welcome to bbc news. a senior un official has warned that half of the population of gaza are now starving, as israel continues its assault on the territory. the world food programme's deputy director, carl skau, says nine out of ten people are not eating every day. israeli tanks are reported to be slowly advancing towards the centre of khan younis, as intense battles continue in southern gaza. there are reports of house—to—house fighting in the city. there's also fighting in the north. these are the latest pictures from the israel defense forces, showing gun battles in the jabalia refugee camp, which remains surrounded by israeli tanks. people there say they ve been without food and clean water for several days.

the hamas—run health ministry in gaza says the death toll since the conflict began is 17,700. from jerusalem, our middle east correspondent, lucy williamson, reports. buried by the war, but still alive, dug from the rubble of their homes in deir al—balah after an israeli strike this morning. more than 20 members of the salman family and their neighbours. their faces, like their lives, made unrecognisable. six others were killed, they say. the frantic race to hospitals is gaza's new daily routine. health care in the north has collapsed. here, further south, doctors say the situation is catastrophic. there aren't the resources to treat all the wounded, much less to comfort them. this boy praying quietly to himself. the girl beside him

calling for her mother. gunfire in the north of gaza israeli forces say they're targeting palestinian fighters in jabalia camp. one of those inside a un shelter there told the bbc they were encircled and had now been without food or water for five days. the army says it was targeted by fighters from a un school and a mosque yesterday. these weapons, it said, were found inside a classroom. israel's ground campaign is now focused on khan younis, gaza's southern capital. fighting, it says, house to house and tunnel to tunnel. israel's aim of destroying hamas infrastructure here is also destroying lives. the city's nasser hospital reported more than 60 dead this morning, around 100 injured.

others are said to still be trapped under the rubble of an attack four days ago. translation: we beg the world. what you waiting for? are you waiting for us to die here in gaza? don't worry. we are going to die here. today, we buried six relatives. tomorrow, and in the days to come, we fear we will all face the same fate. allahu akbar. funerals here have shifted from the mosque to the morgue. faith in hospitals and their power to protect still something to cling to even when the chance to save a life has gone. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. let's get more detail on benjamin neahyahu's comments. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, told me what he's been saying today. he made a short statement a short time ago essentially

welcoming the decision taken by the united states last night in vetoing that un resolution. i don't think there was ever any doubt in israeli mind that the us would do this. the us, like israel, believes that this war cannot end until hamas has been militarily defeated. in the eyes of the israelis and the americans, to call for a ceasefire without that objective having been realised we are simply going to sow the seeds for a future conflict. mr netanyahu, at the end of thejewish sabbath, wanted to say thank you to the principal ally for having his back once again. it was the uae that brought the resolution to the security council. how fine a balance or tight rope are the arab nations having to walk on this?

because there have been reports that it has widened the gap between many arab leaders and their people, the conflict, in general. there is certainly a great deal of strong feeling reverberating around the middle east. although we hadn't seen huge street protests that one might have expected to see. it's not quite clear why that has been. maybe because people are conscious that the hamas attacks that triggered these events were so gruesome and so grotesque. but for the arabs, many of whom either had already or were contemplating improving their relations with israel, a country they want to do business with as the most successful economy in the region. this obviously is a major setback and that has put all of that kind of sense of rapprochement on hold. certainly the saudi arabians,

who were thought to be on the verge of signing some sort of agreement with israel on relations, is now very much in the forefront of saying, condemning what israel is doing. also condemning the decision of the us to veto that resolution. in the view of the arabs, the united states has squandered the leveraged it undoubtedly has over israel to make it change —— the leverage it undoubtedly has over israel to make it change the way it approaches the conflict in gaza. alexandra murdoch, is a spokeswoman for unicef injordan, and she told me more about the worsening humanitarian situation in gaza. by all the measures that you can think of, the situation for people in gaza is beyond crisis point. food is running out, as you have reported. there is a severe lack of safe water, safe drinking water and this a particularly lethal threat to children. people are sleeping outside and concrete floors.

80% of the population are displaced, almost a million of them are children. they are being pushed further and further south into areas that are overcrowded without any of the basics they need to survive. what are the options at the moment? i'm assuming there aren't many, for example, medicalfacilities, that are operating, and israel is now ordering evacuations to the west of the strip to this evacuation zone. yes. the options are extremely limited. as i said before, 80% of the population have been displaced. a small strip that civilians are being told to go to for safety represents about 4% of the entire strip, so it's impossible to have that many people going there and there is nothing there for them either.

it is just a really catastrophic situation, and humanitarian aid at the moment is the only lifeline for people and we are simply able not to get the access that we need to get through for the past four orfive, six days, aid agencies have only been able to access the rafah crossing and even then it is limited. if we can't get through soon, so many people are going to really, really struggle because there isn't enough water, there isn't enough food. there isn't any shelter. i'm sure you are aware of the unraw letter warning of a full—blown collapse and an inability for it to fulfil its mandate. —— i'm sure you are aware of the unrwa letter warning of a full—blown collapse and an inability for it to fulfil its mandate. what would that mean for you to be able to, or unicef or any other agencies to be able to do the job? how long have these children that have been described from suffering from wasting have? well, we are already unable to do ourjob to be aid agencies are not getting the axes they need.

