live from london, this is bbc news. president trump re-issues a travel ban, this time imposing full restrictions on 12 countries, including afghanistan. the democrats say it's designed to distract attention from a deeply unpopular spending bill. very simply, we cannot have open migration from any country that we cannot reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the us. the aid operation that replaced un operations in gaza has

resumed distribution at two of its centres that had been closed in the past 24 hours. israel says it's recovered the bodies of two of its citizens - killed during the hamas, october seventh attack. the german chancellor is in washington to meet donald trump at the white house and we will bring you all of the details. hello, i'm christian fraser. the travel ban is back. president trump has signed an executive order that will bans citizens of 12 countries from entering the us by next week. the list includes afghanistan, somalia haiti and iran. the order said the administration will protect the united states from foreign terrorists and those perceived to be threat to public safety. in addition to the 12 under a total ban, there are seven countries whose nationals face partial travel restrictions, they include cuba and venezuela. the president claimed it was a response to the recent firebombing attack in boulder, colorado, that injured 12 people.

but egypt is not on this list - despite the fact man in custody was an egyptian national. congressman clay higgins of louisiana - sits on the homeland security committee. during the election campaign he endorsed donald trump's spurious claim that haitian immigrants were eating dogs. he has welcomed a return to the travel ban. here's what he told bbc radio a little earlier. the world must remember that travelling to the united states is a privilege, not a right. and the american people, largely, have had enough of immigrants coming to our country and violating our laws and committing violence upon our people. one of the nations impacted by the partial travel ban is venezuela. here was the reaction of their interior minister who was speaking on state media. translation:

the united states has just issued something prohibiting the entry of any venezuelan into the country. not even with a visa. it's prohibited. in truth, being in the united states is a great risk for anyone. not just venezuelans. if you are a fool, then go to the united states. but what about this decision to leave egypt off the list? greg swenson is chairman of republicans overseas uk. i think it's a little confusing, and you could argue that the president has been, as jake pointed out, very specific on selecting the countries that don't either have terrorist activity or, you know, weak or hostile governments,

high visa overstay rates and or just lack proper vetting. and so, you know, i think, you know, this proves that it's a common sense policy. it's not just a blanket ban because he doesn't, you know, particularly trust a certain country. so yeah, i think i was surprised that egypt wasn't on it, but i think it just demonstrates that the president is being very specific and just again using common sense. our colleague sumi somaskanda will be with us all afternoon from the white house. she is there principally for the visit of german chancellor frierdrich mertz this afternoon. but no question about where most of the focus is ahead of that visit, sumi. it's the travel ban, same principle, but different in some respects to the ban he brought in 2017. that is right. you have a similar reaction to the travel ban that was introduced in 2017, confusions and many questions being asked, why would the country selected for these travel ban and others left off the list? the president referred to the man in colorado, egyptian national, so why was egypt not listed with the travel ban? our correspondent gary o'donoghue has been following the back and

forth on this. he has been looking at some of the reactions. what is your sense of how people are waking up to this travel ban, the first time there was one in 2017, there were protests, legal challenges, so what about now? they have done it in a more organised way because last time there were people on aeroplanes in the air who were subject to the ban and it was chaos at airports. this time they have thought about it more carefully but the messaging is very confused and you mentioned the issue about the suspect being egyptian after the incident in colorado, and there are two countries on the us list of sponsors of terrorism that are not on these lists. terrorism and national security is meant to be one of the reason for having these lists. donald trump got the supreme court to a -- agreed to a version of the

travel ban the first time around, and by that time, the political dividend had dissipated, if you like. this time they will anticipate go challenges because there are court challenges to everything these days but they are hoping they can get it in place a lot quicker. what about the timing? it is interesting. it is capitalising, trying to capitalise on what is happening in the last couple of days, not just in colorado but the attack on jewish people in washington, dc as well. a feeling that this is what the base would quite like to see. there is a mixture of reasoning. not just national security but they also say that these are countries that will not take people back when we try to deport them, countries that overstay their visas, so there is a hodgepodge of reasoning. but it is something that is designed to get through the court system as quickly as

possible, and this is very popular with donald trump's messaging on immigration and closing the borders and improving national security. it looks like strength. gary o'donoghue, thanks for joining us. as we heard there, very likely to be legal challenges to this but it is important to look at the travel ban within the prism of a large immigration crackdown we have seen from the drug administration. -- trump administration. going after foreign students at harvard university and a crackdown of deportations in communities across the country, ending asylum for those coming over the southern border, so this is part of a larger programme to deliver on what donald trump said was his promise on the campaign trail to limit immigration significantly into this country. it is a busy day at the white house, and we will come back to you as soon as the german chancellor arrives in about one hour. not to be

