today. pope francis is leaving easter sunday mass and the archbishop of canterbury leads a service from canterbury cathedral. hello, and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. trials ahead of so called covid passports will get under way in england later this month, as the government looks to restart mass gatherings and indoor events safely. the passes would show whether a person has been vaccinated, has had a recent negative test, or has a natural immunity with a positive test in the last six months. the first pilot event will be a comedy night in liverpool later this month where audience members will be tested for covid before and after the show. the pilots will last until mid may and include the fa cup semi final and final, the world snooker championship in sheffield, and several events in liverpool including an evening at a nightclub. downing street also confirmed countries will be in a risk based traffic light system when foreign holidays resume. the
i m sarah campbell. we start with the war between israel and hamas, as international pressure mounts for action to address the prospect of imminent famine among palestinians in gaza. we re following a number of developments. the us is said to have authorised the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighterjets to israel in recent days. the package, reported by the washington post and reuters, comes despite growing calls for us military aid to be linked to changes in how israel conducts the war. it comes days after the un s top court, the international court ofjustice, ordered israel to allow the unimpeded flow of food aid into gaza. israel says un allegations that it s blocking aid are wholly unfounded . the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has agreed to send officials to egypt and qatar in the coming days for a new round of talks on a possible ceasefire in gaza. in the past 2a hours both the uk and the us military have airdropped food supplies into
we ll hear from captain harry kane about their desire to go one further than recent tournaments and get their hands on a trophy. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. we are live in southern israel, less than a mile from the gaza strip, behind me about an hours drive from tel aviv. the us presidentjoe biden is now in tel aviv for meetings with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his war cabinet. soon after the us president arrived he said he was deeply saddened and outraged by the devastating explosion at a hospital in gaza city yesterday evening. he said responsibility lay with what he called the other team . in other words, israel didn t do it. the israeli military blames the attack on a misfired rocket from palestinian islamichhad group. it s the second biggest armed group in the gaza strip. like hamas it s backed by iran. it is usually seen as more extreme than hamas but both groups are designated as terrorist organisations by many western go
in the south and west. for the rest of us it will be fairly cloudy with sunny spells. but the wind will strengthen widely throughout the day. details later in the programme. good morning. it s wednesday, 18th october. there s been international condemnation after an explosion at a hospital in gaza is reported to have killed at least 500 people. the blast has raised the diplomatic stakes for president biden, who s currently flying to israel to try to prevent the violence spreading elsewhere in the middle east. hamas a group designated as a terror organisation by many western governments says the al ahli hospital was hit by an israeli air strike. but israel has blamed the palestinian group, islamichhad, but it s denied any involvement, describing the accusations as lies. wyre davies has the latest. pictures from gaza last night showed scenes of utter chaos. bloodied, wounded casualties from the partially destroyed al ahli arab hospital. videos many too graphic to broadcas