also on the programme, ukraine 5 first lady — olena zelenska — appeals for further military support for her country — and warns russian aggression will spread like a virus unless the west stops it opec comes under heavy criticism at the cop climate negotiations in dubai, after calling on its members to resist any plans to phase out fossil fuels. when i listen to the smaller islands in my ear and in my heart, and i hear about this opec letter, i'm deeply concerned about it. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. a senior un official has warned that half of population of gaza are now starving, as israel continues its assault on the territory. the world food programme's deputy director, carl skau, says nine out of ten people are not eating every day. israeli tanks are reported to be advancing slowly towards the centre of khan younis,

as intense battles continue in southern gaza. there are reports of house—to—house fighting in the city. it comes amid fierce criticism of the us, for vetoing a united nations security council draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. the palestinian president mahmoud abbas said the veto made the us complicit in what he described as war crimes against palestinians. the us envoy to the un said a ceasefire would be dangerous and unrealistic. these are the latest pictures from the israel defense forces, showing fighting in the jabalia refugee camp in the north of the strip, which is still surrounded by israeli tanks. people there say they've been without food and clean water for several days. forgive me, these are not from the idf. this is a live feed we are getting of the israel gaza border, just gone six o'clock. the blackness of the sky.

from jerusalem, hugo bachega sent this report and a warning it does contain some distressing images. at the nasser hospital in khan younis last night, there were so many casualties after an israeli attack, doctors say they lost track of how many had arrived. hundreds, the director told us, many were brought in already dead. inside, chaos. residents say these people were wounded after several houses were hit in an air strike. children were again among the injured. this morning, another strike and more destruction, just hours after a un resolution calling for a ceasefire was rejected by the us, saying the goal should be to destroy hamas forever so there could be lasting peace. this resident was clear in his view of who was to blame for what is happening. "when america vetoed the ceasefire at the un, it was a veto on the people who are dying in shelling day

and night with american weapons," he says. in the jabalia refugee camp to the north, the shops at the local market are closed and graves are being opened. the war doesn't stop even for people to bury the dead. the humanitarian situation is dire and getting worse. prayers unable to alleviate the suffering. no aid has reached un shelters, with thousands of displaced people in the camp, residents say. today the israeli military released this footage of what it says shows hamas using a un—run school in northern gaza to launch attacks against its soldiers. the un says it cannot access the area to try to verify the claims. israel has long accused hamas of using the population of gaza as human shields, and says a ceasefire now would only benefit to the group, which is still holding more than 100 hostages abducted in israel.

hamas took hostages from the israeli people but they also took hostages some of the innocent citizens in gaza, who suffer. we have to get rid of this government and make sure that the citizens of israel and the citizens of gaza will not suffer from this administration. back at the nasser hospital, relatives gathered this morning two more than loved ones. as the fighting continues, more people are being killed and the suffering of survivors is getting worse. israel says it is taking steps to protect civilians in gaza but the world is asking is it enough? hugo bachega, bbc news, jerusalem. i asked our diplomatic correspondent paul adams in jerusalem about the fallout from the vetoe of the resolution at un security council. i mean, obviously, israel is relieved that it was not isolated. that its steadfast ally, the united states, has bought it some more time. i think that is probably how it

will have seen that because this does come at a time when us officials are starting to sound increasingly impatient with israel's actions in southern gaza, but obviously not impatient enough to make an expression of that at the united nations. as for the palestinians, as you can imagine they were deeply disappointed by the way the vote went. mahmoud abbas, the palestinian president, said this this decision will haunt the united states for years to come and he regretted an opportunity had not been taken to prevent this crisis from escalating into what he called a religious war that threatens the entire world. clearly, the terms under which the un secretary—general called this vote were very much with that notion in mind, that this has the potential to spread beyond the boundaries of gaza to ignite the passions throughout the region. and as far as the palestinians

are concerned, they weren't surprised that the united states vetoed the resolution. there is a long history of the united states doing that when it comes to resolutions on israel. but they are still dismayed nonetheless. bring us up—to—date with the latest on the ground in gaza? a senior un official warning that half the population of gaza is now starving? yes, we don't have any way of verifying that, but clearly it is somewhat in keeping with the messages coming out from aid agencies in the last few days. they sound increasingly desperate about their inability to handle a fast escalating humanitarian crisis, a crisis which surely they can't keep up with. israel's military is conducting operations at a pace that the aid agencies simply are unable to match. we are seeing more and more people displaced, more and more people now huddled out in the open in many cases, both in the middle part of the gaza strip,

