hello, i'm lauren taylor. we start in the middle east, where nine people, including at least four children, have reportedly been killed after israeli strikes hit homes in rafah in the southern gaza strip. israeli planes and tanks pounded various parts of the territory overnight. the israeli war cabinet has been planning a large offensive against hamas in rafah, which is where an estimated 1.5 million displaced palestinians are sheltering. the us and other allies have warned israel against a full—scale assault on the city. these are live shots of a refugee camp for displaced people in rafah. one of the main un agencies responsible for getting aid to palestinians, the united nations relief and works agency is warning that the risk of disease is increasing across gaza because of the lack of sanitation and aid. wyre davies reports from jerusalem. over the last few days, the world and the world's media attention has been focused on those exchanges of fire between israel and iran, and the potential,

a week ago, for what looked like a possible regional war. those fears have been somewhat dissipated after minimal israeli response in the last couple of days. and that side of things appears to have gone away a little bit, with both governments opting to let things calm down. we have had a war in gaza now that has lasted well over six months and that continues. the latest information we have is, as you were saying, several places in gaza were hit, including the southern city of rafah, where many people were killed in reported israeli air strikes overnight. the effect of six months of war has created a desperate humanitarian crisis in gaza. but amid the ruins of conflict, in some areas, aid is now getting through and can make the difference between surviving

or dying of hunger. a flour delivery, organised by the world food programme, allowed this bakery in gaza city to reopen for the first time since the war began. translation: finally, i there is something to eat. you can go to the bakery and buy bread. just a few days ago, it was hard, we were looking for wood, flour and you couldn't find anything to feed the children. but for most gazans, the brutal reality of war is a constant companion. at the hospital in rafah, parents and siblings consoled each other after several civilians, including children, were reported killed in overnight air strikes. israel said fighterjets and other aircraft struck dozens of terror sites. among the targets, it said, was military infrastructure, compounds and armed terrorists. the us has repeatedly urged israel not to launch what is expected to be a major offensive in rafah. we cannot support a major military operation in rafah. we believe that a major military

operation, with a large presence of a civilian population, would have terrible consequences for that population. words that seem to have little impact on benjamin netanyahu. he has repeatedly said the offensive in rafah must happen, if hamas is to be defeated and israeli hostages released. for most gazans, survival is still a daily struggle. retrieving food parcels from the sea — after an air drop — shows how chaotic the delivery of aid often is, as agencies warn of a worsening humanitarian crisis. wyre davies, bbc news, jerusalem. that has been a raid in the occupied west bank. tell us more about that. really interesting, isn't it? it is notjust the focus on gaza. we have had attentions on the northern border, again, overnight and particularly now in the west bank, the palestinian occupied west bank, where there has been repeated clashes between

israeli forces and local militants, ever since october the 7th. the latest news we have is that the israeli military operation, and in that, ten people, including a senior politician were reported to have been killed for. four israeli soldiers were reported to have injured. since 7 october about a50 people have been killed in these clashes between israelis and palestinians in the west bank, and thousands of people have been arrested. it shows just how dangerous the entire region is. the war in gaza is above and beyond. thousands of people, 30,000 people plus, have been killed in gaza. there is a humanitarian crisis there as well. all the while, up in the northern border and the west bank, there are people being killed and there are increasing tensions as well.

israeli forces and palestinian militants have been exchanging fire for a second day of an israeli military raid in nur shams refugee camp in the occupied west bank. a number of people have been killed including ten militants, according to the israeli army. palestinian sources say that at least five people have been killed, including a child. at least four israeli soldiers have also been wounded. violence in the west bank has intensified since the war between israel and hamas erupted last october. iran's foreign minister has downplayed israel's involvement in the recent attack on his country describing the weapons used as more like children's toys, rather than drones. hossein amir—abdollahian made the claims an interview with us media. he said israeli micro—drones used in the operation had caused no deaths or damage, and dismissed it as a "desperate attempt" by israel to "make a victory out of their repeated defeats".

