of a retaliatory strike from iran grow. the us and japan announce a new era of strategic cooperation, with the building of a joint air and missile defence system. and three months after gunmen took control of a live tv broadcast in ecuador, we look at how the country is cracking down on gang violence. hello. i'm carl nasman. an israeli air strike in gaza has killed three sons and four grandchildren of hamas�*s political leader ismail haniyeh. this video is believed to show him receiving the news in qatar, where he lives in exile. israel has confirmed the strike, describing the sons as "hamas military operatives". he's been actively involved in negotiations to broker a ceasefire with israel, but he says the killing of members of his family

will not change hamas�*s demands for a permanent end to the fighting, and the return of displaced palestinians to their homes. those negotiations have been at an impasse for months. and now, bbc�*s partner cbs news confirms that hamas says it is currently unable to identify and track down a0 israeli hostages who could be part of a ceasefire deal, raising fears that more hostages may be dead than publicly known. our international editor jeremy bowen reports from jerusalem. president biden heard there would be a significant attack on israel. there is concern in washington about the increasingly illiterate rhetoric coming from officials into a run. the iranians have vowed to retaliate over an

attack on an embassy building in april. it is widely believed the israelis carried out that airstrike. when his comments earlier mr biden said that american support for israel is ironclad and he said washington would do everything it could to protect the security of its ally in the middle east. that morning from mr biden was very public and very clear, i think for two reasons. first of all because this is one of the most dangerous moments in the middle east since the war in gaza began. washington will want to deter iran from taking any dangerously escalate tory action that could further ignite conflict in the region. in the second reason is because there have been disagreements, public disagreements between joe biden and the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu over the conduct of the war in gaza recently. i think

washington will want to send message to iran that despite those differences of opinion america remains a firm back of israel and any attack on israel by iran would be met with a forceful response from washington. a short while ago, i spoke to former communications director of us central command, joe buccino. i want to start with the killing of severalfamily members of hamas�*s political leader. where do you think that leaves these negotiations over a ceasefire? does that throw a wrench into the plans at all? i think it does. i think that that is a little bit of what netanyahu is going forward. netanyahu wants an unending war here. he wants an unending war in gaza, the same thing ironically that they want on the other side. and this moves back the opportunity for hostage negotiation.

i think this significantly changes the calculus on the side of hamas and i think that is what neta nyahu is wanting. we also saw a suspected israeli strike on a consular building in syria earlier this month that killed several irani military officials. what do you make of these separate incidents now is this potentially part of a new strategy on behalf of israel? i think it is. i think part of what netanyahu is hoping for is that there is a very significant response that comes from the north, that comes from lebanese hezbollah, the iranians proxies to the north. if that happens here and it is anticipated in the next 24—72 hours, that will give netanyahu the opportunity to do what he has been trying

to do since october ten which is to start a second front to this war, to go into the north. do you think israel wants to open up a second front in the war? that is absolutely right. he's been trying to do a second front here for months and i think this would give him an opportunity to do so. what about the threat of retaliation? the united states says that iran could retaliate in the next several days but how capable is iran of mounting any kind of capable or powerful response here? hezbollah is very capable. hundreds of thousands of rocket missiles there on the border that can reach all the way into southern israel. that is the fight that would really, that is the fight that the israel defence forces was really afraid of, much more capable,

lebanese hezbollah much more capable than hamas so they have the capability to do significant damage into israel. if we do see at least some fighting breaking out, some sort of retaliation, we heard from president biden there reaffirming ironclad support on behalf of the united states, how do you think the us may respond if there were a retaliatory attack either from iran or hezbollah in coming days? i think we would probably respond with strikes against iran's shia proxies in the region, we would probably leave it to israel to respond to lebanese hezbollah and we would respond against iran's proxies in iraq and syria which is the way the biden administration has been adjudicating this since october. the bbc has been hearing from several current and former us state department officials to say there is internal dissent within the government, disagreement about how to proceed and numbers

of people who are not happy with the way that the biden administration has been handling the response to this conflict. how big a warning sign is that and how common is that to see this level of dissent oiling over within the halls of government? it is very significant. right now in some ways hamas has already won. in the sense that israel is completely isolated on the world stage with the exception of the united states and president biden is kind of going back and forth here. it is unclear where he is in terms of the way he adjudicates this war. today he said that the united states will provide unwavering support to israel. that does not cohere with what he said the last week about demanding a more precise and a more precision targeted approach to the war. you know, this is a tough

subject within the united states but really in the region, it is really causing the saudis, the jordanians, the uae, to question american values and i am told from leaders in us european command that even in europe leaders in europe are questioning american values here. thank you for your time. current and former us officials who spoke to the bbc say president biden's pressure on israel after last week's deadly attack on aid workers is falling short as the humanitarian crisis in gaza deepens. and they add that internal dissent within the us government is growing. earlier, i spoke to annelle sheline. she's a former us state department official working on human rights issues in the middle east who recently resigned over the biden administration's handling of the war in gaza.

