these are the children of gaza, forced to flee their homes and now living in camps. many of the children here are too young to understand what is happening. suhaf is not. the whine of drones

overhead is constant. nabila is taking care of her nephew. he has lost half of his family. ask god for their return, she tells him. he can barely mouth the words. there is a mental health unit at the al—aqsa hospital. they say they are overwhelmed with traumatised children. "what conditions have you seen? " the doctor is asked.

while they have now suffered many more casualties, the trauma caused by this conflict is not limited to the people of gaza. more than 100 israeli hostages still remain in captivity, three months after hamas and other militants captured some 250 people and killed around 1200. over the weekend, thousands of israelis gathered in what has become known as hostage square. this is my big brother. he is kidnapped by hamas. he is held hostage from the 7th of october, 100 days. we hope he come back, we wish he comes back. every day, every night, every hour, every minute that passes is harder.

the families of the hostages gather almost every day, calling for their loved ones to be brought back home. while they blame hamas for the atrocities that led to their captivity, many are also angry at their own government. i am not waiting, we are not waiting because waiting means we need to trust somebody now again, and we lost the trust on the 7th of october, so we are not waiting, we are pushing our leaders to do what is right this time. there will be cautious optimism at the deal that sees vital medication given to the israeli hostages in exchange for a much needed humanitarian aid getting into gaza. it comes as multiple un agencies warn of the risk of famine, and the secretary—general continues his criticism of israel's offensive. i repeat my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in gaza

and the process that leads to sustained peace for israelis and palestinians in a two—state solution. all the while, the offensive and gaza continues, as do —— all the while, the offensive on gaza continues, as do hamas rocket attacks. israel says maintaining military pressure is the key to freeing more hostages. but it is also leading to growing calls from israel's allies for restraint. how long can those calls be resisted, and how much worse will the situation in gaza get? so let's take a look at some of the front pages. the son says... royal is rocked by kate op. king charles as having prostate operation very shortly. 0n the front page of the guardian — should act's rwanda belt survives as the tory rebellion melt away. the front page of the times— rwanda

revolt weather away. and the picture of the princess of wales and king charles, both either having or about to have hospital treatment. that's all from us tonight. kirsty�*s here tomorrow. goodnight. breaking news from around the world 24 breaking news from around the world 2a hours a day — this is bbc news.

paul adams there. and in the past hour or so, yemen's houthis have said they've targeted another cargo ship in the red sea. a spokesperson for the houthis says the us—owned genco picardy bulk carrier was struck by a bomb—carrying drone in a direct hit. this map appears to show the vessel changing course. the houthis say they'll carry on attacking ships in the red sea in protest against israel's bombardment of gaza — that's despite a us decision to return them to the list of global terrorist organisations. live now to tom bateman, our state department correspondent in washington. tom, great tag on the programme. can you explain what this read a —— redesignation means? the you explain what this read a -- redesignation means? the state department _ redesignation means? the state department says _ redesignation means? the state department says it _ redesignation means? the state department says it means - redesignation means? the state i department says it means bringing accountability to the houthis. as terrorism. but it is also designed to try and give the state some

powers to take action against people that would give material support to the houthi. it is a lower level as those that are more commonly use. significantly, i don't think this will have any major impact on the houthis on the ground. that is because they already face significant sanctions, visa travel bans and are very limited and isolated in terms of what they can do. most of their funding isolated in terms of what they can do. most of theirfunding is linda stein anyway. they come in from networks that the us already have this mental —— is clandestine. when you're talking about this, the real message from the us has not been around terrorism designation, but has been in the form of military action that it took last week in combination with the united kingdom.

that has been upping the ante and all of this. what the us hopes will deter the houthis, but so far remains to be seen. as you've been saying, we've seen another suicide drone attack in the gulf of aden tonight. it seems the houthis are still firing. the attacks are not quite at the scale that they were previous to the us uk strikes. it’s previous to the us uk strikes. it's really extraordinary how powerful the houthis have become in such a #. have they've been designated a terrorist organisation prefer? the? terrorist organisation prefer? they were by the _ terrorist organisation prefer? they were by the trump _ terrorist organisation prefer? tue: were by the trump administration. that was in the final days of the trump administration. and there have been pressure from iran hawks here

in washington, who saw the kind of strikes against the us's gulf allies. and those lawmakers in washington were putting pressure on the trump administration to designate the houthis as terrorists. but what you then have his humanitarian aid groups saying this would severely curtail their affect, their ability to get aid supplies into yemen. very desperate situation with much of the country on the verge of famine. the bite administration reversed that. they got rid of the terrorism designation —— biden administration. they felt they had to read designate the group. . they had to read designate the i rou . _ ., , ., they had to read designate the a rou n . ., , ., ., , they had to read designate the irou, ., , ., group. , abatement, “oining us from washington. _ group. , abatement, “oining us from washington, dc. —

around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a two—year—old boy and his dad have been found dead at a house in skegness. it's thought 60—year—old kenneth battersby had a heart attack and that his son bronson starved to death. their bodies were found on the 9th of january. the family was known to children's services. lincolnshire county council is investigating. politicians in northern ireland have once again failed to elect a stormont speaker. it is the seventh recall of the assembly since may 2022. the assembly collapsed almost two years ago due to the democratic unionist party's opposition to post—brexit trade rules for northern ireland. a legal deadline to restore devolved government runs out on thursday. the former labour mp for rochdale, sir tony lloyd, has died at the age of 73. sir tony served as a foreign minister under tony blair before becoming the mayor

