hello, i'm samantha simmonds. we begin with the conflict in gaza where the us military has carried out it's first air—drop of food aid amid a growing humanitarian crisis in the territory following months of war. thousands of meals have been parachuted in by three military planes. it follows a pledge on friday by president biden to do so. us vice president kamala harris will meet with israeli war cabinet member benny gantz at the white house on monday as washington seeks to reach a deal for a temporary ceasefire and increase the flow of aid to gaza. a us official said today the framework for a deal that would establish a six—week ceasefire in gaza is in place with israel's agreement and depends on hamas agreeing to release hostages. but the violence continues. at least 13 palestinians, including a medic, are reported

to have been killed by an israeli air strike near a hospital in rafah. the idf said it had carried out a precision strike in the area of the hospital that targeted militants from the islamichhad group. and a united nations team visiting gaza's biggest hospital has found that many palestinans who were injured as lorries were delivering aid on thursday, were wounded by gunshots. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams has the latest. how were so many people injured? were they shot or crushed in a desperate stampede at gaza's shifa hospital? the un says there's evidence of both. this hospital is treating more than 200 people that were injured. and we have seen people with gunshot wounds, we have seen amputees and we have seen children as young as 12. jihad is haunted by what he saw when the convoy arrived on thursday morning.

"were the soldiers firing deliberately?" he's asked. "yes. with tanks, soldiers, aircraft." why the shooting started is still not clear. israel says troops felt threatened — how, these pictures do not show. tanks were present. there's no evidence of aircraft being involved. the un finally reached gaza city yesterday, taking badly—needed fuel and medicine to shifa hospital, demanding israel do more to open up the north. today, the first air drops by american planes, 35,000 meals. but these are desperate measures. air drops, no substitute for proper relief. no matter where we go into north gaza from, or indeed all of the gaza strip — it could be from air, land, sea. it doesn't matter as long as there's enough aid to help the more than two million people here. israel's closest allies are now

sounding increasingly openly frustrated. aid flowing to gaza is nowhere nearly enough. now, it's nowhere nearly enough. the president wants a ceasefire, but in rafah this morning, dreadful scenes outside a maternity hospital. some images too shocking to broadcast. gaza's health ministry said this was an airstrike. the israeli military yet to comment. but is a ceasefire deal getting close? as the families and friends of israeli hostages march onjerusalem, this talk of a fresh round of negotiations in cairo tomorrow. paul adams, bbc news, jerusalem. earlier i talked to our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, who is in jerusalem. he told us more on the us vice president's upcoming meeting with israeli war cabinet member benny gantz. well, it's not quite the same as meeting president biden, obviously, but i think it is being suggested here that prime minister benjamin netanyahu is not terribly happy. he thinks there's only one prime minister.

and i think he probably is a little concerned that benny gantz — who could well be a political rival in the not too distant future — is going to the white house for talks with the american administration. mr netanyahu, by the way, we're told, has a case of the flu and won't be chairing tomorrow evening's meeting of the security cabinet. but whether these political, internal political shenanigans result in some kind of challenge to mr netanyahu? well, i think that's probably a story for another day. yeah. we're also hearing from a us official in the past hour or so saying that a framework for a deal that would establish a six—week cease fire in gaza is in place, they said, with israel's agreement. and they say it now depends on hamas agreeing to conditions. what do you understand could be perhaps coming into play right now? well, you would think that the omens are not exactly great for the conclusion of a cease fire deal with all of the horrors

that we have seen in gaza this week. and yet maybe it is helping the process to move along. clearly, the united states is extremely frustrated at the fact that the worsening humanitarian situation in gaza directly led to what we saw on the edge of gaza city in the early hours of thursday morning. and it really, really wants to avoid that happening again. and there's a realisation, a strong growing realisation that the only way to avoid it happening again is to flood the gaza strip with aid. and the only way that's possible is if there's a cease fire. no other change in the circumstances on the ground could possibly result in an effective aid operation that would relieve the suffering of 2.2 million palestinians. there has to be a ceasefire. and so i think we are seeing pressure coming from washington on the israeli government