he said iran would respond at the �*maximum level�* if israel acts against its interests. tehran�*s muted response to friday morning's events has raised hopes that tensions between the countries can be dampened, and a wider escalation averted. a base used by pro—iranian militias in iraq has been damaged by a large explosion, a day after israel's presumed strike on iran. one person was killed and eight others injured in the blast and intense fire at the kalso military base, south of the capital baghdad. this footage from the scene shows the aftermath of the explosion, which iraqi security sources have described as a "bombing" which hit weapons and vehicles. the base is used by the popular mobilization forces — an umbrella organisation linking several pro—iran militias who've recently attacked us personnel in iraq. the pentagon says it has not carried out any new strike in iraq. the us house of representatives is meeting in a rare weekend session to debate a long—stalled military aid package for israel — and for ukraine — to help it fight off the russian invasion. measures have vocal opponents in congress, and their hopes of passage have hinged on a fragile bipartisan coalition to overcome legislative hurdles. the debate is under way, with the republican speaker mike

johnson allowing a vote to take place later on saturday. our north america correspondent will vernon is following the story from washington. the ukraine aid bill isjust one of several packages. they started their life as one bill, but they have been separated off into a number of separate pieces of legislation, basically to make it easier to get through congress. as well as ukraine there are also bills for the indo—pacific region, for taiwan, basically, and for israel. of course the most important part of this is ukraine aid. $61 billion of desperately needed assistance to the ukrainians. that includes artillery rounds, air defence systems, and also funds to replenish depleted us military stockpiles that have been emptied out because so much of this kit has been sent off to ukraine. so the chances of this bill passing are pretty good. it cleared two very important procedural votes on thursday and

friday. there was cross—party support for this bill, which is incredibly unusual. democrats in the house voted with the republican speaker, mike johnson, in order to get this bill to the floor of the house. that is very unusual and i think that shows the significance of this piece of legislation. many people here are calling it a critical turning point in history. congressmen and women have been urged to put their party differences aside and do the right thing for the ukrainians, because this is a key us ally, a critical partner in the region, fighting off this russian invasion. this will be a crucial moment in congress a little bit later today. it wasn't just the ukrainian aid that was held up. there has also been aid for israel that should now pass as well. that was controversial in itself, wasn't it? yes, this israel bill, $26 billion, a little bit more than that, of aid for israel. that is also controversial

because many democrats are incredibly unhappy with the fact that this aid doesn't come with any conditions attached. many of those democrats are unhappy with the way the israelis are conducting the war in gaza, and they think that america should withhold some aid until israel takes concrete steps to improve the humanitarian situation in gaza. so we are expecting some democrats to vote, "no" to that bill. it has been difficult at the moment to work out how many of them there will be, whether there will be a significant number or not, but that bill is expected to pass because the vast majority of republicans will support it, and of course they have the majority in the house of representatives. will vernon reporting and we are keeping an eye on those debates at the moment. we keeping an eye on those debates at the moment-— keeping an eye on those debates at the moment. ~ , . ., ., ~ , the moment. we expect the lawmakers will vote on saturday _ the moment. we expect the lawmakers will vote on saturday afternoon, - will vote on saturday afternoon, separately on aid for ukraine, israel and taiwan as well as another

bill that could include a nationwide ban of tiktok. those votes will be coming up later on and they have been discussing various amendments. we will have our correspondence bring as up—to—date as soon as anything significant happens on that. as we've been hearing the package includes munitions and air defence missiles desperately needed by ukraine. the vote is being closely watched in kyiv, where some officials have expressed cautious optimism that it will pass. it comes as a russian official says a ukrainian drone strike has killed two people inlcuding a pregnant woman in the belgorod region, which borders ukraine. the governor says a residential building and a barn in the village of poroz were completely burned down. the governor of smolensk, just north of the belgorod region, says a ukrainian drone hit a fuel depot there overnight, setting it on fire. our ukraine correspondentjames waterhouse has told me earlier about the expectations in kyiv. relatively closely, i would say. it is interesting how the tide has changed, when you speak to people, when certainly online ukrainians

viewed the republican speaker mikejohnson in a very dim light, seeing him as this main obstacle to much—needed help. i don't think people will be staying up tonight watching it, watching the votes on tv, as well as the debate, because there are more pressing matters at hand. but what's interesting is how the rhetoric has changed this week, where you have seen mikejohnson talk about the importance of helping ukraine and defeating vladimir putin, and i think that will be welcomed. president zelensky has said that the question of american support for ukraine has gone on too long and it is his view, and the view of william burns, the head of the cia, that without this american help, ukraine will lose this war. so you could say this vote is about ukraine's future. and that view has been reinforced by europe's inability to plug the gap left by europe over the recent months,

