Time. Meanwhile, the United Nations says more than 800,000 people have now fled rafah in southern gaza. Many have been forced to head northwards to areas which the un says have little clean Drinking Water or sanitation as the Israeli Offensive continues. 0ur Diplomatic Correspondent paul adams sent this report. Street battles injabalia. Israeli forces have been fighting here for days. Gunfire. Hamas, they say, is back, and needs to be dealt with. This is dangerous urban warfare, at close quarters. The israelis were here months ago and moved on. These, some warn, early signs of an insurgency that could last for months. Israel has been attacking from the air too. Scenes today reminiscent of the war� s terrifying early stages. Buildings flattened, bodies trapped under the rubble. Gunfire. More street battles, this time in the south. The israeli army still advancing on rafah, the only city yet to experience a full scale assault. But 800,000 palestinians have already fled the area, to the coast or to other devastated cities. With israel issuing fresh Evacuation Orders in the north, as many as a million palestinians have been displaced in the past two weeks almost half gazas entire population. Some aid is getting in some of it along americas new maritime corridor. Its a welcome new route. But with other key crossings still closed or not functioning as they should, its not enough. Tonight, in tel aviv, another display of support for israeli hostages still in captivity. The mood sombre, after news that the bodies of four hostages had been retrieved in the wreckage of gaza. The fourth, ron benjamin, identified today. My heart goes out to those families who received the news yesterday that their loved ones are not alive. Time is not on our side. Time, for a long time already, has not been on our side. And pressure is building on the Prime Minister. A senior cabinet member threatening to resign in three weeks unless the government spells out a clear strategy. Translation at the fateful. Crossroads where we are now, the leadership must see The Big Picture to identify risks and identify opportunities, formulate an updated National Strategy so we can fight shoulder to shoulder. This war is exposing deep political divisions. Two senior ministers now pleading with mr netanyahu to explain his endgame, soon. For more on the political situation in israel, paul adams also sent this update. The Prime Minister has the support of far right Political Parties and they guarantee his coalition majority. Benny gantz can pull his party out but the government will survive. He knows that and there are some sceptics tonight who say they are doubtful will carry out his threat in three weeks time. But the point is he is now the second Senior Member of that government in the last few days to voice extremely serious concerns about the lack of a future plan for the war, for the end of the war and crucially for the day after. That is an indication that the sense of unity that surrounded the government at the beginning of this crisis seven months ago with the whole government and Political Parties pulling together at a moment of crisis, that sense of unity has been fraying for months now and is starting to crumble rather visibly. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country only has about a quarter of the amount of air defences needed, to fend off russian attacks. His comments comes as Russian Forces continue their summer offensive. So far, moscow claims it has seized a number of villages on ukraines North Eastern border near kharkiv. President zelensky added ukraine needed up to 130 f i6 fighterjets to continue to defend its skies and that his military was short on manpower. 0ur ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse has more on the president s comments from kyiv. Well, i mean, he always plonks air defences at the top of his wish list. Thats been the case for the past year or so because of two things, really russia has continued to launch Missile Attacks on cities across ukraine, but also russia has become far more superior, more dominant in the air right across the front line. So what that means is when you have exhausted, thinly stretched ukrainian troops trying to defend cities, you have russian fighterjets flying in and dropping missiles and glide bombs. And as of the situation in the northeast, where this incursion is taking place, you know, were hearing from the authorities around the town of vovchansk, which is on the border theyre saying thousands of glide bombs have been dropped, which reflects, i think, russias ability to mount these kind of strikes unchallenged. So president zelensky, hes been quite specific on what he both needs and lacks. He wants more air defence systems. He says hes got a quarter of what he needs, as you say, and then he specified how many f i6 Fighterjets He would like. Its worth pointing out that despite ukrainian pilots being trained by Western Allies in the uk, for example, and others promising them not one has been used operationally by ukraine. It was once predicted they would arrive last year. That hasnt happened. Here we are halfway through 2024 no fighterjets yet, but hes not giving up on that clearly. For more on this, i spoke to mark cancian, a Senior Adviser at the centre for strategic and international studies. President zelenskyy calling this a pivotal moment. How pivotal do you see this as being . Could it be a make or break moment . Every moment is pivotal for ukraines survival. They cannot afford to lose at any moment. This is pivotal because of two things. First, the us aid is just starting to arrive and the ukrainians have run down many previous supplies so they are in a particularly weak time and it is also pivotal because the russians are trying to stretch the ukrainians out, hoping at some point they can break through in about half a dozen areas along the front line. Talking about those attacks going on particularly the northeast of the country. President putin said his forces were not looking to take over kharkiv but to create a buffer zone instead. Do you trust him on that . We never trust putin but in this case he is telling the truth. The russians have not amassed the kind of power they need to break through. They tried at the beginning of the war and failed with much largerforces. They seemed to have stopped after moving maybe two miles, 2. 