good to have you with us. the un says half of gaza's population is starving as israel's bombardment continues. the world food programme's deputy director says 9 out of 10 people cannot eat every day. israel says it's doing everything it can to get more aid in, but conditions on the ground are making it almost impossible for aid groups to reach gaza. unicef�*s spokeswoman alexandra murdoch has more on the situation. 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 poses a particularly lethal threat to children. people are sleeping outside on concrete floors. 80% of the population are displaced, almosti million are children and they are being pushed further and further south into areas that are overcrowded and without any of the basics that need to survive. humanitarian aid at the moment is the only lifeline for people and we are simply not able to get the access that we need to get through. for the past four, five, six days, aid agencies such as unicef only been able to access rafah and it is only limited aid and if we cannot get through soon people are going to really struggle because there is not enough water, food, shelter. meanwhile, the head of the israeli army has called for the military campaign in gaza to be stepped up, saying there are signs that hamas is falling apart. translation: i see the achievements _ translation: i see the achievements from - translation: | see the - achievements from day-to-day. achievements from day—to—day. we are seeing every day,

terrorists who were killed, terrorists who were killed, terrorists who were injured. in the last few days, we see terrorists who are surrendering. a sign of the collapse of the system. aside we need to press harder. this is what you are doing. also on saturday, a group of men and boys taken by israeli forces were released. they say they were tortured. lucy williamson has this report from jerusalem. just a warning that it contains distressing images from the start. 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. israel is under growing international pressure to spare the gazan civilians. translation: other countries it also understands _ translation: other countries it also understands that _ translation: other countries it also understands that it - translation: other countries it also understands that it is - also understands that it is impossible to support the elimination of hamas and corporate into the wall which will prevent the elimination of hamas. today a group of men and boys taken by israeli forces five days ago were released claiming they were tortured. among them, mohammad mahmoud salim,

held separately from his dad. "they made us sleep naked," he said, "and kept hitting us with their guns. they hit me when i asked where my dad was. they hit us with wires." we've asked the israeli army for a response. 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.

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. meanwhile, the us continues to face fierce criticism for veteoing a measure calling for a ceasefire in gaza friday. international rights groups have widely condemned the us's move. it was the only country to veto, while 13 countries voted in favour of it and the uk abstained. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu praised the us' decision. i spoke to our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, for the latest on the situation in gaza. good to see you once again, paul. today we have a fresh warning from un that half of all people in the gaza strip are starving — a serious warning there from the un.

what more can you tell us about that ever worsening humanitarian situation inside the strip? it is hard for us to verify that particular claim, you are right, it is an extraordinarily drastic claim indeed coming from un. it's in keeping with other comments we are hearing with increasing urgency, save the children put out a statement today saying they have identified more than 7,000 children under the age of five whose malnutrition is so acute now that they require urgent medical treatment to avoid dying. we have heard desperate accounts of the lack of sanitation in these encampments of tents and other makeshift shelters that are springing up all across the far southern reaches of the gaza strip. with so many people hemmed into these small areas, lacking basic supplies,

lacking sanitation, realfears about the spread of disease. it is no longer warm. winter is arriving. it is getting cold at night. so with every passing day and in every passing way, the situation seems to be getting worse and worse. of course, we know that america vetoed the un security council resolution calling for a cease—fire, i wonder in light of that news, what has been the reaction in the region? obviously, dismay among arab countries and relief and thanks from here in israel. this was not a surprise. it would have been very surprising if the united states had supported a cease—fire resolution at this point. because the us, like israel does not believe that the job of defeating hamas has yet been achieved and to the united states, like israel, wants to make sure that it does happen. so it was never likely

that they were going to do anything other than veto the cease—fire resolution. certainly, that has not stopped arab leaders and arab ministers, many of whom are friends of the united states, some who have relations with israel, saying that this was simply not good enough. it was a missed opportunity for the united states to use its undoubted leverage over israel to stop what they and many people in the regard in the region as a catastrophe that is beyond explanation and beyond justification. i want to ask with regards to the defeat of hamas, do we know how long that, potentially, could take? do we know what israel's endgame is here? the stated endgame is the defeat of hamas, and making sure hamas never rules the gaza strip again. it is clear from what we are seeing both in the north and in the south that there are still intense battles going on.

