brings strong winds, rain and snow to some parts of scotland. and the uk's national trust says rising temperatures and increasingly unpredictable weather is causing chaos for nature. hello, i'm christian fraser. welcome to the programme. israel says it is expanding its ground offensive in the centre of gaza. the hamas—run health ministry says more than 21,000 people have been killed in gaza since the 7th of october. israeli military operations are now focussed on the centre of the gaza strip, where the local hospital is overwhelmed with casualities. the world health organization has described the scenes there as a "bloodbath." and in the occupied west bank, tensions have been rising, more than 300 palestinians killed by israeli forces and settlers.

the palestinian health ministry there says six people were killed in an israeli drone strike. 0ur middle east correspondent yolande knell reports. 0n the move again. palestinian families now desperately fleeing much of central gaza, as israel's ground offensive expands into a new part of the besieged territory. "me and my kids, everyone is evacuating," says this woman. "already my niece was killed." casualties fill even the floor of the nearby hospital. the world health organization describing the scenes here as a "bloodbath". and this as israel's army is warning that the war will continue for many more months, as it insists it will find hamas leaders who masterminded the deadly 7th of october attacks. a government spokesman says israel's aims are clear. we can't destroy hamas�*s ideology, unfortunately, that is not realistic. but we can remove them from power. we can prevent them from having control over this

territorial enclave. and that will do a lot to save lives and prevent future conflict in the region. with the number of palestinians killed now in excess of 20,000, according to local health officials, this is one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history. in rafah yesterday, it was a bulldozer that unceremoniously buried the dead. and there is the constant danger of this war spreading. we've seen more attacks by iran—backed groups across the middle east in recent days. and there has been more violence, too, in the occupied west bank. today, this was an israeli strike which killed at least six palestinians in the west bank. israel's military says they were armed terrorists. locals deny it. it comes after the palestinian president, a political rival of hamas, warned the area could implode. translation: what is happening in the palestinian territories - is a disaster and far more than a genocide. the palestinians have never

seen anything like this. even during the nakba catastrophe in 1948. what is happening today is far worse. meanwhile, this was a missile being fired at northern israel by hezbollah in lebanon. and israel's military says it shot down this drone, sent by houthi rebels in yemen over the red sea. the fighting now extends across multiple fronts. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. earlier, i spoke with palestinian politician mustafa barghouti — the leader of the palestinian national initiative. he believes israel's actions in gaza have amounted to war crimes. what we face here is an act of war crimes, not only genocide but also collective punishment and an act of ethnic cleansing, where 90% of the palestinian people were forced to leave their homes and where 75% of their homes were destroyed. what we see is... inaudible.

..and i think the israeli cabinet of war criminals and what they are doing should not be allowed by the international community. they have been trying to dehumanise all palestinians and enforce ethnic cleansing of all palestinians from gaza to egypt. they failed in that. now they want to kill all palestinians. he says it's as bad if not worse than the mass displacement and dispossession of palestinians in the i948 arab—israeli war. that's quite a bar that he is talking about there. i mean, that's. .. the nakba is the great catastrophe for palestinians. are you saying it is worse than that? in terms of intensity and the number of people killed in this short period of time, for sure. we have to remember that 70% of the population of gaza have already been ethnically cleansed

during the nakba in 1948 by israel, when israel razed to the ground 520 palestinian communities. and when they committed 50 massacres. but none of the massacres committed in 1948 are equal to some of the massacres that are committed now in gaza. you talk aboutjabalia, beit lahia, rafah, khan yunis — every spot in gaza is now in danger, there is no safe space. israel has forced the population down to the south and now they are bombarding them in the south. there is no safe place for anybody and most of the people killed are women and children. we are talking about at least 8500 palestinian children killed. and if we count people under the rubble, you would be talking about almost 12,000 children killed in less than 70 days. this cannot be accepted. for more, let's speak to steven simon,

professor at the jackson school of international studies at the university of washington. there is clearly a contradiction between the biden administration's wish to reduce civilian death and the position they've drawn out in terms of israel's campaign against hamas. do you think looking at some of the rhetoric we have had over the past few days that they will now be concerned about what they are hearing? i concerned about what they are hearin: ? ., �* ~' concerned about what they are hearin: ? ., �* ~ ., ,, hearing? i don't think that the us administration _ hearing? i don't think that the us administration has _ hearing? i don't think that the us administration has very _ hearing? i don't think that the us administration has very much - administration has very much flexibility right now. the israelis are very determined to pursue this campaign in gaza. and, you know, the fact that it is so widely reported by many observers that hamas is not yet on the verge of defeat, neither side has an incentive to embark on a ceasefire arrangement, that is to

