live from washington. this is bbc news. preparations are under way for the first aid shipments by sea from cyprus carrying vital supplies for civilians on the brink of famine. pope on the brink of famine. francis calls on ukraine to pope francis calls on ukraine to show both the courage of the white flag and negotiate an end to the war in russia. we begin with the ongoing humanitarian crisis in gaza. a ship carrying much needed food and medical supplies preparing to set sail to gaza from cyprus, the closest eu nation to gaza.

the spanish vessel hope to use a new shipping route to arrive the next few days but where it will arrive is still up in the air. no functioning point in gaza so it is unclear where that boat will dock. the ship called the open arms will set off. the real challenge will come as we get closer to gaza. my take as long as two, three days for them to make 210 nautical miles from here in cyprus to gaza. when we get there, arriving at a territory that has no function important. they have to upload that aid and in the north of gaza, distributing aid, the most badly affected and desperately in need part of gaza. distributing aid is extremely difficult. all law

daughter has broken down, chaos on the ground. they will have to manage that as well. that will be a great success if they manage to open this first maritime aid corridor. however, there are others who said maritime aid totals and air jobs where western governments are a sign of western failure because the west has been asking israel for months to send more trucks by land into gaza at the two crossing points in the south of gaza. that is the quickest and most effective way of getting aid into gaza but still, israel refuses to budge. 100 also trucks a day before he wore it was 220. they have been asking for months and still israel has not been listening the situation in gaza tonight is desperate. people are going to sleep hungry. when they wake in the morning in the north, they are scavenging for

food. now having to make great from animal feed and we have been hearing children and the elderly beginnings to die from our nutrition. adults are losing hairand our nutrition. adults are losing hair and teeth because they are not getting enough through. gaza really is on the brink. the un says famine is almost inevitable. as the aid ship departs from spain, another bottle left the us carried equipment to build temporary floating peers used to unload humanitarian supplies. attempts to get more aid into gaza are progressing, talks of a ceasefire or not. the head of the us intelligence service accusing hamas a hardening is positioned in ceasefire talks. saying there were plenty is good intentions during ramadan. hamas has blamed israel for a lack of progress in ceasefire negotiations that are expected to continue. in the us, presidentjoe biden said

earlier that israel would be crossing a red ever goes through with its anticipated invasion of southern gaza city. he also said he would never stop defending israel stopped the comments come days after his fiery state of the union speech which i discussed with former defence force spokesman jonathan conricus. i want to start with some of the remarks made by president joe biden in the state of the union address where he talks about the situation in gaza. take a listen. to the leadership of israel i say this, humanitarian assistance cannot be secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. protecting and saving innocent lives has to be priority. as we look to the future, the only real solution to the situation is a two state solution over time. a lot in there and we heard the president essentially warning israel against using aid as a bargaining chip. what is your response to what he said?

there were many positive things from my perspective said by the president and regarding that specific statement, it is very much correct that humanitarian aid should not and is not used as bargaining. the only people bargaining humanitarian matters are hamas that are keeping israelis hostage for more than 154 days. they are the ones on the humanitarian front are the cruel, the heartless and terrorists. we will have to look forward. there are lots of people in gaza that are probably not affiliated with hamas and should get humanitarian assistance. it would have been great if these people would have been taken care of by the un facilities in gaza and provided their needs. that was a decision unrwa decided four months ago not to do.

and we see the consequences... we spoke with many leaders of humanitarian and aid organisations and what they have been telling the bbc is they simply cannot continue with those humanitarian missions and are not able to access areas or get supplies in and say it is simply too dangerous. the security situation does not allow them to do that. is israel doing enough to provide the conditions in order to actually deliver aid safely to the civilians that need it? definitely yes. i think israel is doing far beyond what any military fighting in combat is doing, while there was a clear and imminent threat to israeli civilians and still hostages held in gaza, israel is transferring humanitarian aid into the very same combat zone. i would like to say unrwa is a complete and utter failure of their mandates. they failed the palestinians,

failed their charter, failed the values of the un and failed their humanitarian mission and they arejust nothing more but a front for hamas, doing, hamas�*s dirty work and enabling the continued rule of hamas over the gaza strip. another part of that address. how much support is there and is for a two state solution? between slim and none in the current situation because in israel looking at the palestinians in a general sense and asking who represents the palestinians and what are the main politics that represent palestinian sentiment? according to polls, done palestinian territories, hamas if elections were held today after october seven wins a

