president biden�*s handling of the israel—gaza war could hurt his chances at re—election. we begin with the crisis facing the un agency for palestinian refugees. several countries have paused funding for unwra the latest to halt aid being germany, its second largest donor. eight others, including the us and the uk have suspended funding to the agency known as unrwa. this comes after the agency announced it sacked several staff members over allegations they were involved in the october 7th hamas attacks. the head of unrwa, philippe lazzarini, expressed shock at the suspension of funding, saying the decision to withhold those funds threatens the lives of people inside gaza who depend on unrwa. let's take a closer look now at unrwa's role in gaza.

the agency says it spends most of its funding — 54% — on education, including building and running schools in gaza, followed by health and support services. it also provides emergency relief assistance, and — since the recent conflict began — shelters displaced palestinians. unrwa is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. pledges to the agency totalled more than $1 billion in 2022. the us, germany, eu and sweden were the agency's largest individual donors that year, contributing 61% of its overall funding. for more on the situation, i spoke to bonnie glick, a former deputy administrator of the united states agency for international development under the donald trump administration. they have terminated those contracts before the investigation was even completed. is that enough

action in your view? oh, that is not enough action at all. unrwa, as chris said, has as its mandate and as you laid out, education, hospitals and healthcare, but what has been uncovered through the last 113 days, since october 7th, is a vast system of tunnels that hamas has built using assistance dollars that have come from donors, including through unrwa, to build this hundreds and hundreds of miles—long tunnel system that they are holding hostages in and that they are using for their commanding control. unrwa denies that. yes, they deny that. can i read you other statements from unrwa in relation to what has happened. philippe lazarrini says any employee involved will be held accountable including under prosecution, condemnation in the

strongest possible terms of the abhorrent attacks on october 7th. he went on to demand the release of hostages. do you believe the statement? i don't believe the statement. do you think he is lying? i think he is disingenuous. it has taken him until the moment of having his funding cut off for him to come out and condemn the attacks on october 7th, and for him to say that we will investigate what have been allegations for years and years against unrwa and its operation. unrwa has never shown any support for the attacks of october 7th. not publicly — yet. on tuesday this week there will be a hearing in congress where the un watch is being called as a witness to testify under oath that 3000 named employees of unrwa, in a telegram message system, all named, all with employee id numbers, all laid out, have been cheering the efforts of hamas, cheered and publicly supported the october 7th massacres.

unrwa denies all of these accusations and have also written letters to the state department, congress, saying there are safeguards in place to protect against some of the things you have laid out, some of the accusations against them. it is really important to be clear about that. it is also worth saying that we are talking about a few employees here, those are the ones that evidence was brought forward from israel and yet they have 13,000 employees in gaza. so, should the whole organisation be tarnished in that way by these few employees? look, under the trump administration, we cut all aid to unrwa. this is not something that has never happened before in the history of time.

we cut all aid because it is actually illegal for the united states to fund unrwa because the palestinians support a programme of �*pay to slay', where terrorists who have killed israelis and other civilians are paid lifetime salaries while they are in prison, or theirfamilies are paid annuities in perpetuity. in march 2018, the us congress passed the taylor force act in a bipartisan manner, which makes it illegal for the united states to fund... can i just say the biden administration did not agree with that assessment, that is why they started funding unrwa again. so, i also really want to get to this point which is, taking everything that you have said into account, as well as these denials, it is extremely difficult to get this assistance to palestinians in gaza. they are facing a very serious food crisis. the war has meant there

are many with no shelter, food, medical assistance. who is going to give that support, if it is not unrwa? a very simple question to answer. all of this can be ended when hamas surrenders and every single hostage is released. so should innocent palestinians continue to suffer because of this? with no humanitarian aid? there are six american hostages currently being held in gaza by hamas. hamas could be turned over by gazan civilians and hamas leaders can surrender, put down their arms and release all of the hostages. then the situation changes radically but until that moment, there cannot be any changes. sorry for interrupting — we are running out of time, but the icj has ordered israel to provide more humanitarian assistance to the palestinians in gaza and they have one month to report back. you think israel should ignore that order, palestinians should

not receive, not only additional humanitarian aid, but whatever assistance they were getting from unrwa up until now? the international court ofjustice has proven it is a kangaroo court, that it even took up the issue that south africa presented to it of this being an israeli genocide. and at the end of the day, the genocide and the genocidal intent comes from hamas. and they have stated explicitly, including all of their leaders, that this will continue, october 7th was a start. it will go on and on and on. but you don't think there should be any differentiation between the civilian lives — because kamala harris has said too many innocent palestinians have been killed in this conflict. you disagree. can ijust add, 100 un workers have also been killed, more than 100, more than any other conflict. tell me this — did israel ask to be attacked on october 7th?