to conclude that deal soon before the beginning of ramadan, in a week's time. and of course, pressure on on hamas, too, to abide by the terms of the deal. there are an awful lot of moving parts to this negotiation in terms of how many hostages will be released for how many palestinian prisoners. will israeli troops move out of population centers? will the people of gaza, the northern part of the gaza strip, be able to return to their homes? all of these things are in play. all of these things have to be addressed before a deal is in place. but it does seem tonight as if perhaps, just perhaps, we're moving in that direction. paul, as you reported on the us military carrying out their first airdrop of aid into gaza on saturday today. other countries have done that, including jordan and france. what do you make of the fact the us have done this now? will there be more? will it make a difference?

well, no, it won't make a difference. 36,000 meals to go round, 2.2 million people. you know, it's not going to get you very far. i think it is, as i said in my report, a desperate measure, a sign that the that frankly, countries are grasping at any mechanisms they can find to make even the smallest bit of difference. and it perhaps sends a political message, too, which is that here is israel's closest ally reduced to dropping aid from the air when it can't be brought in by land. that is a powerful message and not a positive one at all. but i think it is symptomatic of the growing frustration that exists now about the inability to get aid to the people who need it so badly. the head of the world health

organisation has described as unspeakable an israeli air strike in southern gaza that killed at least 11 people, including two health workers. tedros adhanom ghebreyesus said health workers and civilians were not a target, and must be protected at all times. the airstrike took place in the city of rafah, in an area where displaced palestinians have been taking shelter. the lsraeli military said it had carried out what it called a precision strike that targeted militants from islamichhad. 0ur washington correspondent will vernon told us more on the progress made regarding a ceasefire deal. well, we've been hearing from a us administration official who was speaking to journalists a little earlier, and this official said, referring to that potential ceasefire deal, that there is a deal on the table, a framework deal, this official said the israelis have more or less accepted it. but he also said the talks are ongoing and a deal is not done until it is actually done, and this official did not want to create

expectations one way or the other, but the us is doing everything they possibly can. now, president biden, several days ago, said he expected a deal to be in place, a ceasefire deal, by monday. it appears that has now slipped. yesterday during a meeting with the italian prime minister, giorgia meloni, mr biden said he did not think it would happen by monday. but again, the us was working very hard to agree that deal. now, this potential agreement is something that the us secretary of state, antony blinken, several other us officials, have been working on for many weeks now. they have been like kind of diplomatic ping—pong balls bouncing around various capitals, capital cities in the middle east, europe, trying to negotiate this deal. and what it would entail would be potentially a six—week pause in fighting, the release of dozens of hostages held in gaza, some of whom are of course us citizens, and also crucially more access for international aid.

and talking of aid, the us have carried out their first airdrop into gaza since this conflict began nearly five months ago, haven't they? what is the analysis there of what difference that could make and the timing of this? well, that is right, the us military earlier said this would not be the last airdrop, that there will be more, this will be an ongoing effort, so i think we should expect more of these. the white house says this mission is supported by the israelis, the israelis are aware of it. now, i think by announcing this airdrop... remember air drops, as my colleague, paul adams, was saying there, this is an incredibly inefficient and complex way of delivering humanitarian relief. sending aid via road and trucks makes much more sense, so i think, you know, the fact that the us have opted for this method says two things. one, that washington considers the humanitarian

situation in gaza to be dire, to be incredibly serious, and the other thing is that the us wants to send a message, wants to put pressure on israel to allow more aid in by road, by trucks. and this is something again president biden said yesterday during that meeting, he said that at the moment only a handful of trucks with humanitarian aid are getting into gaza, whereas really what's necessary, the necessary number, is more like hundreds. will burn there. some news about the attacks that have been taking place on shipping vessels off the coast of yemen. the uk maritime trade agency says there's been an attack 15 nautical miles west of the yemeni port of mokha. the crew of the vessel has been evacuated. separately, the cargo ship rubymar, which was abandoned in the red sea after being targeted by houthi rebels, has now sunk — that's according to the yemeni government. here, the government is expected

