good afternoon. the former conservative peer baroness mone has admitted that she lied about her involvement in the awarding of a ppe contract the uk and germanyjointly call for a "sustainable ceasefire" in gaza as prime minister netanyahu says israel will "fight to the end" to eliminate hamas. the world health organisation says it has delivered crucial medical supplies to gaza's al shifa hospital. former conservative peer baroness mone admits she stands to benefit from millions of pounds of profit from protective equpment sold to the government during the pandemic. i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone�*s eyes and i regret and i am sorry for not saying straight out, yes, iam involved. serbs vote in snap elections largely prompted by outrage over mass shootings in the country. i will be representing the uk at the eurovision song contest! pop star and actor

olly alexander is announced as the united kingdom's entry for next year's eurovision song contest. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. we start with the latest on the israel—gaza war. britain and germany are calling for an urgent sustainable ceasefire in gaza. last week, both countries abstained on a united nations resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. but in a change of tone which echoes a shift in the us, the foreign ministers of both countries say too many civilians have been killed in israel's war against hamas and the sooner a truce comes, the better. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has strongly reiterated his opposition to a ceasefire. speaking before a cabinet meeting, he insisted they will fight till the end to eliminate hamas — which many countries consider a terror group. israel stepped up its bombardment of gaza overnight and into sunday, reportedly killing at

least a0 people. and these pictures, filmed on sunday morning from israel, looking into gaza, show large plumes of smoke burning, with many damaged buildings in sight. communications are down for a fourth day, making it hard to reach the wounded. but in a positive development, the kerem shalom crossing between israel and gaza has opened for aid trucks, for the first time since the war began. that development comes a day after the world health organization was able to deliver crucial medical supplies to gaza's al shifa hospital, which has been working under much reduced capacity following israel's military offensive. the organisation said the team supplied medicines, surgical and other medical equipment to the hospital which it said was "currently minimally functional". one member of who staff posted this update from the hospital.

it's completely overwhelmed with patients. very few staff remaining. as we've been here for the last 30 minutes, there's been a nonstop stream of injured people coming in on trolleys, on donkey carts, on stretchers being pushed down the road. there are almost no medical staff here. this largest referral hospital here in gaza has become a trauma stabilisation point. they can only provide the most basic care for people with very serious injuries and very serious illnesses. juliette touma is director of communications for the un agency for palestine refugees. i asked her what information she had about the situation around the hospital. this is the largest or what used to be, at least, the largest medical facility in the gaza strip and our colleagues in there called the death toll since the escalation a couple of weeks ago when they first were able to go there. one third only of medical

facilities currently operates across the gaza strip for 2.2 million people. yeah, just one third operational. can i broaden it out now away from just those medical centres to the situation with aid? how are you and your organisation and i suppose other organisations working with the israeli defence forces to get aid in and to get it to the right people? well, first of all, let me say that gaza continues to go through a blackout, and this is the fifth communications blackout since the war began. so it makes it very, very difficult for us to establish contact with our colleagues and with the team on the ground, and that has an impact on the delivery of aid. so we do hope that this telecommunications blackout, which we understand is due to severe damage in the communications network, we do hope that this be repaired and that we establish communications so that aid resumes

and the delivery resumes. having said that, we are very much limited to delivering humanitarian assistance to only the south and a little bit in the middle areas, but that's about it. there are many areas that we cannot reach in the gaza strip, and you can't reach because of the fighting or because of infrastructure or because you are not allowed in certain locations. and you can't reach because of the fighting or the infrastructure or you are not allowed in? what are some of the reasons? it's all the above. it's a combination of factors that stand in our way at unwra and other humanitarian organisations to reach people who need us most. it's the bombardment. it's the very little supplies that we are able to bring in due to the restrictions. it's the siege and also, the movement is extremely difficult. 0k. just lastly and just briefly, have you had any indication that you'll be able to get more aid in any time soon, increase the number of trucks? we saw the statements

and we continue to call for the expansion of the direct flow of humanitarian assistance, including from the israeli crossing point directly to gaza. in the uk, the former conservative peer baroness mone has admitted she stands to profit from sales of personal protective equipment to the government during the coronavirus pandemic. the company was led by her husband. she says she did help broker the deal, but claims she was made a scapegoat for the government's failings. questions about the pandemic, profit and politics have followed baroness mone and her husband to southern europe. for years, they denied links to a firm that received £200 million in taxpayers�* money for desperately needed masks and gowns. only now the truth — that she does stand to gain.

