live from london. this is bbc news. a us army logistics ship carrying equipment to build a temporary floating port is heading to gaza, as part of plans to deliver humanitarian aid by sea. separately, a spanish charity says a ship carrying 200 tonnes of food for gaza is ready to set sailfrom cyprus. and as hunger stalks gaza, these are the latest pictures of an airdrop of aid over the besieged strip. the princess of wales thanks the public for their support as kensington palace shares the first official photo of her since she underwent abdominal surgery. and the biggest night on the entertainment calendar is finally upon us with the 2024 oscars. blockbuster 0ppenheimer is expected to dominate this year's awards.

hello i'm nicky schiller. we begin with the war in gaza, where a us military ship is currently sailing towards the middle east, carrying equipment to build a temporary pier off the coast of gaza. it comes after presidentjoe biden said the us would build the floating harbour to help get aid into gaza by sea. biden earlier criticised the isareli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's conduct of the war in gaza, saying it's doing israel more harm than good. anna foster is injerusalem and gave us this update. first of all, to the skies above gaza and these pictures that show the latest drop of aid that has been carried out by us central command and also by thejordanian air force as well. this is the latest air drop into gaza, which provided, they said, meals more than 11,500 meal equivalents. things like food, including rice, flour, pasta and canned food. we've seen these air drops really

starting to increase over gaza in the last two weeks or so, since the us air force also got involved. but of course it is still nowhere near to meeting the huge need for humanitarian aid in gaza right now. the amount that's actually getting in by road is far, far less than it was when the war began. and we're focusing as well today on new routes by sea, to actually try and bring aid in. this is something that the european commission, the european union, are involved in, this new corridor that they hope will be used for ships to come from cyprus to gaza and bring aid. similarly, the us is sending a ship to try and build a port, a temporary port, a pier, if you like, off gaza so ships can be unloaded. but there's still no detail of how those supplies, when they actually get to gaza, will be secured and will be distributed throughout the strip. so even as people look at the aid distribution, there are still various questions that have to be asked about how the aid will get

to people who, even now, months after this war started, find themselves in desperate need. there's little hope to be found amid the rubble in gaza. another night of israeli strikes has taken its toll. images like this travel around the world. across the atlantic, israel's main allies sees them too. the us presidentjoe biden said he still supported israel's right to defend itself but he cautioned the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu about the extent of the military operations he was sanctioning. he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. he's hurting, in my view,

he's hurting israel more than helping israel by making the rest of the world — it's contrary to what israel stands for and i think it's a big mistake. just two weeks ago, mr biden was optimistic a ceasefire deal could be in place by ramadan. but now, with just hours to go, there's no sign of an imminent breakthrough. that means other options to get aid into gaza at scale are still being sought, as the fighting continues. military airdrops above the strip deliver some food, but not enough. but that still won't meet the growing and desperate need. this mother can't find anything in gaza to help her child. translation: i feed my daughter with waterjust so she doesn't die. j water is not recommended and it's even forbidden for a baby of her age. in cyprus, an aid ship is ready to set sail, loaded with supplies. the charity behind it say they're confident they will be able to unload them when they arrive off gaza's beaches. in the longer term, a us ship that will build a temporary pier to do the job has set sail. but the project's completion date is still two months away. and while it's constructed, the pressure on israel to get more help to suffering civilians will continue. anna foster, bbc news, jerusalem.

well, there are still channels of communication open between israel and hamas via the qataris and the egyptians, but no sign as things stand of an imminent ceasefire deal to get humanitarian aid in. so the focus remains on those airdrops, on the small amount coming in by land and on these new sea corridors that could work from cyprus to gaza. and i spoke to our correspondent quentin somerville, who is in cyprus in larnaca. local media is reporting that it will leave some point this afternoon. apparently, they're waiting for final security clearances from israel, which, of course, supervises pretty much all of the aid that makes its way into gaza. the there's about 150—200 tonnes of aid on board and has everything from flour and rice to pre—prepared meals and water. it's quite a long journey — 210 nautical miles.