the answer to that is no. the responsibility of this lies 100% with hamas, including any pain and suffering befalling the palestinian people in gaza. 100% of that responsibility, as the white house has said, resides with hamas. all right, bonnie glick, thank you so much for your time. we do appreciate it. that is bonnie glick who worked under the donald trump administration. for more on unrwa's funding being cut amid gaza's humanitarian crisis, i spoke to omar shakir. he's the israel and palestine director for human rights watch. omar, thank you so much forjoining us. omar, from your perspective, do you understand why these allegations would be so severe that governments have decided to cut funding to unrwa? the decision to cut funding to unrwa is shameful. these are serious allegations but the un responded to it exactly the way one would

respond to serious allegations. they immediately opened an investigation, they terminated the contracts of these employees, even before the investigation. in fact, countries around the world have praised unrwa's response to this attack. to cut funding — unrwa serves more than 5 million palestinians. there are more than 1.7 million displaced palestinians at unrwa shelters. literally their lives hang in the balance and unrwa is providing critical support. that governments have cut funding is akin to collective punishment — punishing not only an institution that has 13,000 employees in gaza, but the hundreds of thousands, the millions that depend on unrwa for theirfood, their education, for basic humanitarian aid. there is no justification for that decision. omar, more than 1200 people were killed on october 7th.

more than around 240 people were taken hostage. several members of unrwa are now being investigated for their involvement in those attacks. unrwa has found there was enough credibility in those accusations that they have terminated their contracts and are investigating it. what else would you expect governments to do? what do you expect unrwa to do? action has to be taken, doesn't it? you have to distinguish between individuals and institutions. the institution, as soon as they became of allegations, acted as any would in that situation. the october 7th attacks were heinous, they involved war crimes, human rights watch and other groups have documented that. unrwa has condemned that. the minute they became aware of them. they investigated those accusations. we're talking about the heinous potential actions of 12 employees. i mean, we're not talking here about a policy of an institution. your previous guest immediately went and talked about issues and not relevant to the matter at hand.

and missing the story. just yesterday the international court ofjustice found it plausible that israel is committing genocide, in part because of their deprivation of critical aid and food to civilian population of gaza. unrwa is one of the few outlets that people in gaza have to get any assistance. and on the heels of that, not hours later, governments are now not cutting on aid to a government that plausibly could be committing genocide. they are instead cutting funding to the agency providing critical support for them. there is no justification for that. to be clear, israel has vehemently denied any intention or any actions involving genocidal intent. would you agree though that israel has been arguing that the numbers, the anecdotes, the quotes coming out of unrwa need to be severely questioned? look... cross talk one moment... talk...

considered here the evidence. omar... they found the course plausible. it wasn't a ruling on merits, that will take years, but they put in place critical measures to protect palestinians from genocide. the story here is not unrwa. unrwa exists because palestinians were kicked out of their homes orfled in 19118. you have 70% of gazan population that are refugees. unrwa could be disbanded the day that refugees have the rights to return to their homes that they were expelled or fled from in 19118. then unrwa does not need to exist, but as long as the palestinians refugees needed, in part responsible for the entire situation, has a duty to ensure they have school, that they have... cross talk we're running out of time. you are right to really differentiate between unrwa and innocent palestinian civilians.

