live from london, this is bbc news. israeli air strikes pound the south and north of gaza. the hamas—run health ministry says at least 110 palestinians were killed injabaliya. international pressure for a ceasefire intensifies — as us defence secretary lloyd austin arrives in tel aviv for talks with his israeli counterpart. ukraine admits artillery ammunition shortages — but a leading government official remains optimistic that international funding will continue. the mp has ruled out any deal to restore devolution before christmas, the bbc understands. —— the dup. hello, i'm maryam moshiri, welcome to bbc news now. israel's assault on gaza is showing no sign of slowing down. the hamas—run health ministry said

today 110 people were killed in air strikes on the jabalia refugee camp in the north of the strip on sunday. a residential block was hit, with reports of many more people being trapped under rubble. the israeli military hasn't given any details about reported air strikes. but the idf says operations injabalia — like this one on friday — have destroyed hamas tunnels, explosives and military equipment, and soldiers found more than a £1 million claimed to be �*designated for terrorist activity�*. fierce fighting continues elsewhere in gaza with at least one child killed in a strike on the nasser hospital according to the hamas run health ministry. the bbc has been filming there as a middle east correspondent yolande knell reports from jerusalem. a warning you may find some of the images distressing. panic at the nasser hospital last night. children newly injured by an

artillery strike, the hospital says. iis—year—old who already lost her parents, hersibling, her leg, her life. she said her dream was to become a doctor and to treat children. this small hospital in khan younis is increasingly finding itself near the front line, as israel's military is pushed into southern gaza. now doctors here say it is a struggle to care for patients at all.— it is a struggle to care for patients at all. this is the last residue as _ patients at all. this is the last residue as a _ patients at all. this is the last residue as a major— patients at all. this is the last residue as a major hospital i patients at all. this is the last residue as a major hospital in | patients at all. this is the last. residue as a major hospital in the south, it is the last residue for patients, it's the last sanctuary for people, as shelter.- patients, it's the last sanctuary for people, as shelter. early in the da this for people, as shelter. early in the day this was _ for people, as shelter. early in the day this was british _ for people, as shelter. early in the day this was british emergency - day this was british emergency doctor chris hook at the nasser hospital. he is at the end of a

gruelling month in gaza. doctor chris, normally based at bristol royal infirmary, but has worked in other war and disaster zones, told the bbc he had never seen such a scale of injuries and death. scale of in'uries and death. there's not scale of injuries and death. there's not enough — scale of injuries and death. there's not enough space, _ scale of injuries and death. there's not enough space, there's - scale of injuries and death. there's not enough space, there's not - scale of injuries and death. there's i not enough space, there's not enough supply, not enough space, there's not enough supply, there is not enough staff to treat all these injuries, and more keep coming. you can hear even now shelling going on around. the hosital shelling going on around. the hospital site _ shelling going on around. the hospital site remains packed with thousands of displaced people, and last night the number of casualties could have been far higher. it appears the shell which hit here didn't explode. the israeli military has not commented on whether hospital was a target but said it is attacking terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in the city. today, more israeli strikes on khan younis seen as a stronghold of hamas, even as international calls for a ceasefire in gaza are mounting, the war here remains intense. yolande

knell, bbc news, jerusalem. as international pressure mounts on israel to reduce civilian casualties and with growing calls for a ceasefire, the us secretary of defence has returned to israel. lloyd austin has met his israeli counterpart and is also due to talk to prime minister benjamin netanyahu — with a focus on how israel plans to move to the next phase of the war. the un security council is expected to vote in the coming hours on a resolution calling for an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities". the us blocked a previous resolution that called for a �*humanitarian ceasefire�*. over the weekend, the uk, france and germany stepped up calls for a pause in the fighting. conditions in gaza keep getting worse. supplies are arriving, but as you can see in these pictures, trucks crossing from egypt are quickly surrounded by desperate crowds. aid agencies are reporting widespread starvation and desperation, as the fighting continues.

