who said he would encourage russia to do whatever it wants to any nato ally that fails to meet its financial obligations. king charles attends his first church service since his cancer diagnosis was announced. their leader was jailed and their party and symbol banned, but final results from pakistan's election show independent candidates allied to imran khan won the most seats in parliament. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. we start in the middle east, and international warnings are growing over israel's planned offensive in rafah — the city in southern gaza, where more than half the territory's population is sheltering after fleeing their homes elsewhere in the strip.

the uk foreign secretary lord cameron says he's "deeply concerned" about the prospect of a military offensive and again called for an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out. the dutch foreign minister, hanke bruins slot, said there could be "many civilian casualties", and described the situation in rafah as "very worrying". while saudi arabia warned of "very serious repercussions" if rafah was stormed. the israeli army continues to target rafah with shelling and air strikes, which are reported to have killed more than a0 people in the last day. the hamas—run health ministry says 112 palestinians were killed across the whole of gaza in the past 2a hours. more than 28,000 have been killed since the october 7th attacks.

the palestinian red crescent has condemned the ongoing violence and the targeting of humanitarian workers. what we observed in gaza last week was unimaginable. the level of devastation and suffering is unlike anything i've seen in 35 years of my humanitarian work all over the world. this is unacceptable, this madness must stop. enough is enough. the protection of humanitarian workers and medical missions is not optional under international humanitarian law, it's mandatory. this displaced palestinian mother is in rafah. she explained how difficult it's been to find shelter. translation: we left our house, and, as you know, my daughters are sick- and i don't have anything or anyone to help me with them. we were displaced to the camp, then we went by the sea. then there were air strikes and we spent a very difficult night

with the strikes over our heads. then we came to rafah. there is no safe place to stay or to sort our lives. there is no space, we are cramped. there is no food or drink, not even water to drink or clean ourselves. 0ur correspondent barbara plett usher has been speaking to the un humanitarian coordinator for the occupied palestinian territories, jamie mcgoldrick, who has recently returned from gaza. she asked him how the united nations would respond if israel launches an offensive in rafah. very difficult to respond right now, where people are static. people have come there looking for safety. it's the last resort for many people. do you have a contingency plan if there is a combat operation? the contingency plan was for them to arrive in rafah. that was the contingency plan we had. now we are looking for another contingency plan but we are struggling to address

this contingency plan. if there was to be an incursion into rafah, which is a massively overpopulated city, it is about five times the population it was before the conflict, so everything is under pressure, we are under pressure, and the population themselves have nowhere to go. the safe areas that were declared are no longer safe and if these people have to move, where can they move? they move to the beach area, which is already overcrowded. we don't have the supplies available to take them, accommodate them, support them, because the environment there is not conducive for a humanitarian operation this kind. so we're really fearful of the horrific nature of where we are could only get worse. it's unimaginable to think it could get worse. if the israelis were to move in with a combat operation that allowed civilians to leave, they have nowhere to go? they have nowhere to go. it happened in khan younis, when there was all the military activity in khan younis recently. there were over 180,000 people moved from khan younis. but they didn't carry anything with them. so they arrived with small bags, no blankets, no mattresses,

no warm winter clothing. if that happens again and they have to flee quickly without being able to take their tent with them or material with them, we have to start again. you have been in many desperate humanitarian situations. you were in yemen for a while. how does this compare? this is beyond anything you would ever see, because it is the speed by which this has happened. the scale by which you see in front of you, the task that we have in terms of a humanitarian response. and what's coming after it is uncertain, really uncertain. in other crises you see these things peak, then flatten out and resolve themselves. there is no sense this is the case. this is building and building and building. so the un agency that looks after palestinians, unrwa, has been hit really hard, nearly 150 buildings damaged, more than 150 staff killed. the fact that 152 people have died, it's the biggest number we've ever lost in any crisis that we've ever been in since the start of the un. but more importantly,

it is the speed by which this has happened. this has happened in a period of four months. that was the un humanitarian coordinator for the occupied palestinian territories, jamie mcgoldrick, speaking to my colleague barbara plett usher. we can show you live pictures of rafah where it it has just gone 3pm in the afternoon. you see the key focus right now is on the situation in that city in southern gaza. you can see some temporary shelters that have been set up by people in and among some of the damaged buildings. according to authorities about 1.5 million people are sheltering there in rafah. the israeli government saying it has to extend its military operation by carrying out a ground assault there. for more on this story we can go live to bahrain.