she's currently a non—resident fellow with the baker institute center for the middle east. as we just heard, the discontent within the us, within the biden administration, how widespread is that concern over the fact that the us may not be doing enough to stem the humanitarian crisis in gaza? it is extremely widespread. one of the groups that i work with is called feds united for peace which represents thousands of people inside the federal government to oppose the us policy on this unconditional support to israel. i also think as we continue to see the political calculus on this shift we do see increasingly americans considering biden's handling of this, he is plummeting in poll numbers so i do hope that we may be beginning to see a significant shift here in american public opinion which is also reflected in the members of the us government.

you recently resigned from your post at the state department. why did you decide to step down? was there a specific breaking point for you? i first tried to do what i could on the inside. i co—authored a dissent cable and signed two other dissent cables and expressed my concerns in open forums that the state department held because many employees are extremely concerned about this us policy. but it became clear over time that it was not effective to try and affect change from within and so initially i was going to resign over gaza and let that be known that i was not initially planning to then go public with the resignation beyond just sort of letting my supervisors know and i was given the opportunity to speak with a senior state department official about my resignation.

he's shared some of my concerns but then, ultimately i did decide to go public in part because it seems that public pressure is the only thing that is having any effect although, again, we're really not seeing a significant shift we are not seeing biden use his massive amount of leverage that the us has over israel. it is just not being implemented yet because president biden does not want to change the policy. meanwhile, inside gaza, it's eid—al—fitr, the end of ramadan, and palestinians are marking the holiday amid destruction and widespread hunger. aid groups say desperately needed food, supplies and aid trucks are not getting inside via the erez crossing despite a recent announcement by israel that it would be reopened. in the north of the israel—occupied west bank, displaced families visited the graves of their loved ones at a cemetery in thejenin camp. here in washington, presidentjoe biden is hosting japanese prime minister fumio kishida at a state dinner.

the visit began with a welcoming ceremony on the south lawn where biden hailed the relationship between the countries as a cornerstone of peace and security. the leaders announced what they call a new era of strategic cooperation with the building of a joint air and missile defence system. speaking alongside the visiting japanese prime minister, biden said the upgraded military pact was strictly defensive in nature. he also announced a japanese astronaut would become the first non—american to walk on the moon. for his part, mr kishida emphasised the importance of a free and open indo—pacific region based on the rule of law amid a perceived growing threat from china in the south china sea and around taiwan. this is the most significant upgrade in our alliance since it was first established. i'm pleased to announce that for the first time japan and the united states and australia will create a network system of air missile and defence architecture. we are also looking forward to standing up a trilateral military exercise that when

japan and the united kingdom. translation: we confirmed that unilateral attempts to change - status quo by force is absolutely unacceptable wherever it may be and that we will continue to respond resolutely against such action through cooperation with allies and like—minded nations. japan will give the us 250 new cherry blossom trees to replace the hundreds that will be lost in construction work around washington dc�*s tidal basin. the japanese prime minister fumio kishida made the announcement during his official state visit. biden says the gift marks the 250—year friendship between the countries, which he compared to the cherry blossom trees, saying their bond is "timeless and thriving." around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some stories making news in the uk. more than 7,000 complaints were made to police in the first week after scotland's new hate crime law

came into operation. the law created a new offence of stirring up hatred against what are known as protected characteristics, including age, sexual orientation and transgender identity. police scotland said the "vast majority" of the reports were anonymous and in most cases, no further action is being taken. some 7.4 million uk adults are still struggling to pay bills due to the high cost of living according to a survey from the financial conduct authority. the number has fallen from last year, but many households still feel "heavily burdened". its survey suggested one in nine adults had missed a bill payment in the six months to january. britain's most successful gymnast, max whitlock, has announced that he will retire after the olympics in paris this summer. the 31—year—old is bidding to become the first to win four olympic medals on the same apparatus when he competes on the pommel horse. at rio 2016, he became team gb�*s first individual olympic gold medallist in gymnastics. you're live with bbc news.

south korea's liberal opposition party has won a landslide majority in the country's general election to retain control of the parliament. south koreans were voting to elect all 300 members of the parliament, not the president. but the vote was seen as a mid—term referendum on the current president yoon suk yeol, who has been in office for two years. south korea media is reporting that the prime minister and most of the senior staff of the presidential office offered to resign after the results came out. for more, let's bring in our seoul correspondent jean mackenzie who's been following the elections from south korea. sam —— sounds like a landslide victory for the opposition party? what does this mean that the ballot box?— the ballot box? although these were parliamentary _ the ballot box? although these were parliamentary elections .

