time since her surgery, out shopping with prince william. the president of the european council calls for economies to be put on a war footing against russia. and the local community fighting the pollution of one of britain's most beautiful rivers. hello. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. the entire population of gaza is in need of humanitarian assistance and is suffering "severe levels of acute food insecurity" — those are the words of the us secretary of state antony blinken today. it's a stark assessment of the ongoing crisis in the territory as american pressure on israel grows. mr blinken has urged israel to prioritise the delivery of supplies into gaza. it comes as the un human rights

office has said israel's continued restrictions on getting aid in "may amount to use of starvation as method of war". in a phone call, president biden told the israeli prime minister of his deep concerns over a planned assault on rafah in southern gaza. but benjamin netyanyahu has just said there's no way to destroy hamas in rafah, other than by a ground incursion. all this, as talks continue in qatar in a bid to secure a ceasefire deal. let's get this report from anna foster in jerusalem. at gaza's southern tip, the aftermath of another israeli air strike. 1.4 million displaced people are now sheltering in rafah and israel has made it clear it wants to go further. a ground offensive, it ,says would remove hamas from gaza entirely. but there's international pressure to avoid even more deaths. the message from israel's allies

to its leaders is getting stronger. our position is that hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake. as rafah�*s displaced fear what might come next, their presence is just as hard. medical supplies, water and food are scarce. "my daughter said that she wants to eat boiled eggs and i say, �*how can i bring you boiled eggs? the situation does not allow us to. �*0ur situation was below zero before the war. �*so what do you expect after the war? �*worse and worse.�*. in the north of gaza, famine is nowjust weeks away. few aid convoys are reaching that part of the strip. and in a second us intervention overnight, its top diplomat antony blinken said more needs to be done to save lives. if you look at some of the assessments that we're seeing now, they only underscore the urgency of making sure that this

assistance is a priority and that it's sustained. again, according to the most respected measure of these things, 100% of the population in gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. that's the first time an entire population has been so classified. talks towards a ceasefire have restarted in qatar. i'm cautiously optimistic that - the negotiations have continued... negotiators cautioned that a deal will still take time. screaming. explosion. and in gaza's rubble, the prospect of a pause in fighting feels as far away as ever. let's get the latest from our correspondent mark let's speak to drjames smith, an emergency doctor, who was working in al—aqsa hospital in central gaza earlier this year.

welcome to bbc news. i would like to get your reaction to what we have heard from the us secretary of state, his stark and dire assessment of the situation in gaza but those millions of people. this of the situation in gaza but those millions of people.— millions of people. this is an accurate _ millions of people. this is an accurate assessment - millions of people. this is an accurate assessment of - millions of people. this is an accurate assessment of the i millions of people. this is an - accurate assessment of the current situation. what i would say is this was the assessment of the un back in december, so we have known a famine would start to unfolding gaza in the absence of an end to the violence and a surge in humanitarian access. we have seen neither of those two things. what was predicted several months ago has now played out as something, situation which is entirely predictable, and inevitable unfortunately. find entirely predictable, and inevitable unfortunately-— unfortunately. and this warning about a famine _ unfortunately. and this warning about a famine in _ unfortunately. and this warning about a famine in gaza. - unfortunately. and this warning about a famine in gaza. as - unfortunately. and this warning about a famine in gaza. as you | unfortunately. and this warning - about a famine in gaza. as you say, un agencies and aid groups have been

warning this was going to happen unless more aid came into the territory. what is your assessment of that and the hunger need in the population? we are seeing pictures on the screen of young children lining up to get food, presumably there isn't that much to distribute. there is nowhere near of the most basic forms of humanitarian assistance entering into gaza right now. back in december, the palestinian paediatricians we were working with already seeing malnourished children. that was in the context of a situation where many people were forced to flee their homes, living in substandard shelters, lack of water, lack of basic sanitary facilities. that combined with a lack of access to nutritious food is a recipe for the catastrophe we are seeing. tell us about your — catastrophe we are seeing. tell us about your visit. _ catastrophe we are seeing. tell us about your visit. when _ catastrophe we are seeing. tell us about your visit. when will - catastrophe we are seeing. tell us about your visit. when will you - about your visit. when will you there and _ about your visit. when will you there and what _ about your visit. when will you there and what did _ about your visit. when will you there and what did you - about your visit. when will you there and what did you see? . about your visit. when will you there and what did you see? i | about your visit. when will you . there and what did you see? i was there and what did you see? i was there between the end of december

