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announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" >> hello. you are marching "the context" here on bbc news. >> iranian and syrian state media news saying an israeli airstrike targeted the iranian consulate in the syrian capital damascus. >> this really increasingly dangerous war between iran and its allies and proxies and the israelis has, tonight, taken quite a big step up. >> even if benjamin netanyahu brings home the hostages or dismantles hamas, there are new posters, you are in charge, you

are responsible. but they wanted him out before the war. now they are back and they want him gone even more. ♪ iran state media says at least five people were killed after a suspected israeli airstrike on entering and consulate building in the syrian capital. we will have the latest on the developing story. staying in the middle east, israeli forces pulled out of gaza's largest hospital after an operation they say killed hundreds of hamas fighters. palestinian medics say they are retrieving dozens of bodies from the al-shifa hospital which they say is now in ruins. we also take a look at the latest obligations around havana syndrome, a mysterious illness affecting u.s. diplomats in recent years. and a centuries old tradition, the white house easter egg race is back for another year. behind the scary easter bunnies,

what does it tell us about the other big race this year, the one for the white house? iranian state media says a senior commander in the powerful revolutionary guard was among at least five people killed in a suspected israeli airstrike on an iranian consulate building in seriesapital. iran's foreign minister has called the strike a breach of all international conventions. the latest pictures that we have from there. iran says mohammad reza zahedi was killed in an israeli airstrike that targeted the consulate in damascus. the attack is seen as a significant escalation, as the senior commander is one of the most high-profile iranian figures believed to be killed by rael in the country's long campaign of targeted assassinations. there has not been any reaction from israel but iran has vowed to give a decisive response. our correspondent is in

jerusalem and sent us the latest. >> iran has said that mohammad reza zahedi was killed in what the country has described as an israeli airstrike attacking the country's consulate in damascus, ria. we have not had any reaction from israel the authorities. a military spokesperson said he would not comment on those reports. but it does seem to be the latest in a series of assassinations, targeted assassinations that have been carried out by the israeli military. we have seen the israeli army targeting iranian figures and also iranian positions in syria. we have seen there has been some strong reaction from the iranian authorities, saying this was a breach of all international conventions, that they would give s decisive response.

these alledge attacks have intensified since the beginning of the war with hamas, a group supported by iran, part of the axis of resistance which also includes hezbollah in lebanon, houthis in yemen, groups in syria and iraq. it is a significant development. we see the iranians are bowing a strong and decisive response, and that could come from different places, different countries and in different forms. >> after two weeks of heavy bombardment, israel says it has completed its military operation in and around the biggest hospital in gazand that all troops have now left the area. during the operation at the al-shifa hospital in northern gaza, the idf said it killed several hamas commanders and insisted it was preventing harm to civilians.

hamas officials say dozens of bodies were found at the complex which they said was not completely out of service. we can speak now to a former hostage negotiator who has been in touch with people close to the talks on all sides. today, he was sent footage from a colleague inside gaza that shows the area near the al-shifa hospital. the footage was checked by our verification team here. welcome to bbc news. let's talk about that footage, perhaps we can put some up on the screen. tell us more about it as well. >> it is horrendous and speaks for itself. al-shifa, being an important hospital in the rehabilitation of the area, and as we can see from this footage, it is now impossible. one cannot imagine it being usable in the foreseeable future, so i think it is a very

tragic development in an extraordinarily her read this and catastrophic situation. what we have got to realize is that 2.3 million people in gaza are facing, every day, life-changing conditions. if there is a cease-fire tomorrow, their life will be different because of what is happening today. >> the idf, as we were saying earlier, has said it killed some 200 hamas operatives, and that was the purpose of their operation there. of course, we have heard from the hamas-run health ministry saying that the hospital is effectively in ruins and cannot function. >> i think the root of the problem is the american policy of no redline between israel and the u.s. because that in a way

allows israel to act with a sense of not being accountable. there should be no redline policy. israel is an occupying force in gaza. under the geneva convention, it has a duty and responsibility to protect the occupied people and the institutions such as hospitals. there has got to be serious reflection on current american policy. otherwise we are going to see this conflict grow, and we have seen the developments in damascus tonight. we are going to see it develop in a way that i fear will engage the whole region in war and could well lead to a global conflict. i think we haveo take to heart the seriousness of the present situation. >> can i ask you, since you

