doubles dead. plus donald trump doubles down on his criticism of nato despite widespread condemnation from american�*s global partners. diplomatic pressure on israel is rising after the israel defence forces intensified strikes in southern gaza overnight. in a joint appearance with king abdullah ofjordan, us presidentjoe biden said monday that israel should not move forward with its planned ground invasion of the city of rafah, unless there is a clear plan to protect civilians. on monday morning, a series of israeli airstrikes there killed at least 67 people, with israel warning of an impending ground offensive. more than than half of gaza's population now lives in rafah. the potential fora ground campaign has sparked alarm from israel's allies, including the united states.

many people there have been displaced, displaced multiple times, fleeing the violence to the north and now they are packed into rafah, exposed and vulnerable and need to be protected. we have also made clear from the start that we oppose any forced displacement of palestinians from gaza. we cannot afford _ of palestinians from gaza. we cannot afford an israeli attack on rafah _ cannot afford an israeli attack on rafah. it is certain to produce _ on rafah. it is certain to produce another humanitarian from — produce another humanitarian from -- — produce another humanitarian from —— catastrophe. the situation _ from —— catastrophe. the situation is already unbearable for over— situation is already unbearable for over a _ situation is already unbearable for over a million people pushed _ for over a million people pushed into rafah since the war started — along with monday morning's airstrikes in rafah, some israeli forces were on the ground, carrying out a successful mission to rescue two hostages held by hamas. fernando marman and louis har spent more than 125 days in hamas

captivity. they're nowjust the 2nd and 3rd hostages to be released through israel's military operations in the past four months. dozens more are believed to still be held in gaza. but the operations to bring home hostages and dismantle hamas have had disastrous consequences for palestinian civilians. the hamas—run health ministry says more than 28—thousand people have been killed in the war in gaza mostly women and children. the un warns the entire country is food—insecure. doctors say disease has run rampant.a ground invasion into rafah risks further devastation because the city's population has sky—rocketed from 250—thousand last year to some i.5—million people in a matter of months. that's an increase of five—fold, and more than half of gaza's population.for more on last night's deadly operation in rafah, and the prospect of further israeli attacks, the bbc�*s lucy williamson filed this report. explosion. last night, israel's army came to rafah.

special forces, backed by airstrikes on homes and mosques. left behind, more than 60 people dead... ..and took with them two israeli hostages, snatched from a second—floor apartment. this, the moment counterterrorist police went in and brought them out. the military vehicle moving rapidly towards the israeli border. inside, theirfirst moments of freedom caught on the units' body cams. 60—year—old fernando marman and 70—year—old louis har were kidnapped from kibbutz nir yitzhak on october the 7th. covered by special forces on their way out of gaza, covered on arrival with love. military operations have so far freed three hostages. relatives say a deal with hamas is still the best way to get the others out.

mentally, they look ok. physically, they look ok. please, be serious and strike a deal. the israeli people needs the deal done. not yesterday, not tomorrow — today. we want it done as soon as possible. we want to go back to our ordinary life. for gazans, ordinary life has disappeared, buried in the rubble of their homes, in the quivering of their children. translation: we were at home when the airstrikes _ were going on. i told my mother that i wanted to use the bathroom. suddenly, all the walls of the bathroom and all the water containers above it collapsed on me. rafah is the next target for israel's army. the war has pushed half of gaza's population south, into this border town. the us has warned an offensive here, without proper planning, would be a disaster. israel is so far

sticking to its plan. the united nations and international actors now face a fateful choice. do they want to save hamas or save palestinian civilians? they cannot stop israel from dismantling the last four hamas battalions in the gaza strip and securing the release of the 134 remaining hostages. the price of israel's war is rising. forfamilies in rafah today, the cost — incalculable. the us is urging israel to consider a potential hostage deal to pause the fighting. israel worries that a deal would mean hamas surviving. but after four months of war it isn't the group's leaders who are dying. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem.

live now to ricardo pires, a communications manager with unicef. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said israel wants to move civilians to areas north of the city. thanks for having me back. any plan that aims to protect civilians needs to start from the premise that they need to be in a safe space, not only protected from artillery or bombs falling from the sky but also protected from disease and other risks on the ground and from the consequences of destroyed infrastructure, a contaminated water, but also having access to toilets that they don't have to share with 700 people.