landslide victory by 86% in pa areas and 70% in gaza. the question that begs and spring is i agree there should be a two state solution but with whom? hamas? according to the palestinians, hamas would be the representatives of the palestinian people and i don't think that is a plausible situation at all, just as it would not be possible to negotiate a two state solution with isis or al-qaeda. this is the same type of people and organisations, same type of religious extremism and talking with them, negotiating with them and rewarding them a price for the atrocities of october sevenis for the atrocities of october seven is not anything realistic and is not going to happen as long as these are the sentiments of the palestinians, don't think that is a plausible situation. israelis want peace.

whiteman politicians have extended peace plans and have sadly been rejected. i think they will continue to historical peace. i want to ask you about the ceasefire negotiations that have been going on. i'm sure you have been paying close attention. it seems like they have broken down and we're not long way from the start of ramadan. how optimistic are you? there have been calls to try to get a multi—day ceasefire in before the holy month. how optimistic are you that would happen? i think hamas�*s plan is working out quite nicely and getting support and use of the international community and the us very cleverly. i think their plan all along was to bide time, spend time until the month of ramadan comes along. banking on or hoping israel would not do major combat operations during that month in fear of additional escalation in other parts of the middle east and religious extremism

bubbling over into general violence in the area. sadly that plan appears the appaears to be working, according to indications i have. hamas never wanted to release hostages. a real hostage deal was not in the works. they were playing for time in order to get close to ramadan and i think they were hoping hamas wiggle way out of the fighting and claim victory by existing and having some long—term unofficial ceasefire. i hope that does not happen. i hope israel stays true to its mission, that is to defend israeli civilians and get the hostages home and defeat the threat and menace of hamas from gaza. jonathan conricus, former spokesperson for the israeli defence forces, thank you for your time. thank you for having me.

has been under the mass kidnapping in nigeria. the food injust over a week. kidnapping in nigeria. the food in just over a week. armed kidnapping in nigeria. the food injust over a week. armed men 15 students from the school in the early hours of saturday. four women also taken. already a major search on for almost 300 students abducted by armed men on thursday. from the north—west town. the biggest mass and action from school since 2021. about 200 people were abducted on a 29 february. more than a700 people have been kidnapped since the president came into power in may, that is according to one consultancy group. 0ur correspondent has more on the latest kidnapping. we do not know very much, all we know is it happened early this morning in the north—west of nigeria. local members of the community told the bbc that government

came to the town, shooting into the air and they took a number of women and as they were fleeing, they saw some students running into their dormitories and decided to abduct them as well. this is coming at a time of heightened tensions in the region, a search operation is under way to recover these almost 300 students that were taken from their school on thursday. the military, the police and local hunters are combing the village in the region trying to recover the students. spoke to the director of global rights, correct focus of security in nigeria.

what more do we know at this point about the fate of these children and who might be responsible for these deductions? i think that it's the numbers that alarms everyone at this point in time, but the kidnappings go on every day in nigeria, it's become a regular crime in nigeria and that's very disturbing. just last week we had more than 400 people kidnapped in the northeast, idp�*s kidnapped by terrorists. there are lots of terrorist groups ravaging the north of nigeria come from the northwest to the north—east, and these kidnapped have gone on for a long time. the children that were kidnapped were elementary school and high school children in kaduna state. it is a christian community in a very, very divided state where the lines are divided between muslims and christians and so it's really troubling phenomenon that's going on there.

why students? why are the kidnappers going after young people? are they trying to get a ransom or making a political statement, is this about terror, what is behind this? because we don't know them, we don't know their reasoning. but then i think that the very easy ones that we can think about first of all is that it's easier to kidnap school children because they are together, they are a mass group, they're constantly together, they are in unprotected spaces in school, all of the time, that makes them very easy targets. if you remember the chibok girls, we have many kidnapped in nigeria in the past ten yea rs.