mentioned the development we are getting from damascus, we heard from syrian state media about the iranian consulatbuilding in damascus has been destroyed. they say it was a suspected israeli strike. you mentioned it there. i would love your thoughts on what we have heard so far. >> as i mentioned, it could easily develop into a regional conflict. about three weeks ago, i spent a day and a half at the knesset. what worried me deeply is there was cross party consensus, even opposition parties to prime minister netanyahu, were convinced that israel, first of all, have to go into rafah. the consequences of that i think will be disastrous. but they were also equally convinced they had to move north and tackle hezbollah and even some saying tackle iran. i think this is a very dangerous

thinking. israel is still in a very traumatized situation, and understandably so after october 7. but it desperately needs a friend in the united states and in the person of president biden who says to them, enough, you have to stop this. this will have consequences beyond anyone's capability of containing them. i fear we are reaching that stage rapidly because of the lack of political courage and moral courage on outside leadership, not just biden, but europeans as well. >> we are hearing from iranian state media that a senior revolutionary guard commander, brigadier general mohammad reza zahedi is among the dead. the israeli military says it does not comment on foreign media reports i want to ask you about the significance of this particular commander if these reports are correct. >> any death of a senior iranian

will have consequences. iran is in a difficult position at the moment. it is in a sort of tug-of-war between the reformers and those who want to continue the current situation, the interests of the different parties in iran. it is very dangerous at present to provoke a country like iran. it is unnecessary. the solution to this present conflict is one simple thing, serious negotiations to end the occupation of palestinian territories. if that happens, there will be no need for hamas, no need for iranian support of the struggle within palestine. >> thank you very much for sharing your insights on that story. staying in the middle east, hundreds of israeli protesters have spent the night in tents

outside parliament in jerusalem to press their demand for israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu to step down and seek a deal to have the hostages held in gaza released. thousands of people rallied in jerusalem for what they are calling the largest antigovernment protest ends the war in the gaza strip began nearly six months ago. the protest took place on sunday as prime minister and then yahoo! had surgery for a hernia. his office reported that the procedure was successful. let's go now to a writer and political analyst. welcome to bbc news. first of all, i wanted to get your reaction to these protests. we have seen families of some of the hostages gath at regular intervals, expressing their dissatisfaction with mr. netanyahu. what we saw in the last couple of days was something quite different. >> yes, absolutely. we see sort of a return of the

mass protests against mr. netanyahu which really began in 2021, the year that he got concurrent successions. they took a step back over the course of the war and now many of those protesters, their core demand before the war, that netanyahu should step down, government should go back to elections, is becoming more urgent after the events of the seventh. >> you are speaking to ufrom jerusalem yourself. in your analysis, where is the point where mr. netanyahu will feel that pressure, which you say has been around for some time, taking him to the point where he might say i will call elections? >> i don't think there will be anything that will lead benjamin netanyahu to call elections

voluntarily. i don't think that will happen under any circumstance. they realiic path to elections involves members of his own coalition saying time is up. whether that is the other parties or people within his own party. for the first time, polls suggest the likud party would do better without netanyahu. it has always been the sense that maybe they could do worse but now the polls show the opposite. it only takes four members of the knesset for the government to be over. i think that is the most likely path. there have been rumblings in some members of netanyahu's party but not a lot of mental him in the likud. particularly when individual stood up, they were chased out of parliament. >> since we are speaking to you

from jerusalem, what is the mood in the media? how is mr. netanyahu seen across the spectrum in tv and print right now? is the pressure also being felt in some of the editorials? >> it absolutely is. there was an absolute denial on the part of mr. netanyahu to take any part of what happened on october 7, and policies at that point, the chief of the military staff, defense minister, many others said we have some response ability for what happened. it might be a good case for us to step down and resign. there has been a lot of criticism for a failure of leadership, failure to accept responsibility. outside of those media which are slavishly loyal to him, there is a sense of editorials calling

for him to go, but that is not new. netanyah is on trial right now for corruption, in between running a war and going to the hospital, he has to go to court and listen to the evidence against him. >> writer and political analyst joining us from jerusalem, thank you for sharing your thoughts on that story. we have plenty more on developments in the middle east on the bbc news website. you can take a look athe various coverage we have there. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. ♪