if one day, if, god forbid, my husband passes away before me, then i am a beneficiary as well as his children and my children. so, yes, of course. my family will benefit in due course. our family will benefit. that's what you do when you're in the privileged position of making money. a successful businesswoman and member of the lords, she didn't tell parliament she was helping broker a ppe contract. she now admits she didn't tell the truth when her links to the deal first emerged. you both denied it, why? we were simply listening to our advisers. hindsight�*s a wonderful thing. i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone�*s eyes. and i regret and i'm sorry for not saying straight out, "yes, i am involved." my family have gone through hell with the media over my career and i didn't want another big hoo—ha in the press and my family to be involved in it.

i don't honestly see there's a case to answer. i can't see what we've done wrong. doug and the consortium have simply delivered a contract — a delivery contract of goods. but after everything, you can't see what you've done wrong when you've admitted today that you lied to the press? that's not a crime. essentially, you lied to the public. laura, saying to the press that i'm not involved to protect my family, can ijust make this clear? it's not a crime. the company's being taken to court by the department of health. the pairare under criminal investigation. but the government wouldn't comment on the couple who only now want to have their say. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. let's go back to the situation in israel and gaza, and the further calls for an immediate and durable ceasefire. live now to our security correspondent frank gardner,

who's injerusalem: frankly, i want to get your reaction to the latest language being used by both the uk and germany and calls for a sustainable ceasefire? irate for a sustainable ceasefire? we haven't yet _ for a sustainable ceasefire? - haven't yet seen any official reaction from the government, but it's clear that the netanyahu government is coming under pressure from two directions. over the last few days, we have seen mounting pressure from the relatives of the hostages, the roughly 129 israeli hostages, the roughly 129 israeli hostages still held by hamas in gaza, and they want them out through negotiations. so there are things moving in that direction. it is talks about talks at the moment rather than hard negotiations. but on the diplomatic front, you are right. there is thisjoint on the diplomatic front, you are right. there is this joint op—ed that has been written by david cameron, the foreign secretary, in the sunday times, by his german opposite number, annalena baerbock,

in welt am sontag, a german newspaper, today. they have both said that they want a sustainable ceasefire leading to a sustainable peace. what does that mean? they want one that is only going to come into being if there's a chance of peace at the end of it. a lot of this is about semantics. their french counterpart, who is in town in israel, is going further, saying there needs to be a ceasefire now because of the incredibly high number of casualties. every day, there are more tales of terrible tragedy in gaza, some of which is pointing fingers at poor discipline by the idf, the israel defence forces. the newspapers here are full of yesterday's tragedy, as they call it, the shooting, whether

intentional or accidental, the shooting of israeli hostages who were mistaken for hamas gunmen. there was an editorial in an israeli newspaper saying you can't blame them because hamas are hiding amongst the people. but nevertheless, it is raising questions about how disciplined these troops are if they are not following rules of engagement. frank gardner in jerusalem. _ following rules of engagement. frank gardner in jerusalem. we _ following rules of engagement. frank gardner injerusalem. we have got a bit of reaction to those events from the uk government. well, on laura kuenssberg's sunday political show we've also heard from the uk's deputy prime minister oliver dowden, and labour's shadow health secretary, wes streeting. our political correspondent tony bonsignore has more. yes, he wouldn't comment on the specific case, given that there is an ongoing case and a civil claim ongoing from the department of health. but more broadly, what the

deputy prime minister told laura kuenssberg was firstly, he said there was no cronyism. he rejected all accusations of cronyism that have been thrown at the government of said ministers were simply dealing with what was a very difficult and unique set of circumstances. and he said ministers were working as hard as they could to try and recover as much of that lost cash as possible. i wouldn't characterise it as israel going too far. israel is dealing with a very difficult situation. i think it's really important for your viewers to remember this, not only the scale of the atrocity that was committed against israel, but if you're going after an enemy that literally hides underneath hospitals, hides amongst a civilian population, you are going to sustain high levels of civilian casualties. what we as the uk government are saying to israel is that you do need to exercise restraint. and by the way, we are also making sure in terms of getting the hostages out,

