also coming up on the world today: the broadcasting watchdog ofcom finds some gb news programmes presented by conservative politicians has broken impartiality rules. and thanks to banksy — the anonymous street artist confirms a marrow that appeared on a residential building in north london overnight is his. —— confirms a mural. hello and welcome to the world today on bbc news. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has told joe biden on a call on monday he will send a team to washington to discuss a potential military operation in gaza's southern city of rafah. let's hear now from the white house national security adviserjake sullivan. house national security adviserjake sullivan. , ., , . house national security adviserjake sullivan. , . , . ., sullivan. president has re'ected and did aaain sullivan. president has re'ected and did again today * sullivan. president has re'ected and

did again today the h sullivan. president has rejected and did again today the strongman - sullivan. president has rejected and did again today the strongman that| did again today the strongman that raising questions about roth is the same as raising questions about defeating hamas. that'sjust defeating hamas. that's just nonsense. defeating hamas. that'sjust nonsense. our position is, should not be allowed a safe haven in rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake. it will lead to more innocent civilian deaths, orson the already higher humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in gaza and further isolate israel internationally. more importantly, the key goals israel wants to achieve in rafah can be done by other means. on the call today, president biden as the prime minister to send a senior interagency team composed of military, intelligence and unitarian officials, to washington in the coming days to hear us concerns about israel's current rafah planning and to lay out an alternative approach that would target key hamas elements in rafah and secure the egypt gaza border without a major ground invasion —— humanitarian officials. that without a major ground invasion -- humanitarian officials.— humanitarian officials. that was jake humanitarian officials. that was jake collin _ humanitarian officials. that was

jake collin there. _ on the ground, the body used by the un and governments worldwide to assess food security says famine in gaza is imminent and expected between now and may in the north of the strip. un aid agencies have been warning about rising levels of hunger in gaza for weeks. children in northern gaza are already dying from malnutrition. the report by the integrated food security phase classification also says about half of gaza's population some 1.1 million people are already some 1.1 million people — are already facing "catastrophic hunger". for famine to be declared by the ipc, at least 20% of the population must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished. in new york, the united nations secretary general antonio guterres reacted to the report's findings. palestinians in gaza are enduring horrifying levels of hunger and suffering. this is the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger ever recorded by the integrated food security classification system anywhere, any time.

israel has denied preventing food from getting into gaza, blaming aid agencies for delays and accusing hamas of diverting supplies. but speaking at a gaza aid conference in brussels, the european union foreign policy chiefjosep borrell accused israel of using starvation as a weapon of war. this famine is not a natural disaster, it's not a flood, it's not an earthquake. it's entirely man—made. by whom? by whom? anyone that prevents humanitarian support entering gaza. the lack of access, by the acute insecurity inside gaza, insecurity in itself prevents the

distribution of help, but the problem is hundreds of trucks are waiting on the border, and the ones who control the border prevent them from coming into, iam who control the border prevent them from coming into, i am coming from washington and i dare to say, yes, israel is provoking famine. the israeli military says it is taking control of the al shifa hospital and what it called an operation to "forte terrorist activity". the hospital is in gaza city in the north of the strip. the israeli military said troops came under fire and that 80 people were detained and others killed, including a senior commander of hamas's internal security service. these are images from the raid — you can hear gunshots. witnesses described heavy exchanges of fire around the site, where thousands of displaced people are sheltering, where medics are still working and patients being treated. gaza's health ministry said israel was committing a war crime.

let's hearfrom an israeli government spokesperson. this morning the idf had conducted an operation to thwart... our forces engaged the terrorists. tens of hamas terrorists have been detained in the sheaf a hospital. —— the shifa hospital. the spokesperson there was talking about these images. they were released by the idf, who say they show troops coming underfire. it's a short clip that doesn't confirm the time or sequence of events. gaza health officials have repeatedly denied the accusation that hamas fighters operate inside or underneath al shifa and other hospitals. these pictures show the aftermath of the raid. the israeli military said there was no obligation for medical staff or patients to leave and that the hospital could continue its important functions. but several medical staff