my question to you is, can you understand why unrwa's credibility might be shot now that this is being investigated ? unrwa is one of the only a few sources we have about what is going on in gaza. israel has been questioning that information for months. what, what credibility does unrwa have now moving forward? this has to be in the context of a years—long campaign against unrwa. under the trump administration, there were campaigns to stop them. this is an effort to use these serious allegations against 12 as part of an attempt to undermine unrwa. the reality is the white house and many others question the death toll coming out of gaza and we have news reports from this week that the israeli intelligence services themselves rely on the death toll from the local authorities in gaza. this is not a question about were information is coming from. we know there is a catastrophe. the international court ofjustice recognise that. our focus needs to be on action to end those grave abuses, not to cut funding

to one of the few institutions providing vital support. it is heinous and has no justification. right. and of course there is a severe humanitarian crisis continuing to unfold in gaza. thank you for your time. that was omar shakir. saturday marks international holocaust remembrance day, and survivors laid flowers at the auschwitz concentration camp in poland, to mark 79 years since its liberation. in total, nearly six million europeanjews were murdered by the nazis during the holocaust. well, earlier i spoke with dana arschin. she's the granddaughter of a late holocaust survivor and she works as a holocaust storyteller for the holocaust memorial and tolerance center of nassau county. i want to ask you, it is impossible to ignore that this is happening after the events of october seven, 1200 people

killed at least and 240 taken hostage. what are the emotions you are feeling today?— you are feeling today? thank ou so you are feeling today? thank you so much _ you are feeling today? thank you so much to _ you are feeling today? thank you so much to you - you are feeling today? thank you so much to you and - you are feeling today? thank you so much to you and to i you are feeling today? thank. you so much to you and to the entire bbc team for having me and recognising this day. i interview holocaust survivors interview holocaust survivors in person every week and when they hear about what is happening, the rampant rise of anti—semitism, they are horrified because it brings so many emotions and for me as well as the grandchild of a survivor. we are seeing what was reminiscent of prewar nazi germany in the 1930s when we were seeing a rise in anti—semitism all over europe. my anti—semitism all over europe. my grandfather said even before the war when he was a young boy in poland, he couldn't walk on the sidewalk, that his non—jewish neighbours would say to him pigs walk in the street so it is terrifying, especially for the survivors. my grandfather was an auschwitz survivor and this day, holocaust remembrance day also

marks the 79th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz though it is an extra meaningful day for me and my family and it is frightening and all we can do is educate and all we can do is educate and speak out and that is what i am trying to do every day. and the sba has riot that may want against the rise of hate crimes after the events of —— the fbi. after the events of october seven. what made you decide to dedicate your work telling your grandfather's story and the story of so many other survivors? my story and the story of so many other survivors?— other survivors? my father is my inspiration. _ other survivors? my father is my inspiration. he _ other survivors? my father is my inspiration. he passed i other survivors? my father is i my inspiration. he passed away on december 23just a my inspiration. he passed away on december 23 just a few weeks ago at 101 years old and i always felt like it was my obligation to keep his story alive because i would not be here if it weren't for him and i know that. he had so many close calls and every day he made the decision to live or die. he watched people in auschwitz who ran to the electric fence to take their

own lives because they were so miserable and they wanted to kill themselves before the nazis could do it their way and every day they met —— he made a decision to live so i dedicate my life to this work because i feel like i have to do. i was a news reporter for a long feel like i have to do. i was a news reporterfor a long time in new york city and i had a wonderful opportunity at my last station to be able to create a holocaust series and i went around the tri—state area in new york and connecticut interviewing survivors and i got such positive feedback on network and people could see my passion and i started to think that i kind of only to do that and i was exploring different opportunities and i rode up a pitch and i sent it to a local holocaust museum and i said i want to become your first ever storyteller. i want to become your first ever storyteller-— storyteller. i 'ust want to say i am so storyteller. i just want to say i am so sorry _ storyteller. i just want to say i am so sorry for— storyteller. i just want to say i am so sorry for your - storyteller. i just want to say i am so sorry for your loss i i am so sorry for your loss especially since it is so recent and the fact that he has passed away amidst this wore white now —— this wore right