say a permanent ceasefire arrangement is against humanitarian pauses. so i think the fighting will go on because that is what the parties, that is what the belligerents want. and that leaves the united states really rather little room for manoeuvre. but how does that affect _ little room for manoeuvre. but how does that affect their _ little room for manoeuvre. but how does that affect their relationships | does that affect their relationships in the wider middle east. we are told this afternoon that secretary of state antony blinken will be heading there in the first week of the new year. you havejust heard the new year. you havejust heard the anger there that there is on the palestinian side because they think the americans have exercised their veto at the security council and blocked a ceasefire, so how will he be received when he arrives in the middle east next week?— middle east next week? well, i assume he _ middle east next week? well, i assume he will _ middle east next week? well, i assume he will be _ middle east next week? well, i assume he will be received - middle east next week? well, i | assume he will be received with middle east next week? well, i - assume he will be received with some scepticism but the countries he is visiting all have a substantial stake in their relations with united states and they're not going sacrifice those relations because of what is going on in gaza. they will try to use the influence they can of

course but ultimately they are not in a position to regulate american policy. we in a position to regulate american oli . ~ . ., , in a position to regulate american oli .~ . ., , in a position to regulate american oli .~ ., ., , ., policy. we heard that he is happy to take over role _ policy. we heard that he is happy to take over role in _ policy. we heard that he is happy to take over role in gaza _ policy. we heard that he is happy to take over role in gaza the _ policy. we heard that he is happy to take over role in gaza the day - policy. we heard that he is happy to take over role in gaza the day after| take over role in gaza the day after the war ends but netanyahu has rejected the idea. he said the expectation of the palestinian authority will demilitarise gaza is authority will demilitarise gaza is a pipe dream. so what does anthony link can do about that —— what does antony blinken do about that? from the perspective _ antony blinken do about that? from the perspective of _ antony blinken do about that? from the perspective of the _ antony blinken do about that? f'rr�*n the perspective of the americans and others as well, other outsiders, it seems obvious that the israelis need a day after plan that goes beyond permanent reoccupation of gaza, which looks like what prime minister benjamin netanyahu has in mind. that is not something that is going to be

sustainable so, you know, there needs to be some serious consideration given to a long—term arrangement that can actually displace hamas in the west bank. unless such an arrangement is agreed upon then, you know, ithink unless such an arrangement is agreed upon then, you know, i think the fighting willjust drag on interminably.— fighting willjust drag on interminabl. ., ~ , fighting willjust drag on interminabl . ., ~ , . interminably. thank you very much for that. nebal farsakh — spokesperson for the palestinian red crescent society the humanitarian situation in gaza continues to worsen. u nfortu nately, unfortunately, already the situation in the area of gaza city and the north is just yonder a in the area of gaza city and the north isjust yonder a catastrophe. in the area of north gaza even they have been left without any medical services since all hospitals went completely out of service. and people now are lacking medical care, while there is at least 800,000

palestinians living in the area of gaza city and the north and we have received dozens of phone calls from desperate people, who are in urgent need for medical care and unfortunately they don't even have any medicines or nothing. we have calls from people, elderly people even, people with chronic diseases, who don't have their basic medicines as well. the situation is just catastrophic, even after the last few days we had to shut down our emergency medical centres injabal emergency medical centres in jabal your after emergency medical centres injabal your after israel's army raided our ambulance centre. however, we are still providing medical services through medical service we have set up, trying to provide medical services to the people who are in desperate need of it.

disruption to global shipping through the red sea has intensified after yemen's houthi rebels declared their backing for hamas. the group has been targeting commercial vessels in the region. the danish shipping company maersk says it's prepared to resume sailings through the red sea, despite the threat of attack by the iranian—backed houthis. other companies have raised safety concerns after some ships have come under attack from drones and rockets, with some forced to take alternative routes. an international military coalition, led by the united states, has been deployed to the red sea in response. live now to our business reporterjonathanjosephs. have the shipping companies responded to what has been put in place, jonathan? and just give us an idea of the sort of disruption it is causing. idea of the sort of disruption it is causinu. ~ , ., , , causing. well, christian, this is certainly causing _ causing. well, christian, this is certainly causing some - causing. well, christian, this is certainly causing some major i certainly causing some major disruption and confusion to global shipping. remember, this is a really important route. about i2% of global

