is on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by iran targeting israeli or american assets in the region — in response to an israeli strike monday that killed an iranian military commander in syria last week. we in syria last week. will bring more to you as we get we will bring more to you as we get it. we will bring more to you as we get it. meanwhile: in israel. the country's military fired two senior officers on friday after reviewing monday's airstrike on an aid convoy in gaza that killed seven aid workers. the idf said the airstrikes came after a series of "grave mista kes". it also gave an account about how and why it carried out the attack including that the strike should not have happened and expressed its deep sorrow for the incident. it says those who approved the strike were convinced they were targeting hamas operatives. the strikes on the three vehicles were carried out in �*serious violation of standard operation procedure�* and that the brigade

chief of staff, an officer with the rank of colonel in reserve, and the brigade fire support commander with the rank of major have been dismissed from their positions. here's idf spokesperson daniel hagari. the findings of the investigation should show that there were in fact a number of armed gunmen who boarded and left some of the vehicles that were identified during the course of the event. after some of the vehicles split from the others the forces that were tracking the vehicles let self thinking that these were hamas vehicles. that hamas gunmen had entered. this operational misidentification and misclassification was the result of internal failures. america's top diplomat antony blinken reacted to the idf�*s findings earlier — as he boarded a plane back to washington from brussels. it's very important that israel

is taking full responsibility for this incident. it's also important that it appears to be taking steps to hold those responsible accountable. even more important is making sure that steps are taken going forward to ensure that something like this can never happen again. prime minister netanyahu indicated to president biden that israel would be making further changes to his procedures to make sure that those who are providing assistance to people who so desperately need it in gaza are protected. so we're going to be looking very carefully at what those steps are, how it achieves better deconfliction, better coordination, so that aid workers are protected. however, aid organisations have stressed the need for an independent investigation. our middle east correspondent lucy williamson has more on the fallout from ashdod in israel. israel says hamas gunmen often pose as aid workers. not this time. its army today said the killing of seven aid workers in air strikes this week was a grave mistake due to mistaken

identification, errors in decision making and a serious violation of army procedures. the convoy belonging to the charity world central kitchen was struck in central gaza late on monday night. survivors running between the remaining vehicles before being hit again and then again. the army said its forces had mistaken the bag one passenger was carrying for a gun after spotting gunmen at the warehouse earlier. it was a visual confirmation of a gunman, first of all, on one of the trucks that then conducted shooting from one of the trucks. and when they indeed reached the hangars, there were more gunmen identified on the location. and it led basically to the entire miscalculation, misidentification and the failure of what should have happened. israel's army said the aid was picked up by lorry at ten p:m.. the armed figure was then

spotted firing from one of the trucks before the convoy moved on with other vehicles to an inland warehouse where drone footage showed more gunmen getting out of one car. that vehicle later moved north to another warehouse while the three cars from world central kitchen turned back to the coast where they were hit in separate air strikes minutes apart. the army has fired two senior officers who approved the strikes, but world central kitchen has called for an independent inquiry, saying the idf cannot credibly investigate its own failure and that systemic change was needed. other aid agencies say this was not a one off mistake. this is notjust an incident. this is a series, a pattern of incidents that have been going on for months and months now. we're now up to the stage of having 200 humanitarian workers killed. we're operating in an environment of complete impunity.

it is a deliberate choice to allow these attacks to continue to happen. one former major general pointed out that israeli forces have also killed their own compatriots in gaza. it was a huge mistake. unfortunately, many, many other mistakes were made. for instance, israel killed three israeli hostages that managed to release themselves, and nevertheless, they were killed by israeli soldiers. and of course, no one believed that we killed them deliberately. the difficulties of getting aid to gaza was already deepening rifts with israel's allies. the killing of british and american nationals has shifted the debate. the port of ashdod is less than 30 miles from gaza, but for the past six months it's remained closed to aid. now this port and the nearby erez crossing point have been prised open by a stinging us demand that israel find new routes to get aid safely into northern gaza or risk losing american support.

israel says its war is with hamas, not gaza's civilians, that it's fighting one and feeding the other. but aid workers accuse israel of seeing them as targets and aid as a weapon of war. lucy williamson, bbc news, ashdod. i spoke with karyn beattie, the response team leader for save the children in gaza. she's currently in rafah near the scene of monday's strikes. with the killing of the seven workers killed have you had to make any changes to what you are doing there? we have given it a lot of thought. we were absolutely shocked and really saddened by the news. and so we have had to take stock of our decisions of whether to continue or whether to pause for a short while.