hamas and other palestinian factions continue to put up stiff resistance in certain areas, inflicting some casualties on israeli forces. each day brings news of two or three more israeli soldiers killed. i don't think the end result of this is in any doubt. israel has overwhelming force on its side and it will prevail, but the question is how long that takes, and how much suffering will be inflicted on the civilian population in the meantime? what the israelis are trying to do at the moment is give the impression they are gradually breaking up hamas as a fighting force. we have seen images released, not actually officially, but by israeli soldiers and they have leaked onto social media accounts showing what appear to be hamas fighters, or at least fighting—age men again dressed in underpants giving

themselves up. we saw one video of a man coming forward following instructions being delivered over a megaphone carrying an automatic weapon, putting it on the ground, and retreating. those images are starting to flood social media. whether that is the strategy of the israeli military or something soldiers are doing off their own volition we don't know but clearly the impression intended here is one of showing hamas slowly being defeated. here in washington, the state department has approved the potential sale of tank shells to israel. the deal would send about 14,000 tank rounds for immediate delivery. the biden administration used an emergency authorisation to push the sale through without the congressional review that's normally required. for more on this, i spoke with our north america correspondent shingai nyoka. shingai, we understand that the state department

is pushing through this sale — usually there is a review process when it comes to sale to a foreign country. what more do we know about this? according to a state department statement, they notified congress last night of their intention to move ahead with this arms sale. it includes 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition, but also logistical and support services to israel. they say this equipment will be taken from the us army inventory. as you have mentioned, this is a very rare move, but it's not unprecedented. in his statement, the secretary of state antony blinken also justified the reasons why he was waiving this move of going through congress. he says that this is an emergency and in the interest of the united states, but also that israel needs to defend itself.

this obviously comes against the background of frustration within the biden administration. there is a request, an emergency request, that has been sitting in congress since october. and that has essentially stalled because republicans want a certain concessions before they can approve it. president biden has, in the last week or so, said that the republicans are playing chicken with issues of national security, but that really is theirjustification on why they are going ahead with this. it is because they believe that it is an emergency and israel needs these arms. it also happens a day after the us vetoed the un resolution to order a cease—fire in gaza. so it is coming at a very incredible time at this moment. a short time ago i spoke to mark cancian, senior adviser

at the think tank the center for strategic and international studies, about the international reaction to that us decision. let's take a listen. as we know, the us has vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire but the us deputy ambassador to the un robert wood cut a lonely figure as he raised his hand to do so, the uk abstaining. what kind of pressure do you think that puts the us under, diplomatically speaking? there is no question that pressure has been building on the united states on many directions on lots of concerns with the humanitarian situation in gaza. on the other hand, the united states is very reluctant to have a cease—fire without negotiations, release of hostages. they are worried that a cease—fire now would in effect be a hamas

victory, they could claim that they were able to claim a lot of israelis and still maintain a fighting force. so on that thinking the united states is not quite ready to ask for a cease—fire. on the other hand they have indicated clearly to the israelis how concerned they are about civilian casualties. i want to pick up on that point because the accusation from the united nations and other aid agencies right now is that washington ends up having blood on its hands. hearing that, ijust wonder, how do you think washington is navigating that and what kinds of conversations do you think us officials will be having with israeli officials behind closed doors? well, there is a lot of concern about the level of civilian casualties, and we have seen that in public. blinking has been clear with the israelis that he wants to have them to exert every effort to minimise civilian casualties. unfortunately, with the question about blood on your hands, we have to live in the real world. that is, if you have

a ceasefire now, hamas will attack. they are dedicated to destroying israel and killing jews and they will go back at it again, so we trade blood now, blood later. the united states would at least yield a blow to the hamas so that they can't come back for many years and israel can be ready for it. do you think there is another way of doing that, perhaps a more targeted operation? it's hard to say at this point. the israelis, of course, have launched ground operations which are very destructive of civilian infrastructure. it is possible that they could just do this by air. on the other hand, air attacks have been very destructive also and it would go on for a lot longer. unfortunately, there isjust no easy way out here. i think what will happen is that israelis will have a couple more weeks before for the pressure gets to be such that the united states will demand that they end their operations. i don't think there will be able to take over the whole gaza strip but that may give them enough time to deal a severe blow to hamas.

