the un's humanitarian chief says gaza has now become uninhabitable as israel continues its bombardment of the strip. us presidentjoe biden marks the anniversary of the january 6 attack on the campaign trail with a speech about democracy. whether democracy is still america's for good causes the most urgent question about time and what the 2024 election all about. and famed sprinter 0scar pistorius is released on parole, 11 years after murdering girlfriend reeva steenkamp. hello, i'm carl nasman. we begin in gaza, where israel's war against hamas continues amid renewed humantarian concerns. the united nations humanitarian chief martin griffths said israel's bombardment of gaza has rendered the territory — quote — "uninhabitable". he says in a statement that:

for more on the situation in the territory, i spoke earlier to sari bashi, who's a program directorfor human rights watch. thank you for being here to discuss what is truly becoming a humanitarian disaster. and i want to start with the comments from the un official who said the gaza strip is now uninhabitable. do you agree? i do — and there is a reason for it. it's the warring parties, israel, hamas and islamichhad are flouting very basic principles of the laws of war which say you have to protect civilians. so if we look at why people in gaza don't have enough food or water, are facing life—threatening sanitation situations,

it's because the israeli military has refused to abide by the obligation to ensure that civilians in gaza are adequately supplied. armies do this all the time and it's what they have to do. when you prepare for war, also prepare for how the civilian population is going to survive the war. and that is what israel has not been doing. so, in your mind, do you think israel has not put enough planning or paid enough attention to the fate of civilians and how they may survive the conflict? it's not just that they have not planned — they are actually using starvation as a weapon of war. again, i want to be really clear — the laws of war say israel, as an occupying power, their troops are present in gaza — has an obligation to ensure that civilians are adequately supplied. so as they march through the gaza strip, they should be bringing supplies to civilians, they should be opening crossings, they should be ensuring that people have what they need,

because the hostilities are not supposed to be conducted against civilians — only against fighters. instead, the israeli military has been wilfully impeding the official delivery of humanitarian relief. they have refused to allow aid organisations to get access to the north, where people are in very, very dire situations, without enough food without enough water. they have bombed hospitals and they've made roads impassable. and that is the opposite of what they should be doing to protect civilians. and in particular, i'm concerned because those actions have been accompanied by statements on the israeli military, saying that there are no civilians in gaza, that "we are fighting a war against human animals and therefore we will not

allow aid into gaza." i want to add that israel says it is allowing aid into gaza, part of these checks are to ensure that aid and other supplies don't end up in the hands of hamas. i know you are also the founder — or the co—founder of gisha acess, an israeli ngo working to protect the freedom of movement of palestinians and just beyond the bombardment and the civilian casualties, we've also seen our restriction of movement on behalf of the palestinian not being able to enter israeli territory where they may have jobs or have a living? yes, and at this stage of the war, where people in gaza are facing a critical threat of severe physical harm, neighbouring countries like israel and egypt have an obligation under refugee law to open their borders and allow —— under refugee law to open their borders and allow refugees to flee to keep themselves safe. that's not been happening. the economy is not functioning any more.

and this is something that is quite unprecedented. in previous hostilities, as brutal as they were, the israeli military had plans for how they were going to ensure adequate supplies — makes detailed calculations. and what we see here is just a flouting of the kind of obligation — without an adequate response from the international community, in particular the us government, which is arming the israeli military. it's also been insisting that the israeli military abide by the obligation it owes to civilians. just briefly to follow—up on that, antony blinken the us secretary of state is in the region and will be visiting israel and the west bank. what message do you hope he will deliver on the trip? i would say the absolutely appropriate horror that us government expressed at the massacre and kidnapping of israeli civilians on october seven should be accompanied by a consistency of principle. the united states government should make it clear it is not ok the target israeli civilians and it is not ok to starve