as well as russia's capitalising on it as well. it seized the eastern town and has taken hundreds of square kilometres more of ukrainian territory. it is on the outskirts of another town in the east so that is much more concerning for kyiv. this is welcome news. this american equipment could arrive quickly but it is not the silver bullet it was once seen as that would allow ukraine to win. it is simply about keeping ukraine in this fight. talk us through is the latest movements in terms of drone strikes that have come from ukraine to russia. it is a continuation of ukraine using small, unmanned drones packed with explosives, that they manufacture in ukraine. they are continuing to launch them into russia itself, despite the hesitancy or nervousness

from its western allies over those enduring fears of this war escalating and spilling out of ukraine's borders. but we heard from security sources, who have proudly said, "look, we have launched drones into eight russian regions," and once again, they are looking to target russian energy infrastructure as russia is with ukraine. we are seeing this tit—for—tat, although not by any stretch on the same scale. and the reason why some in the west are nervous about the strategy is that we talked about the escalation part, it would also drive up fuel prices. so despite this, it is clear ukraine is shutting out that noise and continuing to try and frustrate russian supply lines, in their words. they are saying, "we are hitting these areas to try to limit its ability to feel those tanks and aircraft and those other

armoured vehicles in the continued invasion of ukraine. i think this is something ukraine will be keen to talk up against a backdrop of minimal successes in recent weeks. now it's time for a look at today's sport. around an hour till kick off, in the first of the fa cup semi—finals. it's manchester city against chelsea at wembley, with city looking put midweek disappointment in the champions league behind them. pep guardiola's side lifted the trophy last season, as part of their treble winning season. they could still be on for double — top of the premier league as it stands. city will be up against one of theirformer players, cole palmer, who's having a sensational season for chelsea. i said many times maybe i didn't give the minutes he deserved. he wanted the minutes. and now he has at chelsea. i understand completely. i am happy for him. he is a lovely guy, a shy guy. he has incredible potential. otherwise he would not be here. it is what it is. chelsea will come into the match in red hot form — they've only lost once in their last

12 games — and come into the game off the back of thrashing everton 6—0 on monday. with city's loss on penalties midweek to real madrid, blues boss mauricio pochettino knows what could come his way today. it isa it is a challenge for us. they are a club that are doing a fantasticjob, of course playing fantastic football. showing that they are the best, if not the best team in the world. manchester city, not in premier league action this weekend then which means arsenal could regain top spot later. it's a battle at the bottom end before that. luton hope to move out of the bottom three. they are currently losing 2—0 to brentford. sheffield united need a win against burnley, to have any hope of avoiding relegation — 0—2 to —— they are 3—1 down to burnley at bramall lane.

the late game sees arsenal travel to wolves, in a tricky game for them, given their losses to aston villa, and bayern munich in europe in the last week. a superb result for chelsea, in the first leg of their women's champions league semifinal. they beat the holders barcelona, in spain, to take the advantage ahead of next week's return leg. scotland international erin cuthbert scored the winner, firing past goalkeeper catalina coll in the first half. barca missed a superb chance to equalise — alexia putellas putting it wide from a few yards out. so chelsea hold on for the win with barca beaten in a competitive game, at home, for the first time in more than five years. another huge win for england in the women's six nations — they've thrashed ireland 88—10 at twickenham. abby dow among the tries again.. four wins from four for them, as they look unstoppable again this year. scotland are in italy — they've fallen down the table after two losses in a row. jo currie was at twickenham earlier but spoke to me about scotland's chances. scotland's six nations campaign so far has been a mixed bag. it started with that wonderful opening day victory over wales in cardiff.

