character in united showed great character in recent matches, notably against liverpool where they got that draw in a top atmosphere at anfield, and where withjust ten in a top atmosphere at anfield, and where with just ten men, they won in penalties against arsenal in the fa cups third run at the weekend, and those results against big teams, united raised their game, so there is a worry it could be something of a banana skin with southampton. those were on the road, and manchester united have not fared well at old trafford here at late, they have lost three successive matches at home, leaving them 15th in the table, and if they lose tonight, it would be the first time they have lost four topcoat —— top—flight games in a row at home since 1930. so, yes, there is treasure on the manager and also problems with player availability for the manager. dougal diallo is suspended after the red card of the week and, they have numerous injuries, plus marcus rashford is unlikely to feature it yet again. there form against southampton is

excellent, they are unbeaten in the last 15 premier league matches against them, sort united will hope to match that again tonight. jane. to match that again tonight. jane, thank yom — ipswich town manager kieran mckenna is confident of a result when his team host brighton at portman road this evening. after collecting four points from a possible six in their last two premier league games, tonight presents a further chance for the home side to move away from the relegation zone. i know it said we're in good form at the moment, but i think we've been pretty consistent all season, to be honest. been competitive in nearly all the games, and we were certainly that in the last one against fulham. we were disappointed not to get the win, which i think is a great sign of, you know, progression. but each game starts at square one, and we're facing a really good brighton side and it's going to be a big challenge and we just take the game fresh and give it everything we got. emma raducanu is through to the third round of the australian open after a straight sets win over amanda anisimova. the 22—year—old, who's currently world number 61,

won 6—3, 7—5 afterfighting back from breaks down in each set. next up, she'll face polish second seed iga swiatek in the last 32. after the match, raducanu said she wrote to the now retired andy murray apologising for her wimbledon mixed doubles withdrawal last year as she didn't want any "bad blood" between the pair. elsewhere, katie boulter was beaten by russia's veronika kudermetova. the 22nd seed boulter was in her second round match 7—6, 2—6, 6—2. in what was the 15th grand slam appearance of her career, 28—year—old boulter has never gone past the third round. in snooker — shaun murphy is through to the semi—finals of the masters with a six frames to two win over australia's neil robertson. murphy, the 2015 winner, had already secured the frame and was on target for a maximum 147 break before he snookered himself on the yellow, but he moves through to the last four and will face the winner

of tonight's second quarterfinal between mark allen and mark selby. rory mcilroy is five shots off the pace after the opening round of the dubai desert classic as he bids to win the title for the third successive time. the northern irishman chipped in on the seventh as he finished the round on two under with a group of three players out in front on five under par including us amateur david ford. more on the bbc sport website, anita, but that is all your support for now. now it's time for your questions answered. earlier,we gathered together three bbc journalists to answer the questions you have about the peace deal reached between israel and hamas. jonah fisher injerusalem, our diplomatic editorjames landale, and hesham shawish from bbc monitoring.

i started by asking hesham about the total number of people killed in the conflict. the gaza based ministry of health. the total number of confirmed dead has now reached around 47,000. and that's alongside 111,000 wounded. but many have said that the real figure is much higher. a recent study in the lancet medicaljournal said that that was a major underestimate. and that figure also includes around 18,000 children, 200 journalists, and over 1,000 health workers, according to doctors without borders. of course, we have to also take into account the conflicts between hezbollah and israel because that was linked closely to the gaza conflict. so in lebanon, the death toll is around 3,700. that's both combatants and civilians. and there were more than 15,000 wounded there. in terms of israeli fatalities, the israeli army has said that 840 israeli soldiers have been killed, both in gaza and on the northern front following the conflict

with hezbollah, and around 815 civilians have also been killed in israel. thank you for going through those details. let's cross over to jonah injerusalem now. jonah fisher. aand again, one of the questions that we have been asked over and over again, jonah, is just to explain the key terms of the deal that's in place. sorry, can you just repeat your question? yes. jonah, i hope you can hear me. one question we've had multiple people asking about is to explain what the key terms of the deal are. right, so it's a three—phase deal. the first phase is really the only part that has been agreed on. and today there is indeed a bit of uncertainty as to whether exactly all the deals have been agreed on. but working on the basis that it's the draft deal which everyone has seen prior to it being confirmed last night. it's a 42—day ceasefire.

