ends, as we learn a man believed to have been taken by hamas has died. plus, we examine the new challenges to efforts by texas to try to stem the flow of migrants at the southern border. hello, i'm helena humphrey. you with us. after days of negotiations to avoid a us veto, the un security council has approved a resolution demanding large scale aid deliveries to gaza. it stops short of calling for a ceasefire between israel and hamas. 13 council members voted for the resolution, the us and russia abstained. the resolution was sponsored by the uae. its ambassador to the un says the decision �*responds to the dire situation "on the ground. the palestinian ambassador to the un, called it a step in the right direction but reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire,

saying that 2.3—million palestinians have been fighting for their lives and facing death. meanwhile, israel's ambassador to the un criticised the resolution and said that the �*un should have �*focused on the humanitarian crisis of the hostages.�* for more on the day�*s events, our correspondentjohn sudworth sent this update. after the long drawn—out diplomacy, the drafting and redrafting, finally, the moment of truth. the wide show of support from most security council members was no surprise. the resolution the uae has put in blue this morning responds to the calls for a sustainable cessation of hostilities and a massive scale—up of humanitarian aid. often in diplomacy, the challenge is meeting the moment in the world we live in, not in the world we want. all eyes were on the us and russia. in the end, they both abstained. but it wasn�*t a veto, and so the resolution passed. guns fire. on the ground, its immediate

practical implications may be limited. the us did much to tone down the language, motivated by what it sees as israel�*s right to keep fighting. so, the call for an immediate ceasefire has gone, replaced instead with a call only for the conditions that might eventually lead to one. and the insistence in earlier drafts that the united nations take control of the delivery of aid has also been struck out. the final version now talks of consulting all relevant parties. as always, the geopolitics were never far from the surface, with russia describing the us as shameful for not calling for a ceasefire. the us in turn dismissed that claim, given russia�*s actions in ukraine, and then made clear it had lingering concerns of its own. while we are encouraged that the council spoke out on this humanitarian crisis,

we�*re deeply disappointed, appalled, actually, that once again the council was not able to condemn hamas�*s horrific terrorist attack on seventh october. despite the differences, though, there is now agreement on the scale of the crisis in gaza and the intent at least to do more to address it. john sudworth, bbc news, washington. a live look at gaza now from southern israel, where the humanitarian situation remains dire. the united nations says the entire territory�*s population is short of food and half—a—million people are facing "catastrophic risk" of starvation. israel has told palestinians remaining in central gaza to move south as its military expands its operations. some 2—million palestinians have already been displaced since the war began. israel continued its bombing operations on friday. in the southern city of rafah,

video shows a destroyed vehicle with bloodstains covered up by a large sheet in the aftermath of a strike. one child was reported killed in friday�*s strike. the latest video released by the israel defense forces is the view from a camera strapped to a dog, running through what the idf says is a tunnel route, used by hamas as a base in gaza city. the idf says it discovered multiple levels inside the underground network, including hideout rooms and blast doors. it say the tunnel spans hundreds of meters. we�*ve also learned a dual us—israeli citizen reportedly abducted by hamas is now believed to have been killed during the 7 october attack in israel, according to the white house. more on the worsening crisis from our lucy williamson in jerusalem. car horns blare. when israel and hamas refuse to budge from their positions, the people of gaza must move instead. with the road to negotiations blocked, the war roams free.

bureij camp the latest target for evacuation warnings. some, likejahad, had fled here to escape the fighting elsewhere. translation: the situation inside the camp is dire. - people are dying, others are evacuating. the conditions are extremely challenging. there�*s a shortage of blankets, clothes, essential items. nasa hospital in khan younis, one ofjust nine still functioning in gaza. the palestine red crescent says epidemics are taking hold because of a lack of food and medicine. maheda brought her son zayeed here suffering from a lung infection, blood clots and convulsions. he�*s spent 18 days in intensive care. translation: nowhere | is safe, nowhere is clean. i�*m in despair because there is no solution. even if my child is ok, there is nowhere safe for us to go. even the hospital is not clean. i don�*t know where to turn.

