tom fletcher, thank _ antony blinken feels right now.r, thank you forjoining us, former british ambassador to lebanon. inside gaza, israel's military has urged civilians repeatedly to leave the north. they had reopened today for a limited period of time, one of the strips main highways. there are only two of them, they said this would allow people to drive south for a three—hour window. that has now shut again with some 350—400,000 people remaining in northern gaza, according to a us envoy. the israel defence forces have said in the last half an hour or so as well that while they went to open that road they said that they came under fire from hamas fighters on the ground there as well. while all of this is going on the rafa crossing to egypt also has remained closed today. we have heard that gaza border authorities say that they will not permit foreign passport holders to cross into egypt until the injured people in gaza's hospitals are allowed to travel to rafa crossing dhammakaya, hundreds of foreign citizens have crossed in the last f

that was tom fletcher _ of tension across that border.. tens of thousands of people have been protesting in london in the latest of a series of large—scale demonstrations in the capital, demanding an end to the bombardment of gaza. there were several thousand people in trafalgar square, chanting slogans, carrying placards and waving flags. for more on that, our correspondent in central london, aruna iyengar. i have talked to dozens of people this morning to say they want to protest peacefully. they say they wa nt to protest peacefully. they say they want to see a ceasefire in palestine. i asked them also about the problem of possible extremists infiltrating these protests. they said that wasn't true, they hadn't seen any signs of that. one man i spoke to earlier said that many jewish people had joined these protests to call for a ceasefire. as you know that is not the line of the government's policy at the moment. the current policy of the british government is to call for pauses in israel's attacks on the gaza strip. people here are gene

tom fletcher, former british ambassador to lebanon, thank you.gaza and gaza city is squeezed, a spokesman for the israel defense force that we have counted, contains and now we are slowly closing in, trying to cut off gaza city and go into street to street fighting. it is thought troops could enter gaza city within hours, on the ground the suffering continues and the un secretary—general says gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. we will bring you all the continued development here in southern israel and across in the gaza strip, of course you can go to our live bbc news website for a minute by minute summary, but for now, from gaza, commissary, southern israel, back to london. we will be back with mark lowen in israel throughout the programme. good morning from me on this sunny morning in westminster, a date which is largely brought to you by the latter p, a day of politically —— political process, parliamentary procedure and pomp and pageantry. it is significant for two reasons, the kings speech given by the king in his role as monarch, he

earlier, i spoke to tom fletcher, the former uk ambassador to lebanon. happening inside lebanon and the rest of the region. iam i am concerned, as are i am concerned, as are many i am concerned, as are many great friends in lebanon and israel and among the palestinians too. i don't think anyone inside lebanon or northern israel wants an escalation. i would include hezbollah in that, i think the messages out of hezbollah at the end of last week including an hassan nasrallah's on friday were an indication that they realise the risks are incredibly significant at the risks of harm to the lebanese civilian population, the israeli civilian population, the israeli civilian population, the israeli civilian population, are too great. can you clarify about the presence of hamas in lebanon? whenever we speak about the threat to israel from lebanon and talk about hezbollah, you mentioned the speech by their leader, hassan nasrallah last week, but the fact israel has blamed hamas's military wing for these 16 rocket yesterday, how significant is the hamas presence in

my colleague anna foster spoke with tom fletcher, the former uk ambassador to lebanon.t with arab governments will be a long one for the us secretary of state antony blinken. i think what blinken is trying to do is to to rebuild trust with those arab allies. and that trust has been very, very badly damaged, obviously, over the last few weeks. and there's a long process ahead to rebuild the trust, not just with the governments, but with the arab population more widely. and that's why he's shuttling around the region. but alongside that, you can hear the frustration in his voice and in their voices, obviously, the anger in their voices that the dialling up of pressure during blinken�*s visit the last couple of days to israel hasn't actually had the result that he wanted. he hasn't got the humanitarian pauses. he hasn't got as much humanitarian aid in as he was hoping. and he's been told pretty clearly by neta nyahu and the israeli military that they need to continue what they call. it's a very chilling phrase, mowing the lawn, reestablishing long—term deterrence against h

since his rise to fame as one quarter of the internationally renowned boyband mcfly, tom fletcher has tour. i am| doing both at the same time. this is a theatrical tour. i am doing both at the same time. this is the live _ doing both at the same time. this is the live stage adaptation of my children's picture books. it is a who's— children's picture books. it is a who's in — children's picture books. it is a who's in your book? series, there is a monster. _ who's in your book? series, there is a monster. a — who's in your book? series, there is a monster, a dragon, an alien in your— a monster, a dragon, an alien in your book — a monster, a dragon, an alien in your book. this is the dragon. this is the _ your book. this is the dragon. this is the first— your book. this is the dragon. this is the first time it has been brought— is the first time it has been brought to life on the stage and it is on _ brought to life on the stage and it is on tour— brought to life on the stage and it is on tour around the country at the moment _ is on tour around the country at the moment it— is on tour