fergal keane, bbc news, the west bank.threat to the american people's freedom since the 19th century. in his last state of the union address before november's election, mr biden suggested his republican opponent would "bow down" to russia, and again infefred that he had incited the capitol hill riot. sarah smith reports. good evening! if i were smart, i'd go home now! the smart move was to deliver a punchy, powerful performance, laying into donald trump without ever actually using his name. now my predecessor, a former republican president, tells putin, quote, "do whatever the hell you want." bowing down to a russian leader, i think it's outrageous, it's dangerous, and it's unacceptable. casting mrtrump, and his claims of electoral fraud, as a threat to democracy is a major theme of his re—election campaign. this is a moment to speak the truth and to bury the lies. here's the simple truth. you can't love your country only when you win! protesters disrupting the president's route to congress will have been disappointed he d

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. 0ur our special correspondent fergal keane. 0ur senior international0rla guerin, joins me from tel aviv. and, 0rla, how do negotiations over a ceasefire in gaza stand tonight? there has been no progress today, thatis there has been no progress today, that is clear from both israeli sources we have spoken to in the last few hours and from the hamas delegation. it is a strange process taking place, you cannot really call it negotiation. you have the hamas delegation in cairo for the second day running talking to the egyptians and the qataris without the israelis, they are not present. a member of the hamas delegation told us tonight they are showing what he called maximum flexible teeth to try to get a deal but he said there were key conditions that had to be met. —— flexibility. that includes the return of palestinians to homes in the north gaza and a pull—out from israeli forces from cities and camps inside gaza. and israeli source told me they will not budge on their key demand, their key sticking point which is to receive a list of the a0 hostages th

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.taha from bbc arabicso biden says —— with me is mohamed taha from bbc arabic. so biden says he is hopeful for a ceasefire before rammadan — how important is that? abidin is optimistic for this ceasefire or pause in fighting and —— biden. it didn't happen. the times of israel is describing that it is a premature optimism and he is not co—ordinating his statements with the israeli side. on the ground, the israelis are calling for more soldiers to go to gaza, actually, contradict during what we hear from the united states. they are so a500 soldiers and the ministry of finance approved only 2500 for financial reasons. and on the ground, as we can see, that hamas announced there are seven hostages died from israeli shelling and on the israeli side, israel said they will not carry on advancing negotiations with hamas unless they have a list with the hostages who are still alive. so ramadan is less than ten days from now and this optimism might be under question. optimism might be under quest

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.ah: clearly some very distressing details from gaza, an unclear situation, but we will be talking to our correspondent from jerusalem in a little while who has some more details as to what went on in the last when you four hours. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's take a look at some of the other stores making the news. the father of a teenag boy who murdered breanna ghey has been jailed for 15 mons after pleading guilty to sex offenses. age 36, he admitted two offenses of exposure and one count of taking an indecent photo of a child. his son was convicted alongside scarlet jenkinson of murdering 16-year-old brianna in a park in cheshire last year. administrators for the cosmetics and skincare chain of stores the body shop say 116 outlets will stay open in the u.k., but they are closing 75 shops over the next six weeks and will cut about 500 jobs as part of a restructuring program. the u.k. arm of the global beauty chain was put into administration this month

fergal keane, bbc news, the west bank.d who was stabbed to death on a night out in birmingham has found multiple failings by authorities led to his death. jacob billington was killed by zephaniah mcleod — a paranoid schizophrenic who stabbed seven other people that night in 2020, in a 90 minute rampage. jacob's best friend michael was left partially paralysed from his injuries. the coroner said mcleod was classed as high risk following his release from prison — but hadn't been monitored by authorities. the family spoke after the inquest. this dangerous man, with a severe and enduring mental illness, whose risk to the public was well documented, simply walked out of prison and disappeared. ijust feel, you know, that the lack of public protection is frightening, really. the former prime minister theresa may is standing down as an mp at the next election. making the announcement to her local newspaper, she said she was leaving the commons because she could no longer represent her constituents with the commitment they deserved

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.n office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs says more than half—a—million palestinians are on the brink offamine. a short while ago i talked with the spokesman for the un secretary general, stephan djarric about thursday's deadly incident in gaza, as well as efforts to provide humanitarian aid. asking you about this investigation, backing that, what would an investigation look like and how possible would it be to conduct one given israel's continuous military operation in gaza? fist military operation in gaza? git some point there will need to be a investigation and there will need to be accountability for what happened. it is challenging to save the least to conduct one in the middle of a conflict and this is one of the reasons why you want to see a humanitarian cease—fire as quickly as possible and at the end of the day, we have more than 100 people dying because they were dying to get food and in the end, they were killed either by bullets from the israel army, trampled by

