in the last 2a hours, including 70 in a blast which hit a refugee camp. people flee their homes in central nigeria after more than 100 are killed in attacks on farming communities. russia's leading opposition figure, alexei navalny, has been found to be held in a penal colony in siberia. and king charles uses his annual christmas broadcast to emphasise the importance of "universal" values shared between major religions. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. welcome to the programme. we are going to start with the latest on the israel gaza war. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the military will "deepen" its fight against hamas in the coming days. these pictures released

by the israeli government show him on a rare visit to israeli troops in gaza. he later told members of his party that his country's military campaign was "not close to being over". his comments come days after the us secretary of state said israel should lower the intensity of its strikes. he later appeared in the israeli parliament — take a listen. chanting his speech was heckled by the families of hostages who were watching. they shouted "now" from the gallery as they demanded the immediate release of their loved ones. israel says 129 people remain unaccounted for after they were taken to gaza by hamas attacks in october. these images show the aftermath of an air strike on the al—maghazi refugee camp which reportedly killed more than 70 people. israel says it is investigating.

the gaza health ministry says at least 250 people have been killed in the last 2a hours. since early october, the hamas—run health ministry says shaimaa khalil�*s report contains images some may find distressing. pointing to her pain, overcome with distress. "it hurts here, mama," she says. her mother is trying to console her. late at night, their homes were bombed. the wounded kept coming to the nearby al—aqsa hospital, already overwhelmed, with no fuel or water and minimal supplies. in gaza, there is no respite for the people, or those trying to save them. for many, it was too late. the writing on these body bags says "remains of al—maghazi." abdul rahim survived the air strike. his wife didn't. he says that in his building, several children and displaced people were killed.

translation: it was horrific. i saw bodies on the road, some so badly disfigured they were unrecognisable. 0ur block was meant to be safe, according to the israeli military maps. but there are no safe areas in the gaza strip, not north, not south, nowhere. in a statement to the bbc, the israeli military said it was looking into the incident, adding that it was committed to taking feasible steps to minimise harm to civilians. as the scale of the devastation becomes clear, so too does the challenge facing rescue teams who've been struggling to get in, with roads blocked after the strike. in bethlehem, christmas looks and feels very different. it's sad and subdued. no tourists, no festivities, lots of prayers. this time of year, the eyes of the world would be on the birthplace ofjesus. but it's been stripped of any signs of celebration. instead, there are messages of solidarity and calls to end the suffering.

for the people here, those images of destruction and death coming from gaza hit very close to home. the pain in gaza is felt very deeply here. this year, it's replaced what is normally a time ofjoy. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, bethlehem. i spoke to a representative of the un humanitarian affairs agency 0cha, gemma connell, who is right now in the south of the gaza strip, near rafah. she visited the al—aqsa hospital, where many of the injured from the maghazi refugee camp were taken, and started by telling us what she saw there. what i saw again today, which i see every day that i'm here in gaza, is the absolute carnage and unprecedented suffering that's been caused by this war. i met a young nine—year—old boy, ahmed, who was hit

by a strike not yesterday — with those images that you've just seen — but today, which is an indication that this is going on every hour, every minute. ahmed came in with a traumatic injury to his head. he had been walking just outside the school that his family was sheltering in, and he passed away while i was in the hospital with him and his family. and it's stories like ahmed's that i hope make it to the world, because this nine—year—old child's doing what any nine—year—old child would be doing, except that that school was not a school, it was a shelter, and except that he died walking outside that school. that's the type of thing that we see here every day in gaza, lewis. and what about the state inside the hospitals and around the hospitals? the hospitals are overcrowded, they are overburdened, they are working day and night. these health workers are absolute heroes, and i have no words to describe the phenomenal work that they are doing every day. but i had two doctors — two grown men, incredible professionals, heads of their professions —