travels through that route, the suez canal and the red sea. and we have heard today from two of the world's biggest shipping firms but with slightly contradictory messages. we have heard from the danish company saying that with the support of that international military coalition they are preparing now to resume shipping after a gap of almost two weeks through that route. but any diversions will be assessed on a case—by—case basis other still could be some and the safety of their crews is the number one priority. but at the same time we have heard from the number five but at the same time we have heard from the numberfive player but at the same time we have heard from the number five player in the industry, a german company, and they think it isjust industry, a german company, and they think it is just too dangerous to resume shipping through that route and they will continue to take the longer route down the south of africa and around the cape of good hope and it adds anywhere from seven days to two weeks to a ship journey

depending exactly on the route they take, whether it is going to america or the eastern mediterranean. and we have heard in recent days from some of the world's biggest companies such as ikea saying there is some disruption already to their supply and the longer this all goes on, the more likely it is that we will see products not available on shelves in shops. products not available on shelves in sho s. ., ~ products not available on shelves in shos. ., ~' ,, , products not available on shelves in shos. ., ~ , . ., ., shops. thank you very much for that. so not entirely _ shops. thank you very much for that. so not entirely reassured _ shops. thank you very much for that. so not entirely reassured the - so not entirely reassured the shipping companies by the naval flotilla that is in the region. around the world and in the uk you are watching bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. rail passengers are experiencing major disruption to theirjourneys because of planned engineering works being carried out at london st pancras. east midlands railway have cancelled all services towards luton airport because of a signalling issue. the midland main line from st albans has also been hit by similar problems. network rail has apologised for the delays. the chancellorjeremy hunt will

unveil his spring budget on march 6, in what could be his last chance to introduce tax changes before a general election. the conservative party has been hinting it could make pledges on housing and taxes, as rishi sunak struggles to turn around his party's major deficit in the polls. metropolitan police officers have arrested a 16—year—old boy on suspicion of arson after a fire at a school in west london. ten fire engines and about 70 firefighters were called to the selective catholic school on seagrave road in fulham this morning. the blaze at the london 0ratory school is now under control. you're live with bbc news. port and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's adam. let's begin with football, where manchester city's return to premier league action is one of three games to come on wednesday.

city, of course, won the club world cup just before christmas, and later play everton at goodison park as they look to close the gap at the top of the premier league table on leaders liverpool. they're currently eight points behind them with two games in hand. pep guardiola's side are the first english club to win five trophies in a calendar year, but the manager is still keen for them to try and emulate last season's success. the most difficult is arrive to play this tournament. once we are here we have to perform well and, yeah, really pleased. i had the feeling that we closed a chapter. we won already all the titles, some of them in a row. so there is nothing else to win. i had the feeling that the job is done, it is over, and tried to buy another book and start writing again. because the book, the last eight years it is over. chelsea will look to bounce back from defeat at wolves on christmas eve when they take on struggling crystal palace at stamford bridge. mauricio pochettino admits his chelsea side are way below where he'd hoped to be.

we want to be on the top, even if no one believed but of course in the circumstances i think we are in a position where we are fighting for different things. yes, we are chelsea because of our history and everything, the demand is to be on the top but at the moment being realistic we need to increase in the way that we compete if we want to win more games. so there are the fixtures — the third one being wolves away at brentford. that kicks off at 7:30pm. anti—discrimination charity kick it out say anyone found guilty of racially abusing luton town's carlton morris must face "the strongest possible consequences." the luton striker reported a comment made by the home

crowd late on in the premier league match against sheffield united at bramall lane. luton boss rob edwards confirmed after his side's 3—2 win that the matter has been reported to the police. four games going ahead in the scottish premiership later. you'll see here there should have been five but ross countys trip to second—placed rangers has been postponed, with snow, heavy rain and strong winds stopping them from making thatjourney. those other four are still scheduled to go ahead as things stand. to cricket now and australia captain pat cummins took three wickets to shift momentum away from pakistan on day two of the second test in melbourne. pakistan were 124 for1 before cummins took his first wicket, abdullah shafique caught and bowled by the aussie skipper — a couple of overs later he dismissed babar azam. pakistan ended day two on a disappointing 194 for 6, given how they started the day. they trail by 124 runs.