inside the hospital told the bbc that the electricity had been cut and that they had been instructed by the israeli military not to move, prohibiting them from properly treating patients. international medics who've worked in gaza say the medics need to be protected. ido i do not believe the idf have provided any credible evidence since october the 7th, and indeed before then, that these hostels, hospitals were being used hamas command centres. i have been in shifa hospital on many occasions, i've spoken to people who i've known for many years who worked there, and i do not believe there is any evidence to suggest that. let's cross live now to roth and speak to james elder, spokesperson for the united nations children's fund. thanks forjoining us here on bbc news —— cross live now to rafah. let me ask a reaction to what we have been hearing about the potential famine that is going to

hit gaza potentially hard in the coming months? it is hit gaza potentially hard in the coming months?— hit gaza potentially hard in the coming months? it is hitting gaza. we miaht coming months? it is hitting gaza. we might wait— coming months? it is hitting gaza. we might wait for _ coming months? it is hitting gaza. we might wait for an _ coming months? it is hitting gaza. we might wait for an official - we might wait for an official classification, but the reality is, that won't mean a lot for people on the ground here. we are seeing children dying of starvation above malnutrition. normally mount intrusion is an underlying cause, it is not what kills a child. a child will die from some they like pneumonia. to see a child die from malnutrition, you've heard all those numbers, it is terrifying, we've never seen anything like this in gaza, as per that ipc classification on famine, we've never seen a classification as severe as this one on this many people. when you drill it down to a child, a child who is dying of malnutrition in hospital, they look for a vein, the four it in they look for a vein, the four it in the arm, the body will have constricted, highly traumatic, eventually look for a vein in the head and eventually child will die.

we are seeing this for our very real fear is we will see this on a scale we have never seen before. what fear is we will see this on a scale we have never seen before. what do ou think we have never seen before. what do you think needs _ we have never seen before. what do you think needs to _ we have never seen before. what do you think needs to happen _ we have never seen before. what do you think needs to happen to - we have never seen before. what do you think needs to happen to turn i you think needs to happen to turn the tide? because aid agencies are saying, orat the tide? because aid agencies are saying, or at least and tino butera said, it is not too late to turn the tide? �* ., ., , , tide? -- antonio guterres. the secretary-general _ tide? -- antonio guterres. the secretary-general is _ tide? -- antonio guterres. the secretary-general is dead - tide? -- antonio guterres. the| secretary-general is dead right. tide? -- antonio guterres. the - secretary-general is dead right. the secretary—general is dead right. the frustrating thing is it is not that complicated. it requires more land routes, and their land routes within kilometres of where i am. more land routes to get aid in. we see air drops, we seek ships coming in. the ship that came in will be equivalent of 12 or 13 trucks. today as i came back into gaza, i passed hundreds and hundreds of trucks, so we need to facilitate those trucks by the occupying power, who has a legal obligation, facilitate them, get them in, flood gaza with the food thatis them in, flood gaza with the food that is literallyjust a matter of kilometres away from me, and of

course a cease—fire, a cease—fire will enable people to breathe again, for the trauma... you probably cannot hear the drones — they are relentless. there is a trauma hitting children herejust as hard as the food deprivation, so a cease—fire, and get the trucks that are so close and yet so far, get them across gaza to the families who so desperately need them.— them across gaza to the families who so desperately need them. james, we have “ust so desperately need them. james, we have just been — so desperately need them. james, we have just been breaking _ so desperately need them. james, we have just been breaking some - so desperately need them. james, we have just been breaking some news, i have just been breaking some news, but israel sending a delegation to washington to talk about a potential military operation that has been talked about for a while now by israel inside rafah. just give people were watching this a sense of what that would mean to the over a million people who are inside rafah right now, and if there were to be military operation there of any sort. ., �* , military operation there of any sort. . �* , h, military operation there of any sort. . �*, ,., ., ~ , sort. that's mind-boggling. it makes m bod sort. that's mind-boggling. it makes my body shake- _ sort. that's mind-boggling. it makes my body shake. you _ sort. that's mind-boggling. it makes my body shake. you see _ sort. that's mind-boggling. it makes my body shake. you see rafah, - sort. that's mind-boggling. it makes my body shake. you see rafah, it. sort. that's mind-boggling. it makes my body shake. you see rafah, it is| my body shake. you see rafah, it is very hard to walk in rafah. there are settlements and tens and anywhere someone can move to,

