Hello, i m sally bundock. A very warm welcome to the programme. There are growing fears of region wide conflict in the middle east. Iran is due to hold a funeral procession shortly for the hamas political chief, ismail haniyeh, who was assassinated on wednesday. 62 year old haniyeh was the political leader of hamas, the group that runs gaza. He was killed in an air strike in tehran while visiting the iranian capital. Hamas blame israel for the killing, but israel hasn t responded. Iran has vowed to avenge his death. Meanwhile, the un security council held an emergency session in new york. The secretary general warned of a dangerous escalation, and israel s prime minister says his country has challenging days ahead. Shortly, we ll have a report from quentin sommerville in beirut, but first, here s our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, from jerusalem. Across the west bank this morning, a furious reaction to the news from tehran. They knew ismail haniyeh had a target on his back. And
You re watching bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. As we go to air, there are growing fears of region wide conflict in the middle east. The un security council has wrapped up an emergency session in new york. Wrapped up an emergency the secretary general is warning of a dangerous escalation. And israel s prime minister says his country has challenging days ahead. All this follows the killing of senior leaders from two iranian backed groups hamas and hezbollah both considered terrorist organisations by the uk and us governments. 62 year old ismail haniyeh was the political leader of hamas the group that runs gaza. He was killed in an air strike in tehran while visiting the iranian capital. Hamas blame israel for the killing, but israel hasn t responded. Iran has vowed to avenge his death. His death came just hours after israel said it had attacked a building in beirut, killing fuad shukr a senior commander of the hamas supporting group, hezbollah.
China is continuing to brace itself as typhoon gaemi makes landfall on the mainland. More than 150,000 people in fujian province have been moved to safety, and the highest tier disaster warning is in place. Officials in the philippines are attempting to contain an oil spill after a tanker sank in manila bay. More than a million litres of oil was on the vessel. Rescued crew members say the captain had tried to return to land. We start in washington, where president biden has been meeting benjamin netanyahu at the oval office amid ongoing protests during the israeli prime minister s trip to washington. It s the first meeting between the two since mr biden visited israel shortly after the hamas attacks on october the 7th. President biden is expected to put renewed pressure on the israeli prime minister to secure a cease fire deal in gaza and to free the remaining hostages held by hamas. Let s hear what they had to say as their meeting began. Mr president, we ve known each other for a0 yea