of greater manchester. he said last week he'd been receiving treatment you're live with bbc news. both king charles and the princess of wales will be away from public duties for a while due to health reasons. kensington palace says catherine, who's 42, has had abdominal surgery and will be in hospital for at least ten days. she won't return to engagements until after easter. shortly after that, buckingham palace announced the king is to receive treatment for an enlarged prostate. here's our royal correspondent daniela relph. together on christmas day — the king, the princess of wales just behind him and the wider royal family attended church on the sandringham estate in norfolk. it was the last time the king and the princess were seen in public. they appeared in good health. in the run—up to christmas, the king carried out all his

scheduled public engagements. there was no indication of any problems. but this afternoon, buckingham palace released a statement. it said... earlier in the afternoon came news of the princess of wales being in hospital. like the king, she too had shown no sign of any health issues last month during a full programme of engagements that included hosting a carol concert at westminster abbey. but kensington palace has now said that the princess was admitted to this london hospital yesterday for what they described as planned abdominal surgery. she's expected to stay here for 10—14 days, and is unlikely to return to royal duties before easter. as you're the volunteers for this evening... palace officials have not disclosed why the princess had surgery. they say they appreciate there

will be interest in her condition, but she wants to keep her personal medical information private, and would like to maintain as much normality as possible for her children. daniela relph, bbc news. china population has fallen for the second year in a row. it's concerning for beijing, which is relying on a young workforce to drive its economy. the bbc�*s meghan 0wen has been taking a look at the numbers. over the last few decades, china has had a pendulum population. now, in the 1970s, as it was approaching 1 billion people, the government became concerned about the impact that this could have on their ambitious plans for economic growth, so it decided to implement some policies. now, in 1979, it introduced the controversial one—child policy. but actually, after a shrinking workforce and an ageing population, it relaxed this in 2015 and we saw the two—child policy.

there was also financial incentives for people to start a family. now, in 2021, this was relaxed even further with the three—child policy. but these don't necessarily seem to have worked. now, latest figures show that china's population has reduced in size for the second year running. at the end of 2023, it was just over 1.4 billion. that's a reduction of 2 million on the previous year. and if we look at the birth rate, it was 6.39 people per 1,000. now, i want to show you this graph, which is interesting, and it shows just how rapidly that birth rate has declined. so, why is this happening? well, young couples in modern cities have said that following covid, they want to focus on their careers. they're also worried about the cost of living. but equally, the government are now worried because they rely on an ageing population or an ageing workforce. or an ageing workforce,

and this is putting pressure on the health service, but also on the pension systems. so, could it be that actually, these earlier interventions have worked just a little too well? a seal that has spent the last six years with a plastic ring stuck around its neck has finally had the obstruction removed. commuter, given his name after being regularly spotted up and down the north cornwall coast in southwest england, was safely disentangled by members of the british divers marine life rescue team. and afterwards, a very relieved thirty stone seal had only one 30—stone seal had only one thought on his mind — thejourney home. that's all the time we have. do you stay with bbc news. do stay with bbc news.

hello there. our current cold snap may well be coming to an end, but before it does so, i think something of a sting in the tail. of course, over recent days, we've seen plenty of these snow showers — this one looking very heavy as it obscures the skyline of the island of sky. and it is in northern scotland we've seen the largest accumulations of snow through wednesday. through wednesday, we had over 20 centimetres on the deck in lerwick, and that was before this loss arrived. this is a trough bringing particularly heavy showers, widespread, prolonged showers southwards, and that willjust increase the risk of seeing some disruption.

now, for northern scotland, an additional 5—15cm of snow as we go through thursday, a much greater chance of seeing some disruption in northern ireland, too. i think we could see around 5—10cm of snow around 5—10cm of snow building in here, so a much greater risk of seeing some disruption. and for northern scotland, as well as all that heavy snow, winds gusting to around 40—50 mph, so blizzard conditions, significant drifting of the snow, and for some communities, it'd be very difficult to travel around at all. now, there could be a bit of snow elsewhere in scotland and a few wintry showers coming down to the western side of wales, a few coming down the north sea coast of england. you might see some localised accumulations, but otherwise, a lot of dry, sunny and cold weather into thursday evening. a shower stream sets up off the irish sea that will bring some snow showers to north wales across cheshire, merseyside into the north west midlands. accumulations will vary a lot from place to place, but you could see a few centimetres in a few spots on friday. the showers that we have in scotland

will start to fall as rain and sleet at lower elevations — the snow becoming confined to the hills. temperatures a degree or two higher. you probably won't notice much in the way of change — it will still feel cold. however, as we get into this weekend, that's when we see a real change in our weather pattern as these south—westerly winds push mild air off the atlantic and that will really boost the temperatures for most. now, on saturday, we've got these bands of rain moving from west to east along with those gusty south—westerly winds. now, there'll be a rapid thaw taking place in scotland, so there could be some localised flooding concerns here given all of that snow lying on the deck being a much milder kind of day, but it does turn incredibly mild. bye for now. it's a mixture. i mean, there are lots of bread and butter issues here. but, you know, the china issue certainly overshadows politics here in every presidential election.

and there are a very wide range of views. most people here want nothing to change. they think the status quo is good, that independence is dangerous. unification is absolutely nothing they are interested in. they've seen what's happened to hong kong. so they think they have autonomy. they have their own political system.

we will have the headlines at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtack. —— hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. israel has been waging a relentless war in gaza since hamas's assault on southern israel on october the 7th. the result: 211,000 palestinians killed, including more than 10,000 children — that according to the hamas—run health ministry — and a humanitarian catastrophe

engulfing the entire territory. my guest today is mark regev, chief spokesman for