that we support, whether that's in relation to intelligence from the raf planes and so on, we support israel in its wider effort to make sure we get the hostages out. that was the deputy prime minister oliver dowden, talking a short while ago in generalities and not focusing on that specific case. we also heard from labour this morning. they see things very differently. they have accused the government of wasting billions of pounds of public money in two ways. first, labour say they were given contracts to companies who they say were simply in it to get rich quick, as they say, to make a quick profit. and also, they say the government hasn't done enough to try and recover enough of that cash. labour's shadow health secretary wes streeting told laura kuenssberg that if labour you get into power, they will appoint a covert corruption commissioner to get more of that money as quickly as possible —— a

covid corruption commissioner. money as quickly as possible -- a covid corruption commissioner. tony, there was a — covid corruption commissioner. tony, there was a bit _ covid corruption commissioner. tony, there was a bit of— covid corruption commissioner. tony, there was a bit of confusion _ covid corruption commissioner. tony, there was a bit of confusion there. - there was a bit of confusion there. lots of topics were covered on laura kuenssberg's programme such as the war in israel and gaza. we had a bit of that interview from the deputy prime minister as well as the interview with baroness mone, two big stories coming out of the laura kuenssberg show in the uk in the last couple of hours. british teenager alex batty, who was found in france last week after being missing for six years, has returned to the uk. he vanished while on holiday in spain with his mother and grandfather when he was 11. our reporter gerryjackson reports from oldham, where the family are from. to recap this extraordinary story so far — in 2017, the then 11—year—old alex batty travelled on holiday to spain with his mother and grandfather and effectively disappeared. since then, it appeared the three of them have been living what's been described as an itinerant alternative lifestyle, with alex not

attending school and the three of them moving between spain, morocco and later south—west france. it wasn't until alex's mother, who isn't his legal guardian, told him they were going to move to finland that alex decided he wanted to leave. having spent around four nights trekking alone through the foothills of the french pyrenees, he was picked up by a local motorist who took him to the police. now he used that driver's phone to contact his grandmother here in oldham and told her he wanted to come home. the french authorities described him as a composed and intelligent young man who was tired but otherwise well. police officers from greater manchester, together with alex's step—grandfather, met him yesterday at toulouse airport in france and, having announced his return to the media late last night, the police here say they're

yet to fully establish the circumstances of his disappearance. they will, after all, have plenty to talk to him about, including perhaps the current whereabouts of his mother. but they also reminded everyone that he is still a teenager and they're very focused on his and his family's well—being. the vast majority of us may never have known or recognise the name alex batty until a few days ago, but he is a british young person who, at 17, has spent more than a third of his life off the radar of the british authorities. he's now safely home in the uk — in the words of the police, where he wants to be. now it's time for a look at today's sport. we start with another meeting of two huge rivals at anfield who have very different states of mind right now. liverpool are top of the premier league table, manchester united surrounded by uncertainty off the pitch

and engulfed by underachievement on it. liverpool bossjurgen klopp feels his opponents can't be underestimated though. i don't follow united closely enough, but i saw that erik ten hag was manager of the month last month. so how can that be wrong? i don't understand it.— understand it. everyone is highly motivated when _ understand it. everyone is highly motivated when you _ understand it. everyone is highly motivated when you go - understand it. everyone is highly motivated when you go to - understand it. everyone is highly i motivated when you go to anfield. it's a _ motivated when you go to anfield. it's a great — motivated when you go to anfield. it's a great place to go and you know_ it's a great place to go and you know it's — it's a great place to go and you know it's going to be tough. every top footballer wants to have the challenge. so you have to look forward _ before that, arsenal could go back to the top of the premier league table when they take on brighton. but if they fail to win, aston villa could go top instead if they beat brentford. you can get the latest team news from all those games on the bbc sport website now. the champions manchester city are putting the league behind them for now, though. they've landed injeddah after their 2—2 draw