missed. israel has recovered the bodies of two hostages that were being held in gaza. judi weinstein haggai and her husband gadi haggai, both in their 70s and, both american-israeli passport holders, were murdered during the attack on october 7th, by gunmen from the muhajideen brigade, it's a smaller militant group operating in gaza. their bodies were taken across the border that day. their deaths confirmed by the israeli government two months later. the couple were last seen on the day of the attack, walking near the gates of their kibbutz nir oz, where they were murdered. let's go to our correspondent in jerusalem, seb usher. what we know about the recovery operation? it was a combined operation of the israeli army, the internal intelligence agency, israeli immediate saying they did an interrogation of a palestinian militant they captured and he gave them the information that led to the raid last night in

khan younis in the south of gaza where the bodies were discovered. it is a sad day for people in israel but one that was a long time coming. it was known that they had both been killed on the 7th of october. family has welcomed the fact they now have resolution of that, echoed by the israeli president who said it is a moment of deep pain but also a resolution of uncertainty. the israeli government it is a partial vindication of their strategy of continuing the offensive in gaza against greece on the other armed groups -- against hamas and the other armed groups, they say this is how they can get people out of their whether they are alive or dead. no to the operation in gaza, used on the gaza humanitarian foundation, they have resumed some of their

operations? yes, they have. they have four distribution sites and two of those were open. but early in the morning as they had been in the first week of operation, where we saw three days in which tens of thousands of palestinians who were queueing up to get their aid, desperately seeking food, were killed or wounded in disputed circumstances with the eyewitnesses saying they were fired on by israeli troops. the israeli army saying it did not fire on sunday when there was a first incident but acknowledged that on tuesday morning they did but said it was against a couple of suspects who came towards them in a threatening manner. this has happened, the reopening of two sites, in rafa in the south of gaza, it opened at around 215 local time and

closed about one hour later. two other sites in the centre of gaza and also in khan younis, they were not open, so we will have to see if all sites are going to be open and if the gaza humanitarian foundation is up and fully operational again. thanks for joining us. tess ingram is a spokesperson for the un's children's fund, unicef. she has been looking at the issues regarding humanitarian principles in gaza. this is what she said. we are not working with this foundation, but we are continuing to deliver what little aid we are able to get in through the kerem shalom crossing and of course, providing services for children where we can, including mental health support. so our work is ongoing,

but we have been very clear about two things. the first one is that this blockade must be lifted. it is still being implemented. this drip, drip, drip of trucks is not acceptable. it is not anywhere near the amount of aid that's needed. and so that's the first thing is we really need to see trucks come in at scale and be able to be distributed to people wherever they are in gaza. we've also been very clear that this so-called gaza humanitarian foundation is not something that we're cooperating with, because it does not meet our humanitarian principles. georgia tacey is the response director in gaza for save the chldren. she is currently in dier al balah. thanks for joining us. it is a complex wall zone because hamas is embedded within the civilian population -- war. is there any method that involves the israelis near the distribution? no. save the children and the rest of the ngo community have been very clear, controlling power should not be involved in the distribution of any kind of aid, especially in a population that has been terrorised for

over 18 months with constant bombardment on the authorities. there also no need for us rely on one small arguably inexperienced agency that has reduced the 400 sites of distribution we were using several months ago, to only four. it is a false choice to say it is either no aid or going through this mechanism because we all know we have thousands of trucks outside the border filled with food and medical supplies, but it is a political choice that though supplies have not been allowed to be let in. the gaza humanitarian foundation say they have distributed so far 7 billion meals they have brought into the gaza strip -- 7 million. moderate israeli voices think this is working, so what would you point to as evidence that it is not? the fact that before the aid blockade we were servicing over

2 million people across 400 sites so the fact they are distributing some food is still just a drop in the ocean, and that is the only aid being permitted to this agency and arguably for everyone else as well, but there are 2 million people that need medical care and sanitation and disease control and shelter and hygiene kits and education and all of the aid that we are expected to deliver as part of upholding humanitarian law in conflict zones, and so being able to provide one small box of food to a very small amount of the population and making them move for hours on foot to get there instead of what we are used to doing. save the children are running water distribution we do not need apache helicopters and armed groups and soldiers because we work with the community and community leaders and we have trust and we know how to do small distributions

that are safe and people are lining up politely, speaking with their neighbours, taking their water, and moving only 20 metres back to their shelter, not having to walk three hours with a box on the head with only one type of food or aid. it is just not good enough and it is completely unnecessary. you have pinpointed many interesting areas, water distribution, education for children which is key, and also the inoculation clinics that save the children runs in many war zones around the world sewed how does the gaza humanitarian foundation makes sure every child gets aid? -- so how does. well, they don't and they can't we have not seen any evidence of what they have established and how that could possibly have met the most vulnerable top gaza has the most amount of child amputees in the world and they are so

many war -related injuries, women and children and the elderly who cannot move from their shelters because they have been injured through the war or already had a type of disability. they cannot be on foot for three hours, lining up in the heat, being at risk of being killed, as we have seen, just to collect what we were delivering several months ago without any of this chaos and certainly without this loss of life. it has been difficult to verify the number of lives lost in this new operation and all the more difficult because we are not given access and israel does not want us to see what they are doing in gaza but how much access is your staff getting on the ground and what of the risks? we are able to provide services, our warehouses are empty and now we are able to run the health clinics, we are able to reach at least ten shelters per week in terms of running child

protection programmes and malnutrition screening by the staff are risking their lives day coming to the office -- but the star. we received a text message from a colleague yesterday who apologised not to work because there a quad copter shooting people in her camp and had shot one of her neighbours. we said, of course you should not come to work. by the end of the date she called to say that one of her family members had been shot by that quad copter and she was en route to a hospital that she knew was very unlikely they have the medical supplies to treat a woman with a bullet wound going through her shoulder and out of her back. thanks for joining us.

