nationwide protests in 2022. us presidentjoe biden announced plans on friday to order a us military air—drop to get food and aid supplies into gaza in the coming days. the air—drops will be coordinated with the jordanians, who have been at the forefront of efforts to send assistance to gaza by air. biden's announcement comes after more than 100 palestinians were killed on thursday and more than 700 were injured as crowds formed around an aid convoy in northern gaza, desperate for food. witnesses say the israeli army shot into the crowd. the israeli army, which has released this overhead drone footage, admits its soldiers opened fire — but claims most of the deaths were caused by a crush, or aid trucks running people over. the united nations reported

friday that "a large number" of people had been found with bullet wounds. the un is calling for a full investigation into what happened. our special correspondent fergal keane, working with bbc verify, spent the day piecing together more details of what happened. his report contains some distressing images. although death is everywhere now in gaza, they had come thinking they would find aid to keep their families alive. then shots ripped through the night. shots crack through the night. people start to move. then ran to escape. in this section of the crowd, panic. as casualties streamed into local hospitals, the testimony of witnesses. translation: the situation

was unimaginably crazy. - if aid is going to come to us in this way, we don't want it. the israelis say that at 4:40am, the convoy left from here under israeli tank escort and began to move towards the crowds waiting for food. the army supplied drone footage but there is no way of telling the sequence of the images because there's no timestamp. at 4:16, the israelis say crowds began to surge around the trucks. in this sequence, bodies can be seen lying on the ground. also others can be seen crawling away. here someone looks as if they are dragging themselves using their upper body. what we do not see is exactly what caused these casualties. in its first statements, the idf said people had been trampled rushing the trucks and also that warning shots were fired. by soldiers who felt threatened by a crowd. this tank appears

to be withdrawing. later the military blamed people in the crowd for the chaos. some began violently pushing and even trampling other gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies. the israel defence forces operate according to the rules of engagement and international law. no idf strike was conducted towards the aid convoy. earlier in the night, our cameraman met a local doctor waiting for food and this is what he said before the chaos. translation: i am here 'ust like any other person i in northern gaza everyone is here to get flower and i'm not ashamed to say it, we have reached the point of starvation. today, back at work, although wounded, he told us people panicked when shots were fired.

many of the citizens were injured because of the trucks and some because of the shooting. a bullet penetrated my thigh and i provided cpr for myself and stabilised my situation. i went back to the injured. iforgot the reason i came, i forgot the food and the aide and i was doing first aid treatment for the injured. a doctor in another hospital said the dead and wounded were all gunshot victims. today, aid was dropped byjordan's airforce into northern gaza. the hungry rushed towards the food. but nearly five months into this conflict,

there is still no operation to deliver aid on the scale that's needed come into place where 85% of the population is displaced. people are so desperate for food, for fresh water, for any supplies, that they risk their lives in getting any food, any supplies to support their children, support themselves. without a secure aid operation in the midst of continuing war, the people of gaza wait for the next tragedy. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs says more than half—a—million palestinians are on the brink offamine. a short while ago i talked with the spokesman for the un secretary general, stephan djarric about thursday's deadly incident in gaza, as well as efforts to provide humanitarian aid. asking you about this

investigation, backing that, what would an investigation look like and how possible would it be to conduct one given israel's continuous military operation in gaza? fist military operation in gaza? git some point there will need to be a investigation and there will need to be accountability for what happened. it is challenging to save the least to conduct one in the middle of a conflict and this is one of the reasons why you want to see a humanitarian cease—fire as quickly as possible and at the end of the day, we have more than 100 people dying because they were dying to get food and in the end, they were killed either by bullets from the israel army, trampled by others in a mode of panic or run over by trucks and none of this is acceptable and all of this is just heartbreaking to say the least. ., ., g, least. you mentioned the death toll in the _ least. you mentioned the death toll in the level _ least. you mentioned the death toll in the level of _ least. you mentioned the death toll in the level of panic, - least. you mentioned the death toll in the level of panic, who i toll in the level of panic, who is responsible for ensuring the

safety of civilians in gaza? right now, israel is the occupying power as a responsibility towards the civilians and it bears to say that all parties to the conflict have a responsibility to protect civilians and to ensure that civilians are not being targeted and to ensure that civilian infrastructure is not destroyed and used to military operations.- not destroyed and used to military operations. what needs to be done _ military operations. what needs to be done to — military operations. what needs to be done to ensure _ military operations. what needs to be done to ensure the - military operations. what needs to be done to ensure the safety| to be done to ensure the safety of gazans make sure incidents like this do not happen again? the best way is to make sure to end the fighting and get a humanitarian cease—fire immediately and right now, the un is doing its utmost to deliver humanitarian aid in a conflict situation which means that we are being opportunistic instead of being able to scale up instead of being able to scale up to meet the needs of over 2 million civilians. there is a