now. —— war. what did he say to you? now. -- war. what did he say to ou? ~ . . , now. -- war. what did he say to ou? ~ . ., , . , , now. -- war. what did he say to you? what was incredible is my grandfather. — you? what was incredible is my grandfather, i— you? what was incredible is my grandfather, i always _ you? what was incredible is my grandfather, i always had - you? what was incredible is my grandfather, i always had him l grandfather, i always had him in my —— near me right now but then they moved down to florida during the pandemic but i had interviewed 101 year old survivor over the summer and she was as a knife stop i thought she would live forever and she passed away a few weeks later. that day i was like you know what? i'm supposed to see my grandfather in december but i feel like i my grandfather in december but ifeel like i need to my grandfather in december but i feel like i need to see my grandfather in december but ifeel like i need to see him soonerso ifeel like i need to see him sooner so i booked a trip to visit him and i flew out the morning of october seven and i had no idea obviously what was to happen that day stop i had both this weeks earlier and i woke up to find my husband saying i think israel has been attacked and we couldn't comprehend what was happening and i was with him in october 17 florida and he was trying to grapple with what was going on and all he kept saying was that

the dues will persevere. we have been through this over and over again and he felt like we were going to be strong and fight. we did shield him from what was happening. to the extent, we really didn't want to bring around that trauma so i don't think he fully understood the death toll and the severity of the conflict but he was in assisted living but he was in assisted living but he was horrified. but he always felt like the jewish people have always become stronger as a result of being attacked over and over again and i think that was his hope for the future.— for the future. i'm very sorry for the future. i'm very sorry for your— for the future. i'm very sorry for your loss. _ for the future. i'm very sorry for your loss. thank- for the future. i'm very sorry for your loss. thank you - for the future. i'm very sorry for your loss. thank you for l for your loss. thank you for sharing that with us especially today. sharing that with us especially toda . . ~ sharing that with us especially toda . ., ~ ,, sharing that with us especially toda. ., ~ . sharing that with us especially toda. . ~ . ., today. thank you so much for havin: today. thank you so much for having me- — let's turn to some important news around the world. colombia is appealing for international aid as it battles dozens of forest fires burning across the country. parks and trails in the colombian capital, bogota, have been closed because of wildfires.

for four consecutive days, hundreds of firefighters and volunteers have fought the blazes tearing through the mountains above bogota, some armed with little more than water bottles and face masks. britain's king charles is staying in hospital for a second night, after a procedure for an enlarged prostate. queen camilla visited her husband at the london clinic, where the princess of wales is also staying following abdominal surgery. the king is said to be doing well following the procedure. turning now to the race for the white house. the next republican primary for the 2024 presidential nomination is still a few weeks away, and the two remaining candidates — former president donald trump, and former un ambassador nikki haley — were both out campaigning on saturday. president trump held a rally in nevada, just a day after he appeared in a manhattan court where he was ordered by a jury to pay writer ejean carroll more than $80—million for defamatory statements. and nikki haley campaigned in her home state

of south carolina — hoping to salvage her longshot bid for the presidency by turning it all around in the primary there next month. president biden is also on the campaign trail, already looking ahead to a general election where the democratic incumbent could face some headwinds. a wall streetjournal piece reports that senior aides within his administration are worried that the president's support for israel amid the war in gaza could hurt his re—election prospects. for more on all this, i've been speaking to wall streetjournal white house reporter sabrina siddiqui. could you explain what his aides are worried about and what they are urging biden to do about it? we what they are urging biden to do about it?— do about it? we have seen in recent weeks _ do about it? we have seen in recent weeks president - do about it? we have seen in| recent weeks president biden has been disrupted at many of his events by pro— palestinian activists, at one of his campaign events in virginia this past week, it was almost a dozen times also, that he almost struggled to deliver the

speech. we are hearing a lot of anger among young voters, black voters, a lot of the constituencies that they need to support the president in november so what the aides are worried about is that i think that these voters are necessarily going to break the former president trump but what they are worried about is what if they �*s stay home or vote third—party to how do they bring them back into the fold and try and respond to this anger and frustration they are seeing. i anger and frustration they are seeina. ., ., , , anger and frustration they are seein. ., ., , , ., seeing. i want to bring up a ole b seeing. i want to bring up a pole by cbs _ seeing. i want to bring up a pole by cbs and _ seeing. i want to bring up a pole by cbs and this - seeing. i want to bring up a pole by cbs and this is - seeing. i want to bring up a l pole by cbs and this is about the joe pole by cbs and this is about thejoe biden�*s handling of the war and they found that 39% approve of his handling of the war and 61% disapprove of it. could you explain that general sentiment among the population? i do think that president biden