and also in the south. then those pockets in the north where there is still fighting around gaza city, where those people are essentially completely cut off. it was interesting today, there was a report from the israeli military of fighting in beit hanoun, in the far north—east corner of the gaza strip, close to the israeli borderfence. israelis might be slightly surprised to learn that here we are two months into this war, and still hamas have the ability to engage in battles with the israeli army in a place like that. it shows that even after all of the that has used against hamas over the past eight, nine weeks, it is still capable of putting up a fight in multiple places. i spoke to richard hecht, a spokesman for the israeli

defensive forces about the situation in gaza and reports of an israeli hostage who was killed in crossfire. these are dire times, tragic times, also for our people and for the gazan people. and we are focused on hamas. very important to say that. we are doing everything we can to get civilians out of harm's way. we don't have any other alternative. if you are focused on hamas, why, according to one senior un official, is half the population of gaza starving? well, i would take these details with a pinch of salt. we are doing everything we can, and again we are opening more crossings, more trucks, to move them into the gaza strip, so that people who are moving to the south and do the humanitarian areas... but aid agencies have said nowhere near enough trucks have entered at any point during this war? we are doing everything

we can to get as much trucks as possible inside the gaza strip. again, we are not fighting these civilians. these are dire times. we have also, our civilians have had to leave their communities, not only in the south but the north. our focus is not on the gazan people. it is tragic, it is hard, any death to a civilian is painful, but we don't have an alternative. there isn't a single thing that could be done to get more aid to innocent civilians? there is nothing more that could be done in your eyes? we are trying to bring up the capability of trucks. we are probably opening next week and another checking point to upscale the entry of trucks into the gaza strip. again, we have to check the strokes going into make sure there is no equipment that can arrive to hamas. aid agencies working on that say they are world leading experts, they do this day in, day out, they know about the checks that need to be done, they do it

and they can do it. and the other point is there are other aid agencies who wanted no tie at all between aid entering and a ceasefires. are they right on that? i don't understand the question. i will say that again, lewis. we are doing everything we can to upscale the entry of aid into gaza. i have heard that a lot of that aid is not going to the right people. i even heard a gazan civilian are talking about how it is going to hamas. i would remind you that a lot of their leadership are sitting in five star hotels and looking at the suffering of their people and putting them in the line of fire. we are not fighting these people, lewis. ok, i want to ask you a couple of specifics to try to find out what is going on. sahar baruch, an israeli hare hostage is believed to have been killed in gaza. claims that this was a result, or came after an israeli operation.

is that true, do we know? again, when they talk about hamas and how cynical they are, we saw this horrific movie, again, you can talk about how they don't have capabilities, they have the electricity and the means to make these horrific movies that we saw. i cannot make the connection between the two. we're focused on doing everything we can to get the hostages out and we will keep doing that until we get all of our hostages home. joining me now is sari bashi, programme director at human rights watch. thank you for coming on the programme. thank you for coming on the programme-— thank you for coming on the programme-_ i i thank you for coming on the i programme._ i want thank you for coming on the - programme._ i want to programme. thank you. i want to start by asking — programme. thank you. i want to start by asking about _ programme. thank you. i want to start by asking about events - programme. thank you. i want to start by asking about events at i programme. thank you. i want to | start by asking about events at the united nations security council in new york. the us are vetoing that

draft resolution for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. what is your reaction? i humanitarian ceasefire. what is your reaction? . ., reaction? i am concerned that providing _ reaction? i am concerned that providing weapons _ reaction? i am concerned that providing weapons as - reaction? i am concerned that providing weapons as well - reaction? i am concerned that providing weapons as well as | providing weapons as well as diplomatic cover to the israeli military, the us government risks complicity in atrocities. the israeli military has been engaging in collective punishment against palestinian civilians in gaza, including by wilfully impeding humanitarian relief supplies. that is a war crime. it has also been conducting its warfare in wareham is correct or ways that flout international humanitarian law protections for civilians. if the united states continues notjust arming the israeli military, but also blocking any kind of security council resolutions, that would call on the israeli military to respect international humanitarian law, it risks that. ,, international humanitarian law, it risksthat. ,, risks that. the us has said israel has a right _ risks that. the us has said israel has a right to — risks that. the us has said israel has a right to defend _ risks that. the us has said israel