perhaps move our international staff out. as far as we can tell there's nothing that the world central kitchen team did wrong. they didn't miss a step or anything like that. it's one of those things that we can't really look and see a particular threat to us. we know they we're not particularly say. it's really clear from the 200 aid workers who have died already. we're making the decision not to pause or to leave but we certainly are all feeling quite shocked. do you feel nervous, are you scared they are? you get a little bit... it's a strange thing to say but you get used to hearing the constant shelling and air strikes and etc. when something like that happens as it did with

world central kitchen we do feel a little bit scared, i would say. because itjust brings it back to the reality of where we are. and although international humanitarian law should keep us all safe and protect us it's clearly not doing that either for us orfor the 14,000 children who have been killed in this war so far. and the idf has admitted that it did target those vehicles branded with the world central kitchen labelling but they thought they were hamas fighters in there. are you changing how you are operating or any of your procedures? no, we weren't. we have branding on our cars. we don't have armoured vehicles, two of those were armoured vehicles. but we have the branding, we co—ordinate by putting

in our movement plans. that is a system which is in place. and that information is passed to the israeli forces. and we hope and we trust that they will know that those vehicles moving could be us. clearly that is not a given. of course you and all the other aid workers are there to help the people who are in such dire situations, 2 million 2 million or so displaced, a million at risk of starvation, so many children, no school in a dire situation themselves the israeli government said it will open more crossing and increase aid in. when do you expect to see that happen? that's quite a complicated question. it's not only a matter

of opening gates within areas. it's also a matter of coming up with a system that is going to allow us to move safely in the north. there is active fighting and the system that we used permission to move in areas where there is active final. how that is going to happen and how quickly that permission will be given is something we're not clear moment. the thing is, in the north, i think we're up to 30 children now that have died of malnutrition. and we know as well that adults often are only eating one meal a day, one meal every two days, sorry. they are prioritising giving that food to their children. it's absolutely critical that we're able to get aid in. and distributed evenly.

we're not really sure how that's going to work at the moment. we're still waiting to hear about that. if you do manage to get the age did not aid in an permission ——aid from the adf will you be able to reverse some of the impacts of that malnutrition, that starvation you are describing the? are describing there? i think for some of the children it may be too little too late because they have been struggling to find food for quite a while now. in the north we've been trying to flag this is a huge issue for quite a while. i hope and really trust that we will be able to move forward for some. i think for some it might be a little bit too late. which is heartbreaking. indeed it is. karyn beattie, the gaza response team leader from save the children, thank you forjoining us on bbc news.

to provide more insight on what these attacks mean for the wider region, i spoke to jamesjeffrey. he is the former ambassador to iraq and turkey, and special envoy to the global coalition to defeat isis. he told me more about where the relationship between the us and israel currently stands. this was a very serious split between the two countries and what has been in some respects a successful effort to defeat hamas and deter iran and his friends in the region from launching a broader war. this has to be put in a larger context, so far so good. but the israelis for many reasons, some of them deliberate blocking of humanitarian systems. some of the nature of trying to fight an enemy that is burrowed into a civil area, which is a war crime. and the resulting civilian casualties has led to a dramatic humanitarian and political problem

between us and israel that they are now trying and i think successfully for the first time to work through. we saw antony blinken say earlier that israel appears to be taking responsibility and it appears to be the steps that the us asked it to take. will that go some way to restoring the relationship? it will go some way to restoring the relationship. the problem is it is inherent and implicit in what we're seeing. what the israelis did after defeating hamas in the whole north of gaza was pull their troops out, rather like what happened to us when the british went into iraq in 2003, we destroyed governance and the enemy security forces and we hadn't replaced them. there is nobody trying to control what's going on there to distribute the aid. the israelis need to rethink this. it's easy for me to say that because they face a perhaps bigger war to the north

to lebanon, which is why they put their troops out. until there is some kind of control in these areas is going to be hard to distribute aid even if it sufficiently flows in. as we've just heard from karyn beattie getting aid in his wanting but you have to get permission from the idf to bring it to certain areas. and we don't see that yet. if there isn't a quick resolution do you expect further strong words from president biden? i think, yes. i don't think this is going to be... this is necessary but not sufficient. what you have to do is, you have eight people not coordinating with somebody in command but they co—ordinate with a battalion or division size israeli fours who only owns area c3 of the north and says we're going and by this road, provide us an escort. this is what we have to do in iraq but we learned the hard way because we did exactly the same thing

