this is the israel—gaza border this morning, as israel comes under growing international pressure over civilian casualties. hamas health officials say at least 90 palestinians were killed in a day in the jabalya refugee camp. tight security outside the court in hong kong, as media tycoon and pro—democracy campaignerjimmy lai goes on trial for criticising china's communist leaders. the china's communist leaders. democratic unionist pi ruled the democratic unionist party has ruled out the prospect of a deal to restore devolution at stormont before christmas, the bbc understands. in australia, record rainfall caused by a tropical cyclone has led to widespread flooding in the state of queensland. hello. welcome. we start with the latest

on the israel—gaza war. international pressure mounts on israel to reduce civilian casualties. the us secretary of defense, lloyd austin, is in israel, where he's expected to meet officials later. we've been seeing smoke on the gaza skyline again this morning. it comes as the uk, france, and germany step up global calls for a ceasefire. britain's former defence secretary, ben wallace, has warned that israel risks losing its legal and moral authority for its war in gaza. in a newspaper article, he described israel's tactics as "crude and indiscriminate". the hamas—run health authority in gaza says israeli air strikes have killed at least 110 people in a single day in the jabalia refugee camp. we're also following the latest from the un security council — it's due to convene later today, to disucss the humanitarian situation in gaza. to disucss the humanitarian it's expected to look at a new draft resolution calling on israel and hamas to allow greater humanitarian access to the gaza strip. yolande knell is following the story

from jerusalem and i asked her about those deaths reported at the jabalya camp. you can see videos circulating on social media, some shot in the dark with people scrambling in the rubble, trying to find survivors. they say there were several residential homes that were hit. one video shows the bodies of several children lined up, reportedly dug out of the rubble. we are not able to independently verify these. the israeli military has not addressed exactly what happened there but it has said it has been operating in the area injabalya refugee camp, against what it calls terrorist infrastructure and terrorist operatives. it said that it has targeted tunnels there and a missile launch site and that in the home of one senior hamas official, it says it found the equivalent of more

than $1 million in cash hidden in suitcases among weapons and ammunition. the us defence secretary landed in israel meeting today lots of different people but also we have this un security council meeting, haven't we? and these calls over the weekend from european countries about a ceasefire. you get a sense of the pressure really ramping up, don't you? but still israel sounds resolute. indeed. israel says it remains determined to dismantle hamas in gaza and it hasn't changed its war aims at all. there is a lot of international pressure growing from its european allies, the uk, germany, and france, which have called, over the weekend, in different language, for some kind of a ceasefire. the us defence secretary is here, the latest senior us official representing washington's views, basically calling for lower—intensity fighting, to move into a different phase of this war.

away from major combat operations to more precise targeting of hamas leaders�* operations, to rescue the remaining 120 or so hostages in the gaza strip. but later on at the un security council, we understand washington is really resisting some of the language, they are calling in a draft resolution, the text circulating for a "cessation of hostilities" and calling for safe and unhindered access for aid into gaza. there is lots of mounting international concern about the humanitarian catastrophe as well as the numbers of palestinians who have been killed, close to 19,000, according to local officials, with many more said to be buried in the rubble. most of those killed are said to be civilians, women, and children. i spoke to a spokesperson for the palestinian red crescent about what it is like to displace people in gaza desperate for and water.

the situation is beyond catastrophic, just overwhelming and even heartbreaking. the humanitarian aid that is getting into gaza up to this moment is barely providing 10% of the needs. we are seeing people are living in real hunger, they are going hungry. they don't have regular access to food, water, and power. they are living in shelters that don't protect them from the cold weather. they are fleeing from the bombardment and then they have to flee again. they are living in overcrowded shelters and in constant fear and panic. among all of this catastrophic situation, we are also seeing the collapsing of the health care system. and, unfortunately, many wounded people lose their life without being able to be treated.

