this is bbc news — i'm shaun ley — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. for a second straight day — a tower block in gaza is destroyed. israel's prime minister says this isjust the beginning — as hamas confirm some of its senior leaders have been killed. from the other side — palestinian militants fire rockets into israel — hitting an apartment building — and seriously wounding a young child. trump critic — liz cheney — is kicked out of her party's leadership team — after accusing the former president of lying about last year's election. i will do everything i can to ensure that the former president never again gets near the oval office. and — how to sell the astra zeneca jab — france tries to get rid

of its huge stockpiles of the controversial covid vaccine. hello and welcome. the un has expressed fears of a "full—scale war" as the deadly conflict between israeli forces, and palestinians, continues for a 3rd day. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, warned palestinian militants that this wasjust the beginning — threatening to strike with blows they haven't dreamed of. tonight president biden said he had spoken to mr netanyahu and said he hoped the violence would end sooner rather than later. at least 65 palestinians — including 15 children — and six israelis — are reported to have been killed since monday. in the past few days palestinian militants have fired a mass barrage of rockets into israel,

including on tel aviv. israel's military says there have been more than one thousand five hundred launched. and israel has carried out a heavy bombardment of gaza, launching hundreds of air strikes. tensions have been growing injerusalem — partly fuelled by a long running threat to evict palestinians from their homes in eastjerusalem. our middle east correspondent tom bateman begins our coverage — you may find some parts of his report distressing. the world's asking if the region is on the brink of war. people who woke to this feel it's already here. palestinians in gaza faced the fiercest israeli bombardment since the last all—out conflict. israel says it's going after militant leaders. some were killed

in their homes. but civilians died in this strike, say palestinian health officials. in gaza, a territory under blockade, grief quickly turns to anger. dozens have now died since the violence erupted on monday. and the violence erupted on monday. they are still cou| their and they are still counting their dead. and they are still counting their dead. rocket fire from gaza has continued deep into israel, and the sirens are near nonstop in towns close by. as we've heard air strikes pound the gaza strip just a couple of miles away

throughout the course of this morning and into the afternoon, more retaliation, more fire, from gaza. underfire, asha and his son ran for the safe room. but their neighbour, an 89—year—old woman, didn't make it. she is seriously injured. her carer died in the strike. there are growing international calls for restraint, but for now it seems that no one here is listening. it is the intensity of these attacks that has led both sides to say they will step up their strikes in retaliation. a descent into much further violence seems inevitable. more rockets are shot down in israel's skies,

tonight in a mixed jewish, arab town i saw how chaos is spreading. violence is spiralling. herejewish extremists attack an ambulance. and then check a car to see if arabs or dues are inside. along the coast of popular arab restaurant comes under attack. in another town a synagogue is george. israel's leader calls it anarchy. a wave of anger that started in jerusalem it anarchy. a wave of anger that started injerusalem has spilt out to the occupied territories and into israel itself. the country is engulfed in multiple flashpoints. it may be too late to contain it now.

let's hear now from both sides in this conflict — starting with lieutenant coloneljonathan conricus, the international spokesperson for the israel defense forces. i asked him what was driving israel's actions. our primary concern is the safety of israeli civilians and how to provide defence for them while they are being constantly bombarded by rockets. and while hamas is trying to emerge from tunnels along the border or to fire anti—tank missiles along the border. that's our primary concern. that's what we're busy doing and that's why we have been retaliating against hamas and attacking military targets, not civilians but military targets inside gaza. after all it's our obligation, that's what we're here to do. and as long as hamas continues to fire together with other terrorist organisation at our civilians, that is what we will keep on doing. let me ask you finally, what is your anticipation

for the coming days? because clearly the un is worried this may accelerate and this may the deteriorate the law of unintended consequences that we end up in a situation where we had this full—scale military conflict. on one hand we don't seek to escalate the situation. we have said that from the get—go and it's been very clear. and we didn't start these, we weren't the ones who attacked from the beginning. on the other hand, hamas continues to fire rockets at our civilians we are left with no choice but to continue our operations and to prepare for in escalation. those are our directives that have been given by the security cabinet. that's what we're doing. and we have as you said the abilities, the manpower and the equipment to do so. let's hope for the sake of the region and from my perspective and most israeli civilians that that doesn't in effect happen and that calmer minds on the palestinian

