israel urges 170,000 people to keep moving southwards as it expands its operation in gaza. rescue teams have recovered the bodies of 11 hikers. the us military says a warship in the red sea has gone to the aid of commercial vehicles. the uk's only two giant pandas are on their way back to china. the us military says three commercial vessels operating in the southern red sea have been struck by drones or missiles fired by houthi rebels in yemen. a houthi spokesman said the group's navy had attacked two israeli ships. the israeli military said the vessels had no connection to israel. no casualties were reported.

let's get more from our security correspondent, frank gardner. this is a potential route to further escalation of the israel hamas war. the hu theis, who have controlled much of yemen for the last nine years —— houthis, they control that course, they are backed by iran. time and again they have spoken of what they call their brothers, hamas. three ships have been attacked by their drones and missiles yesterday. the us navy missiles yesterday. the us navy missile guided destroyer that was the in area came to their aid. it is possible that came under fire as well. it is not clear if that was directed against the us warship as well. the us navy warship took

defensive action and shot down two of the drones, but there were some hits on the ships. the reason why this is the risk of escalation is that the us has said that this is a threat to maritime security and commercial shipping, and that it was going to consider the appropriate response in conjunction with its allies and partners in the region. it is fairly certain that the options under consideration will include, but not necessarily be, hitting the houthi launch sites in yemen, this is not the first time that houthis have fired missiles towards what they consider to be an israeli target. explain to us, launched by houthis in yemen, how much of the get support or even direction from iran? iran denies this, but there have been frequent cases of iriney and weapon supplies being intercepted at

sea, bound for houthis. nobody is disputing that iranians have helped houthis to develop drone capability. they have been fighting a civil war fought nine years and have in recent years fired rockets and missiles and drones at that uae, saudi arabia, and other parts of yemen. can we also get your perspective on what is happening on the ground in gaza at the moment. we know the israeli military is now expanding its ground operation into more areas of the gaza strip. we have been hearing bombardment inside particular areas. what is happening on the ground, and what the idf tactics are? 0nce tactics are? once the ceasefire expired, remember this was a brief seven day ceasefire that allowed the exchanges of hostages for prisoners, and a pause

in the bombing, istria has resumed its military campaign in gaza with intensity. —— israel has resumed. up till now most of its operations, not all of them, but most ground operations have been in the north, now they are pushing south towards khan younis, they are essentially pushing already displaced hundreds of thousands of displaced palestinians out of areas that they had previously fled to. some of them are seeing, we have nowhere else to flee to. even international unity and aid workers are seeing, nowhere in gaza sc. the israelis see they have taken measures to protect civilians by dropping leaflets with boxes on maps showing which areas they have to go to, but palestinians there are seeing that is not enough, we often have not the communications, we do not know where to go, they are running out of food and water in some places. it is a dire human interior situation. that

is an interesting development over the weekend, the us defence secretary has warned israel publicly that by feeling to protect, or if it fails to protect civilians, it risks losing the strategic war, that it might achieve a tactical victory, but it would lose the strategic war, essentially he said, if you push civilians into the arms of the enemy. he has been criticised on this by supporters of israel, but it shows how concerned america is. america's allies in the region do not think america is doing enough to restrain israel. 15,500 dead so far, thatis restrain israel. 15,500 dead so far, that is hamas health ministry casualties, they figures, nevertheless, it is enormously unpopular in the region what israel is doing. and they are disappointed that america is not doing more to restrain it. i have to say there's very little criticism in the region

of hamas, which of course carried out that brutal attack, that murderous attack in october the 7th, that triggered this military campaign. thank you for your thoughts. human rights organisations in the netherlands are bringing a court case today against the dutch state, alleging the export of f35 fighterjet parts to israel makes the netherlands complicit in alleged war crimes in gaza. live now to correspondent anna holligan. tell us about this case. this all ties into what frank was just talking about, the human rights organisation say that if the netherlands does not block these exports then it is in theory complicit with any possible allegations of war crimes being committed by israel in gaza. these parts, to be clear, our us parts, a 35 fighterjet parts, be held in