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.gathered on the streets of moscow on friday to bid farewell to opposition figure alexei navalny, who died in an arctic prison two weeks ago. tens of thousands of people defied warnings from russian authorities to turn out for navalny�*s church service and burial in a nearby cemetary. a russian human rights group said about 130 people have been detained in cities across the nation. despite a heavy police presence, there were chants of navalny�*s name throughout moscow, from where our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. they came to say goodbye to the man who'd given them hope but died in prison. and outside the church, longer and longer, the queue of russians wanting to pay their last respects to alexei navalny. "he was our hope," anna tells me. "i feel like i'm burying my own son." he's the only person i could trust, and i was dreaming of him to become our president, really, and it's a huge tragedy for me and for my people. the kremlin had called mr navalny an extremist, a criminal,

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.ngoing talks in both the us and the middle east, along with international aid efforts, with former us represenative jane harman. she also chairs the bipartisan national defence strategy commission. israel's request that the list of hostages who are still alive and the list of those who would be released and some specific terms about how many palestinian prisoners have to be released in exchange for one israeli hostage are reasonable requests. and they haven't been satisfied. so that is one point. but the other point at the air drops i think are a good thing — thanks tojordan for helping with that, thanks to egypt for helping and hosting some of the negotiations. the neighbours are now getting more involved. and, as i hear it, they and the us are speaking with one voice about the need to reduce the impact on innocent civilians in gaza. but i would also say israel's demands at this point seem to me to be quite reasonable. haiti is under a state of emergency, and a curfew has been imposed

fergal keane, bbc news, the west bank.s of double standards following a security council vote calling for an immediate ceasefire in sudan during the month of ramadan — a resolution that has yet to be adopted for the war in gaza. the british—drafted resolution urges a truce between sudan's army and paramilitary forces during the month—long holiday which begins early next week. war broke out back in april of 2023, prompting widespread turmoil, displacement, and hunger. the un says nearly half of sudan's population is in need of aid. more than 280 nigerian school pupils have been abducted in the town of kuriga in kaduna state, located in the north—west. reports say that students between the ages of 8—15 were taken away, along with a teacher. victims of kidnappings usually pay a ransom to secure their freedom. in an attempt to curb nigeria's lucrative kidnapping industry, a controversial law passed in 2022 has made it a crime to make ransom payments. it carries a jail sentence of at least 15 years for those who break the law,

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.ur diplomatic correspondent paul adams has more on the international pressure for an independent investigation. israelis will say, look, we will investigate this. we will see if there are lessons to be learned. they've said they're going to do that. whether they will do a kind of open, internationally supervised investigation of the kind that's being alluded to by some outside israel, i slightly doubt that. but they clearly recognise that they're under pressure to explain what happened in the early hours of thursday morning, because now it isn'tjust a question of what the israeli army is saying versus what palestinian doctors are saying. you now have, for the first time, international observers in the form of representatives from the un who were in shifa hospital yesterday and who met people who they said had experienced gunshot wounds. now the un team says they did not see dead bodies, so they were not able to make an assessment of how those people died. but they did say they talked t

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.is an er doctor who works at al shifa hospital in north gaza. he was at al rasheed street when israeli troops opened fire and told the bbc what he saw. as we've heard, the hamas—run health authorities in gaza say more than 30,000 palestinians have been killed since israel started its military action in october. bbc verify has been examining how many of those killed were members of hamas. here's frank gardner. they have been covering this war ever since the october the 7th raid on israel. it is a war that has ravaged one of the most crowded places on earth, home to over 2 million people. the red areas on this map are all the parts of because of that are all the parts of gaza that have been destroyed since the start of the campaign. how has this figure been arrived at? based on the number of dead bodies brought to hospitals and then identified in the world health organization is previously endorsed gaza health ministry casualty figures as being credible. if anything, 30,000 could even be

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.hamas carried out rape and other forms of sexual violence when it attacked israel in october. they said the hostages it holds could still be subjected to abuse. hamas has consistently rejected allegations of sexual violence. here's pramila patten, the un's envoy for sexual violence in conflict. with regard to the hostages taken to gaza, we found a clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualised order, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, has been committed against captives. and we also have reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may still be ongoing against those still held in captivity. i pause and must add that i am of the strong opinion that this finding does not in any way legitimise further violence but actually reinforces the need for an urgent cease—fire. here's our north america correspondent nada tawfik with more. we've had this visit from pramila patten to israel and the west bank. it was not investigative in nature, but it was t

