this is bbc news. the headlines: israel intensifies its aerial assault on lebanon — at least 13 people are killed in a strike next to the country's biggest hospital. the us secretary of state arrives in israel as anthony blinken tries once again to revive hopes of a ceasefire. a man has died after two

trains collide in wales — 15 people remain in hospital. and, king charles ends his tour of australia with a visit to sydney harbour to view the country's fleet. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. one of the first acts of the new labour government was to sanction the early release of hundreds of prisoners from england and wales. today, at least 1,000 more inmates will be set free, in a fresh effort to free up space injails. people convicted of murder, sex crimes or terrorism will not be eligible, but others serving a sentence of more than five years will now qualify for early release. the chief inspector of probation — martinjones — told bbc radio 4 that regardless of today's releases, a more fundamental reform of the system was needed to ensure that prisons didn't run out of space again.

well, certainly my assessment is that there is a significant risk that the amount of space that has been created by the sdsao changes will be reduced as a result of the high level of recalls that we've been seeing. historically, over a number of years now, i see no indication that there will be fewer recalls as a result of this. so of course there will be some benefit but it will be quickly chipped away at and it's the reason why a hard look at recall is necessary for the long term. let's take a quick look at the numbers. as it stands, for every 100 people released in the first quarter of this year, 56 were recalled. so around half of people released from prison are recalled in time. recalls account for 14% of the prison population — so it's a significant contributor to the overcrowding. the justice secretary, shabana mahmood, warned that the government will run out of prison places again — despite the measures. even with emergency release, even with allowing for

the number of records that have to take place, we are still going to run out of prison places. again, we have bought ourselves some time in order to think about some longer term solutions to this crisis, but make no mistake about it, whilst we have some more headroom in our prison system, the situation is still very difficult and that's why we have to come forward with more longer term proposals to try and get that situation back into balance. nick hardwick is the former chief inspector of prisons. i spoke to him earlier and began by asking, will prisons definitely run out of space? i think it is definite. if no more action is taken, the basic arithmetic is clear. we are admitting more people than we are releasing, and if we keep doing that then you run out of space and you can't build prison places as quickly as the population is increasing.

so there is no doubt about it, the system will run out of space, for a fact, in the summer — unless something is done. the immediate solutions the government has put forward, for example early release, also pose security challenges? yes, i think it is important to be clear that these are early releases, so prisoners who would have been released after they had done 50% of their sentence are now being released after they have done a0%, so they are being released a few weeks or a few months early. we know that about one in three of all prisoners who are released reoffend within a year, so some of those will reoffend but they will reoffend a little earlier than they would have before. so that is not a comfort to those victims, but if you want to reduce the number of victims overall, then you have to create capacity in the prison system to be able to do the work necessary to try to reduce the

risk that people will reoffend. so there is some short—term pain for long—term gain, if you like. what do you make of the government's plans to review sentencing? how long would that take and how long before it starts to impact on the overcrowding problem? what they are doing at the moment, as the justice secretary said, buys than some short term breathing space. longer term, they have to look at sentence length, i think, and that will take some time to do. i think they will take probably a year to do it and it will be very politically controversial because you will have to deal with people who have committed quite serious offences and have a discussion about why we are sending those sorts of people to prison for much longer than in the past. i think that will be an uncomfortable discussion which raises very profound issues.

we will have much more analysis on that story with our home editor mark easton a little later in the programme. the un aid agency operating in gaza says the israeli authorities are still preventing medicine and food from reaching people under siege in the north. and footage shot in the aftermath of an attack by israeli forces on a refugee camp injabaliya shows a nurse running in panic between the dead and wounded at a un school. israel says its offensive is aimed at stopping hamas from regrouping in northern gaza. 0ur international editorjeremy bowen has seen the video — a warning his report shows extremely graphic images. palestinian first responders went to collect bodies in a lull in israel's offensive injabalia and the rest of northern gaza. the un says gaza's nightmare is intensifying — a worsening humanitarian crisis amid what it calls "relentless israeli strikes". this was filmed this morning by a nurse called nabeela,

in the moments after an israeli strike on a un school injabalia used as a shelter by civilians. close to panic, she tries to tell this woman to be calm, saying, "i have nothing to stop the bleeding." she turns back to help the other casualties. she is the only medic there. children are dead. a woman's leg has been blown off. and then she runs to get her medical bag. a child says, "please help — my sister is dying." nabeela hasn't got much — a few basic wound dressings. "use this," she says. one of the women says, "my children are gone — look at them." back down the stairs, past dead children, and then she screams when she sees the dead body of an elderly