with crystal palace on saturday, to participate in the fifa club world cup for the first time. they face urawa red diamonds from japan in the semi—finals on tuesday. to scotland now, where today aberdeen face rangers at hampden park for the chance to win the scottish league cup. aberdeen have had their struggles this season, whilst rangers are on a run of nine wins from twelve under their new manager. everybody feels in this dressing room, if they stick together and work hard, that they get the rewards. but it is one game of football, so we are going to go hard to win this trophy. we massively respect rangers, they are a huge _ we massively respect rangers, they are a huge football club with some great _ are a huge football club with some great players. but we don't fear them _ great players. but we don't fear them we — great players. but we don't fear them. we want to go into that game and bring _ them. we want to go into that game and bring the best version of ourselves. nathan lyon has become just the 8th bowler

to take 500 test wickets, with the spinner helping australia to a huge win over pakistan in the opening test in perth. lyon took two on the final day as pakistan were bowled out forjust 89, giving australia a 360 run victory. the tourists are still waiting since 1995 to win a test in the country. next up is the boxing day test in melbourne. india have convincingly beaten south africa in the first of three odis injohannesburg, winning by eight wickets with 200 balls remaining. india bowled south africa out forjust 116, their lowest odi total at home. arshdeep singh with five wickets, avesh khan with four. the second odi is on tuesday. the detroit lions are close to a first appearance in the nfl playoffs for 2016 after a comprehensive 112—17 victory over the denver broncos. quarterback jared goff threw for five touchdowns, matching a career high, three of which went to rookie tight—end sam laporta and another to the acrobatic amon—ra st brown. the lions could make the postseason before their next game, if the philadelphia eagles beat

the seattle seahawks on monday. leon edwards has retained his ufc welterweight title in las vegas, beating american colby covington. edwards cruised to victory, winning by unanimous decision, after going the 5 round distance. after the fight, edwards criticised covington — who'd made a crass comment about the briton�*s late father in the build—up, but said a chat with his family helped him stay calm in the bout. it was one of the most emotional fights i have ever had, after the comments that he made. but i have a great support system around me and they got me in the right space to go out there and compete as an athlete. and that's all the sport for now. voting is under way in parliamentary elections in serbia. president vucic�*s progressive party has been in power since 2012. it's facing a coalition made up of fifteen parties, which came together following mass

shootings earlier this year. live now to our balkans correspondent guy de launey, who's in belgrade. he is outside a polling station. what is the choice here for voters? is he said, we have this 15 party coalition, serbia against violence. that pulls together most of the pro—eu opposition parties in serbia in other words, these are parties who see serbia's path going forward becoming a member of the european union rather than maintaining its closeness with russia, which is well known here in serbia. under the hand, you have the progressive party, very much the dominant force in serbian politics for more than a decade. is the first time they have faced a coherent opposition, they have been so dominant. the progressives also are ostensibly pro—eu, but president vucic is always keen to maintain that serbia

has the right to maintain its friendship with russia, business links with china and non—recognition of kosovo into the bargain. they are a bit ideologically slippery, the progressives, but they give the impression of being well organised and president vucic has been playing on that, saying the only party that can be trusted to govern is his. when will we get an idea of the result and the outcome of the election? ,., , ., ., , election? the polls are open until eiuht election? the polls are open until eight o'clock _ election? the polls are open until eight o'clock tonight. _ election? the polls are open until eight o'clock tonight. you - election? the polls are open until eight o'clock tonight. you can - eight o'clock tonight. you can probably see behind me a steady stream of people popping in and out of the polling station, which is in a school in the centre of the old town of serbia. the indications are that the turnout in belgrade at least is higher than in the last election, which was only in april last year. so the repetition of elections doesn't seem to be dampening turnout. the lovely weather we are enjoying today has probably encouraged it, and perhaps this coherent opposition proposition

is also encouraging people to go to the polls to express their will. guy, thanks for that. the united kingdom has revealed that the pop star and award—winning actor olly alexander will represent the country at next year's eurovision song contest in sweden. the surprise announcement came during the final of strictly come dancing on bbc one last night, and our correspondent mark savage has been speaking to olly. drum roll, please. yes, i can exclusively reveal i will be representing the uk at the eurovision song contest. cheering and applause. and the celebrations continued backstage as olly alexander prepared for his first of many interviews about his plans for eurovision. you're going to sweden. how long have you had to keep this a secret? oh, i've known for, i've known for sure for about, i'd say, a month or so, two months. what is it about it that makes it so special for you? it's such a celebration ofjoy and fun. i love how the theatrics, the drama, there's such like an amazing chaos