normally that journey from here in larnaca to gaza would take about 15 hours. but because it's pulling that big heavy barge, it might take longer. and the the organisations involved have said a number of times, the most difficult part of the journey will be the last mile. you just touched on that in your report, because landing in gaza will be very difficult. it doesn't have a functioning port. and of course, in parts of gaza, all law and order, all civil society really has broken down since israel's bombardment and ground invasion. and the need from the people in gaza is absolutely desperate. so there is always that danger that when this ship appeals on the horizon and gets closer to shore, that people will start making their way towards it, will enter the water. we've seen some pictures from world central kitchen, which is one of the charities involved, which seems to show a temporary pier being built inside gaza. there's heavy lifting equipment,

large boulders and rocks are being moved towards the foreshore to make way for the preparation for when this ship finally gets under way and starts thatjourney. that's our correspondent quentin somerville in larnaca, in cyprus, watching that aid ship, which is due to be the first one to use this new maritime corridor that's being set up. now, i did mention that there were hopes, there had been hopes, and even two or so weeks ago, the us presidentjoe biden said he was hopeful that a humanitarian ceasefire may be achieved by ramadan. well, ramadan is very close now and there's no sign of that happening. but here injerusalem, particularly in eastjerusalem, where i am, there's now a focus on the holy sites in the old city, because, of course, during ramadan, muslims around the world will fast during their holy month. and muslims here in eastjerusalem will visit the al—aqsa mosque and pray — it's the third most

holy sites in islam. but it also shares the complex with the temple mount, which is the holiest site injudaism. and during this time, there have been violent clashes in the past in the old city. and the israeli government has really been looking carefully at how to try and manage that, particularly during this time of heightened tensions while the war continues in gaza. and we've had a briefing from the israeli prime minister's office about heightened security around there and how they intend to keep things as peaceful as possible. the entrance of worshippers to the temple mount will be permitted in similar numbers to previous years. i want to say this loud and clear. there is no threat to the holy sites during ramadan. this month and every month, we will allow safe and proper prayers and all the holiday customs. we want to safeguard the public injerusalem and in other places for the entire public — muslim, jewish and christian. a key statement there from

the israeli prime minister's office. and, of course, it's worth saying that even though there were hopes that that ceasefire deal could be struck by the beginning of ramadan, we know that the channels are still open, it's believed that talks brokered by the qataris and the egyptians will continue. and even though that date that had been set out will now be missed, they are still hopeful, at least, of managing to agree to some sort of humanitarian ceasefire deal sooner rather than later. that was anna foster injerusalem. in the netherlands, hundreds of protesters have been demonstrating against israel's actions in gaza, as the israeli president attended the inauguration of a museum commemorating the holocaust. some of those protesting about isaac herzog's visit were themselves jewish. they chanted "never again is now", accusing him of complicity in a genocide, an allegation he and the israeli government strongly reject. 0ur europe regional

editor danny aeberhard is following the story and outlined why president herzog was in amsterdam. well, he's representing the israeli state at the opening of this extremely important museum. the dutch national holocaust museum is the first and only museum in the netherlands to concentrate exclusively on the the fate of dutch jews. it also obviously looks at other victims of the holocaust, such as the roma. but the vast majority of people who died werejewish. 102,000 dutchjews were killed during the second world war. that's about three quarters of the population. it was a very well integrated population at the time and it's the worst percentage for any nazi—occupied country in western europe. so, you know, some terrible tales of killings, also some tales of survival as well. so it's about educating the people never to forget and never to repeat this. he spoke at the ceremony marking

the opening of the museum. what did he have to say? well, he spoke precisely of the dangers of anti—semitism and racism as a reminder. but he also said it was a warning about growing anti—semitism around the world. and one of the things he highlighted was a call for the immediate release of the jewish hostages being held by hamas in gaza. so he called for people to pray for that. he also spoke a little bit about the people who remain silent during the second world war while jewish people were deported. and praised, of course, people who, the relative minority of people who actually were involved in rescuing jews during the holocaust. and we have, since the opening of that museum, seen protests in the city continuing. absolutely. well, the most of the protests, i hasten to add, were peaceful, if voluble.