european distribution centre in the netherlands just south of where i am now, in the hague. the organisation has asked thejudges now, in the hague. the organisation has asked the judges to present an injunction to prevent any further exports during the course of this conflict. the hearing hasjust ended. we heard from lawyers representing the ngos, they said the minute there is any kind of suggestion that human rights abuses may be occurring, then the state has a responsibility to act, and in this case as the power to act. we also heard from one of the lawyers representing the state, he said a number of things, the position of the dutch government is on the legality they do not know whether there is a possibility to intervene here, because this is a us run operation out of the netherlands. they had to weigh up as your�*s right to self—defence, with the possible violations of humanitarian he also

said even if there were to be an injunction agreed by this judge at the hague district court, the us would probably find a way to export these parts to israel from elsewhere. hugely complicated, but also significant possibly test case that we are watching here. thank you. russian authorities confirm the death of their high ranked general deployed to ukraine. major general vladimir zavadsky was the deputy commander of the 14th army corps of the northern fleet, said the governor of the russian voronezh region. pro—kremlin�*s sources adde zavadsky was killed after being blown up on a mine. this comes as russia bombarded ukrainian south overnight with kherson and mykolayiv regions hit. live now to our bbc correspondent jessica parker in kyiv. this seems like on paper a significant loss for russia, is it?

yes. generalzavadsky significant loss for russia, is it? yes. general zavadsky we had heard last week an unconfirmed report that he had been killed but there was not a lot of detail confirmed by official sources in russia. this development today, a regional governor, confirming that he had died. it is not exactly clear, and the government did not outline the circumstances of general zavadsky�*s day. there have been reports that he died some way back from the front line, possibly blown up by a landmine. a suggestion it could have been a russian lead landmine. there have been conflicting reports though as to where it may have happened. in truth we do not know the exact circumstances of his death as things stand. in terms of its significance, it would be, we think around the seventh general to have died since russia's full—scale invasion. a fortnight in the first four months

of fighting, to earlier this summer. clearly, the loss of any kind of senior military official in the fields is always a blow to that side. we have talked a lot in recent weeks about the concern in ukraine about money and aid slowing down towards kyiv. now we have this letter warning to congress from white house that funds for ukraine could dry up. tell us about that. some slightly worrying news, a developer and something that we already knew about, coming out of dc today. this is that white house budget chief, writing to congress, she is a stark in her assessment of the situation. she said that without congressional action in terms of providing aid to kyiv, by the end of the year they will run out of resources to provide more weapons and equipment, that could

potentially kneecap ukraine. you will remember the recent stopgap settlement to prevent the federal government shutdown, omitted ukraine from that. senior ukrainian politicians trying to put a brave face on that, emphasising the strength of their relationship, but there is concern clearly as to whether this crucial funding that president biden has tried to put forward as part of a wider package will actually come to fruition. the us has been the biggest backer of ukraine in terms of military age. and then, you have got also going on, concerns about whether eu funding will come to the four ahead of a summit next week in brussels. tied into that as well, potential concerns about whether there will be a blockage on the next stage of ukraine's new accession hopes, it hopes to become a member. when you look at that picture, tied in with what has been seen as a faltering counter offensive, and russia try to push ahead in some areas, it is a

difficult time for ukraine in terms of this conflict. thank you. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

venezuela has voted overwhelmingly to establish a new state in a disputed, but oil— rich part of neighbouring guyana. in a referendum, more than 95% approved establishing a new state in essequibo. sunday's referendum was called by president nicolas maduro, who argues the terrority was stolen from venezuela. speaking from the un climate conference in dubai, the vice president of guyana, dr bharratjagdeo, told the bbc that the referendum was a failure for the venezuelan government. everyone in the world expected once the referendum was held it would be a yes vote. but we believe it is a resounding failure for the government of mcdougall, considering

only half of the total eligible voters turned out. of the half that turned out, not 100% voted in favour of a yes vote. less than half of the eligible voters voted in favour of this. it is a defeat, we believe, 43, a distraction from the problems in venezuela. now we have concerns. all day long latin american news agencies have been there was a low voter turnout. the electoral turnout announced the figure, and we believe that even with the rigging of the turnout figures, they still does not have half of the eligible voters, on an issue that venezuela has over the past 50 years been seeing to their

