America. This is bbc world news america. Reporting from washington. Im laura trevelyan. Four plinian boys become the latest casualties, killed as they played on a beach. And the u. S. Adds more sanctions to russia. And a museum that gets eau multimillion dollar face lift 100 years after the first world war. Some of the historic artifacts are on display. Welcome to our viewers on Public Television in america and also around the globe. Four palestinian children playing on a beach near gaza city have been killed in the littest israeli attacks. The militant Palestinian Group hamas says the killings were a war crime. The officials are investigating. And israel has called a fivehour cease fire to allow people to stock up on supplies. An israeli war plane hit gazas port today. Children ran for cover. Then a second strike almost immediately. These children didnt escape. Emergency services rushed the bodies away. Some are so charred theyre too gruesome to show. Its not clear what the target was at this port. Israel insists it only targets the infrastructure used by hamas, terror targets it calls them. Previously it hit this, was used by the hamas naval fishermen but the boats arent going out to sea, and were told the children here were all children of fishermen scavenging for metal to try to support their families. Four boys, age 9 to 11, died in the attack, all from the same extended family. They were buried together within hours. Nine days into this crisis, the death toll in gaza is now at least 220. In israel there was also a funeral today, its first death in this conflict. Hammin was killed by a mortar. Israel says its iron dome sberpts many of the miss aisles from from gaza but still many get through and it blames hamas. Hamas shut the door to negotiation and therefore it bears the sole responsibility for the violence. It is responsible for the civilian deaths, the deaths of innocent palestinians that it uses as human shields and its responsible for the deaths of israeli civilians and the terror rocketing of israeli civilians. I asked one hamas member who is not in hiding why they didnt accept the cease fire. What we saw, we saw only what the israelis want from us but we didnt see anything from what the palestinians want from israely. What does hamas want . We are looking for normal rights. Lifting the siege, opening the border. Where do i seek revenge . Wailed this man who lost four boys today. Both sides say they want ant end to the military escalation but theyre still dangerously far apart. For more on the intensifying attacks i spoke with former congressman jane harmon, now the president of the Woodrow Wilson center. Israel has agreed in the fivehour pause in the air strikes tomorrow. Do you have any hope it could turn into something more permanent . Well, israel has proposed the fivehour pause as i understand it. I would hope that hamas would join this and that some mediation would occur. Both sides have grieve kansases grievances, obviously as a mother and grandmother my heart breaks for that father crying over the loss of the four sons in gaza but what about the fact that the israelis are crouching in fear, too. They have superiority but are still under threat. Tomorrow would be a good day, today would have been better for both parties to do the right thing. Israel is doing the right thing, which is to pause and see if some mediation process can start. Egypt, that didnt work. If we can be helpful i hope we will be but the killing needs to stop and the talking needs to restart. The plinian death toll is now above 200 Palestinian Death toll is now above 200. You mentioned the beaths deaths of the four boys today. So pressure be brought on israel to have something more porment . Well, lets not talk about just israel. As you know, there was an incidence shall intense effort by secretary kerry and others to gate get the israelis and palestinians to agree on a twostate solution. That ends in failure. Nothing ever starts or ends in the middle east so i wont say its over but that is paused. I dont know what role we can play now in stopping this fighting. I think both parties now how destructive it is. I mean were all watching it in the broll on your station and the cries of that father echo in my lariat. Even if there say cease fire soon, how much has the past nine days put back the cause of israeli israelipalestinian peace. I dont know. In a strange way maybe the past days have accelerated it. You must understand violence is not the answer to this problem. At the Wilson Center yesterday we had ground troop briefings and negotiation is the answer. Is the solution still a two state solution . Well, i think its the least bad option. One state is not the right answer. Ongoing war is not the right answer. So form of unilateral withdrawal, which was tried in gaza that is what gaza is. Israel is not occupying gaza. Israel pulled out years ago. But those answers havent worked. I dont have a better answer than a twostate solution and i think most people think still that thats the best place for it to end, they just dont now how to get there. The parties have to want it. Maybe after nine more exhausting days when everyone in the world can see the cost of this, certainly including palestinians in gaza and israelis, maybe, just maybe, that will somehow jumpstart this one more time. Jane harmon, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Thank you. Today, a court in the netherlands ruled that the dutch government was responsible for the deaths of more than 300 bosnian muslims. They were massacred in 1995. They had taken refuge in a base but were handed over by dutch peacekeepers and later killed. The bosnian war gave to the lexicon of conflict a grim new euphemism, ethnic cleansing. The Muslim Population there had reason to be terrified. The serb general, now on trial for genocide, promised they would be safe. With dutch peacekeepers looking on, the women and children were then separated from the men