Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC 20240703

At the Kerem Shalom Crossing Point into gaza this afternoon, a sudden attack by hamas. Several israelis injured, at least one critically. The wounded evacuated to hospital. The Israeli Military showed this Drone Footage ten projectiles fired before the Israeli Air Force destroyed the launcher. America and britain have been urging israel to open this crossing to aid. For now, its shut again. Today, israels embattled Prime Minister reacted to hamas� s demands for a permanent ceasefire and an israeli withdrawal from gaza. The state of israel is not willing to accept this, he said, capitulating to hamas� s demands would be a terrible defeat for israel. This afternoon, Israeli Police raided the offices of the tv channel aljazeera within hours of a unanimous cabinet decision to shut down its operations in israel. If youre watching this pre recorded report, then aljazeera has been banned in the territory of israel. The government accused it of being a mouthpiece for hamas. Its Regional Bureau chief called this a dangerous decision. Israel cannot claim all the time that she is a democracy, that its democracy, and at the same time they are cutting and prevent the journalists to do theirjob. But the government here is under pressure from parts of its own population. Last night, Tens Of Thousands of israelis rallied in protest at delays in getting the hostages out of gaza. They dont believe the government is making it a priority. The Israeli Government wants its hostages out, but at the same time its vowed to destroy hamas, which is why it wont agree to a permanent ceasefire. But hamas, which holds the hostages, says it wont sign a deal unless the ceasefire is permanent, which is why the peace talks have stalled. A delegation from hamas has been in cairo talking to mediators. They are now leaving to consult with their leadership. In gaza, the war continues, with air strikes and deprivation. Gazans are desperate for this war to end. So too are many israelis, but others in israel see this as unfinished business. They want this war pursued until hamas is utterly destroyed. Frank gardner, bbc news, jerusalem. For more on this, i spoke to salah negm, the director of news at aljazeera. A few hours earlier, the Israeli Government took a decision to shut down our offices in israel and confiscate the material and stop any local broadcasting. And almost one hour after that, a police team came to our Office Injerusalem and they checked the staff, the passports and the equipment. And i believe, but im not 100 sure, whether they confiscated the equipment or it was just left in the office. Now, israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu havejustified this decision with the new powers that the government has during this war. Theyve accused al jazeera of incitement, of Anti Israel Bias and of being a mouthpiece for hamas. Whats your response to those accusations . Yeah, i think i heard these accusations from the media, but actually the israeli notice just said the broadcast is harming the National Security. But we cannot be a mouthpiece of hamas, or else well be a mouthpiece of president biden, the british Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu himself, because we transmitted broadcasted their statements, press conferences, policies. That is the work of free media, that when you convey the story, you take all points of views from every side. But apparently it seems that the Israeli Government and israeli Prime Minister want a mouthpiece for israel, not a free media operating. So, to be clear, you have not received any other word about this decision other than aljazeera is believed to be a threat to National Security in israel . Yes, thats what i understand that we received. Maybe our lawyer there received something else, but im not aware of it yet. The whole thing happened today, and we need some time to collect all the information around it. And youre in doha right now. How is this news being received in qatar . It was expected to happen, because for some time, the law concerning foreign media, or allowing the government to shut down foreign media working in israel, was in the knesset for some time. There were threats from israeli ministers that they want to shut down aljazeera. That was repeated for about two months now. So it wasnt a real surprise. Although me, myself, i didnt believe that it will happen, because we have been operating in israel since 1997 without real problem. We can work freely there. But in the past few years, that wasnt the case. It was a little bit more difficult, and it increased in the past six months. Aljazeeras coverage has accused israel of committing specific crimes during the war. Ive gone on your website today, and there are those terms being used. Do you believe that could be considered Anti Israel Bias, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused aljazeera of . Aljazeera, as any other media organisation, does not accuse anyone of committing a crime. When we do an investigation, we do all the due diligence, examine all the evidence from all points of views. In the process, we are very objective because we dont leave one fact unobserved, and we reach a conclusion. And when you reach that conclusion, maybe the party dislikes it. But it came after a very thorough, objective process. If it ends byjust saying, 0k, we think that this party has killed civilians deliberately, because of the result of the investigation, we say it, we dont hesitate. But that is not bias. It is the result of a very objective, thorough process. On your website, it says the network condemns the accusations against its journalists this was from february and it says it recalls israels long record of lies and fabrication of evidence through which it seeks to hide its heinous crimes. This sort of wording, this sort of statement, would you understand why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet would take issue with it . Im not sure that statement was issued in what occasion. But i will cite the killing of shireen abu akleh, which was denied several times by israel that it was committed by israel. They actually accused palestinians of killing her. They denied all the evidence that we provided from our