dr hasan al hasan, a research fellow for middle east policy at the international institute of strategic studies. the international warnings about israel's possible ground offensive in rafah have not only come from western countries but also middle eastern countries where you are. how much pressure do you think can be put on israel to change the direction of its operation, do you think? it direction of its operation, do you think? , . ., ., ., direction of its operation, do you think? ,. ., ., ., ., think? it is clear that not enough ressure think? it is clear that not enough pressure is _ think? it is clear that not enough pressure is being _ think? it is clear that not enough pressure is being put _ think? it is clear that not enough pressure is being put on - think? it is clear that not enough pressure is being put on israel. | think? it is clear that not enough i pressure is being put on israel. and the fact we are in this situation where we are potentially looking at an impending assault on rafah, which already houses over half the gaza population, i think is a clear illustration of the failure of international efforts both in moral and political terms, to bring about and political terms, to bring about a change in israel's behaviour and to compel israel to end its

atrocities in gaza. there has been no real willingness whatsoever to impose tangible costs on israel for flouting international law and even possibly the genocide convention. 0bviously possibly the genocide convention. obviously we don't have much time. the israeli government claims it is not breaking international law. it also makes the point there has to be pressure on hamas as well. it says hamas has not been a legitimate interlocutor in negotiations that have happened so the israeli position is that if negotiations have stalled or broken down then they have no choice but to carry on with their operation.— with their operation. thankfully we don't have to _ with their operation. thankfully we don't have to go _ with their operation. thankfully we don't have to go purely _ with their operation. thankfully we don't have to go purely by - with their operation. thankfully we don't have to go purely by what - don't have to go purely by what israel says. there is an icj ruling thatis israel says. there is an icj ruling that is very clear on whether or not israel has or not respected international law. and even israel's own western allies, the united states, the uk and others, the european union, have become extremely critical of israel over

its conduct, over its behaviour, including its impending assault on rafah. i think israel's claims are not very credible at the moment. it is very clear that israel is operating without much regard for palestinian lives. prime minister netanyahu of israel has been very clear that he totally rejects an independent palestinian state, that he will pursue the destruction of hamas irrespective of international law or the cost to ordinary civilians. and so actually in a sense, if you listen to what the israelis have been saying, they have been very clear about their intentions from the very beginning. i want to ask about possible solutions. because at the moment mediation efforts, negotiations continue for a pause in the fighting. what can be done to see about another temporary ceasefire at least so more humanitarian aid can go into gaza?—

least so more humanitarian aid can go into gaza? two things i think. on the one hand _ go into gaza? two things i think. on the one hand mediators _ go into gaza? two things i think. on the one hand mediators will- go into gaza? two things i think. on the one hand mediators will have i go into gaza? two things i think. on the one hand mediators will have to| the one hand mediators will have to continue to work out the parameters of what is acceptable to both sides, israel and hamas, and that would involve the number of days during which we could see a pause in the fighting, the amount of aid that comes into gaza and the pace at which end ratio at which palestinian detainees and prisoners versus israeli hostages held in gaza can be released. i think these are the main parameters and it will be up to the negotiators and the two sides to work out what will be an acceptable formula. in parallel i think there would have to be a concerted international effort by israel's partners and allies, those who provide israel with political and military support, including the united states, the uk and europeans, to bring about real pressure on israel to incentivise israeli leaders to change their behaviour and not embark on what will

