To mr netanyahu's demand that israel maintain a military presence in the philadelphi corridor. That's a small buffer zone between gaza and egypt's sinai desert. Mr netanyahu said israel is committed to destroying hamas and bringing the hostages home. He warned of the potential consequences should israel relieve its military pressure on hamas. Our middle east regional editor mike thomson has more on the prime minister's comments from jerusalem. Tonight, mr netanyahu doubled down on his insistence that israeli troops will not be withdrawn from the philadelphi corridor. That is the strip of land that separates southern gaza from egypt. He said it is absolutely vital that they stay there to stop hamas smuggling weapons from egypt into gaza. He said, if we let this happen, we could have another october the 7th all over again. Interestingly though, he had talked in the past about them not moving for at least 42 years. This evening he was referring to 42 days only, so there may be some wriggle room there. But he has said basically, if we leave troops on the border, we've got security even if it does kill a deal, if we remove them, then the deal, he said, could kill us. He went on to say as far as he is concerned, the israeli people are united on this issue. Yet in fact, this country is very far from united. This is the fourth day of protests by people who feel this stance, which means a ceasefire deal will be very hard if not impossible to sign, could spell a death sentence for the hostages. And there have been protests across the country and tonight fires on the streets of tel aviv. This is an issue that is going to burn increasingly hot over the coming days. For more on the greater implications of israel's military operations i spoke to jamesjeffrey, former us deputy national security advisor and former ambassador to iraq, turkey and albania. I want to ask you what you make of prime minister netanyahu's insistance that israel must remain on the gaza egypt border. We know there has been some dissent among security chiefs, with his defence minister, over this policy and we have seen those protests has well. What do you think of this strategy? thank you for having me on. Netanyahu has a point. The problem is he also has his own political future to consider and that mixes with his role as the responsible official for israel's security but remember eight out of nine members of this cabinet, and in a poll yesterday, 49% of the israeli people are supporting it. Reporting from israel, a journalist got it exactly right. In the first phase, where israel said it would withdraw from the populated or built up areas of gaza but not entirely from gaza, he said that that means they will stay in much of the philadelphi corridor because, a, that is by his definition not a populated area so he claims he is not changing the initial 31 may presentation of the plan that president biden did. And, b, it is very important for israel's security. He and others have said in phase two, the second 42 day period, in the end, israel is committed to withdraw but only if negotiations succeed. But is this not a sticking point? hamas has said there should be no israeli presence on this land. This is war and peace. This is not an incursion or another one of these battles of choice that we and at times the israelis do. Israel's survival depends upon avoiding a second attack out of gaza. It is hard to imagine hamas not reconstituting itself after israel leaves if the flow of weapons and money and other supply can pass through egypt into gaza, as we saw up to october seven so he has a security point that many israeli support him on, not all. We know hostages remain in captivity. Nearly 11 months since since the onflict began and there is immense humanitarian suffering, tens of thousands of people killed in gaza, palestinians killed and a huge health crisis. We have seen this huge polio vaccination campaign. What pressure can the us apply right now to try to get this conflict to at least a temporary if not a permanent ceasefire? the us has a problem and you put yourfinger on it. Much of the media and world attention has been on the humanitarian crisis, the tragedy of the people in gaza, the casualty levels have been extremely high and the returning of hostages. But again, this is a war and one side will emerge as the victor as seen by everybody in the region. . . Could i ask you then, what does victory look like for israel? netanyahu spelt it out as has biden. Biden�*s words, hamas can never regain control of gaza. Netanyahu's words, it does no longer govern gaza and it does not have the military capacity to challenge israel, as it did on october 7. He said other things but that is the most consistent position he has taken. How does that align with the current military operation we have seen because at the moment it is not clear if hamas has actually been decimated, if their forces have been decimated ? if you look at the israeli casualties, if you look at the tempo of action, hamas is basically returned to an insurgency. It can last as an insurgency basically forever. The