breakdown of civil order in gaza and we have very little, if any confliction in coordination with the israeli forces and we do not have enough trucks in gaza and not enough trucks in gaza and not enough aid going in and gaza and despite this, we are finding breaches where we can actually deliver some aid and today, we had colleagues who spent two and a half hours at the hospital in the north of gaza to deliver fuel and some medicines and vaccines and supplies but it is all a drop in the bucket.— in the bucket. ben'amin netanyahu * in the bucket. ben'amin netanyahu said h in the bucket. benjamin netanyahu said that - in the bucket. benjamin netanyahu said that he | in the bucket. benjamin - netanyahu said that he wants to see the permanent closure of the agency but will you stand behind them if they are shut down? , ., , . behind them if they are shut down? , g, _ down? they operate by the un general assembly _ down? they operate by the un

general assembly and - down? they operate by the un general assembly and that - down? they operate by the un general assembly and that is l general assembly and that is operating in gaza and the west bank and syria and in lebanon. unrwa is the backbone of health and education and social services of the region and in gaza, it is the humanitarian heart of the work that we are trying to do to keep people alive in the collapse of unrwa would be disastrous for more than 2 million palestinians currently in gaza not to count for those who rely on our services and other parts of the region. ht services and other parts of the re . ion. services and other parts of the reuion. , _ region. if the proposal by the prime minister _ region. if the proposal by the prime minister does - region. if the proposal by the prime minister does go - region. if the proposal by the i prime minister does go through, is there anyone ready to step up is there anyone ready to step up and fill that void in terms of aid and services being provided by the us? is of aid and services being provided by the us? is not up to one country _ provided by the us? is not up to one country to _ provided by the us? is not up to one country to decide - to one country to decide whether this organisation is able to operate and to continue to exist. let's be clear on that. the other thing is that

there is no alternative to unrwa. they have 30,000 staff throughout the region, teachers, health care workers, psychologists, also with the people who are there to support palestine refugees as they are obliged to do by the mandate given to them by the general assembly and the member states of the general assembly of 1949. ~ of the general assembly of 1949. b ., ~ of the general assembly of 1949. a g, ~ of the general assembly of 1949. ~ g, ~ g, of the general assembly of 1949. g, g, 19119. we thank you for your time. massive crowds gathered on the streets of moscow on friday to bid farewell to opposition figure alexei navalny, who died in an arctic prison two weeks ago. tens of thousands of people defied warnings from russian authorities to turn out for navalny�*s church service and burial in a nearby cemetery. a russian human rights group said about 130 people have been detained in cities across the nation. despite a heavy police presence, there were chants of navalny�*s name throughout moscow — where our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. they came to say goodbye

to the man who had given them hope but died in prison. and outside the church, longer and longer, the queue of russians wanting to pay their last respects to alexei navalny. "he was our hope," anna tells me. "i feel like i am burying my own son." he is the only person i could trust, and i was dreaming of him to become our president, really, and it's a huge tragedy for me and for my people. the kremlin had called mr navalny an extremist, a criminal, but listen to the reaction when his coffin arrived. crowd: navalny! by now, the whole street was watching and chanting the name of vladimir putin's fiercest opponent. navalny! navalny. "we won't give in," they cried.

and suddenly, the climate of fear that has descended on russia seemed to clear, for a time, despite all the police that were here. "no to war," they chanted. in the church, alexei navalny�*s parents sat by the open coffin as an orthodox priest recited prayers for the soul of their son. mr navalny�*s death, first and foremost, a family tragedy. when the service was over, the coffin was carried back to the hearse. then, from his supporters, a spontaneous show of respect for the man who had challenged the kremlin. with carnations and roses, they sent him on his finaljourney. and the crowds followed.

as they walked towards the cemetery, they chanted the kind of anti—government slogans unheard on russian streets for two years. "freedom to political prisoners" and "russia will be free". the authorities did not want alexei navalny�*s funeral to become a very public event, a public display of sympathy for the man who was a vocal critic of the kremlin. but that is what it is turning into. lots of flowers, but one tribute today came in a message for mr navalny�*s wife yulia. she is abroad and may risk arrest if she returns. she said farewell by posting, "i don't know how to live without you, but i will try my best to make you up there happy for me and proud." as alexei navalny was laid to rest, a band played music from terminator 2 and the sinatra classic my way. his way had been to stand up to power and imagine

