so lovely, always, but liam lovely, always, but liam was kind of the... was kind of the... ..the grown—up one in ..the grown—up one in the group, the wise one, the group, the wise one, and i can't bear that this and i can't bear that this is where liam's is where liam's story has ended. story has ended.

# you know i love it when the music's loud # but come on strip that down for me #.

president, rigathi gachagua, while he was in the hospital. mr gachagua sat through a senate impeachment trial but fell ill shortly before cross examiniation. kenyan senators upheld five of eleven grounds for removal, including promoting ethnically divisive politics and violating his oath of office. mr gachagua had fought hard to stop the impeachment. but 26 court cases filed over the last two weeks failed to halt the process through the two houses of parliament. to the us election, and early in—person voting is underway in north carolina, a critical swing state. it's one of a handful of states expected to decide the winner in november's election. voting kicks off there as recovery efforts are still underway in the aftermath of hurricane helene. the storm wreaked havoc in many parts of the state just three weeks ago, killing nearly 100 people. tim walz, kamala harris' running mate is in north carolina

alongside former president bill clinton to drum up support for the harris—walz ticket. meanwile kamala harris is on the ground in the swing state of wisconsin and donald trump is attending a charity dinner in new york city. one of the key swing states where early voting is already underway is arizona — which could be key to november's election. here's how the latest polling across the battleground states is looking — arizona is one of three states currently leaning towards donald trump. my colleague caitriona perry has travelled to the state. and sent this report. narrow zone is narrow zone is one narrow zone is one of the seven battleground states that sometimes they democrat or republican that the polls have it basically in a dead heat. sometimes a slight lead for donald trump and sometimes a slight lead for kamala harris but it all falls in the margin of error in the polls and to put it in context, donald trump won here in 2016 but in 2020 joe biden flipped the state by a tiny margin, about 10,000 votes out of the 3.2 million

cast. the issues of concern to voters here are quite the same as what you see across america, the economy, affordability crisis, the price of housing, rent, fuel and so on but we are very near the border with mexico and arizona, the only battleground state with a border to mexico so immigration and border control are issues of concern. and in addition to that the voters here in arizona will vote for the president and other elected representatives but also vote for 13 other issues, 13 propositions, one of them is to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution, pushing the limit from the current 15 weeks up to the point of viability, about 22 or 2a weeks, so that is another matter at the forefront of voters minds here. i've been speaking to a student here at the university of arizona, and this is what she said. the first thing _ this is what she said. the first thing that _ this is what she said. the first thing that comes - this is what she said. the first thing that comes to l this is what she said. tue: first thing that comes to mind is gun violence and notjust by

the university campus, but across the cloak, so it is something that is close to home. �* , ., ., ., home. beyond that, we are here kind of on the ball with what's going on- and _ kind of on the ball with what's going on. and home. beyond that, we are here in arizona. _ in arizona. _ home. beyond that, we are here in arizona, and _ home. beyond that, we are here in arizona, and you _ home. beyond that, we are here in arizona, and you are - home. beyond that, we are here in arizona, and _ home. beyond that, we are here in arizona, and you _ home. beyond that, we are here in arizona, and you are - home. beyond that, we are here in arizona, and you are looking l in arizona, and you are looking ahead to your career, so there home. beyond that, we are here in arizona, and you are looking l in arizona, and you are looking ahead to your career, so there are other issues going through are other issues going through your mind?— your mind?— are other issues going through our mind? ., ., ., your mind? immigration, and the thins we your mind? immigration, and the things we are _ your mind? immigration, and the are other issues going through our mind? ., ., ., your mind? immigration, and the thins we your mind? immigration, and the things we are _ your mind? immigration, and the things we are seeing _ your mind? immigration, and the things we are seeing on - your mind? immigration, and the things we are seeing on the - things we are seeing on the line in this election and being things we are seeing _ your mind? immigration, and the things we are seeing on - your mind? immigration, and the things we are seeing on the - things we are seeing on the line in this election and being part of arizona, we are a part of arizona, we are a border town and we see that border town and we see that very closely here.— very closely here.— very closely here. have you decided who _ very closely here. have you decided who you _ very closely here. have you very closely here. have you decided who _ very closely here. have you decided who you _ very closely here. have you decided who you are - very closely here. have you decided who you are - very closely here. have you decided who you are going | very closely here. have you i decided who you are going to vote for? �* . ., �* decided who you are going | very closely here. have you i decided who you are going to vote for? �* . ., �* vote for? i've decided who i'm vote for? i've decided who i'm iioin to vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote _ vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for— iioin to vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote _ vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for— vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for and - vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for and i - vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for and - vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for and i - vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for and i plan . vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for and i plan . vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for and i plan to | going to vote for and i plan to vote _ going to vote for and i plan to vote democrat.— vote for? i've decided who i'm going to vote for and i plan to | going to vote for and i plan to vote _ going to vote for and i plan to vote democrat.— going to vote for and i plan to vote democrat. there are more registered — going to vote for and i plan to vote democrat. there are more registered — vote democrat. there are more registered republicans - vote democrat. there are more registered republicans than - registered republicans than vote democrat. there are more registered republicans - vote democrat. there are more registered republicans than - registered republicans than democrats in this state but democrats in this state but interestingly three out of ten interestingly three out of ten voters consider themselves to voters consider themselves to be independent, so there are a be independent, so there are a range of views here. t range of views here. t be independent, so there are a range of views here.— range of views here. i think be independent, so there are a range of views here.— range of views here. i think it's great — range of views here. i think it's great he _ range of views here. i think it's great he is _ range of views here. i think it's great he is such - range of views here. i think it's great — range of views here. i think it's great he _ range of views here. i think it's great he is _ range of views here. i think it's great he is such - range of views here. i think it's great he is such a - it's great he is such a - it's great he is such a it's great he is such a fighter, and he pushed hard for fighter, and he pushed hard for us when he was last president. us when he was last president. and ifeel like he is really and ifeel like he is really kind of on the ball with what's kind of on the ball with what's