to lay out measures in the coming weeks to tackle what it sees as rising extremism in the uk. it follows as uk prime minister rishi sunak warned that britain's democracy is under threat from islamist extremists and the far right. in an address outside downing street, he said the government and country must face down the extremists. mr sunak�*s unexpected intervention follows the by—election victory of the controversial far left politician george galloway. london's mayor, sadiq khan, has also been speaking about the politics of division after the former tory deputy chairman lee anderson said he was under the control of islamists. take a listen. it's important to say a few words about the level of debate in public life. what we're witnessing is a concerted and growing attempt by some to degrade and humiliate minorities for political and electoral gain.

and remember — we've been here before. we've been here before in 2016, when the tories waged a disgraceful, disgraceful campaign against me and against us. we cannot let them try to do it again. as the poison of anti—semitism and the poison of islamophobia continues to infect our politics, now — more than ever — we need to display our best values rather than our worst fears. just bring you some breaking news now coming into was from the united states. former president donald trump has won the michelin republican caucuses according to the state vote total. he is talking, he has been doing an event, hosting an eventin has been doing an event, hosting an event in which you can. but this news has just event in which you can. but this news hasjust broken. broken while

we were expecting this. he has easily won the republican caucuses in michelin where the party has been moved by infighting that some republicans fear could hurt his campaign in the key battleground state as he gears up for election in november. he trounced nikki haley, his last remaining rival, for the republican presidential nomination moving him closer to becoming his party's white house standard—bearer and a likely general election rematch with presidentjoe biden in november. well, that wasjust rematch with presidentjoe biden in november. well, that was just into us from the reuters news agency there. germany's chancellor says his government is intensively investigating an apparent intercept of military officers discussing details about the conflict in ukraine. 0laf scholz, who's been meeting with the pope at the vatican, called it a very serious matter. it follows the publication in russia of what's purported to be a confidential conversation between german officers.

i asked dr thomas withington who is an analyst and writer specialising in electronic warfare, to share his opinion on the claims made by the kremlin. interesting, isn't it? i mean, i read the transcript this afternoon, and i must say that going through it, i didn't find anything in that that was staggeringly revelatory. i think it would be fair to say it was a discussion. i think assuming it is true and it is indeed an intercept that russia's performed, a very sober discussion regarding the challenges of supplying these weapons, many of which have been already been discussed in the public domain. so i think there was nothing terribly, as i say, revelatory about it. i think the interesting thing is if russia has the capability to regularly intercept german military communications and strategic communications like this, i mean, why leak something relatively anodyne? that's something a question that i have, and it's very difficult

to answer that. it's russian, from a russian source. we can't discount the fact that it could be nonsense. that perhaps some of it is correct. the rest has been embellished. it's very, very hard to say. that being said, the fact that the germans have launched an investigation, as you mentioned just now, that would seem to indicate that there is some concern about this. and that may be a tacit admission that this is indeed the transcript of a conversation which did indeed take place. yeah, if it is an intercept, how easy or difficult would it be for the russians to have gone about achieving that? well, logically, it should be quite difficult because any conversations, communications like this should be encrypted and secure. now, this then begs another question and. which is, was this conversation assuming it is true? was it deliberately left unencrypted

sometimes in the cloak and dagger world of intelligence, something that you do is you deliberately put something out there. is this, assuming that's the case, an attempt to say, look, due diligence is going on, there is a proper discussion regarding supplying these weapons to ukraine and the german government is taking this extremely seriously and going through the right protocols. so that's another, if you like, a sort of donald rumsfeld style known—unknown. but it does raise questions as to if this was supposed to be a confidential conversation, then clearly that raises questions regarding the security of these communications and whether the right protocols and encryption and everything else is being used as it should be. yeah, i suppose when a country is at war, or perhaps even when it isn't, would you assume always that your enemies are trying to spy on these kind of confidential conversations? yes, there is. that's a very good point. i mean, there is that sort of zero trust idea, isn't there, that you should always assume that