but there were, outside the museum, you had different groups. so you've had pro—israel people who are waving the israeli flags. you've got pro palestinians and tensions have mounted. this is, of course, an extremely sensitive issue. the gaza conflict. protesters would like to see isaac herzog arrested and tried at the international criminal court in the hague for genocide. that, of course, is something that the israeli state and president herzog himself utterly reject — any association with with genocide. so that is the underpinning of this. we're also, of course, at a very sensitive time, not only with the opening of the holocaust museum, but with the start of ramadan coming up now. so tensions are running extremely high. that is our europe regional editor. the princess of wales has thanked the public for their support —

as she recovers from recent surgery. in a mother's day message — accompanied by a family photo taken at windsor — catherine said "thank you" for the kind wishes she's received since she underwent an abdominal operation two months ago. 0ur royal correspondent daniela relph reports. a family photo for mother's day, that is hoped it will calm some of the more extreme gossip about the princess�* recovery. an informal image with her three children in windsor. her husband, the prince of wales, was behind the lens. with the photograph, a personal message... signed off with a "c" for catherine. the last time we officially saw the princess of wales in public was on christmas day, as she met the crowds at sandringham. thank you so much. that's very sweet of you to come and say hello to us. thank you. have a very happy christmas. a few weeks later, she was in hospital having abdominal surgery.

her exact condition has never been made public and the team around her have fiercely protected her privacy. prince william has continued with royal duties without his wife at his side. flowers and messages wishing her well have become part of every engagement he now does. there is unlikely to be any more detail released about the princess�* recovery for now. there has also been a mother's day post on social media from buckingham palace — a photo of the king and the late queen, along with a message to those missing their mothers today. kensington palace will hope the photo of the princess addresses the public curiosity about her and quells wilder speculation. we still don't expect to see her back on royal duty until after after easter. daniela relph responded to the publication of the latest family picture of the princess of wales. well, i think we have

to take it at face value. she looks pretty well, doesn't she, in that photo, surrounded by her three children, who are all laughing. it's an informal portrait taken by her husband, and that's very much, again, a sign ofjust how private the princess's recovery is being kept. the circle around her is being limited to close friends and family. so no official photographer was brought in here. this was a photo taken by her husband. and the message from kensington palace that they hope people are going to take away from this is that kate is doing well. she is recovering in private. we probably won't hear much more or see much more from her for the next few weeks, but they are hoping that there is a sense of reassurance being provided by issuing this photo. yeah, because there has been a lot of social media speculation indeed, even more today since that photo has been released. yeah, it's been pretty wild out there at times, particularly over the past couple of weeks since prince william was unable to go to the thanksgiving service for his godfather, king constantine

of greece, and he said that was because of a personal matter. that seems to have really set the hares running in terms of the social media in particular, conversations and chat and theories about what was wrong with kate. this will go some way to dealing with the public curiosity and quelling some of the wilder speculation up there. but as you say, what it also does is start a whole new load of theories off, and that has happened today. but i think broadly what this photo will do is take a little bit of the heat out of the conversation in terms of what is wrong with the princess and how is her recovery going. ukraine has insisted it will never surrender in its war against russia, after the pope said it should "have the courage to raise the white flag." pope francis has suggested that ukraine is facing defeat in its war with russia and called on it to negotiate with vladimir putin's regime. the vatican later clarified he'd used the term to indicate an end to hostilies,

rather than an outright surrender. now it's time for a look at today's sport with 0lly foster. hello from the bbc sport centre. we'll start with our first result in the day's premier league games. what could be a vital win for spurs in their push for a top four finish. they beat fourth placed aston villa 4—0 at villa park. it was goalless at half—time but spurs struck twice in the space of three minutes early in the second half throuthames maddison and brennan johnson. villa didn't help their cause whan john mcginn was sent off for a nasty chalenge on destiny udogie. and spurs captain heung—min son and substitute timo werner both scored in injury time. they stay fifth but are just two points behind villa with a game in hand. 0utstanding. the first half, we made