has a right to defend itself. - risks that. the us has said israel has a right to defend itself. and | risks that. the us has said israell has a right to defend itself. and if that means taking out hamas, presumably, that is what it is doing? presumably, that is what it is doinu? ., ., ., presumably, that is what it is doing? international humanitarian law allows the _ doing? international humanitarian law allows the israeli _ doing? international humanitarian law allows the israeli military - doing? international humanitarian law allows the israeli military to i law allows the israeli military to conduct its warfare against fighters, gets people engaging in combat. it does not allow the israeli military to conduct its warfare against civilians. i heard the comments of the israeli military spokesperson. there are very specific things that should have been done two months ago and that can be done immediately to help fulfil the israeli military. the israeli military needs to open up its own commercial crossings into gaza, as it has done in all previous hostilities, to allow the full panoply of humanitarian laid into gaza. greg mackey military unit. it has to allow fuel in subject to inspection and monitoring. and its troops have an obligation as the occupying power in gaza to actively deliver humanitarian aid to all

parts of gaza, north, middle and south. �* ., ., i. parts of gaza, north, middle and south. �* ., ., , ., ~' south. and what do you think the international _ south. and what do you think the international pressure _ south. and what do you think the international pressure is - south. and what do you think the international pressure is to - international pressure is to achieve, for example, those three aims that you would like to see the idf carry out? can the us, canada uk, other countries, persuade, in your eyes, israeland uk, other countries, persuade, in your eyes, israel and the to do that? i your eyes, israel and the to do that? ., �* 4' your eyes, israel and the to do that? ., �* ~ �* , your eyes, israel and the to do that? ., �* ~ �*, , ., that? i don't think it's 'ust a question i that? i don't think it's 'ust a question offi that? i don't think it'sjust a question of persuasion. - that? i don't think it'sjust a question of persuasion. the j that? i don't think it'sjust a - question of persuasion. the united states and the uk are both arming the israeli military. they should suspend military assistance and other arms transfers until such time as the israeli military obey international humanitarian law. that is notjust persuasion. that is a very clear message of what needs to happen. the united states government has been saying it wants to protect civilians but has refrained on calling on the israeli military to take the specific mechanisms necessary to do that. look, i share richard's concerns about the israeli civilians unlawfully being held by

hamas and other palestinian groups. those civilians need to be released immediately and unconditionally. the reason is because international humanitarian law protects civilians. whether they are israeli citizens or palestinian civilians. we can't be collective about which civilians we care about. collective about which civilians we care about-— collective about which civilians we care about. ., ~ i. ., _, ., care about. thank you for coming on the programme- _ care about. thank you for coming on the programme. thank— care about. thank you for coming on the programme. thank you. - two people have been arrested in central london as a march calling for a ceasefire in gaza made its way through the capital. officers say one man was arrested for carrying a placard which made comparisons between israel and nazi germany, and was held on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence. a second person was detained over another placard near parliament square. hello from the bbc sport centre. a big win for liverpool in the premier league to bring you in a moment... let's get to the ongoing games first.

manchester united are losing against bournemouth. they fell behind to a dominic solanke a goal. it is still 1-0. half dominic solanke a goal. it is still i—o. half an hour to go untilfull time in the matches. brighton currently losing to burnley at home. sheffield united a goal up against brentford. and it is 1—1 between wolves and nottingham forest. a huge game in an hour, aston villa at home to arsenal. earlier, liverpool jumped above arsenal to go top of the league, after beating crystal palace 2—1. once again they didn't make things easy for themselves, falling behind to a jean—philippe mateta penalty after the frenchman had been fouled. but liverpool have gained the most points from losing positions in the premier league this season. that stands at 18 points now, after mo salah levelled with his 200th goal for liverpool in all competitions. palace had jordan ayew sent off shortly before that. substitute harvey elliott struck the winner in the 91st minute. liverpool bossjurgen klopp was full of praise for salah and his achievement. a very special number