—— the access they need. the conditions are not there. the conditions are not being met for aid agencies to be able to deliver what they need to. it is really difficult to deliver aid supply when there is a likelihood you will be attacked. the delivery might be diverted or stopped. it's already impossible. the impact on children will be really severe. if malnutrition starts to take hold, then children's immune systems will be down. if you couple this with the lack of safe water, you will have a situation where children are forced to drink dirty water, they will be getting diarrhoea, other diseases, their immune system will be down. eventually it is going to lead to death in more children, so if they are not dying from the bombs and the bullets, eventually they will be dying through lack of food and deadly diseases. what needs to be done?

this is kind of the message i'm trying to eke out of you. what needs to be done is a cease—fire, and i know we have been sounding the alarm on this for a long time, but this is the only way that we can deliver safe and sustainable access to people inside gaza. and the only way that we can stop children and civilians from being killed. just one more question, if i could. the breakdown of law and order. any reports of that that have come your way? i have seen the reports of this. i can't verify them specifically, but i mean, i think, to me, it makes sense. if you've got a situation where you are living in a place and you cannot give your child a drop of water or you have an elderly relative and you cannot get food for them, you will be desperate. you will do whatever you can to try and survive, and that is what is happening at the moment. people are just trying to survive.

we have some breaking news concerning sad news that a murder investigation has been launched after the body of a newborn baby was discovered outside a premises in ipswich. this has been confirmed by suffolk police. we have a bit more information coming in. in fact we have a statement from police officers who were called at 12:35pm this afternoon following reports that a newborn baby had been found outside the premises. paramedics were also in attendance but the baby was sadly declared deceased. the death has been treated as unexplained and is under investigation. we also know that two men and a female have been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the incident and remain in police custody for the question. the area where the baby was found has been cordoned off by police. the

chief superintendent of suffolk police has said it is very sad and distressing. at this time our investigation into the circumstances surrounding the baby's death is in its early stages, urging people not to speculate on social media. i can bring you some good news from gaza now — a merseyside woman's emotional reunion with her two children after fleeing the fighting. islam alashi returned home on wednesday after being stuck in gaza for weeks. she'd travelled there in september to visit her father before fighting broke out. islam managed to make her way to egypt before eventually returning home to the uk earlier this week.

upon her return she surprised her two children at their school, describing it as the best moment of her life. i spoke to islam earlier and asked her about her time in gaza. it is really bad, the atmosphere and circumstances were very bad. till now, i was calling my family out there and they are still in bad conditions, living in tents there. i lived the worst days of my life during the two months, the last two months. we witnessed the war, i witnessed the war. we are just seeing images there of you surprising your children at school. what was that moment like? yeah, it was my best moment of my life, to be honest, because i did not expect that i would come back again

to england anymore. i lost hope at that time, that i will never meet my family again, i will never meet my husband, my kids again. that moment when i hugged them in my lap in the school, without any notice, they didn't know that i am coming, ifelt... i felt my heart, it is just very happy. how is your heart feeling regarding the fact that, like you said, you have still got family left in gaza, you travelled out there to see your father. how is he? and what are your reflections on the family that you have left behind? yes. to be honest, my father, my sister tried to come —— to the border with me in order to be able to cross but they refused them to be honest, my father, and my sister tried to come to the border with me in order to be

able to cross but they refused them to cross so they went back to the war, and they only accepted me to get into egypt because my name was published on the list at the borders, only my name. so, now they went to rafah again, living in the same tent where i left them. and they are still suffering from a lot of illnesses. my dad suffers from diabetes, from chronic diseases and from a lot of things, he is 70 years old, he cannot take care of himself any more. my sister is holding a yemeni passport with my niece, with her daughter, she is one and a half years old, she is suffering from a lot of illnesses right now. you know, there is no hygienic means, there is nothing, there is no clean water, there is no food, only tinned food. there is not enough food as well, so they are living in bad, bad circumstances till now. sometimes, the israeli military is cutting the connection from gaza at all from the world so i cannot get in touch with them. so i feel very worried, i feel very sad and upset because i left my family there. sometimes i feel guilty because i left them but i did not have any option, i have to come back to my kids, as you know. ukraine s first lady has warned that ukrainians will be left to die if the west doesn't