palestinian civilians in order to pursue military purposes. sari bashi, thank you very much forjoining us. the leader of hezbollah has once again threatened to retaliate against israel for its suspected role in the assassination of a hamas leader in lebanon. hezbollah is a poweful political and military group backed by iran. and, in his second speech this week, its leader, hassan nasrallah, said that a response to the killing of saleh al—arouri was — quote — "inevitable". his comments came as lebanon issued a formal complaint to the un security council over the attack in beirut on tuesday. it said israel used six missiles in the strike on a hezbollah stronghold. israel has not confirmed whether it was behind the killing. us presidentjoe biden kicked off his re—election effort on friday with a speech marking three years since the january 6 insurrection. speaking in pennsylvania, mr biden singled out former president donald trump as a danger to us democracy

and compared mr trump's recent inflammatory language to that heard in nazi germany. mr biden said the former president's campaign was all about "revenge and retribution" and mr biden criticised mr trump's inaction onjanuary 6 as his supporters violently stormed the us capitol and some chanted in favour of hanging then vice president mike pence and then speaker of the house nancy pelosi. mr biden said american democracy was pushed to the brink but survived and he said mr trump was — and remains — willing to "sacrifice" democracy for his own benefit. donald trump's mob weren't a peaceful process. it was a violent assault. they were introspection is, not patriots. that make insurrection lists. they were there to protect the constitution. they were there to destroy the constitution. donald trump won't do what a us president needs to. he won't

denounce political violence. figs denounce politicalviolence. as we denounce political violence. as we begin the election year, we must _ we begin the election year, we must be — we begin the election year, we must be clear — democracy is on the ballot — must be clear - democracy is on the ballot-— the ballot. your freedom is on the ballot. your freedom is on the ballot- _ applause later on friday, former president trump held a rally in iowa, where he responded to president biden�*s warnings about democracy. he called the speech a "pathetic fearmongering "campaign event" and called president biden�*s record an "unbroken streak of weakness, incompetence, "corruption and failure." trump also repeated false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that the fbi was involved in the january 6 attack. saturday's anniversary of the january 6th attack is once again sparking painful memories for those caught up in the riots — among them, hundreds of capitol and washington, dc police officers. one of them, dc police officer

michael fanone, almost died. earlier, my colleague caitriona perry spoke with him. former washington police officer michael fanone, thank you very much forjoining us on this day. this day three years ago, you were badly injured, you suffered a heart attack, a brain injury, how are you now? i would give myself a clean bill of health. unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the state of our country. and how do you mark a day like this? you know, i never really go into — or at least i haven't in the past gone into it with any particular plans. just seems to kind of play out the way that it plays out. tomorrow, i am doing an early morning interview, and then the rest of the day is mine, i will probablyjust go spend time with my family. donald trump, we have to say, maintains his innocence through all of this. the events of january 6 came — those protests on the day came from a belief from a lot of people that the election had

been somehow stolen, of course, buoyed up by the remarks donald trump was making, refusing to accept the outcome of that election. given we are still a long way from election day, but it would look at this point like it will be a rematch between president biden and donald trump — notwithstanding what will happen between now and november. are you concerned something similar may happen to have this year should donald trump lose again or refused to accept the outcome of the election? i'm not concerned. and i will tell you why. because i am convinced something is going to happen. in fact, i think even that statement is disingenuous in that we have seen a continuation of politically inspired violence in the aftermath of january 6. i mean, obviously nothing to the same scale we all witnessed at the capitol that day. but we have seen attacks perpetrated against law enforcement, against the fbi, threats made to elected

officials, threats made to judges, really anybody that opposes maga and the former president draws his ire, and he knows that simply mentioning them, leads to his followers attacking them, threatening them. you know, these — these — i wouldn't even call them dog whistles, anymore. these are overt threats. he knows exactly what he's doing. so what can be done? do you have hope for the future? i don't know if i would call it hope. i feel as though the department ofjustice, other institutions that are charged with protecting our democracy are doing theirjob. within the confines of their authority. but ultimately it is every american�*s responsibility to preserve democracy

and ensure it exists for future generations in this country. i think that in the way we have all become complacent to oui’ own success. we have not seen our democracy challenged in this way in a very long time. we certainly have not seen that threat come from within. so i think it's important that every american — you know, especially our newer voters, you know, those who may not have been old enough at the time of the january 6 attack to fully appreciate what took place. and again, i turn to the president, joe biden, to set the tone and to help educate those americans as to what's really at stake here. 0k, we'll leave it there for the moment.

