a re are recovered from a tourist boat that _ are recovered from a tourist boat that sank- _ are recovered from a tourist boat that sank off - a tourist boat that sank off egypt's�*s a tourist boat that sank off egypt's's red sea coast. more than a dozen are still missing. ukraine's air force says russia has launched a record number of drone strikes — damaging critical infrastructure across the country. the clean—up operation begins, after storm bert brought major disruption to parts of the uk. more than 100 flood warnings remain in place. hello, i'm kasia madera. welcome to bbc news. after months of hostilities — a dealfor a temporary end to the hostilities between israel and the lebanon—based group hezbollah could be agreed in the coming hours. israel's cabinet will meet to discuss backing the agreement — which has been brokered by international mediators, including the us and france. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is said to have already agreed to the deal in principle. under the agreement, there would be a 60—day pause

in fighting, during which israeli troops would withdraw from southern lebanon. hezbollah would move further away from israel's northern border, so that civilians could return to their homes in their respective areas. once they have departed, the lebanese army and un observerforces would deploy in areas close to the border. despite the diplomacy, there's been no end — yet — to the fighting. this video shows the aftermath of hezbollah rocket attacks near nahariya in northern israel — two people were injured, one of them seriously. there were israeli air strikes in lebanon overnight, and this huge blast in the city of beirut. government officials say more than 7,300 people have been killed in israeli attacks across lebanon since october last year, with most of those deaths in the past few weeks.

the eu's foreign policy chief, josep borrell, says israel has no reason to refuse a lebanon ceasefire. i was in lebanon, i was injordan, and i got first—hand information of what is going on there. lebanon, there is no excuses for the ceasefire. on the proposal agreement brokered by the us and france, israel has security concerns. there is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. otherwise lebanon will fall apart. in lebanon there are almost 4000 civilian victims. all the south of lebanon has been destroyed, fully destroyed. josep borrell speaking at the g7 in italy. let's hear now from our middle east correspondents — hugo bachega who's in beirut,

and yolande knell, who's injerusalem. i spoke to them both a short while ago, and i began by asking hugo what reaction on this potential deal from lebanon. there has been cautious optimism since the visit of the envoy of president biden who has been leading these negotiations, he was here this week and reported progress in these talks. what the lebanese have been saying is they believe there are no obstacles left for the implementation of this proposal. this is a 60 day ceasefire that would see israeli troops being pulled out from southern lebanon, hezbollah removing fighters and weapons from the region and the lebanese military boosting its presence in the south. i think the key point is implementation, i think what has been made very clear to the lebanese government is there will not be an acceptance of this situation after 2006 where hezbollah was allowed to build infrastructure, to have a very

significant presence in the south and to carry on attacks on israel. there is a focus on implementation, this five country committee led by the united states to monitor the implementation of the deal. i think what is not part of the deal but it's happening at the same time is a guarantee that is going to be given by the americans in a letter to the israelis, giving them the right to attack lebanon if hezbollah is seen as violating this deal. this is a very controversial subject in lebanon because many believe this is a violation of the country's sovereignty, but obviously lots of people here want a deal, this country has suffered a lot because of this conflict, more than one million people have been displaced from their homes, many will be going back to rubble because their homes have been destroyed, more than 3700 have been killed as a result of these israeli air strikes so it seems like diplomacy has made progress in trying to reach a ceasefire

in this conflict. thank you for the time being, hugo. yolande, we heard the eu foreign policy chiefjoseph —— josep borrell saying there is no reason for israel not to accept, what is the reckoning injerusalem? nothing is being officially stated by the israeli prime minister's office, but israeli media widely reporting, quoting an israeli official saying when the security cabinet meets later at about four o'clock local time, two o'clock london time, they are expected to vote in favour of the ceasefire agreement. i should note that it's something that many defence analysts say appears to be the best deal israel can get, from what they know of it. nothing has been publicly announced. but there are lots of reservations coming through, particularly from communities in the north of israel close to the border with lebanon.