for a very special player. and, yeah, really pleased for him that's off the shoulder. these kind of things, we are all human beings and when you are close to something, the mindset changes for a little bit at least. so, this goal is vital for us today, super important. he is always a threat and that's why he has these numbers. as all eyes turn to villa park in just over an hour's time. aston villa, the league's in—form side, hosting arsenal — themselves hoping to return back to the top later. villa beat champions manchester city earlier in the week, with unai emery taking on his former side looking for their 15th home win in a row. we have to be happy and we have to be focused. and the match on wednesday is finished. we enjoyed at that moment with our supporters in villa park. but now, we have to focus 100% on the match tomorrow. and again, it's a big challenge, a great moment. but very focused aid our

professional work for tomorrow. it's great what unai i and the coaching staff have done, the way they have turned things around, the way they play. yeah, they will be a really tough opponent. it's a great place to go, one of my favourite grounds. a very english ground, great atmosphere to play football. it is going to be a big chance for us. in the bundesliga bayern munich are struggling against eintracht franfurt — the champions are currently 5—1 down with about with around less than 10 minutes left in the game. bayern are currently second in the league behind leaders bayer leverkusen. one other football story to bring you — fifa have confirmed three bids to host the women's world cup in 2027. germany, belgium and the netherlands have submitted a joint european bid, while mexico and the united states have also teamed up. brazil is the only country with a sole bid. the final decision will be made through an open vote at the next fifa congress in may.

south africa also had hopes of hosting the tournament but withdrew their bid last month. in tennis, the home favourite nick kyrios says he won't take part in the australian open next month for the second year in a row because of ongoing injury concerns. the australian has missed all four majors this year, because of various injuries. in fact he has played just one match on the atp tour this year. kyrgios said he really wants to get back to playing at the top of his game, and needs a little more time. and in the past few minutes england women have beaten india by four wickets in their second t20. the win seals a 2—0 series win. you can get more on that by going to our website for the latest. that's bbc.com.sport. ukraine's first lady, 0lena zelenska, has warned russia's aggression against ukraine will �*spread like a virus' unless it's stopped. mrs zelenska has called on western countries to support her country's war effort, amid a stand—off in congress over funding for kyiv�*s military. in the two years since russia s invasion, ukraine has relied on billions of dollars

from its overseas allies. she was speaking to the bbc�*s laura kuennsberg. what would you say to american politicians right now who are arguing about whether ukraine should get more money? what would you say also to our viewers who might think it has gone on for a long time, it doesn't look like ukraine is able to win, maybe there needs to be a different way of trying to work this out? translation: | think i today there is a problem with the world in general. we are used to the world appearing calm. in fact what we have been saying for the past two years, is that the aggression, if not stopped, it spreads like a virus. it starts a chain reaction that doesn't stop. there's fury among some countries at the un climate summit in dubai, after the oil cartel 0pec urged its members to block any deal targeting fossil fuels. france's energy minister says she's

stunned after 0pec — the organisation of the petroleum exporting countries — urged its members to reject any proposal at cop28 to phase out fossil fuels. spain's ecology minister has called the move disgusting. 0ur correspondent carl nasman is in dubai and has been speaking to delegates at the conference about the dividing lines and the focus of today's talks. there's lots of anxiety on one side, at least analysts believe, in terms of the oil producers. they are clearly worried that we may get some strong language and a final text about a phase out or face down off fossil fuels. 0n the other side, i think there is some anticipation and a little bit of hope. you know, those statements are coming from these documents that appear to show 0pec nations urging their members to vote against any strong actions against fossilfuels, but then again you have a coalition with 100 countries are urging that this text should have some language about a fossil fuel phase—out. those are negotiations happening in the room just to the side of me. today the focus is on the effects of climate change on nature,

and to talk more about that we have rita el zaghloul, director of the high ambition coalition for nature and people. thank you for stopping by. tell me about that coalition. what does it mean to do? the high ambition coalition is a coalition of now 118 countries that are really calling for increasing the protection and conservation of land and ocean by 30% by 2030. so mainly as of today we have only 17% of our land protected and only 8% of our ocean protected. science tells us that we really need to accelerate action and we really need to move and increase to 30% by 2030 so this coalition mainly works on getting countries together and we are very happy that today, on nature day, we have our latest member, which is china, whojoined the high ambition coalition. there is a pretty big deal, having china join, isn't it? of course. they are one of the most diverse countries, the also hold

the presidency of the convention on the biological diversity, so it is incredibly good to have them on board. we need to have that ambition. those milestones you're hoping to hit in terms conservation in nature, obviously many people would love to say, ok, look, it's important to conserve nature, it's beautiful, we love to enjoy it, but it's also crucial when it comes to climate change, right? of course. protecting and conserving natural areas such as forests and wetlands act as carbon sinks, absorbing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. by conserving important ecosystems that also contribute to carbon sequestration and to climate change and mitigation. i know... sorry, please. with those efforts, what we really want to do is try to align the two conventions. we cannot work in silence any more. we only have six years, this is what we have set out with our different international agreements, be it to the sustainable development agenda or other climate agreement or now the global biodiversity framework. so we need to align our global goals.