i want to touch on the situation with regards to the hostages because israel has said that it must continue those air strikes on gaza to eliminate hamas and also bring those hostages home. the israel defense forces spokesperson richard hecht told the bbc on saturday any death paid for a civilian is paid for but we don't have any alternative. taking a look at the state of the conflict right now, do you see any prospect of the progress on the question of getting more hostages out live? at this point, i do not think so. there was an opportunity, of course, last week when there was a truce and i think both sides — but particularly hamas — is reluctant to give a more hostages. this is their ace. this is the thing that they know israelis really want, that they would pay a high price to get hostages back and so, they will hold onto those hostages to get the best deal. i want to come back to what you just said with regards to if washington

was to pull its full backing or support for israel in some way, where do you think that would leave benjamin netanyahu? he is constantly stated that his aim is to crush hamas, to remove it, as well, from government leadership — so both militarily and in terms of a leadership position. if that is not possible, where can he draw a line in the sand and say, that is seen as enough right now? well, 1973, united states put pressure on israel to stop its operations. israel wanted to finish the work and destroy the egyptian army. the us prevented them from doing so. i can imagine something similar happening here. on the other hand, the israelis, once they take khan younis and destroy the hamas infrastructure there and maybe the hamas leadership, then they clear the north, that may be enough for them to say that they have dealt such a blow to hamas,

they will be many years before he can come back. therefore, they have accomplished its goals. talking about khan younis, of course, that city and many in the north have been told to move to for safety. operations continue across the gaza strip right now. aid agencies have been saying that there is nowhere safe for civilians to go to. have we seen a situation like this where warfare is being carried out and yet, there does not appear to be — or very limited prospects — of safe harbour for civilians caught up in this. unfortunately, this happens a lot with the war and civilians. over the years, we have seen many places where fighting has occurred around cities where civilians have been caught. i mean, you look at grozny in chechnya when the russians attacked there, look at bakhmut in ukraine or mariupol. the tragic thing about where is that civilians often get caught in it and suffer terribly. mark cancian, senior adviser

at the think tank the center for strategic and international studies, joining us from arlington in virginia, thank you. well, the ongoing conflict in the middle east is also playing out on university campuses and the president of the university of pennsylvania has resigned four days after her testimony at a congressional hearing sparked an anti—semitism row. during her testimony, elizabeth magill seemed to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide ofjews should be disciplined. pressure had been mounting for her to stand down from jewish students, alumni and donors, who claimed she was not taking concerns about anti—semitism on campus seriously. even the white house weighed in. she later sought to clarify her comments and apologised. but on saturday, she resigned, saying:

ms magill is the first president of a major university to leave office as part of the fallout from the protests that have engulfed campuses since october 7. president macron is at the centre of a row over france's secular ideals after appearing to take part in a religious ceremony at the elysee palace. footage of the event was posted online on thursday and the president has since faced a wave of criticism. from the newsroom, our reporter tom brada has the details. this video has dragged president macron into the eye of a political storm. he's seen standing alongside the chief rabbi of france, who is lighting the very first candle on the menorah as part of the jewish festival hanukkah. on the surface, there is nothing controversial going on, but the issue here is the location. the ceremony took place at the official residence of the president, the elysee palace, and for many people, that is completely at odds with the country's commitment to secularism. now, secularism is the idea that there should be a separation between religious institutions and the state and many people from across the political spectrum

are not happy. these are the thoughts of the right—wing mayor of cannes, who wrote that: and these were the thoughts of a prominent socialist leader who wrote that: for his part, president macron defended what took place. translation: if the president of the republic had made - a gesture of worship or taken part in a ceremony, this would not be respectful of secularism. that's not what happened. there's even been criticism from some members of the jewish community. this was the head of the representative council of frenchjewish institutions. so, when did secularism become such an important part of french identity?

well, in 1905, it was officially enshrined into law with the separation of the church and state and all religious symbols were removed from public buildings. the law ensures strict neutrality of all religions but it frequently creates controversy — particularly recently with tensions over school dress codes and islamic traditions — and this recent incident at the elysee has brought the republic's relationship with religion back into sharp focus. tributes have been paid to the hollywood actor ryan o'neal, who has died at the age of 82. in the 19705, he starred in a string of box office hits, including the romance love story. lizo mzimba looks back at his life. it was a phenomenon. millions watched and wept as two students, played by ryan o'neal and ali macgraw, fell in love before discovering one of them was dying. it made stars of them both.