and even up to this moment, the critically injured people, who had to be transferred for treatment outside of gaza strip, since there is no treatment or surgery for them inside gaza, only i% of those were able to evacuate out of gaza. thousands of others are still under the threat of losing their lives because they are still trapped inside gaza without treatment. and the diseases are a big concern, aren't they, at the moment, just explain what they are, the diseases that are causing the biggest problems and concerns? over 85% of palestinians have been internally displaced. in south of gaza. and now they are living either in schools, hospitals, or whatsoever shelters. this overcrowding means that also there is

very limited access to water. it is hard to maintain hygiene, which has resulted in many infectious diseases moving between those who are packed together... we have seen many diseases, among those, skin diseases, as well as others. this is an extremely alarming thing that might cause the loss of thousands of lives. in addition to the people who are living in hunger, as well. spoke to our gaza correspondent who is now in istanbul. last spoke to our gaza correspondent who is now in istanbul.— is now in istanbul. last night we witnessed _ is now in istanbul. last night we witnessed reports _ is now in istanbul. last night we witnessed reports about - is now in istanbul. last night we witnessed reports about israeli l is now in istanbul. last night we i witnessed reports about israeli air strikes including two witnesses and localjournalists strikes including two witnesses and local journalists who still strikes including two witnesses and localjournalists who still remain in the northern gaza, especially in jabalya refugee camp. there were about four israeli missiles from the

air that struck three buildings in the location of jabalya refugee camp. the first initial report were talking about 150 people trapped under the rubble. after one hour, about 30 bodies were found and then taken to the medical facility in the north. later, the hamas run health ministry said about 90 people were killed in that incident and this morning they said the number is 110. the jabalya refugee camp is the biggest camp in the north, where the israeli ongoing military operation are around and inside the camp for the last two weeks, since the end of the last two weeks, since the end of the one—week ceasefire. thanks were moved out a bit from one direction but the air strikes were intensified in that location overnight. the communication and getting some of

the information checked out is very difficult in the north, because of the communication problem across the gaza strip but especially in the north. we are unable to verify for some of the information there and from journalists and medical sources from journalists and medical sources from the hamas health run ministry. 110 people killed. still about 20 or 30 people are still under the rubble of those three buildings in the temple refugee camp. the trial has begun in hong kong of the prominent pro—democracy campaigner,jimmy lai. the 76—year—old was originally arrested in 2020 accused of undermining the territory's national security through articles published in his apple daily newspaper and on social media. mr lai has been held in solitary confinement for the past three years, since his writing was deemed to be illegal under new laws imposed by beijing. security was tight around the court

for the start of his trial. mr lai — who is also a british citizen — has pleaded not guilty to all charges. the united states and britain have condemned the trial and have urged the authorities in hong kong to release businessman. here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. jimmy lai used to be a powerful media boss in hong kong, and he used his apple daily newspaper to criticise china's communist party. he also took part in, and supported, pro—democracy demonstrations in the former british colony, which led the authorities to impose tough national security laws. three years ago, they arrested mr lai and jailed him forfraud, which he denied. and now they're trying him for sedition and collusion with foreign governments, which he also denies. mr lai, who's 76, was born in mainland china, but he's also a british national. last week, lord cameron met his son, sebastian, at the foreign office. in a statement, the foreign

secretary said he was particularly concerned at the politically motivated prosecution of mr lai, who'd been targeted, he said, for exercising his freedom of expression. he added... "i call on the hong kong authorities to end their prosecution "and releasejimmy lai." mr lai's supporters do not expect a fair trial. if convicted, he could face life in prison. the proceedings, which may last months, will be seen as a fresh challenge to media freedom in hong kong, and will shape its reputation for global investors. china has urged the uk to stop meddling in its affairs. james landale, bbc news. the bbc understands the democratic unionist party has ruled out the prospect of a deal to restore devolution at stormont before christmas. the westminster government wanted the devolved assembly to be recalled this week for ministers to be appointed. but it's understood the dup�*s position is that the negotiating process is not yet complete.