and older boys. Here one calls for a son to calm come out of hiding. He and his father gave themselves up. Both were then killed. The boys and men were machinegunned a few at a time, their bodies bullbows bulldozed into mass graves. Todays decision is about a group who had made it to relative safety in a dutch compound. But they were handed over. Many of the vimbings the widows and mothers of the dea, believe the dutch state should accept responsible not just for 300 murders but for 7,000 more. They were not here to protect their base. They were here to protect the people. It was therefore i am 100 certain it was their fault. This is a recurring National Trauma for the netherlands, whose armed forces were museum i williated were humiliated and shamed. It was a u. N. Area declared safe but never really made safe. And they may think twice before committing troops to future Peace Keeping missions. That of course is unfortunate. Its crucial that there be a certain amount of protection but countries do need to be held accountable for Public Policy decisions and mistakes. The srebrenica massacre happened with the outside world looking on and today the dutch court ruled that the outside world must share some of the blaum blame. In other news, a court in egypt has sentenced seven men to life in prison and two others for sexual assaults. Theres been concern in egypt that the authorities arent doing enough to tackle widespread sexual harassment. Hassan was declared the winner of the syrian election last month. The opposition dismiss the election as a sham. Youre watching bbc world news america. Still to come on tonights program, a dark episode in irelands history is reopened as a commission is due to look into homes where unmarried women were sent to give birth. China has the worlds secondlargest economy behind the United States. Data released today said its better than expected in the second quarter. But just how exactly are these figures compiled and are they a good meave measure of a countrys growth or economic strength . Our correspondent now from singapore. We all want to know how the economy is doing so that we would know how our jobs and incomes might fare. The predominant way of junging that is addle up all our incomes and goods produced many. Thats Gross Domestic Product or g. D. T. D. G. D. P. As you can imagine its tough to measure everything the money paid work paid in money is counted. Work in the home is not the but theyve add a sizeable 7 to g. D. P. But if useful contributions arent concluded but dongy dodgy ones are, is it really the best way to assess the outpuvet a country . So whats the alternative. The world bank created a green d. G. D. P. Bhutan, a Gross National happiness index. In short g. D. P. Is by no means a perfect measure. But to paraphrase Winston Churchill on democracy its the worst possible form of measures except for all the others that have been tried. An episode in irelands history which its parliament describes as shameful. Today a an announcement that a judge will share a Commission Investigating the treatent of unmarried mothers and babies. Thousands were forced into these homes. At one of the homes likely to be examined, our correspondent reports. Stand here and you feel how religion once dominated irish life. Like here at vesper house where nuns of the sacred heart order kept a home for unmarried pregnant women. Kerry harrison came here in 1977, aged 13. The worst is when they would say to you, youre here because nobody wants you youre here because nobody cares but you are hear here because you have failed. Terry gave birth in another churchrun home and claims her baby was later adopted without her permission. He vanished into a black pit. Its like its like his life was stolen, and hes never away from me. Every october on the 15th, he was born at 6 30 in the morning. He weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces and he was beautiful. He was beautiful. From the states beginnings there was pure i tanical public morality. Thousands of bakes were given up from inferior adoption, hundreds sent to america from the churchrun homes. Even women who signed legal papers often had little if any choice. Helen fur murphy grew up in cork, not knowing her birth mother was walking the streets, looking to find her. I suppose she always knew she was never going to find me but maybe she was looking for somebody who looked by the baby. She decide died two weeks before i found her. Campaign ears campaigners also want the compligs to investigate the use of drug trials on babies born in the homes. Christopher believes marks on his body were caused by injections but he cant find any records of what was going on. Im very upset did about it. Im like everybody and no other person i know has marks like these. Why should i be treated any differenty . These are stories from a very different ireland. The commission has been promised full cooperation as well as has glaxo smith kline. They say no babies were vaccinated without mothers permissions. Its sad. We gave our lives to looking after the girls. The inquiry has searching questions for Search Church and state. The high mortality rates in the homes and the location of dead infants graves are two of the most poignant questions awaiting investigation. Here as well as in most other homes, only a small number who died have a marker. But for the irish nation there are larger questions. For those who worked in institutions and state bodies and didnt speak out. To the irish media, now so vigorous in its reporting of clerical abuse but which for decades failed to hold power to account 79 there are questions to all who grew up in that ireland, about the kind of society we tolerated for so long the speaking in the white house tonight, president obama zuss discussed the United States decision decision to increase sanctions on russia in response to the ongoing crisis in ukraine. Joining me for more on todays develop plents so, the president