us universities increase pressure on anti—war demonstrators to suspend protests but students say they aren't going anywhere. and russian missile attacks continue, as zelensky warns that western weapons aren't arriving fast enough. i'm helena humphrey, glad you could join me. western leaders are urging hamas to accept a ceasefire offerfrom israel, which could pause fighting in a war that has lasted over 200 days and — according to gaza's hamas—run health ministry — has killed 3a,000 gazans. us secretary of state antony blinken returned to the middle east asking regional leaders to press hamas to accept the terms of a new deal. mr blinken says the offer is "extraordinarily generous". hamas negotiators have reportedly left peace talks in cairo, saying they will

return with a response. our security correspondent frank gardner has more, from jerusalem. what's being debated is the permission by the israeli military for large numbers of palestinian displaced people, currently who are sheltering in the south of the gaza strip, in the city of rafah, to move back to their homes in the north. that's something that israel has resisted in the past. israel, reportedly, would also remove some of its forces from gaza. this would be during a a0 day truce. and there would of course be the exchange of hostages and prisoners. probably hundreds, if not thousands, of palestinian prisoners coming out of israeli jails in return for a rather lowerfigure than was originally demanded by israel — an initialfigure of around 33 israeli hostages. now, from the israeli side, there is dual pressure going on here.

pressure from the united states to do this deal, and pressure domestically from all the families and friends of the hostages who've been demonstrating and shouting louder and louder against the government here — "your policy isn't working". the netanyahu government has always insisted that the only way — or the best way to get the hostages out is by military pressure, but it's not working — it's not producing any results — and they can see that, and every day that goes by increases the risk that more of those hostages will die in one way or in another. i spoke about the ceasefire talks with laura blumenfeld, a former senior advisor on the middle east at the us state department, now a senior fellow at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. welcome to you, laura. very good to have you with us once again. we're starting to get some idea of the potential contours of what this deal might look like. some potential concessions on the israeli side in terms of the number of hostages, then on the hamas side

in terms of the length of that ceasefire. it is potential at the moment but what do you make of the shape of that deal? secretary antony blinken has his foot on diplomatic gas — the question is is he in neutral or drive? we've been here before. i'm optimistic today for several reasons. first of all, as your reporter indicated, hamas is being offered a better deal, an improved deal, and they acknowledge that. for the first time in seven—months, israel is softening their position. i'd say the second reason is — hamas, by releasing those two hostage tapes last week of the american hostages that they're holding, they're clearly playing their big cards. that says to me that they're under increased pressure, whether from within or from without, they're ready to cut a deal. also on the israeli side, i think that there's been some horse trading with president biden. there was a nearly hour—long phone call yesterday between netanyahu and biden, and 75% of that time, i'm told, what took place

was about the hostage deal. there's also the icc which is threatening to issue arrest warrants for netanyahu and others, so i have a feeling there's a little bit of trading there. you know, if you soften on the hostage deal, we'll protect you at the icc. and finally and very important, it can't be underestimated, the impact of the israeli jewish calendar. coming up in the next week is holocaust memorial day which is very emotionally evocative for israelis, and two weeks from now we'll have independence day. i don't see how they're going to be able to celebrate without a deal. laura, you were mentioning there the softening stance when it comes to hostages, around 33 potentially being released — down from the 40, and of course we know many other people are still being held. how do you think the israeli public would react to that? well, i think it's sort of a sad reality but they've been forced to put their arms around it which is that they now

understand that a0 may not be alive. the numbers keep reducing of how many people are alive and i think their sense is quit while you're behind and let's bring home who we can. if hamas does reject it, exploring that possibility, what then in this war? well, i think the pressure is on hamas. there's world pressure on there. yes, netanyahu's threatening to go into rafah, i think that might be a more of a negotiating tactic, i don't think he'll go in, certainly not without the us approval, and us approval is conditions—based, not time—based. conditions—based meaning you need to meet certain metrics, most important of them is moving the civilian population, the palestinians, to a safe place. that's nearly unachievable so i think that's kind of a faint for now, i don't think it's a real option for the israelis. laura is something you brought

up was concerns from israeli officials about the potential for high ranking officials to be served with arrest warrants from the icc. were that to come to pass, what position do you think that might put washington in? well, you know, it's one more leverfor their administration. they've always had the military lever where they could threaten to slow down weapons delivery to the israelis as their leverage. the americans have often been the only thing that stands between them and worldwide diplomatic, or legal condemnation. right now the administration came up very clearly and they said that the icc does not have jurisdiction in this case — and so they can use that to their benefit as they try to kind of moderate israel's positions and bring them closer to that prolonged ceasefire and hopefully a two state solution which is what our goal has been all along. before october 7th we were talking about regional integration. we were almost there. and the israelis, in some ways, are stuck on october