and the 8th of january, a two—week period, working in the middle area of the gaza strip. at that time we were seeing on a daily basis hundreds of unwell children presenting to the paediatrics department. on any given day in the a&e department, we were seeing tens of severely wounded patients, many of severely wounded patients, many of whom would die in er. amongst them were children. we were already at that time seeing children displaying signs of malnutrition. many of those children had pre—existing medical problems, and they were... there was an increased susceptibility to other illnesses for those children. now we are seeing, in the weeks and months since, previously well children who are becoming malnourished and who are becoming malnourished and who are literally starving to death. it is hard to hear someone say that when you think of the number of

children in gaza and who are displaced, and are at risk of starvation as you say. what can be done to help prevent that? the famine review _ done to help prevent that? tue: famine review committee done to help prevent that? tte: famine review committee reports done to help prevent that? t"t2 famine review committee reports that antony blinken is referring to has made it clear in their salary, they say what is needed is a ceasefire. we need political decisions which will bring an end to the violence. at the same time we nearly a massive surge in assistance through the land entry points that exist. there are many land entry points in the north of gaza which could be open to bring humanitarian assistance as of this moment. g . , ,, ., ,, , ., moment. 0k, james smith, thank you very much- — moment. 0k, james smith, thank you very much- a — moment. 0k, james smith, thank you very much. a doctor _ moment. 0k, james smith, thank you very much. a doctor who _ moment. 0k, james smith, thank you very much. a doctor who works - moment. 0k, james smith, thank you very much. a doctor who works with l very much. a doctor who works with medical aid for palestinians. thank you joining us on bbc news. we have more on developments in the middle east on the bbc news website. there's plenty of articles and analysis if you want more on that

story. in recent days there's been growing concern — and speculation — over how catherine the princess of wales is following her surgery a few months ago. now, new video shows her on a shopping trip with her husband prince william, in windsor. kensington palace has confirmed this image taken by a member of the public and published by the sun are genuine. the visuals were published just over a week after the princess of wales admitted editing an official portrait of her with her children. the princess has been out of the public eye since christmas, after having abdominal surgery. here's our royal correspondent, sean coughlan. a blurry video of a couple going shopping at the weekend has become an international talking point. the pictures of prince william and catherine, published by the sun, are the first video images of the princess since her abdominal surgery injanuary. the unexpected appearance of a house of windsor in a windsor farm shop shows that she's back on her feet and looking relaxed and smiling. there has been a whirlwind of social media speculation and conspiracy theories

about the princess's health. it follows the release of a photograph on mother's day, which added to a febrile sense of uncertainty, when it was withdrawn by photo agencies after concerns it had been manipulated. people on london bridge this morning gave their views. it's good to see she's back and hopefully she's doing well. i'm sure it will be quite nice for her to potter around, do some shopping with her husband. if she is well, fantastic, - but yeah, i couldn't say i was really concerned about it. she looks fine, she looks just going about her day, doesn't she? i've no feelings about that at all, i'm afraid. it's neither here or there whether she is out and about or not, really. kensington palace has not commentating on the video and are still calling for privacy, but there are further questions about a previous picture of the late queen elizabeth ii, taken by catherine. getty images are now saying the photo has been digitally enhanced. prince william will help the focus can switch to his more official engagements, as he visits projects for

the homeless in sheffield. our correspondent sean coughlan joins us live from the newsroom. joining me for her thoughs on this is royal commentator and host of the daily express podcast the royal round up — is pandora forsyth welcome to bbc news. we have got the video that has been released. there's been a lot of speculation, we won't go into the conspiracy theories, we aren't here to go down that rabbit hole. in terms of the video, well that silent some of the people who have been widely speculating about princess of wales? you would think so. this is a video, so even more difficult to manipulate it if needed. i think unfortunately because there has been that agenda online for the past couple of weeks, some people still will not be happy

