of cancer treatment. and join us live in windsor as messages of support pour in from around the world after yesterday's news that catherine, princess of wales, is undergoing treatment for cancer. and in the middle east — the un secretary—general is at the rafah border to call again for a humanitarian ceasefire. we'll bring you the latest from his visit. hello and welcome to bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. we start in the middle east and we are going to show you a seen live from the egyptian side of the rafah crossing. the crowds there with the

ambulances in the back are awaiting the un secretary—general antonio guterres who landed in egypt earlier today. he will be speaking shortly and he will also be meeting some of the workers, the un workers, that have been stationed in rafah and the wider gaza on clay. he is expected to renew his call for a humanitarian ceasefire —— gaza enclave. and also for further ceasefire —— gaza enclave. and also forfurther aid ceasefire —— gaza enclave. and also for further aid to be allowed back into gaza, to enter gaza. hundreds of lorries waiting on the egyptian side to take that basic aid to those in need within gaza. israel remains under mounting international pressure to allow more aid into gaza and that is amid warnings of imminentfamine. and that is amid warnings of imminent famine. those warnings, the latest of which came from the world

food programme on monday saying that gazans are already starving to death. meanwhile, russia and china have blocked a us draft resolution that tied an immediate ceasefire in gaza to the release of hostages held by hamas. the two countries said the text put conditions on a pause in the fighting and failed to clearly oppose a planned israeli ground offensive in rafah. it is of course rafah that you can see on the screen there. we will be coming back to this scene as soon as antonio guterres arrives and speaks but he has had a busy day arriving earlier at one of the nearest towns to rafah and visiting some of the workers there on the ground and like i said, when he arrives to speak, we will bring you that. let's turn our attention now to russia.

this is live in moscow — it's being reported that 11 people suspected of involvement in a brutal attack on one of moscow's biggest concert venues have been arrested — including four assailants — that's according to russia's fsb security service. at least 115 people are believed to have been killed, when gunmen targeted the building on friday evening. i believe that number has actually been increased to 143 killed. more than 120 others were reportedly injured in the asssault on the crocus city hall on the outskirts of the city. a large fire broke out in the building — that caused most of the roof to collapse. as armed forces rushed to the scene — an islamic state group claimed it was behind the attack. the united states believes

this is credible — and says it had warned russia about large gatherings in moscow being vulnerable. but russia's fsb security agency has said some of the suspects fled towards ukraine — and had contacts there. will vernon reports. gunfire. a rock concert that turned into a massacre. thousands of people had gathered at the venue near moscow when gunmen broke in and began shooting. outside the hall, more casualties as the attackers gunned people down, apparently at random. panic ensued as people ran for the exits. soon, the whole building was ablaze. this is one of the largest and most popular music venues in russia. far from the city centre, security here would have been light.

an easy target for the attackers. translation: i heard gunshots, saw the terrorists come - in and started shooting people. they threw petrol bombs and everything started burning. helicopters were brought in to douse the flames. russia says this was an act of terror. translation: investigators - are seizing weapons and ammunition from the crime scene which are currently being examined. genetic fingerprint and ballistic examinations are being carried out on the evidence and specialists have begun to review recordings from cctv cameras. president putin has reportedly wished the injured a speedy recovery. the authorities haven't yet said whether any of the gunmen are still at large or who they believe is behind this brutal attack. but late last night, a branch of the islamic state group claimed responsibility for the killings. us officials say their intelligence confirms that. and earlier this month,

the us government warned of possible terrorist attacks in moscow, specifically mentioning concerts. the state department, our embassy there, put out a notice to all americans in moscow to avoid any large gathering, concerts, shopping malls, anything like that. the deadliest attack in almost 20 years has shocked the nation. billboards across the russian capital are now showing this simple message — "we mourn." will vernon, bbc news. our russia editor steve rosenberg has this report from outside the concert hall. so, the building behind me is the crocus city hall, and the first thing that you notice when you come here isn't the sight of the building, its the smell. the air is still thick with smoke because the concert hall was burning all night. this was one of the most famous concert venues in russia, but yesterday it became a bloodbath

when gunmen went on the rampage here, killing dozens of people and leaving russia in shock. now, throughout the morning, russians have been coming here, bringing flowers, laying the flowers at a makeshift shrine and trying to comprehend what has actually happened here. and among the people here are russians who saw the news on television and felt they had to come. there are people who had friends here yesterday, and there are also people who were here themselves during the shooting. i spoke to one woman who recounted her nightmare, the nightmare she went through. she told me that she managed to get out and the first thing she did when she got home was to hug her children tight. steve rosenberg there. i want to bring you some new pictures from moscow. people there have been queuing to donate blood for the victims of the attack.