question is can it rebuild itself into an armed force that can threaten israel and take over gaza? netanyahu thinks that if he stays on the philadelphi corridor or — and he has left this open — egypt and the united states can find a way to block egypt and the united states can find a way to block that corridor, that will be the subject of negotiations in the second phase, then he may be considering pulling his troops out in the second phase. He has indicated that but it is not as clear as the first part, which he wants to stay on for the first 42 days. Police will charge a teenager with murder after two students and two teachers were shot dead at a high school in georgia. The suspected attacker was identified as 14—year—old colt gray. He was a student at apalachee high school, nearly 50 miles northeast of atlanta. Emergency responders surrounded the school on wednesday as students evacuated to the school's stadium. Authorities said the attacker surrendered and was taken into custody. Ajoint statement said a joint statement said he was questioned last year about threats he posted online but when in custody the suspect denied making those threats. We have identified colt gray who is a suspect in this case. They conducted an investigation at that time and there was no probable cause for taking any additional low enforcement action. This is not recent. This is in the past but we wanted to bring that to your attention because we are pursuing that, working with the fbi on that and any connection to that incident that could be connected to today's as well. We are also aware of some previous contact that the department of family and children services did in the area and had with the suspect and his family and we are pursuing that avenue as well. To see if that has any connection with today's incident. Not long after news of the deadly attack, us presidentjoe biden urged republicans and democrats to work together to pass new laws on gun reform. Our correspondent nada tawfik has the latest. The superintendent of apalachee high school says they will close for the remainder of the week and that they will be offering grief counselling to the students, who just over a week into the school year found themselves having to shelter as gunfire rang out in their classroom. In fact, the sheriff who spoke, said his kids went to that school district and so this hit very close to home for him. Now, there has also been some political reaction. Presidentjoe biden has said that we cannot continue to accept this as normal and has urged congress to work with democrats to push through some gun—control measures, including universal background checks and bans on assault rifles. And the two leading presidential candidates, kamala harris and donald trump, they have also made statements. Donald trump saying his heart is with the victims and their families. And calling the gunman a sick, deranged monster. Kamala harris on the other hand saying it is outrageous in the united states that parents have to wonder whether their children would come home safe from school, saying there is a way to change things and it is an issue in this election. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. Let's look at some other stories making news. Former uk cabinet minister priti patel has been knocked out of the conservative leadership contest in the first round of voting by tory mps. Known for her tough stance on immigration, dame priti spearheaded the conservative government's flagship scheme to send some asylum seekers to rwanda. Voting by conservative mps will continue in the coming weeks until there are two candidates left, leaving party members to pick one of them to be the new leader. The body of a 32—year—old british man has been found in majorca and a woman remains missing, according to emergency services on the spanish island. Spain's civil guard has been rescuing people after torrential rains, and rescue teams had been looking for the two hikers since monday. Both were reported by spanish media to have been swept away by floodwaters. Sir brian may has said he had a minor stroke which caused him to temporarily lose control over his arm. The 77—year—old queen guitarist announced in a video on instagram that he had the health scare about a week ago. May said he is doing 0k. You're live with bbc news ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, said his government needs new energy, after making the biggest reshuffle of his cabinet since the start of russia's invasion. Five ministers handed in their resignations before the expected move — among them, some of the most powerful members of mr zelensky�*s cabinet. They include the foreign minister, dmytro kuleba, as well as ukraine's top negotiator with the eu. The minister in charge of arms production, thejustice minister, and the environment minister are also standing down. Their replacements are expected to be announced on thursday. The reshuffle comes as russia intensifies its attacks on ukraine. At least seven people were killed overnight wednesday in the city of lviv, which is less than 50 miles from ukraine's