for more on this story, i spoke earlier to politics editor at politics home, adam payne. the news that the bbc are reporting this morning is what i'm hearing, as well, and it is what i was being told by sources over the weekend. that is that while these talks between the uk government and the dup are in the final stages, we do seem to be within the realms of when rather than if and that is a significant development in these long—running talks. it has been put to me, and the bbc has reported, as well, that the dup feels they're not quite there yet, they don't have enough time to get this done before christmas. why is that? put law in place to action this — it rises tomorrow for christmas. not a lot of time, even if the dup and the government reached an agreement today. when it comes to that agreement, the dup and other parties are still looking for a bigger financial package from the government. talk us through it.

they're saying that they are condition led, not calendar lead, that is what they have said this morning. talk about what their conditions are, what are they looking for, what are they holding out for? for anyone who follows this, like me and your colleagues, it's just one re—occurring deja vu, really! basically, the dup has had fundamental objections to post—brexit arrangements for northern ireland, its relationship with great britain. it has been in negotiations with the uk government for many months now, nearly two years, i think, to try and address these issues. where we are at the moment is that the dup and the other parties in northern ireland, it is important to stress, want a certain amount of money from the uk government to cover things like northern ireland's public services that are under strain, to settle public sector pay disputes in northern ireland, for when or if the institutions

of government gets back up and running to make sure they have the money they need to crack on and get things going. right now, there is a gap between what the uk government, ie prime minister rishi sunak and chancellorjeremy hunt, are willing to offer, and what the dup and the other parties in northern ireland asking for. it sounds like they are not going to bridge that gap in today's meeting. as you say, it's been nearly two years without a functioning assembly. in terms of the impact of that, what has that been? well, it is worth saying it is not the first time that northern ireland has been without a functioning executive and assembly. it means that northern ireland, like the rest of the uk, have been trying to recover from coronavirus and deal with the impact of the war in ukraine, the impact it has on energy prices, on public services, all the things that your viewers are familiar with. northern ireland has been having to do that without ministers in place. it has been the job of civil

servants in northern ireland. clearly, there are limits in regards to what they can do. the uk government has had to help out in certain places. clearly, it is not an ideal state of affairs. as i said earlier, northern ireland's public services are under acute strain. northern ireland has some of the worst poverty in the country. it is a part of the uk that is feeling a lot of strain at the moment. while the dup and its core supporters, understandably, say that the reason we are doing this is for strongly felt views on the constitution and northern ireland's place in the uk, the party has come under significant pressure to get back into government in light of the many challenges that northern ireland is facing at the moment. adam payne from politics home. and we'll have more on this story later this hour — we'll cross to our correspondent

chris page in belfast. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the government says it'll set out plans in the coming days to modernise the laws around spiking, when drugs are put in another person's drink or body without their knowledge. more training for door staff and funding for testing kits are among a package of measures announced. campaigners have been calling for drink and needle spiking to be made a specific offence. two people have been taken to hospital and 50 residents were evacuated overnight following a gas explosion at a property in blackburn. their injuries are not believed to be life—threatening. a debtor nation caused the walls and the roof of a terraced house to crumble. —— the detonation caused. the government is expected to announce that it's planning to provisionally increase its funding for local councils in england by 6.5% next year. a final figure will be agreed by the treasury in early 202a. councils have been warning that they face significant

pressures on their budgets. you're live with bbc news. the serbian president says his party won a resounding victory in sunday's snap general election. final results are not due until later on monday, but within hours of polls closing, aleksandar vucic said he was confident that his serbian progressive party had secured more than half of the 250 seats. a loose coalition of 15 opposition groups had united to challenge the party, which has been in power for more than a decade. here is more from our balkans correspondent guy de launey in belgrade — i spoke to him earlier. and more on the background to this election.