they followed it up with a battling performance against france, albeit ending in defeat. they went into that game against england last week full of confidence only to walk away on the end of a 16—0 defeat. they will be bruised from that. they know they need to show improvement today. they have got a point to prove against italy, a team who also only have one win this year. they know they can target points. it's the opening day of the world snooker championship. defending champion luca brecel will be confident of a place in the next round, at the crucible. the belgian is facing england's david gilbert in his opening match, and holds the advantage — 6 frames to 3 up after the first session . it's best of 19 frames in the first round. the pair resume in their final session later. brecel with the momentum, keeping his three—frame advantage before the break. and one of the favourites this year, judd trump, is taking on hossein vafaei — they've just resumed after a mid—session break,

with trump 3 frames to i up... england's trump very much one of the form players this season, with five ranking titles so far this year, as he chases a second world title here. they are under way for the third round at the chevron championship. the first women's golf major of the year. in the fa cup semifinal between city and chelsea. erling haaland is not in the squad. we will be back with more later. here in the uk the head of the government watchdog, the climate change committee has heavily criticised the prime minister's approach to climate change. in an exclusive interview with the bbc chris stark said rishi sunak has �*set us back�* on climate change, leaving the uk at risk of losing out to other countries. our climate editor justin rowlatt has the story.

when asked what the climate change committee does, chris stark has always said its job is to mark the government�*s homework on climate and he has been marking rishi sunak down in dramatic fashion. chris stark said that rishi sunak�*s predecessors, theresa may and borisjohnson, had done a good job cutting carbon. but he, when asked about a decision last autumn that was made by rishi sunak to water down targets to stop the sale of petrol and diesel cars and also to phase out gas boilers, this is what he told laura kuenssberg. i think it�*s set us back. so i think we have moved from a position where we were really at the forefront, pushing ahead as quickly as we could on something that i believe to be fundamental to the uk economy, fundamentally beneficial to the people living in this country, whether you care about the climate or not, and we are now in a position now where we�*re actually trying to recover ground. i give you one example of that. the diplomatic impact of that has been a mess. we have a lot of contact with other countries around the world. it doesn�*t matter that there were detailed policies within that speech that you could see were very much in

line with net zero. the overall message that other parts of the world took from it is that the uk is less ambitious on climate than it once was, and that is extremely hard to recover from. once was, and that is extremely hard to recoverfrom. he once was, and that is extremely hard to recover from.— to recover from. he was critical of other parties _ to recover from. he was critical of other parties to. _ to recover from. he was critical of other parties to. he _ to recover from. he was critical of other parties to. he said - other parties to. he said politicians across the uk have what they call a collective fear of talking about climate. he also criticised the scottish government, the snp. he said it was desperately disappointing that they had dropped a key carbon cutting pledge this week. he said they were overambitious from the beginning. the uk government says it is the first economy in the world to have halved carbon emissions since 1990 and says that record stands on its own. the scottish government has said, we are sticking by our commitment to get in a zero by 2045. we are steadfast in that commitment, they say.

thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the canary islands, calling for a rethink of what they say is the �*unsustainable tourism�* model, which draws millions of visitors to the spanish archipelago every year. the protests — held under the banner �*the canaries have a limit�* — have gained support from major environmental groups such as greenpeace and friends of the earth. 11 protesters have already been on hunger strike for a week in protest at the construction of two luxury developments on tenerife. clio o�*flynn, a freelance journalist living in adeje — on tenerife — has told me about the key issues driving the protests. i think the last speaker that you had onjust they�*re actually underlined what the main point is. the tourism model needs to change. that is what the protesters are saying. in fact they are just saying to us now, the government said 32,000 people have taken part in the protest, a lot more than i

think people expected when this was planned a couple of weeks ago. one of the main thing is they are also stressing as they are not against tourists, and some of the international headlines might have led people to believe that local businesses don�*t want tourism any more, but the model is, way tourism profits are reinvested, that needs to change and it needs to benefit the local economy and the local eco structure more. so is it about reinvestment or limiting numbers? is that the problem — the scale or the way the money is reinvested 7 i think it is a number of things. certainly some of the groups that would have organised today�*s protests, across all of the canary islands, would be calling for a limit on numbers because they feel the canaries have been oversold. they are kind of saying that the current model is out of date and some of them are saying, "let�*s take a step back and let�*s have a moratorium, a temporary one, on say building any more hotels or resort areas," because the amount of

tourists here has got to the point where there is very little wiggle room, wiggle room in terms of the land that is available for building and little wiggle room in terms of the land that�*s available for housing for people who work here, which is one of the primary problems is, that in tourist areas, because of high rents and people buying second holiday homes, a lot of workers here, who service the tourist industry itself, can�*t actually live near their work and have to travel many hours to get to and from work. so perhaps a limit on tourist numbers, there is also talk of a tourism tax, but how that would be invested is also hugely important issue that any money garnered from a tourism tax would need to go back into perhaps building houses for the workers in the tourist resort areas. but i think what the protesters today saying is to pause. take a step back. let�*s reimagine how the canary islands is and are for both the people living here and the people