staying with test cricket, south africa are currently 253 forfive in response to india's first innings total of 245 in their first test in centurion. dean elgar past his century and closing in on 150. you can stay up to date with that one on the bbc sport website. and bangladesh have beaten new zealand by 5 wickets in their first t20 in napier. litton das' unbeaten 42 giving the visitors a 1—0 series lead with eight balls remaining. the second game takes place on friday. and that's all the sport for now. police in pakistan have re—arrested a senior opposition leader as he was about to leave prison in the capital, islamabad. former foreign minister shah mehmood qureshi, who's a close associate of the former prime minister imran khan, was to be freed on bail. videos posted by the pakistan tehreek—e—insaf party — or pti —

show officers pushing mr qureshi into an armoured car. police said he was detained this year in connection with widespread violence. now, here in the uk, drivers and their passengers are being warned to expect post—christmas travel disruption today as storm gerrit moves in. strong winds and heavy rain are already affecting much of the country with seven flood warnings in place. 0ur north of england correspondent fiona trott has more. there's a yellow warning for rain here today in this part of the world. flooding is likely on some roads and there is also a yellow warning for wind, too. so motorists are being told to slow down here on places like the m6, and particularly problems there for high—sided vehicles. let me give you an idea of what's happening across the uk. the met office is explaining that the worst—affected areas at the moment are parts of scotland, central and eastern parts of scotland, where we have snow and rain. rain in north—west england, like here in lancashire, and rain and wind across most of wales. let me show you what eastbourne

and east sussex looked like earlier today. that's because the met office is saying there that in southern england, winds across coastal areas like that could be peaking at up to 70 mph today. and there are 13 flood warnings in place across england, scotland and wales. now, as for transport disruption, because of the weather i was telling you about in scotland, most of the roads there are worst affected, mainly due to fallen trees. in dundee though, strong winds are causing a problem. the a92 is closed to high—sided vehicles there, and in wales the m48 severn bridge crossing is also closed due to high winds. now, on the trains, we are being told that the storm is affecting scotrail services until about nine o'clock tomorrow morning, again because of things like fallen trees, and there will be isolated flooding there as well. glasgow and edinburgh and glasgow and airdrie are the areas worst affected there.

and flooding has affected rail services in wales, and between leeds and here in north west england. now of course with the rain and wind, we have got problems with power outages as well and what we are hearing from electricity north west is that it has more engineers on standby prepared for any power cuts in the coming hours, and the energy network association has just this second told us that at lunchtime today, around 8,600 homes were without power as a result of storm gerrit. that storm due to move to the north—east later today. fiona drop braving the elements there in lancashire, which all looks a very wintry to me. —— fiona trott. while the storm continues, the national trust has warned that the uk's increasingly unpredictable weather patterns are causing chaos" for nature. the charity said climate change is upsetting the rhythm of the seasons —

and the effects can be seen across its estates in england, wales and northern ireland. 2023 saw a series of temperature records, with the warmestjune and highest sea temperatures ever recorded around the coast of the uk. an unusually warm winter allowed pests and diseases to thrive. meanwhile low water levels in rivers, lakes and reservoirs — caused by a lack of rain coupled with the high temperatures — has been a factor in increased algal blooms. and there were dramatic storms too, with storms babet and ciaran damaging landscapes and coastlines around the country. let's speak to ben mccarthy, head of nature and restoration ecology at the national trust. how would you explain this to people? what you see in the way that plants and animals are behaving that would indicate to you that things are changing? it is would indicate to you that things are changing?— are changing? it is very evident that the way — are changing? it is very evident that the way our _ are changing? it is very evident that the way our wildlife - are changing? it is very evident that the way our wildlife is - that the way our wildlife is responding to these shifting patterns of whether our kind of manifesting itself are being seen in earlier flowering or manifesting itself are being seen in earlierflowering or a number of earlier flowering or a number of different earlierflowering or a number of different broods of different bird species for example. this is having a real impact on the natural rhythm of our wildlife and is something that we're really focused on tackling at the national trust. i want to talk about the rhythm though because people might understand what

you mean by that. let's focus for instance on birds which obviously feed on certain types of insects which feed on certain types of flowers. is that what you are talking about? the connection between one organism and another, it effectively has a knock—on effect right up the food chain? that effectively has a knock-on effect right up the food chain?- right up the food chain? that is exactly it- _ right up the food chain? that is exactly it. and _ right up the food chain? that is exactly it. and what _ right up the food chain? that is exactly it. and what we - right up the food chain? that is i exactly it. and what we are seeing is that plants are coming into flower earlier and that the insects which are dependent on those plants aren't keeping up, they're changing at different rates. and then the birds which feed on the insects are also then put out of kilter. and this cascades through kind of food webs and is having a really significant impact on our ecosystems and the health of nature in the uk. there is not much to do about that, well, we can, we can take action on the climate in a macro sense but from a national trust perspective, what can you do at a micro level to help parks survive in these changing