this started with the two mass shootings on consecutive days in may, one of which was a school in belgrade. nine students and a staff member died because of those shootings horrified the country. initially there was a spontaneous outpouring onto the streets of anguish of what had happened. it morphed into more of an opposition led movement holding protests every week with specific demands asking for ministers to resign and also asking the government to revoke the licences of certain broadcasters who they said were responsible for promoting a culture of violence in serbia. and when those demands were not met, the opposition asked for elections to be held. and the governing party, the progressives, agreed. it was always going to be a bit of a risky manoeuvre, asking the government for an election. the progressive party has a very well oiled election machine, it's a very coherent proposition and people know what and who they are voting for. even though this is the progressive party, their figurehead is very much president alexander vucic, who presents himself as a strong leader that serbia needs to regain

prosperity. and move the country forward. that is a very appealing proposition for voters as against a coalition of 15 fairly unrelated opposition parties who had gathered under this umbrella, serbia against violence. it didn't work out the way the opposition would have liked. what were the main issues that people were campaigning on? the economy was a big one, we have had high inflation here in serbia, reaching as high as 15% within the past year and it is now down to about 8%. the cost of living was concerning people. mr vucic and the progressives took measures to try and alleviate people's fears and some the opposition said were not on, giving hand—outs to all sorts of people, pensioners, reducing prices of certain goods in the supermarkets. they were calling that helicopter money, in essence it was buying votes. these were all ways in which mr vucic and the progressives

were trying to reassure voters they could be trusted with the economy and that inflation was a temporary blip, that gdp has been increasing, and inward investment has been on the increase. and they are promising prosperity and stability for the country. let's get some of the day's other news now. votes are being counted in chad's constitutional referendum, which is seen as a step towards a return to civilian rule. some opposition parties and civil society organisations had called for a boycott. they fear the referendum will allow chad's transitional president, general mahamat deby, to strengthen his grip. results are expected in the egyptian presidential elections today. president abdel fattah al—sisi, the 68—year—old former army chief who has overseen a far—reaching crackdown on dissent, is widely expected to win — in the absence of any real competition — giving him his third six—year term. many egyptians have reportedly shown little interest in this election. uganda's constitutional court is set

to start hearing a case challenging the anti—homosexuality law passed in may this year by president yoweri museveni. it imposes severe punishments on those convicted of same sex acts including the death penalty for some crimes. the law is being challenged by human rights organisations. to australia next where emergency service have been trying to rescue services have been trying to rescue hundreds of people trapped by flooding in the state of queensland. authorities say people were stuck on the roofs of their homes as rising waters cut off entire areas. severe weather warnings remain in place with the heavy rains that have swollen rivers and engulfed roads expected to continue for most of monday. if that wasn't enough — take a look at this. a crocodile was seen swimming in a storm drain in the town of ingham. you can just see the croc�*s face in the water. i spoke earlier to abc journalist christopher testa — he's in cairns and has been reporting on this from the ground all day. he had more on the latest conditions in the area.

things are a little different depending on which part of far north queensland you're in. in the major city of cairns, population around 200,000 people, the city experienced one of its wettest days on record, the worst flooding since 1910. most of that rain fell on sunday, australian time. some coastal suburbs were completely cut off. some of them remain completely cut off but in those areas, flooding in the streets has really started to subside. it's in the further north towns, in parts of the daintree rainforest, one town in particular, the small aboriginal community of wujal wujal, where people are still, in some cases, waiting to be rescued. there is a search and rescue there for an 85—year—old man who hasn't been seen since 10pm last night. so, about 21 hours ago. the recovery process in some places has started. in other places, things still remain quite serious. in the wujal wujal area, they tried with helicopters to get there. but had to turn back, didn't they?

while the rain in cairns had stopped by this morning, in wujal wujal, it was still raining throughout parts of the day. i think they're hoping to get in tomorrow. it is a very remote location. the daintree rainforest is one of the great remnant tropical forests of the world. wujal wujal is about 200 kilometres north of cairns. road access even to places like the tourist town of port douglas about an hour north of cairns has cut off because the flooding has completely decimated some roads. in the case of wujal wujal, you have to get the ferry over the flooded daintree river. it is difficult to access in the best of times in a tropical wet season in australia. the authorities have a challenge to get to some of these places. we were just showing a picture a few moments ago of a crocodile in the waters in a place called ingham. lots to contend with as it is but adding to that all the creatures

that might be in these waters, as well, i suppose? one of my colleagues snapped a photo of that crocodile. ingham is about two and a half hours south of where i am in cairns. it is one of the main reasons why authorities are urging people to stay out of floodwaters. right now, after the worst of the rain has gone, it is the greatest threat, that people will get themselves into trouble, either driving through flood waters, crocodiles live in this part of queensland. it is something we have to contend with and be mindful of whenever we go into a body of water. there is so much flooding and the rivers have burst their banks and those crocodiles can get into places that you might not otherwise expect them. for some more mundane things about the risks of floodwater, yesterday when i was heading around town just after the worst of the rain, i saw three young children with a boogie board and they were playing right near a sign warning of a sewage spill. there are real hazards when there is flooding.