border with poland. That raid came a day after the deadliest single russian attack this year. 53 people were killed and nearly 300 injured in a strike on a military academy in central ukraine. Our ukraine correspondent, nick beake, has more from lviv smashed by moscow's latest attack, the historic centre of lviv and a family of five destroyed. Mum and all three daughters killed in their own home. Dad, yaroslav, the only survivor looking on, as they carried his girls away. Russia said it successfully targeted sites in ukraine's defence industry. In the central city of poltava, the aftermath of yesterday's missile strike at the military academy that killed more than 50, including cadets. There's been grief across ukraine as russia intensifies its attacks, targeting towns and cities like this one far from the front line. But after two and a half years of this, ukrainians know that the russian onslaught can come to them at any time and with hardly any warning. With 300 injured at the military academy, they queued to give blood, a gesture of solidarity many wanted to make. Among them 0leksandr, who survived being shot in the neck on the front line last year. I don't know how to explain this. I'm burning inside. I can only give other people my blood, my support. I can talk with them and try to understand, because i passed through this. This all feels like retribution for the incursion into russia last month. Putin's revenge, ukraine's pain. Nick beake, bbc news, poltava. For more on the state of the war, and on the government shake—up in kyiv, i spoke to karolina hird, from the institute for the study of war we have seen this fresh variety of russian attacks on ukrainian cities. What does that tell us about the russian strategy? unfortunately, these sorts of strikes on ukrainian civilian infrastructure, civilian residents and that sort of thing are not new and we have seen them very much reflect russian strategy to demoralise ukraine, to basically try to better civilian population in the hopes that the ukrainian government will make concessions. We very much observed that this has not worked. Populations living under such intense barrages of missiles tend to have hardened result in the the war effort. We have seen this 22—24 and this is not new but an escalation of the strikes on civilian targets that we have been seeing over the past few days. It been seeing over the past few da 5. U, , been seeing over the past few da 5. . . , ,. Been seeing over the past few da s. _, ,. ,. , days. It comes after we have seen ukraine's _ days. It comes after we have seen ukraine's successful. Seen ukraine's successful incursion into russian territory in kursk. Where does that stand right now? ukraine is trying to hold onto the territory they have gained? the frontline in _ territory they have gained? tue: frontline in kursk territory they have gained? tte: frontline in kursk seems to have stabilised and we have seen singly from ukrainian officials and from people on the ground that ukrainians are digging in and trying to hold those positions. We have seen according to ukrainian positioned that they intend to make it a buffer zone and it seems to be reflected by the fact ukrainian have slow advances and tried to establish longer term positions. What longer term positions. What would the — longer term positions. What would the strategy longer term positions. What would the strategy be, longer term positions. What would the strategy be, is i longer term positions. What would the strategy be, is it| longer term positions. What i would the strategy be, is it to hold onto the territory as a bargaining chip? tt hold onto the territory as a bargaining chip?— bargaining chip? it is a little bit early to _ bargaining chip? it is a little bit early to tell _ bargaining chip? it is a little bit early to tell the bargaining chip? it is a little i bit early to tell the longterm bit early to tell the long—term strategic objections that ukraine has into this operation but they are very much intended in part to impose some difficult decisions on the russians. Basically, decisions about how russia is allocating its forces, basically where it puts on the ukraine, joining them to defend kursk, and the fact that ukraine can bring the war to russian territory that means that this very long border russia sheds with ukraine is not an impenetrable area so it is meant to impose this long—term decision—making and challenges on the russian military leadership and we have seen that to some extent. We have seen the redeployment of limited forces away from non—critical sections of the frontline and the objective of holding that territory can go to kind of setting those long—term calculus decisions for a longer period of time. But the ukrainians have also had to put a lot of resources into this incursion into russia. What impact does that have on the frontline another part of the country for example the donbas?