and during that period of 42 days there will be 33 israeli hostages released in a phased release. we don't know for sure that all those 33 are still alive. the first three women will be released on the first day of the deal. we believe that's going to be on sunday. and then throughout the 42 days, there will be israeli hostages released, or their remains will be handed over. and in return, dozens of palestinian prisoners will be released from israeli jails. israeli troops will move back from the more densely populated parts of the gaza strip, mostly towards the eastern edge which borders israel, and there will be more allowed in. more fuel trucks will be allowed in as well. what is being discussed and looks like it's been agreed now,

does... discussions about another group of hostages, men of military age, who are still going to remain in gaza pending further discussions. and also the bigger questions, really, about what gaza will look like in the future, who might govern it, and is this really the end of the war, is this a permanent cease fire? that has all been kicked down the road, if you like. during the first phase, those discussions are supposed to start again as to try and resolve those fundamental questions for gaza's longer term future. thank you, jonah, we had a few technical glitches during that answer, but hopefully the line will come good. i'll bring injames landale now. and james this question is from ruth in oxford who asks "if and when the ceasefire deal really happens and takes hold, are there any indications about who will organise and pay "for the much needed and hugely expensive physical reconstruction of gaza?" well, this is all something that - would happen during the third phase. we heard jonah talking _ about the phase one and two there. during the third phase of this deal, namely when there is a permanentj

ceasefire and people start thinking about who's going to govern gaza, j who's going to keep gaza secure. who's going to help - with the reconstruction? and that means we're a long way off that process. - the second point to make| is that whatever happens, it's going to be hugely expensive. there have been a varietyl of different assessments — anything up to $80 billion. that was the most recent assessment by the rand organisation, _ a sort of big think tank— in the united states last autumn. and it's a huge operation. it's going to take many, - many years, if not decades. and what everybody points out is that it's not just _ a question of reconstruction. first of all, it is about removing the rubble before you get - to a position where you can actually start rebuilding. i and so that, in other words, it's a two—stage process, . and it's hugely complicated. who's going to pay for that? the international community. but rememberthis, i've been to conferences where they've| discussed the rebuilding of syria. that hasn't happened yet. i've been to conferences where they've discussed j the rebuilding of ukraine. that hasn't happened yet.

there's a lot of money - the international community is spending elsewhere, and a lot of it is going. to have to go to gaza. and a bit of overlap, james, in this question from dr stefan lapworth, who asks, "will other countries be "allowed into gaza to help with rebuilding in the areas "israel have destroyed"? he asks. i mean, look, as and when there is a permanent if there - is a permanent cease fire, - yes, the international community will be allowed in simply i because they are the ones who will be required to bring in, you know, the kit, - the equipment, the machinery. you know, it's going to have to be an absolutely massive _ operation, and it would last many, many years. - 0k. the next question is anonymous. it's for all three of you, though. and the question is, "who is going to govern gaza in the future"? so we'll get the international view, the view from israel, and the arab and palestinian view. let's begin with that, hesham. yeah, so that's a real sticking point underlying everything that hasn't been resolved yet, it's a really important question.

the palestinians have been adamant that control of the enclave should be in their hands. we saw reports last month of this reconciliation deal between hamas and fatah. they're the two main rival palestinian factions. but these statements of unity are always or in the past, been very, very short lived. at the time of that reconciliation deal, hamas prominently reported on the deal, whereas we didn't see any reporting of the agreement in fatah affiliated media sources. so that's very, very telling. and also, previous reconciliation efforts between the two groups have not been realised as well. what we've also seen this week in israeli media reports is that the palestinian authority — that's a fatah controlled governing body which runs parts of the west bank — apparently they've been having talks with president elect trump on running gaza alone without hamas. but that idea hasn't in the past been rejected by the netanyahu government.

they want complete control of the security situation in the enclave, and they will not allow hamas to gain the upper hand in the strip once again. and jonah, talk to us in a little bit more detail, then, about israel's view on that question of who is going to govern gaza in the future. israel doesn't want hamas to be involved in government. it also doesn't want the palestinian authority involved, because it views that as a step towards a two—state solution. i think it's worth making the point that we've had 15 months of war. and if this ceasefire deal goes ahead as planned on sunday, there is no real plan in place. israel has not prepared any plan as to what will happen, who will be in charge during that immediate period. so it is very possible that we will see that the previous government, which is effectively hamas, coming out of the woodwork and again trying to exert influence and positions of power.