in tears with me today, lewis, because one of their colleagues, a nurse at the hospital, had stood there last night as the casualties entered, and one after the other, his family members were brought through the door — first his father, then his mother, his sister, his children and his grandparents, all brought through the door, one by one. and so these health workers are not only working every single day to save lives with patients piled up on each other, with patients who can't get surgery that would save their lives, but they're also dealing with the reality of the war themselves. they're not sleeping. they're working 2a hours a day to try and save as many lives as possible. and yet one of them said to me as i sat there, "we're all waiting for the minute when it's our families who come "dead through this door." that's just a dreadful thought to have to deal with. can i ask you about how much longer, in your assessment, things can go on like this? because clearly the hospitals are not working anywhere near capacity, clearly

there are huge constraints, but they are managing to help some people at the moment. how much longer can that continue? it shouldn't continue for another minute more, lewis. and i think that's the message to the world, especially on today, especially at a time when so many people around the world are celebrating, especially at a time that we all think about family. i would appeal to everybody in the world to think of the people in gaza. and there should not be the woman that i met today with gunshot wounds to her leg and her back who will have to wait days for surgery because there are more urgent cases ahead of her. imagine more urgent cases than gunshots to the back and the leg. this is not something that simply can go on for the sake of humanity. and so my appeal to everybody is that this must end and that we must see the people of gaza as the people that they are, people who are simply trying to survive but who have been reduced to a state that no human on

this planet should be reduced, who have been reduced to the fact that they cannot...flee a place which is unlike any other place on the planet and...who have been reduced to asking the world to come to their aid when these are dignified, amazing people here in palestine, in gaza, and they should be given the opportunity to survive. they shouldn't be having to. ..evacuate from one place to another place, where no place in gaza is safe. so it's not a matter of how long it can go on, it should not go on any longer. gemma, there is a tiny bit of break up on the line, but i just want to ask one more question. what kind of support are agencies that you've been working with, yours and others, able to actually deliver right now in these conditions? lewis, it's very minimal in comparison to the need. there are 2.2 million or more people in gaza. every single one of them who has every single need.

every person needs food, every person needs water, every person needs shelter. and in the face of those enormous needs, we're able to do a tiny proportion because the trucks are still not coming in fast enough. even when they get here, we are struggling to get them out on this side because many of the trucks in gaza were destroyed by this war, so we need more trucks on this side. we're also struggling, first and foremost, with the fact that we're operating in a war zone. so one day, we can reach one place, the next day, we can't reach it. and delivering supplies to a hospital is important. but as the doctors told us today, no amount of supplies will fix this problem. it's only an end to the war that can fix this. thanks to gemma connell, speaking to me a little earlier. next, to nigeria.

at least 113 people have been killed in coordinated attacks by armed herders on farming communities. the attacks in plateau state began on saturday and lasted until midnight on sunday, when many people were sleeping. local media say they also burned down houses and looted farm produce. plateau is one of central nigeria's ethnically and religiously diverse states where communal clashes have killed hundreds in recent years. villagers were seen packing their belongings and fleeing the area in the wake of the attacks. back in may, fighting between farmers and herders left more than 100 people dead. we are joined now by dr tony agbons. he's a senior lecturer at anglia ruskin university london. thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you very much for coming on the programme-— the programme. yeah, thank you, luis. can the programme. yeah, thank you, luis- can you _ the programme. yeah, thank you, luis. can you tell _ the programme. yeah, thank you, luis. can you tell us _ the programme. yeah, thank you, luis. can you tell us in _ the programme. yeah, thank you, luis. can you tell us in similar- luis. can you tell us in similar terms what — luis. can you tell us in similar terms what has _ luis. can you tell us in similar terms what has been - luis. can you tell us in similar. terms what has been happening luis. can you tell us in similar- terms what has been happening here? thank you, just listening to your report there, it is becoming a very recurring situation in plateau state, in the middle of nigeria,

incidents like this happen all the time. in fact, available records are that since the military left power in 1999, this domain these clashes have been happening 2001, 2003. in fact, a report recently from the human rights watch, between september 2002 and may 2003, there were reports of over 2000, 3000 deaths. �* ., , . ., , ., deaths. and who is clashing with who and wh ? deaths. and who is clashing with who and why? yes. _ deaths. and who is clashing with who and why? yes. we — deaths. and who is clashing with who and why? yes, we look— deaths. and who is clashing with who and why? yes, we look at _ deaths. and who is clashing with who and why? yes, we look at the - and why? yes, we look at the demographic _ and why? yes, we look at the demographic of _ and why? yes, we look at the demographic of plateau - and why? yes, we look at the | demographic of plateau state, and why? yes, we look at the - demographic of plateau state, the state with the population of about 4.7 million people, people with different languages, religion and a different languages, religion and a different profession of these clashes are often between the farmers and the herders. those are the main issues. find