them work really hard, we were confident that would bear fruit in the second half and we maintained the second half and we maintained the tempo and intensity with our pressing and the quality of our football in the second half was outstanding. they are strong at home and it was a big game of significance so for us to perform like that... two other games into the second half. forest need a win to move away from the relegation zone, they are losing at brighton. burnley are going to climb off the bottom of the table if it stays like that at west ham. they are winning 2—1 and in the next half an hour, it's liverpool against manchester city. no ruben diaz for manchester city. john stones in his hybrid role.

a win for either will send them top — if it's a draw, then arsenal will still lead the premier league, they went top after beating brentford yesterday. it's a tough one to call, will home advantage make the difference? the liverpool manager certainly thinks that it will help. am i allowed to say that second to none, or is anybody offended by that? it's really good, huh? and energising. massive. these are the games you want to play, these are the games you want to get to take in the stadium. these are the games you want to watch. this is a very special game. and, yes, anfield is, for us, a massive, massive factor. it would be a bit embarrassing if i would say today, please help us. people will. the shape they attack is easily a bit different than the previous seasons. the quality of some new players make the game a little bit different. the main patterns are the same, so we know it quite well, like i think they know us. but the reality is you have to adjust the forms, the quality of individual

players they have. but at the same time, knowing that, you have to take a look at the games we played recently, the players they played recently. so you have to adjust something, you know, to be more comfortable with the players that we have. the six nations championship is going down to the final weekend. wales are currently bottom of the table after losing their first three games. a win over france in cardiff would see them move above the french.

the australian open champion won in three sets at the indian wells masters. the world number two was pushed to the limit in her opening match against her opponent, ranked 64th in the world. it was a struggle from the start, coming off her first—round defeat in dubai last month, but she is into the first round at indian wells. emma raducanu next for her. that is all the sport for now. to india next, where opposition parties have expressed concern over the abrupt resignation of the country's second—highest ranking election commission official. arun goel is stepping down weeks before the world's biggest exercise in democracy, leaving the election commission of india with only one of its top three officials. he did not give a reason for his departure. earlier, we heard from our south asia regional editor anbarasan ethirajan. he started by explaining the role

of the election commission in india. it is an independent body, a constitutional setup and it holds the world's biggest democratic exercise. 960 million voters ready to cast their ballot in the elections due to come in the next few weeks, where the prime minister is seeking a third attempt. this bodyis is seeking a third attempt. this body is given enormous powers because they conduct national and state elections and can bar anyone from campaigning if they violate the model code of conduct and also they monitor how people are spending money for the election. it is considered one of the drills in the ——jules in considered one of the drills in the —— jules in the considered one of the drills in the ——jules in the indian considered one of the drills in the —— jules in the indian democratic setup. the resignation of arun goal did not give any reason for his resignation, leading to speculation about whether he had a disagreement of opinion and he had three years to

go. it has really surprised people in india. ~ . ., ., , ., in india. what are opposition arties in india. what are opposition parties now— in india. what are opposition parties now worried - in india. what are opposition parties now worried about? i in india. what are opposition i parties now worried about? this in india. what are opposition - parties now worried about? this has triu cered parties now worried about? this has triggered criticism _ parties now worried about? this has triggered criticism from _ parties now worried about? this has triggered criticism from opposition l triggered criticism from opposition parties, like the main opposition congress party, saying the electoral commission is an independent body and they should be some transparency, and if we allow these independent institutions to be decimated, democracy would be taken over by dictatorship. the hindu nationalist party denied these nationalist party denied these nationalist accusations, saying they had given lots of money and power to the electoral commission to conduct a free and fair poll. the biggest night in the entertainment calendar is here — the oscars. our culture editor, katie razzall, has the latest from hollywood. a last chance to rehearse, a few final adjustments for the day that hollywood prepares for all year. this red carpet will soon be full of the a—list, stars vying for the highest accolade