man she recognises. screaming. northern gaza this morning, just after an air strike, from a vantage point a few miles away in israel. it's a public holiday here. this is a popular place to observe the war. israelis believe the killing and hostage—taking by hamas, and the way palestinians voted for them, makes the war in gaza and the others that followed necessary and just. if they would return the hostages, then i would have what to feel for them. in the meantime, there's nothing i can feel for them. they have started this. they entered israel. they attacked us. and all this is the results of their initial actions. a short drive away, close to the gaza border, it was a family day out for israelis who believe the war has given them the chance to recreate a very different gaza. they want to restore jewish settlements inside the gaza strip that the israeli

government removed in 2005. these people know what they want when eventually there is a ceasefire in gaza. the israeli government has only really said what it doesn't want. it doesn't want any kind of governance that looks like progress towards a palestinian state. now, that is a problem for its western allies — the americans, the british and others — because they believe a palestinian state alongside israel is the only way to stabilise the region and not have perpetual war. anita toker, in the blue hat, brought herfamily up on a farming settlement in the gaza strip. for her, leaving was a gross injustice. i played her a report i did about her departure, 19 years ago. this is an integral part of the state of israel. since that day in 2005, they have dreamed about a return.

now they see palestinians forced out of large areas of gaza and are pushing to replace them. i think we have an opportunity to build much more than we had before. i think we should build cities in some of the places. we should bring many, many more of israel's population into the gaza strip. i think those people in the gaza strip, and there are a lot, that want to leave, that want to leave, why is egypt and israel not allowing them to leave and go to europe? the bomb shelters where israelis fled from hamas have been made into memorials to the dead and the hostages. this is where many were cornered and killed. inside, memorial candles where they died. 0utside, they have posted their biographies. the war is changing the middle east in ways no—one fully understands yet, and it is widening and escalating. jeremy bowen, bbc news, southern israel.

we will take you now to beirut on this here is a press conference now under way at the university hospital. of course, this was the sight of an israeli air strike near the hospital, not the hospital itself, was hit by the strike. so we have officials that we understand from the university hospital now addressing the press following that strike. so what we understand at the moment is 13 people including a child, were killed in that strike that has hit the car park of the hospital there. we will bring you much more from that press conference with our colleagues in beirut.

a man has died and 15 people are being treated for injuries after two trains collided in mid wales. the crash hapened just before 7:30 at night — when two passenger services crashed at low speed. the cause is being investigated. 0ur reporter vincent mcaviney has more on this story. emergency service personnel inspecting the warped and buckled metal of commuter trains that collided in powys mid wales. at around 7.30 on monday evening, the 18.31 service from shrewsbury to aberystwyth and the 19.09 service from machynlleth to shrewsbury were involved in what is being described as a low—speed collision. the train coming from newtown side failed to stop where they normally stop. it is a fair gradient then from that point down to machynlleth and, from what we can gather, he just slid and he could not stop the train.

a multi—agency response was launched with police, firefighters, road and air ambulances, as well as the coastguard helicopter all attending the scene. one man died in the incident. his next of kin been informed and his family are being supported by specialist officers. a further 15 people were taken to hospital with non life—threatening or changing injuries. all other passengers were evacuated safely from both trains. somehow, my body bent the leg of a table and ripped it off its bolts attached to the wall. suddenly, i was on the floor with my laptop strewn ahead of me, wondering what the hell had happened. first minister of wales, eluned morgan, tweeted... in a statement, network rail and transport for wales said

the line will remain closed for now and all passengers should check theirjourneys before travelling in the region on tuesday morning. police have also asked drivers to avoid the a470 from carno to commins coch and to use alternative routes. vincent mcaviney, bbc news. we have been looking at the issue of overcrowding in prisons here in the uk and the continuation of the government�* early release programme, as well as a review into sentencing. with me is our home editor, mark easton. thank you forjoining us on the programme. just tell us, where do we stand with these early releases and what impact are they having at the moment? the rison they having at the moment? the prison system — they having at the moment? the prison system in _ they having at the moment? tue: prison system in england they having at the moment? tte: prison system in england and wales are significantly overcrowded. you are supposed to have 1500 empty cells out about accommodation for 89-90,000 about accommodation for 89—90,000 people. we have less

than that, about 1350 at the moment. and the situation has been much worse. the government say it is all the last lot�*s fault, we inherited a system in crisis that is completely broken and we have to do something and that something is to release prisoners... normally a prisoner would be released on custody, on parole, about halfway through their sentence. forsome about halfway through their sentence. for some prisoners, that has now been reduced to 40%. so that has now been reduced to a0%. so that is controversial. it was controversial when they first did it last month, more controversial now because they are including prisoners who have been sentenced to prison for more than five years. so some pretty unpleasant individuals will be coming out of prison early, a few weeks or months earlier than the courts and victims expected. from the government�*s point of view, thatis government�*s point of view, that is because the prison system is broken and that is why today they have announced what actually is a very significant review of the whole way that prison is used in this