as we've been hearing, it's believed a least 120 people were injured in the attack. it was also reported earlier that the russian national football team would donate blood. the uk's foreign secretary, lord david cameron, is the latest on x, he wrote... we've been hearing from people caught up in the attack, via videos posted to social media. one of the first who published video from inside the hall was a russian blogger pavel shampanov. when the attack started, he recorded this video into his social media. translation: we are at a concert

in the crocus city. _ some kind of shooting is taking place here. a lot of people are running, everyone is shouting. gunfire. screaming. gunfire. someone is shooting here. they are shooting from rifles, they are shooting into people. that was a blogger caught up in that attack on the concert hall. ukraine has denied any involvement in the attack. earlier i spoke to our eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford, who is in kyiv. i asked her what the fsb has been saying about the attack in moscow. this was a long statement from the fsb about the attack, about their theories and their investigation. but the kind of crunch line, if you like, for ukraine came towards the end when this statement said that the suspects,

those suspected of carrying out this attack on the crocus city mall in moscow had then fled the scene and that they were heading towards ukraine. and according to this statement, the fsb said that they were planning to cross the border into ukraine and that they had contacts here on the ukrainian side. now, i'vejust spoken to a spokesperson for military intelligence here in ukraine, and he has called that absolutely absurd. he made the point quite clearly that that area, specifically on the border with ukraine between ukraine and russia, the region that was referred to by the fsb, is absolutely full of intelligence security services, full of military at the moment. there's an ongoing military operation. there is an active frontline in that area. we were on the other side of the border just the last couple of days. there are people fleeing from that border area. so it's an active military area. and he said that to suggest that terrorists fleeing a terrorist

attack would head to specifically that region would suggest they were either idiots or suicidal. so ukraine very quickly dismissing any suggestion that this is linked to ukraine, that ukraine was in any way involved. but certainly since the very beginning, there have been fears here in ukraine that russia would try to point the blame somehow towards ukraine as an excuse for escalating its war on this country, which, of course, has been devastating ukraine now for more than two years. yeah. what did ukraine have to say on this? because i understand a top adviser, had had made a video statement. what did he say in response to those accusations? yes. we heard from the presidential adviser. we also heard from the foreign ministry late last night, as this news was coming in from moscow. there were statements from defence intelligence as well. so lots of very quick statements

from here in ukraine absolutely categorically ruling out any link whatsoever to the attack in moscow. he talked about what he said. he said ukraine is fighting russia on the battlefield and that is where the war will be fought and ukraine says will be won. he also said that ukraine would not be involved in this kind of attack on civilians inside russia. he ruled it out. absolutely, as i say, so did the foreign ministry here. but, you know, there were a lot of people worried because when they were watching that news coming in, you know, the real fear here is that russia is looking for an excuse to escalate things — looking for an excuse — particularly, i think the view here in ukraine is to rally support around this war, to boost support for vladimir putin's war on ukraine, in order, ukraine believes, to get more soldiers to sign up for the cause — in order for vladimir putin to be able to announce a general mobilisation of the population so that he has more soldiers to continue prosecuting his war.

that is the fear, the worry here in ukraine, because, of course, that would mean even more missile attacks, rocket attacks, military activity, which has huge and devastating consequences for people here in this country. and that was sarah rainsford with the view from ukraine. earlier i spoke to bbc monitoring'sjihadism specialist, mina al—lami. she told me who claims responsibility for the attack, and why. last night, the statement was put out by is, it was very brief, it did not have many details, saying why they did the attack at this time against russia, it came from the so—called news agency of the islamic state, it said they carried out the attack, that there were soldiers of the islamic state that were involved and it said they attacked a crowd or crowds of christians, that is how they described it, and they said

the attackers then fled the scene safely, in their words, and that no—one was called killed in the attack, and that no—one was caught or killed in the attack, it did not say how many attackers were involved so that was really the extent of the claim. it did not attribute the attack to any of its regional branches, as you said, is has global branches around the world and there's been a lot of speculation that the afghanistan—focused province branch — which is widely known as isis k — was behind the attack but it's important to say that is itself has not indicated that that branch or any other branch was responsible for orchestrating that attack, it simply put out a general claim of responsibility. what does that mean? they arejust saying it is under the is umbrella, is that what they are saying? they are likely to issue a follow—up claim to detail which branch was responsible.