some 60,000 people there have been displaced by more than one year of fighting that has gone on between israel and hezbollah, and it is a stated war goal of israel to return those people safely to those homes. what mayors of many towns in that part of the country are saying is they are not hearing the plan goes far enough. they do not believe the plan they are hearing about goes far enough. many had hoped that something like a buffer zone could be created along the israel—lebanon border. there have also been divisions within israel's coalition government and you have the national security minister, a far right minister, who has come out and said he opposes a deal, and he says we do the fighting with hezbollah should go on until there is what he describes as absolute victory. —— and says the fighting with hezbollah should go on until what he believes there is an absolute victory.— what he believes there is an absolute victory. yolande knell in jerusalem — absolute victory. yolande knell in jerusalem and _ absolute victory. yolande knell in jerusalem and hugo -

absolute victory. yolande knell| in jerusalem and hugo bachega injerusalem and hugo bachega injerusalem and hugo bachega in beirut. the lebanese prime minister hasjust said in beirut. the lebanese prime minister has just said they are hopeful but tonight there will be a ceasefire in reference to that deal. let's speak to megan sutcliffe — the middle east and africa analyst at sybilline, a geopolitical strategic advisory firm. the lebanese foreign minister hopes a deal will be done by tonight, are you so optimistic? unfortunately not. unfortunately the passage of the ceasefire to the cabinet during the security meeting this afternoon is not guaranteed due to domestic pressure on communities in the north and also the hard right elements of the israeli government such as eczema bank of the year. even if this approval was made today, we have not yet seen explicit confirmation that hezbollah agrees to the tax that has been proposed, but has not been publicly disclosed. if we

acknowledge all the patent had agreement from both parties there are still sticking points at which this agreement could falter even before implementation. falter even before im - lementation. . implementation. there are concerns — implementation. there are concerns part _ implementation. there are concerns part of _ implementation. there are concerns part of the - implementation. there are - concerns part of the agreement would mean israel had the ability to act within lebanon should hezbollah be in violation, arguably a contravention of the sovereignty of lebanon. it's not a sticking point that can be overcome? i not a sticking point that can be overcome?— not a sticking point that can be overcome? i believe it can be, i be overcome? i believe it can be. i believe _ be overcome? i believe it can be, i believe it _ be overcome? i believe it can be, i believe it could - be overcome? i believe it can be, i believe it could be - be, i believe it could be overcome by effectively splitting the ceasefire and then another separate clause or agreement that would allow israel to operate within lebanese airspace. at present it is highly likely hezbollah would oppose any agreement that explicitly stated israel would have free rein over lebanese skies or the ability to resume operations very quickly. the way negotiators are likely hoping to move around this is by excluding those types of

causes from an agreement itself but also giving israel guarantees aside from this agreement and is effectively a de facto accepted that israel would be able to operate within lebanon if they perceive the agreement was not being adhered to by hezbollah.— to by hezbollah. meghan, in terms--- _ to by hezbollah. meghan, in terms... one _ to by hezbollah. meghan, in terms... one of— to by hezbollah. meghan, in terms... one of the - to by hezbollah. meghan, in terms... one of the issues | to by hezbollah. meghan, in| terms... one of the issues as the lebanese military would have to be deployed in the south. arguably the military is in a position where they don't have the capacity to oversee this. is this something which again can be overcome? i believe that will be very challenging to overcome. unfortunately the lebanese armed forces are not the best equipped in the region or indeed within lebanon, so their ability to influence an agreement is certainly lacking, even with un support. even if they had that ability, the lebanese armed forces had several factors preventing them all that have restricted their willingness to enforce in

agreements, for example over the past almost 20 years hezbollah has progressively built up infrastructure south of the litani river even though un security council resolution 1701 effectively gave the lebanese armed forces the monopoly on force in lebanon and mandated that there was a hezbollah withdrawal, particularly south of the litani river. iam not particularly south of the litani river. i am not saying there are indications that the lebanese armed forces have expert —— exponentially increase their capacity all the willingness, so the enforcement by third parties will likely be a sticking point, particularly when moving from agreement to implementation. for when moving from agreement to implementation.— implementation. for the time bein: , implementation. for the time being. meghan _ implementation. for the time being, meghan sir _ implementation. for the time being, meghan sir cliff, - implementation. for the time j being, meghan sir cliff, thank you for your analysis and insight and we have much more on the website too, we have contacts, analysis and

background to what is a complicated story and we expect that israeli cabinet meeting where they will be considering that deal. much more online and much more here on bbc news. another breaking news story, the governor of egypt's red sea region says three bodies have been recovered from the tourist boat which capsized on monday. according to the statement, 13 people are still reported missing, two britons were among those not accounted for. the identities of the bodies which have been recovered have not been made public. the boat set off on a five—day diving tour from port ghalib in egypt, there were 35 tourists and 1a egyptian crewmembers. 28 people have been so far. we will speak to our correspondents from egypt for the very latest in the next few moments.