>> this is "the context" on bbc news. let's go to turkey now where president erdogan's governing party has suffered its biggest defeat in local elections. the main opposition party chp

won in the six largest urban centers including istanbul. mr. erdogan promised to respect the decision of the nation before the election. he said this was the last time he let his party -- his term is due to end in 2028. for more on that, let speak to a senior consulting fellow of the turkiye initiative at the international think tank chatham house. welcome to bbc news. what is your take about what is happening at the moment. it may not be national elections, of course, mr. erdogan is still in power for a couple of years yet, but it still shows a shift in support for his party. >> certainly, this is quite a major development of turkish politics. peoin terms of the population s, that amounts to more than 65% of the turkish population, so this

is a major yellow card for the government. this is a warning to the government coalition. a big question right now is whether the opposition could manage victory and if the government could manage. depending on how the opposition manages the victory, government manages the defeat, that will very much be the next stage of turkish politics. right now, basically turkey has quite strong competition between the opposition and governing block. each camp is controlling about 50% of the turkish population. despite the people, the governing coalition still amounts to 40% of the vote. going to the next election, 2028, these will be highly

competitive because both the opposition and governing sides there are major figures. >> what issues were at play in these elections, the economy or other things in the frame? >> the economy was the big story. turkey is experiencing very high inflation, fast appreciation in currency, very big economic poison. the economy was the big story but not only the economy. the economy is the main story, but there are different levels of dissatisfaction with the government because of different reasons, like, for instance, there is part of the conservative social base that was unhappy with the government's handling of the gaza issue. different people that are unhappy with turkey there. but the big story is the economy.

the other factor, emerging in this picture, the turnout rate in this election was around 8% to 10% lower than the previous elections. many estimate that these people did not show up at the ballot box, more the conservative social base of the government, who didn't want to vote for the opposition but was at the same time unhappy with the government, so they didn't vote for the government. that is why we cannot talk about a crushing defeat of the governing coalition because it is still significant. it was a major victory for the opposition, major setback for the governg coalition, but that is how it will play out in the coming period. very much dependent on how both the opposition and governing coalition manage this period onward. >> i was reading here that

president erdogan acknowledged the election had not gone as he hoped but told his supporters that it would mark "not an end for us but rather a turning point." mr. erdogan is seen as a very strong leader internationally, someone in many ways he was a broker between the west and other countries like russia for example. indeed, a significant player when it comes to some of the issues around the middle east as well. >> of course, turkiye is a major player in many different crisis areas, be it in russia, ukraine, black sea, middle east, eastern mediterranean. if you look at the map of the european neighborhood, middle east, africa, eurasia, turkey is one of the major geopolitical players. that means the state of turkey and the west is quite an important one.

in recent years, it is very much defining the turkish relationship. it is improving, improving climate. yes, turkey and the west still have differences on many issues but compared to a few years ago there is much more positive climate. and the fact that in turkiye, the elections, the political parties are real and the results are real, in and of itself, is an important sign of turkish democracy. it is another strong indication of turkey and the west. >> thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on developments in turkey. now, the kremlin has dismissed a media report which links a russian intelligence unit two so-called havana syndrome, a mystery on those has affected u.s. diplomats. an investigation by the insider

and cbs news alleges the americans were targeted with direct energy weapons. one victim of the weapon told 60 minutes in the u.s. about her experience of being hit by a powerful force at her home in florida in 2021. for more on this, let speak to one of the authors behind the insider's year-long investigation. when we talk about havana syndrome, it sounds very mysterious and murky. for a lot of people watching this, no one is really clear on what this is exactly. what exactly is havana syndrome? >> it is actually a misnomer because the name comes from what was for many years considered the initial incidence of the syndrome which happened in havana in 2017. a number of people simultaneously reported very similar health conditions which included grating noises, loss of

balance, vertigo, nausea, which actually went worse as the days went by. most of these people were american, some canadian diplomats, working at the compound in havana. this did not happen only in havana. over the next few years, media published reports about the same syndrome occurring to american diplomats around the world including china, geneva, vienna, london, warsaw, other places. until we published our investigation, there was a lot of confusion whether this even exists or if this was a psychosomatic delusion -- >> your investigation, you believe it does exist and you are pending a connection to russia. >> it's important to say what we know and what we don't know. what we do know is there is a unit within russia's military

intelligence unit, the same unit that went after skripal and 2018 in saulsberry, who has developed the technology. we have written proof that they have been awarded monetary renumeration for developing the technology which they call a wave weapon, acoustic weapon, nonlethal acoustic weapon to be used in urban warfare scenarios. we also know that members of this unit have traveled around the world partly overlapping with incidents that have been reported with this havana syndrome, in particular in germany, frankfurt in 2014, two times in china, 2016, 2017, and the republic of georgia in 2019. these are four incidences we find it overlap with undercover spies in this unit and indents happening. we can see the capability and the presence of the russian intelligence, where there were such incidents, has been proven.

>> lead investigator on that story from the insider. you can find details of his work on the bbc -- on the insider website. the bbc website also has a write up of announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. bdo. accountants and advisors. cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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