i�*m exhausted, and my child is slowly dying. new analysis suggests that two—thirds of northern gaza has been destroyed. seen from space, researchers say, gaza is now a different colour and texture. israel says the war in gaza will continue until hamas is destroyed, that it has killed thousands of the group�*s fighters, unearthed vast tunnel networks. but hamas rockets are still being fired into israel. and today, another israeli hostage was reported dead. gadi haggai, a 73—year—old musician kidnapped from kibbutz nir oz along with his wifejudy. muhammad was just weeks old when the war began. his grandfather buried him today, along with his mother and father, all killed in a strike on rafah overnight. the price of war paid by a baby whose grandfather will never

now know peace. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. here in washington, the supreme court has declined, for now, to decide whether former president donald trump is immune from prosecution on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election. special counsel, jack smith, was hoping to expedite the process for the four separate charges mr trump is facing. the trial was initially set to begin in march, but could be delayed for months, a small victory for the former president. in response to the supreme court�*s decision, mr trump denied the charges. on truth social, the ex—president claimed he�*s covered under presidential immunity as he contests the upcoming presidential election in november. the case will instead first be heard by a federal appeals court january 9th. a delegation of top us officials is expected to visit mexico on wednesday to discuss the immigration challenge at the southern border.

the visit comes as the month of november saw the highest tally of migrant encounters along the border in that month on record. us customs and border protection says it processed more than 242,000 migrants last month — that�*s 36,000 more migrants than the same time last year. republican politicians in border states say they are "overwhelmed" including texas governor greg abbott, who signed a state law on monday that would allow officers to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally. biden�*s deliberate inaction has left texas to fend for itself. the authors of the united states constitution foresaw a situation when the federal government would be inattentive to states that faced challenges at their borders. and in response, they inserted article i section 10 to the united states constitution, to empower states

to take action to defend themselves and that is exactly what texas is doing. not even 2a hours after the bill was signed civil rights groups sued to challenge the law. to better understand the lawsuit, i spoke with david donatti, senior staff attorney with the aclu of texas. very good to happy with us. i would like to begin the lawsuit. why are you suing texas and what do you hope might come out of it? , thank you so much for having me. texas has passed one of the most anti—immigrant laws in the country and one that, to my understanding, is unprecedented in the history of our nation. the law allows any police officer in the state to apprehend somebody they suspect of being here illegally or being unlawfully present in the state and that law will take into effect march 5, 202a.

so we sued in federal court asking forfederal court intervention to see to it that that law is never enforced against members of the communities that we serve. there is also a concern that this bill would conflict with the constitution. could you explain that to us? it certainly does conflict with the constitution. over 100 years of supreme court precedent confirm what is true about international law, generally, which is that a sovereign nation, in this instance the united states, has the exclusive authority to enforce its immigration regulations and, more importantly, to deport or remove people who it believes do not belong within the country. so texas is the first nation to step forward and take on this issue into its own hands which contradicts the supremacy clause of the united states constitution as well as a fundamental principle of the united states sovereignty. talking about texas, essentially taking this matter into its own hands, ijust want to read you a comment

from governor abbott. he has said, "biden�*s deliberate inaction "has left texas to fend for itself." of course, we know that we are seeing record numbers of arrivals at the southern border right now. how do you then think that it should be handled? first and foremost we need to emphasise that these are human beings we are talking about and so when we talk about record numbers, we have to acknowledge where people are coming from and why it is that they are fleeing to our shores seeking safety. the groups that are approaching texas at this moment are very diverse, they come from all over the world. they come from not only from places like venezuela, like haiti, places like the middle east, africa and asia and they are coming here because they need to to survive. we are also seeing an increase in the number of people coming with young children as families because the places where they are coming from are no longer sustainable or habitable to them.