temperatures? we help parks survive in these changing temperatures?— temperatures? we are absolutely focused at the _ temperatures? we are absolutely focused at the national _ temperatures? we are absolutely focused at the national trust - temperatures? we are absolutely focused at the national trust in i focused at the national trust in tackling the nature and climate crisis. we are doing landscape scale recovery, where we are looking and really thinking hard about how we build the resilience of these landscapes that are in our care. so this means things like increasing the complexity of some of the landscapes that we work in and things like beavers, these amazing ecosystem engineers are fantastic at recreating a complex mosaic of wetlands, ponds, which all add to that complexity. we're also trying to make our food webs, the ecosystems themselves much richer. and so some of the work we are doing restoring and resetting rivers example. not only recreating that complexity, which builds the resilience but is also delivering great public benefit by reducing flood risk for example.-

great public benefit by reducing flood risk for example. thank you very much — flood risk for example. thank you very much indeed _ flood risk for example. thank you very much indeed for— flood risk for example. thank you very much indeed for that. - flood risk for example. thank you very much indeed for that. lots i flood risk for example. thank you | very much indeed for that. lots of people heading out into the national trust parklands this christmas, plenty to see of course, if the weather stays fine. it is not too clever out there at the moment. we are going to be here right throughout the afternoon. stay with us, plenty more to come. you are watching bbc news. hello there. compared to the fine, settled, sunny weather of boxing day, today is looking pretty wild, all thanks to storm gerrit which is bringing a whole host of hazards, widespread gales and heavy rain and significant hill snow across scotland, all likely to cause disruption for the rest of the day, even as we head into tonight as well. here it is, storm gerrit then dominating the weather scene across the uk. lots of isobars on the charts, active weather fronts bringing the heavy rain. this next weather front poised to bring in some frequent

and heavy showers as we head through the overnight period. but the rest of the day stays very wet and blustery. by the end of day, we could see up to 90 millimetres of rain across some western hills, severe gales developing across northeast scotland where we'll continue to see snow on the hills. gusts here in excess of 80 miles an hour. stays very windy across southern and western coasts, 50 to 60, even 70 miles an hour here. perhaps some late brightness at the end of the day towards western areas. but most places will stay cloudy with outbreaks of rain. 0n the face of it temperatures in the low teens, but it won't feel like that when you add on the strength of the wind. this evening and overnight, it stays very windy. gales developing again across southern and western areas with showers or longer spells of rain. severe gales continue across the north of scotland to the northern isles with rain and further blizzards too. a little bit of a chillier night to come, i think, across the board with lengthy, clear skies certainly across eastern areas. into thursday, not quite as windy across the north of scotland as what we'll see today, but another blustery day to come with gales certainly across north west england, northern and western wales. it'll be a mixture of sunshine and blustery showers. some of these will be heavy

at times, merging together to produce longer spells of rain. double figure values again for england and wales, something a little bit chillier in scotland, northern ireland. as we head into friday, we see this area of low pressure bring another spell of gales and blustery showers, some wintriness over the high ground of northern scotland and also the northern isles. colder air sinking a bit further southwards as well. it could turn this band of showery rain into something a bit wintry, certainly over the hills, a few showers across south west england. 0therwise better chance of seeing the sunshine. but a chilly day to come across the board on friday. so we head into the weekend then, the run up to new year's eve. we see another deep area of low pressure hurtle in, that's going to bring another spell of gales, heavy rain and hill snow across northern areas and that could affect new year's eve as well. so stay tuned to the forecast.

now on bbc news a look back at the year's sporting stories. 2023 was a remarkable year for sport. up here, an historic treble. down under, a women's world cup. england and australia couldn't be separated in the ashes, whilst cricket, rugby union and netball all had world cups of their own. golf came togetherfor the solheim and ryder cups. but the start of this sporting year was, for some, less a beginning and more a resumption. football had onlyjust returned after its unprecedented winter world cup break. also resuming, returning, the australian open once more welcomed novak djokovic, a year on from his deportation over his covid vaccination status.

still no vax for novak but here he was, back and unbeatable. his was a 22nd grand slam title. for irina sabalenka, a first. saudi arabia's bid to become a major player in global sport was laid bare. cristiano ronaldo becoming a figurehead for the fledgling football league. before the end of the year, they had all but been awarded a world cup. there was shock, too, injanuary, after buffalo bills' damar hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during an nfl game. the world watched on, as he would eventually make a recovery. here, rugby union's six nations, well, that was all about ireland. it is time for the six nations, and no better place to start than in cardiff. james lowe, all the way! a cruel knife to the heart of wales. the number one side on the planet against the reigning grand slam champions. oh, my goodness! breathtaking!

absolutely breathtaking!