side, on the gaza side will decide that this is enough and that they have gone way beyond their borders with their aggression against israel. and then maybe things will be different. from a military perspective, ourjob is to defend, ourjob is to be ready for whatever these terrorists try to do against our civilians. and that is our focus. that's the israeli point of view. let's hear now from khaled elgindy a senior fellow at the middle east institute. he previously served as an advisor to the palestinian leadership in ramallah on permanent status negotiations with israel. he explained what the international community could do to ease tensions. we need to really put pressure on all sides to immediately de—escalate and then to begin to tackle the root causes for this sort of violence that we see recurring

in eastjerusalem and gaza in particular. it's almost on a regular basis. and that's because you have a situation where palestinians in eastjerusalem and palestinians in gaza are faced with tremendous pressure by israel, very aggressive campaigns. these are the festering wounds of the israel, palestine conflict at the international community has basically neglected and left to israel to deal with. and imposed its own realities on the ground. there is a role to play here. clearly for all sides. but we cannot have a credible, responsible palestinian actor emerge in a situation of death and destruction.

so there needs to be a third—party intervention particularly by the united states to reign in israel and others like egypt can influence hamas decision—making. and then people need to start addressing the underlying causes which is 53 years of occupation that five and half million palestinians live under. and that's just not sustainable indefinitely. so when you have people who are denied their freedom for generation after generation you are going to get periodic episodes of violence. because people will resist repression. you can find much more on this story on our website, including this analysis from our middle east editorjeremy bowen on the long—standing causes of the conflict between israel

and the palestinians. and all the subsequent events, interpretations such as shaped a very live issue as we are seeing in the pictures at the moment coming out of israel and gaza. moment coming out of israel and gaza. just log on to bbc.com/news republicans in the us house of representatives have sacked liz cheney, a vocal critic of donald trump, from the party's third highest position. ms cheney had been chair of the house republican conference, but her vote to impeach the former president — and her continuing criticism over mr trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen — has made her persona non grata in the republican ranks. her colleagues voted to strip her of her title, in a closed—door vote. this was her response shortly after. i will do everything i can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the oval office. we have seen the danger that he continues to

provoke with his language. we have seen his lack of commitment and dedication to the constitution. and i think it's very important that we make sure whomever we elect is somebody who will be faithful to the constitution. former president donald trump was quick to comment, on his own micro—blog, he wrote... — liz cheney is a bitter, horrible human being... she has no personality or anything good having to do with politics or our country. . i look forward to soon watching her as a paid contributor on cnn or msdnc! by by msc and see he means msnbc. but he knows exactly what he doesin but he knows exactly what he does in writing not because msnbc fronts effectually promoting the democratic national committee a campaign position of the democratic party. both networks will also deny that. both networks will also deny that.

our north america correspondent, peter bowes, told us more about republican party infighting over liz cheney. it really does seem to be like open warfare doesn't it be doing that within the republican party? members facing some would say quite a simple choice. either you back donald trump and everything he stood for and continues to stand for with a very powerful voice that he has or you turn your back on donald trump and move forward. and move forward and talk about the policies that the republicans stand for, policies that may well be different of course to those ofjoe biden as they look ahead to the next election cycle at the end of next year. in the meantime, there's going to be a lot of rancour, a lot of disagreements and i think a lot of bad taste between republicans is they really try to resolve this. they have two of course replace liz cheney. she, as we heard her tonight are pledging to go on and on and on in terms of her campaign to keep donald trump out of the white house should he decide

to stand again. what's striking is that although those voices may be minority voices in terms of the republican family, as it were on capitol hill and among former republicans on capitol hill, they seem to be, by no means are they figures to lots of other ways in terms of their legislative interest and believe would be very far removed for many of donald trump supported. they believe in lower taxation, they believe in smaller government, they are tough on china and russia and north korea. they are not what you would call liberals in republican colours. exactly. this really doesn't seem to be about politics. it's very much about personalities. liz cheney is definitely on the right of the republican party. and certainly in terms of what she stands for is or at least has been a popularfigure. that's how she managed to get into the number three position in the house for herself.

clearly, what she has to say about the personality of donald trump, the style of donald trump not to men's word, the lion of donald trump that she has made much of in the last few days especially that really comes down to individual politics. —— lying. those of the issues that many republicans would rather focus on but frankly they are it seems afraid to turn their backs on donald trump because he remains the kingmaker. he is off twitter, off social media but he still has a voice. and when he speaks in favour of someone they believe that that's going to do them a lot of good come the elections of 2022. stay with us on bbc news — still to come... new zealand looks at how it can make tourism more environmentally reponsible as it re—opens its travel bubble with australia.