because they were told to move here three or four times, having because they were told to move here three orfour times, having had their homes bond or been evacuated under incursion or an offensive, the shelter they are in, so it is very hard to move in rafah. it is a city of children. 600,000 plus children, twice the density, population density, of new york city, but no high—rises. everyone is on the ground. an offensive in that area? it is terrifying. it is offensive to imagine for we just hope that column heads can prevail, because that would be under devastating for children, and we have seen some horrendous devastation for the boys and girls of gaza.— and girls of gaza. james elder from the un, and girls of gaza. james elder from the um, thank— and girls of gaza. james elder from the un, thank you _ and girls of gaza. james elder from the un, thank you very _ and girls of gaza. james elder from the un, thank you very much - and girls of gaza. james elder from | the un, thank you very much indeed forjoining us live in rafah. the british prime minister, rishi sunak, has brushed away questions about his leadership of the conservative party, saying he's not interested in westminster politics.

it comes after the business secretary kemi badenoch admitted that a "small minority" of the tory party are speculating about ousting him. so how bad is it for rishi sunak? well, this is the bbc poll tracker updated as of last week. rishi sunak�*s conservatives on 23% and the opposition labour party, led by sir keir starmer, a long way ahead on 44%. mr sunak was asked about the speculation earlier. here's what he had to say. look, i'm not interested in all westminster politics, it doesn't matter. what matters is the future of our country. and that's what i'm squarely focused on, that's why i get up every morning, working as hard as i can to deliver whether it's cutting people's taxes, increasing the state pension. today, increasing the number of apprenticeships and talking to small businesses. those are the things that matter to people. and as we've seen over the last few weeks, our plan is working. inflation is coming down, wages are growing, the economy is back to growing again. and if we stick to this plan, i can deliver a brighterfuture for everyone in our country.

that's what i'm doing. let's speak to our political correspondent helen catt. —— hannah miller. we have been talking about this for a while now and yet it does not like there's any clinical momentum within the conservative party or any appetite for another leader before a potential election, is there? that's the question. _ potential election, is there? that's the question, really _ potential election, is there? that's the question, really - _ potential election, is there? that's the question, really - would - potential election, is there? that's the question, really - would you i the question, really — would you rather carry on with rishi sunak if you are a conservative backbencher if you would like to have yet another change of leader? there have been rumours swirling over the weekend that there is a kind of well—developed plot to try to oust him. i think those rumours are in some cases quite wildly exaggerated, but that's not to say there is not really quite some discontent among some conservative backbenchers about the state of their party at the moment. and there are three reasons for that. the first is when you look at the polls, they have not really

shifted all that much. the conservatives on average significantly behind the labour party, and the kind of opportunities that there have been for the conservatives to pull some of that back, perhaps through the budget committee custer national insurance that were announced, don't seem to have lended all that much with the general public. there is that going on and then at the same time, there's a perception among some conservative mps that things also keep going a bit wrong, and could perhaps be handled a little bit better, if we look for example at the comments that were reportedly made by the conservative donor frank hester last week, some mps aren't happy about the amount of time it took downing street to describe those comments as racist, and is also the loss of the backbencher lee anderson to reform uk. he had been suspended from the party over comments he had made, but it's one thing to be suspended from the party, it's another to be actively

campaigning against the conservative party for reform uk, who some backbenchers feel could pose something of a threat to them when the next election comes along. there are i think it is fair to say some kind of brighter spots potentially on the horizon for rishi sunak�*s leadership will tub there's a possibility his rwanda legislation may get through the houses of parliament, possibly as soon as this week, and there also is an issue that many people care about, the economy, a possibility we may see inflation coming down. so i think the question for many backbenchers, really, is whether they are better off sticking with rishi sunak as things are or going through yet another change in a situation where we know that the general public don't tend to reward parties that are divided and battling among themselves.— are divided and battling among themselves. . . ., ~ , ., , themselves. hannah, thank you very much indeed- _ themselves. hannah, thank you very much indeed. let's _ themselves. hannah, thank you very much indeed. let's stay _ themselves. hannah, thank you very much indeed. let's stay with - much indeed. let's stay with politics, because 10 downing street

had a special visit today. the former us president barack obama turned up with undisclosed talks with rishi sunak. we know nothing at all about the discussions. mr obama, of course, has visited before during his term in office. david cameron and gordon brown were the prime ministers when he was at the white house. still to come on the world today: vladimir putin's victory lap. he addressed supporters in red square after a landslide victory, earning a fifth term. we go on board the uss dwight eisenhower, one of the more ships sent to protect merchant ships from houthi rebels. around the world and across the uk, this is the world today on bbc news.