so i think the clearest thing we can say is there is no plan at the moment. there has been mentioned that there might be some sort of technocratic committee put in place of non—politically connected palestinians, perhaps under some kind of international authority, but that hasn't been finalised as yet either. there simply hasn't been a lot of thought put into what will come next in the first days of peace. and james, then, the international view on on governance. look, the international community says in theory that it _ would like to take part, but whenever you prodl foreign ministers and say, well, what would actuallyl would your country be l prepared to contribute? they go a little bit quiet _ because everybody is very cautious about getting caught up in something that they can't control, _ particularly if it is the offer. of armed forces to organise, you know, to be in some playing, isome kind of role, establishingl security in some kind _

of temporary interim administration. so there is a lot of uncertainty and in some respects, - one of the reasons why that has been left silent as part of this deal- is because there is no - agreement at the moment. but what's really interesting - is the one point the americans have been making in recent days, both the president biden - and secretary of state blinken, they've all been saying, - "look, if you are going to get| to that third stage to get that unlock all that international support, you have to - have a political horizon". in other words, you've got to have a palestinian - state there as a goal, as an aim _ and until you have that, _ you're not going to get the support, financial or otherwise, i from countries in the gulf and elsewhere, that you will need |to go through this whole processl of governing and reconstituting gaza after the fighting stops. _ so more questions than answers on that particular question at the moment. jonah, back to you for this next question from jw, who asks "what happened to all the hamas terror tunnels?

"have they all been destroyed"? well, we've had regular updates from the idf, the israeli armed forces, claiming responsibility for destroying various parts of this tunnel network under gaza, where we believe hostages, ammunition, all sorts of things, including hamas fighters, have been hid during the course of this war. obviously, we are not there. we can't see with our own eyes. i think it is worth pointing out that despite 15 months of hugely destructive war in gaza in which the israeli defence forces have gone, you know, pretty thoroughly through particularly northern gaza, hamas is still there and they have been popping up and killing idf soldiers. there are 15 in the last ten, 15 in the last ten days or so. proof, perhaps, that some of those networks, some of those tunnels perhaps are still operable, that there are still ways that hamas has been able to operate despite the overwhelming

israeli military presence. jonah, thank you. hesham, this one is for you. it's from mike in brighton, who asks, "as part of the ceasefire deal, the un's palestinian refugee agency "says hundreds of trucks of supplies will be allowed by israel "to enter gaza daily. "how do we know that israel will honour this israel will honour this commitment"? he asks. yeah, i mean, it's not it's really a wait and see situation on the the previous agreements, um, previous promises for unfettered entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave. they weren't met and there were chronic shortages of food, fuel, essential medical supplies. we constantly saw these reports of restrictions being placed on convoys, and trucks having to wait for weeks outside at the, the crossing point. so it will really be

a wait and see situation. and then we also saw contradictory statements. israel putting out statements saying that they denied placing restrictions on trucks going in, and then the un and aid agencies coming out with statements nearly every day saying that there were obstacles being placed on aid trucks and that palestinians were facing famine and that newborns were dying of of hypothermia. so lots of statements like this. so it will really be a wait and see situation after the ceasefire comes into effect on sunday. 0k, hesham, thanks for that answer. back to you, jonah, for this next question. anonymous. "how will the ceasefire deal impact benjamin netanyahu's grip on power, or will it have any effect on israel's internal power balance"? good question. that is a good question. it is. and it's playing out right now here in israel. we are expecting a cabinet meeting to take place at some point today to discuss

this ceasefire agreement. and already we know that there are members of that cabinet, far right ultranationalist members, people who, for example, would like to continue with the war in gaza and have a total victory and even annexe parts, more settled parts of the west bank. so there are some very strong voices in the cabinet who are against this deal. i think generally the view is that in terms of simply getting it through cabinet, getting it through government, that they do have the numbers. what's unknown at this point is whether these far right politicians are so upset that they are willing to quit government and try and take mr netanyahu's administration down. that could potentially derail things a little bit further down the line. i think the view is that it would still take several months before there was a fresh election here. but certainly, there is the potential if these far right politicians