obviously be an extremely dire and consequential humanitarian outcome if israel were to proceed with its ground invasion of rafah. research fellow at the _ ground invasion of rafah. research fellow at the international - fellow at the international institute of strategic studies, thank you forjoining us on bbc news. concern in gaza is for hostages as well as civilians. hamas' armed wing, the qassem brigades, says israeli strikes on gaza have killed two hostages in the last four days, and seriously injured eight others. last night, protesters demanding the release of the hostages, blocked roads in tel aviv. seven people were arrested. demonstrations were held across israel demanding the government do more to bring the hostages home and calling for elections. a senior hamas official has warned that any israeli ground offensive in rafah will "blow up"

the hostages exchange negotiations. let's go to the us now, and the white house has described comments by donald trump about nato as appalling and unhinged. he said he would encourage russia to attack nato members who don't meet their financial obligations to the western military alliance. nato members have agreed to spend 2% of their gdp on defence. mr trump made the comments during an election campaign rally in south carolina on saturday — take a listen. nato was busted until i came along. i said, everybody�*s got to pay. they said, if we don't pay, are you still going to protect us? i said absolutely not. they couldn't believe the answer. they asked me that question, one of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, "well, sir, if we don't pay and we are attacked by russia, will you protect us?" i said, "you didn't pay, you're delinquent?" he said, "yes, let's say that happened." "no, i would not protect you."

in fact, i would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. you've got to pay. you've got to pay your bills. earlier, i spoke to dr patrick bury, a defence and security expert at the university of bath and former nato analyst. i asked him for his analysis of mr trump's comments. trump is speaking to his base here. what we can call maybe the internet angries. i am a veteran myself and have been engaged with us veterans on this and the level of anger amongst them, normally when you are in an allied military there is a good deal of respect and joviality but there is a lot of anger among us veterans about the fact that nato is not paying its way, and many nations are not paying its way. it is quite extreme. and in some ways trump is playing into his base on that, regurgitating what makes them angry.

it does have an impact and there is a real worry i think emerging in nato about this fact. one, russia has put its economy onto a war footing and it's increasing its capability relative to the rest of europe, 0k? and in three to four years there is now an unlikely worst course of action, but still a course of action leading that way where russia would keep going after ukraine, especially if trump was in the white house and there was a split within nato about either over ukraine and should it respond, or how would it respond to say a small incursion which should in theory trigger article 5. so i think that's really where the nato alliance is worried, these what—ifs. there is now an emerging path where things could really get quite serious. defence and security expert at the university of bath, doctor patrick bury. voting is getting under way in finland in the second round of its presidential poll. the election is the first since

the countryjoined nato last year, following the russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine. the run—off sees the centre—right former prime minister, alexander stubb, taking on the green party member and ex—foreign minister, pekka haavisto. both take a hardline approach towards russia. the winner will be finland's first new head of state in 12 years. earlier, i spoke to teivo teivainen, a professor of world politics at the university of helsinki. the whole situation with russia is and has been one of the defining features of finnish foreign policy. the president constitutionally is in charge mostly of foreign policy. so in that sense anything happening with eastern border nato and russia is an issue again. the relationship with russia is different from previous elections because the president doesn't really need to handle that much, the relationship

is quite frozen right now. i handle that much, the relationship is quite frozen right now.— is quite frozen right now. i want to ask ou is quite frozen right now. i want to ask you about. _ is quite frozen right now. i want to ask you about, i _ is quite frozen right now. i want to ask you about, i don't _ is quite frozen right now. i want to ask you about, i don't know - is quite frozen right now. i want to i ask you about, i don't know whether you have seen donald trump's comments overnight saying that nato member states need to pay their way to make their contributions to nato if the us is to step up and back them if he were president again. what do you make of those comments and is finland thinking about the cost now of being a member of nato? well, finland is already contributing right now a little bit above 2%. i think it is 2.4 in 2023. but more generally those statements by trump that express the possibility that the willingness of the united states to support european countries and nato allies in times of nato conflict might not be as tight as possible is very important for finland, with the long border with russia. he one so—called existential question during all the