until they see catherine back to full—time royal work. she has two rest and we were told she would be coming back to work until at least after easter, i do because there's no actual confirmed date from kensington palace. why would she come back before that when they've been open about the fact she's had abdominal surgery? that is serious, any surgery is, and you wouldn't want anybody coming back to work before they were fully fit. unfortunately, conspiracy theories online, which we won't go into, but because of the way social media algorithms work, any negative feedback or comments get brought more into yourfeeds feedback or comments get brought more into your feeds than positives. yes, it has died down a little bit, but there are still people who are still raising these conspiracy

theories online, despite this video which we have.— theories online, despite this video which we have. ., , ., , which we have. there are some people who want to — which we have. there are some people who want to hear _ which we have. there are some people who want to hear more _ which we have. there are some people who want to hear more from _ which we have. there are some people who want to hear more from the - which we have. there are some people who want to hear more from the royal| who want to hear more from the royal family, they want more information. there are some who would say in recent months, we've seen a much more open family when it comes to sharing information about what is happening in the house of windsor. what is your take? i think the monochrome of the king has wanted to be open about his health diagnosis —— the monica. because he was open about his cancer, people pay in the royal family with the same brush and expect everybody to take the same wavelength as he will do. which is just not the case. catherine is a mother of three young children, and in a completely different time in her life versus the king. two completely different health issues.

and she is entitled to private life. she's one of the most famous women in world, but everybody is entitled to a private life. should she be a bit more open? she tried to buy releasing the mother's day image, and then look what happened. even when she released a statement confirming she had edited it. she's an amateur photographer. people still weren't happy. i do generally think no matter what the royal family do, there will always be people on either side of the party will say that's fantastic, and other people more sceptical. it'sjust unfortunate this has happened within the same time period.— the same time period. briefly, pandora, will— the same time period. briefly, pandora, will there _ the same time period. briefly, pandora, will there be - the same time period. briefly, pandora, will there be a - the same time period. briefly, pandora, will there be a point| the same time period. briefly, i pandora, will there be a point in which they come out and make some statement to silence all these rumours and theories? this statement to silence all these rumours and theories?- rumours and theories? this is honestly my _ rumours and theories? this is honestly my personal - rumours and theories? this is| honestly my personal opinion. rumours and theories? this is i honestly my personal opinion. i don't think it will happen until

easter now. william, as we saw, he was back to work trying to shine a light on the project such as homelessness and trying to raise that and move on from it. kensington palace said themselves, social media madness. . ~ palace said themselves, social media madness. ., ,, , ., ., palace said themselves, social media madness. ., ., , ., madness. thank you for sharing your thou~hts. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

the us secretary of defence, lloyd austin, has tried to reassure allies about his country's commitment to ukraine in its fight against russia's invasion. the latest us military aid package remains stalled in congress. mr austin was talking at a meeting of ukraine's international supporters in ramstein, germany. the meeting is expected to discuss ways to help ukraine overcome a shortage of military hardware. the message today is clear — the united states will not let ukraine fail, this coalition

will not let ukraine fail, and the free world will not let ukraine fail. putin will not stop at ukraine, but as president biden has said, ukraine can stop putin if we stand with ukraine and provide the weapons that it needs to defend itself. ukraine's survival is on the line, and all of our security is on the line. the head of the european council, charles michel, has called on eu countries to shift their economies to a war footing. in an opinion piece carried by a number of european publications, mr michel again said russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine posed the greatest security challenge since the second world war. let's bring in danny aeberhard, europe editor with the bbc world service. thank you forjoining those. we were

listening to the us secretary of defence lloyd austin. the us continues to reaffirm its support for ukraine, but congress hasn't freed up the funds for the much—needed hardware ukraine wants. yes, the us republicans, or some are blocking the funds, so the biden administration and lloyd austin are hamstrung in what they can provide. they have tried to deliver 60 billion of aid to ukraine but that is not happening. we are in a strange position where europe is basically providing the main amount of military aid to ukraine, and that is going through, but ukraine is suffering from shortages of things like ammunition, missiles and armoured vehicles. what a german institute which tracks aid said is in orderfor europe institute which tracks aid said is in order for europe to fulfil the gap by dismissing us aid, it would need to double the pace and extent