continue its support for the country. speaking exclusively to the bbc, after the us senate blocked an aid bill for ukraine worth more than $60 billion, 0lena zelenska insisted a lack of help would pose a mortal danger. laura kuenssberg reports. explosion. war in winter, ukrainian forces on the front line in eastern ukraine. weapons, tanks paid for in part by billions of pounds, dollars and euros from western taxpayers like you and me. but as the war edges to two years old political arguments in washington have put payments on ice. in kyiv the zielinski h0, the first lady told me her fears if the money runs out. translation: we do need aid desperately. in simple terms. we cannot get tired of the situation because otherwise we will die. and if the world gets tired

they will simply let us die. the us remains the largest military donor to ukraine providing more than $46 billion in weapons and assistance since the war began. germany and the uk come next in the top ten donor countries. billions have been given. yet us support has been on the decline in recent months. new assistance for ukraine has been blocked by republicans in the senate. yet the threat hasn't gone even though more money isn't there. speaking to me just hours after the latest strikes, 0lena zelensky urged the world not to forget. translation: | think i today there is a problem with the world in general. we are used to the world appearing calm.

in fact, and that's what we have been saying for the past two years now, is that the aggression, if not stopped, spreads like a virus. explosion. while there are doubts about america's resolve to keep paying, russia's brute force on the front line shows little sign of fading, leaving ukraine with a sense of foreboding. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, kyiv. now it's time for a look at today's sport with karthi. it's been a dramatic day for clubs at the top of the premier league, with arsenal losing to third placed aston villa in the late game this evening. that means arsenal who started the day as league leaders drop to second place and villa's 1—0 win takes them to just two points off the top spot. it's been an excellent week for unai emery�*s side who have defeated both the champions, manchester city and arsenal in the same week and have now won a club record 15th straight home league game. arsenal dominated us the whole match. we started well. the goal

from mcginn. we tried. you cannot control every game at home especially against arsenal. they took us into our half. but we are strong defensively, dealing with crosses, through balls, shots, and sometimes against the best teams you have to do that. i am proud with the way the team played in this stadium against this team. we had to win this game. you have to be better in the boxes. things have to go your way, as well. earlier in the day, liverpool jumped above arsenal, to go top of the league after beating crystal palace 2—1. liverpool didn't make things easy for themselves, falling behind to a jean—philippe mateta penalty, after the frenchman had been fouled. mo salah then levelled with his 200th goal for liverpool in all competitions before substitute harvey elliott struck the winner in the 91st minute. it was a terrible afternoon

for manchester united with some of their supporters booing as the team left the field after they suffered a 3—0 defeat at home to bournemouth. dominik solanke scored bournemouth�*s first goal in what was their first ever win at old trafford. but it was another difficult afternoon for the united manager, erik ten haag, who was left frustrated saying that his side is not good enough to be consistent and that his players were not focussed from the start of the game. here's what captain bruno fernandes had to say. the fans of manchester united, they aren't used to this. they don't want to be in the situation. we don't want to be in this situation, either. we understand that. we understand their frustrations. they have been behind us all the time. it is normal that they boo when they see something they don't like. that is normal. we didn't like, either, what we did, and they have been so supportive, so we cannot say anything bad about them. in the bundesliga, champions bayern munich had a shock 5—1 defeat to eintracht fra nfu rt. bayern had been aiming for a win

that would have put them top of the table but they are in second place behind bayer leverkusen. and fifa have confirmed three bids to host the women's world cup in 2027. germany, belgium and the netherlands have submitted a joint european bid, while mexico and the united states have also teamed up. brazil is the only country with a solo bid. the final decision will be made through an open vote at the next fifa congress in may. south africa also had hopes of hosting the tournament but withdrew their bid last month. cricket, and england's women have beaten india by four wickets in the second t20 international. the home side were dismissed for a below par 80 all out, with only two players making double figures. in response, england stumbled as they lost six wickets on the way to chasing down the runs, alice capsey top scoring with 25. the final game of the series is played tomorrow, with england

already with an unassailable 2—0 series lead. and england's men are currently playing a deciding one day international aginst the west indies in antigua. england have steadied the ship after a terrible start. they are now 129—5. you can get more on that by going to our website for the latest. that's bbc.com.sport. and that's all the sport for now. scientists looking at the 75—million—year—old remains of a dinosaur have been able to identify its last meal. the bones of two other much smaller dinosaurs were discovered inside the fossil which was found in canada. scientists have just published a detailed study of what they say is the first evidence of what these large, young predators ate and how they hunted. here's our science correspondent victoria gill. entombed in 75—year—million—year—old rock, this is a gorgosaurus. the backbone would have been here. you can see all the ribs. it's a type of tyrannosaur,