history of an independent finland has been if russia attacks are will someone come and help us? and this, what trump is saying, hits to the nerve of the finnish mentality about that. that was a professor from the university of helsinki. now it's time for a look at today's sport. hello from the bbc sport centre. hello, i'mjane dougall with your latest sports news. the africa cup of nations champions will be crowned later when hosts ivory coast take on nigeria in the final. it comes 24 days after both former winners met in the group stage, when it was nigeria were victorious. so, ivory coast will be hoping to do better this time. they last won the title in 2015. and they're the first host nation to reach the final since egypt 17 years ago. the match will be all the more special for ivorian striker sebastian haller, who returned last year after successful treatment for testicular cancer. that's one and a half years, like you said, have been quite challenging for myself,

for my family and everyone. so, yeah, i have the feeling that no matter what you want to do, something will happen, so ijust take everything step—by—step and ijust try to enjoy every moment. i think i will take a few months or years to really realise what happens in the last years. as for nigeria, the super eagles, they are aiming for a fourth title, their first since 2013. they cruised through the group stages with seven points before defeating cameroon, angola and south africa in the knockout stages. their coach says the biggest test is to come. we need to fight 100% to catch these opportunities. against a good team, of course. a tough match. and playing away, not at home. but it's one opportunity. who knows when comes the next opportunity?

to england now and the premier league. after wins for the leaders liverpool and for manchester city on saturday, arsenal will be looking to close the gap at the top of the premier league to two points on sunday. they're away at west ham united in the day's early game, whilst its fifth versus sixth as aston villa take on manchester united. victory for villa would them back into the top four. the six nations continues, and after wins for france and england, ireland will hope to move top of the table again and make it two wins from two when they face italy. it's their first game back in dublin since before the world cup. last week in rome the italians pushed england hard, and coach andy farrell knows his side will need to be at their best. i think everyone who watched the game last week knows they will be a threat and our fans will get behind their side. first time since the world cup, and it is something the players have talked about and are excited

about this week. in cricket, bad news for england, spinnerjack leach has been ruled out of the remainder of the test tour of india with a knee problem. leach suffered the injury whilst fielding in england's first test victory in hyderabad, and then missed the subsequent defeat in visa ka patnam. leach will fly home and england have no plans to call up a replacement with the third test starting in rajkot on thursday. it's almost here, super bowl lviii. on sunday night the kansas city chiefs face the san francisco 49ers and for the first time it's taking place under the lights of las vegas. a lot of eyes will be on the two quarterbacks, patrick mahomes and brock purdy. the two—time super bowl champion peyton manning says he's been impressed with both. they are both great stories, right? they both have earned the right to be here. patrick, this is getting to be kind of old hat for him.

i think he books a reservation for the super bowl every year for his family. and brock has had an incredible year, he has done a greatjob, doing what kyle shanahan has asked him to do and playing great quarterback, especially down the stretch in the play—offs. that's why it's going to be two good teams in the super bowl. all the build—up to the super bowl on the bbc sport website. and that's all the sport for now. king charles has thanked everyone who has sent him messages of support after his cancer diagnosis, saying the kind thoughts have been a great comfort. king charles arrived at sandringham earlier, for his first church service since his cancer diagnosis was announced. he's withdrawn from public duties to undergo regular treatment for the unspecified cancer. 0ur correspondent louisa pilbeam sent this update from sandringham. we saw king charles walk into the church with his wife queen camilla

and a crowd had gathered of around 100 people. they were hoping they might be able to speak to the king and give their warm wishes, but the king went straight up to the vicar and then into the church. and on the way out i was speaking to people who had gathered and they were really hoping he might come over to speak to them because actually security opened the gates, which is rare, and then people were able to have a better view. they were hoping the king would come and speak to them, but on the way out he waved a couple of times and then he went back to the private sandringham estate, which is closed here actually to the public until easter time. it is only the surrounding area where we are, in the parkland, which is now open. and so people were not able to speak to him directly today but perhaps the king felt he had given his heartfelt message because last night heartfelt message because last night he did release a statement saying of his gratitude to the public about their kind wishes to him and that he was grateful for all their support. louisa

pilbeam there. _ their leader was jailed, and their party and cricket bat symbol barred from the election. but final results from pakistan show candidates allied to imran khan s pti party have emerged as the largest grouping in parliament. independent candidates won 101 of the 266 seats — 93 of whom are thought to be backed by the pti. the party of another former prime minister, nawaz sharif, won 75. courts have reportedly been flooded with legal challenges to the election results, after both mr khan and mr sharif claimed victory. with no clear winner it could take weeks of political wrangling to form a governing coalition, as our correspondent carrie davies reports from islamabad. two sides are claiming victory in pakistan, but there is still no new government. both would need more seats to get a majority.