so i believe that we need to start from the fundamental principle that these are human beings who have rights under international and united states law. the biden administration has taken several actions, some of which support migrants, the others of which we have criticised on the record. fundamentally, the issue here is that this is a prerogative of the united states as a federal government and it cannot be up to a state like texas can enforce its own vision of who belongs and who can be removed. is there an argument that the current federal law is not being enforced right now? crossing between ports of entry we know is already a crime if you look at federal laws. we also know from multiple reports that federal agents often do not prosecute migrants until their second offence. so should that law be enforced first, do you think? , these are questions federal government enforcement discretion. people have a lot of very compelling reasons to cross between ports

of entry on something important to emphasise is under a united states immigration laws passed by the congress and individual who crosses between ports of entry are still eligible to seek asylum and that right is fundamental. it cannot be that certain procedural requirements lead to people being sent back to conditions of danger. it is also worth emphasising that the biden administration has deported more people or as many people as any administration on recent record. the idea that the biden administration is not spending substantial money on this problem or are threatening to limit access to asylum is just untrue. these are political disagreements and texas as assorted authority that it cannot claim under the constitution. we know governor abbott has taken other steps to try and there he says, draw attention to what we�*re seeing happening at the border, razor wire for example along the rio grande river. also, bussing thousands of migrants we know to democratically controlled

cities, for example, nordic, new york and washington, dc, la, chicago. what does this mean ultimately for people at the centre of this? is this playing politics with them? , whether it is playing politics or not the human consequences of it are very high. the assessment _ of it are very high. the assessment for - of it are very high. the assessment for the - of it are very high. tue: assessment for the government trying to gather attention may be partly true but if you�*re trying to gather attention with razor wire you are doing so in a way that is barbaric and that is in fact causing lacerations to human beings, men, women and children, who are simply here to seek safety. at bottom, nobody here is suggesting that there is not a problem. the number of people who cannot stay in their homes. the issue is we need to work towards solutions, not merely convert it into a political playground. if the state of texas were serious about addressing the needs of migrants on the border or addressing the needs of border communities, they would

have proceeded very differently. it would be co—ordinating with groups on the ground to provide humanitarian and logistical support to migrants who are simply trying to survive. at woods provide advance notice to cities like chicago and new york before sending migrants. the issue is not that texas is providing consensual transportation, it is doing so in a way that is calculated to cause harm. these are very real problems and these are very real human questions that need to be addressed but we should all be doing so from a perspective of how can we solve this problem, how can we do no harm and texas has not taken that approach.— that approach. thank you for bein: that approach. thank you for being with — that approach. thank you for being with us. _ that approach. thank you for being with us. as we - that approach. thank you for being with us. as we would i that approach. thank you for i being with us. as we would just mentioning in the interview, texas governor greg abbott has bussed tens of thousands of migrants from texas to mostly democrat run cities.

the operation began in april of last year, and since then over 75,000 migrants have been bused across the country. this includes over 27,000 to new york city, over 22,000 migrants to chicago, illinois and over 12,000 migrants to washington, dc. and for the first time, governor abbott chartered a private flight of over 100 migrants to chicago, which launched lawsuits against companies transporting migrants. as the war in ukraine approaches its second year, and the un security council increasingly finds its attention focused in the israel—gaza war, the international rescue committee, is sounding the alarm that some of the most pressing humanitarian crises of our time are currently unfolding on the african continent and will only get worse without global action in 2024. earlier i spoke to david miliband, the ceo and president of that organisation, and the former british foreign secretary. so much of our global attention this year has been fixed