investigation, until they admitted it lately. So, the statement you are talking about, i dont know what occasion it was issued, but we have to put things in context. And israel has to put things in context if it wants to put an accusation of a specific nature. In context of that, you are correct, there were several probes by the Israeli Government until senior idf officials said they believe a soldier killed her by mistake, and of course he didnt identify her as a journalist. Those were their words when that happened. Before i let you go, i do want to ask you about what this means for the freedom of journalists to cover this war that has been going on for months now. We are afraid thats not going to be the only organisation. We are still working in the west bank in gaza, but we are banned from israel. That is a disadvantage to israel, so i do not think the Israeli Government is doing themselves a fairness, because they deprive themselves of a Point Of View to an israeli and international audience. And just to say bbc news has contacted both the israeli Prime Ministers office and the Israeli Government press office to speak to us about the shut down of aljazeera. We have not yet received a response. Lets turn now the fallout from the local elections in england. The former Home Secretary Suella Braverman says the conservatives could be wiped out at the general election and has urged the Prime Minister to Change Course and swing to the right after its poor showing in this weeks votes for local councils and mayors. The tories lost over a70 Council Seats and all but one Mayoral Election in england. But defending the government, mark harper, the transport secretary, said its still all to play for. Heres our deputy political editor, vicki young. Across england and wales, labour won in style. Mayors. Councils. And police and crime commissioners. It was a terrible set of results for the conservatives, one of the few bright spots a victory for their mayor in the tees valley. The former Home Secretary, no fan of the Prime Ministers, warned today that the party faced a wipe out at the general election but that there was no Point Ousting him now. Rishi sunak has been leading us for about 18 months. Hes been making these decisions. These are the consequences of those decisions. He needs to own this, and therefore, he needs to fix it. And these are her suggestions. He needs to actually lower taxes in a way that people will feel, not tweaking around the edges. If hes serious about migration, he needs to put a cap on legal migration. He needs to take us out of the European Convention on human rights. Thats how you actually send a message that hes serious about stopping the boats. Not all tories agree. After his defeat, the now former mayor of the west midlands, andy street, urged the party to stick to the centre ground. Ministers insist they are already acting decisively. We have a plan, and the plan is working. But voters are telling you they dont like it. But were not all the way through yet. I think people want to see delivery, right, so they want to see inflation continue to come down. They want to see the boats stopped. They want to see, for example, nhs Waiting Lists continue to fall. Weve made a lot of progress on that, but were not all of the way there yet. Labour did see a drop in support in some areas where theres anger about its stance on the war in gaza. I do acknowledge that in some parts of the country, that was the case, and there will be some people who maybe voted labour in the past who havent in the local elections because of this issue, and where thats the case, well work to get peoples support back. But overall, i do have to stress, these were tremendous local election results. Rishi sunak� s fiercest critics seem to have decided against an attempt to drive him out of here, but that doesnt mean the criticism will stop. For more analysis on yesterdays results and what it could mean for the general election, i spoke to former conservative special adviser chris white. I started by asking him about Suella Braverman� s comments urging the tory party to swing further to the right. Thats one way of looking at it. I mean, i think there are two schools of thought in this in the Conservative Party. Clearly, those on the right of the party look at the projections of the reform party and the number of votes that they won and think you should tack to the right. Whereas andy street, whos more on the moderate wing of the Conservative Party, thinks that the party is best when its moderate, inclusive and tolerant. And i actually think that if you look at where the conservatives perform best in the mayoral and local elections, it was where there was a strong brand, a strong independents, a strong sense of being moderate, inclusive and tolerant. So i would tend to side with where andy street was, given that he defied a National Swing of almost 9 and was only 1500 votes off being re elected in the west midlands. Andy street did lose though, and youre talking about a strong brand. Andy street, ben houchen, there was a move to distance themselves from rishi sunak, they didnt wear their Brand Affiliation front and centre. All along we were talking about brand andy. So does that have any bearing in your mind on how mps should be approaching the general election . Well, look, ithink the conservatives are in this position because of a long period of time where, frankly, the country is effectively switched off from listening to what the conservatives have to say. You have to go back to notjust partygate, but also some of the disastrous decisions like electing liz truss as the leader of the party, the budget and other decisions as well, to show that, frankly, the conservatives are not really in a position to be listened to any more. So, the fact that rishi sunak is in this position, and youve got Suella Braverman stating from the backbenches that the course should be changed. Well, you know, she was part of the party who trumpeted the fact that she was supporting liz truss back in 2022. So when she talks about needing to own the decisions and fixing them, she could take a little bit of a look at her own stance and decide whether she wants to do that first before having a go at rishi sunak. Shes not wrong, though, in