any communications you're making are being listened to, that the enemy is getting intel or can potentially get intelligence from that. but obviously, at some point you are going to have to discuss things confidentially and possibly with an even higher level of classification like that. so in a sense, it is unavoidable using the electronic means of communications we all use every day to have very important and potentially very secret discussions. but it does focus the spotlight on levels of security. this isn't the first time we've had and we've seen other cases where communications which should have been secure, should have been encrypted, haven't been. and that's caused some embarrassment. now it's time for a look at today's sport. hi, samantha. it might be a new formula one season, but it's a familar old story... max verstappen has won the bahrain grand prix in dominant style. the reigning world champion started from pole and held off a brief challenge at the start from ferrari's charles leclerc, eventually cruising to victory ahead of his red bull team—mate

sergio perez and carlos sainz in third. leclerc fourth, ahead of george russell's mercedez. verstappen has now won the last eight formula one races, dating back to last season. next, to late drama in the english premier league. it looked as though they were heading for a 0—0 draw but — a 99th minute winner has ensured liverpool will stay top of the table this weekend. darwin nunez the hero — coming off the bench to score deep in added time at nottingham forest to secure all three points to the relief of manager jurgen klopp and the travelling liverpool fans. they are now four points clear of city who play the manchester derby on sunday. to get through with the points tally was, for us, a big fight. it never was easy, it never came easy to us. you could be 2—0 up after 20 minutes and we have not had that for a while.

it's really tough. we don't wave the white flag. we will fight, we will keep fighting and let's see. late goals at tottenham too — ange postecoglou's side coming from behind to beat crystal palace in north london. son heung min capped off the 3—1 win. christian romero and timo werner with the other goals for spurs. elsewhere in the late game, luton town were denied a point as aston villa scored a winner — a minute from time. 3—2 it finished. chelsea came from behind to draw 2—all at brentford fulham were convincing 3—3 winners over brighton.. 3—0 was also the score at st james�*s park — newcastle beating wolves, their first home win in the premier league since mid—december and west ham scored twice in stoppage time to beat everton 3—1.

real madrid can extend their lead at the top of la liga in spain when they take on valencia. england midfielderjude bellingham has started started the match. it's currently 0—0. england midfielderjude bellingham has started started the match. he'd missed the last three games. his side could go nine points clear, before second placed girona play on sunday. three other matches to tell you about in the spanish top flight. sevilla got a much needed win over real sociedad — they won 3—2 — and climb to 14th. rayo vallecano and cadiz drew i—i. getafe 0—0 las palmas. —— free— free. the reigning olympic and world long jump champion miltiadis tentoglou has threatened to quit the discipline if the rules change to eliminate fouljumps. on saturday, tentoglou has added the world indoor title to his collection in glasgow. the amendment proposed by world athletics involves introducing a take—off zone, to make it more appealing to fans —

something the champion is against. i consider long jump to be one of the hardest events. because of the board and the accuracy you need, you know, you need to run like a sprinter, hit the board perfectly. this is the difficult part about long jump. the jump is easy. the jump itself is very easy. the hard part is the run—up. not many people see it, i guarantee you it is like that. so they want to remove this and after this the long jump will be, you know, the easiest event, anyone will be able to do long jump. so, my second comment is that if that happens, i will not do long jump any more. and you can keep across the latest from the world indoors over on the bbc sport website. i will have more for you later but that is all of the spot for now. the brit awards — one of the biggest nights in british music — is just about to start.