nawaz sharif�*s pmln is looking for alliances. today, he met with karachi—based party mqm. imran khan's candidates may have the largest number of seats. as they are all independents, there are complications. they are trying to increase their vote count, accusing authorities of rigging votes, which they deny, they are challenging the results in court and calling people out to peacefully protest. this is the election office in rawalpindi and a few hundred protesters have gathered. this is not a mass level at the moment, but the idea is it keeps pressure up while the pti work out what to do next. this man was in the crowd, he is from oxford. they have been in power in the last decade and it has been going on now. imran khan is the only hope now for this country to get out of this mess. some covered their faces.

0ur institutions are not going to forgive us for this because we are standing for our rights. afterjust over an hour and a half, suddenly the mood turned and a decision was made. so we havejust been pushed back by a cloud of tear gas that was used on the crowd of protesters that were outside, they have now been completely dispersed. you can see the reaction of everybody behind me as well. pakistan has already faced months of political instability with no answer yet to who will lead the country. caroline davies, bbc news, rawalpindi. stay with us here on bbc news. the headlines are next after this short break. hello there. those of you who were

up hello there. those of you who were up early enough will have started sunday on a misty and murky note, but the story has improved. some sunshine coming through, a pleasant morning across st albans in hertfordshire. you can still see a pretty soggy puddles out there. there is still some rain, it is gradually easing away. this has been the story so far. you can see the breaks in the cloud with the sunshine developing, a few scattered showers out to the west. as we go through the afternoon it is a case of sunny spells and scattered showers for many of us. the showers should be fairly isolated and in the sunshine pleasant enough with the wind is quite light. so temperatures will peak in scotland between five and 9 degrees, much higher than it has been of late. 9—11 elsewhere. as we go through the rest of the night, it looks likely those showers will tend to fade away in one or two spots. where we've got the clearer skies temperatures will fall away. if we keep some showers going, favourite spots in the south—west, up favourite spots in the south—west, up to north—west scotland, with temperatures in rural partsjust expected to fall below freezing,

there could be some icy surfaces around first thing. into monday, it's all about low pressure sitting up it's all about low pressure sitting up into the north—west. and the wind direction swinging mooring to a north—westerly. a slightly fresh at source at this time of year. that means showers will be closer to the low pressure so scotland, north—west england and northern ireland. and with any elevation to the tops of the mountain is still a little bit of wintriness, but generally those temperatures 6—10. we see this little ridge of high pressure trying to keep things fine for tuesday but at the same time this weather front is drifting in from the south—west. so it'll be a quiet start, clouding overfrom the so it'll be a quiet start, clouding over from the south—west as we go through the day. a few scattered showers to the north—west of the great glen and by the end of the day we will have showery outbreaks of rain pushing across central and southern england up into wales. so claudia, graeme white for the end of the day. and that is going to lead us into an unsettled spell of weather as we go through the middle part of the week. the showers may

well merge together for longer spells of rain but the wind direction will change round to a south—westerly, much milder source, and so by the middle part of the week temperatures could be peeking into the mid—teens. unusualfor this time of year. the best of the drier weather at the start of the weekend.

this is bbc news, the headlines. israel's prime minister insists he will press ahead

with an offensive in rafah, despite growing international alarm over what will happen to more than one and a half million palestinians sheltering there there. police in pakistan say they'll respond forcefully to illegal gatherings, as courts are flooded with vote—rigging allegations after thursday's elections. the final results give independent candidates backed byjailed former prime minister's imran khan the most seats in parliament. the white house condemns donald trump's campaign comments about not protecting fellow nato members as appalling and unhinged. trump said he would "encourage" russia to attack nato allies who do not pay their bills. now on bbc news — click.