i spoke tojuliette touma, director of communications at the un relief and works agency, about the humanitarian situation in gaza. we have passed the 70 days since the start of what has been a very, very brutal war, and very tight siege, and the longer this war continues, the more desperate people become, and the more hungry they become, and the more they lose any hope for a prospect that this comes to an end, which it should. it should come to an end. there are aid trucks getting into gaza, but tell me how much they are making a difference, because we are seeing pictures of trucks coming in from egypt and many people surrounding them out of sheer desperation. yes, exactly, people are hungry and desperate, and we have witnessed this first hand when these aid trucks come in,

as important as this is, people are actually coming on the trucks and grabbing the food and they start eating it then and there. it is just one indicator as to how bad the situation has become. and we are seeing a great number of internally displaced people sheltering in unrwa facilities in areas like khan younis and rafah. what conditions are they living in right now, and how safe are those areas? first of all, we have seen an increase in the people coming to use our facilities. 1.4 million people now live in these unrwa facilities and i visited one recently in khan younis, and it is just appalling. people are literally on top of each other. all they are asking for is a sip of water, a piece of bread. people continue to come to these shelters and we are seeing diseases that are starting to spread.

it is getting cold, it is rainy. i saw children still walking around with their summer shoes and summer clothes. there�*s not enough blankets, there�*s not enough mattresses. and we will continue to see this increase. are they safe? no, they are not safe. unrwa recorded 150 hits on our facilities which should be protected in accordance to international law. we spoke earlier on, spoke to a spokesperson from the israeli government, eylon levy, and he talked about the fact that the israeli government says it is trying to protect civilians as much as possible in gaza. what reaction do you have to that? look, we continue to lose colleagues. the latest update ijust got before coming to speak to you is that 136 of our colleagues at unrwa have been killed.

the number of civilians who are killed, among them many women and children, according to the reports, 70% of those killed are women and children, so it very high. and much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to spare civilian infrastructure from attacks, orfrom being hit during this war. juliette touma talking to me there. our middle east correspondent yolande knell is injerusalem, and told me more about calls for a ceasefire and the mounting pressure on israel if you look at the moment what�*s happening over in tel aviv, you have the us defence secretary lloyd austin in town talking to israeli leaders. really the us, israel�*s closest ally, is pressing very much for it to move from major combat operations, this very high intensity of fighting, to lower intensity of fighting where it�*s more precise

in its operations, going after hamas leaders, going after rescue operations for hostages still held inside the gaza strip. now, at the moment, israel is really pressing for more time there. and we�*ve had an israeli government spokesman who told the bbc earlier that israel was doing what it could to protect civilians, and that really it�*s hamas that is using civilian infrastructure that makes it so difficult. he said it was breaking norms of international law. there�*s also global pressure from other allies of israel, though, of course, particularly in europe, when it comes to pressing for a ceasefire in gaza, allowing safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid. and we can see that in the debates that are going on at the moment at the un security council ahead of a vote on a new draft resolution. and even in israel, among many ordinary people, there is sort of growing worry about where this war is going.

there�*s a lot more pressure building up for a new ceasefire linked to a hostage release deal that could see many more of those 120 hostages still believed to be held in gaza released because, of course, this only increased after last week when we saw three israeli men in their 20s being held hostage in gaza killed mistakenly by israeli forces, even as they were holding a white flag. as yolande knell injerusalem. as always, more on that story on the bbc news website. in egypt, president al—sisi has won a sweeping victory in the elections there, securing a new six—year term. our correspondent sally nabil is in cairo. she says the struggling economy in egypt is a major challenge facing president sisi. even before the election started a lot of people i talked to said that the results have

already been decided. the high election commission said that mr sisi won around 90% of the votes and they said that the voter turnout was unprecedented, hitting around 67%. but all of that is not the big question. the big question is, what the president is going to do about the challenges lying ahead. on top of these challenges comes the economy that stands on the verge of a huge meltdown. we are talking here about inflation rates hitting nearly a0%. we are talking about around one third of egyptian households living below the poverty line, people who are growing angry and unhappy by the day given the constant rise in prices. people who are unable to afford the very basic commodities like onions, like sugar, people who drop their children out of school because they can�*t pay the fees. a lady i was talking to a couple of weeks ago told me she hasn�*t bought meat in three years