and pull troops out. the israelis having destroyed what amounts to hamas government such as it was has to replace it with something for all of this to work well without further shooting. have we any indication that that is happening? that seems to be part of the cease—fire discussions is the concept of the day after. sure. they are discussing that. a cease—fire will give... a temporary cease—fire will give time for more humanitarian aid to move in without people being worried about in israeli drone taking a shot because they misidentified you as a hamas target because you're not supposed to be shooting at hamas even asked identified for the gaza charm of a cease—fire. i think we will get perhaps if hamas is willing because hamas just turned down the latest offer, if hamas is willing to release some hostages with them a long way to go yet. jamesjeffrey, thank you forjoining us on bbc news. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at another

story making news. a senior conservative mp has told the times newspaper that he passed on the phone numbers of other mps to a man he met on a dating app. william wragg told the paper he had been "scared" because the individual had "compromising things" on him. it follows reports at least 12 men in political circles received unsolicited messages, raising security concerns. he has since apologised. here'sjeremy hunt and rachel reeves speaking about the issue. the events of last few days have been a great cause for concern. but the lesson here for all mps is that they need to be very careful about cyber security. i'm very concerned about what seems to have happened in this incident. especially about mps telephone numbers being passed on. that is really concerning.

the bbc has attempted to contact mr wragg, but he has not responded. you're live with bbc news. landslides and rockfalls are threating rescue crews in taiwan trying to reach about 600 people in remote areas after wednesday's earthquake. at least 12 people were killed and more than a thousand injured in the island's biggest quake in more than a quarter of a century. a much smaller earthquake here in the us is also making headlines. not because of its intensity, but because of where it was felt — new york city. the quake shook the city and its landmarks, along with many surrounding states. a small aftershock was reported just an hour ago. but it was relatively low intensity — magnitude 4.8 — and there was little damage or injuries. the epicentre was about 56 kilometres — or 35 miles — away, in the town of lebanon, newjersey. residents of newjersey, connecticut, pennsylvania and new york state reported

feeling the tremors. this man had a close shave. it also briefly disrupted proceedings. earthquakes are very rare in this part of the us for the last one of this size struck new york in 1983. on new york of course is a scene of many of the vassar movie. the disaster movie. i don't think story will make the fortunes of any hollywood script writer the interest, the excitement, the chatter is all of course focused on the fact that this is a relatively unusual event rather than its impact. a magnitude 4.8 quake is much bigger than the infrequent and sometimes largely unnoticed quakes that occasionally hit the eastern side of the united states. this one was centred on the state of newjersey. the other side

of the hudson river. although some it was some 50 miles away it was big enough that within moments residence of the city were lighting up social media with their accounts of building shaking and apartments rattling. the key thing of course is that the authorities say there have been no reports of major damage, no injuries. and although they are warning of the possibility of aftershocks the real message is that there is no need to panic. as always, new york is taking this in its stride with a bit of a shrug and lots of talk about it. ajudge in manhattan rejected donald trump latest bid to delay the trial in his case related to the so—called hush money payments made to the adult film star stormy daniels. it is set to begin on april 15th. earlier i spoke to nyu law professor melissa murray and andrew weissmann, former federal prosecutor in the eastern district of new york and former lead prosecutor in robert mueller s special counsel s 0ffice from 2017 to 2019. they explained that of all the criminal and civil cases

facing the former president, this latest development means it is now likely that donald trump will stand trial in at least one case before the presidential election. it now looks like starting a week from monday that jury selection is going to start. it's fairly typical for defendants at the last minute to make a flurry of motions including trying to delay the trial. as you can see, the judge here is very quickly dispatching with all of his efforts. it looks like unless something truly unforeseen happens that we're finally going to see the first case that was the indictment of the former president. it's actually going to be the first want to going to be the first want to go to trial. going to be the first want to go to trial-— going to be the first want to no to trial. ~ ,,. ., ., go to trial. melissa, how long do ou go to trial. melissa, how long do you think _ go to trial. melissa, how long do you think it _ go to trial. melissa, how long do you think it will— go to trial. melissa, how long do you think it will be - do you think it will be assuming it does begin, how long it will run to conclusion? all bets are off when you are involving _ all bets are off when you are involving the former resident.