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.ow today, defying a heavy police presence and possible arrest, to pay their last respects to russia's main opposition leader, alexei navalny. the crowds chanted his name as his funeral service was held, two weeks after he died in prison. navalny�*s mother was among the mourners allowed into the cemetary to see him buried but his wife decided not to travel to russia. steve rosenberg, our russia editor, sent this report from moscow. they came to say goodbye to the man who had given them hope but died in prison. and outside the church, longer and longer, the queue of russians wanting to pay their last respects to alexei navalny. "he was our hope," anna tells me. "i feel like i am burying my own son." he is the only person i could trust, and i was dreaming of him to become our president, really, and it's a huge tragedy for me and for my people. the kremlin had called mr navalny an extremist, a criminal, but listen to the reaction when his coffin arrived. crowd: navalny! by now, the whole s

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.ak warns that british so democracy is under threat from extremists in the far right. he said that the government must face down the extremists. his intervention follows a by—election victory of controversial far left politician george galloway whose campaign in a suit with many muslim voters focused on the war in gaza. the prime minister arriving at downing street last night ahead of an unusual address of the country from outside number ten to one is extremists were spreading poison. there are forces here at home trying to tear us apart. since october the 7th, there have been those trying to take advantage of the very human angst that we all feel about the terrible suffering that war brings to the innocent, women and children. to advance a divisive, hateful ideological agenda. his speech was prompted by the election of the controversial veteran politician, george galloway, in thursday's by—election in rochdale. last night, he held a victory rally in his new constituency. he had fought

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. the security situation continues to deteriorate in haiti.ch was introduced after armed gangs freed nearly 4000 prisoners from the capital's biggestjail. let's speak to freelance journalist harold isaac, who's in port—au—prince. firstly give us the latest on the situation on the ground. there have been reports that the international airport is being ta rgetted ? there have been reports of violence at the international airport near it and the past few hours, confrontations between legitimate forces and bandits allegedly trying to break into the perimeter of the international airport of port—au—prince. do we know at the gang is planning? port-au-prince. do we know at the gang is planning?— the gang is planning? well, it has been rumoured _ the gang is planning? well, it has been rumoured that - the gang is planning? well, it has been rumoured that the l has been rumoured that the gangs were trying at all costs to get access to the highly symbolic target but it is unclear what they were trying to make as a statement besides showing perhaps the w

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.o works at al—shifa hospital in north gaza was at the street when israeli troops opened fire, and told the bbc what he saw. at 4:00 this morning, i witnessed a horrible catastrophe f about 100 people dead everywhere. and about 12,000 or maybe more injured patients. that was horrible. lots of people dead around me. and i had a gunshot in the left thigh. i'm injured right now. iforget gunshot in the left thigh. i'm injured right now. i forget food and i forget the reason why i went there. and i stopped my bleeding and make first aid for other people. as we've heard, the hamas—run health authorities in gaza say more than 30,000 palestinians have been killed since israel started its military action in october. bbc verify has been examining how many of those killed were members of hamas. here's frank gardner. bbc verify has been covering this war ever since the october the 7th raid on israel. it's a war that has ravaged one of the most crowded places on earth — home to over 2 million people

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.eading on his stomach behaved in an unacceptable manner. bbc news has been passed a video of the incident, which a homeless charity has described as appalling. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan has the details , a warning his report contains some distressing footage from the start. early morning outside manchester town hall. a rough sleeper is dragged into the street by police. before this happens. the man a refugee from sudan who wants to remain anonymous says he was injured by the officer. i was injured by the officer. i was tellin: was injured by the officer. i was telling her _ was injured by the officer. i was telling her i _ was injured by the officer. i was telling her i need _ was injured by the officer. i was telling her i need to _ was injured by the officer. i was telling her i need to sleep - was injured by the officer. i was telling her i need to sleep but l was injured by the officer. ims telling her i need to sleep but she stamped on my stomach with miss

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. just want to take you back to beijing now.e expect them to say they will target gdp growth of 5% in 2024. translation: b, target gdp growth of 596 in 2024. translation: a drop of around 2-5% — 2024. translation: a drop of around 2.5% in _ 2024. translation: a drop of around 2.5% in energy - around 2.5% in energy consumption per unit of gdp, continued improvement in the environment. in setting these targets, we consider it involving a dynamic in home and abroad and other relevant factors, and it is not easy for us to realise these targets. we need policy support and joint effort from all fronts. we should adhere to the principles of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, from stability to progress and establishing new before abolishing the old. we should also be stipulated in... li qiang talking about stabilising employment as part of his speech. more from the newsroom in singapore with katie who has been listening to the whole speech. get us up to speed with some of the things we may have missed. we are still waiting to h

our special correspondent fergal keane, working with bbc verify, has been piecing together more details