was talking tonight about those increased sanctions. What are he . These sngs as sanctions, the president has just been saying are designed to send a message to russia that they must halt halt the the flow of weapons across the border. Broadly speaking they are sanctions against two large banks and in russia the countrys Largest Oil Company rosneft and a russian government as well as arms company officials. The u. S. Says they are broad, flexible, and potent. Do these mark a significant escalation from the previous sanctions the United States imposed . Theyre definitely tougher. But the question is will they work . The previous sanctions were designed to send a strong message to president putin to back down and deescalate. Thats the word we keep hearing from the white house. The white house is saying that the previous sanctions did have an impact when it comes to the downgrading of the russian economy but theyre clear will not not making enough impact on putin or his ambitions itself the has the white house left is itself anywhere else to do . To go . Threr not sanctioning the entire russian oil industry, which is something people are saying would really hit them where it hurts. The pgdush pentagon said there are now 12,000 forces at the border and there signifies escalation rather than deescalation, so, so far, it doesnt seem to be working with the previous wave of sanctions. So what exactly is it that moscow ising laoing to do to deescalate . Because its disputed isnt it . Well, in what the president just said hes calling on russia to take action against the separatist groups. Hes also calling on russia to come to the table. And resume diplomatic action. What president obama is saying in so many words is they need to back down. Thank you. This week the Imperial War Museum in london is reopening its doors after a 17 million facelift. New artifacts have been brought together to mark the great ar wars centenary. It stands reassuredly near the oval cricket ground. Unchanged for decades. But behind the entrance, a transformation. Over the past 123 months 12 months, luns of items have been removed and restored. The construction teams tort heart out of the old atrium to create larger spaces and galleries. Laura clouty helped to choose nms items. Its been 25 years since we last old new galleries. The objects in there exhibition each have had to go through a luge process of conservation before theyve even gone on display. Some items, like this giants giant artillery piece had galleries built around them. Others symbolize the suffering and savagery of war. There is the generals jacket. These are his medal ribbons. Theyre quite damaged and starting to fray. By the time weve finished and stitched it down, you shouldnt be able to see that once its on display. In 1920 when the Imperial War Museum first opened at the crystal palace, it displayed the spoils of victory. Now the museum has been born again, taking us forward to more recent conflicts. Korea, the falklands, iraq. Within the walls of what was once an asylum, reminders of what many feel is the madness of war. Robert hall, bbc news, south london the the savagery and suffering of war. Some things dont change. The museum, very much worth visitting. You can find much more on all the days news at your web site and were all on twitter. From all of us here at world news america, thanks for watching and please do tune in tomorrow. Stpwhrn funding of this program is made by possible by the freeman found aye, newmans own foundation. And union bank and charles schwab. Theres a saying around here you stand behind what you say. Around here you dont make excuses. I make commitments and when you cant live unto them, you up to them, you own up and make it right. Some people think that kind of accountability has gone missing on the streets of this country where its needed most but i know you will still find it when you know where to look. For 150 years weve believed a commercial bank owes its clients strength, stability security. So we believe in keeping lending standards high, capital ratios high, Credit Ratings high. Companies expect it then Companies Expect it now. Doing right. Its just good business. Bbc world news was presented by kce [ female announcer ] fun together is the best fun of all. Chuck e cheeses proudly supports pbs kids. And by a ready to Learn Television cooperative agreement from the u. S. Department of education through the public broadcasting service. And by contributions to your pbs station from every day when youre walking down the street everybody that you meet has an original point of view. laughs and i say hey hey what a wonderful kind of day if we could learn to work and play and get along with each other you got to listen to your heart listen to the beat listen to the rhythm, the rhythm of the street open up your eyes open up your ears get together and make things better by working together its a simple message and it comes from the heart believe in yourself for thats the place to start and i say hey hey what a wonderful kind of day if we could learn to work and play and get along with each other. Hey what a wonderful kind of day hey what a wonderful kind of day. Hey arthur hey, d. W. Hey whoa crash hello. Today, as a special treat my esteemed colleague, professor baxter is going to speak to us about a subject he knows all about. applause thank you. Today we will discuss. Roll the tape, please. Sleep. Sleep is the most necessary part of our lives. It replenishes our strength so that we are physically fit. snoring it rests our brains so that we are mentally fit. Mr. Ratburn on tape this animal belongs to the genus sus scrofa. Can anyone tell me the sound animals of this genus make . snoring loudly mr. Ratburn excellent, buster that is indeed the sound of sus scrofa the wild boar and finally, it saves our energy for the truly important things in life. yawns now i can prepare myself for something truly important spits snoring applause