on the war in ukraine, now the israel and gaza war, naturally. but what does this mean for other humanitarian crises around the world ? where do you think that our global attention might be lacking? the irc, international rescue committee, is active in ukraine and in gaza, but we are deeply concerned that other crises involving tens of millions of people are, frankly, been ignored at the moment. we�*ve just published our emergency watchlist, looking at the top 20 crises of the coming year, based on 65 quantitative and qualitative indicators and it�*s actually sudan that is number one on the list, 25 million people in humanitarian need. eight out of the top ten crises of 2024 that we forecast are in africa and in total about 260 million people are covered byjust those 20 countries in humanitarian need, so i think there is a real necessity obviously to do justice to the crisis in gaza,

the ongoing war in ukraine, but i would plead that we don�*t forget about these other crises as well because what we do know is that when humanitarian need is neglected, that leads to further political instability. you mentioned the african continent there. your organisation emphasises that armed conflict and climate change are increasingly converging. we�*vejust had cop28 in dubai and we saw the pledge to transition away from the use of fossil fuels. is that good enough, do you think? does that go far enough when we�*re faced with these global crises? the short answer is no for a very simple reason, that whatever happens in the future to transition away from fossil fuels is not going to do anything about the greenhouse gases that already are in the atmosphere and that are creating a climate crisis in significant parts of africa. it�*s increasingly clear that crisis to do with the climate,

and crisis to do with political division, are interacting with each other. the pressure on resources that comes from the climate crisis is exacerbating the drivers of conflict to the extent that the top 14 countries in the watchlist, 14 of the top 20 countries on the watchlist are not just conflict states, they are also in the top quartile of climate stress to states because at the moment, the more fragile the country, the less likely it is to get help with adapting to climate change and thatjust exacerbates the dangers that these countries face. i do also want to ask you about how you assess the power of international institutions right now because we have seen a lot of wrangling at the un security council over resolutions in the israel—gaza war. we�*ve also seen parties to conflict failing to uphold their responsibility to protect humanitarian access. is international humanitarian law, international institutions, are they facing their

own crisis right now? yes, they are. the crisis above all is for people on the ground, aid workers and civilians, is frankly astonishing, but worth repeating that 90% of the victims of war today are not soldiers, they are civilians. that speaks to the erosion of international norms in respect of civilian protection and, frankly, humanitarian aid which is meant to be a legal right for civilians caught up infighting. we are seeing state actors and nonstate actors increasingly acting with impunity in the crises where we work, and it�*s civilians paying the price. talking about civilians paying the price, one thing that�*s really striking, if you take the example, the situation in gaza, women, children are being disproportionately killed among the civilian population. i heard you say recently a quote: "to be a successful humanitarian organisation, "you need to be

a feminist organisation." tell us more about what you meant by that. what i meant was very simple. we have to recognise that the majority of clients of humanitarian organisations are women and girls. that those women and girls face multiple inequalities, not just the displacement that men and boys face, notjust the impunity that men and boys face, but extra poverty, extra violence, extra impunity against them. levels of sexual violence against women and girls, levels of extreme poverty and exploitation, nevermind early marriage, the extra attention needed for women and girls is not yet arriving. just one statistic to back that up — less than 2% of global humanitarian aid spending goes to women—led organisations despite the fact that women and girls are the majority in these circumstances. we know from our own experience as well as our own research that when the social programmes and, vitally, the economic programmes

for economic independence are brought together, women and girls can benefit enormously, even in dire situations of crisis. but when we are talking about this level of global turmoil, i wonder, in yourjob, do you ever worry that we�*re just getting used to this? because if you take a look at what�*s happening here in the us right now, for example, just one example, tremendous difficulty getting more aid through congress to ukraine, for example. do you think that these kinds of conflicts are becoming normalised ? yes, that is the great danger. 260 million people in 20 countries dependent on humanitarian aid to survive is not normal. that�*s a fourfold increase over the last ten years. it takes politics to stop the killing, but humanitarian aid and effective humanitarian action can stop the dying and staunch the dying, and that�*s what we are in business to do.

