about her fears over future western assistance. i'm helena humphrey. good to be with you. 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: | see the - achievements from day-to-day. we are seeing every day, 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. a sign we need to press harder. this is what you are doing. 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 injabalia 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 also understand that it is impossible to support the elimination of hamas and call for an end to the war, 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 vetoing a measure calling for a ceasefire in gaza on friday. the us representative said the resolution was rushed and would only plant the seeds for the next war. international condemnation was swift. the us 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. earlier, i spoke to our diplomatic correspondent paul adams for the latest reaction to this. obviously dismay among arab countries and relief and thanks

from here in israel. this is not a surprise. we would have been very surprising if the united states has supported a ceasefire resolution at this point because the us, lake israel, did not believe that the job of defeating hamas has yet been achieved and the us, like israel, was to make sure that does happen. it was never likely they are going to do anything other than every the ceasefire resolution. certainly that has not stopped arab leaders and arab ministers, many of whom are friends of the united states, some of whom have relations with israel from seeing that this was simply not good enough, it is a missed opportunity for the us to use its undoubted leverage over israel to stop what they regard, what many in the region regards, as a catastrophe that is beyond explanation and beyond justification. i do

is beyond explanation and beyond justification. beyond 'ustification. i do want to ask beyond justification. i do want to ask with — beyond justification. i do want to ask with regards _ beyond justification. i do want to ask with regards to - beyond justification. i do want to ask with regards to the - to ask with regards to the defeat of hamas, do we know how long a potentially could take? do we know what the endgame here is? 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 foreign 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 centre 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. blinken has been clear with the israelis that he wants to have them 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 painful 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 up 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 has 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, in 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, it will be many years before they 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 ever 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 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 war 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, that 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: "it has been my privilege to serve as president of this remarkable institution." 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. 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, olena zelenska insisted a lack of help would pose a "mortal danger". laura kuenssberg reports. war in winter. ukrainian forces on the front line in eastern ukraine. weapons paid for, in part, by billions of pounds, dollars and euros from western taxpayers like you and me. man screams

but as the war edges to two years old, political arguments in washington have put payments on ice. in kyiv, the zelensky ho, 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, olena zelenska urged the world not to forget. i think 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. 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. a philippine coastguard official has accused china of firing a water cannon and ramming its resupply vessels in the south china sea, which is at the centre of a territorial dispute between china, the philippines and other countries. he said one of the ships suffered

"serious engine damage." beijing, meanwhile, has accused the philippine vessel of deliberately colliding with its coast guard ship. it comes after the philippines and the us condemned what it described as "illegal and aggressive actions" by the chinese coast guard on saturday when it repeatedly blasted water cannons to block three fishing vessels. china says it took "control measures" against three philippine ships. the highest court in the us state of texas has temporarily blocked a woman with a high—risk pregnancy — from obtaining an emergency abortion. the texas supreme court on friday halted a lower court ruling from earlier this week that would have allowed the abortion for 31—year—old kate cox. her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal abnormality, and doctors told her continuing with the pregnancy posed a risk to her health and, potentially, her ability to carry another child. the case has drawn national attention — with the latest ruling drawing criticism from top democratic leaders on saturday.

it's considered one of the biggest test cases since the us supreme court overturned the nationwide constitutional right to abortion last year, the family of this year's nobel peace prize winner, narges mohammadi, says she will go hunger strike from her iranian prison cell. her children, twins ali and kiana rahmani, collected the award on her behalf in oslo — expressing their pride in their mother for speaking out against the regime's treatment of women and promoting human rights. her husband also revealed that she would be going back on a hunger strike, "in solidarity" with the baha'i religious minority. translation: narges mohammadi is going to have a hunger strike, to morrow, the baha'i community is under pressure in iran, sunnis are under pressure, everybody is under pressure, everybody is under pressure, anybody who is not with the regime is under

pressure in iran. it crashed ticketing sites, led to sold—out hotels and even generated earthquake—like seismic activity. we're talking about taylor swift's latest tour. now it's broken the record for sales. nicky schiller explains. she is one of the biggest stars in the world, the most streamed artist on spotify of 2023 and now taylor swift has another record for her tour. welcome to the eras tour. it has become the highest grossing in music history, bringing in more than $1 billion in her first 60 shows between march and november of this year. trade publication pollstar, which tracks music sales, says taylor made $1.04 billion. they called that staggering. but taylor is not only making more money, she is doing it faster. the previous record holder was eltonjohn. he made $939 million, but that was over the course of 328 shows on his farewell tour. taylor is making more money because she is playing stadiums which hold bigger crowds.

indeed, the experts say if she continues on her scheduled world tour, she could make over $2 billion. second on the list of highest grossing this year is beyonce, followed by bruce springsteen, coldplay and then harry styles. indeed, the top 100 global tours made over $9 billion, up 46% on last year. for taylor, it'sjust one more record in a record—breaking year. just this week, she was named person of the year by time magazine. and the re—recording of her 1989 album is best—selling of the year, the movie of her tour made over $250 million, and looking ahead, she is up for album of the year at the grammys and if she wins that in february, it would be for a record fourth time. well, before we go, we have some striking pictures to show you — of an extremely rare white baby alligator. this is one of only seven leucistic alligators in the world. and they are the rarest genetic variation in

the american alligator. the female was born at a wildlife park in orlando in florida and measures 49 centimetres. you can see more of that video on bbc.com/news. the president of gays land said she is beyond where an absolutely extraordinary. stay with us here on bbc news. more at the top of the hour, join me there. 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 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 degrees 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 degrees but a bit cooler in scotland with temperatures stuck at around 7 or 8 here. we get some strong winds, then, working across wales during sunday night. gusts could reach around 60—odd mph around western coasts. and 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 degrees but again in scotland, still looking a little 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 and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. 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. how are you? i'm very well. thank you. thank you for doing this. pleasure. and for inviting me to your lovely home. it is nice. finally. i've been meaning to come many times, but now i've finally made it here. well, you've always had an open invitation. you're very sweet. i was thinking, actually, on my way up, that i have known you since i was 16 years old. were you really 16? i was, once upon a time, 16! i know that is hard to believe. but, yes, since i was at school with emanuele, your son. all of these books are by me. this is fantastic. how many? run through. give me the catalogue.

well, there are 37 books, but of course, these are all the different translations and editions.