because it�*s becoming too expensive for her. what is the president going to do about all of that? he has won a new term quite easily which was widely expected because he didn�*t face a real challenge in the election. it was largely seen as a one—horse race. but the real challenge lies ahead, which is mainly the economy and people�*s dire living conditions. that�*s sally nabil there. let�*s take you from egypt to hong kong. the trial of prominent pro—democracy campaigner, jimmy lai, has begun in hong kong. the 76—year—old was 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. his writing was deemed to be illegal under laws imposed by beijing. security was tight around the court for the start of the hearing, which his son described as a show 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 the businessman. i spoke to the well—known hong kong activist and politician nathan law to hear his thoughts. ——nathan law to hear his thoughts. this is definitely a show trial for the past, a wreck, because there are more than 250 defendants in the national security court, which there is nojury or thejudges are being hand—picked and restricted media assets. all of them are convicted. so for now, there is no, well, realistic thought thatjimmy lai would be the exception. studio: talk to me a little bit about the role of the uk and the us because we�*ve heard lord david cameron now speaking out to the chinese about what�*s happening. how significant is it? how important is it that the uk

diplomatic corps at least speaks out to the chinese about this? first of all, the foreign secretary meeting sebastian lai, meeting sebastien lai, who is the son ofjimmy lai, is a very important signal because for the past a year, for the past year, the british government has been quite avoiding to meet with the representative ofjimmy lai. so this is a healthy signal. it shows thatjimmy lai, as a british citizen, is being is getting the attention and support that he needs. and as beijing says that this is british government meddling in internal affairs of hong kong, of china. and this is just ridiculous because the chinese government, the hong kong government is putting a british citizen on trial in such a ridiculous fashion. and ifjimmy lai is being convicted, he could face life sentencing. what difference do you think it will make to have that kind

of support from the foreign secretary now after, as you as you describe it yourself, a year in which the uk government has been reticent about engaging? we have to understand the current political and judicial system of hong kong before we get into the question. it is undeniable that the current courts in hong kong, especially the national security courts, is heavily tilted to the beijing government and they have become an extended arm of this incarceration system, which puts democratic activists injailfor no reason. jimmy lai is being trialled because he published a very influential free media in hong kong and criticised the chinese government and stand up for freedom. he doesn�*t advocate for violence, he doesn�*t advocate for hong kong independence and he�*s just merely exercising his freedom of speech and political freedom to stand up for democracy and freedom.

freedom and also the whole hong kong system has become so authoritarian that they have to put 76 businessmen injail in order to make a point about hong kong. that�*s nathan lord talking to me about what is happening in hong kong. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let�*s look at some other stories making news across the uk. a new type of non—hormonal menopause treatment for hot flushes and night sweats has been approved in the uk. the daily pill, veozah — or fezolinetant — works on the brain�*s temperature—control centre to alleviate symptoms, which affect more than a million people in the uk. the drug has not yet been recommended for the nhs to prescribe. thousands of xl bully owners have been told they will not need to put

down their dogs when a ban on the breed comes into force in two weeks. from december 31st, the dogs will have to be muzzled in public and it will be illegal to breed, sell or abandon them. people with dangerously out of control dogs can be jailed for 1h years. the government is expected to announce that it�*s planning a provisional increase of 6.5% in its funding for local councils in england next year. a final figure will be agreed by the treasury early in the new year. councils have been warning that they face significant budgetary pressures. you�*re live with bbc news. the uk prime minister says he takes "extremely seriously" the allegations against the former conservative peer, baroness mone. rishi sunak has pointed out that the government is taking legal action against ppe medpro, the company that is run by her husband. our political correspondent iain watson is in westminster and has more details. what is the background to the story? yesterday in her bbc interview michelle nunn, baroness mone, because she has a seat in the house

of lords, she stood aside from its last year and she said, to clear her name but we will refer to her as baroness mone, she said, look, i admit that i lied about my involvement in securing contracts, ppe contracts during the pandemic. she said this was simply to protect herfamily and she said this was simply to protect her family and that�*s why she didn�*t tell the press that she had been involved. some of her political opponents have been raising questions about that. but there are some specific things, too, which we need to focus on in what is a particularly complicated story, it is not simply about telling the truth, there is also a national crime agency investigation which has lasted two years into ppe medpro and there is now also legal action being taken by the department of health over £122 million contract for gowns which they said didn�*t meet the specifications and were not used during the pandemic. that was part