the movie business has to offer. and the sense here in hollywood is that this year belongs to director christopher nolan. his 0ppenheimer biopic looks set to win best picture, best director, best actor for cillian murphy, and best supporting actor for robert downeer. can you explain quantum mechanics to me? but not best supporting actress for britain's emily blunt. i heard you got stuck with baby—sitting duties... it would be a huge 0scars shock if the holdovers�* da'vinejoy randolph didn't win that one. the only acting race that feels uncertain is best actress. and here, history could be made. if lily gladstone triumphs for killers of the flower moon, she'll be the first native american to win an acting 0scar. she's an experiment! but she could lose out to emma stone for her tour de force in frankenstein—esque poor things. it's not all red carpet glamour for oscar nominees. jonny byrne is also collecting sound for a new film while he's here. it's the background sounds,

the unusual things that you only get if you go out and collect them in the real world. those are the things that give credibility to a film soundscape. byrne created the haunting sound in the zone of interest. you never see what's happening in auschwitz, what you hear tells the horrors. he also worked on poor things. i've worked on films that have come to the oscars, but never with this much buzz around them. and obviously, to be here with two films is pretty extraordinary. so, yeah, it's quite wild. here we are, the oscars. with the academy trying to lure back viewers, 0scars hostjimmy kimmel made a parody film with the barbie cast. the biggest film of the year is unlikely to be taking many 0scars back to the barbie dreamhouse, but what it's done for cinema is something to shout about. bbc news, los angeles. we will have all the winners later

on bbc news. hello. not particularly springlike for many areas so far, through the week it will perhaps start to feel more like spring. temperatures climbing, but still some rain at times. rain for the rest of the day, moving slowly north and west

across england and north wales, some rain into southern scotland and northern ireland, patchy rain in the north of scotland. eastern scotland quite chilly, 5—6, sunshine from the south, wales, up to 12. this evening, we keep extensive cloud cover, but rain easing, some drizzle, more widespread rain for a time in northern ireland. clear spells could fill in with areas of mist and fog. heading into tomorrow, many of us find ourselves between different weather systems, but this one here brings more cloud and some rain towards parts of northern ireland, grazing the west of scotland. and the area of low pressure to the south—east may bring some rain to east anglia and south—eastern england. in—between, large amounts of cloud, some bright sunny spells, the best of those for wales

and the south—west, six or seven in the north—east of scotland. and into tuesday, the weather system could bring rain across the southern half of the uk and then we see the next system from the west feeding rain across northern ireland and western parts of wales and into scotland later. limited sunny spells, but temperatures will start to climb, and that is a sign of things to come. moving through the middle of the week, various weather systems wriggling around. and eventually, as they shift north, they will introduce warmer air which reaches just about all the country by the end of the week, something colder trying to cling on in the far north. but for most of us into the weekend, it will bring higher temperatures, but that doesn't mean blue skies and sunshine all the time,

still some outbreaks of rain.

this is bbc news, the headlines... a us army logistics ship carrying equipment for a temporary floating port is heading to gaza, as part of plans to deliver humanitarian aid by sea. separately, a spanish charity vessel carrying 200 tonnes of food for gaza is preparing to set sailfrom cyprus. and as hunger stalks gaza, these are the latest pictures of an airdrop of aid over the besieged strip. the princess of wales thanks the public for their support as kensington palace posts the first official image of her since she underwent abdominal surgery. portugal votes for a new parliament, with neither the opposition centre—right democratic alliance nor the governing socialists expected to win a decisive majority. almost 11 million people are registered to vote. final preparations are taking place for this year's 0scars — ahead of the stars hitting the red carpet later. christopher nolan's 0ppenheimer, which has 13 nominations, is expected to pick up many of the top awards.