to hungary next. turkish president recep tayyip erdogan will visit budapest for a meeting of the hungarian—turkish strategic cooperation council. mr erdogan and hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban have forged close ties in recent years, and the two countries remain the only members of the nato military alliance yet to have ratified sweden joining the group after they applied to join last year to bolster their security, following russia's invasion of ukraine. the moment a landslide swept down a mountainside into lake garda in italy has been caught on camera. take a look at this. you can see the large boulders plunging into the water. officials say the force of the landside created large waves. the coastal road had to be closed. no injuries as far as we know. thanks for watching. goodbye.

hello. it was a cloudy and mild start to the day for many, there's hope of some sunshine coming through, particularly across the north. but as we head through the week, there will be further rain at times, there'll be some particularly windy weather mid week onwards and behind that it turns colder. so this is the weather front for today, introducing that cloud and rain across much of england, wales, more coming into the north west of scotland as well. but for the meantime, we've got the south—westerly winds, a fairly brisk south—westerly wind, keeping it mild, keeping it rather gray as well. the heavier rain, i think, arriving across parts of wales and north west england through into the afternoon. any brightness in the east limited, it's more likely across parts of scotland and northern ireland after a rather grainne drizzly start. ——grey and. but there's more rain waiting in the wings up in the north west of scotland and temperatures actually a little lower for scotland

and northern ireland compared with the weekend. so, a little bit chillier. and a chillier night to come as that weather front slips southwards. but not for england, wales, and northern ireland. some really heavy rain for a time. some of these showers following into the north and west could be a little bit wintry over the hills. temperatures getting down to frost levels, at least in the glens of scotland. but we are, then, confronted with yet more rain as we go through the night and into tuesday morning. so that will take its time to clear from wales, from northern england, but should have cleared northern ireland and scotland by the morning. and eventually it clears the far south and east into the afternoon. so most places will see some brightness, more than today, as we get through into tomorrow afternoon. but it's a chillier day. temperatures dipping away as the day goes on and these showers pestering the north and west will be falling as hail, some thunder and some sleet and snow, particularly on the hills. by wednesday, we're into a brisk west, north—westerly wind and yet more cloud piles in. so after a chilly start and a bright start, the sunshine will disappear, mostlyjust light rain and drizzle in southern areas, but something a little bit more persistent coming to the north and west and with it bringing back some slightly milder air. 11 or 12 degrees celsius the high.

but that windy weather as this low pressure passes close to the north of scotland, giving us severe gale force winds... and as they come down from the northwest, introducing some cooler air to all parts by the end of thursday. not particularly cold, but cold enough for those wintry showers in the north to turn to snow even at lower levels, particularly by friday. as ever, you can keep up to date online.

you can keep up to date online.

this is bbc news, the headlines... this is the israel—gaza border this morning as israel comes under growing international pressure over civilian casualties. hamas health officials say 110 palestinians were killed in a day in the jabalia refugee camp. tight security outside the court in hong kong, as media tycoon and pro—democracy campaignerjimmy lai in australia, record rainfall caused by a tropical cyclone has led to widespread flooding in the state of queensland. and here in the uk, independent shops say they fear a big spike in thefts over the festive and new year period. the bbc understands that the dup has ruled out the prospect of a deal to restore devolution in northern ireland before christmas, the bbc understands. it's been boycotting stormont since early 2022 in protest over post—brexit trade rules. the government was hoping

to restore devolution before the parliamentary recess on tuesday.