— the donbas? there has been a lot of discussion _ the donbas? there has been a lot of discussion between the donbas? there has been a lot of discussion between the l lot of discussion between the interplay between kursk and in the area of the front row now where russians have been pushing forward the most. And i think that is supposed to comparing these two very different operations on a itoi, different operations on a i—to—i, apples to apples way, it is more useful to think about kursk and the russian operations in the donbas as the manifestations of the way russians and ukrainian military command have used this solution to the war. 0n the russian side, the offensive operation in donbas is characteristic of russia's theory of victory in ukraine. The slow, grinding advances towards small settlements that accomplish tactical objectives. Whereas ukraine ended kursk have a theory that is much more premised on restoring manoeuvre on the battlefield, using technological innovation, the sort of drone warfare that we have seen and i would summarise it as two different theories of victory. It is a little bit too early to see which one will kind of come to fruition right now. ,. , kind of come to fruition right now. ,. . , now. Given that there are victory. — now. Given that there are victory, president now. Given that there are l victory, president zelensky now. Given that there are victory, president zelensky has said he wants to present us president biden with a plan for victory. What is this strategy in kursk and what might that plan look like? the in kursk and what might that plan look like?— plan look like? the plan that ukraine seems _ plan look like? the plan that ukraine seems to _ plan look like? the plan that ukraine seems to be ukraine seems to be articulating is again this idea of reintroducing dynamism and manoeuvre to the battle field for innovation. Russia has a manpower advantage and material advantage in artillery and weaponry and it ukraine is at a disadvantage but it is found way to basically shift those scales and renovate. Kursk is an example of the way ukraine is able to innovate and push technologically to restore manoeuvre to what has been a very positional and attritional frontline and i think this is very much the victory that ukrainians foresee. The us has charged and sanctioned executives at the russian state—funded broadcaster rt, accusing them of participating in a kremlin—backed operation to interfere in november's presidential election. The us treasury department alleges rt's editor—in—chief and her deputy covertly recruited social media influencers to sway us public opinion. Eight other people have been charged and sanctioned and the usjustice department has seized 32 internet domains allegedly used to spread disinformation. 0ur north america correspondent jenny kumah has more. There's some 65 days until the us presidential elections and the biden administration has called out what it says is russian interference in that vote. Multiple government agencies have announced a range of measures to tackle the spread of russian disinformation and that includes visa restrictions, sanctions and indictments. Amongst that, the us treasury department has indicted the managing editor of rt, the russian state broadcaster and her deputy. They are accused of spending £10 million to secretly pay an unknown company in tennessee to spread thousands of videos on social media. In a statement to the bbc, rt has dismissed the claims in a mocking statement saying 2016 calledd and it wants its cliches back. A reference to russian interference in the past us elections. Russia wants to sow division amongst american voters and undermined international support for ukraine which russia invaded two years ago. The us says it is not just russia doing this, it is also points to iran and china and last month it accused iran of hacking the trump campaign and leaking documents. It is also accused iran of trying to hack the harris campaign. Republican presidential nominee donald trump visited the battleground state of pennsylvania on wednesday to hear from voters in a prerecorded televised town hall moderated by fox news host sean hannity. Mr trump attack ms harris�*s running mate, minnesota governor tim walz. And defended his own. There is something _ and defended his own. There is something weird _ and defended his own. There is something weird with _ and defended his own. There is something weird with that and defended his own. There is something weird with that guy, j something weird with that guy, he is a weird guy. Jd is not weird, he is a solid rock. I happen to be a very solid rock, we are not weird, we are other things perhaps but we're not weird. Here's a weird guy and walks into stage, there is something wrong with that guy. And he called me weird and then the media, the fake news media picks it up and wed was the word of the day. —— weird. But we're not weird, we the country to be great again. The latest polling shows mr trump and ms harris in a dead heat with voters in several battleground states, including pennsylvania, where they are tied at 47% among likely voters there according to new cnn poll. But harris is leading trump 48% to 47% among likely voters in georgia and nevada. 