want to take it that far, that it could destabilise the government. another consideration, though, is that these far right... the security minister, the finance minister, may want to stay in with an incoming administration in the united states led by president trump. they may have their eyes on other goals. for example, american approval for the annexation of more territory in the west bank. so it may be that they are kicking up a fuss now, making a big deal about it publicly, but they may decide that it's in their longer term interest to hold their noses while this deal goes through and hope to to gain something at a later stage. 0k, jonah, thank you for that. another anonymous question. this one's for you, hesham. the sender of this question says, "i have a question about the gaza ceasefire. "the houthis said that their attacks on the red sea "and on israel were in solidarity with the palestinians, "and that their attacks would only

end when israel's attacks ended. "so would a ceasefire stop these attacks," is the question. that's a very important question. we're watching closely for reaction from iran—backed groups in the region, like the houthis and also hezbollah in iran. in lebanon. they have both directly linked their attacks against israel to the situation in gaza. it's really hoped that the cease fire will be adhered to and that the situation in the region will cool down. the houthi leader, abdul—malik al—houthi, is due to give a speech in the next few hours, and he'll outline his reaction to the announcement of the ceasefire. this morning, the group released a general statement saying that they praised what they called the steadfastness of the palestinians and that they were satisfied with their support front for hamas since october 2023. but in terms of future policy, we'll wait for that speech by the houthi leader in the next few hours. 0k.

back to you now, james. and this is from paul in edinburgh, who asks, "is there anything "the panel can say for certain about what the peace deal will mean "for israel and palestinians and the wider middle east, "or at this stage, are you only able to speculate"? now, certainty is a pretty rare quality in politics sometimes, isn't it? it's pretty rare quality in the middle east. i look, i think we can be fairly sure i that the first phase of this deal, i if it comes to force on sunday, if the fighting stops, _ that means the fighting stops. that means people in gaza, from day one, can live a different life. - they can... they will get access| to humanitarian aid. some hostages may be released. some palestinian prisoners may be released too. - if that happens from day one i on sunday, as has been agreed. well, you know that - that is a substantial change that we hadn't seen before.

anything beyond that, _ i think is much, much harder to say there's going to be any kind of certainty there's going to be. any kind of certainty about because we simply don't know. the second phase, this idea - that the final hostages released, more palestinian prisoners| released, and a permanent ceasefire agreed to is| still to be negotiated. it's not definitive. and so before you get. to any of the other stuff, such as discussions about potential normalisation of relations - between saudi arabia and israel, may be some kind of diminutionl of the houthi attacks that we were just talking, a bit more _ stability in lebanon, - maybe some kind of stability in syria as it tries to reconstitute itself after the fall of assad. - all of these uncertainties, i if the conflict in gaza ceases, then that potentially could ease the pressure on a lot— of these issues. but none of that is guaranteed. and asjonah was alluding to, you know, if all of this ends up with benjamin netanyahu's government collapsing, then another phase of uncertainty.

correct. yeah. back to you, jonah. this is from anna. a very pertinent question for you. "willjournalists be allowed into gaza when "the ceasefire gets under way"? yeah, a good question and a point really, that's worth making from the very start is that there are very brave palestinian journalists who've been reporting and indeed dying in gaza throughout this conflict to get the story out. we ourselves at the bbc have a network of freelancers who we talk to on a daily basis, and who very bravely go out and film material for us from gaza. but yeah, it's true that throughout this conflict, israel has not allowed foreigners to go into gaza to report on this. they say that is due to security reasons. we, of course, would disagree. the bbc, of course, reports from many dangerous places around the world, and at the same time as foreignjournalists are being kept out, hundreds of international aid workers

are being allowed in and out of gaza all the time to do their work. so, yes, i would much rather be reporting be talking to you now from khan yunis rather than standing here on the bureau balcony here in jerusalem. but throughout this conflict, israel has not made it possible for, for foreign journalists to go in and, look, we just don't know whether that will change or how rapidly that might change when this ceasefire comes in. 0k. james, for you from adrian in leighton buzzard, who asks, "will the ceasefire deal bring long term peace"? i wish i could say yes, _ but ijust genuinely do not know. it's one of those uncertain things. it is... it is uncertain to claim knowledge of that. - no one can claim that knowledge. what can we say, then, about what politicians have been,

uh, speculating about in the last few days or talking about. president biden, for example, in his address yesterday was talking about a path towards a two—state solution. others would take a look at this deal and say that seems quite an uncertain prospect, you know, based on the terms of this deal. what are your thoughts on that? and what might president trump want to bring to the table on this? well, look, the trump agenda is an interesting one - because we don't know it entirely. we know that he has put huge l pressure on the israelis to come to the table to agree this i particular stage of the deal. but once his inauguration happens next week, then that particular bit of leverage disappears. and we don't know what else he said to benjamin netanyahu _ about what should or should not happen in the phase two periodl of this agreement that's about to be agreed. - so there's a degree - of uncertainty with that. look, certainly the outgoing biden administration- have all been saying, "look, you know, the the elements i "have been put in place for this. deal to become something greater than it is".