of a bigger contract worth more than £200 million in total. part of which was successfully fulfilled. so there is a bit of aid to—and—fro between the department and michelle nunn and her husband doug barrowman, who is the key figure behind ppe medpro. they suggest they did everything above board and in fact the government was completely incompetent in the way try to secure some of these ppe equipment during the course of the pandemic. that has been her side of the case. what is interesting is that for the first time rishi sunak as prime minister has commented on this and he said it was basically a mark ofjust how seriously he was taking the issues around this and the government was now taking legal action against the company. what i would say is the government takes these things incredibly seriously, which is why they are pursuing legal action against the company concerned in these matters. that is how seriously i take it, and the government takes it. but it is also subject to an ongoing

criminal investigation and because of that there's not much further that i can add. interestingly, labour are getting involved in this as well as the main opposition party because they say michelle nunn also in that bbc interview said she contacted the cabinet minister, michael gove, to offer help in securing ppe. so he was involved, they to questions answered about the extent of his involvement, contact between him and baroness mone, and the contact between other government officials and baroness mone. because i think the key thing they want to try and land politically in this is that the focus should not simply be on the activities of baroness mone, who claim she has done nothing wrong, it should be on the government�*s actions on how it awarded contracts more widely during the course of the pandemic. iain more widely during the course of the andemic. . . ., ,., ., ~ more widely during the course of the andemic. . ~ ., . ~' ,, pandemic. iain watson, thank you very much — pandemic. iain watson, thank you very much indeed. _ to northern ireland next, and the bbc understands the democratic unionist party has ruled out the prospect of a deal to restore devolved power at stormont before christmas. northern ireland has been without a devolved government for almost two years,

after the dup withdrew support following brexit. the westminster government wanted the devolved assembly to be recalled this week so ministers could be appointed — but it�*s understood the dup�*s position is that the negotiating process is not yet complete. our ireland correspondent chris page is following all the developments and has more on the impact this is all having on people and services. northern ireland has been without a devolved government now for almost two years and really the impact of that is mainly being felt, most would say, in public services — health, education. people working in those areas would say there has been a lack of leadership, a lack of strategy. decisions have been left unmade. northern ireland is basically being run by officials who don�*t have the power to take major decisions as elected politicians would do. also, the big issue at the moment around public sector pay, workers in education, the likes of teachers, nurses in the health service say their pay has fallen well behind their counterparts in the rest of the uk, so there is a series of strikes continuing here. so really, there has been no cliff—edge moment,

no big issue that has been a lightning rod, if you like, that has summed up the dysfunction that has come from not having a devolved government, but if you talk to anyone working in public services, they will say they are gradually noticing more of a difference, and also many people in business would say the fact that northern ireland doesn�*t have a government is putting off international firms from investing here. that was chris page. 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. earlier i spoke to dr helena ivanov in belgrade, an associate research fellow at the henry jackson society — a think tank that advocates the spread of liberal democracy. she says the ruling party victory comes as a surprise.

obviously these elections have happened in the backdrop of the two massacres that happened in may, general dissatisfaction of citizens, staggeringly high inflation of 8% in november. a lot of the campaign was about internal problems in serbia rather than foreign policy. given the results that basically gave a landslide victory to president vukic�*s serbian progressive party and given the great party of the serbian progressive party that will remain after these elections, i don�*t think we will see any major substantial changes on an internal level. but equally i don�*t think we will see lots of changes in the foreign policy as well. they were not really the key issues that were analysed or discussed during this electoral campaign, but also given a very similar parliament we are going to be the income i�*m not expecting any substantial changes was there any substantial changes was there any surprise that this snap election has seen mr mrvucic been victorious very definitively? yeah of course,

generally speaking, even outside the serbian context, to be in powerfor 11 years and then have an absolute majority in such a large landslide is something that rarely happens and then when you add the two massacres, then when you add the two massacres, the corruption levels, the general lack of freedom of the press, the general dissatisfaction, huge protests we have seen this year, many hoped that even if mr vucic�*s party stayed in power they would not be winning with this landslide. the results are even more of a defeat for the opposition when it comes to belgrade. many were pretty sure that in the belgrade elections we would see the opposition government. but after these elections it increasingly seems likely mr vucic will form the belgrade government as well, although he will need coalition partners in this case. mit? coalition partners in this case. why do ou coalition partners in this case. why do you think _ coalition partners in this case. why do you think this _ coalition partners in this case. why do you think this has happened? why has it not been reflected in the results of the dissatisfaction that there has been among some serbians?