president putin has been addressing

supporters in moscow's red square after his landslide win in russia's presidential election at the weekend. he won more than 87% of the vote, but with no real opposition because of the kremlin's strict control on the media and protestors. the rally was held to mark the tenth anniversary of russia's illegal annexation of crimea. standing alongside the three loyalist candidates who were allowed to run against him, president putin said that "hand in hand, russians will move forward". western countries have condemned the election as neitherfree norfair — the us has called it "incredibly undemocratic". president putin described the donbas and other parts of ukraine occupied by russian forces as part of a "new russia". let's hear some of what he said. translation: as for novorossiya, l donbas, the people living there, l in those days of the russian spring, declared their desire to return to their native family. their path back to homeland was much more difficult and tragic.

but we did it. and that too was a great event in the history of our state. after mr putin secured a fifth term as president, the foreign secretary david cameron said the election outcome highlighted the "depth of repression" in russia. he said... in the us, a white house spokesperson on sunday said russia's election was "obviously not free nor fair". meanwhile, russia's allies have backed the result, with indian prime minister narendra modi saying he looks forward to strengthening new delhi's "time—tested special and privileged strategic partnership" with moscow. mr putin faced no credible opposition candidate, as the kremlin tightly controls russia's political system, media and elections. vitaly shevchenko, our russia editor at bbc monitoring, described the reaction

to the results within the country. within russia, state television is obviously celebrating what it calls unprecedented numbers of people who voted for vladimir putin, people who turned out to vote, and the reality is that we cannot really check those numbers because the electoral system in russia is absolutely tightly controlled by the kremlin, and there's something that happened this morning that gives us an idea of how this electoral exercise works. one of the other three candidates on the ballot, he represents a nationalist party, he said he was happy for vladimir putin to win, he said he knew this was going to happen, he said this was victory. that was vitaly shevchenko.

earlier, i spoke to amy knight, the former soviet and russian affairs specialist for the library of congress, to get her reaction to what we've seen today. i think that this rally in red square is really interesting. it's almost like putin can'tjust sit back and enjoy the fruits of the election. he has to keep going. but i think it really points out that, first of all, of course, the election, as has been pointed out earlier, was not democratic. there were no viable opposition candidates. in the anti—war candidate, who wanted to be on the candidates list, was deprived of that right, because they claimed that right, because they claimed that he did not have enough valid signatures. so, there was no alternative, really, for russians, and also putin used this appeal to russian patriotism. the night before

the elections, he was urging people, he spoke to the nation and said, we are going through a rough time and we need to donate you to show how patriotic you are by going to vote —— we need you to show. this was kind of a natural reaction, i think, on the part of a lot of russians, because they are patriotic and they are nationalistic, but i wonder how deep their support for mr putin really is, and that's the question. there's been more targeting of merchant shipping in the red sea over the weekend by gunmen from the houthi movement out of yemen. the flow of trade through vital sea lanes has been seriously disrupted, since houthi drone and missile attacks began last year, following israel's assault on gaza. america and britain have sent warships to protect merchant fleets, with the uss dwight d eisenhower conducting strikes against houthi targets for the last four months.

jonathan beale has been on board. a us carrier. a potent symbol of american military power. now being used against houthi rebels, the uss dwight eisenhower operating in the red sea, trying to protect merchant ships and themselves from houthi attacks. we are the first british media on board since it began this mission, flying scores of sorties round the clock. and it's been relentless. yes. yeah. this is probably the most flying i've done on a deployment. it's the most intense so far. oh, yes, absolutely. absolutely. it's... every day, we're flying a tonne, so... shuttle cat 3 is now a go. daylight tells the story

of what they've been doing. the bombs and missiles fired at houthi targets on land and the drones they destroyed from the air. on this one carrier alone, they've already used hundreds of munitions. but the houthis, too, are developing more sophisticated attacks, posing the greatest threat to the us navy in recent history. this is deadly stuff. this is the most since world war ii, easily. what, the most intense? oh, very much so. you know, ballistic missiles, anti—ship cruise missiles, uavs. now usvs, or underwater vessels, uuvs and the game that's all out there. and we've been doing this for almost four months now. houthi attacks on merchant shipping began soon after israel's assault on gaza. us and uk military intervention since has tried to stop them to protect this key trade route. these us jets have been flying missions to target the houthis every single day for months now, and yet all this us firepower still