7 for them. for the palestinians it's october 8th, the aftermath and the destruction. the americans are still talking about, in fact, secretary blinken said today — october 10th. october 10th was the day he was supposed to come to the region to finalise that final deal, that mega deal between saudi arabia, israel and the united states for greater regional integration and a better day for all. laura blumenfeld, a former senior adviser on the middle east at the us state department, now a senior fellow at thejohns hopkins school of advanced international studies. always great to get your take, thank you. thank you. protests against the war in gaza are ongoing on university campuses across the us. you can see pictures here of protests on campuses in washington dc, texas, wisconsin and new york all continuing on monday. more than 350 people were arrested at campuses across the country over the weekend.

and in new york, columbia university officials have reportedly begun suspending students involved in protests after they defied a 2pm deadline to disperse. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal has more. the atmosphere here on campus is pretty calm. people are in an upbeat mood. earlier today, there was this deadline. students were told by the president of the university to voluntarily start moving. and there was an implication, therefore, that police might come in. we did see police outside, but that's not happened. students are still inside the encampment and they're saying they're not going anywhere until their demands are met. and essentially those demands are cutting economic and academic ties with israeli institutions. they also want an amnesty for students who have been suspended, any faculty members — so professors at the university — who have also been suspended orfired — many of them were actually standing outside the entrance of the encampment, arms linked to protect the students inside. i spoke to a student who's a negotiator trying to get these demands met. and he said to me — his name is mahmoud khalil — he said that the students weren't budging until all these demands are met and they will keep going. one of the key dates coming up

is graduation on may the 15th. there are students here who aren't on either side, really, whojust want to get to graduation. but the students with the gaza solidarity movement have said to us that they will keep going as long as it takes. as the demonstrations continue at columbia, the university's centre forjewish student life has called on the school's administration to take more aggressive action against antisemitism. they are also calling on the university to enforce stricter polices to combat the reported rise of antisemitic incidents. here in washington dc, about 200 protestors at george washington university rally for a fifth day. on monday morning, protestors removed barriers that were put up by the university to deter their encampment site. the university called the removal an "egregious violation of community trust". to understand what demonstrators there are calling for, i spoke to moataz salim,

a graduate student at george washington university and a palestinian—american student activist. moataz salim, thank you so much for being with us here on bbc news. firstly, talk to us about what you're calling for through these protest. first and foremost i would say that what we're calling for on a larger scale is an end to the genocide in gaza. we're here in solidarity with gaza to remind people that there is still a genocide going on and also, that it's a student movement to remind people about the fact that education institutions in gaza have been entirely decimated. our more practical requests, or demands, would be to — we're asking the gw university to divest from any of their — any companies such as tech companies or weapons

manufacturing companies, either here in the us or in israel, that are aiding the effort against gaza. and i know that you've been there for a number of days. have you heard anything from the university? what have your interactions been like with officials? we haven't — i mean, it's mostly been negative, unfortunately, in terms of their response because what we've seen from them is more of a crackdown. i mean, when we first started the encampment they responded by barricading us in. they also, from the very first night, around 3am, they sent in a lot of mpds, local police cars to surround the perimeter. they sent about 10—15 policeman to come into the encampment, and so we were actually getting, we were prepping to potentially be arrested.

we later found out that the university administration did in fact call on the mpd to come in and arrest us but the mpd declined. so we know that last night there was also a request because the barriers that they had set up to barricade us in, we essentially broke them down and took over the university yard and so we know that there was another request made by the admin, declined again by the mpd, and they also put out an e—mail this morning essentially reiterating that what we were doing — they referred to it as unlawful, illegal, things of that nature. and so, so far the response has been pretty aggressive on their end. mostly negative. one of the provosts christopher bracey yesterday... crosstalk. may ijust put to you the concerns, which i'm sure you're aware of, from jewish students at multiple universities

across the country, reporting feeling unsafe. are you concerned about that? as those jewish students, some who may not even support the actions of the israeli government, try to go about their education? i mean, i think that i would contend with the fact that they feel unsafe, i would say maybe a more appropriate word would be discomfort, which is sort of more understandable. and i think part of the reason that is is because the israeli state uses its propaganda to sort of co—opt the jewish faith as part of its creation, its identity. when in reality, i mean, we have a lot ofjewish students who are part of the encampment who are very much in solidarity with gaza, and from what i understand from them and the way they've spoken about their jewish faith is that it's — that they always emphasise it's

all about love for all and acts of service to the world and i would say that if there's a discomfort there, that's understandable, but if they were to come in and really talk to us, they would realise that our demands and our whole ideology behind this has nothing to do with the jewish faith. it's only about the israeli state, its occupation of palestine, its genocide in gaza and that is the only thing we're really calling for — is to end the genocide in gaza and to stop the occupation of palestine. moataz salim, thank you very much for being with us. thank you for having me. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at another story making the headlines. the national crime agency has issued an unprecedented alert to all schools in the uk, warning about the danger of so called �*sextortion�*. that's when criminals trick young people into sharing intimate images of themselves online and then blackmail their victims for cash.