ofjust such a mixture of different musical styles. # yesterday you said i'm the one, but now you say you're done. in the past, the uk has generally sent new and untested artists to eurovision. this time, it's different. with his former band years and years, olly has had hits all across europe and performed with everyone from lady gaga to kylie minogue. # i'm chasing after midnight...# but can that advantage end the uk's eurovision curse? you know that the uk doesn't have the best track record. uh-huh. so how does that weigh on your mind ahead of going out to sweden? i think i'm just going to do my best and, like, cos it's a competition, so you never know what's going to happen on the night. what's your favourite eurovision song of all time? i knew you'd ask me that, because it is a classic question. i actually do love loreen, euphoria. i think it'sjust one of the best songs ever.

loreen is a two—time eurovision winner. the closest the uk has come to the title in recent years is with sam ryder, who took second place in 2022. # is it desire?# he's definitely got the desire. but will the eurovision voters? we'll find out in malmo in may. mark savage, bbc news. that's it from me. i will be back with the headlines in a couple of minutes' time with the latest updates from the situation in israel and gaza and plenty more on the website. do download the bbc news app website. do download the bbc news app as well. i am lewis vonjones. this is bbc news. bye—bye.

today's weather is a repeat performance of what we saw yesterday for many, but towards the south—east of england, there is a lot more blue sky and sunshine such as here in canterbury in kent. for dumfries and galloway, they are seeing that heavy rain from scotland slipped further southwards, turning wet here for the rest of the afternoon. we still have this very mild bead of air coming in on a brisk south—westerly wind, particularly blustery across north—east england, south—east scotland and towards irish sea coasts, with this constant stream of rain feeding into western areas of scotland. the rainfall totals will start to rack up. we have already seen over 100 millimetres of rain in the highlands. we could see another 100 millimetres added onto that by the end of today. there is a met office and the weather warning in force until six o'clock this evening. again, we could see some

landslips, possibly transport disruption from a lot of heavy rain. that front tends to slide further south into northern ireland, perhaps cumbria and lancashire by the end of the afternoon. it is drier further east. windy conditions with sunny spells, but staying very mild for the time of year. as we head through this evening, our weather fronts again slips further southwards. it is starting to ease, but there will be rain for a time over the welsh hills and the midlands and northern england. elsewhere, it is largely dry and a frost—free start to the day tomorrow. but it is now feeling cooler across northern areas of scotland. here, we should see lots of dry weather through monday morning. but we will start to see more areas of rain approach the far north and west by the end of the day. meanwhile, weatherfronts day. meanwhile, weather fronts further south day. meanwhile, weatherfronts further south will bring heavy rain across western wales and possibly into northern england. but some sunshine across northern ireland and eastern scotland, temperatures again still very mild. well above the

seasonal average. still very mild. well above the seasonalaverage. on still very mild. well above the seasonal average. on tuesday, the focus for the heavy rain will be across england and wales, particularly towards the south. this heavy rain will take up much of the day to clear. you notice more of a north—westerly wind and some showers feeding into the northwest of scotland. some of those showers could turn out to be wintry, particularly over the hills. here is the outlook for some of our cities as we head through the rest of the week. colder in the north, still mild in the south. bye—bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines in a change of tone, the uk and germany havejointly called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in gaza. but prime minister netanyahu has reiterated his opposition to a ceasefire, saying israel will "fight to the end" to eliminate hamas. the world health organization delivers crucial medical supplies to gaza's al shifa hospital, which it says is operating at a much reduced capacity following israel's military offensive at a much reduced capacity following israel's military offensive. the former conservative peer baroness mone admits she stands to benefit from millions of pounds of profit from protective equpment sold to the uk government during the covid—19 pandemic. and serbians are voting in snap elections that seem likely to keep president aleksander vucic�*s party in power despite a largely—united opposition. the coalition led by the serbian progressive party is forecast to retain its majority in parliament.