the other is that because they are children, parents are more panicked and parents will be more willing to pay ransoms. also because they are children, government is more pressured to act because they are a vulnerable group. the third reason why i think students, they consider kidnappings students because they can kidnap them en masse and make more money. you mention money, this is almost becoming more of a business in nigeria, isn't it? it is an industry in nigeria, unfortunately the government is doing very little to fix it. there are many victims we have spoken to. they have gone to the police who sometimes would advise them to pay the ransoms. now for the children kidnapped in kaduna state, it's interesting that even the government is talking about a negotiator and when the government begins to

talk about a negotiator, most of the time we're talking about money exchanging hands or rather money being exchanged in return for the children. and that continues to be a very, very troublesome trend that has gone on in nigeria, so for the non—mass could not cases, you hear the stories where people have to pay ransoms. we only have a few seconds left, but it's almost been ten years to the day since the 300 girls kidnapped from that school in chibok, is there any hope ten years after this incident, that drew worldwide attention. we had a lot of initiatives and a lot of funding went into that and it felt like a lot of money went into black holes. now, it spread from chibok as you've seen,

to kaduna, in nigeria state across the country where you are having more mass kidnaps, other states as well. it's all over the country now. a dimension that is absolutely scary, it's a nightmare. executive director of global rights, thank you so much for your perspective. thank you for having me. pope francis said that ukraine should have the courage of a waiflike negotiate and enter the war with russia. that follows the russian invasion that has killed tens of thousands of people. the pope made the comments in an interview recorded last month with a swiss broadcaster well before friday's latest offer by the turkish president to host a summit between ukraine and russia to end the war. translation: the word negotiate is a courageous word _ and when you see you are defeated and when things are not going well,

you have to have the courage to negotiate. one may feel shame but how many dead will the war end up with? one should negotiate in time and find a country that can be a mediator. let's ta ke let's take a look at some other stories making hazards. joint force from the us, uk and france have shot down dozens of drones suspected by houthi. the us commence at the attack blamed on the rabbi group of merchant vessels and coalition warships. the houthis see the targeted the american chef and a number of warships and the group says it is targeting the ships of israel and its allies in solidarity with gaza. princess diana's younger brother has said he was sexually abused as a child and says he was targeted by a female member of staff at his boarding school in northampton. now 59, he alleges the abuse began when he was 11 years old.

this was that it was sobering to learn of his experiences. sunday is oscars night here in the us and the holocaust every film the zone of interest may make history by becoming the first uk production to win the best international feature at the academy awards in los angeles. the authorities were the film was set recently held a special screening of the former concentration camp for the premier of the movie because it was attended by a reporter. the 0scar nominated british film the zone of interest has become one of the most talked about movies of recent times. it has the feel of experimental cinema, an anthropological study of a man responsible for mass extermination, rudolf hertz, the commandant of the auschwitz concentration camp. it observes him, his family and their domestic routines. the film's dialogue is in german.

british film—maker jonathan glazer has won a slew of awards for the zone of interest since he unveiled his picture at the cannes film festival. now, it's a big contender in the oscars race with five nominations. so this is auschwitz. it's. ..unsettling. i've come to auschwitz to join the film—making team for a unique event, a screening of the film at the former concentration camp marking its official polish premiere. it's glazer's first film in ten years. a labour of love. he wanted authenticity. he wanted to shoot it here. i felt that the film had to be about this place and the importance of this place and the, you know, i felt that very, very strongly to begin with. but what really sets the director's

film apart from standard holocaust movies is its point of view. the focus is not on those who suffered at auschwitz, but on the perpetrators. chief among them, rudolf hertz, the nazi commandant of the camp who lived with his family, a seemingly blissful life in a house adjacent to a concentration camp where more than a million people were being murdered. among the films�* five 0scar nominations is won for its british sound designers. their craftsmanship really haunted me. when you hear the noises of hertz�*s children playing joyfully in the garden just back here, combined with the suffering coming out of these buildings, people in pain, gunfire, the juxtaposition of these sounds, it's truly horrifying. but the director of the auschwitz—birkenau state museum, the zone of interest is a tool that can further

understanding and help the horrors of the nazi era from being repeated. the role of this film, i think, is to to ask ourselves about what we are doing today, now, in order to to make our world more safe and more better. more than anything else, the zone of interest is a triumph of cinema. there's an unblinking coldness to its observations that makes you acknowledge, rather frighteningly, that the perpetrators of the violence here in auschwitz weren't in certain key respects that different from you or me. that is the power of the film, and it's a picture that stimulates debate. it makes us ponder what could happen if, like the heartz family, we compartmentalise our lives and blissfully disconnect how then real horrors may flourish in our midst. tom brook, bbc news, auschwitz. we will have special coverage

