this is how the battlefield currently looks, according to uk military intelligence, the red areas are russian occupied, with the arrows showing likely points of russian attack. the recent focus of attention is here, in the north east, near kharkiv, where fierce fighting has been taking place, the yellow represents new gains claimed by russia. our defence correspondent, jonathan beale, sent this special report from the front line. near the village of lyptsi, the russians are closing in. the fire from a recent rocket attack near a ukrainian position. we are told to immediately head to a bunker. taking shelter, recently arrived ukrainian reinforcements. a week ago, they were fighting elsewhere on the front. andrei tells me the situation is dynamic and tense. from a drone feed, they are nervously watching and waiting for another attack. he says it s time to leave. they ve just spotted enemy forces advancing. this is where they are directing artillery fire. they are telling us to
to the victims families. our hearts go out to them, to the families, at this difficult time. we will leave no stone unturned. we will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home. we will not rest until we do. meanwhile lawyers for israel have told the international criminal court that south africa is making a mockery of genocide . it comes after south africa implored the un s top court to order israel to stop its incursion in rafah, citing the genocide convention. now that both sides have presented arguments, it s up to the icj s judges to decide whether it is necessary to issue a ruling. from the hague, here s the bbc s anna holligan. well, israel described south africa s case as an inversion of reality, divorced from facts, and accused south africa of exploiting the genocide convention by presenting outlandish allegations, such as accusing israel of creating extermination zones, using language reminiscent of the holocaust, and comparing the situati
philippe lazzarini said they were leaving without safe passage or protection, heading to areas with little water or sanitation. more than a million palestinians had taken refuge in the city after it was designated a safe zone early on in the conflict. this development comes as israel s military says it s recovered the body of another hostage inside gaza. the remains have been identified as ron benjamin, who the military says was killed in the october 7th attack by hamas. and in a further development, the israeli war cabinet minister, benny gantz, is threatening to bring down prime minister benjamin netanyahu s government if he doesn t agree to his post war plan for gaza within three weeks. here s what he said. translation: the people of israel are watching you. i you must choose between zionism and cynicism, between unity and factions, between responsibility and lawlessness, between victory and disaster. if you put the national over the personal and chose to follow in the f
the situation on the frontline is tough regional governor of ukraine s northeastern kharkiv region said that nearly 10,000 people have been forced to leave their homes, since russia s ground attack there last week. let s hearfrom president zelensky about those troop shortages. translation: we need to staff the reserve. there are a serious number of brigades which a large number of them are empty. we need to do this so that guys can have a normal rotation, then their morale will be improved. earlier, 0ur correspondent in kyiv james waterhouse told me how ukraine is now in a different chapter of the war with morale very low. you have ukrainian forces which are thought to make up around half a million personnel, either fighting on the front line or in operations around it. you now have a large proportion of those who are exhausted, who have been fighting for the best part of two years with little to no rest. and then you have men either avoiding or fearful of the draft being l