farmers and the herders. those are the main issues.— farmers and the herders. those are the main issues. and why? what are the main issues. and why? what are they clashing — the main issues. and why? what are they clashing over? _ the main issues. and why? what are they clashing over? yeah, _ the main issues. and why? what are they clashing over? yeah, the - they clashing over? yeah, the pfeiffer space. _ they clashing over? yeah, the pfeiffer space. the _ they clashing over? yeah, the pfeiffer space. the farmers, l they clashing over? yeah, the i pfeiffer space. the farmers, they need land to do theirfarming, cash crops and other things. and then the herders, they will say that they need land for the grazing of their animals. this has been the major problem over the years and led to the deaths of thousands of nigerians living in that region. find the deaths of thousands of nigerians living in that region.— living in that region. and what do ou think living in that region. and what do you think happens _ living in that region. and what do you think happens next? - living in that region. and what do you think happens next? do - living in that region. and what do you think happens next? do you| living in that region. and what do i you think happens next? do you see this getting worse?— you think happens next? do you see this getting worse? absolutely, yes. the possibility _ this getting worse? absolutely, yes. the possibility of _ this getting worse? absolutely, yes. the possibility of this _ this getting worse? absolutely, yes. the possibility of this escalating, - the possibility of this escalating, especially at this time of the year, where a lot of people go back home to celebrate this festive season with their families, to celebrate this festive season with theirfamilies, people to celebrate this festive season with their families, people are in very festive mood, and there's a lot of dense population at this time, and anotherfactor that

of dense population at this time, and another factor that can escalate this crisis is when a religious dimension gets into it. then it becomes a muslim versus christian crisis and we hope it does not do to that stages. find crisis and we hope it does not do to that stages-— that stages. and what kind of thins, that stages. and what kind of things. just — that stages. and what kind of things, just briefly, _ that stages. and what kind of things, just briefly, would - that stages. and what kind of things, just briefly, would be| things, just briefly, would be needed to try and de—escalate this? yeah, i think this is where both the subnational government in plateau state, the local government in plateau state and most significantly the federal government of nigeria need to step in. when you look at nature of agriculture in that state, some of us believe that it is time to mechanize terms of farming for crops, and then for the herders, grazing needs to be standardised, like is done in other parts of the world, in poland, australia and argentina. people rear a lot of

animals. we cannot have in modern nigeria in the year 2023, go to 2024, that cattle are still grazing and moving around. it should not happen. also, let us me quickly add, this is a problem of climate change. the available land for farming, for animals, for kirsch to make cash crops, food crops, introducing every day —— for cash crops. the government needs to take on the challenge of climate change. tow; challenge of climate change. tony au bons, challenge of climate change. tony agbons. thank — challenge of climate change. tony agbons, thank you _ challenge of climate change. tony agbons, thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you. next to russia. 0pposition leader alexei navalny has been found alive and well, after apparently disappearing from the country's prison system. the us state department has welcomed the news but said remains deeply concerned about his wellbeing. his spokesperson says he's being held at a penal colony in siberia. navalny is one of president putin's leading opponents. he's been injail since 2021. his new prison is nicknamed

the "polar wolf" colony. it's considered one of the toughest in russia. navalny�*s team had lost contact with him on the 6th of december but have now confirmed his location. let's hear from one of his team. there is no law in russia that is applied to alexei. they always create for him special conditions, and they don't have anything to do with the law. so we don't have any legal routes. we know that for sure in this new colony that his conditions will be even worse than they were before. but the thing is that this colony is very distant. it is very difficult to access. for lawyers, it will be very difficult to go there and to see alexei. here's our europe regional editor, paul moss. inevitably, one thinks that it's good news and terrible news at the same time. good news because there really