german leader friedrich merz will hold his first face to face meeting with us president donald trump in the coming hours. high on the agenda will be the conflicts in ukraine and the middle east, but the two leaders will also be discussing trade, with germany's economy likely to take a big hit from the recently annoucned us tariffs. the us remains germany's biggest trading partner. therefore, the trump administration's 25% tariff on all vehicles entering the country is impacting german carmakers. in the past, the us leader has called the germans "very bad" as he bemoaned "the millions of cars they sell to the us". trump's threat of a 50% tariff on all european goods is also still looming for july, unless a deal with brussels is struck. let's speak to my colleague sumi somaskanda, who joins us live from the white house. these encounters are always fraught with danger we saw that with president zelensky and

cyril ramaphosa. but we have two men here whose politics and interests outside politics are not that far apart. so much will focus on if they get along and how they get along, and i will say about the meetings, that have become somewhat fraught, the german chancellor spoke to other european leaders who have been to the white house for these meetings in the oval office, and his french counterpart emmanuel macron but also with the ukrainian president and the south african president, and it gives you a sense of how he is preparing for this trip. to your point, these are two men who have some points of common understanding, the german chancellor it's a social conservative, who worked for blackrock for many years and had a close relationship with the us, travelling there often, and he was recently

asked on a local german broadcaster at an event they were hosting about phone calls were donald trump and he said they were friendly and they have established a relationship, baseline relationship. they will now address each other by their first names. the chancellor has the cell number of donald trump and this adds to how the germans have been preparing for the meeting. you see on some social issues and on immigration, these men are aligned. the chancellor has been trying to crack down on immigration at home in germany and we know that we are seeing that here as well in the us, but now we can get a bit more perspective on what will be on the table today for these leaders. i'm now joined by dr liana fix, fellow for europe at the council on foreign relations. thanks for joining us. we were talking about the relationship between friedrich merz and

donald trump, and what the pitfalls might be for this meeting. what are you expecting? the relationship aspect is important but also policy issues that are not so easy to smooth over with a good relationship. on defence germany has something to account for, it has spent more on defence as donald trump has demanded, but on the trade deficit, germany together with mexico and china, one of the four countries with the biggest trade deficit with the us, something which has been the trigger for donald trump's unprecedented tariffs, so while the negotiations are going on with the eu, germany has a special place with regards to the trade deficit with the us from the perspective of donald trump. this is a difficult line

to walk on, these policy issues, for the chancellor to stand his ground on trade and tariffs, and we know negotiations are happening with the eu but also to develop a good working relationship. yes, absolutely. it is big for germany and he also speaks for europe on trade and on the tariffs question. he will try to have a good relationship to make the negations easier with the eu president ursula von der leyen, and he is also part of the group along with france, poland and uk, who see themselves as part of the leadership role on ukraine and that is a topic they will not be able to avoid and they will try to steer donald trump in a direction of not abandoning ukraine. what do you think the chancellor will say? any promises on defence spending? it has been an issue that president trump has raised many

times and he would like to see 5% gdp spending by nato countries. the german defence minister said beforehand that germany would be willing to commit to 5%, divided into two parts, 3.5% and 1.5% for everything to do with infrastructure and bridges and so on, so that is the idea of how nato members want to get to 5%. germany is on board with that plan. before we let you go, how well-prepared do you think the chancellor is for the meeting? extremely well prepared. he would have taken a lot of time studying donald trump and these meetings but it is also a question of intuition in the moment. one thing that brings donald trump and friedrich merz together is their dislike of angela merkel, so maybe that is something they

can agree on! that is a very good point. thanks for joining us. as we head back to you, interesting to note that the chancellor has brought a couple of gifts for donald trump. not entirely sure what they are but we will be following it closely. and all the details of this visit in washington. we will see what it is when they convene at the white house in the next hour. we are going to take a short break. stay with us here on bbc news.

this is bbc news, the headlines... president trump re-issues a travel ban, this time imposing full restrictions on 12 countries, including afghanistan. the democrats say it designed to distract attention from a deeply unpopular spending bill. the aid organization that controversially replaced un operations in gaza, has resumed distribution at two of its centres that had been closed in the past 24 hours. israel says it's recovered the bodies of two of its citizens - killed during the hamas, october 7th attack. uk health officials issue a warning over the use of weight-loss jabs for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.