the alarming numbers in alexandria. ashley, carley, it s sad when you look at these numbers laid out in a map or remote learning lesson for longer, children suffered the sharpest declines in learning. the nation s report card was last administered in 2019. show that since then eighth grade math scores have dropped by a staggering eight points. again, it s a three-point loss for reading in both fourth and fifth grade, statistic offer this quote: the losses are bigger, much bigger in math and reading and are much vulnerable kids. those are things consistent with every other piece of information that we have seen in post-pandemic testing. school closures were the dander and so little was known about covid-19 but the more known those closures became political, calling the shots based on national guidance and dr. anthony apo fauci is seekino separate himself from that. they always come back and say fauci was responsible for closing school. i had nothing to do let s get dow
for the new year. good evening from jerusalem. more british nationals have made it out of gaza after palestinian authorities listed nearly 100 as being eligible to cross into egypt. israel began bombing gaza after hamas, described as a terrorist organisation by the uk government, killed more than 1,400 people in israel and kidnapped over 200 others. the hamas run health ministry in gaza says more than 9,000 people have been killed in the strip since then. the leader of the lebanese islamist group hezbollah, which is also classed as a terrorist group by the uk government, has today described the hamas attacks on israel as right, wise and just . in a moment we ll be hearing from 0rla guerin who s in beruit. fergal keane will be reporting on the worsening situation in gaza. and we ll get the lastest from the rafah crossing where those british nationals will cross into egypt. but first, this report by our international editorjeremy bowen begins with the aftermath of what the ham
israel says its troops in gaza are engaged in face to face combat with fighters from hamas. the israeli military says its troops have now completely encircled gaza city, in the north of the territory, almost four weeks since the start of this war. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is back in tel aviv, as washington increases the pressure for a humanitarian pause. antony blinken talked about israel s right to defend itself, but also the need for concrete steps to minimise harm to civilians in gaza. meanwhile, the leader of hezbollah like hamas a proscribed terrorist organisation has been speaking in lebanon. hassan nasrallah praised the hamas attacks and said the possibility of total war is realistic . one other important line to update you on more foreign nationals have been getting out of gaza at the rafah crossing point into egypt. 92 british nationals are on the list of people who are being allowed to leave. the hamas run health ministry in gaza says mo