were fears for his life, this man, who has been a thorn in the side of the kremlin. they probably tried to kill him before, some fear they've done it again, so, yes, he is alive and his lawyer says he's all right, to use her words. however, as you said, this penal colony he is in is really, really brutal. i have not been to that region, but i have been in the same neighbourhood of russia, visiting a former penal colony in the far north of russia in the arctic circle, and it is really hard to describe just how awful it is. i remember that i was wearing several layers of professional grade mountaineering gear, and yet i have never been to so freezing cold in my life, quite indescribably so, and i talked to people who worked in the prison camps there who were clearly not having the benefit of the kind of clothing i was wearing, tough beyond all measure. i think also the timing of this is very interesting. yhere are presidential elections coming up in march. no—one has any doubt that vladimir putin will win.

but it seems like the kremlin is really not taking any chances at all. on saturday, they banned an anti—war candidate from standing on some technicality, and now this move to get navalny as far away as possible. his lawyer has said — i think we heard in that clip — that it will be hard to visit him. they don't want this man having any influence at all. in a terrible way, i suppose that is a compliment to the extraordinary power that alexei navalny still has, certainly in the kremlin imagination. thanks to paul for that. let's get some of the day's other news now. police in sri lanka say they have arrested more than 13,000 suspects during a week—long drive against drug traffickers across the country. they say the operation led to the seizure of almost 440kg of various types of narcotics, including heroin. more than a thousand addicts have been sent to a military—run rehabilitation centre. there's been widespread anger and protests after three civilians were found dead in indian—administered kashmir, a day after they were reportedly taken into questioning by security forces.

police in the region have launched an investigation into the incident. five other civilians with injuries are being treated in hospital. christmas is being celebrated in china, but the chinese communist party has urged christians not to forget they live in a socialist country as they celebrate christmas. under the chinese government rules, christians are allowed to worship only in the churches registered with the government. here in the uk, king charles has emphasised the importance of "universal" values shared between major religions, at a time of "increasingly tragic conflict around the world". it's the king's second christmas broadcast. here's our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. at the church on the sandringham estate, the king and queen were joined by other members of the royalfamily

for morning worship. the prince and princess of wales were accompanied by their three children, george, charlotte and louis, who feature in a new black—and—white photograph issued by kensington palace. the duke of york was with the family at church, and making a surprise return to the christmas morning church appearance, the duchess of york. it's thought to be the first time in nearly 30 years that she's been seen in public with the family on christmas day. after church, the family returned to sandringham house for lunch and to watch the king's christmas message. for this second christmas broadcast of his reign, the king focused in particular on those who render service to others. over this past year, my heart has been warmed by countless examples of the imaginative ways in which people are caring for one another. my wife and i were delighted when hundreds of representatives of that selfless army of people, volunteers who serve

their communities in so many ways and with such distinction, were able to join us in westminster abbey for the coronation earlier this year. community projects were all the more important, the king said, at a time of real hardship for many, as his family had witnessed. then he turned to his great passion, the need to protect the environment. to care for this creation is a responsibility owned by people of all faiths and of none. we care for the earth for the sake of our children's children. and then a message for a troubled world. at a time of increasingly tragic conflict around the world, i pray that we could also do all in our power to protect each other. the words ofjesus seem more than ever relevant. do to others as you would

have them do to you. a christmas broadcast built around those three themes, which matters so much to the king, service to others, the environment and interfaith relations — and concluding with a heartfelt prayer that people and communities will respect each other. nicholas witchell, bbc news at buckingham palace. a christmas carol written almost a century ago has found a new audience after it was discovered by accident. called christmas eve, the song evokes the ringing of bells in the town of barnsley during the festive season. cathy killick has the story. # glad tidings of the saviour bring # peace reigneth as ye gaily ring # ring on, ring on # ring on # while the merry breezes sing of christmas bells. # composed 90 years ago, this is, as far as we know, the first public performance

of this beautiful carol. it was published in the barnsley chronicle in 1933, but was recently rediscovered by michael hardy when he was researching the history of barnsley town hall. the carol was published the same month the town hall opened, and survives on crumbly pages in the newspaper archive. it was almost a full page of the newspaper and i weren't expecting to see that. i've seen articles about the town hall and adverts for christmas. this kind of stood out cos i've not seen anything like this before in the paper. michael showed it to his colleague tegwin roberts, who's also a musician. a day later, she sang it on the town hall staircase. # the chime of bells inspires the midnight breeze... # she then put a video on youtube with scenes of barnsley christmases past. it went down a storm, and prompted more research into the writer — one arthur godfrey. he was born in barnsley in the 18705.