a different russia he wouldn't live to see. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. meanwhile — ukraine is still looking for more international assistance as it tries to hold back russian forces. dutch prime minister mark rutte signed a security deal with ukraine during a surprise visit to the northeastern city of kharkiv, where he met ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. mr rutte is now the seventh western leader to sign a 10 year agreement with ukraine in the last two months. he said the netherlands will help fund the supply of 800 thousand artillery shells — something ukraine is critically short of as it battles russian troops in the east. the shells could help plug a hole in ukrainian stockpiles while us military assistance remains stuck in congress amid continuing republican opposition. the promises of aid from europe follow the recent two—year anniversary of moscow's

full—scale invasion of ukraine. i spoke about all of this with ambassador mark green, the ceo and president of the wilson center, and former administrator of usaid. making some progress on the front lines you just returned from a visit to ukraine in speaking with people, how concerned are you about the lack of progress in the state of the conflict right now? first off, i am incredibly impressed with the resilience of ukrainian people and what they were saying over and over and they kept on saying, tell americans that we are tired but not exhausted. they understand this is a battle for their very survival and despite the tough odds they face, russia's one of the largest armies

in the world, they incredibly resilient and therefore finding ways to rebuild as things go on and on the other hand, they clearly need our help. i am confident in the effectiveness of ukrainian military and ukrainian government but they're running out of supplies and they need help to really take care and push back, so, it is a long conflict. and you are a former congressman and you're confident in ukraine and how confident are you in us lawmakers to pass the bill to deliver more military aid to ukraine? what did winston churchill used to say? "america does the right thing after it's done "everything else." and i think at the end of the day, we will come forward and help out but again, times passing and ukrainians really do need our help. they have done enormously well against these difficult odds but we are seeing brutal tactics from vladimir putin

and the kremlin and clearly, ukrainians are being tested. ceo and president of the wilson centre and a former administrator of us aid, thank you very much. voters headed to the polls friday in iran's elections for a new parliament and the assembly of experts — which selects the country's supreme leader. it's the first test of iranian public opinion since people joined protests against the islamic government in response to the death of mahsa amini while in custody of iran's morality police in 2022. the government extended voting time, but the turnout is still expected to be low. a news agency controlled by iran's revolutionary guard estimates turnout in friday's parliamentary elections at more than forty percent. iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei urged citizens to vote. authorities have labelled the country part of the "axis of resistance" against what they see as us and israeli influence in the region, framing this election as a way to strengthen iran.

the bbc had not been allowed to report from iran for five years — but now our correspondent caroline davies was given rare permission. the marks, made. the polls are closed, but the question is how many voted. at a central tehran polling station, a celebratory mood. this is one of the polling stations where both foreign and local media are directed to come, which means that for some, it's also a place that they come to if they want to be seen to be voting. a newly married couple, former ministers and families like mr rohani's, out to cast their votes here. translation: those who don't vote are cutting themselves off| from their own fate. they are saying "we don't want to decide the future of our country". for me, it's not the right choice. early polling suggested

that this could be a record low turnout across iran, but officials are optimistic. translation: the presence of people today proves that l all the threats to the country and all the negative propaganda of the foreign media has failed. still, people have come out. iran has suggested that failing to vote risks undermining the country's security, but some have other reasons not to. shoppers were nervous to speak to foreign media today. one woman agreed, but anonymously. translation: the | economy is very bad. everything has gone very expensive and the salary we get is very low. even if i vote or not vote, my demands are not solvable. some analysts think a lost turnout means lost faith. low turnout means dissatisfaction —

dissatisfaction on cultural issues, on political issues, on economic issues. i feel that people have lost their interest in politics in general, and this low turnout will be another sign of that too. final turnout is pending. today's ballot comes at a sensitive time for iran abroad, as the authorities are counting their popularity at home. caroline davies, bbc news, tehran. a presidential election campaign is also underway in mexico. the country is likely to elect, its first everfemale president, with opinion polls showing former mexico city mayor claudia sheinbaum as an early favorite. she's polling about 20 to 30 points ahead of her main challenger xochitl galvez. sheinbaum is a 61—year—old scientist who is a close ally of mexico's current president andres manuel lopez 0brador. when mexican voters cast ballots onjune 2, they'll also vote for lawmakers in both

chambers of congress, eight governorships, the mayor of mexico city, and thousands of other local officials. as mexico gears up for the election, i spoke with our correspondent will grant. the big headline here is no matter what the outcome is we are expecting the country to announce its own female leader —— first female leader. that -- first female leader. that would be — -- first female leader. that would be interesting - -- first female leader. that would be interesting in - —— first female leader. twat would be interesting in mexico at any stage. the idea of the countries first woman president but when you're talking about a country that is been steeped in machismo for so long it is such an important step forward in these at this event certainly feel that and standing at the event, she was the mayor of mexico city and she is the chosen candidate and preferred candidate of the incumbent andres manuel lopez 0brador.