hasn't been able to deter them, let alone defeat them. and america believes the houthis are not acting alone. but there are political concerns about widening this conflict. we know iran is in some way backing the houthis. and like i said, they're doing it via intelligence support, providing targeting. they're also providing a resupply of weapons and they're providing them expertise as well. well, you're going after the wrong people. you should be going after iran. well, that's a policy decision. but the root of this does start with iran. the question is, how long can the us maintain this military presence? jonathan beale, bbc news, on board the uss dwight eisenhower. two people are being treated for their injuries in slovakia after being attacked by a bear. this footage shows the animal bounding down a road and lunging

at a man on a pavement, leaving him with a gash on the head. a woman suffered an injury to her shoulder. it came a day after a belarusian woman apparently fell to her death as she fled a bear in the low tatra mountains. stayed with us here on the world today. we have an exclusive interview with the human rights activist about the authoritarian regime in nicaragua. stay with us on bbc news. hello there. it's felt quite warm out there for many of us today, particularly where we've had the blue skies and the sunshine, but the weather is changing again and changes are happening out to the west because this cloud is coming in from the atlantic. the winds are picking up. we're going to see some rain arriving as well. ahead of that, we've got some mild air. it could make 15 degrees around the moray firth and 16 is quite likely in the south—east of england. we do see that rain coming in,

together with stronger winds into northern ireland and we'll see one band of rain pushing eastwards overnight, followed by a second band of rain that's developing. that one could be quite heavy rain with gusty winds, gales likely in the far north of scotland. it will be a pretty mild night out there, milder than it was last night. temperatures no lower than 9 or 10 degrees. those two bands of rain that we start with in england and wales willjust tend to fade away and it will brighten up in many places, leaving just a few showers. a few showers will continue in northern ireland, but the earlier, heavier showers in scotland will move away, sunshine will come out and the winds will ease as well. temperatures still reaching 12 or 13 degrees in scotland and northern ireland, but again peaking at 16 in the south—east of england. we could see a bit of rain developing in the south—west of england by the end of the day. that weather front is going to move back northwards again overnight and into wednesday, taking rain northwards too. some of that rain for a while affecting northern ireland, perhaps some southern and eastern

parts of scotland. most of the rain more likely from the south—west into wales, through the midlands and across northern england. scotland and northern ireland turning drier and brighter through the day. across the south—east of england it may stay dry, as well. here it is still quite mild — 16 or 17 degrees — but behind the rain, to the north, things are cooling off a little bit now. we're all going to see some rain over this week ahead, but there may not be too much rain across the north—east of scotland and we're probably going to miss most of the rain in the south—east of england. it's going to be wetter in the west, particularly across western parts of scotland. as we head into thursday, we will see the winds picking up across northern areas and these weather fronts bringing more rain into scotland and northern ireland in particular. as we move into the end of the week and into the weekend, it's staying windy, but the wind direction is changing, eventually coming to the north—west or the north. that will bring colder weather and lots of showers.

this is the world today from bbc news, the headlines. the white house says israel is sending a team to washington to discuss a potential military operation in gaza's southern city rafah. another deadly day in haiti, 1a bodies found in a suburb. gangs tack

to upscale neighbourhoods there in the capital early on monday. and... worrying news if you love your rolex, the number of lost and stolen luxury watches more than triples worldwide. the us as a transitional government in haiti could be ready as soon as today. the us says a transitional government in haiti could be ready as soon as today. former prime minister ariel henry, who's stranded in puerto rico, announced his resignation under international pressure a week ago, after gangs took over large swathes of the capital port au prince. the gang violence there is continuing unabated 1a dead bodies have been removed from petion ville, an affluent suburb of the haitian capital. local witnesses said they didn't know the circumstances of the deaths but spoke of an attack by "armed criminals" early on monday. more than 350,000 people are now internally displaced in haiti because of the gang related violence and deepening humanitarian crisis, with the police trying to crack down on the gangs.

earlier i spoke to william o'neill, the united nations designated