tomorrow night of the academy awards bringing you the results and the best looks from the red carpet as well. you may remember britain's famous sycamore gap tree, the 300—year—old tree that drew international attention after it was chopped down last year. now express has successfully greenleigh first seedlings from it. at a top—secret location in devon, a site of biosecurity where the national trust is protecting the legacy of the nation's most famous trees. i've been invited to witness history, hope for the future of the sycamore gap tree. a lot of people might think, "well, "it's just a sycamore", you know, a sycamore, but it is a really important sycamore. the sycamore gap tree in its prime. but last september, it was chopped down. everyone seems to have a story about how they connect to the tree. some people, literally, have

been proposed to underneath it. other people just saw it as a way marker on theirjourney. and yet there are signs of life. in a race against time, the national trust managed to rescue seeds from the felled tree. and now they're growing. within this mini greenhouse, within this secret greenhouse, is a tiny little seedling. and this was the first of the sycamore gap�*s seeds to pop up. and the team here say when they saw this growing, they knew there was hope. but raising seedlings isn't the only way the tree's legacy can be preserved. there is also another method called grafting, using living twigs. and nine of the 20 grafts are now showing signs of life. i think there's a great deal of relief. it is a race against time because, obviously, once you cut a tree down, it's physically dying straightaway.

you know, there's a lot of pressure on us to actually get them growing. luckily we did. the grafting of the sycamore gap materials would have looked something like this. this method means that we've actually used the original material from that tree, so we've got a genetic clone. so, basically, the sycamore gap can live on? yeah, it is the same tree. when they've grown up, the national trust says it'll be the community and the nation who decide where they're planted. for now, seeds of hope protecting the legacy of the sycamore gap tree forfuture generations. harriet bradshaw, bbc news, devon. that is all we have time for. plenty more news coming up at the top of the hour. stay with us right here on bbc news.

hello there. cloudy skies will remain a dominant feature with the weather story as we continue through the weekend. so mothering sunday, a rather grey start for many of us and there will be more in the way of rain around at times. now it really is quite a messy story, but we're still under this influence of low pressure, despite itjust sinking a little bit further south towards northern spain. the isobars open up, lighter winds across central and southern england. but this trailing weather front will introduce cloud and showery bits and pieces of rain. a relatively bright start across wales and south—west england. but the rain will tend to drift its way westwards as we go through the afternoon. so sunny spells and a few scattered showers, potentially, across cornwall, devon and parts of south wales. a line of more persistent rain moving its way slowly eastwards, cloudier skies remaining behind. quite a lot of clouds to the east of the pennines, some showery

outbreaks of rain moving into northern ireland and always along that east coast. it will stay cloudy, cool, breezy and wet at times. so that could have an impact once again on the feel of the weather — 6—8 degrees here. but further west where we may well see the best of the brightness, 11—12 celsius. now, as we move out of sunday into monday, that low pressure is going to drift its way over into central europe. the trailing weather front still producing quite a lot of cloud and a few bits and pieces of showery rain across parts of london and towards kent first thing on monday morning. so monday, again, a grey start. we've got this easterly feed continuing to push in cloud and maybe some outbreaks of light drizzle along exposed east coasts. so sheltered western areas potentially seeing the best of any brighter weather. and that's where we'll see the best of the warmth. 10—11 degrees, always cooler on those exposed coasts where the cloud and the drizzle may remain all day. now, as we move through

the middle part of the week, there is another weather front. but on the whole, a quieter story until we get to the end of the week where we could see weather fronts starting to push in from the west, but the wind direction will change to more of a southwesterly and we will tend to see it turning a little milder. so it is going to stay pretty messy throughout the week, a greater chance of seeing more persistent rain by the end of the working week, butjust that little bit milder.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. a police inquiry that has taken seven years at a cost of £40 million is lifting the curtain on the secret intelligence war between the british state and the ira. it was a dirty war, peter, as you know. it was a dirty, dirty war. the investigation, known as 0peration kenova, examined the role of agents and informers in the northern ireland conflict, epitomised by the notorious british spy within the ira, codenamed sta keknife.