there s growing international pressure on israel to reduce civilian casualties in the war in gaza. tonight at the un, the security council is due to vote on a demand for israel and hamas to allow aid into the territory. and here, the prime minister rishi sunak has again called this morning for a sustainable ceasefire, saying too many civilian lives have been lost. on the ground in gaza, fierce fighting continues with at least one child killed in a strike on the nasser hospital according to the hamas run health ministry. the bbc has been filming there, as our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, reports from jerusalem and a warning you may find some of the images in her report distressing. panic at the nasser hospital last night. wounded children brought in for treatment were newly injured by an israeli artillery strike, the hospital says. one 13 year old, who had already lost her parents, her sibling her leg, lost her life. recently, she had spoken tojournalists, app
to the foreign office. the foreign office has long condemned the exploitation of british civilians and prisoners of war being held by pro russian forces in ukraine, but the kremlin sees them as diplomatic pawns who can be used to put pressure on the west, and officials here don t expect that strategy to change soon. james landale, bbc news, at the foreign office. everyone aged 50 and over will be offered a covid booster vaccine this autumn to top up their immunity. the announcement comes amid a continuing rise of covid cases across the uk, with some parts of the country nearing the record levels seen during the spring. our health editor hugh pym has all the details. yes, reeta, there was confirmation of those groups who are set to get another covid boosterjab in the autumn, including those more vulnerable who were offered a fourth dose in the spring. now they will qualify for a fifth. health experts say everyone aged 50 and over should be offered a booster in the autumn. prev
they say if that continues on the same trajectory, they do expect the county will reach what s considered high transmission levels by late next week. that said, that s not the only metric that public health officials are looking at in terms of restoring a mask mandate. they are also keeping close eye at covid hospital admissions which cdc guidance needs to reach 15% capacity before an area is considered high transmission. if they do get to that level which could happen in late december, the director of public health says she does anticipate masks will return. we are aligning with the cdc guidance on this. we would ask for universal indoor masking and those unfamiliar with that, that is wherever you go indoors we ask that you keep that mask on. folks there would have to return to wearing masks in public indoor settings like restaurants, gyms, grocery stores, for example, if those
hi, charles. reporter: hey, eric. look, yeah, l.a. s county department of public health has not definitively said that a mask mandate will be restored, but it is seeing troubling numbers that could the lead public health officials many that direction, and this is what they re talking about. take a look at this. l.a. county currently averaging more than 3,000 daily new covid infections, that is a 44% increase from the week prior and more than three times the cases the county was recording at the beginning of november. with with those numbers public health officials say l.a. county is currently in the medium transition area, and if those numbers continue, they do expect the county will reach high transmission by late next week. case counts are not the only metric that officials are looking at. looking at. they re also keeping a close eye on covid hospital admissions and bed capacity which according to the cdc needs to reach about 15% capacity before an area is