the ukrainian air force says russia has launched a record number of drones overnight, damaging buildings and critical infrastructure in several regions. the attacks took place across ukraine, with officials describing them as �*massive' in scale. 188 drones were involved, many of which are believed to be iranian—designed shahed unmanned aerial vehicles. 76 were shot down and another 95 were either lost from radar tracking, or brought down by electronicjamming systems. that would suggest that at least 17 got through. the air force says russia also fired four iskander—m ballistic missiles but did not say if they were intercepted. here's our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, in kyiv. we were aware of a very significant amount of activity late last night in kyiv for a good couple of hours, and you could hear explosions on a pretty regular basis towards the edge of the city, so there was a lot of activity, we think quite a significant number of drones arrived in the general

area, but that figure of 188 is the largest for a single night anywhere at any time over the best part of three years. it was all over the country, as we have often seen in the past, and in one city far to the west they experienced significant damage to their local energy infrastructure, with the result that a city ofjust under a quarter of a million people is suffering significant loss of electricity with lots of knock—on effects in terms of public transport and water today. it is unusual for a city that far west to be hit, there is no obvious reason for that, but i suppose we could probably see all of this in terms of a general rush effort to try to make life as difficult as possible as temperatures drop

and winter arrives. —— as part of a general russian effort. i know you have been travelling across ukraine, you were in dnipro further east recently. in terms of morale, when you hear these huge what have been described as drone strikes across the country, what is morale likeable people? —— what has been described as a massive drone strikes the country, what is morale like for the people who are there? that word massive is used pretty much every time there is a strike, so i think we should slightly discard the novelty of such large attacks. this country is incredibly used to widespread, countrywide missile and drone attacks. the fact the number is higher may be of some significance but is not unusual and the people here are very used to it. in dnipro, the streets were echoing to the sounds of generators large and small as businesses, shops and restaurants keep their business open, the doors open, to the extent that they can, keep customers flowing through the doors.

as you go around a city like kyiv he would be hard to really notice very much affected during the day. —— you would be hard—pressed to really notice. at night it is extremely dark, last night as these explosions could be heard i looked out of my window into streets that were absolutely plunged into darkness and every now and again a city somewhere in the country experiences a catastrophic failure. odesa in the south was the most recent to have a really significant impact, with an effect on water and transport. that went on for days. we see this happening pretty routinely. ukrainians have become very resilient, very resigned to the reality of this. if it is designed to sap morale, i suspect the most sapping effect is the news from the eastern front where everybody knows

the russians are advancing slowly but steadily across the broad swathe of the fighting in the east, and that is definitely having an effect on morale. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams from kyiv. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you watching bbc news. more than 125 flood warnings remain in place across the uk this morning, as the after—affects of storm bert are still being felt. one of the warnings, at the river nene near northampton, is classified as severe — which indicates there is a potential danger to life. flooding has caused major disruption to homes, roads and rail networks and more rain is expected to fall on already saturated ground. nickjohnson reports.

—— our correspondents across the country are covering this story. steve knibbs is in chippenham, in wiltshire. but first, let's hearfrom nicky schiller in northampton, in the east midlands. northampton is the only area that still has a severe flood warning, meaning there is a danger to life. it is around that caravan park you saw in nickjohnson's report where 1000 residents have had to be evacuated. many of them have come here, i'm outside an emergency centre set up in a local leisure centre by the council, and there is an emergency response charity. inside, in the squash courts, camp beds have been set up for some of those evacuated residents. last night they offered them a hot meal cooked here in the car park, this morning they have been able to give them some breakfast, tea and coffee, but some of those evacuated residents spent the night in their cars in this car park. the reason, they have their pets with them and they did not want to leave their pets alone so they slept in the car.