0n the us economy, voters polled in six swing states suggest a clear preference for trump over harris. On wednesday, ms harris visited new hampshire to highlight her plans for new economic initiatives. Ms harris proposes a tax benefit expansion of up to $50,000 for new small businesses. The harris campaign says the plan is part of a goal to boost new start—up applications by $25 million over four years. Ms harris says her new initiative will boost entrepreneurship and lower costs for small business owners, something she believes will not happen under her opponent, donald trump, who has called for lowering the corporate tax rate. He intends to cut off federal programmes that give loans to small businesses. He planned to give billionaires massive tax cuts and to cut corporate taxes by over $1 trillion, even as they pulled in record profits. His plans will add more than $5 trillion to the national debt and that is on top of the $2 trillion tax cut he gave them when he was president and when he exploded the deficit. The trump campaign attacked vice president harris�*s economic record on wednesday, calling presidentjoe biden�*s economic plans wea k. In a statement, the trump campaign claimed harris has: let's turn to some other important news around the world. A final report into the deadly grenfell tower fire in 2017 says the disaster was due to failures by government, dishonest companies, and a lack of strategy by the fire service. The chair of the seven—year inquiry said on wednesday that all 72 deaths in the fire were avoidable and that people living in the tower were badly failed. In a statement to parliament, sir keir starmer apologised to those affected on behalf of the british state. Us media report presidentjoe biden is poised to block japan—based nippon steel's acquisition of us steel, citing national security concerns. Nippon�*s $14. 9 billion takeover bid faced opposition from both democrats and republicans who demanded that one of us�*s largest steel manufacturers remains american—owned. That is our programme. Thank you for watching bbc news. Check out our website. We are back at the top of the next hour. Stay with us. Hello. We're expecting a real mix of weather over the next couple of days. For some northwestern parts of the uk, it's going to turn sunny and very warm, but further south for southern england and south wales, we're expecting some heavy rain. Perhaps in one or two locations, a month's worth of rain injust a couple of days — that could cause some disruption. It's all because low pressure is continuing to swirl to the south of us, this band of rain here becoming quite slow moving, particularly, i think, across the southwest of england. But around that area of low pressure, we're drawing in some humid air, so further north and west with some sunshine it will feel very warm. Now, during thursday, these southern parts of england and south wales will see some rain at times — that rain turning heavy and persistent in the southwest later on. Further north, a lot of low cloud, mistand murk, some spots of drizzle, but the best of the sunshine where you get some shelter from the breeze. Western scotland and northern ireland, temperature—wise, well, maybe along some north sea coastjust 15 or 16 degrees, but elsewhere 18—21 with a slightly more humid feel. But as we head into the evening, this heavy rain affecting south west england, clipping into south wales, and overnight, it looks like we will see more rain pushing along the south coast. So with that rain really totting up, there is the risk of flooding, some disruption. Further north, largely dry, some mist and murk and low cloud for north sea coast. Quite a muggy start to friday morning. More rain through the day on friday across southern england, perhaps pushing northwards into south wales and the midlands, perhaps east anglia as well as we go through the day. Further north, while still some areas of low cloud, mist and murk for some northern and eastern coasts, but further west, some good spells of sunshine, and look at the temperatures — liverpool at 26 degrees, parts of western scotland at 25 degrees, so feeling warm and quite humid into the weekend. 0ur area of low pressure continues to swirl to the south of us, throwing some showers northwards. Still quite a lot of mist and murk and low cloud. Could be some fog around to start, saturday morning. Should see some spells of sunshine, and again, in the sunshine, feeling very warm with those temperatures, perhaps up to around 25 degrees. Into sunday, more of the same, really. Some showers, particularly in the south. Some sunshine, too. Still feeling warm and muggy. Voiceover: this is bbc news. We'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. My mother hasn't given birth in 1984. This birth certificate is not real. I'm helping parents to find their children who were stolen and sold by the georgian doctors. What the hell is happening? who is that girl? georgia is coming to terms with a black market adoption scandal spanning decades. It's believed tens of thousands of babies were stolen, some as recently as the mid 20005.