who want to visit us. we need to continue to have tourists that perhaps we want tourists who would stay longer or spend more money, and appreciate more what the island has to offer. just briefly — how quickly can they make these changes if there is the political will to do so? that is a very good question. already a couple of different municipalities have requested what is called a stressed zone label. if the government were to give them that they would then have a three year period in which they could limit rent rises and also open up new spaces for public housing buildings. that could happen very quickly but quickly in political terms means a couple of years, it doesn�*t mean overnight. some people today would like an overnight change but that is not going to happen. and this probably won�*t come as a huge shock to swifties — taylor swift�*s new album has broken records. the highly—anticipated the tortured poets department which turned out to be a double album became the most streamed album in a single day

on spotify and amazon music. with taylor also becoming the most streamed artist in a day on spotify. the album also broke the record for the biggest pop album of all time by first—day streams on apple music. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. quite a chill in the air earlier on, but at least that sun�*s quite strong. talking about cold weather, this is what we call the anomaly map across europe. where it�*s blue, temperatures are below the average for the time of the year and you can see across many countries, it�*s been colder than what we would expect in april. in fact, across some northern parts of europe, we have had snow. here�*s helsinki today — three degrees, flurries of snow. central parts of europe not even making double figures. and we are feeling that chill as we see colder air arriving from the north.

but at least it�*s high pressure, so that does mean that the weather�*s quiet, so a lot of welcome dry weather. here�*s the satellite picture. clouds have been building through the course of the morning and into the afternoon. some areas are still quite sunny, other areas have turned a little more overcast. temperatures i think best in the west, possibly 15 in northern ireland. but on the north sea coast, we�*ve a chilly breeze, it�*s only around 9 or 10. now, temperatures may be on the down, but the pollen levels are on the up. moderate widely across some central and eastern parts of the uk and even high in the south west. now, through tonight, variable amounts of cloud. it will turn damp for a time in scotland, particularly northern and central areas. i don�*t think this coming night will be quite as cold as last night, but still in some spots, temperatures could drop close to freezing early in the morning, given clearer skies overnight. variable amounts of cloud tomorrow, there will be some sunshine, for sure. i think further south, that�*s where the best of the sun will be, but some areas may be stuck underneath the cloud. now, interestingly, it is actually

going to be a relatively warm day across western parts of northern ireland again, 18 degrees. but closer to the north sea coast in that breeze, maybe not even making 10 celsius. now, into monday, well, high pressure�*s still with us, but a weather front caught on that eastern edge of the high pressure means thick cloud across much of the uk. little dribs and drabs of rain. i don�*t think it�*s going to feel particularly pleasant, again, the further east you are. 10 degrees in hull. out towards the west, in belfast, around 14 celsius. is it going to warm up? well, not significantly so in the days ahead. in fact, if we look at the outlook for the week, it is going to stay generally on the chilly side with a little rain now and then.

this is bbc news. the headlines: nine people are reported to have been killed in israeli strikes on homes in southern gaza, including four children. it comes as the un agency for palestinian refugees warns that the risk of disease there is rising. ukraine hopes for more air defence systems in the war against russia, as us lawmakers prepare to vote on a long—delayed military aid package. kyiv has warned of an urgent need for fresh support from its allies. and the head of a uk government watchdog has told the bbc that rishi sunak has "set us back" on climate change.

chris stark says the pm has left the uk at risk of falling behind other countries. thousands of people have taken to the streets of the canary islands in protest at what they say are unsustainable levels of mass tourism. they say overtourism is damaging the environment and drives up costs for local people. now on bbc news, it�*s newscast. where in the world is chris mason? hello. i am in the west midlands. i am in birmingham. oh, because there�*s a mayoral contest there fairly soon. yeah, i thought i would spend the day examining the structures of government of england. why not? because, you know, we�*ve got these local and police and crime commissioner elections in england and wales in a fortnight and also mayoral contests too. and these mayors are relatively new, aren�*t they? you go back to 2000 for london, much more recently for the west midlands and plenty of other places beside.

keen contest here.