the pope was shot, the pope will live. that's the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to the vatican. the man they call the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentenced to six years injail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out - effort to help the victimsl of a powerful earthquake. the worst to hit the i country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion garry kasparov. it's the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america! cheering.

this is bbc news — the latest headlines... for a second straight day — a tower block in gaza is destroyed by israeli air strikes. hamas confirm some of its senior leaders have been killed. palestinian militants fire rockets into israel — hitting an apartment building in the city of sderot and seriously wounding a young child. from today, france is allowing anyone under the age of 50 to take unused vaccine appointments up to a day ahead. its the latest move appointments up to a day but it won t help shift the country s stockpile of astrazeneca vaccines, as the jab is not approved for anyone under 55. lucy williamson has been looking at the latest twist in france s problems with the british vaccine. less dangerous than a flight across the atlantic according to france's health minister. it's one way to sell the astrazeneca vaccine.

but months of mixed messages here means that 63—year—old isn't sure he wants it. he still asking about alternatives in the vaccine chair. france still has almost half its stock of astrazeneca left and the government is busy touting its benefits. but only for those who are over 55. translation: we have people over 55 they don't want - the astrazeneca job. but definitely prefer pfizer for that we are people under 55 who just want to be vaccinated but we can't give them the astrazeneca. from today the government has said those under 50 can take any unused vaccine slots. but only for the most popular pfizer and moderna jabs already in high demand from older age groups. yuri has been trying all day but there's nothing in the whole of the put paris region.

i looked on the news there is already nothing left. i tried a couple of times reapedly. i was clicking on all the different websites at the same time. after couple of tribe i realise it didn't make any difference. this doctor is one of those who told us he's had to throw away his leftover astrazeneca vaccine even as younger patients were asking for it. we asked the health ministry about this, they told us that astrazeneca could be used in younger adults if the alternative was throwing it away. but pharmacists say that's not what they've been told. if consumers here are confused about astrazeneca medics are now too. next wednesday france will reopen cafe terraces, theatres and museums. a key stage in itsjourney out of lockdown. but it's vaccine roll—out still lags behind much of europe and there are more than 17,000 new infections each day.

it's now vaccinating millions of people each week. one of them yesterday by the health minister personally. a medical doctor by training. injecting a bit of confidence into the system. but delivering injections at a national level will be harder without increasing supply or relaxing the rules. people all around the world have been taking a moment to honour the caring profession — on what is international nurses day. here in madrid — a concert was held at a vaccination centre — to pay tribute to the nurses on duty. similar events have taken place in various countries. in the uk — a service was held at westminster abbey honouring the contribution and sacrifices of nurses and midwives during the pandemic. the former bosnian serb leader and convicted war criminal — radovan karadzic—

is to serve the rest of his life sentence in a british jail. the 75—year—old was convicted in 2016 of crimes including genocide, which he carried out during the conflict in the former yugoslavia. the foreign office said he would be transferred to a uk prison from a un detention unit in the netherlands. the colonial pipeline in the united states has restarted operations after being forced to shut down following a cyber attack last friday. colonial pipeline, which supplies forty five percent of the east coasts fuel supply, says the process will take several days to complete. the company will not pay the ransom demanded by the hackers. it has opted instead to rebuild its system with cybersecurity experts. prince william has paid tribute to the police officer who was shot and killed at a custody centre in south london last september.

the duke of cambridge laid a wreath in memory of sergeant matt ratana — who had been on duty in croydon. the prince spoke to a number of the new zealand—born officer's colleagues — and held a private meeting with his partner. new zealand was receiving almost 4 million visitors a year. but when the country shut borders to stop the virus in march last year 7 the number of overseas tourists dropped to almost zero overnight. now there s excitement about the recently—opened travel bubble with australia 7 its biggest market. but some say it's the perfect moment to rethink how tourism can be made more environmentally responsible. as shaimaa khalil reports. it's the kind of high—octane adventure new zealand is famous for. a mix of dramatic scenery, adrenaline rush and a whole lot of cold water. it's very busy here today because of school holidays which is a welcome change but still nothing like it was before covid—i9 hit.