we thought he'd be quite well known, so we had a look through the paper to see whether he'd published other stuff and actually didn't find much. what we did find was that he was a glass—bottle—maker in barnsley. he started age 12 and he worked throughout his life in that industry, but obviously was a really talented musician alongside that. # glad tidings of a saviour bring... # it felt quite emotional, hearing something that i'd found on a piece of paper being sung, and sung in the town hall, as well. it feels really special. and i think for me as a singer, songs, they come alive when you sing them. and also to have the music published alongside the words — quite often, you get words published and no tune — so to be able to know what the composer intended at the time, and to be able to then recreate that, it's really, really special. as the carol becomes more widely heard, it's hoped choirs will learn the harmonies, and it canjoin the dozens of christmas songs traditionally sung in south yorkshire.

a barnsley contribution from the past brought to life in the present. # ..sing of christmas bells. # cathy killick, bbc news, barnsley. and that's it from me. 20 more online and on the app, as always, but for now, i am lewis vaughan jones, this is bbc news. bye—bye. —— plenty more online. that

cold air we pushing a little bit further southwards as we head through this evening and into the start of oxime day. through this evening into night much of the rain will clear, we will see some showers to northern ireland, northern england and some wintry showers continuing in the north of scotland. temperatures for some here will drop well below freezing, so there could well be some icy stretches. and further south, certainly chillier than it was last night. and then as we head into boxing day, well, we should see quite a lot of sunshine. this is a decent day to get out and about for a boxing day stroll. some showers in northern scotland — in fact, some of these wintry still over higher ground, maybe with the odd rumble of thunder later in the day. at the same time, through the afternoon, cloud and rain will spread in across the south—west of england and the channel islands. but on the whole, a chillier day than we had today. and then through boxing day night, well, we see cloud and heavy rain spilling in from the south—west. it'll start to turn really windy, with gales around western coasts.

and this leads us into what will be a very wet and windy wednesday. if you do have any travel plans on wednesday, bear in mind we'll see outbreaks of heavy rain driving northwards and eastwards. there could well be enough rain to give some flooding. it is going to be very windy. we'll see gales in places, gusts around some of the coasts up to 50 or 60 miles per hour, but pretty gusty for inland spots as well. and it won't only be wind and rain. snow could cause some issues, particularly over high ground in the northern half of scotland. above 200 metres, we could see 15 centimetres of snow or possibly even a little bit more. so this is not a great recipe if you are travelling on wednesday. it will be turning milder, though, again in the south — highs of 12 or 13 degrees. and then we head towards the end of the week, it looks pretty unsettled. various weather systems working from the west towards the east, giving outbreaks of rain. perhaps just a sprinkling of wintriness mixing in, some cold air trying to dig its way in from the north. in fact, it does look a little bit chillier for many of us as we head towards the end of the year. that's all from me. happy christmas.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. let's be clear, the only path forward towards justice and an independent state for palestinians is not through hamas violence. i wake up with one thought — have i done enough yesterday for ukrainian soldier taking part

in the counter—offensive to be able to save his life? we have to believe i in ukraine's victory. otherwise, i mean, this- is what russia is hoping for, you see cracks in our unity. the democrats and some in the media are scared to death that donald trump is going to get a second term and he is going to clean house in america. we need to think much more cleverly about how we produce food and how we're going to sustain those systems. we've got to remember that the planet is on fire. i'm telling you, there's. going to be a revolution. we are using ai in a way to subjugate people, reduce their autonomy, reduce their agency, reduce their contribution to production. in the spirit of your title of hardtalk, you're completely wrong.

welcome to this special year—ending edition of hardtalk