were parliamentary elections they were then seen as a referendum on the current president, president yoon suk yeol who has been in office for two years, he has been unpopular here since the very start. if you look at the presidential election two years ago he won by the narrowest margin on south korean electoral history with 0.7% of the vote he was already off to a difficult start. since then people have bristled with what has been seen as his uncompromising political style, he has been accused of mismanaging the economy, and what we are seeing today with the votes he is essentially failing to win over any supporters that were outside his very loyal support base. yes, it is a win for the liberal opposition party today but people seeing it as much more of a loss for the current president, yes it is not electing him but it will weaken his authority going forward it is a loss for his party and

seen as a vote of no confidence in him. ~ ., _, , seen as a vote of no confidence in him. ~ ., , ., in him. what comes next for president — in him. what comes next for president yoon _ in him. what comes next for president yoon suk - in him. what comes next for president yoon suk yeol - in him. what comes next forj president yoon suk yeol and in him. what comes next for - president yoon suk yeol and his agenda, he had been bringing south korea closer to allies like this? —— like the us. in like this? -- like the us. in terms of— like this? —— like the us. in terms of foreign policy, so foreign policy is slightly more divorced from the parliament here, the president has much more autonomy, going forward we are likely to see the president focus attention on foreign policy because this is an area policy because this is an area policy you can control and that is what we have seen him do over the last couple of years because don't forget before wednesday, the ruling party still did not control the parliament, we could see him continue to focus on foreign policy, as you say he has done some radical things when it comes to foreign policy, he has aligned himself closely with the united states and japan to counter china and north korea. the real issue he will face as when it comes to the domestic agenda, is now going to struggle to pass laws, in the

parliament, because the opposition parties can now come together and form this majority in essentially fast track the laws they want and block the laws they want and block the laws they want and block the laws they do not want. that means the government will struggle to tackle some of the urgent issues south korea bases, rising food prices, slowing economy, it is a rapidly ageing population, even so i think his authority will be dented at home and overseas, he will carry less clout aboard and not have as much power to pursue these foreign policies, quite radicalforeign policy quite radical foreign policy shifts quite radicalforeign policy shifts if they don't have public support here. jean mckenzie _ public support here. jean mckenzie therefore - public support here. jean mckenzie therefore asked in south korea. thank you very much. the organization of american states has condemned police in ecuador who last week raided the mexican embassy in quito and arrested former vice presidentjorge glas. he took shelter in the embassy after fresh corruption charges against him. the oas also criticised mexico,

without naming it directly, for trying to help mr glas escape to mexico. a lawyer for mr glas says he is now on a hunger strike in prison. meanwhile, ecuador continues to deal with an "internal armed conflict" three months after armed gunmen took over a live tv news broadcast. earlier this week, ecuador�*s president, daniel noboa, said efforts to combat gangs will continue. and later this month, the public will vote on further anti—gang measures, including stricter gun controls and tougher prison sentences. so, how is ecuador — a country once known as an "island of peace" — dealing with the rise in gang violence? bbc mundo's ana maria roura returned to her home country to see how it has changed. ecuador�*s government has, in effect, declared war on its gangs. here in the capital, soldiers carry out their now daily patrols. they have made more than 16,000 arrests in three months. it is incredible to see quito, a city that used

to be very quiet and very touristic, like this, with this amount of military forces on the streets. the takeover of a live tv news programme injanuary showed the world how gang violence has gripped ecuador. a member of one of the biggest and violent gangs in ecuador has agreed to speak to us. tensions are really high here so he always has to be on the move. paul, not his real name, started dealing drugs for his local gang at 15. as the drug's business began to boom, he moved into trafficking large quantities of cocaine. after i press him about his new role, he admits he has killed people. things are dangerous right now. they can come at you from anywhere. i feel remorse for taking people's life. who am i to take anyone's life?