people that that area belongs to them. it is a predictable outcome, but the entire world is in support of guyana on this matter. in the icg has been a very definitive ruling. the vice president they are speaking to us from dubai. let's get more on this with our south america correspondent katy watson. the vice president saying this is barack 0bama three using this for his own political means. —— the vice president saying this is maduro using this. this debate is over a century old. court of arbitration rules in the late 19th—century that it belongs to, at the time british guyana, it was under british rule. under the

spanish colonial rule it fell under spain, it should now be venezuela. it is uniformly seen by venezuelans as venezuelan, but it was also not really something that any body thought about very much, until 2015, when there was a huge amount of oil found offshore. that is when suddenly there was a lot more interest in the region. that is something that maduro has talked about. at the end of the day, this is now guyana. talk to many people in guyana, none of those voted in the referendum, the... it is a hot topic now, but it has been going on for over a century. presumably this referendum is non—binding. what will happen now? it is non—binding. 95% of

venezuelans have it is non—binding. 95% of venezuela ns have voted it is non—binding. 95% of venezuelans have voted for it to belong to venezuela. that is unsurprising. a lot of people felt that this was, a lot of the no voters, you could see that no campaign, many people did not vote, the turnout by all accounts is pretty low. what happens next? that is what all lot of people are wondering. there could be military posturing. that is something that nicholas maduro has talked about. this is also very much narrative ahead of elections next year. it is trying to kind of bolster national support going into a year of campaigning, year of elections. but you have to think very carefully before any military intervention, not least because the us has recently dropped sanctions, oil sanctions, against venezuela, perhaps seeing any aggression on the border would undo that. that is

something that i do not think venezuela would want to see. this has ramped up national sentiment in the country, how popular is barack 0bama three right now? —— how popular is maduro now? there was concerns that the elections were not free and fair, huge concern about quality—of—life for the economy in venezuela. bolstering his support ahead of an election year is something that is in his interest. venezuela is still in his interest. venezuela is still in the position it has been in the last several years, a difficult position for a venezuelans, many venice wheels have left the country to seek better lives. that situation has not gone away. trying to get that support ahead of an election, which there are huge concerns that won't be for your fear is something thatis won't be for your fear is something

that is a priority. the culture secretary, lucy frazer, has said an increase to the bbc licence fee of almost £15 next year would be too much. it's expected to go up to just over £173 a year — in line with inflation. explain a bit more about this. the licence fee is how the majority of the bbc�*s activities are funded. that is notjust television, it is radio, online, and all the things the bbc does, comes from the majority licence fee contribution, which in the last financial year was just over £3.5 billion. a lot of money. and of course the bbc would want as much room for manoeuvre in that, knowing a match is going to get, and wanted to get the maximum possible so that it can do is match that feels it can. the bbc is

already in round upon round of cost—cutting because the freezing of the licence fee in recent years. yes, it is a big amount of money, and it is becoming a big point of discussion between the bbc and the government. has the bbc asked for a certain amount of money? there are negotiations that are done behind closed doors and then up to each licence fee settlement. at the end of the day the government makes a decision and it follows the bbc, and the public, of what that decision is. at the beginning of 2022 the six—year deal it was announced is that the licence fee would be frozen for two years, which of course would amount to a real money cut in actual money that the bbc has, because of inflation generally, and inflation within the broadcasting industry. but then after that, from april 2020 for the government said it would rise in line with inflation. this is what is

becoming the thing being talked about at the moment. the culture secretary said they are looking at the appropriate rate of inflation. in the past that rate of inflation has been calculated september to september, across an entire year, thatis september, across an entire year, that is where it is always been done. the government now look like they might be seeing, we willjust take one month, september 2023, when the rate of inflation was lower than the rate of inflation was lower than the average. some people might see that the government are ripping up the agreements, the government say they are not ripping up the agreement, the edgesjust they are not ripping up the agreement, the edges just looking at what is most appropriate in the current circumstances. everyone has a view on the licence fee, which they have to pay. to us through the different aspects. there are people who feel that they should not be forced to pay a licence fee for what the bbc provides, or that the bbc should limit the scope of what it does to a much narrower degree, than its

activities at the moment. then you have people who think the bbc is worth every single penny, worth more, should be doing more, deserves more, should be doing more, deserves more, and more money. at the end of the day it is members of the public, if they want to watch any television in the uk, they have to be, by law, the licence fee. it is going to be an argument. —— they have to pay. we are expecting a decision soon from the government. the culture secretary said she is talking constantly to the bbc. at the end of the day this is something that, while discussions might go on behind closed doors, it is a decision purely for the government. thank you. the uk's only giant pandas have left edinburgh zoo for their return home to china. tian tian and yang guang will depart from the city's airport for chengdu this afternoon.