going on. and he, i going on. and he, ifeel, is the best one to be elected

for australia's young monarchists there is a lot to celebrate. the fact king charles is travelling 10,000 miles and across ten different time zones, all the while having cancertreatment, is, say these students, testament to his fondness for this country. i'm really excited. i think he's such a big part of our history and our tradition, it's really wonderful we get to celebrate it. people aren't going to line the streets waving unionjacks, they are going to be waving the australian flag because the king isjust as much the king of australia as he is the king of england. archive: at london airport i the heir to the throne prepared to say goodbye to britain for a few months. - the king first came here aged 17, spending two terms at a rural boarding school and calling it by far the best experience of his education. voice over: monarchy - the farewell tour. - but republicans here say the country needs to move on. they've released this tongue—in—cheek video encouraging australians to think about a future

without the royals. we've been independent for a long time now. but that last little step of independence for us is splitting away from the monarchy, having an australian — somebody who lives here, somebody who represents us — someone who is able to go and attend events not every ten years, but every week. this weekend the king and queen will land here in sydney and be shown around by one of the country's most prominent republicans. prime minister anthony albanese has long made it clear that australia needs to rid itself of the monarchy, but plans to hold a vote on the issue have been shelved. there isn't the appetite for what many see as a distraction from bigger issues, like the cost of living crisis. and the government was defeated in a separate referendum last october, on giving greater political rights to indigenous people. it was a bruising campaign that divided australia. for many first nations communities, a vote on the monarchyjust isn't a priority.

we're not white australia any more, we're a brown australia. it would be very interesting to see, you know, a brown head of state or a black head of state, but before we do that we need to include our first nations and acknowledge and recognise that. australia's flag, with the unionjack in the corner, is the most ubiquitous reminder of the country's ties with great britain. in most places though the aboriginalflag now flies alongside it. australia is a very different country to the one king charles first visited nearly 60 years ago. katy watson, bbc news, in sydney. a rare comet has been spotted across the globe, in hawaii and also now in germany — this timelapse shows the tsuchinshan—atlas comet as it passed over berlin's sky on wednesday night. it came from what's known as the �*oort cloud', well beyond pluto. scientists says it's only visible from earth

every 80,000 years. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. plenty of clear skies across england and wales have given our weather watchers the chance to see the hunter's moon, the third supermoon of the year so far. this was darlington a little earlier on, but the clear skies are quite widespread across england and wales, and the supermoon can be seen as far south as hampshire as well. we have got more cloud the further north and west, with strengthening winds ahead of this weather front that's going to arrive during the morning rush hour, but with those clear skies, because it's been so wetjust recently, fog is forming and some of it will be quite dense in places for the early morning rush hour or the journey to school. so