saying that this wasnt good news. Doesnt something need to change before at the general election . Or should itjust be the status quo . The Conservative Party had an appalling set of results, there is no doubt about that. The only positive was ben houchen winning in tees valley. But when you look at the actual result and what it means projected at a national election, it would actually mean the conservatives losing every seat in his mayorality area. If these results were projected nationally at a general election, it would mean the labour party would only be the Largest Party in a Hung Parliament, so it does give something for the conservatives to work towards. But they have got to focus on delivery and getting a clear message across and actually presenting a united front. Because at the moment all voters are looking at and hearing from is a Conservative Party looking inwards, party looking inwards, rather than saying to the country what it thinks it should do. What are you hearing from your former colleagues in the tory party . Are they working towards a Hung Parliament now . I are they working towards a Hung Parliament now . Are they working towards a Hung Parliament now . I think thats the onl thin parliament now . I think thats the only thing that parliament now . I think thats the only thing that they parliament now . I think thats the only thing that they can parliament now . I think thats the only thing that they can work only thing that they can work towards too, i dont think any Conservative Mp thinks the party has a chance of winning. Labour are over 20 points ahead. We have to be realistic about this and really try to bring that back down to an election result which matches more closely. But of course that would mean is that of a number of Conservative Mps, but it would mean that labour would not be in a majority. To scotland now where with less than 2a hours to go until nominations close to replace humza yousaf as leader for the Scottish National party, there are suggestions of a late entry to the race. At the momentjohn swinney, the former Deputy First Minister and party leader, is the only person officially in the running, but veteran Party Activist Graeme Mccormack says he believes he can garner enough nominations by mondays deadline. Our bbc scotland political reporter, jenni davidson, told us more Aboutjohn Swinney and what this challenge could mean for him. Hes a very popular figure. Hes very high profile, very experienced, and theres a lot of personal affection for him within the snp. So its unlikely that this is actually going to be a serious issue for him. But what it does mean for the party is that it would cause the Leadership Contest to go on for another three weeks. If there was only one nomination in tomorrow, by 12 noon, the deadline, if it Wasjohn Swinney then he would simply be declared party leader tomorrow afternoon. But if theres more than one nomination, then it has to go to a vote of party members. So, more of an issue for the party in terms of the money and the time that would then go into a longer Leadership Race at a time when theres, obviously, a general election coming up and they want to be outward looking rather than inward looking. I also want to touch upon the fact there was a march yesterday with hundreds turning out in glasgow to march for independence. What has humza yousaf� s fall taught us about where lets return to the middle east. The United Nations has warned against an Israeli Attack on rafah in the gaza strip, saying it risks causing many more deaths. Israel has said that even if there is a Ceasefire Agreement it will be temporary, and that it plans a Military Assault on rafah to destroy hamas. Around 1. 4 Million People are sheltering in rafah many of them displaced from other parts of gaza. Our special correspondent, fergal keane, reports now on the crisis facing rafah. The story of desperate need told in a single line. Stretching on the road to rafah. This is the queue on the egyptian side of the border. Rafah is both the hub through which most of gazas aid passes, and now home to nearly 1. 5 Million People, five times its original population, a place where hospitals have become refugee camps, where no living space is wasted. The wards where families cook, where their children roam, the corridors of a place that is, for now, safe. 11 year old yassin is, according to his mother, surviving on painkillers. Here, the brutal truth of the war is etched on the faces of its young victims. The fear is that this is what awaits rafah if an invasion is ordered. In the coalition government, the far right Finance Minister opposes any deal that would spare rafah in return for israeli hostages. 1there� s no half work. The israelis say there are four hamas battalions in rafah to be destroyed with or without a ceasefire. The un is making plans for more field hospitals, but warns it wont stop a disaster. It will not avoids what we expect will be substantial additional mortality and morbidity. A lot more people dying . A lot more people dying. A lot more death and a lot more diseases. This is where utter destruction leads. People whove lost their homes forced to camp next to graves. Rahab is the mother of seven children. She described some of the horrors she and her children have witnessed. She points to a grave covered in bricks and explains the grim reason for this. Translation yesterday, | there was a grave and there were no rocks above it. And the family came and they found that the dogs ate part of the body. They were forced to put bricks on his grave to protect him from the dogs. From 10 00 at night to dawn, we cannot sleep because of the sound of the dogs. At night, our children keep holding onto me because of how scared they are. There is intense pressure for a Ceasefire Deal now. Without it, theres only foreboding, the dread of what comes next. Fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. Conditions in Southern Brazil are continuing to deteriorate following massive flooding and landslides with 70,000 residents forced from their homes. The government says at least 66 people have died and another 101 are missing. Further rainfall is expected. Brazils president , lula da silva, has made a second visit to the Southern State of Rio Grande Do Sul to