i know that you are also involved with an initiative called 30 by 30. you are leading its implementation around the world. tell us about that goal. what does 30 by 30 stand for? 30 by 30 is basically protecting 30% of our planet's land and ocean by 2030. as i mentioned before, we need to scale up and really accelerate the action and for the high ambition coalition, what we have done is for the last three years we have been calling for the adoption of this goal. it has been adopted, it was adopted last december in montreal at the cop15 of the convention on biological diversity, but now we need to act very fast. we only have six years. so, from the high ambition coalition for nature and people, we have created some tools to support countries in the implementation of this goal. rita el zaghloul, director of the high ambition coalition for nature and people, thank you for coming to speak with us. that 30 by 30 goal one of many on the table here at cop28, and the focus today on nature, conservation and the effects, of course, on climate change.

an image of the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, taken in wales has been named as a winner in the 2023 northern lights photographer of the year awards. matthew browne has travelled to iceland to see the northern lights, but it's his picture taken 10 minutes from his west wales home that has won him the award — something he's described as bonkers. hello. well, so far it's been an awful day across many parts of the country. heavy rain, strong winds. and this is the outlook for the next few days. further spells of wind and rain with some quieter gaps in between. i think there will be at least a little bit of sunshine. here's the satellite picture. and you can see propelled by a powerfuljet stream is today's weather system that's actually storm elin moving across ireland and the uk and behind

it is the next developing storm, storm fergus, which will impact ireland on sunday. so here's the forecast then for the rest of the day. the bulk of the rain has cleared out into the north sea by this stage. but curling into the centre of the low is this area of rain across northern ireland, the irish sea, into northwestern parts of england, gales for many coastal areas and inland too. but i think the strongest of the winds will be around this part of the british isles. so 60/70 mile an hour winds, certainly some coasts of lancashire, cumbria, very, very, very windy here through the course of today and into the evening. but eventually the winds will die down as decaying by this stage, storm elin pulls away and then we're in between weather systems. actually, the winds are going to fall light. there could be some mist and murk forming. and then early in the morning, we've got this next weather front moving into northern ireland, wales, the southwest linked to storm fergus, which is centred here.

so the strongest of the winds will actually be moving into western parts of ireland. so not too many impacts from the wind i think for us on sunday, but certainly some rain spreading across the uk. and then actually you can see a clearance here with some brighter weather or clearer weather i think by this stage towards the end of the day. so sunday into monday, one low pressure moves away and guess what, into monday and tuesday, there'll be further lows heading our way and so far has already been a very wet december. so the ground is just so soaked at the moment. just further rain on the way. now monday's actually looking a little bit quieter. there will be some sunny spells on the way. temperatures between seven and around 12 degrees celsius. here's the outlook over the next few days. the weather sort of chopping and changing from bright weather to rain to cloudy skies. some sunshine again, a bit of everything really on the way. bye bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: a senior un official has warned half the population of gaza are now starving, as israel continues its assault. the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, has accused the united states of being complicit in war crimes, after it vetoed a un security council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. israel has been moving its tanks towards the centre of khan younis in the south of gaza. most of the population

has now fled to coastal areas or towards rafah, further south 0pec, the oil producers' organisation, has been heavily criticised at the un climate summit negotiations in dubai. a letter has been leaked from the head of 0pec calling on members to resist any reference to phasing out fossilfuels. ukraine's first lady — 0lena zelenska — tells the bbc that ukrainians will be left to die if western countries don't continue their support for the country. now on bbc news, newscast. it's that time of year. chris mason gives his verdict on the official christmas tree in trafalgar square. how did i get into this last year? what was it? by using the word girth. that's how you got into it. yeah, i was sort of perhaps gently critical, wasn't i, ofjust kind of how stick thin the christmas tree was. that gift from norway that stands

in trafalgar square. i reckon this year's is better.