0ur reporter, morag kinniburgh, is at edinburgh airport and joins me now. how is the process going? we are a little bit delayed with the departure of the pandas here at this lunchtime. they are on board the china southern plane. tian tian and yang guang safely into their creates this morning, purpose—built metal crates come out with bamboo and carrots to persuade their men. they have gone through several customs and security checks, making sure all the formalities are correct, before loading onto their plane, and 12 or 13 hours on the flight from here to china. halfway through that flight

the keeper from china. halfway through that flight the keeperfrom edinburgh zoo china. halfway through that flight the keeper from edinburgh zoo will hand over the keys to the panda cage to his chinese counterpart. that will officially mark the end of the royal geological society of scotland's responsibility for these two giant pandas. remember, they came here 12 years ago with much fanfare and enthusiasm, part of an international panda breeding programme. but, despite several mating attempts there were no carbs. critics said pandas should not be keptin critics said pandas should not be kept in zoos, especially now they are no longer officially classed as endangered animals. but it is claimed the 1a million pounds it is cost to have the beers here has been worth it, from a scientific research point of view, —— to have their pandas here. they also see from a

conservation and educational point of view. they will go into quarantine before being transferred to other panda enclosures in china. the keepers will spend a few months going to and fro over the next few months. they have been so popular, many will be sad to see them go. thank you so much. you can go to the website for the very latest on what is happening in the gaza strip at the moment, and in israel. we have a live page up and running as the idf is expanding its operation to all areas of the gaza strip following resumption of fighting on saturday.

hello again. after some disrupted snow and some low temperatures this week we see a change in the weather. we start on a cold note but as we head through the mid week period it is going to become wetter and windier, but also milder as the weather comes back in from the atlantic. what is happening at the moment is low pressure is driving our weather and it today will be slowly moving northwards. there is a lot of cloud and rain associated with this, some hill snow, but even some of the snow getting too lower levels at times and it will be cold today and also blustery. the strongest winds will be with exposure in west wales,

the southwest and channel islands where we could have gusts to gale force. we have the cloud, the rain and hill snow across england and also wales. some of that getting down to lower levels at times. some snow showers across eastern and northern parts of scotland and on the hills of northern ireland. but we do have that cold feel, especially if you are exposed to the wind. through this evening and overnight the centre of the low pressure pulls away to the near continent but we are still dragging in this north—easterly wind. so there will still be a lot of cloud and also some patchy light rain and showers and still some hill snow across the southern uplands, northern england on the hills and also the hills of wales. under clear skies for the rest of scotland and northern ireland it is going to be cold, frosty and the risk of ice on untreated surfaces. we could start the day with —8 in parts of the highlands. but here it will be brighter. meanwhile in the south for england and for wales the low pressure continuing to drift towards the near continent taking the showers with it and the showers across eastern parts of scotland are likely to be wintry in nature. through the course of tomorrow, our temperature range, three in the north, to about ten as we push towards the south. 0vernight tuesday into wednesday it's going to be cold

and during the day on wednesday you can see the milder air starting to pull in from the west pushing across us during the course of thursday. wednesday will start on a cold note with a widespread frost. it could be —10 in parts of the highlands with some freezing fog. but a lot of dry weather until we see the change in the weather from the west, as some wetter and windier conditions come in. but with that, so do milder conditions.

today at one: the government is set to announce new measures aimed at bringing down legal migration to the uk. it follows record figures that showed almost 750,000

more people arrived in the country last year than left it. also this afternoon — a bbc investigation reveals how water companies can make sewage pollution incidents disappear from the official figures. hundreds of homes in cumbria still without power after heavy snow and a warning that drivers in some parts of the country face "ice rink monday". the couple who lived for years with an unexploded missile which they treated as a garden ornament. and it's farewell to tian tian and yang guang — the pandas heading home to china today after 12 years at edinburgh zoo. coming up on bbc news: the uk government will back recommendations from a review into women's football which included making the top two divisions fully professional.