palestinian authorities say seven people have been killed in an israeli strike on a hospital in gaza city. hello and welcome to bbc news with me, lukwesa burak. a period of national mourning has begun in south korea after a plane carrying 181 people crashed, killing all the passengers on board. only two people — who were flight crew — survived after the aircraft burst into flames. the flight from thailand, operated byjeju air, was landing when it skidded off the runway and hit a wall at muan international airport in the south—west. authorities say a bird strike may have caused the disaster. our correspondent, jean mackenzie, sent this report.

and i should warn you there are some distressing images from the start. this, the terrifying moment the plane lands at speed without its landing gear down and careers down the runway, unable to stop before crashing into the perimeter wall. it explodes, instantly engulfed by flames and thick smoke. none of the passengers stood a chance of surviving, the fire service told their families, as their bodies were slowly recovered. only the two air stewards at the back made it off alive and to hospital. we're at the perimeter of the airport now, and this fence behind us — and wall — is what the plane crashed into when it overshot the runway. and just behind me, you can see the blackened charred tail of the plane sticking up. now, this is the only part of the aircraft that is still intact — the rest has been so fractured and splintered that the fire service have said that it's unidentifiable.

inside the airport terminal, the families gathered to hear the terrible news. anguished scream this is now a room full of incomprehensible heartbreak as they wait for the bodies to be identified. for mr mang, it was the first time his great—nephews had ever been abroad. they'd gone to celebrate the youngest taking his college entrance exams, he tells me. "their father took them. the boys were so smart, and he wanted to treat them. i can't believe the entire family has just disappeared. my heart aches so much." the head of the airline has expressed his deep regret — this is the first fatal crash in his budget carrier's 20—year history. translation: i want to give my sincere apology| and condolences to those who've lost their lives in the accident and their families. at the moment, it's hard to presume the cause

of the accident, and we have to wait for the official investigation result from the authorities. it's thought the pilot couldn't activate the plane's landing gear. initial reports suggest a bird might have caused a fire in one of the engines. as the sun set, forensic teams were still searching the surrounding fields, while fire crews and engineers surveyed the little that's left of the wreckage — hoping to answer the many, many questions for a crash that's yet to make sense. that was jean mackenzie reporting. and so seven days of national mourning have now begun in south korea. speaking earlier, acting president choi sang—mok said... leaders from around the world have also been expressing their

condolences. the chinese president xi jinping said, "on behalf of the chinese government and people, i express my deep condolences to the victims." uk prime minister sir keir starmer sent his "deepest condolences" to the victims and families and paid tribute to the work of the emergency responders. yuna ku from the bbc�*s korea service says muan international airport remains busy as officials work to identify bodies. right now, i'm standing inside muan international airport. the day of devastating plane crash is almost setting. however, you can see so many people, especially hundreds of families of the bereaved and government officials to aid them, is still inside the airport. as you can see from my back, there are emergency shelters set up inside the airport to support those families who are staying up all night inside the airport. they are staying inside the airport because they are still waiting for the government authorities to identify the casualties.

only a few hours ago, the government announced that there are total 179 deaths among 181 passengers who were inside the plane. however, dozens of them still needs to be identified, and these families are waiting for the identification result. and one of the family of the bereaved just told us that the government authority has just started dna testing. so to go back a little earlier today, the plane operated byjeju air, which is the most popular low—cost airline in south korea, attempted an emergency landing at this airport's runway. however, failed to slow down and eventually crashed into the structure at the end of the runway, and this caused a big explosion which almost shattered the plane into pieces.

and this is causing... this has been causing so much trouble for the authorities to investigate behind the reason of this accident. just a few hours ago, the government announced that they restored two black boxes. however, they admitted that there are... they need to go through even more deeper investigation to sort out the exact cause of this accident. that was yuna ku there. alex macheras is an aviation analyst and consultant. he has more on how crucial a thorough investigation will be. the black boxes are going to be crucial if investigators are going to grasp a better idea as to just what were the chain of events that unfolded in those final moments before, as the footage reveals, this aircraft came to a catastrophic halt, impacting with that perimeter wall. although we have so much footage available to us,

i would argue that this is one of the most puzzling accidents ever caught on camera in commercial aviation history. this is also south korea's worst ever aviation disaster. it has shaken the aviation sector there, understandably so, because they have a good safety record on the whole. and the airline involved is the largest low—cost airline in south korea, operating often the world's busiest air routes, domestically, across korea. so, so many questions, with an investigation now centring on the contributor of what is being cited as potentially a bird strike, but also many other factors that would have resulted in the pilots deciding to attempt what is known in the industry as a belly landing, a landing without the landing gear deployed, something highly unusual but indicative of something going incredibly wrong in those final moments. ok, there are a number