thank you for speaking with us, we really appreciate it. former washington, dc police officer michael fanone, thank you forjoining us. yes, ma'am. thank you for having me. the us supreme court has confirmed it will decide whether donald trump is eligible for the 2024 ballot. in december, the colorado state supreme court barred him from being listed on the republican primary ballot. the ruling cited the us constitution's i4th amendment, disqualifying mr trump due to his role in the january 6 insurrection. voters in dozens of states have filed challenges to trump's re—election bid. thejustices have scheduled oral arguments for february 8 and indicated that the case will be fast—tracked. the trump campaign says it looks forward to a fair hearing —— hearing. 0scar pistorius has been freed on parole from a jail in south africa on friday. it's nearly 11 years since pistorius murdered his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. she was shot multiple times by pistorius at his home. he claimed he mistook herfor a burglar. the former paralympic champion was whisked away from prison in pretoria and is thought to be staying at his uncle's

house. mr pistorius must adhere to parole conditions for five yea rs. reeva's mother, june steenkamp, said the conditions send a clear message that south africa takes gender—based violence seriously. earlier, i spoke tojohn carlin, author of a book about pistorius. thank you forjoining us. 0scar pistorius released on parole after 8 1/2 years of this 15 year murder sentence. what was your reaction? does the release, a surprise? not at all. strictly _ release, a surprise? not at all. strictly speaking - all. strictly speaking following the latter of the south african law, he might�*ve been released about a year ago. —— latter. there was pressure from reeva steenkamp's parents and political pressure, but it wasn't surprise at all. == wasn't surprise at all. -- letter- — wasn't surprise at all. -- letter. the _ wasn't surprise at all. -- letter. the family - wasn't surprise at all. -- letter. the family of - wasn't surprise at all. —— letter. the family of reeva steenkamp didn't oppose his bid for parole. you have a sense of how her family is reacting?

there has been a statement from the lawyer, the family lawyer, and they are kind of accepting that the law is such that, you know, the time has come for oscar pistorius to be released, 0scar pistorius to be released, but there is a certain sort of grudging legislation about it. they made the point that he is now free. —— resignation. they say they sentence for life to endure the loss of reeva steenkamp, in particular the mother has been expressing these views. and her daughter is gone forever. so there is a certain amount of lamenting and also, i mean, completely understandably, anyone in the position who has lost a daughter in that way would react in such a manner. but at the same time there is a sense from the family that the whole story has not been told. but the thing is, despite the fact

that the whole legal process with pistorius has reached its conclusion, the factors there is a mystery at the heart of this killing that may never resolved. the mystery is did pistorius knowingly, deliberately, kill his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, or did he not? the law didn't find that he deliberately killed her. the law, the murder charge on which he was convicted and sentenced, only found that by firing four bullets through a bathroom door, he was intending to kill the person on the other side, but they never — never established, despite going to appeal, that he had deliberately sought to kill his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. and the family, i think, holds to the family, i think, holds to the view that he did. for whatever reason, they sort of need to believe that. but that has not been proved even

remotely, rarely, by — by the law and the evidence provided. i guess my question would be then what about the court of public opinion, so to speak? to read in your book that pistorius was south africa's greatest national hero after nelson mandela. is that still the case? how is south africa viewing him and his release? that's not the case, and very much the power of the story. when the story broke on valentine's day, for heavens sake, on valentine's day 2013 which is when he killed her, it was a massive international story, particularly big within south africa because pistorius was a hero. he was a hero within south africa but also had been one of the big names in the london paralympics and, indeed, 0lympics in the london paralympics and, indeed, olympics in which he competed only six months earlier. and, you know, the fallen hero narrative of something which everybody was incredibly excited about. this