but fergal keane, the bbc�*s special correspondent, has spent the last couple of weeks in jerusalem andbank, gathering pictures shot by palestinians of the israeli onslaught. well, it's an extremely tense situation on the west bank at the moment, and i think it has become ever more so as this war has progressed. you have increasing conflict involving settlers on the west bank, involving the army, palestinian militants and palestinian civilians. and it'sjust a real sense of what feels like a powder keg to me. and i don't want to say that in any overdramatising sense, but it is quite something that up to date there hasn't been a major outbreak of violence in the west bank. so far, it has been an incident here, an incident there, repeated raids by the israel defense forces. and just today, the funeral of a ten—year—old boy, who was amr najjar, who was shot dead. he was going shopping with his father and his younger brother. and his father said the army opened fire on their car and that the boy was killed immediately with a shot to the head. the idf says it's investigating what happened. no

fergal keane, bbc news, the west bank. live now to amman where i'm joined now byjason lee.ector for the occupied palestinian territory. tell me what about life is like for children on the west bank. the west bank continues _ children on the west bank. the west bank continues to _ children on the west bank. the west bank continues to deteriorate - children on the west bank. the west bank continues to deteriorate with i bank continues to deteriorate with increasing settler violence, lack of access, and inability for palestinian families to continue on their normal lives. for children to go to school, and parents to go to work. the numbers of children that are killed and injured since october seven have increased drastically, again, of the a16 civilians that have been killed, ten to four child. there's been also been more than a600 civilians injured, nearly one out of six are children. the situation in the west bank continues to get more violence. settler violence rates pre—0ctober at seven were three incidences a day, it is now at eight incidents a day, and there's absolutely

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.fice for the coordination the u.n. office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs says more than half—a—million palestinians are on the brink of famine. a short while ago i talked with the spokesman for the un secretary—general, stephan djarric about thursday's deadly incident in gaza, as well as new efforts to provide humanitarian aid. what would an investigation look like and how hard is it to conduct when given the continued military operation in gaza? that when given the continued military operation in gaza?— operation in gaza? at some point there will have _ operation in gaza? at some point there will have to _ operation in gaza? at some point there will have to be _ operation in gaza? at some point there will have to be a _ operation in gaza? at some point there will have to be a credible i there will have to be a credible investigation and no need to be accountability for what happened. it is challenging to conduct one in the midst of a conflict and this one of the reasons

fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.e now to discuss ongoing talks in both the us and middle east is former us representative game harman, also chair of the bipartisan national defence strategy commission. thank you for being here. ——jane harman. i want to ask you about the meeting with vice president kamala harris and benny gantz. what do you make of it? how much influence do you think the vice president can have now on israeli policy? well, i think the meeting is quite significant. the fact that he came to the us was welcomed by the biden administration, the second most senior level. there is no way that she would have taken that meeting without the blessing of the president. he is in the war cabinet but he also was the prime minister of israel and is looked to as someone who might succeed beating netanyahu in new elections. 0n the face of it was a big deal. the fact that she is out there, on the airways, calling for a pause in fighting, not a permanent ceasefire, but at least a temporary ceasefire, speaks directly to

our special correspondent fergal keane, working with bbc verify, has spent the day piecing together morels of what happened. his report contains some distressing images. shots cracked through the night. people start to move. then run to get away. in this section of the crowd there is panic. and as casualties streamed into local hospitals, the testimony of witnesses. translation: the situation was unimaginably crazy. - if aid is going to come to us in this way, we don't want it. we don't want to live on the blood of our children. the israelis say that at 4:40am, the convoy left from here under israeli tank escort and began to move towards the crowds waiting for food. the army—supplied drone footage, but there is no way of telling the sequence of the images because there is no timestamp. at 4:16, the israelis say, crowds began to surge around the tracks. at 4:16, the israelis say, crowds began to surge around the trucks. in this sequence, bodies can be seen lying on the ground. also others can be seen crawling away. here, so it looks as if they are dragging themselves using their upper bod

our special correspondent fergal keane, working with bbc verify, has spent the day piecing together moreots cracked through the night. people start to move. then run to get away. in this section of the crowd there is panic. as casualties streamed into local hospitals, the testimony of witnesses. translation: situation was unimaginably crazy. if aid is going to come to us in this way, we don't want it. we don't want to live on the blood of our children. to live on the blood of our children-— to live on the blood of our children. , . , ., ., children. the israelis say that at 4:40am, children. the israelis say that at 4:40am. the — children. the israelis say that at 4:40am, the convoy _ children. the israelis say that at 4:40am, the convoy left - children. the israelis say that at 4:40am, the convoy left here i children. the israelis say that at - 4:40am, the convoy left here under an israeli tank escort and began to move towards the crowds waiting for food. the army supplied drone footage but there is no way of telling the sequence of the images because there is no timestamp. at 4:45, bec

fergal keane tells the story of one young boy shot dead in the west bank — amr najjar, another victiman 200 children have been kidnapped. the issue facing our nation how