of questions that are being posed on that particular point, so let's take that first one. you said it is puzzling, and it is puzzling, because many people who have flown a lot will be looking for those flaps. we've all looked at that video over and over and over again. the brake flaps, why would they not have been deployed or functioning? well, i'll tell you what stood out when i first looked at it and spoke to colleagues in the sector. it was the absence of the flaps being deployed, the slats, the spoilers but — crucially — also the landing gear. now, that would either point to something going wrong in terms of a hydraulic failure or perhaps something different, but what i want to make really clear is that despite the fact that we have so many different pieces of footage from different angles and so on, as is often the case, it is a chain of contributing factors that build up, event upon event, in those last few moments that

then result in the catastrophic outcome that we see being circulated on social media in the last 30 seconds. so it's likely to be a variety of different contributors, and that is why, as you mentioned, the extraction and analysis of what is on the black box will be crucial. that was alex macheras there. and if you want to find out more about this story you can head to the bbc news website, where you can follow our livepage for all the latest updates and developments. protestors have again taken to the streets of the georgian capital tbilisi with the swearing—in of the country's controversial new president, mikheil kavelashvili. there have been weeks of demonstrations against his governing georgian dream party and its victory in the recent disputed elections. the new president is a former manchester city footballer and also a hardline critic of the west — the four main opposition groups have rejected him over fears he will move georgia closer to russia, and they've boycotted parliament. they insist that the elections

held in october were rigged. on saturday, thousands of protesters in georgia formed a human chain in the capital, tbilisi, to mark a month of daily pro—europe demonstrations. similar rallies have been held in other towns and cities across the country. mass protests have gripped georgia since the government said it would delay talks onjoining the eu until 2028. the outgoing president, salome zourabichvili, has left the presidential palace but insisted she is still the legitimate holder of the office of president. translation: six years ago, i swore allegiance i to you on the constitution. and this allegiance will not change. wherever i am, in the palace or outside the palace, i will come out of here to you, and i will be with you. legitimacy comes from one source. and that source is you. and where there is no trust of the people, there will be no legitimacy.

meanwhile, the new president mikheil kavelashvili addressed parliament after being sworn in. translation: georgia has faced numerous storms over _ the centuries and our people, having endured many hardships, have achieved what once seemed impossible in their quest to protect their homeland and dignity. they have fought tirelessly against the world's largest empires and countless enemies for millennia, surviving and preserving the values upon which our nation was built. everyone knows we are one of the most distinctive and historic nations whose formation began in ancient times. a short time ago, i spoke to tinatinjaparidze, who is a geopolitical risk analyst at eurasia group. she described what she thinks might be next for georgia.

i wish i could agree with something, that this is it, this is the reality on the cards that the georgian people have been dealt, and now that we are awakening in this new reality, we have to accept it. and if nothing else, what we observed earlier was a split—screen reality in motion. on one side, we have the georgian dream's de facto parliament that conducted a closed—door ceremony to inaugurate its candidate, mikheil kavelashvili, which is a vivid, real—life example of the party's current isolation. and then on the other hand, we see hundreds of georgians steadfastly taking to the streets, proclaiming their unwavering support for president zourabichvili as their sole legitimate representative, both at home and abroad. and i'm afraid that this reality will continue over the coming weeks, which makes all of this very difficult and a very painful pill to swallow, but ultimately georgia's isolation from the west is no longer a looming threat but a reality orchestrated by ivanishvili and his cabinet.

so, since the election, many pro—western parties just haven't taken part in parliamentary sessions, they've boycotted them. that will continue. what is that going to do to the running of the government of the country? well, the problem is that the government cannot run in this current reality. the economy cannot run. the wheel cannot keep turning. and ultimately, over time, it will become very, very difficult for the country to function, for its economy to function properly, and at the end of the day, the georgian dream government will have to admit that they are unable to continue functioning as usual. the situation will remain fluid, but one thing is certain — that a return to business as usual is no longer feasible for the georgian dream. the party cannot merely retract its policy decisions any more and expect

the protests to subside. so in some ways, the leadership — and the country as a whole — is facing a dead end, so holding new elections is the only viable way out of this political crisis. yeah, those have been the demands of the protesters, haven't they? regarding georgian dream, established by a gentleman, i think he was called ivanishvili. is that correct? that's correct. what can you tell us about him? is he still functional within the party? in his mind, he is functional within the party, but ultimately it's very difficult for anyone in their right frame of mind to talk of him as a legitimate leader. he was the founder of the georgian dream and he has also become — self—appointed — honourary chairman of the georgian dream. but in many ways, i think he is holding a lot of his cabinet in a bit of a difficult situation right now where those