you put up a big glass wall to keep from getting hurt but it also keeps you from getting touched. it's a risk, isn't it, jenny? vmcsovsk: this is the i continuing story of peyton place. the good—looking los angeles—born actor... alison! ..was already a familiar face on tv with a prominent role on america's first prime time soap. i talk that way, alison. a little flip. defence mechanism. come on, hop in. in two minutes, i'm calling the police. after the tragedy of love story, he showed off his comedy skills in what's up, doc? opposite barbra streisand. you are the last straw that breaks my camel's back! you are the plague! you bring havoc and chaos to everyone, but why to me? why me? why? eat that damn thing! by the time paper moon came out, he was one of the biggest box office draws in the world.

then i want my $200! all right! all right, maybe we've got the same jaw, but the same jaw don't mean the same blood. i know a woman looks like a bull frog but that don't mean she's the damn thing's mother. his co—star, his nine—year—old daughter tatum, won an oscar — just one factor in a deteriorating relationship, not just with her but with many of his children. and then, there were the arrests — for drugs possession and for firing a gun during an argument. he eventually reconciled with tatum for a short—lived reality tv show which documented their efforts to reconnect. i'm sorry. i went to farrah's. she needed me. but we needed you, too. it was confusing! it was horrible. i thought you guys were at practice... in recent years, he returned to tv acting with cameos in shows like desperate housewives... ah, lynette, this is lois mcdaniel. she's one of my major suppliers in the area. ..still showing he'd lost little of the charm and appeal that, half a century ago, first

made him into a global star. no! love. love means never having to say you're sorry. you are watching bbc news. i'm helena humphrey in washington, dc. we will have more news at the top of the hour. please join us then. hello again. the weekend started off on quite a wet and a windy footing, thanks to storm elin. it did bring some heavy rain. we have still a number of flood warnings in force. a bit of localised flooding here on this picture in lancashire. now, the strongest winds from elin came through during saturday evening, just to the south of the centre of the low pressure. the strongest winds recorded at capel curig in north—west wales — 80mph gusts here. not far behind that,

western cumbria's coastline got hit with a gust of 74mph at st bees head. now, the low pressure is now working out into the north sea, and pretty quickly — we are seeing those winds die back down. still a bit of patchy rain to come through northern ireland and scotland. —— england and scotland. otherwise, the weather will become dry with some clear spells for most and not that cold a night — temperatures typically around 5—7 but down to about two celsius in the colder spots in northern ireland. now, for northern ireland, england and wales, it should be a fine and sunny start to the day but quickly, cloud and rain will spread into northern ireland and this band of rain will then extend across england and wales. "rain at times" probably best summing up the weather in scotland. the rain bands are all associated with an area of low pressure that's over the republic of ireland, and that has been named as a new storm — storm fergus. it will be a mild day. temperatures for most 10—14 celsius but a bit cooler in scotland with temperatures stuck at around 7—8 here. we get some strong winds, then,

working across wales during sunday night. gusts could reach around 60—odd mph around western coasts. the remains of that area of low pressure still with us on monday, bringing cloud and patchy rain to start off the day, although the weather should improve as we head into the afternoon with most of us having drier weather with some breaks in the cloud, a bit of sunshine coming through. it continues to be on the mild side — for most, temperatures around 9—13 celsius but again in scotland, still a bit colder — looking at around 6—8 degrees celsius here. through tuesday and wednesday, another area of low pressure crosses the country. once that's out of the way, we'll start to see pressure build from the southwest and that will really herald something of a more significant change in our weather patterns. so, still a bit more rain to come through during tuesday and wednesday. still relatively mild. then, we get a dip in temperatures later in the week. high pressure then takes over with the weather there settling down, becoming drier and sunnier.

voiceover: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. it's been a year in which climate change has topped the news agenda. from forest fires in hawaii, to extreme weather here and abroad, you can't help but notice. an intense heat. well over 40 degrees. demonstrations at wimbledon, . the ashes and the world snooker championship. parts of northern italy are on high alert.

scientists say they're concerned by the recent run of broken climate records. the bbc green sport awards recognises those individuals who are using their platform to raise awareness of the issues that are facing all of us. those athletes and organisations who are speaking up and shining a light on what we can all do to help better protect the planet. over the next half an hour, we'll introduce you to this year's winners from all over the world and a variety of sports. but our first winner of the young sportsperson of the year is from a little bit closer to home. i'm on the way to devon to meet innes fitzgerald, who, a year ago, at the age of just 16, put her environmental principles above the start of her international athletics career. innes, congratulations. what you have done has been something that is really inspirational.

how do you feel getting this award?