witness first hand the devastating week long flooding and landslide. Jon donnison reports. Much of brazils most Southerly State is underwater. Roads turned into rivers and more than 25,000 people forced to flee their homes. Translation now, when im being rescued, i feel relieved, | but its terrifying because we saw the water rise in an absurd way. It rose at a very high speed. After a week of storms and heavy rain, at least 500,000 people are without power and clean water. Translation i need a lot of help, a lot. I we have nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. We have nothing. And the very young are being impacted, too. This tiny baby had to be winched to safety by helicopter. Many of those who died were killed by landslides. And at least two people lost their lives when the floods caused an explosion at a Petrol Station in porto alegre. Brazils military has been brought in to help with the rescue effort and to distribute aid. The extreme weather has been caused by a rare combination of hotter than average temperatures, high humidity, and strong winds, and forecasters say its not over yet. Jon donnison, bbc news. Chinas president xi jinping has arrived in france on a state visit his first trip to an eu country in five years. Global conflicts are expected to feature highly when mr xi meets french president macron and the head of the eu commission, ursula von der leyen, on monday. France is expected to urge china to pressure russia to end its war against ukraine. The visit also comes amid mounting Trade Disputes between china and the eu. As the anticipation starts to build, this years Eurovision Song Contest hopefuls have gathered to show off their style on the turquoise not red carpet. Olly alexander will be representing the uk in the final next saturday. And sunday kicked off a huge week for host city malmo, as artists and superfans head to sweden. And i want to credit our producer sam for writing this final story. We usually bring you breaking news here at the bbc, but heres some baking news now. France has restored national pride, reclaiming the record for the worlds longest baguette. And get a loaf of this, the creation measures more than 140 metres long almost half the length of the eiffel tower. A group of bakers managed the feat in a competition in paris. The previous record was held by italians despite the Baguette Being A Classic French product meaning the win marks a return to the status dough. It stay with us here on bbc news. Its been another day of big weather contrasts across the uk. Now, many areas did keep quite a bit of cloud and there were some showers or longer spells of rain. Passing showers there on the Horizon At Topsham in devon. But it wasnt like that everywhere. We had some pleasant Sunshine Northern Parts of wales, stretching into merseyside, greater manchester, yorkshire, much of the midlands and east anglia. The warmest spots seeing temperatures up to 20 degrees. The coolest spots, where cloudy, just 12. And again, we kept Cloud For Scotland and northern ireland. Some quite heavy showers in Eastern Scotland at the moment. And as we go on through this evening and overnight, there will be some further patches of rain coming and going, particularly in east scotland. Elsewhere, a lot of cloud around, a few showers for southern wales, pushing into the midlands. Could see an odd one for east anglia and southern counties of england, too. On into bank holiday monday, we do start the day with quite extensive cloud cover and it is another day where showers will develop through the afternoon. The showers are going to be much more widespread and theyll be heavier than weve seen over the last couple of days with some thunderstorms around. Probably the brightest weather in the midlands, parts of northern england, maybe parts of east anglia once again. But the south east could have more persistent rain, particularly towards the south coast. Now, on into tuesday, we start to see pressure rising from the west. This is the first sign of our weather becoming a bit more settled. Yeah, just in time as we go back to work, of course. Now, there will be a few showers around across western areas, but not as many as weve seen over recent days. Many parts of the country will have a dry day on tuesday with some hazy spells of sunshine. Starting to see those temperatures more widely reach the upper teens to low 20s for england and wales, and warming up, too, in northern ireland. High pressure then builds a bit more for wednesday. Its not strong enough, though, to keep this Weather System at bay. There will be some rain in scotland moving into the hebrides, highlands and arriving late in the day for orkney and shetland, along with strengthening winds. Now away from that, for northern ireland, and looking at the forecast through much of the rest of the week ahead, therell be a lot of dry weather with some sunshine and temperatures more widely reaching the upper teens to low 20s. This is bbc news, the headlines. Israeli police have raided the offices of the Aljazeera Television network, after the cabinet decided to close down the operations of the broadcaster. Aljazeera called claims it was a threat to Israeli Security a dangerous and ridiculous lie. Hopes for a ceasefire in gaza appear slim, with the two sides still unable to agree the exact terms of a truce. Lengthy negotiations have so far failed to yield any breakthrough. After heavy losses in the local elections in england, the former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, tells the bbc rishi sunak needs to Change Course if the Conservative Party is to avoid a political wipe out. Brazils president lula surveys the damage left by deadly floods, as thousands are forced to evacuate. Local Authorities Say 66 have been killed, and over 100 are missing. Now on bbc news, its newscast. Newscast. Newscast from the bbc. Hello, its paddy in the studio. And laura in the studio. And henry at home. Is it Mission Impossible for the conservatives . Thats what weve been discussing this weekend. It depends how you count it. It depends who you are. If youre mark harper, who is a loyal ally of rishi sunak, you say, its all to play for. Or if you are Suella Braverman, former Home Secretary, you say on the telly, we might not have any