the country's official murder rate has multiplied by eight over the past five years, overtaking colombia and mexico. i ask him why. everyone wants territory. just to have the territory, foreign cartels are conducting gangs here to get them. they are contacting the gangs he had to get them to traffic drugs. at the biggest port, the coastguard has stepped up its patrols. translation: here in the past, we were dealing with common criminals. now, anyone we see could have a high—calibre weapon because gangs are now officially classed as terrorists. we are and the army are allowed to act more freely, shooting straightaway without the protocol. this area is particularly vulnerable to gang violence because of its location

and its deprivation. these are the neighbourhoods that surround the port, probably one of the poorest areas here in the city, which is one of the poorest cities in latin america. it is a challenge for all of ecuador�*s authorities. six public prosecutors have been killed in the past two years, including one who was leading the investigation into the television station attack. after losing her colleague and friend, michelle luna fears for her own life. translation: if we do not get any more guarantees i about our safety, i will have to resign. lawyers have not studied and practised for years to do a job that is suicidal. the government says it is winning the war and has dramatically reduced the number of violent deaths. but there is a growing unease about how long they can

keep troops on the streets. flooding has inundated cities and towns across russia and kazakhstan, forcing more than 100,000 people to flee their homes. residents in the russian town of orenburg — seen here in footage released by state media — say it's the worst flooding in living memory. winter snows in the ural mountains have melted faster than usual this year, causing two of europe's longest rivers — the volga and the ural — to swell by several metres. the ural has burst its banks in places. in neighbouring kazakhstan, more than 97,000 people have been evacuated from flood—risk areas. local officials warn river levels are yet to peak. our russia editor steve rosenberg has the very latest. sirens wail in places, orenburg is a city submerged. roads turned into rivers by the worst flooding here in living memory. "evacuation under way,"

is the message for anyone still living here. "all the houses are flooded," says the local mayor. he's sailing down the streets, surveying the devastation. spring floods are common in russia, but not on this scale. it's thought the combination of heavy rain and rapidly melting snow in warm weather caused rivers to burst their banks. in orenburg, thousands have left their homes or been helped to leave by emergency services and by volunteers. "everything was dry yesterday," she says. "the water came at night, so fast." they have been rescuing pets as well stranded by the deluge of water. and look what damage it's done inside the houses. the floating fridge — a reminder of the destructive power of water. and flooding has affected towns and villages across the ural mountains and western siberia.

beyond russia, too. this is neighbouring kazakhstan. here, 100,000 people have been evacuated from the flood zone. meanwhile, other russian regions are preparing for flooding as water levels continue to rise. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. ever since the modern olympics were created in 1896, the tradition has been that athletes don't get a penny in prize money. now, world athletics will become the first international sporting federation to offer prize money to gold medallists in track and field at the paris olympics this summer. athletes in 48 track and field events who win gold in paris will each receive $50,000. world athletics has set aside a total prize pot of $2.5 million. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. well, some of us are in for a fine day. thursday's expected to bring warm, sunny spells to many northern and eastern parts of the country. certainly won't be like it everywhere — in fact, farfrom it in the morning across many western and southern areas of the uk. right now, a lot of cloud shrouding the uk. a weatherfront is crossing us, bearing rain and dribs and drabs possible anywhere through the night and in some areas even quite heavy for a time. but this weather front is caught in a current of very mild air streaming in from the southern climes, quite a breezy end to the night is expected as well. but i think by the time we get to around 6:00 in the morning, you can see the skies are clearing across many eastern and some western areas of the uk as well. temperatures will be in double figures in most major towns and cities. so, here's the morning then, the forecast. you can see still a fair amount of cloud across some southern and western areas, dribs and drabs of rain, but already sunshine across, say, many northern and northeastern parts of the uk.

the temperatures are very pleasant indeed — widely, i think, into the high teens or 20 degrees across england, eastern scotland, around 18 and out towards the west, around 1a to 17 degrees celsius. but the west will always be more cloudy. now into friday, the south of the country is closer to an area of high pressure, so i think brighter skies here. but i say brighter, not necessarily all that sunny, because we still have that relatively mild and murky current southwesterly wind, in fact, bringing some outbreaks of rain to northwestern areas. so the sunny, brighter skies will always be further towards the east and south and every bit as mild or warm, 20 degrees widely, in some areas, mid or high teens. now, that warmth isn't going to stick around. in fact, saturday night into sunday, we're expecting this slightly cooler air mass or much cooler air mass drifting in out of the west and the north atlantic and brought also by this area of low pressure, which is expected to sweep in some rain to many northwestern

areas of the uk. so, yes, we've got three days of relatively mild, if not warm weather given some sunny spells, but by the time we get to sunday and certainly into monday, it's all change — colder and outbreaks of rain from time to time.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. there seems to be no end to the suffering of the people of zimbabwe. a prolonged drought is threatening to spread mass hunger in a country grimly familiar with political repression and economic chaos. but no amount of popular dissatisfaction seems to loosen the grip of the ruling party, zanu—pf. my guest is one of zimbabwe's highest—profile opposition figures, job sikhala, recently released from almost 600 days in prison without trial. is real change ever going to come to his homeland?