britain needs to mobilize a citizens army to face the threat from russia. and in gaza, israeli tanks hita un buildings, killing nine people. the white house says the food situation is dire, as they push for a much needed humanitarian pause. good evening. russia says ukraine has deliberately shot down a military transport aircraft that was carrying dozens of ukrainian prisoners of war. the plane exploded in a huge fireball close to belgorod, a russian city 25 miles from the border with ukraine. photographs that were taken shortly after, show the wreckage lying in a snowy field. the russian defence ministry said 65 ukrainian prisoners of war, six crew members and three other passengers died in the crash. the russian ministry of defence said the pows were being flown to belgorod from an airfield near moscow, and were scheduled to be exchanged later today at the border. they claim a second plane carrying around 80 pows was turned around and returned to moscow. our verify team hav
half of them americans in exchange for a three day humanitarian cause. 0ur international editorjeremy bowen has travelled with the israel defence forces into gaza and while the bbc had editorial control of the next report, the section with the idf has been viewed by them. like young soldiers in many wars, israeli troops looked excited, not apprehensive, as they made their final preparations tojoin israel s invasion of the gaza strip. they re moving in as the war approaches a critical point. their colleagues already inside the strip have surrounded gaza city. these men might be part of the next stage, locating hamas tunnels and fighting street by street. israel s prime minister promised his country a mighty vengeance against hamas. but with so much firepower, one question is israel following joe biden s advice not to be blinded by rage, to defend itself, but also, protect the lives of palestinian civilians? we went into gaza with the israeli army on condition we didn t revea
and some trying to climb over the gates with palestinian flags. meanwhile, israel in israel the idf says its iron dome intercepted a drone coming from lebanon earlier today after taking down rockets from gaza overnight. rachel: iran says u.s. would be, quote, hit hard if washington did not implement a cease-fire in gaza but israel is maintaining a cease-fire is not an option. we re not going to have a cease-fire with hamas it is leak you having a cease-fire after bombing of pearl harbor and cease-fire with isis it is absurd glad to see the administration is not asking for a cease-fire. jonathon hunt is on the ground with the latest. hey, jonathon. hey will rachel, pete good to see you. over the last four hours or so this morning israel paused air strikes to give more civilians in gaza time to head from the north at the center of the war zone down to relative safety at the southern end of gaza and prior to that they made it clear they are not going let up the pressure on h