5 miles into ukraine, but what they are trying to do is stretch the ukrainians. Have to keep in mind the active front is about 600 miles long and that is where most of the fighting has occurred over the last two years. There is also 400 miles of border between ukraine and russia that has been very quiet and another 400 between ukraine and belarus and what russia is trying to do is make ukraine defend all of this. And pull forces away from the active front in the east. So that there may be a breakthrough some place in active attacks. Ukrainian forces clearly already stretched thin. 0utmanned. We know there has now been this law which means prisoners can fight on the frontline for ukraine but presumably they have to undergo training first. Might it take a while before they can actually be deployed into this war and make a difference . The ukrainians are having the problem every military has when they get into a long war and that is the running out of inventory. Every country experiences this. The russians experienced at. The russians have reduced the draft age from 27 to 25 and now are allowing convicts to serve. These troops will have to be trained but will need a lot more. Armies in conflict need a lot of inventory. There is a feeling that forces, personnel are at equal risk, that is not true, 80 of casualties are in the infantry and need constant replacements. If you look back through history of russian wars, often what you will see in these long protracted wars is russia make tactical errors and overtime essentially they learn from those mistakes and have gone on to victories. Do you think we could see something similar play out here . It is certainly possible. Russia made many errors early on. The initial strategy was badly flawed, they thought ukrainians would collapse. Over time they learned that learned to become more proficient and increased the production of weapons and number of personnel. We saw they were able to defeat ukrainian counteroffensive by digging extensive fortifications. We understand on the frontlines there is a countermeasure with regards to drones. The russians have been learning, they are Getting Better but so are the ukrainians and are now getting more supplies from the United States. President putin said he is open to dialogue on ukraine, he didnt use the word negotiations. Do you think there was any realistic prospect that either side will sit down at this particularjuncture in the war where the map currently stands for talks . We hope there will be some formula the two sides can agree on but it doesnt look like a lot of overlap between the two positions. The russians are talking about maybe a ceasefire, where they are right now, they would cede about 18 of ukraine to russia. Ukrainians have so no indication they are willing to do that. Not only did they want to get back what they have lost in the last two and a half years, they want crimea back, they want reparations, war crime judgements, there does not seem to be overlap yet. I dont think either side is desperate enough to give up some of their desired goals. Georgias president has vetoed a controversial new law on foreign funding. Thats sparked weeks of mass protests largely led by the countrys youth. The president says the legislation was an obstacle on georgias path to eu membership and was russian in both � its essence and spirit�. But she acknowledged her veto is largely symbolic and will likely be overruled by parliament. The Foreign Agent law would require Non Government Organizations and media to register if they receive more than 20 of their funding from abroad. 0ur correspondent Rayhan Demytrie has more from tbilisi where protesters gathered following the president s announcement. And these protesters, they favour their president , salome zourabichvili, who has been campaigning relentlessly last year to ensure that georgia gets its Candidate Status with the eu, and georgia did indeed receive this Candidate Status, but the problem now that these people see that the adoption of this law may derail the country from its chosen path tojoin the eu. That is why we have seen such a huge reaction here from the youth. These protests have been driven by georgias youth, students, schoolchildren, and they believe that georgias European Future is at stake. For more on this, i spoke tojorgi reveshvili, former Senior Advisor to the National Security council of georgia. This move from the president is largely symbolic. The Majority Party could overturn it. What do you think the president is hoping to achieve through that veto . , , veto . Despite it hoping to achieve through that veto . , ,. , ~ , hoping to achieve through that veto . ,. , veto . Despite it move. As a lace veto . Despite it move. As a place of veto . Despite it move. As a place of the veto . Despite it move. As a place