expect to see performances from dua lipa, raye, tate mcrae and kylie minogue — who is set to receive a brits global icon award at this year's ceremony. 0ur correspondent, mark savage, caught up with her on the red carpet and asked what audiences should expect from her perfromance. an amazing achievement, and an amazing career. we were listing your singles before you came on here, i don't know how you will choose which ones to play tonight. we did our best. let's see, i think we've got a good round—up in the time that we have to... i think it's... the emotional up that we have in the performance is what i'm hoping you'll feel. can't wait to see it. congratulations. see you later. yeah, take care, have a great night. sounds intriguing, doesn't it? singapore's culture minister has played down reports the city state paid a substantial sum to secure taylor swift's only live shows in southeast asia after a backlash from neighbouring countries. fans from all over asia have begun

pouring into singapore ahead of the six taylor swift concerts next week. many have expressed annoyance the american singer is only playing in the expensive city state. reports of a payment came to light after the thai prime minister accused singapore of negotiating a monopoly. now, it's always one of the most highly—anticipated moments of paris fashion week but victoria beckham's show has been disrupted by animal activists. members of the peta group stormed the catwalk to protest against the use of animal skins in the fashion industry. victoria beckham's brand doesn't use fur or exotic skins but peta says some designs use leather. it's called on the former spice girl to use more eco—friendly fabrics. beckham made a brief appearance at the end of the show using crutches, following a recent foot injury. a single killer whale off the coast of south africa has

been caught on camera, hunting and killing a great white shark. scientists say the behaviour showed the exceptional hunting skill of killer whales and demonstrates how adaptable they can be. but it also raises questions about how shark—eating orcas might affect the food chain in that part of the ocean. that is it from me for the moment. i am samantha simmonds, you are watching bbc news. hello. it's been quite a cold day, hasn't it? it's a lot of cloud, frequent showers. we had that snow earlier on across parts of england and wales, but the skies are starting to clear across some parts of the country. a touch of frost on the way, some fog, too, but showers never too far away in northern england and scotland. let's start with the air mass saturday evening — the blue colours indicating the relatively cold air over us and that will be in place in the short term. if we look at the satellite picture,

the recent snapshot here, these rugged, swirling cloud structures across england and wales. same in scotland, too — these are shower clouds. but in between these gaps in the clouds will become bigger through the course of this evening. but look at that, 9pm, two degrees in some spots in the midlands. still some wet weather around merseyside southern scotland. but notice this persistent rain moving into central and eastern scotland. a bit of snow across the mountains there. but to the south of that, those skies clearing and the temperatures early on sunday morning, even in some city centres as far south as the south coast of england, could be around freezing or below. so certainly a chilly start to sunday on the way. now, here's the weather map for sunday. weather fronts in the north sea and generally to the north of scotland. and there's another one coming our way, but we're sort of in between weather systems. that also implies it's going to be a slightly brighter day on sunday. remember, a chilly start, a frost in places, but a fog, too. and then through the day, generally bright or sunny skies,

i think out towards the south and the west, perhaps a bit more cloud around east anglia, the southeast, maybe the lincolnshire coastline with that weather front close by. but overall a brighter day for most of us. and as a result, it's going to feel a little bit, let's say, less cold. now into monday morning. another weather front moves into south western and western parts of the uk. so it moves across ireland here some some some rain strengthening winds too, but it tends to kind of stall out towards the west during the day. so that does mean that many central and eastern areas — certainly eastern scotland — should have a bright, if not sunny day, for example, around aberdeenshire. how about the outlook for the week ahead? a bit of a mixed bag, but the temperatures holding around double figures, i think, across most parts of the uk. that's it. bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... us military planes have begun dropping aid into gaza after president biden pledged to do so on friday. the un says many of the people injured in an aid convoy rush in gaza on thursday were wounded by gun shots. the idf has confirmed that it carried out a precision strike in rafah today, adding it targeted militants from the islamichhad group. and germany's chancellor

says his government is investigating an apparent russian intercept of military officers discussing details about the conflict in ukraine. now on bbc news, the travel show. winter in slovenia. whoa! that was close. and there's no better time of year to be hurtling downhill at speed. these are thejulian alps. they may not be quite as epic as their cousins in france or switzerland but, depending on what you're after, they can be just as much fun, and they're a lot cheaper. there is no doubt the cost of skiing can put some people off. but in slovenia, the attitude is very different.

many slovenians see the mountains as a place that should be