but at the moment, there is still a huge amount of uncertainty, . disagreement over precisely where the politics _ should go on this. but look, the international- community is all saying, "look, "you've got to use this moment now ito get to that point where you canl " have a conversation". because, so take for example, - i mentioned a moment ago this idea of israel and saudi arabia l normalising their relations. now, that is something that the . biden administration have sought. it is something that. president biden wants. in his statement yesterday, he mentioned this. - he really, really wants this. he sees this as unfinished business because of other deals he brokered during his first term, _ the so—called abraham accords, where israel did deals _ and normalisation deals with other arab countries. but the point is this, i the world has changed. those previous deals were all done on the basis that lip service - was paid to what was called the palestinian issue. - that's different.

the saudis will not agree to a deal unless there is a two—state - solution on the table. and we know that many. israelis do not want that. and we know many americans don't want it either. _ hello there! 0ur quiet spell of weather is set to continue into the weekend, but we'll still have the hazard of fog in particular, as we've seen it lingered all day in some parts today, and it will thicken up again through this evening and overnight. it's mainly dry. it does get colder this weekend because we switch out this south—westerly wind around our area of high pressure for a subtle southerly or southeasterly.

and notice under the high pressure further east, some really cold air, so we'll tap into some of that and pull it across our shores as we head into particularly sunday. and it will be chilly by night as well as we had last night, a touch of frost. there could be a pocket or two of frost by morning and the fog returning, particularly where we've had the clear skies, but not exclusively. a lot of cloud in the south, so misty and murky anyway, and the cloud in the north bearing a little bit of rain, drizzle, strengthening winds — close to gale force in the northwest of scotland through the night — and persisting into the day on friday. pulling in perhaps a little bit more cloud as well into southern areas, but it will be a real mix of misty low cloud, patchy fog and a little bit of local frost to start the day. really a slow start, but hopefully brightening up with a few glimmers of sunshine, possibly not as much as today. we've got our weather front a little closer by to the north and west of west of scotland — 11s and 12s here is still above average. that weather front pushes away, then, through friday night. 0ur cold front starts to approach from the west, but actually we're likely to see perhaps a few more

breaks in the cloud. a little bit more frost come saturday morning, but equally also some fog. that's going to be a real issue again for many of us, and it will make it feel chilly where that fog lingers. but again, like we've seen in recent days, some areas will see some sunshine coming through. it's not going to help our temperature much, pulling in that colder air, so fours and fives in some parts of england and wales. and similarly so on sunday, although by sunday we're starting to watch our weather front come into northern ireland, western scotland, perhaps western fringes of england and wales. so it's slightly milder here, but again, where we've got some stagnant low cloud, even if the sun comes through — only four or five further east. and of course, those fog issues which, as i say, will cause a problem for travellers with those poor visibility, so you can always find out more details, of course, on our website. the outlook beyond the weekend, though, is that the milder air returns, and by the middle of next week, it's looking much more unsettled with wind and rain returning.

tonight at six... a rethink by the government over a national inquiry on grooming gangs. the home secretary announces what she calls a "rapid audit" lasting three months, plus up to five new local inquiries. to protect victims, put perpetrators behind bars, and to uncover the truth wherever things have gone wrong.

also tonight: israel's cabinet is still to pass the ceasefire deal agreed with hamas as dozens of palestinians are killed in israeli airstrikes. meanwhile, aid lorries queue up to get into gaza once there is a deal. we follow a convoy on its way. a teenager is found guilty of the murder of 15—year—old schoolgirl elianne andam in a row over a teddy bear. more evidence of hospitals in england under pressure this winter, with the highest number of beds occupied so far. she has done it! and a career first for britain's emma raducanu, making it through to the third round of the australian open. coming up on bbc news. and coming up on bbc news tottenham in trouble. ange postocoglou's side lose again in the north london derby, with the pressure piling on their manager to turn things around.