the way the is media operates is in many cases it attacks outside its area of activity, outside syria, iraq, africa, the so—called news agency of is would put out an initial, very brief and general claim with no details of the branch and then that would be followed with a detailed claim assigning a certain branch. sometimes it willjust mention the country and say for example paris or london, like i said, in cases where it does not have a branch but it is worth mentioning in that region, in russia, is claims to have a branch called the caucasus province branch according to is and it has been active since 2015, i say active, activity is very low with very rare attacks mostly in russian republics like dagestan and chechnya but not in mainland russia. is has carried out a number

of attacks over the years, many years ago in mainland russia but these were very small, low—key attacks, a stabbing here, small attack there but nothing on the scale of the attack we saw yesterday. that was mina al—lami. here in the uk, our main story remains the wellbeing of the princess of wales after she revealed yesterday she is in the early stages of treatment after a cancer diagnosis. our presenter ben thompson is at windsor castle and has more on the story. welcome to windsor castle where, like everyone else around the world, people digesting the news that was made in that statement from catherine, princess of wales yesterday. it was a frank statement, a very personal statement in which she revealed she is undergoing treatment for cancer. also sent a

message of support to others in a similar position, she said, you are not alone. that has prompted messages of support from right around the world but also messages of thanks, particularly from cancer charities for once again someone in the public eye raising the profile of treatment like that. we will talk about some of that sum more in just about some of that sum more in just a moment but first, with the story of the day, here is our royal correspondent daniela relph. my medical team therefore advise that i... personal, direct and vulnerable — a princess as we've never seen her before, speaking directly to the public. this, of course, came as a huge shock. and william and i have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. as you can imagine, this has taken time. it has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. but most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to george, charlotte and louis

in a way that's appropriate for them, and to reassure them that i'm going to be ok. as i've said to them, i am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body and spirits. before the video message, this had been the last official footage of the princess of wales on christmas day at sandringham with her three children, who she is now so keen to protect after going public with news of her diagnosis. back in december, all had seemed well as she spoke to the crowds. thank you so much. that's very sweet of you to come and say hello to us. very happy christmas. three weeks later, she was admitted to hospital for major abdominal surgery. it was in her post—operative tests that signs of cancer were found. last night, buckingham palace issued a statement on behalf of the king. he said he was so proud of catherine for her courage in speaking as she did, and that he remained in the closest contact

with his beloved daughter—in—law throughout the past weeks. he also said that he and the queen will continue to offer their love and support to the whole family through this difficult time. a message too from california. the relationship may still be strained, but the duke and duchess of sussex issued their own statement. harry and meghan said... "we wish health and healing for kate and the family and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace." but perhaps the most personal message of all came from the princess's brother on instagram. james middleton posted a childhood photo with his sister and wrote... "over the years, we have climbed many mountains together as a family. we will climb this one with you too." the clamour for information about the princess's condition has been intense. this footage published earlier this week, filmed by a member of the public, showed her shopping in windsor with her husband last weekend. and this photo released

on mother's day, to ease some of the public speculation, did the opposite, with the princess issuing a statement to say she had made some edits to the image. a turning point appears to have been this thanksgiving service in windsor for king constantine of greece at the end of february. the rest of the royal family were there, but the prince of wales pulled out that morning very suddenly due to a personal matter. we now know this was around the time the princess was diagnosed and began her treatment. it has been an incredibly turbulent few weeks for the family. they now hope the speculation will stop as they spend time privately during the easter break. for now, the princess of wales wants time and space to deal with her diagnosis and recovery. daniela relph, bbc news. that the very latest from our royal

correspondent on what has been a very significant day of oil news. we will follow events for you here in windsor but in the meantime, the other main story that we are following is happening at the rafah border crossing, let's take you there live now.— border crossing, let's take you there live now. the hardship and ain of there live now. the hardship and pain of palestinians _ there live now. the hardship and pain of palestinians in _ there live now. the hardship and pain of palestinians in gaza - there live now. the hardship and pain of palestinians in gaza and. there live now. the hardship and i pain of palestinians in gaza and the obstacles to easing their plight. this morning, i met with injured palestinian civilians and their families at the general hospital in al—arish and was extremely moved by their stories, experiences and all their stories, experiences and all the hardships they have endured and by the generosity and solidarity of the egyptian people. i say again, nothing justifies the horrific attacks by hamas on october the 7th and nothing justifies the collective