very far ahead and she is looking like she already has a 30% lead over her nearest competitor who is launching her campaign in one of the states where drug violence is at its worst and i will be one of the many issues and of course, it is the economy when we talk about mexico and inclined for important roles in plant too. mexico has struggled with organised crime and violence for a few years now. are the candidates and the parties proposing to tackle that? 1milli proposing to tackle that? will claudia proposing to tackle that? ii. claudia sheinbaum pardo's plan is an extension of the social policies and economic policies of the incumbent, andres manuel lopez 0brador. she knows that will echo very well with these

people who have turned out here. his strategy has been broadly criticised by many as being too soft and will be interesting to see in the coming weeks, she is proposing something more solid, something more direct and her competitor is proposing a mega prison and improved conditions for members of services but we will see. very hard to knock claudia sheinbaum pardo off the pedestal she has made supported by so many who are supporters of andres manuel lopez 0brador. thank you very much. let's turn to some important news around the world. a former paramedic in the us state of colorado has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the killing of elijah mcclain after he was stopped by police in 2019.

peter cichuniec is one of two medical workers convicted of criminally negligent homicide. they injected mcclain with a high dose of ketamine as police officers held him down. two police officers have been convicted of criminally negligent homicide. kenya and haiti have reached an agreement to deploy around 1,000 kenyan police officers to tackle gang violence in the carribean nation. haiti's prime minister ariel henry signed the deal with kenyan president william ruto on friday. injanuary, kenya's high court ruled the country could only send a security force to haiti via a formal bilateral deal. the two largest us pharmacy chains will begin selling the prescription abortion pill, mifepristone, this month. cvs and walgreens will start distribution in a handful of states where abortion is legal. it follows a decision by the us food and drug administration last year allowing pharmacies to sell the drug. mifepristone has been legal in the us since 2000, but was previously only accessible through clinics and hospitals. and before we go, we have some hair—raising footage

from the us state of kentucky — where a truck was left dangling dramatically over the edge of the clark memorial bridge after it crashed through a barrier. firefighters confirmed the driver was pulled from the truck using ropes and ladders, and was back safely on the bridge in about 115 minutes. it not yet clear how the incident happened. officials say the driver was unharmed. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. friday was the first day of meteorological spring — but it was also a day that winter refused to relinquish its grip. here in northern ireland, enniskillen, seeing a fresh fall of fairly chunky snow. there were also some snowfall over the peak district — this is the cat and fiddle road — road that goes between macclesfield and buxton — it's quite high up, but we had some problems reported

on that, as well. low pressure then has been across the uk, with this cold air mass in place. we've got lots of showers at the moment, particularly across england and wales, northern scotland, and this band of rain and hill snow across parts of the far north of england and southern scotland. now there is a chance of seeing a centimetre or two of snow across the cheviots, the north pennines, the southern uplands over the next hour or two, so it could get quite icy here. and also in the showers affecting the higher parts of wales — again, above 200 metres elevation, you might come across an odd centimetre or two of snow across the high ground here. temperatures getting close, if not below freezing in a few areas, so there will be a risk of a few icy patches heading into the first part of saturday morning. then we've got this clump of more organised showers working across wales in the midlands — well, they could have a bit of sleet or snow mixed in, probably struggling to settle, and quite a few of those showers will still have just cold rain. it is a day where showers will be really widespread on saturday, some of them

with hail and thunder. and, although there'll be a bit of sunshine between the showers, those sunnier moments, probably quite short—lived. temperatures below average, about 6—9 celsius. now, the same area of low pressure stays with us through saturday night and into sunday. it will tend to drift northwards, tending to weaken somewhat. and so, of the two days of the weekend, sunday looks like it's likely to be the better, in terms of weather. should be a fair bit of dryer weather after a locally misty and foggy start to the day, a better chance of seeing some sunshine. there'll still be a few showers around, particularly for scotland and northern ireland, 1—2 for wales and western england, but bigger gaps between those showers and a bit more in the way of sunshine. it will continue to feel cool though, for the time of year. into next week, low pressures continue to move in off the atlantic from the west, but they're running into this area of high pressure that's centred over scandinavia. and so, we'll get something of an east—west split with the weather. for western areas, it stays quite cloudy with the threat of further outbreaks of rain. eastern areas tending to become drier, sunnier, and a bit milder, as well. that's the latest, bye for now.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour — which is straight after this programme.

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