is a particularly dramatic case of fallen heroism but, i mean, you know, sort of hollywood stars committing misdemeanour it's a story here given there was a killing involved, it was massive story and he certainly is not a national hero anymore in south africa today.- in south africa today. what do ou think in south africa today. what do you think will _ in south africa today. what do you think will come _ in south africa today. what do you think will come next, - in south africa today. what do | you think will come next, now, for oscar pistorius? it will be on parole, essentially under house arrest, won't he? but will he seek to regain that hero status in the country? ihla. hero status in the country? no, no, but hero status in the country? no, no. but is _ hero status in the country? no, no. but is long _ hero status in the country? no, no, but is long gone. _ hero status in the country? iifr, no, but is long gone. he is a crushed man, a shadow of a man that he once was. i saw him during the trial. we spent three hours together in the middle of the trial and he actually took me out to lunch at an italian restaurant where he weirdly... and it was clear then that he was trying hard to be— remain, i don't know,

coherent and communicative but he was a broken man and there was certainly no notion that he was certainly no notion that he was going to go back to being the athletes that he once was or even anything remotely close to it. i think the best bet with pistorius, and i say this from knowing him a bit but knowing his family much better, is that he would probably become something of a recluse. he is forced to stay away from the bright lights and the media by his parole conditions but i don't think he would have any desire, even when those parole conditions expire, to sort of come mountain parade himself on the bbc or anywhere else, for that matter before come and parade. that matter before come and arade. , ., ., ., ~ i., parade. john carlin, thank you so much for— parade. john carlin, thank you so much forjoining _ parade. john carlin, thank you so much forjoining us. - parade. john carlin, thank you so much forjoining us. my - so much for “oining us. my pleasure. _ protests continued friday in somalia's capital mogadishu in response to a recent deal between neighbouring ethiopia and the self—declared republic of somaliland. the agreement grants ethiopia 20km — that's 12 miles — of access to somaliland's coast.

somalia says the deal has no legal force and calls it a violation of its sovereignty. somaliland declared its independence from somalia in 1991 and has long sought international recognition. but the new deal with landlocked ethiopia risks undermining a 2018 agreement it has with somalia and eritrea. the 2018 joint declaration states that each country's territorial integrity is to be respected in the interests of regional peace and security. ethiopia says the new agreement with somaliland is beneficial to both parties but has been ambiguous on formally recognising the breakaway region as independent. meanwhile, east africa's trade bloc, the intergovernmental authority for development, is concerned over the ramifications of the deal. special envoy for the sahel region and atlantic council distinguished fellow ambassadorj peter pham for his thoughts.

there are lots of different angles and elements to this, so we might want to go through them one by one. if we start by ethiopia — ethiopia's president has secured direct access to the scene for the landlocked country in exchange to become the first country to recognise somaliland. is that a deal for ethiopia? it's a wonderful dealfor ethiopia. it diversifies its bottleneck in djibouti where everything has to come through at very high prices, and so it's good for the ethiopian people and it's good to have diversity. it also opens the deal for somaliland, as you mentioned earlier, of recognition. so, i think it's a real win—win and it respects reality. that's the most important thing. the reality of what is on the ground in the horn of africa and not emotional theories. —— ground in the horn of africa and not notional theories. is somaliland in a position to do what it's doing to giving a way that sea access

to ethiopia and get a stake in ethiopian airlines in exchange, as well? yes, it's based in law. going back to 1960, somaliland was a former british protectorate. it gained its independence before the italian trust territory did, and was recognised by numerous countries as an independent country. then, there was the union of the two territories, which ironically a somali court ruled invalid years ago. but moving up to the present, the reality is the majority of the people living in somaliland have never lived in somalia. there is no way anyone has any idea of how to get them tojoin. why not? they have direct elections. the last election in somalia was before you or i was born, so why do these people want to be back in a failed state? so, it'll never happen. somalia views this as a breach of their territorial sovereignty. but aside from the legal claims, which i think are very tenuous, the fact is they have

no means of enforcing it. it's been more than three decades since somalia has exercised any authority whatsoever in somaliland. and others have invested — in fact, the british international investment bi has invested close to $1 billion over several years in the second phase, which will be the port where this trade coming through to ethiopia will go through. so, in partnership with dubai ports world, so the international community is moving slowly to recognising this reality. there are concerns that this deal could destabilise the region. do you share that view? i don't because i don't think it could be more destabilised. we have in mogadishu a failed state with members, including a minister in the cabinet was a former wanted person in the us with a $5 million bounty on his head. what's happening in mogadishu is absent any achievement, absent any elections.