who want to resign are unable to do so because of — allegedly — kompromat that he has been gathering on his own people in his own party over the past few years, and especially the past few months. so he doesn't, it seems, have a whole lot of support left within his own party either. there are, of course, some within the leadership, the high—level officials, who are going to continue supporting him, because as i said earlier, they are in a bit of a dead—end situation. they don't have any other choices left to their devices other than to essentially accept the current reality — that ivanishvili will keep pushing all of the buttons that he believes he needs to push in order to stay in power for as long as possible, no matter what. but one thing i did want to mention. often times, we talk about the georgian dream and bidzina ivanishvili, who did make his fortunes in russia, after all, in russia of the �*90s. the party is described as pro—russian, but i think what is all the more disturbing that they have revealed

themselves is that they are at their core anti—georgian and anti—constitutional, which is what has been so difficult for the many georgians you're seeing on the screen day in and day out to accept, because they want a leader who represents them and their interests, and i think we can now say with a great deal of certainty that ivanishvili is not the guy. that is tinatinjaparidze, who i spoke to earlier. an exit poll by croatia's national broadcaster has predicted its controversial incumbent zoran milanovic has won the first round of its presidential election. a poll released by hr—tv said mr milanovic had won an estimated 51.48%, with his nearest rival trailing on 19.29. if this is accurate, it would mean he avoids a second round runoff. the politician, who has been compared to donald trump due

to his populist style, is a critic of both the eu and nato. the azerbaijani president ilham aliyev has told state television that the passenger plane that crashed in kazakhstan, killing 38 people, was shot at from the ground in russian territory. but he added it was not intentional. the aircraft's black box flight recorder has now been sent to brazil for investigations. the russian leader, vladimir putin, has spoken to mr aliyev and apologised for what he called a "tragic incident" in russian airspace — but didn't go as far as admitting responsibility. president aliyev referred to mr putin's the apology but accused russia of covering up what happened. for more analysis of president aliyev�*s comment, here's the editor of bbc azerbaijani service, konul khalilova. very strong words from president aliyev and very interesting language he chose to use, yeah.

he said it was clear that the russian side wanted to cover up the issue. he said azerbaijan heard only absurd versions from russia for the first three days of the crash. he was referring to the versions by the russians about the plane crashed because of bird flock or some explosion inside the plane. president aliyev called this dishonesty and stupidity. that's what he said. and he said admitting the guilt, apologising in a timely manner to azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about this, all these were measures and steps that should have been taken. but for the first three days, we heard nothing from russia except for some absurd theories. that's what president aliyev said. he also revealed that his government clearly expressed their demands to the russian side. these demands were officially communicated to them on december 27th, he said,

which is two days after the crash, which happened on 25th. and he said that he had three demands from kremlin. first is the apology, which has been already fulfilled. yesterday, president putin called azerbaijan leader and extended his apologies, but he didn't say who shot down the plane. that's what azerbaijan wants from him. they want putin to admit it, because azerbaijan believes it is russia. aliyev said that russia must acknowledge its guilt. and he also demanded that those responsible must be punished, brought tojustice and compensation must be paid to the azerbaijani state. as we hearfrom president aliyev, these are azerbaijan's conditions. now, we see in the news that putin initiated another phone call today and had a conversation with president aliyev again about the plane crash. this is the second call since yesterday. we don't know the details yet, as they have not

been made public. palestinian authorities say seven people have been killed in an israeli strike on the upperfloor of al—wafaa hospital in the centre of gaza city. several others are injured, with officials saying some of those are in a critical condition. israel says the hospital was being used by hamas as a command centre, but has not provided any evidence to support this. earlier this morning, another hospital in gaza city — al ahli arab hospital, also known as the baptist — was also hit. it has the only ct scanner and ultrasound machine in north gaza and is being used as a radiology centre. there were no injuries and no equipment damage. our correspondent shaimaa khalil has more from jerusalem. smoke could be seen on the upperfloor of al—wafaa hospital in gaza city. the whole facade of that floor was destroyed. you could actually see people moving inside. other footage showed a crowd on the outside gate of the hospital and a man being pulled on a stretcher and moved into an ambulance.

you could also hear sirens in the vicinity of the hospital. the gaza civil defence services said that some of those who were injured are in a critical condition. we got confirmation from the israeli army, who said that they conducted a strike on the hospital who were using the building as a command and control centre and that the building itself was not serving as a hospital at the time. now, israel has made similar allegations that hospitals were being used as command and control centre for hamas. they said the same thing when they raided and forcibly evacuated the kamal adwan hospital further north in gaza, northern gaza's last functioning hospital. they then detained and questioned some of the medical staff and its director. israel has not been able to provide evidence for these claims and hamas refutes these allegations. they have called on the un, a, to protect medical facilities, but also to send observers to see if hospitals are being used for military purposes.