has low approval ratings across the board so we need to take that into account when you look at any one issue but the challenge for president biden is the majority of american voters still do support israel and believe according to most of these polls that israel is taking the appropriate action to defend itself but within the democratic party, that is where you are seeing this growing rift. we have had a pole in the wall streetjournal nearly half wall street journal nearly half of wall streetjournal nearly half of democrats thinks israel's actions are disproportionate and you see more sympathy for the palestinians and the israelis when you look at the poll within the democratic party. including young voters that are not enthusiastic about his campaign. is this yet another issue that could cost him? some aides say this war is going to look very different in november and there is time but of course i think because there is this level of anger, is that this concern and i think that is becoming more and more

salient within the campaign that on top of the lack of enthusiasm and dissatisfaction with their choices, is this something that really hurts the president's re—election prospects? is this something president biden could have predicted? he steadfastly wants to protect israel, an ally of the united states was not how have jet democrats generally felt about that support for israel? , ., . , israel? the democratic party i think is supportive _ israel? the democratic party i think is supportive of- israel? the democratic party i think is supportive of israel. think is supportive of israel in an overall sense and that hasn't changed. i think that the challenge here is first of all it took a little bit of time for president biden and his administration's tone to shift in terms of speaking more empathetically toward the palestinian people and being a little bit more sharp in their criticism of israel's conduct in this war and the need to minimise civilian casualties but also i think the biggest problem really is that the people who are angry about gaza, whether it is aber of all muslim american voters, young voters, others, they don't want a shift in tone, they want a

shift in policy. they want the president to embrace a ceasefire they want to at least condition israel. they certainly want the administration to stop approving these arms exports to israel as well but haven't really gone through congress. through all of the appropriate oversight. these are all the criticisms they are facing and i don't know, i mean, a lot of the advisors i talk to when they appointed a shift in tone, when i speak to these voters and activists, i don't know that a shift in tone is enough to win them over, what they want again is a shift in policy and it doesn't look like they are going to get that. that is all from washington. - are going to get that. that is all from washington. see i are going to get that. that is| all from washington. see you tomorrow. hello there. saturday brought quite a bit of sunshine to england and wales. a dry day for many, and a lovely end to the day here in north somerset. further north, though, for northern ireland and scotland, the day turned out to be quite windy and we did have a fair bit of cloud coming in off the atlantic, associated with the jet stream pattern. well, thisjet stream pattern

for sunday is going to be bringing a very mild air mass across the uk and we could well see some exceptional temperatures across northern areas of scotland through sunday afternoon, as we will see in just a moment. before we get there, though, the southerly wind at the moment is bringing occasional patches of drizzle to coast and hills for scotland and for northern ireland, although many areas will stay dry and have a dry start to the day on sunday. mild across the northwest. we've got the cooler air across england and wales. a few mist patches to start the day on sunday. quickly clearing, and then a lovely morning for most of you. into the afternoon, though, a cold front will bring a spell of rain to northern ireland and western scotland, and some very strong winds working into the hebrides and the north—west of the highlands. 60mph, maybe 70mph, gusts here, but on the other side of the mountains, helped on by the fern effect, we could see temperatures get boosted all the way up to maybe as high as 16 celsius — well above the average for this part of the world. and the uk all—timejanuary

temperature record stands at 18.3 celsius, so 16 wouldn't be that far away from that. although we don't see those dizzy heights across england and wales, it is going to be a mild day nationwide. now, looking at the weather picture into monday, we keep the mild air across england and wales, but further north, the air�*s getting colder across scotland and northern ireland. between the two, we have got a band of rain. it looks like being quite wet across this area, with 20mm to 40mm of rain. could see a few flakes of snow over the highest hills of the southern uplands. colder weather pushing back into scotland and northern ireland. i say colder, actually, temperatures are coming back closer to average. but across england and wales, still very mild. temperatures could reach 15 degrees in the warmest spots. heading into tuesday, that area of low pressure this is working away. a ridge of high pressure follows in for a time from the west, so the cloud will thin and break and many of us will have a day where the weather will improve and get brighter with a bit more in the way of sunshine coming through. temperatures near average across northern areas, still on the mild side for east anglia

and southeast england. the rest of the week ahead, often quite wet and windy at times in the north, dry and bright largely in the south. bye for now.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme.

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