they are using this as a tool to prop up support for a lack of achievement. just today in mogadishu, a respected elder was actually arrested and disappeared by the secret police for stating that he thought this was a good deal that one should look at. we've seen disruption in the red sea shipping corridor was recently with attacks by the houthi rebels. related to what is going on north of there. could this deal, those concerns about any kind of conflict impact that situation? i would flip that on its head. actually, when all the years when there was piracy in somalia, they all came from what is rum somalia. no piracy came out of somaliland. without international recognition, somaliland kept its 500 mile coastline pirate—free. in fact, destabilising somaliland, not giving it a pathway to inclusion

in the international community is the surest way to get a houthi—like instability on the other side of the gulf. just briefly, do you expect that more countries will follow ethiopia's lead here in recognising officially somaliland? i think the devil will be in the details of the recognition and how it comes about. i do think there's been a long wait of which is the first country to recognise somaliland. i don't think there'll be a scrum as to who will be the second. so, i think it's reality and it will happen sooner rather than later. we will watch to see what happens next, but for now, thanks for coming in to talk to us about that. former ambassador, peter pham, thank you. thank you. that's all from us. thank you for watching. that's all from us. thank you forwatching. 0ur that's all from us. thank you for watching. 0ur colleagues in london will be back with more headlines at the top of the hour. stay with us right here on bbc news.

hello. after such a wet week, i can bring you some better news in the weekend weather forecast because although it will be colder, it is also going to be drier. now, not completely dry — still a few showers around, a few bits and pieces of rain, particularly as we start saturday across northern and eastern areas, where we have had a fair amount of cloud. but this slice of clear sky spilling in from the west, that's been allowing temperatures to drop with some frost and fog and ice to start saturday morning. with so much water around, where temperatures have dropped to freezing or below, we are likely to see some ice. some of the fog could be slow to clear across parts of north west england and south west scotland. some rain persisting across the northern isles into the afternoon, this band of cloud quite persistent as well across eastern counties of england with a few bits and pieces of showery rain. the odd shower out west, but some sunshine to you — highs of 5—9 degrees. during saturday night, this band of cloud in eastern england will roll, i think, a little bit further westwards back into the midlands. again, could bring the odd shower. but where we keep clear, starry skies overhead,

it will get cold. a widely cold night — temperatures around or below freezing, maybe down to minus 4 or minus 5 or perhaps even lower than that in some parts of scotland. and then, we head into sunday with a bit of cloud and quite a brisk wind in the southeast corner — that will provide the odd shower. but elsewhere, mainly fine conditions, some spells of sunshine but it will feel cold — 2—6 degrees. particularly cold, actually, if any morning fog lingers for any length of time. now, as we head into monday, this area of high pressure, if anything, will be strengthening, centred across the north of the uk. quite a few isobars down to the south, though — that means some quite strong winds. and those easterly winds combined with some quite cold airwill make fora decidedly chilly feel. so, there's brisk winds down towards the south. further north, not as windy but we could have some persistent fog. certainly, some misty, murky conditions, some sunny spells as well. but top temperatures maybe just 2 or 3 degrees

in parts of scotland. northern ireland, england and wales, 3—6 degrees celsius. but when we factor in the strength of the wind, look at these feels—like temperatures — this includes the wind chill. in some places, it will feel subzero. so, very chilly on monday. perhaps turning a little bit less cold as the week wears on but staying mostly dry.

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. a double landlocked country steeped in silk road legacy... it's like something from a 60s spy movie or something. it's incredible. ..where soviet influences... horns sound ..meet ancient traditions... this is amazing. i can't believe this. this is where arches would have stood. ..and vast landscapes... ..hide impressive relics. it's pretty astonishing that i'm able to still walk around here. for the best part of a century, this country has been off limits to many outsiders. but in recent years, that's been changing, and i'm on a journey to see what we've been missing out on.

this is uzbekistan.