of military aid delivery. there's a huge gap still to fill, the meeting now is not only of european countries, there are other nato countries, there are other nato countries, some countries in africa, japan, australia and new zealand. they are trying to plug the gap, but it is important for ukraine, and the primus has said they are hoping the delivery of shells from the czech republic, they might get it. the euro ean republic, they might get it. the european council president has written this opinion piece. it says everyone piece we must prepare for war. what more did he say? he made one serious — war. what more did he say? he made one serious warning _ war. what more did he say? he made one serious warning which _ war. what more did he say? he made one serious warning which is - war. what more did he say? he made one serious warning which is of - war. what more did he say? he made one serious warning which is of the i one serious warning which is of the eu doesn't provide enough support to ukraine, they could be next as a target for russia, the eu. he paints a bleak picture of russia and their intentions and says it is destabilising countries like

moldova, the west balkans and africa, added doesn't want peace in the region or care about the security of its own people. he said the eu needs a radical change of mindset on this front, added needs to do things like provide military aid for the eu budget, and double the amount of arms it buys from eu weapon providers and multi—annual contracts are weapons producers and plan ahead and invest in better production facilities. t plan ahead and invest in better production facilities.— plan ahead and invest in better production facilities. i was drawn to this quote. — production facilities. i was drawn to this quote, we _ production facilities. i was drawn to this quote, we must - production facilities. i was drawn j to this quote, we must therefore production facilities. i was drawn i to this quote, we must therefore be defence ready and shift your economy mode. it's time to take responsibility for our community, we can't count on others. you could see where he was going. the can't count on others. you could see where he was going.— where he was going. the reference there is to donald _ where he was going. the reference there is to donald trump _ where he was going. the reference there is to donald trump and - where he was going. the reference there is to donald trump and what | there is to donald trump and what happens in november's election in the us. it's a longer running debate

about europe taking control of its own security and not relying on others, the reference being the us is under a protective shield since the second world war. he is one of those european to advocates for much greater investment in defence. things are changing, but they aren't changing fast enough in his view. clearly with the russian threat, that's brought everything into stark perspective. that's brought everything into stark --ersective. . ~ that's brought everything into stark --ersective. ., ,, ,, that's brought everything into stark --ersective. ., ,, ., that's brought everything into stark perspective-— perspective. thank you for coming into the studio _ perspective. thank you for coming into the studio and _ perspective. thank you for coming into the studio and taken - perspective. thank you for coming into the studio and taken us - into the studio and taken us through. let us take you to germany, we are expecting to hear from the us secretary of defence lloyd austin. it looks a bit rabid there, but he will speak their later, discussing the commitment to the ukraine. we will bring you his comments and statement as and when it happens. to haiti next and there seems little the world can do for the moment, but simply watch the country slide

further and further into anarchy. gangs control much of the capital, port—au—prince, where the bodies of at least a dozen people were discovered in a wealthy suburb. the us is hopeful a transitional council, might be able to restore order, along with the deployment of international troops, but for now the violence continues, as will grant, reports from cap—haitien. baby crying. just a day old — baby woodley�*s first cries are the same of those of children born anywhere — for food and for comfort. but as they get older, the children born in cap—haitien�*s maternity wing will find such essentials are far from guaranteed in haiti. markinsonjoseph tells me she would take her newborn boy out of the country altogether if she gets the chance. but she doesn't have the money to flee. the first ward for pathology. as he shows us around dark and empty wards, dr clervil says the gangs' control of the roads is making it impossible to find enough fuel to keep the lights on,

let alone to bring in the drugs and equipment they need. translation: as you can see, we have beds and staff, - but often the patients just can't reach us because of their economic situation — or, more often than not, their safety. for some, it has had terrible consequences. louisemanie was eight and a half months pregnant when she came into hospital. by then, she had dangerously high blood pressure, and lost the baby. pre—eclampsia is treatable, had she been properly monitored or the baby been delivered early. louisemanie knows her loss was avoidable. the head of unicef has called the situation in haiti horrific, and likened the lawlessness to the post—apocalyptic film mad max. the security situation aside, the humanitarian need here is critical, and the aid response so far has been painfully slow. the essential things of life are increasingly hard to find.