it involving the former resident. it seems _ involving the former resident. it seems like this will be a fairly— it seems like this will be a fairly expeditious trial it's a tight— fairly expeditious trial it's a tight case that's been outlined in the — tight case that's been outlined in the indictment from the manhattan da. what you have 'ury manhattan da. what you have jury selection the prosecution will present its case. the defence _ will present its case. the defence will have an opportunity to defend two present its case with up to probably go tojury, present its case with up to probably go to jury, roughly four— probably go to jury, roughly four to _ probably go to jury, roughly four to five weeks.- probably go to jury, roughly four to five weeks. maybe less. if the four to five weeks. maybe less. if the jury _ four to five weeks. maybe less. if the jury does _ four to five weeks. maybe less. if the jury does decide - four to five weeks. maybe less. if the jury does decide to - if the jury does decide to convict him, what sort of penalty might the former president face?— penalty might the former president face? this is the case where _ president face? this is the case where i _ president face? this is the case where i think - president face? this is the case where i think most i president face? this is the - case where i think most people think_ case where i think most people think the — case where i think most people think the states aren't quite as high— think the states aren't quite as high as they are in the other— as high as they are in the other three indictments. as high as they are in the otherthree indictments. —— other three indictments. —— stakes— other three indictments. —— stakes are _ otherthree indictments. —— stakes are high. 0ne otherthree indictments. —— stakes are high. one of the retention of classified documents, the other involving election— documents, the other involving election interference in the insurrection ofjanuary 26 with the penalties of falsification as a — the penalties of falsification as a misdemeanor claim a relatively low. nojail time for that— relatively low. nojail time for that as you know da bragg has bootstrapped this to an election— has bootstrapped this to an election fraud charge making it a felony — election fraud charge making it a felony. if it is a felony is

not — a felony. if it is a felony is not clear— a felony. if it is a felony is not clear that donald trump will he — not clear that donald trump will be required to dojail time _ will be required to dojail time if— will be required to dojail time if he is convicted. the sentence _ time if he is convicted. the sentence could be levied could simply — sentence could be levied could simply require him to be convicted of the felony but not necessarily serve jail time, maybe _ necessarily serve jail time, maybe pay a fine. it does carry a maximum penalty of five years _ a maximum penalty of five ears. �* ., ., ., years. andrew, what would that mean for his — years. andrew, what would that mean for his campaign - years. andrew, what would that mean for his campaign to - years. andrew, what would that l mean for his campaign to become president once again? would be be any legal basis for him to suspend his campaign or remove his name from the ballot? home his name from the ballot? none whatsoever- _ his name from the ballot? none whatsoever. you _ his name from the ballot? none whatsoever. you can _ his name from the ballot? none whatsoever. you can run - his name from the ballot? none whatsoever. you can run as - his name from the ballot? none whatsoever. you can run as a i whatsoever. you can run as a convicted felon for the presidency. convicted felon for the presidency-— convicted felon for the presidency. convicted felon for the residen . ~ presidency. melissa, if he were to win the _ presidency. melissa, if he were to win the election _ presidency. melissa, if he were to win the election in _ presidency. melissa, if he were| to win the election in november what would that mean for the other cases assuming they don't come to trial before that point? come to trial before that oint? ., ., ., , , point? two of the other cases are federal— point? two of the other cases are federal cases, _ point? two of the other cases are federal cases, it - point? two of the other cases are federal cases, it which - are federal cases, it which means— are federal cases, it which means they are charging violations of federal law. if donald _ violations of federal law. if donald trump is successful in the november 2024 election as president he would have the opportunity to direct the new

head — opportunity to direct the new head of— opportunity to direct the new head of the department of justice _ head of the department of justice to basically kill those cases — justice to basically kill those cases if_ justice to basically kill those cases. if he had been convicted in advance _ cases. if he had been convicted in advance of becoming president he might be in a position— president he might be in a position to self pardon, at this— position to self pardon, at this point we've never had a self— this point we've never had a self pardon in american historv _ self pardon in american history. it's not clear the constitution would allow it. as president he is in a position to pardon— president he is in a position to pardon those who are convicted of federal offences. i imagine he would take the opportunity to try and exercise that himself. we opportunity to try and exercise that himself.— that himself. we will wait to see what — that himself. we will wait to see what happens _ that himself. we will wait to see what happens in - that himself. we will wait to see what happens in this - that himself. we will wait to | see what happens in this trial for that and of course in november. thank you both for joining us on bbc news. president biden says a shipping channel will reopen into baltimore port by the end of may, after a cargo ship crashed into a major bridge there, causing it to collapse. the us leader made the remarks while on a visit to baltimore to see the wreckage. mr biden says that the federal government should pay for the bridge's reconstruction — a plan that requires congressional approval, and one that's drawn opposition from some republicans.