we depend on governments but also the voters, the taxpayers, the donors who underpin them, to make sure that we don�*t forget that in this world, this increasingly connected world, problems that start in one continent don�*t stay in that continent. talking about those taxpayers, voters, ordinary people, i guess, people who are watching this who find it all very difficult to process, when all of this is happening around the world, for those people who feel touched, who feel concerned, what can they do? living in the united states, they can make a difference locally. the international rescue committee is unique among international ngos because we�*re both a humanitarian aid organisation in places far away, but we are also a refugee resettlement organisation in 30 cities across the united states, and the biden administration has expanded the number of people who are legally organised to come to the us to start a new life

after suffering persecution in their own country. in 30 cities around the us those people don�*tjust depend on professional irc workers but local volunteers to be their buddies, their english teachers, their navigators for the health system or the employment system. so there is a practical way in which your viewers can make a difference as well as learning about the crises and using their voice about those issues that are further away. david miliband, president and ceo of the international rescue committee and a former british foreign secretary. thank you for your time. thank you so much for your coverage. let�*s turn to some important news around the world. two paramedics have been convicted in the us state of colorado over the 2019 death of elijah mcclain. mcclain was walking home from a store when he was stopped by police, placed in a chokehold, then injected with ketamine by the paramedics. a policeman was convicted of neglectful homicide earlier this year, the same charge as the paramedics.

the case drew outrage across the us during protests demanding racial justice in 2020. take a look at this scene at queue of cars at the britain�*s port of dover, following a surge in demand for ferries prompted by a eurotunnel strike on thursday in france. of course, millions of people are on the move in the uk and around the world for christmas. british road and train travel is also heavy amid network rail disuptions, with more than 13 million journeys predicted between today and sunday. that�*s as people try to drive home for christmas. you are watching bbc news. more at the top of the hour. hello there. christmas, for most of us, looks likely to be a mild one. in fact, on friday we had a pretty typical story, quite a lot of cloud around and temperatures 13 degrees across the south coast. but look at this, in the northern isles, just a daytime maximum of one celsius. and yes, there were some

snow showers as well. that�*s because the far north—east of scotland stuck in this cold air. this weather front the dividing line between cloudy and milder conditions down to the south. but as that weather front bumps into the cold air, we�*re likely to see some snow, 2—10 centimetres forming across higher ground. gradually, that snow will revert back to rain through the day, some of it quite heavy across western and central scotland. cloudier, damp conditions at further south and west. the best of the breaks in the cloud, perhaps east anglia and south—east england. but it is going to be another mild story for most of us. once again, 12—13 degrees, but staying in that cooler air for the far north—east of scotland. now, as we move into christmas eve, once again, the wind direction subtly changes to a southwesterly. milderstill, but look how many isobars. christmas eve is going to be a windy day. so if you�*re heading off to friends and family, keep abreast of the forecast. tune in to your bbc local radio station for traffic updates. there will be outbreaks of rain as well coming in from the west at times.

but again, it will be mild for most of us with those temperatures potentially 15 degrees. it has the potential, christmas eve, to be the warmest on record. we�*ll keep you posted with developments of that. as we move out of christmas eve into christmas day, well, we are likely to see some rain around. little in change in the forecast. it stays quite mild for most of us. there will be outbreaks of rain. still in that colder air across scotland, so here we could see a few flakes of snow in those showers. but it�*s a great day for staying indoors and indulging, really, particularly where that wet weather is sitting and those temperatures peaking, once again, generally between 9—14 degrees. but there is a glimmer of good news as we head towards boxing day. the weather fronts will gradually ease away. a ridge of high pressure builds. so if you want to get out, get some fresh air and walk off some of the excess of christmas day, you have a chance to do that on boxing day. dry, settled, and sunny for most. merry christmas.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we�*ll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme.

there�*s a huge barrage going on overhead just at the moment. yevgeny prigozhin seemed determined to march his men to the top of the hill. then, he marched them down again. political persecution like something straight out of a fascist or communist nation. this is southern israel and that is gaza, and the war

here has dominated the news agenda since early october.