angus crawford explains. gangs pose as young men or women, send explicit videos or pictures to targets they identify via social media. they demand the same in return. then... voiceover: the film will be shared with your friends, - your family, your workmates... everyone you know. unless, you pay. the nca is warning that criminals are increasingly targeting young people, especially teenaged boys. it's mainly done by gangs based in west africa or southeast asia. their aim — terrify children into handing over as much money as they can. the nca say they want parents and schools to take the alert very seriously but not to panic. you're live with bbc news. russia is continuing its aerial bombardment

of ukrainian cities. a russian missile attack on an educational institution in the southern port city of odesa has killed four people and injured around 30. seven are in serious condition. the regional governor said the dead included three women and one man. president zelensky said on monday that russia is taking advantage of the slow delivery of western aid. while much needed military assistance is beginning to arrive, mr zelensky said it needs to be delivered faster. ukrainian forces in recent months have suffered from a shortage of ammunition and air defence systems that has given russian forces an advantage on the battlefield. a new report from the washington post provides the clearest link yet between india's government and the foiled assassination attempt targeting a sikh separatist in the us last year. the article — which was published on monday —

reveals the name of the officer from india's spy agency who allegedly orchestrated the attempt on gurpatwant singh pannun. mr pannun is a dual us—canadian citizen. he served as the legal counsel and spokesman for sikhs forjustice, a us—based sikh separatist group banned in india. the report also cited current and former western security officials who mapped potential links to members of india's prime minister narendra modi's inner circle to the plot. the indian government has denied the allegations. it comes as the us tries to strengthen its ties with india to counter some of china's geopolitical influence. the white house says it is taking the post reporting "very seriously". i discussed the report with washington post national security reporter ellen nakashima. just to begin with, talk to us about the information you found from the indian government and this assassination plot. right, what we revealed in our article today was that the plot itself was directed from within india's top spy agency, its foreign

intelligence service called the research and analysis wing or also known as r&aw. so this was not a rogue operation at all, it was directed from within the indian government, the foreign intelligence agency. and we also revealed the name of the intelligence officer who directed or allegedly directed this plot. his name is vikram yadav and he was working for r&aw at the time. he has since left the agency and gone back to the police reserve force where he was from. and when you put these allegations to the government, what did new delhi say? they said very little and in fact had not commented on the publication of the story now. they complained this is something that is

under investigation and that this investigation is also a matter of national security. they also repeated their assertions that they do not undertake extrajudicial, extra territorial killing. however, the state department put out a report this month listing india as on of those states where there are credible allegations of extraterritorial killing and harassment and intimidation of overseas dissidents and journalists. what is so shocking here was that... crosstalk. do go ahead, please continue, sorry. while this agency had been known in recent years, especially in the last two years, undertake killings and assassinations in pakistan, neighbouring pakistan, to reach overseas and attempt an assassination on us soil

and then they actually did carry out an assassination in canada last year, is fairly brazen. indeed. and this plot it appears to have exposed divisions, if you will, in the biden administration in terms of prosecuting and indian intelligence officer. what more have you been able to learn about that? yes, that's right. we also revealed that there were internal tensions within the administration over how to handle this information, this evidence. there was considerable evidence that led some senior prosecutors and fbi officials to believe they could bring a charge against mr yadav, the intelligence officer.

but there was debate and disagreement within thejustice department, and in the end the senior officials opted not to charge this indian intelligence officer. they knew they were participating in — we call them interagency or agency discussions, for instance, with the white house and state department in which the white house aired concerns that they needed to and wanted to also protect this strategic partnership that they were cultivating building, investing in with india. and in bringing charges now against... on that point, you mentioned the strategic partnership. where do you think this now puts that strategic partnership with india right now at a time when we know that washington has been courting that? briefly, if you don't mind.

yes, i think that both countries have gone to great lengths to try to protect and preserve it. this administration, the biden administration has, as we show in our story, they took fairly notable steps to ensure that they acted with restraint. they sent senior officials like the cia director bill burns, the national security advisorjake sullivan to delhi, to talk to their indian counterparts and win assurances that they were going to investigate and carry out a credible investigation and promises not to have something, that something like this should not happen again but in the end the justice department opted not to indictment. there have been no expulsions or sanctions, no real punishment.