country. way that prison is used in this count . g , , ., way that prison is used in this count ., , , ., ., way that prison is used in this count ., , ,., ., , way that prison is used in this count ., , ., , ., country. just explain to us how this review _ country. just explain to us how this review works. _ country. just explain to us how this review works. it _ country. just explain to us how this review works. it is - this review works. it is focused on magistrate�*s courts and the kinds of sentences that can be passed there? t and the kinds of sentences that can be passed there?— can be passed there? i think it is broader _ can be passed there? i think it is broader than _ can be passed there? i think it is broader than that, - can be passed there? i think it is broader than that, actually. | is broader than that, actually. i think it is a review that is looking at really whether prison works and what the government and the former conservative lord chancellor, the opposition lord chancellor, who will be heading this review for the government, have been saying. at the moment prisons are not working and the reason they are not working is because basically you have got very, very high levels of reoffending and the whole thing costs a fortune. so the government is essentially saying it is time to rethink short term sentences, they will be reviewing those. the debate has been going on for a long time. short sentences, should we be issuing those at all? and long term sentences, they want to look at the whole framework of long term sentences. there is this argument are actually there has been inflation of sentences over the years, so people are going to prison for

much longer and basically the government is saying, prison can work and can be useful for dangerous offenders in particular. but i think this is really an opportunity for them to say, ok, we�*re going to have a look at the alternatives now, talking about what we can do in the community rather than locked up in a prison cell. qt locked up in a prison cell. of course locked up in a prison cell. of course as these early releases have taken place, there have been some questions about some of the individuals, may be a minority, a small group of people that have been released, questions about whether they were due for release?- questions about whether they were due for release? when they did the first _ were due for release? when they did the first round, _ were due for release? when they did the first round, yes, - were due for release? when they did the first round, yes, there . did the first round, yes, there were frankly some mistakes made. 37 prisoners who should not have been let out because there were quite strict rules on people who were involved in domestic violence, murderers, terrorists, those kind of people. i think a particular concern in government about the victims of sexual crimes, including some harassment, stalking, those sorts of things. 37 prisoners were mistakenly released early last

time. there was also a problem that quite a few of them were meant to have these electronic tags on so we could monitor them in the community, that didn�*t happen as it should have done. i think there was quite a lot of fury in government that the private company in charge of that did not fulfil its obligations. so there were problems last time. i think there will probably be fewer this time, in as much they have had time to go through the list of prisoners involved, ensure all victims know what is happening and it is worth just reiterating that this isn�*t just letting people out. this is letting people out a few weeks or months earlier than they would have been let out anyway and of course they are let out on parole with these very strict restrictions on where they can go and what they can do. , ., where they can go and what they cando. ,. , , can do. yes, and please stay with us because _ can do. yes, and please stay with us because we - can do. yes, and please stay with us because we have - can do. yes, and please stay l with us because we have some breaking news that we need to share with the audience. in the last few minutes, reporting restrictions have been lifted in the case of chris kaba who

was shot by police. the police officer was acquitted at the old bailey. it can now be reported chris kaba was a core member of one of london�*s most dangerous gangs and accused of being in two shootings in less than the week before he was killed by a police marksman. i know you have been following this story, mark. give us a bit of context to this.— of context to this. well, the trial of the _ of context to this. well, the trial of the police _ of context to this. well, the trial of the police officer, i trial of the police officer, martin blake, was really focusing on the sort of 17 seconds between the hard stop of the car that chris kaba was driving on the fatal shot. the jury driving on the fatal shot. the jury didn�*t know anything about chris kaba�*s background, anything that was released today, which is why it was held back, because they had to make a judgment without knowing the back story. indeed, the police said they were not aware of everything that chris kaba, his criminal record and so on. however, i think what this will

do now, we have a situation where chris kaba, his criminal background is becoming public and that i think... it complicates matters, doesn�*t it? this was a case where people felt very strongly that the police had acted in a racist way. the police themselves felt that their firearms officers had been very unfairly treated, that one officer had been accused of murder when all he was doing was trying to keep people safe. so you had these two very different views. i think this new information about chris kaba and his background well to some extent muddy the waters still further. although actually, his criminal past did not have an impact on what happened that fateful day in 2022, fateful night, i think it will perhaps change the way in which this whole affair is discussed, politically and socially. this was a man with a

back story and we are learning a bit more about that now. qt a bit more about that now. of course a bit more about that now. of course we saw yesterday after this judgment came from the courts that there was a vigil by the family, just highlighting the tensions that remain around this case. this is going to be very delicate but the police to try and balance as well? es, but the police to try and balance as well? a huge concern- _ balance as well? a huge concern. the _ balance as well? a huge concern. the home - balance as well? a huge - concern. the home secretary h