the who said that they were appalled by the kamal adwan raid. they said the systematic dismantling of the health system and the siege of over 80 days of north gaza puts the lives of tens of thousands of palestinians at risk. syria's new islamist leader has said that it may take up to three years to draft a new constitution and four to organise elections. ahmad al—sharaa told arab media that it could be a year before syrians saw any real change and improvement after the overthrow of bashar al—assad. there've been protests after claims that people associated with the former regime have been attacked. the bbc�*s yogita limaye reports from syria. just weeks ago, these men were part of bashar al—assad's forces.

now they are thronging to so—called reconciliation centres run by the insurgents they were fighting against. it's a picture of the transition that's under way in syria. mohammed ramadan was posted on the outskirts of damascus when it fell to the rebels. he's come to hand in his kalashnikov. in return, he'll get a civilian id and an assurance of amnesty. mohammed explains why assad's military collapsed so quickly. translation: there was no-one to give us any orders. _ many of our commanders fled before us. so i thought, why should i fight and die for someone who didn't even give enough of a salary so i could feed my family? some soldiers told us their daily rations were one egg and a potato, and they were paid less than $30 a month. those we spoke to denied they'd been involved in the regime's crimes. translation: i wasn't involved in any of their bad deeds. - i wanted to leave the military because i knew i was on the wrong side. but it was not possible

because the government had all my civilian documents. we can't independently verify their claims. what we've largely heard here is the intent to move on with peace. but it does raise questions for syria's new government and its people. given the extent of bloodletting and brutality during 13 years of civil war. is it really possible to forget and move on? and away from the capital, reports of revenge killings are beginning to surface. we're driving into an area dominated by the alawite community, which bashar al—assad belonged to. al amiriya is the hometown of alawite judge munzer al—hassan, who arbitrated property disputes, killed along with two of his colleagues. it's not clear who attacked them, but his brother nizar believes it's part of a backlash against alawites and those who worked for the regime.

translation: this is a crime against an innocent person. . it's unacceptable. those being killed had no connections to the politics of the regime. hayat tahrir al—sham have denied they've carried out any reprisal and have promised to find the perpetrators. but after the euphoria of the regime's fall, the killings have triggered tensions. yogita limaye, bbc news, damascus. and as ever, all our top stories can be found on the bbc news website. stay with us. hello there. the weather is starting to change now. it's going to take a turn for the worse, though, as we head into the new year. the weather, then, very different from what we had over christmas, where we were dominated more by high pressure, mist and some fog — that's getting squeezed away, mind you.

that weather front, though, continuing to bring some rain into scotland, and as we head further into the night, that rain is going to turn more widespread across the northern half of the country and bring with it some heavier rain and some snow for caithness and sutherland as we hit the colder air. elsewhere, looking dry, variable cloud, minimum temperatures 5—6 degrees. but the focus of the bad weather through monday and tuesday is going to be in scotland from the central belt northwards. combination of some heavy rain but also some snow leading to some flooding and some travel disruption. now, we start wet in many parts of scotland on monday morning. the worst of that wet weather moves away, we'll see some patchy rain heading into southern scotland, northern ireland, the far north of england, where it could be very windy in the northern pennines. some stronger winds further south, helping to break up the cloud, give us some sunshine and lift temperatures close to double figures, although it will become drier in northern scotland. the air is quite a bit colder here, and as we head overnight and into new year's eve, the next area of low pressure is going to hit the same sort of areas,

bringing more heavy rain to scotland. another wet start to the day on tuesday. the worst of the rain does move through, and we see a band of rain sweeping across northern ireland, into england and wales this time, with some stronger winds. particularly windy across this part of the country, and we may well find some more snow falling in northern scotland, particularly for the northern isles. that's going to bring some disruption here. it is cold in northern scotland, but elsewhere, it's going to be mild for new year's eve, temperatures 11—12 degrees. and then we get another area of low pressure, this one a bit deeper, and it's tracking over more of the uk. so it's going to bring more disruption more widely, i think, for new year's day. we're going to have some very windy weather for england and wales, and for wales in particular, some heavy rain leading to flooding. further north, some heavy snow for northern ireland, scotland and developing in northern england, likely to bring some problems as the day progresses. and that wild weather will continue overnight before the low pressure clears away by thursday, allowing arctic air to come sweeping down across the country and dropping the temperatures.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a plane carrying 181 people has crashed on landing in south korea, killing all but two of those on board. thejeju airflight from bangkok skidded off the runway at muan airport, crashed into a wall and burst into flames.

protests in georgia after the new president — mikheil kavelashvili — was sworn in. the former manchester city footballer is a hardline critic of the west — and the four main opposition groups have boycotted parliament. palestinian officials in the gaza strip say seven people have been killed in the latest israeli strike on a hospital there. israel has said that the strike was aimed at hamas fighters but hasn't provided any evidence for its claims. three people have died while trying to cross the english channel. four people were taken to hospital after several dozen people ended up in the water off the coast of sangatte near calais. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm jane dougall. can anyone catch them now? liverpool extend their lead at

the top of the premier league