we will have to leave it there but washington post national security reporter, ellen nakashima, thank you so much. china's coastguard said on tuesday it expelled a philippine coastguard ship and vessels from waters adjacent to the scarborough shoal, chinese state media reported. over the past year there have been increasing numbers of clashes between coastguard ships from china and the philippines in the south china sea. our southeast asia correspondent jonathan head witnessed a confrontation this morning near the disputed scarborough shoal. we can speak tojonathan now. bring us up—to—date with what you saw unfold. i bring us up-to-date with what you saw unfold.— you saw unfold. i am on board the philippines _ you saw unfold. i am on board the philippines coastguard - you saw unfold. i am on board | the philippines coastguard ship that the chinese media said they expelled. we are being shadowed. one chinese coastguard ship on that side. there are three or four behind us. there are so many chinese ships in this area. they

dominated, they kicked the philippines out of here 12 years ago. this is part of a mission to re—establish a philippines presence. they are —— | philippines presence. they are —— i would not say they have kicked the philippines out, they have been able to corral some of the filipino boats. we were right in scarborough shoal and it tends to come back, show support for filipino fishermen who traditionally have fished these waters but we will say they have been harassed by chinese ships. they have been some very aggressive tactics by these coastguard ships from china, one was over there water canning us last hour. it damaged quite a few bits of exterior parts of the boat by doing that. we were all herded inside when that happened. they also cut very, very close, right across the bow of the ship. these are very aggressive tactics. you have to remember, the philippines now, under president ferdinand marcos, is pushing much harder now to establish its claim to these waters. lots of countries claim the chinese —— south china sea, is a busy shipping lane, and the philippines has really

announced its alliance with the us and the us said it will back the philippines if there is a serious escalation, so these clashes really matter and they are happening on a regular basis now. we don't know quite what the ships are going to do but we wait to see whether they will come to us again.— will come to us again. jonathan head reporting _ will come to us again. jonathan head reporting after _ will come to us again. jonathan head reporting after china - head reporting after china reportedly expels a filipino ship, disputed waterway. thank you so much for that reporting. you are watching bbc news. in helena humphrey in washington, dc. thanks for your company. remember, you can always get the latest on our website. i will see you soon, bye for now. hello there. monday brought some bright and breezy conditions for some of us, and in the sunshine it felt

pleasantly warm, particularly if you had a little bit of shelter. in fact, we saw temperatures around 17 degrees through east anglia and down into the london area. it was a very different story furtherwest, however. cloud and rain lingered for much of the day and in some spots we had just shy of half an inch of rain. now, if we take a look at what's going to come through tuesday, it will be a similar kind of story. unfortunately, out to the west we'll see quite a lot of cloud and some outbreaks of rain. clearer skies further east and with lighter winds we'll see a little more in the way of sunshine. so showery rain across south—west england, wales and into northern ireland through the morning. that low pressure not moving very far, so it'll stay rather grey and damp. we could see a few scattered showers across east anglia and south—east england into the afternoon. but sandwiched in between the two, a lovely slice of sunshine. temperatures will respond, the high teens quite widely here. even in the cloud and rain, well, we'll see temperatures mid—teens for some. some improvement into northern ireland. western scotland keeps a few scattered showers, but eastern scotland a little bit cooler with a breeze coming

in off the sea, but it will be largely dry and sunny. so that low pressure just pulls a little bit further out to the west and the wind direction changes to more of a south—easterly. now, to start off with on wednesday it'll be a relatively mild start but that south—easterly breeze, well, that could just drive in a little more cloud in off the north sea and the potential for some showery rain to drift its way along those east coast once again. so west will be best on wednesday in terms of sunshine and potentially in terms of warmth. so we could still once again see temperatures into the mid to high teens quite widely. now, as we move out of wednesday, towards the end of the week, the weather story gets a little bit messy. it's likely that that weather front could still enhance some showers across central and southern england. the low pressure never too far away with the best of the drier, brighter weather the further north. we are always going to keep those temperatures, though, slightly above the average for the time of year. but still, that wind coming in from the east. so at times we will be chasing

cloud amounts around. there will be some outbreaks of rain, but it'll stay relatively mild into the bank holiday weekend.

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. where does israel's military assault on gaza go from here? signals are mixed. daemonic efforts to broker ceasefire have intensified, as have idf preparations for a big push into rafah were more than a million displaced palestinians are sheltering. no matter what happens next, there are still no sign of a plan for what happens when the fighting, the death and destruction do finally end. my guest is ami ayalon, former chief of israel's shin bet security agency, now a fierce critic of the netanyahu government. it is israel fighting an unwinnable war?