Hello, I'm Nicky Schiller. Welcome to the program. We start this hour with the latest developments in the Middle East. President Biden has promised Israel iron-clad United States support amid fears that Iran could launch reprisals for an attack that killed senior Iranians. Us media are reporting that an American general visit Israel on Thursday to discuss Washington's fears. President Biden warned that Iran is threatening to launch a significant attack after Israel struck the Iranian consulate in Syria 10 days ago. Mr. Biden was speaking hours after the Iranian Supreme Leader again said Israel would be punished for the strike on its consulate. Meanwhile, the Hamas political leader Ishmael Haneia says there'll be no change in the group's demands for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza despite the killing of three of his sons in an Israeli airstrike. Israeli media is reporting that the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had not been briefed in advance of the attack. This video is believed to show Ismail Haneia receiving the news in Qatar, where he lives in exile, Israel has confirmed the strike, describing the sons as Hamas military operatives. He's been actively involved in negotiations to broker a ceasefire with Israel, demanding a permanent end to the fighting and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes.

We'll assess the implications of the killing of his sons in a moment. First, here's President Biden on the threat posed by Iran in the region.

We also want to address the Iranian threat. To launch a significant... They're threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel. As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel's security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad. Let me say it again, ironclad. We're going to do all we can to protect Israel's security.

Let's go live to our Middle East correspondent, Hugo Bachega, who is in Jerusalem. We heard President Biden there, Hugo. There are real fears now over what Iran might do and the possibility of the conflict spreading wider in the region.

Yeah, and it's very interesting that over the last few days, American officials have been saying that they believe this possible Iranian response to that attack in Damascus is a matter of when and not if. Obviously, we don't know what the Iranians are planning to do. They have this network of factions across the region, the so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, factions in Iraq and Syria. All those players have already been involved in this conflict. Hezbollah, for example, has been attacking Israel from Lebanon almost every day. But I think the fear here is that Iran may be planning to launch an attack by itself from its own territory, and that could be involving missiles and drones. Israeli officials have been saying that they are going to retaliate to any attack coming from Iran. Israeli authorities said they would give a significant response. And I think in another sign of these concerns, today, the Axios website is reporting that the senior US military commander in charge of the Middle East is going to come to Israel to have conversations with the Israeli defense minister and also with military officials. And I think what President Biden was trying to say is that despite the differences between the Americans and the Israelis over the the Israeli conduct in the war in Gaza, and we've seen in the last few days the level of frustration from America with Israel, with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Biden is saying that these two countries remain very strong allies, and that any Iranian attack on Israel would trigger an American reaction.

If we move now to that attack that killed the three sons of Hamas's political leader, What more do we know about the attack itself?

Ismail Hania is saying that this was a political assassination, and that his reaction was that Israel would be delusional to think that this would change the position of Hamas in these ceasefire negotiations. I think the key context here to this attack is that this happened as we're waiting to hear hear from Hamas whether they're going to accept the ceasefire proposal that was put forward after those mediating negotiations in Cairo. At the heart of this proposal is a six-week ceasefire in the conflict in Gaza. This would see Hamas releasing 40 hostages who are being held in Gaza in return for 900 Palestinians who are now being held in Israeli jails. But many obstacles remain because it seems that Hamas has told that it doesn't have 40 hostages who fit the criteria that has been set up in this proposal, female soldiers, elderly people, people who are sick. And it seems that there's some differences as well related to the identity of the prisoners who are going to be released. So we're still waiting to hear from Hamas, but I think Hamas has been sticking with its demand that any ceasefire in Gaza should be permanent because a senior Hamas official said that they believe that any temporary ceasefire would mean that once the hostages are out, the Israelis may return to Gaza to finish the job and try to destroy Hamas.

So they want a permanent ceasefire. They want the end of the war, but we're still waiting to see how they're going to respond to this latest proposal.

Hugo Pachega, our Middle East Correspondent, live in Jerusalem. Thank you.