The United Nations Secretary General has in the last hour made two direct humanitarian appeals to both hamas and israel. Antonio guterres issued a statement saying it was his duty as we are on the verge of the abyss in The Middle East. He called on hamas to immediately release the hostages it was Holding Without conditions. And urged israel to allow rapid and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid into gaza including supplies and workers for the sake of civilians there. Mr guterres said each one of these two objectives are valid in themselves. They should not become Bargaining Chips and must be implemented because its the right thing to do. The statement comes as the israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his military is ready to begin at any moment a Ground Offensive aimed at crushing hamas. Thousands of people in the gaza strip are continuing to flee south after an order by israel for more than a Million People to evacuate. These are the latest developments. Israeli troops c
To the programme. Lets begin at the Rugby Union World cup in france, where in the last hour england have booked their place in the semi finals, after a narrow 30 21; win over fiji. Andy swiss is in marseilles and joins us now. Andy, england have done it but they were pushed all the way. They certainly were. The england fans have Onlyjust Stop celebrating inside the stadium behind me. They are through to The World Cup semifinals but only after the most extraordinary drama. They got off to an excellent start, they scored two first half tries, the first from man u to langa who bulldozed his way over. How was his First International try for two years. Followed by a try from joe marchand. England were in total control of the star of the second half. They seemed on course for a straightforward victory but back came fiji and harrow, two tries in quick succession. And higher. Not much more than ten minutes left when the score was 2a all and the fiji fans sensed a remarkable comeback. But in th