pre—pandemic operators ran a boat rides an hour. —— eight this past year it was down to only one. the grounds of sailboat... in this tourist town some operators have gone out of business since the country closed its borders. others go by relying on locals. from a business it was very accustomed to taking i200 people a day have a lot of people on the ground to do that you suddenly have to really enjoy the fact that we might have 200 in a day. before the pandemic, there were worries new zealand was getting too popular. risking the pristine environment which so many came to see. now there are calls to use this lull as a chance to curb tourism heavy carbon footprint. proposals presented to the government include limiting visitor numbers and a departure tax to help offset tourism as climate impacts. it's a difficult prospect for an industry that has suffered so badly. it does feel a little bit

like the dogs already down and gravity some stop in her throat. but everybody needs to look at themselves environmentally because it's a product we purvey. when you compare it to be other industries which are categorically larger carbon producers, is tourism it really the appropriate thing to be looking at right now? there is never right time to make a change. yes, as a short time crisis to be managed but long term we need an industry which is more sustainable. asking travellers to contribute a small amount as they leave our shores is the most constructive thing we could do people are starting to say, "i got choices, where can i go to a place which is responsible and takes a seriously? polluting jet boat operators know they have to adapt. here they are planning to use electric engines to cut carbon emissions and noise. worldwide new zealand and seen as a success story for how it handled covid—i9. and despite its reliance on tourism, it remains reluctant to open its borders

beyond the travel bubble with australia. when more visitors eventually return, they'll find a country taking a fresh look at how to protect the natural wonders that millions have come to enjoy. and before we go, brazilian pianistjoao carlos martins has been unable to play for decades, after his hand was broken during a mugging. but now, that's changed. with the help of these special bionic gloves, martins has been able to play again. the gloves work by using a series of rods to help his fingers spring back into place. so now the 80—year old maestro has returned to the bench and the music is playing again. it must be indescribable the m it must be indescribable the joy for the just not musician when you regain a town like

that after all this time. thank you for your company over the course of this hour. hello there. the weather is in a very unsettled mood, notjust for the next few days, even as we head on into the weekend and into next week. that's because we've got low—pressure nearby. for the next few days, it looks like it will stay showery, some heavy downpour in places with some hail and thunder, but also some warm sunshine around too. now, low—pressure sitting on top of the country on thursday. this weather front bringing some wet weather to start the day for wales, up to the midlands, into the south and southwest of england. but it will tend to clear away through the day. away from the north and east of scotland, which will be rather grey through the day today, northern ireland, southern scotland and the rest of northern and eastern england will see some sunshine. but then the showers will get going again into the afternoon. and like the last few days, some will be heavy with a mix of hail and thunder in places. temperatures reaching 14—15 celsius for most,

but rather cool again across the far northeast of scotland. now, as we head through thursday night, it looks like the showers will tend to fade away from most areas, and that weather front will clear away completely. so, many places will be turning dry, but we will start to see some cloud rolling into northern and eastern areas, so that should stop temperatures from falling much below 6—7 celsius, so another frost—free night for most. as we head on into friday, we are in between weather systems, low—pressure to the east, a new area of low pressure slowly encroaching in off the atlantic. and you will also notice the blue colours across the north of the uk. this colder air tries to get into the northeast of the country but doesn't get too far, but it will bring enough chill to the north and east of scotland, and in northeast england it will be quite noticeable there. but a rather grey, cloudy day for most, away from northern ireland, wales, the west midlands and the southwest where we will see some sunny spells. and that will set off a few showers again here, again, some of them will be on the heavy side. temperatures in the sunny spells 14—15 celsius, but noticeably cooler, like i mentioned, across the northeast. then as we move into the weekend, we see this

weather front sweep across the country to bring a band of rain, and then our new area of low pressure starts to push across the uk for the rest of saturday and into sunday. so it's back to square one with sunshine and showers once again. now, some of the showers again over the weekend will be heavy, there will be the risk of hail and thunder, and there will be some sunshine in between these showers. and the sun, of course, this time of year is strong, so it will feel fairly warm. low—pressure, though, wants to hold on into next week too, so unfortunately, it's looking pretty unsettled for much of the country, further showers at times. those temperatures below the seasonal average.

this is bbc news — the headlines...

palestinian militants have fired more rockets towards israeli cities as israel destroyed another high—rise tower in gaza city and killed top commanders in the military wing of hamas. one of the rockets fired from gaza hit an apartment building in the city of sderot — seriously wounding a young child. liz cheney — newly sacked from the third highest position in the republican party for her opposition to donald trump — has vowed to do everything to ensure he never gets back into the white house. she said republicans couldn t embrace mr trump s continuing false claims of election fraud. france has opened up coronavirus vaccine appointments to anyone over the age of eighteen — as it tries to boost its vaccination rates. adults of any age can now get next—day appointments when slots and doses are available. france has more than two million unused doses of the astrazeneca vaccine. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with stephen sackur.

miriam will be here at