in port—au—prince, farah oxima and her nine children have been forced from their home by the violence, and she's struggling to provide the food and water they need. "only god can change this place," she says, "because from where i'm sitting, i can't see where any other change is coming from." the gangs have such a grip of haiti, they are, in essence, dictating what happens next in this country — who can govern it, who lives in it, and who dies. will grant, bbc news, haiti. hong kong's legislature has passed a tough new security law which authorities say is necessary for stability, but which critics fear will further erode civil liberties. the tough penalties include life imprisonment for treason and insurrection. here's the hong kong chief executivejohn lee. translation: safeguarding l national security ordinance can help us effectively prevent, suppress and punish acts

and activities endangering national security, including infiltration and sabotaging activities by external forces. we can effectively guard against colour revolution and also those advocating hong kong independence. we will never be afraid of mutual destruction again. for rioters to have petrol bombs and vandalise properties in hong kong, endangering the lives of hong kong people. from now on, hong kong people will never have to experience the pain that we've experienced before. earlier i spoke to the bbc�*s martin yip in hong kong and asked him to explain more about this legislation. yeah. so this has tactically been stipulated in hong kong's meaning constitution to hong kong basic law and is in article 23. so it has always been called the article 23 legislation.

the whole idea is to write in a whole piece of law locally to protect china's national security and interests. but hong kong has failed in 2003. and then we saw all those anti—government protests in between in 2014 and 2019 because of various issues. and beijing decided, as you might remember, to impose its own law in 2020, which isjust a partial one. so at this time, the government took this initiative to finish what they insist their constitutional responsibility to cover things like treason, sabotage, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. and the hong kong legislature, which is filled byjust pro—beijing legislators, had just dangerously passed this bill. in the last few moments we had a statement from the uk foreign

secretary lord cameron on that change in the law in hong kong. he says the overall impact of the new national security law is it will further damage the rights and freedoms enjoyed in the city. it undermines their implementation of binding international obligations, and it goes on to say i urge the hong kong authorities to respect the rights and freedoms enshrined in the basic law and uphold its high degree of autonomy. we will have more on that story as we get it. this is bbc news. hello again. for most of you, the weather is cheering up quite nicely and the afternoon promises some decent spells of sunshine. so far, some of the best breaks in the cloud have been across wales with these sunny skies spotted earlier in north—west wales. but it's not the only place that's seeing sunshine today. northern ireland, scotland, northern england also seeing increasingly sunny skies. it's across east anglia and south—east england where we'll probably keep a lot of cloud. it's a mild day, 13 degrees for belfast and aberdeen, 15 or 16 in the mildest spots

in england and wales. one or two isolated showers knocking around, yes, but for many of you, it stays dry. that's not the case, though, overnight, because low pressure's set to move in. and with that, we're going to see some fairly persistent outbreaks of rain pushing in, particularly to northern ireland, wales and northern england. a mild night, though, with temperatures 9 or 10 celsius for england and wales. on into tomorrow, the wettest weather, starting off the day in northern ireland will swing eastwards. so wales and northern england, probably having rain for most of the day. might well start off dry across south—east england. but i wouldn't rule out a bit of rain arriving here through the afternoon. mild across the south—east, brightening up for scotland and northern ireland. but here it will be a cooler kind of day with temperatures around 8 to 11 celsius. and that cool slice of weather won't last long. heading into thursday, we'll get some milder air pushing in off the atlantic behind this warm front, and so temperatures will be climbing. however, it is going to work out being quite a wet and windy day, particularly in scotland, where across northern areas we'll get gusts of wind running

into the 50s of miles an hour. rain likely to be quite persistent for western scotland for much of the day, sinking southwards to give some wet weather into northern ireland through the afternoon. relatively mild, though. 1a in belfast, highs reaching 16 degrees towards the south—east of england. all change again through friday. a cold front sweeps its way southwards, introducing much cooler air. with that, there'll be a band of rain pushing southwards across england and wales. the skies then brighten up with sunshine, but there'll be lots of showers across the north—west of the uk. some of those are likely to be heavy with some hail and thunder mixed in and temperatures are coming down. we're looking at highs typically between 9 and 12 celsius, so close to average for the time of year. it stays showery into the weekend with some quite chilly winds around and it will be cold enough for a little bit of snow over the tops of the scottish mountains.

this is bbc news. we can listen to the us defence secretary in ram steyne in germany. they are reaffirming their support to ukraine. . . , ., ,

to ukraine. france, germany, iceland, italy, _