punishment of the palestinian people. now more than ever it is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. it is time to silence the guns. palestinians in gaza, children, women, men remain stuck in a nonstop nightmare. communities are obliterated. homes demolished. entire families and generations wiped out. with hunger and starvation stalking the population. ramadan is a time for spreading the values of compassion, community and peace. it is most true that after so

much suffering over so many months, palestinians in gaza marking ramadan with israeli bombs are still flying, artillery still pounding and humanitarian assistance still facing obstacle upon obstacle, fasting with you on ramadan i am deeply troubled to know that so many people in gaza will not be able to have a proper iftar. hearfrom this will not be able to have a proper iftar. hear from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all. a long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other. that is more than tragic, it is a moral outrage. any

further onslaught will make things even worse. worse for palestinian civilians. worse for the hostages. worse for all people of the region. all this demonstrates that it is more than time for an immediate ceasefire, i say it again. it is time for an commitment from israel for total unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout gaza. in the ramadan spirit of compassion, it is also time for the immediate release of all hostages. i also urge every member of the united nations to support our life—saving work led by the backbone of our gaza release operations unrwa. we look forward to continuing to work with egypt to

streamline the flow of aid and deeply appreciate the full egyptian engagement in support of the gaza people. i want to palestinians in gaza to know, you are not alone. people around the world are outraged by the horrors we are all witnessing in real time. by the horrors we are all witnessing in realtime. i by the horrors we are all witnessing in real time. i carry the voices of the vast majority of the world, we have seen enough. we have had enough. we still believe that human dignity and decency must define us as a global community. it is our only hope. it is time to truly flood gaza with life—saving aid. the choice is clear, surge or starvation. let's choose the side of help, hope and the right side of history. i will not give up and all

of us must not give up doing all we can for our common humanity to prevail in gaza and around the world. thank you. studio: you join us here on bbc news as antonio guterres speaking in rafah right on the border with gaza, on the egyptian side, concludes speaking and calling for unfettered total and unfettered access to humanitarian aid for those in gaza. it is time to silence the guns, he said. generations have been wiped out, hungerand said. generations have been wiped out, hunger and starvation is within gaza. it is a moral outrage, he said, that a fully stocked trucks, long lines of trucks on the egyptian

side, are sitting there waiting. a moral outrage, whilst on the other side of the crossing in gaza, there is the long shadow of starvation. so, antonio guterres in egypt, specifically around the rafah crossing, calling for a ceasefire, humanitarian ceasefire, and also for unfettered access to eight. the choice in gaza is clear, he said, either surge in aid or starvation. he also wants the immediate release of all hostages. he has been visiting a hospital, he is meeting with un aid workers and again, speaking and calling for aid to enter gaza and for a ceasefire and the immediate release of all hostages by hamas and the onus on

israel for immediate, total, unfettered access to humanitarian aid for those in gaza. as a backdrop to all of this, of course, is the fact that benjamin netanyahu has announced an upcoming offensive in rafah. he says that it is the only way he can root out hamas. global leaders are saying that any incursion would worsen the catastrophic situation in the town. netanyahu speaking to secretary blinken this week, he was in tel aviv, he said he had the same goals as israel, the defeat of hamas. mr blinken was informing people on x, we have the same goals, the defeat of hamas, however israel needs to find an alternative to a ground

incursion into rafah. tension growing and analysis of the relationship between the united states and israel which is a very firm ally for benjamin netanyahu as they provide a lot of military aid. you are watching bbc news. let's remind you of our headlines here today. at least 143 people have reportedly been killed — and more than 100 injured — following a mass shooting at a concert hall near moscow. 11 suspects have been arrested. the islamic state group says it carried out the attack — a claim backed by the us, which says it warned about a threat. there's been an outpouring of support for the princess of wales, after she revealed she was being treated for cancer. in a video message released on friday, catherine said the disease was discovered after she underwent abdominal surgery injanuary. prince harry and meghan have also sent a message wishing health

and healing for catherine and the family. and in the middle east, the un secretary—general is in egypt visiting the rafah border — to call again for a humanitarian ceasefire. we will cross to windsor because my colleague ben thompson is covering the news of princess catherine and her cancer diagnosis. hello, ben. thank you very much and welcome back to windsor. the weatherjust turning a little and the rain now starting here in windsor but as you have touched on, messages of support coming for the princess after that announcement yesterday that she is

undergoing treatment for cancer. i