there are some dogs inside but they don't often mix, so some of them wanted to keep them in their cars. today the local council will try to find more accommodation for them. they have had around 100 or so people they have helped, 30 of those with children have already been put into accommodation but they will be looking to see whether they can house some of those residents, because as you saw from the pictures ain the report it will be a while before they can get back inside to see what damage the floodwaters have done. to their properties around that caravan park. abs, to their properties around that caravan park-— to their properties around that caravan park. a lot of damage, thank yon _ nicky, for the time being, thank you. steve, in chippenham and wiltshire, we saw some of the bad flooding that yesterday. bring us up to date. it was the worst flooding in the centre of chippenham yesterday for over 30 years, where i was standing there was about a metre of water. —— for over 50 years.

and you can see the impact on some shops, this is the front of wh smith, their crisps, sweets and books washed up to the front door by waters. many businesses struggled yesterday to get anywhere close to the shops. let's chat to gary in the barbershop, he has been in the town for over 30 years and this shop tells the story. i am sorry to see what has happened, you had about one metre of water? yes, everything floating around like a scene from titanic, silence and quite eerie. you can see the height of it. it is knowing where to start, steve. because the clean—up starts now. when do you think you might get open? i am looking at two days, slightly optimistic but we will give it a go, i am pretty resilient. you have not had flooding in this part of town for over 50 years, how has it left you and other traders feeling? it is a natural occurrence, what can you say, you have to get your hands dirty and get stuck in. i hope it does not happen again, but if it does we will have to go again. we were talking to some other

traders. the sense of community here, everyone is helping everyone else? it is a small town, it is great like that. it is what we get in the countrv _ what are you going to start with, washing out to the front? i wish you all the best, i am very sorry it has happened. thank you for talking to us. gary is one of many traders at this end of chippenham, there are still several flood warnings in place, the river avon has peaked here but everybody is keeping their fingers crossed it does not get worse and they can get normal in time for christmas. we certainly hope so. thanks to steve knibbs and his guest gary in wiltshire and also nicky schiller in northampton. much more on the uk floods on our website, but now i will take you live tojerusalem where a press briefing is ongoing, this is the deputy foreign minister who is giving a press briefing regarding the international criminal courtto issue arrest warrants for the israeli prime

minister benjamin netanyahu and the former israeli defence minister yoav gallant, who has since stood down. this is their reaction. ~ ., , reaction. ... murderous terrorists _ reaction. murderous terrorists in _ reaction. murderous terrorists in a _ reaction. murderous terrorists in a terrorist. terrorists in a terrorist organisation, that we know for a fact is dead. this political decision, in trying to make so much a a distorted equivalence between the two, should set the signal on how the moral compass of the icc in particular, and some of the international community too, has been completely distorted. from a legal perspective, on the substance it is completely false. israel is facilitating aides into gaza. israel has done more, and it is important for me to say it clearly, we

are not... we are not restricting any humanitarian aid going into gaza. —— israel is facilitating aid into gaza. on the contrary, we are making sure there is a constant flow going in. there are more than 700,000 tonnes of aid that has already gone into gaza. so beside these accusations are baseless and false, it actually lacks the jurisdiction. baseless and false, it actually lacks thejurisdiction. israel didn'tjoin the rome convention. the second issue is it contradicts the court's own court principle of complementarity. luckily, israel has a robustjudicial system and that principle of

the icc going into a democratic country with a sovereign, with a robustjudicial system that is well known around the world, has put into question some of the legal issues about these arrest warrants as well. we believe, and we see, and from speaking to our allies as well, that the icc has lost its legitimacy. the court has transformed into a political organ and a political tool. that is why it has lost its legitimacy, and if we are looking on our allies as well, we actually are empowered by the support of our friends, especially the bipartisan support in the us, the

statement from presidentjoe biden and the statements from the new administration, the presidency administration that is coming in injanuary. studio: we have been watching the deputy foreign minister, is ready deputy foreign minister, a little earlier she was talking about the aid going into gaza, but the main focus of this press briefing is the icc, the international criminal court, those arrest warrants issued for israel's prime minister and 1564 00: