in the market and people are not finding it. a six—year—old girl who begged for help after being trapped by israeli fire in gaza is found dead — along with two paramedics who tried to rescue her. pakistan's army chief calls for unity after the leaders of two rival parties both claim victory in the election. hello, i'm frankie mccamley. we begin this hour in gaza, where the death toll has now passed 28,000 — according to the hamas—run health ministry — and concern is growing over the shortage of food. the united nations is warning of looming famine, with half of gaza's population now in a food emergency. people living in isolated northern areas have told the bbc that children are going without food

for days, and they're using animalfeed to make bread. one in four households is facing a catastrophic lack of food, according to the un, because of renewed fighting and aid convoys being regularly blocked from reaching some areas. 0ur middle east correspondent lucy williamson has this special report. in the middle of a war, a battle for survival. men sent to fight over cans of beans and sacks of flour. the un is warning that famine is coming fast, to gaza's northern areas, as aid arrives more slowly. this, the first aid to arrive here for 11 days, brings crowds surging close to israeli forces. who fire to push them back.

in northern areas, residents say children aren't eating for days. in some places they are tapping waterfrom underground pipes. translation: we are back to the stone age, 30, - 40, 50,000 years ago. we dig water out, filter it from sand and use it for cooking. the un says israel's army blocked more than half the aid deliveries to northern areas last month, and that child malnutrition has spiked. when it comes to flour people are actually using animal feed. however, even the animal feed is starting to get scarce in the market and people are not finding it. when it comes to canned food, there is nothing left in the market, literally. what we had was actually from the six to seven days of truce

we had at the beginning of this war, and whatever aid was allowed into gaza and the north of gaza has actually been consumed by now. the world food programme told us that four out of its last five deliveries to northern gaza were blocked by israel. this shouldn't be a logistics crisis, it shouldn't be a logistic problem. we are in the mediterranean, there is enough food around this region to feed 2.4 million people and prevent a famine in the gaza strip. the issue is access, the issue is being able to get that food to people. israel says it needs to control aid to prevent food and fuel reaching hamas. for some israeli protestors that is not enough. they have been blocking border crossing points to try to force hamas to hand over israeli hostages.

even with talk of a hostage deal, protestors are demanding a siege. aid is a lifeline for gaza, but here they say it's a lifeline for hamas. three miles from the israeli border, european planes air drop supplies to thejordanian hospital in gaza city. solutions here are getting more extreme. military planes over gaza point to its devastation. even when they are carrying aid in place of bombs. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. the grandfather of a six year—old girl who was trapped in her car with the bodies of her relatives after they came under fire in gaza city last month says she has been found dead. audio recordings of hind rajab�*s desperate pleas for help sparked a campaign to find her. the palestinian red crescent says two of its staff, who were sent to rescue the child,

were killed at the same location. the organisation has accused israel of deliberately targeting them. the bbc has asked the israeli army for a response. with more details, our correspondent in jersualem, nick beake. there has been so much heartache, so much suffering in this war, if you think at the beginning, 1,200 people killed by hamas on october seventh, some 240 taken as hostages. since then, the palestinian health authority, run by hamas, say that now 28,000 people have been killed in gaza. but the story of this little girl, this six—year—old girl, hind, seems has captured a lot of people's attention. and really struck a chord. we hear now that she has in fact died. a lot of people remember this audio recording because for about three hours, she was on the phone to someone from the emergency services.

all that time, herfamily members, her relatives, were dead around her, they had been shot. and what has happened today is that footage has emerged of the car that the family were in. it's got lots of bullet holes, a lot of damage and it is also right next to another vehicle which belonged to the palestinian red crescent society and that was holding two paramedics. they had gone to try and save hind. what the red crescent are saying today is that the israelis targeted that particular vehicle. we have put this to the israeli defence forces but they haven't responded to this allegation. it is worth pointing out that on the day that they died, hind's family were actually trying to leave their part of gaza city and go to a much safer place. that is what they had been instructed to do. and now if you look at the city of rafah, home to more than one million people, in the coming days, it is expected that they too

will be asked to leave. it is not clear where they will go. america, israel's biggest, most strong ally, has said that it has a real concern about an operation if the israeli troops are coming in and you have all these palestinian refugees living there. so a huge concern about what might happen in the days and weeks to come. pakistan's powerful army chief has called for unity after two former prime ministers claimed victory in thursday's election. the final results still haven't been announced. but candidates backed byjailed party leader, imran khan, appear to have won the most seats and say they're now trying to form a government. his pti party was barred from running by the electoral commission, forcing its candidates to run as independents. the party says it will hold peaceful protests on sunday, if complete results aren't released by saturday night. the rival pakistan muslim league —

led by nawaz sharif — has also claimed victory and says it has begun talks with others about forming a unity government. from lahore, our pakistan correspondent caroline davies has more. the final results in pakistan's general election are now starting to come in. and it seems pretty clear that imran khan's backed candidates are in the lead, followed by mr nawaz sharif�*s party's, the pmln's, candidates. they have the second largest number of seats. it is not clear at the moment who is going to form a government, but we are starting to see international reaction about this vote. we have heard from the eu who have said they note a lack of a level playing field. from the us, who said there were undue restrictions and from the uk who expressed concerns about the fairness of this election. today, we have now heard from the foreign office here in pakistan. they have said they are surprised by the negative tone of some of these international statements, which would neither take

into account the complexity of the electioral process, they say, nor acknowledge the free and enthusiastic exercise of the right to vote by tens of millions of pakistanis. that is quite a firm push back against some of these comments that we have started to hear internationally as well. we have also heard from the chief of the army staff here in pakistan. the army is an incredibly powerful and politically powerful organisation here in pakistan. the army chief has said that pakistan's diverse pluralism will be well represented by unified government of all democratic forces. now, that suggests that he is encouraging there to be some form of coalition government that will happen here in pakistan. we understand that there will be a lot of negotiations that will be going on behind the scenes, but, at the moment, it still not clear who will be governing the country. let's speak to tim willasey—wilsey, who is visting professor at kings college and a former senior british diplomat in pakistan.

good to have you on the programme. just listening to the report there, we have seen obviously, increasing violence, economic turmoil in the country now to leaders claiming victory. how crucial would he say these next days are when it comes to this stability of pakistan? it will be crucial because _ this stability of pakistan? it will be crucial because there - this stability of pakistan? it will be crucial because there will. this stability of pakistan? it will. be crucial because there will have to be a coalition arrangement. no single party has won enough votes so there will have to be a coalition. i think there will be a temptation by the army to ask the second and third parties, to get second and third parties, to get second and third parties to form a coalition. and i think that will be a real problem because that would be keeping imran khan's party out of power and i

don't think the vast majority of the population will find that acceptable. to have won something like 91 seats, they had to have polled, in the circumstances that occur, they would have polled extremely well in a completely fair and free elections.— and free elections. what kind of coalition could _ and free elections. what kind of coalition could you _ and free elections. what kind of coalition could you see - and free elections. what kind of coalition could you see working | and free elections. what kind of. coalition could you see working in the country? i coalition could you see working in the country?— the country? i think what is going to have to happen _ the country? i think what is going to have to happen is _ the country? i think what is going to have to happen is that - the country? i think what is going to have to happen is that the - the country? i think what is going | to have to happen is that the army is going to have to allow the independence who supported imran khan to take part in coalition negotiations. i suspect what will happen is that they will come into coalition with imran khan's party. i think that will be quite a reasonable outcome. the other slightly more unlikely situation is that sharif�*s party formed a coalition with imran khan's party. that leaves the question of what happens to imran khan's himself? he

has been in prison for 1h years and the idea of a coalition with his party and sharif�*s party is unrealistic. party and sharif's party is unrealistic.— party and sharif's party is unrealistic. , , ., ., unrealistic. does he still have a sa from unrealistic. does he still have a say from prison? _ unrealistic. does he still have a say from prison? is _ unrealistic. does he still have a say from prison? is he - unrealistic. does he still have a say from prison? is he still - unrealistic. does he still have a i say from prison? is he still talking to the candidates who are supporting him? i to the candidates who are supporting him? ~ ., , to the candidates who are supporting him? ~ . , ., him? i think what this whole election has _ him? i think what this whole election has shown - him? i think what this whole election has shown is - him? i think what this whole election has shown is that i him? i think what this whole election has shown is that it | him? i think what this whole - election has shown is that it was assumed that by banning the party, the party could not win and i think what it has demonstrated is that the party is very adept in social media and very good online and in a sense, it has been a digital triumph over an analogue reaction, if you see what i mean. an analogue reaction, if you see what i mean-— an analogue reaction, if you see what i mean. really interesting to net our what i mean. really interesting to get your thoughts. _ what i mean. really interesting to get your thoughts. thank - what i mean. really interesting to get your thoughts. thank you - what i mean. really interesting to get your thoughts. thank you for. get your thoughts. thank you for your time.

a russian drone strike has hit a fuel depot in the ukrainian city of kharkiv, killing seven people, according to regional officials. the attack caused a huge fire, which spread to nearby home and cars. the governor says three of the dead were young children, killed in their home with their parents. at least 50 people were rescued from their homes. kharkiv has been targeted more frequently by russian forces in recent weeks. now it's time for a look at today's sport. manchester city are top of the premier league table for the time being, at least, after erling haaland helped them to a win over everton at the etihad. city are a point clear of liverpool after the 2—0 victory, with haaland providing both goals, his first since returning from a foot injury. it took until the 71st minute before the champions struck, but it set city on the way to a 10th successive win in all competitions.

i think we always work hard as a team, so fantastic performance, difficult game and good to win. we are already on a good run, i think ten in a row in the competition, so we are already doing quite well so there has to be something and it's a good thing. liverpool will retake the lead if they beat burnley at anfield. 0nly only one goal so far scored so far at those games that kicked off at three o'clock. aha, at those games that kicked off at three o'clock.— three o'clock. a lot of action at the bottom _ three o'clock. a lot of action at the bottom of— three o'clock. a lot of action at the bottom of the _ three o'clock. a lot of action at the bottom of the table. - three o'clock. a lot of action at the bottom of the table. all. three o'clock. a lot of action atj the bottom of the table. all six three o'clock. a lot of action at i the bottom of the table. all six of the bottom of the table. all six of the bottom of the table. all six of the bottom teams in the premier league are playing on saturday. three major european races started the day with two points between the top two. however, in both spain and germany those teams play each other on saturday in la liga.

on saturday. in la liga, leaders real madrid host girona and it's the same in germany, where bayern munich have the chance to go top of the bundesliga when they face bayer leverkusen. bayern are looking for a 12th straight win and england captain harry kane knows a win would be massive towards achieving his goal of claiming his first major trophy. i want to be winning team trophies and that is one of the things that is missing from my career so far. as always, i am not going to panic eitherway, i'mjust going to keep my head down and do my best for the team and hopefully that starts with a win on saturday. 0nto the international stage — the asian cup final kicked off 15 minutes ago with underdogsjordan facing hosts and reigning champions qatar. it is currently dollars, children just the 12 rank team involved in the competition. 84 as the fifa world ranking, it is in extraordinary story that has brought them this far. but still goalless in

qatar in that asian cup final. scotland have a slender 0nto rugby union, where it's tight between scotland and france in their six nations fixture. france are down to 14 men. scotland are looking for a second when in a row, as are england in the later game on saturday. they are playing wales at twickenham. india will be without batsman virat kohli for the remainder of the test series with england. kohli missed the first two tests due to personal reasons, and that has been extended for the remaining three matches. the third test gets under way on thursday, with the series currently tied at 1—1. there is a lot of familiarly about this year's super bowl, which takes place in las vegas on sunday. the two teams and their head coaches met in the nfl�*s big game four years ago, when the kansas city chiefs won the lombardi trophy against the san francisco in what was their first of what is now four super bowl appearances in five years. there are some new faces though on the playing side, none more significant than the man

on whose shoulders the 49ers chances rest. 24—year—old brock purdy is set to become the third—youngest quarterback ever to start a super bowl and only the third with the tag mr irrelevant, the name given to the player picked last in the nfl draught. all the strain, the stress, is to get to this moment. playing three hours —— three and a half hours of the championship. we are where we want to be, where we have always wanted to be and how it is going to come down to the moment and keeping things simple and playing the game how we know how to play it. what we have done all year has been good enough to get this moment and we have to continue to do that.- have to continue to do that. that's it for nova —

iraq s foreign minister has told the bbc there is a danger his country could be pushed into conflict by recent tit—for—tat attacks by iranian—backed militias and us forces. in the past week, the united states has carried out a series of air raids that killed 17 iranian—backed militia—men in iraq, as well as a precision drone strike in the capital baghdad, that killed a senior commander. dr fuad hussein spoke to our senior international correspondent, 0rla guerin, and told her he hopes both sides will stop from the government point of view, from the point of view of the iraqi government, do you want the us troops out? we want to have to start the negotiation. 0n the basis of the negotiation it will be decided. of course, the end of the negotiation must be clear. the majority of the iraqi people, they do not want to have foreign forces on iraqi soil. but is it iraqi government policy now that the troops should go and it is just a question of when?

the troops one day must leave. this country, at the end, must be free from having foreign bases. some has been invited, and that is for the american side. some has now been invited. some has not been invited. going back to the issue of the us strikes that happened, the americans say they were targeting iraqi militia that are pro iranian, that are on your soil, and from your soil they are carrying out attacks on us forces. do you accept that there are militias here that are officially part of your security forces, but in fact are armed and trained by iran, that are carrying out these attacks? those militias, they themselves they are announcing their attacks, and they are also well—known, that they are, or they have connection with the iranian side. this is well—known,

i cannot deny it. that's true. as we sit here now, minister, is it the case that your government does not have control over these pro iranian militias, that they are doing their own thing and you cannot stop them? i think if now they see, they will talk with many political leaders. they started to talk about this. many people, they didn't dare to talk about. this is also a part of the reality in this country, but now we are talking about it, and we are saying to them, stop. people dare to say to those guys, it is enough. i think all of them, they got the message that if they will continue, they will, in the first place, destroy their political process in iraq, and they will push this country into a war, while it is not our war, and also the iranians

got that message. how real is that danger that this tit—for—tat between the americans and iranians on iraqi soil could push this country into conflict? that is the main problem, to be honest. the tension nowadays between iran and united states is very high. so i hope both sides will stop their attacks on iraqi soil, and they are not going to solve their problem on iraqi soil. we paid a very big price. it's no secret that the iranian influence here has been growing for years, and many outsiders would say at this point tehran is dictating more of the policies here than baghdad. what would you say to that? no, i'd deny that, this is not true. no influence? no, no, iam not saying no influence, but dictating policy

in baghdad is not true. are you worried about the degree of iranian influence here? i am worried about the degree of all influence surrounding us, not only iranian. iraqis must taking the decision. the decision about iraq must be taken in baghdad, and it must be taken by the iraqis in baghdad. earlier, i asked the bbc�*s 0rla guerin about how concerned iraqis are over the prospect of escalation in regional tension. we have been speaking to people in the streets after friday prayers yesterday, asking them if they were concerned about the future, about the possibility of escalation and they all said, yes they were. iraq finds itself caught in the middle between its two allies, iran on the one hand and the us on the other. as pro—iranian militia are trading fire with us forces,

iran is getting burned. the fear that the foreign minister has is that this could continue to escalate and we have seen an escalation here, a serious escalation over the past week, which has been a very tense period. we had the us carrying out a series of air strikes, targeting these iranian—backed militias, killing 17 fighters. and then a further strike here in baghdad, killing a militia commander. these came after the killing of three us soldiers injordan by pro—iranian militia. so on the one hand, we had the us saying, "we are taking necessary action to protect our personnel and we will continue to do that." 0n the other hand, you have the pro—iranian militias who just last night, came out with the tough statement, vowing to step up their attacks. the mood music, if you like, coming from both washington and tehran has been,

we do not want a major escalation and there have been statements to that effect from the white house and from the iranian leader. the problem is that these tit—for—tat attacks are continuing and everybody knows the risk of miscalculation is there. the risk that one of these attacks could hit a target that produces a really big escalation. and that is the fear for the authorities here in iraq. in that interview, he was also very frank about the influence of iran on his country. you spoke a lot about that. he was, i think, unusually frank and there has always been a reticence here on the part of people in public life to speak about that and there has particularly been a reticence and a fear to speak about the role of the iranian—backed militias, the minister referred to that himself. and i think this is a new moment for iraq, where people in public life like him, are prepared to come out and say, we are telling these pro—iranian militia enough is enough.

i was speaking to an iraqi journalist yesterday and i said how new is that? and he said if people have said that kind of thing before, they would have had to flee directly to leave the country because they would have been concerned for their own safety. but the iranian influence is a reality here, that is not going to change. and a big flashpoint now is the presence of the us troops, 2,500 remain. we are expecting talks tomorrow between the iraqis and us forces about a timetable for pulling out those troops. stay with us here on bbc news. hello, there. it's been quite a quiet start to our weekend — welcome news, i am sure. but it was a murky one first thing for some — a little bit disappointing if you're out walking the dog early on. but that mist has lifted,

we've got some sunny spells coming through, and look at this. when we've got saturated ground with localised flooding, i'm sure scenes like this, very welcome news. now, we have got some showers around today and low pressure still dominates the weather story. it's centred down towards the southwest and with this weather frontjust bumping into the far north of scotland in that colder air, still, some of those showers have been wintry first thing this morning, but it's chiefly going to be rain as we go into the afternoon, just snow with any elevation. so, this has been the story so far. we've had outbreaks of rain in scotland. we've got some showers developing across southwest england closest to the area of low pressure. so, as we go through the rest of the afternoon, those showers are likely to continue to be on and off throughout the afternoon. we've got a little bit of nuisance rain starting to develop up through the kent coast into the east midlands by the afternoon as well. elsewhere, sunny spells, a little bit quieter and not as cold — five to 11 degrees. now, as we go through the night,

that rain will continue to be a feature to the east of the pennines, running up through north sea coasts, into eastern scotland by the end of the night. some clearer skies out to the west here, we'll see low single figures, but generally those temperatures around three to eight degrees depending on the cloud cover. now, as we move into sunday, low pressure continues to be quite a feature with the story. we've still got this weather front to ease away first thing on sunday morning. it will do so. behind it, some sunnier spells developing and then a few scattered showers out to the west. so it's not a write—off by any means. it'll be a case of sunny spells and scattered showers. you mightjust have to dodge those showers from time to time. seven to 11 degrees — the overall high. now, the low pressure systems will continue to feed in from the atlantic over the next few days. so looking ahead, it's likely that we will continue to see the wind direction coming from a south—westerly, so a milder source. but unfortunately there are no signs of any drier, settled, significant weather to come as we look through the week ahead. but those temperatures

into the mid—teens in the south.

this is bbc news. the headlines: people living in the isolated north of gaza have told the bbc that children are going without food for days,

as aid convoys are increasingly denied permits to enter. some residents are grinding animalfeed into flour or eating grass to survive. a six—year—old girl who begged for help after being trapped by israeli fire in gaza is found dead, along with two paramedics who tried to rescue her. police are searching the river thames for the body of abdul shokoor ezedi — the clapham chemical attack suspect. detectives believe the 35—year—old may be dead after going into the water near to chelsea bridge in west london. and iraq's foreign minister tells the bbc his country could be pushed into conflict by attacks on its territory by iranian—backed militias and us forces. the metropolitan police is searching the river thames in central london to try to find a man suspected of throwing a corrosive substance at his ex—partner and her two children.

scotland yard believes abdul shokoor ezedi went into the water in the hours after the attack last month.