of the entire veto . Despite it move. As a place of the entire politicall place of the entire political responsibility on Georgian Dream and limits their manoeuvring space. Now they have to develop repugnant or veto it. Another ball is in the georgian court. They pushed the idea of modifying the law once it finally passed which could be regarded as a smokescreen that aims to drag out process and whereabouts the way with protests. It was the right move from the president because now they are in the corner and have to make a move. The first two, keeping the law panning and revoking it, it could mean defeat in terms of upcoming opponents. It would be huge reputational damage. If they decide to operate the veto, sanctions are limited because georgias National Partners including the notices and European Union make a signal that sanctions could be used against the party. That sanctions could be used against the party. Faced with all of these against the party. Faced with all of these options, against the party. Faced with all of these options, but against the party. Faced with all of these options, but i against the party. Faced with | all of these options, but i am curious about is why Georgian Dream actually brought this law forward in the first place when presumably, based on previous scenes, demonstrations and someone they knew this would be unpopular. Someone they knew this would be un oular. , � unpopular. Yes. But their strategic unpopular. Yes. But their strategic objective unpopular. Yes. But their strategic objective is unpopular. Yes. But their strategic objective is to i strategic objective is to remain in power at all costs. The institutions are quite weak. There is no genuine checks and balances. Civil society and independent media basically serves as pillars in checking and balancing the government. They wanted to repress and suppress and basically silence or critical voices before the Upcoming Department or election. They will ensure victory. That is the whole idea of reintroducing this bill. D0 the whole idea of reintroducing this bill. ,. , ~ this bill. Do you think it will erha s this bill. Do you think it will perhaps give this bill. Do you think it will perhaps give the this bill. Do you think it will perhaps give the european | this bill. Do you think it will perhaps give the European Union pause for thought about membership and should add . Georgia is a nascent democracy, you think it does not have the checks and balances yet. The eumpean checks and balances yet. The European Union checks and balances yet. Tue European Union and checks and balances yet. Tt;e European Union and nato checks and balances yet. Tt9 European Union and nato and the United States and key part of the georgia high secure size the georgia high secure size the decision to pastore because the decision to pastore because the law is not comparable with the law is not comparable with the georgians. The west openly underscore this legislation jeopardises georges you nato inspiration. It will be impossible to become a nato and eu member and why tens of thousands of georgians have been demonstrating almost two months and i determined and that fast in the process to pressure the government to revoke the law. We also need our own National Partners to be more decisive in their action and these two cumulative factors might pressure be Georgian Dream government. And be as draconian and undemocratic law. T be as draconian and undemocratic law. ,. ,~ undemocratic law. I want to ask ou as a undemocratic law. I want to ask you as a promising undemocratic law. I want to ask you as a promising advisor undemocratic law. I want to ask you as a promising advisor to i you as a promising advisor to the National Security council of georgia what message do you think this is sending right now to moscow . Do you think it could embolden russia . The only country this could embolden russia . The only country this law could embolden russia . The only country this law favours could embolden russia . The only country this law favours as could embolden russia . The only country this law favours as the i country this law favours as the russian federation. The existential threat to georgia because russia and moscow wants to see georgia isolated from the west and if there is a problem and obstacle on our path to European Union and nato, it only favours moscow because it will increase influence over georgia and the georgian government will only have the situation in an isolated space to either tilt and drift back into the russian good points. That is why this law should not be passed because otherwise it will undermine the very crucial daughter National Security interests. Daughter National Security interests. ,. Interests. Thank you very much. Thank you interests. Thank you very much. Thank you for interests. Thank you very much. Thank you for the interests. Thank you very much. Thank you for the privilege. The former Chief Of Staff to the russian Opposition LeaderAlexei Navalny has vowed to never give up fighting against president putin. Mr navalny died in february in a russian prison. Leonid volkov said the fight to change the country must go ahead despite his death. Mr volkov was badly beaten in a Hammer Attack in March In Lithuania which he believes was ordered by mr putins regime. In his first interview since that attack, he also backed mr navalny� s widow yulia to lead the Opposition Campaign against the russian president. He spoke with bbc� s laura kuensberg. Attacked outside his own home, leonid volkov� s fight against putin was nearly a fight for his life. The close