a close cousin of t—rex, but this fossil is hiding the remains of something else. what was uncovered when the fossil was being cleaned at the museum is that there were toe bones of a very small dinosaur found between the individual ribs of the tyrannosaur. those bones were not immediately obvious to experts, but they were this gorgosaurus�*s last meal. highlighted in this diagram of the fossil, they are actually the remains of two small baby dinosaurs. and there was enough remaining of those unfortunate creatures for palaeontologists to identify them. both sets of legs belonged to this small, birdlike dinosaur called the citipes. it gives an insight into how the young tyrannosaurs would have hunted and bitten their prey in half. the prey remains are actually preserved by the tyrannosaur�*s stomach so this fossil is actually the first solid evidence that we have for diet or feeding

behaviour in a juvenile tyrannosaur. experts say this also tells the story of how much tyrannosaurs transformed through their lives. young animals were agile predators, slender with blade—like teeth, while mature tyrannosaurs, like gorgosaurus and t—rex were slower but much more powerful. they were so big and so strong that they crushed through the bones of their prey, literally there are fossils that have bite marks that match the teeth of the bigger adult tyrannosaurs. but the younger ones chased down their prey. to me, that is really neat because it reveals these tyrannosaurs to be a lot richer, a lot more complex, a lot more nuanced as characters, they weren't just monsters. they were real animals and they adapted, they changed, as they grew up. this tyrannosaur never quite grew up, but its remains are a glimpse of its final hunt 75 million years ago.

victoria gill, bbc news. an image of the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, taken in wales, has been named as a winner in the 2023 northern lights photographer of the year awards. matthew browne has travelled to iceland to see the northern lights, but it was his picture taken ten minutes from his west wales home that won him the award, something he's described as bonkers. hello. quite a stormy evening for some of us, particularly around the irish sea. very windy inland, too. and this is the outlook for the next few days — further spells of wind and rain on the way, but at least it's going to stay relatively mild, as you'd expect in this sort of weather. here's the satellite picture, and a powerfuljet stream is propelling these areas of low pressure. one of them is moving over us right now, that is storm ellen, named by the irish met service.

here it is here. and then behind it, we have another developing storm, storm fergus, which is going to sweep across our island during the course of sunday. back to the here and now, so through this evening, the strongest gusts around the irish sea, but very windy inland, too, across parts of wales, northern england, the midlands. you can see where the rain is, a little bit further north. actually further south, we've got some clear spells through this evening and overnight. and then later in the night, through the early hours, actually, the winds fall light across many parts of the country as that decaying storm pulls away. not cold, between 3—6 celsius. and here's the next low pressure heading our way. so early in the morning, rain spreading into northern ireland, the irish sea through wales, central southern england. and i think most of us will get at least some rain at some point during the course of sunday. the strongest of the winds will be across ireland linked to storm fergus here on sunday. and the temperatures around 12—13 celsius in the south, maybe 1a celsius in plymouth. colder with rain there in glasgow and edinburgh, around 7 celsius, similarfor newcastle.

and then the outlook as we head through the first part of the week, so monday, we're actually in between weather systems. so as one area of low pressure pulls away, another one tries to come in. we're just in that slither of bright weather, dry weather on monday. so perhaps a decent day, i think 12 celsius in london, seven celsius in glasgow. certainly a greater chance of catching some sunshine on monday. but then into tuesday, we're back underneath an area of low pressure. this high, though, is trying to build in. that might be a hint of things to come later in the week, things could start to settle down. but you can see later on wednesday, even that low pressure starts to pull away. so let's have a look at the outlook then, a summary for the week ahead. temperatures dropping a little bit through the middle part of the week, and from the weather icons, well, there's a bit of everything on the way this week. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... a senior un official has warned half the population of gaza are now starving, as israel continues its assault. israel has been moving its tanks towards the centre of khan younis in the south of gaza. most of the population has now fled to coastal areas or towards rafah, further south. opec, the oil producers�* organisation, has been heavily criticised at the un climate summit negotiations in dubai.

a letter has been leaked from the head of opec calling on members to resist any reference to phasing out fossilfuels. ukraine's first lady, 0lena zelenska, tells the bbc that ukrainians will be left to die if western countries don't continue their support for the country. now on bbc news — influential with katty kay: ken follett. ken follett is one of the most successful fiction writers in the world. his books have sold almost 200 million copies. we met ken at his house in the english countryside.

hi, katty. ken, it's so good to see you.