i think there are several things to note. the opposition has very clearly failed to really offer what the serbian voters wanted. certain political parties that opted for focusing on issues about kosovo and relations with russia have substantially underperformed. certain political parties that advocated for issues regarding kosovo and russia either didn�*t pass the threshold or have substantially underperformed in comparison to previous elections. when it comes to pro—liberal and pro—eu opposition they have seen a substantial rise in votes, however, not enough to form the government and that�*s probably also related to the fact that some of their voters at least felt their campaign didn�*t offer enough. and then of course we also need to mention that certain organisations and certain political parties are discussing the irregularities of these elections, and then in addition one of the big issues in serbia is the freedom of the press when it comes to media outlets with national outreach. there is a question as how objective and impartial this election campaign in

reality was. impartial this election campaign in reali was. , ,, impartial this election campaign in reality was-— impartial this election campaign in reali was. , ,, , ., reality was. business coming up in a few minutes- _ reality was. business coming up in a few minutes. stay _ reality was. business coming up in a few minutes. stay with _ reality was. business coming up in a few minutes. stay with us _ reality was. business coming up in a few minutes. stay with us on - reality was. business coming up in a few minutes. stay with us on the - few minutes. stay with us on the bbc. the big day isjust a week few minutes. stay with us on the bbc. the big day is just a week away but the weather is not looking particularly festive. lots of cloud out there, lots of outbreaks of rain and it will become very windy over the next few days. as colder air tries to tuck in from the north we have a chance for some snow in some places later in the week. we find ourselves in something of a battleground, cold air to the north trying to dig in. mild air trying to push on from the south, and in between we find the jet stream, the stream of very strong winds high in the atmosphere spinning up in various areas of low pressure. we ended monday on a mild note in most places. a lot of cloud, still some patchy rain across england and wales, clearer skies in parts of the north of england, northern ireland, and overnight cloud and heavy rain across england and wales. clearer skies in northern ireland and scotland, showers can be wintry over

high ground in scotland, may be cold enough for frost and ice in high ground in scotland, may be cold enough forfrost and ice in parts of northern scotland. further south it remains very mild into tuesday morning with some outbreaks of heavy and persistent rain. but that rain will clear southwards. behind it the will clear southwards. behind it the will brighten and we will see spells of sunshine. but scattered showers rushing in on a brisk north—westerly wind, some of the showers wintry over high ground in scotland and at temperatures dropping away, cold air pushing down from the north. however, on wednesday we get back into milder air, wednesday will be a windy day, quite a cloudy day, there will be bits and pieces of rain around, some heavy rain across some parts of western and northern scotland, and temperatures back up into double figures for many. and through wednesday night into thursday i�*ll be looking at potentially quite a deep area of low pressure pass to the north of the uk and is this cold front slipped southwards it will bring a return of colder air. we will see some wintry showers. in fact snow showers to

quite low levels in scotland coupled with very strong or gale force winds which could give blizzard conditions. further south cloud and outbreaks of rain, holding onto mild air in the south, something colder further north. as we head into the christmas period there is some uncertainty about just how christmas period there is some uncertainty aboutjust how long that cold air will stick around will stop it may be cold enough for some of us to see snow in the run—up to christmas.

a new crisis looms in global shipping. bp pauses all red sea shipments after houthi rebel attacks. the oil giantjoins a host of big players avoiding the route to the suez canal. egypt�*s president el—sisi secures an overwhelming victory in egypt�*s elections with a third term in office. we�*ll examine the economic challenges that await him. welcome to world business report. i�*m tadhg enright. oil giant bp has supended all shipments of oil through the red sea after recent attacks by yemen�*s iranian—backed houthi militants. the rebel group has been targeting commercial vessels travelling past the yemeni coast towards israel in a show

of solidarity for hamas.