i fully intend as the governor knows to have the federal government cover the cost of building this entire bridge. all of it, all of it. as we've done in other parts of the country in similar in similar circumstances. i stand here, i called to authorise this project as soon as possible. let's turn to some important news around the world. an evacuation is underway in the rusian urals mountain city 0rsk, after a dam burst. thousands of home could be inundated. emergency crews are working to shore up the dam, that skirts the country's border with kazakhstan. new york city agreed on friday to pay $17.5 million to settle a class—action lawsuit brought by two muslim—american women. they said that after arresting them, police violated their rights by forcing them to remove their hijabs to be photographed. the settlement protects both men and women from having to remove religious attire. it also extends to other

religious headwear including wigs, yarmulkes and turbans. bronny, the son of los angeles lakers star lebronjames, has announced he's entering this year's nba d raft. it comes less than a year after the 19—year—old suffered a cardiac arrest while training with his university of southern california team. he was cleared to rejoin the team four months later. the 19—year—old guard survived a health scare when he went into cardiac arrest injuly while training with his university of southern california team. hello. storm kathleen will dominate our weather through this weekend. a deep area of low pressure passing well to the west of the uk, but close enough to bring gales in northern and western parts. one other consequence though — some very warm air being drawn up from the south. here's how the storm developed during friday. a strong and powerfuljet stream really energising this area of low pressure, this curl of clouds developing here. wherever you see a weather system spinning up into a curl like this, well, it shows

that it really will mean business. this deep, low passing to the west of ireland, lots of isobars squeezing together. so some very strong winds, but also some very warm air. northern scotland, far warmer than it has been over recent days. parts of eastern england could get to 21 or 22 degrees. some rain to start off across the northern half of scotland — heavy rain at that. it will pull away northwards and then essentially it is a sunshine and showers day. some of those showers could be on the heavy side, but it is going to be windy for all, particularly around these western coast. gusts of 50, 60, 70 miles per hour in exposed spots. so that could cause some disruption, certainly some very rough seas as well. but with those winds coming from the south, yes, it is going to be warm with temperatures peaking at 21 or maybe 22 degrees in eastern england. now through saturday evening, this weak cold front will exit the east of england. so that will leave some slightly fresher air into the early hours of sunday morning. still windy, still with quite a few showers. not as mild to start sunday morning, but still very mild

for an april morning. and then into sunday, well, it's another sunshine and showers day. the showers likely to join together into bands. so some places could see quite a few of those heavy and possibly thundery showers. windy again, strongest winds, this time in the north west of scotland. gales or severe gales are likely still warm, but not as warm. temperatures north to south between ten and 16 or 17 degrees. but then as we head into the start of the new week, we're watching this area of low pressure. now, there's still a bit of uncertainty about this, but this could bring another bout of wet and very windy weather to southern parts of the uk as we head through monday and into tuesday. we'll keep you posted on that one. whichever way you slice it, an unsettled week of weather lies ahead. that's all for me. bye for now.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. i'm on a journey to explore azerbaijan. neither asia nor europe, this is a country where a colourful past and prosperous present intertwine. the price of the caviar in azerbaijan is like four times less than in the uk.

filled with ancient wonders, it's a place where the natural world has shaped its history for generations. a unique country, with nine climate zones. it borders russia to the north, iran to the south, with the caspian sea on one side, and georgia and armenia on the other. i want to explore the many faces of azerbaijan, both old and new, through its people, culture and food to find out more about this diverse and complex country. baku is a swing! it's a jazz! fish, yeah! my favourite — i love fish. nazrin, hi. and, there are horses! yeah. i didn't know we're going to have horses. i'm also here to find out why the likes of you and me, potential tourists, are seen as the bright new hope as an alternative to black gold.

so, welcome to azerbaijan.