other life—saving supplies such as medication, food and clean water, so the idea of a safe space goes beyond protection from harm and the horrors of war in terms of weapons and bombs and explosions but also the services they need to access on the ground to stay healthy and to stay alive. benjamin netanyahu has said that he wants to move civilians to areas north of the city. there is more thani million people currently on rafah. would it be possible in your opinion? would it be possible in your oinion? ., ., , , opinion? right now, absolutely not. opinion? right now, absolutely not- where _ opinion? right now, absolutely not. where would _ opinion? right now, absolutely not. where would they - opinion? right now, absolutely not. where would they be - opinion? right now, absolutely| not. where would they be going back to, as we've seen many times over and over in the last few months since the war started, most of the infrastructure buildings, residences, facilities, hospitals have been level down

and destroyed and schools are no longer functioning so any idea the displaced population, and let's not forget 600,000 of them are children who have been moved around many times, even though they might have been injured or possibly lost loved ones and are traumatised, they don't have a place to go back up don't have a place to go back up north, and right now they are being squeezed in a tiny strip of land with a population density twice as high as new york city and feeling the threat, the looming threat of more violence and more military offensive coming their way. we heard about the meeting today between king abdullah and joe biden we heard they were working on a ceasefire deal that would last six weeks, so what would a deal of that length mean for people and civilians in gaza and would it be enough time to get legal —— the needed aid into the

territory?— the needed aid into the territory? we will really continue _ territory? we will really continue to _ territory? we will really continue to call- territory? we will really continue to call for- territory? we will really continue to call for a . continue to call for a permanent ceasefire because six weeks, right now, would be a very big advantage for humanitarian operators to get more supplies in, and it's a matter of life or death for children on the ground again, 600,000 of them are desperate in rafa right now and we've seen it before with high risks of famine and waterborne diseases on the ground and the traumas of war, but what needs to happen right now is a longer pause and ceasefire beyond six weeks, hopefully a permanent one that will allow the un and other organisations to really assess the damage that has been done, not only in infrastructure and homes and facilities and hospitals but also to children's mental health as they have been way

too exposed to these horrors and to recover from that, they will need a lot more time than six weeks, but of course, six weeks of pause is very welcome so we can again start delivering more life—saving services to those in need. ricardo, spokesperson with unicef, thank you very much for joining us. for more i spoke with matthew levitt, director of the reinhard counterterrorism program at the washington institute. matthew, so that —— thank you so much forjoining us and we want to start with the israeli raid overnight, freeing two hostages taken by hamas. that military action also killing dozens of civilians in gaza. in your mind, want to make of the raid on whether israel could be doing more to protect to protect civilian lives during the raids? fin protect civilian lives during the raids?— protect civilian lives during the raids? ., ., �* , the raids? on the one hand it's fantastic to _ the raids? on the one hand it's fantastic to hear _ the raids? on the one hand it's fantastic to hear a _ the raids? on the one hand it's fantastic to hear a couple - the raids? on the one hand it's fantastic to hear a couple of. fantastic to hear a couple of

hostages, elderly gentleman, were freed from hamas captivity. that's what started this all on october seven the other hand, the lives lost within the palestinian community are tragic and there arejust no words. community are tragic and there are just no words. that's the nature of war and i hear lots of people saying surely israel can do more and surely israel can do more and surely israel can be more targeted but it becomes very difficult to do that in such an incredibly dense area where the enemy in this case, hamas, is still pepping this case, hamas, is still popping out at you from all of these civilian locations. if you look and compared to the way the us or british forces engaged in afghanistan and in iraq, the israelis are doing quite well in terms of a combatant against civilian ratio. don't get me wrong, it's never well enough, because every one of these lives is precious and i'm torn up about it. ijust don't know what precious and i'm torn up about it. i just don't know what else can be expected when the israelis still have hostages that are being held. i wish hamas would release them. i hamas would release them. i

want to talk about the potential advanced by the israeli military into rafah. israeli military into rafah. israel has been framing this as a military necessity. in your mind how crucial is this expected advance for the israeli stated goal of eliminating hamas. to be clear, the stated goal needs to be eliminating the hamas structure, not eliminating hamas. ., ,. structure, not eliminating hamas. ., hamas. the global coalition did not annihilate _ hamas. the global coalition did not annihilate the _ hamas. the global coalition did not annihilate the islamic - not annihilate the islamic state, it inflicted a territorial defeat which can be expected here as well. if you stop short of the goals all the way south of the southern gaza strip in rafah you will leave hamas leadership intact. you will leave the last two to four battalions that hamas has intact and the israeli position is after october the 7th that it cannot be allowed to happen. what is unclear and i don't have the answer to either is where the civilians are expected to go next. egyptians

are not allowing them on egyptian territory which is a shame and i understand the concerns but it's the one place they could safely go. there are no other places in the gaza strip so it will move from this to the other neighbourhood and it is populated by five or six times already and is also the case, civilians will lose out and i do believe that the israelis will try to do everything they can to minimise casualties. and it doesn't mean there won't be casualties or mistakes which is why we are also uptight about this potential escalation in rafa which hamas would release the hostages and create an opportunity and they will feel they had to go into rafa. we saw president biden again say today that israel should not go into rafah without a critical plan to protect civilians. find plan to protect civilians. and ou sa plan to protect civilians. and you say that _ plan to protect civilians. and you say that could _ plan to protect civilians. and you say that could be - you say that could be incredibly difficult anyway. it does seem like there is a

growing international pressure from the us and the un, from other groups against this invasion. do you think israel will take that into account? i will take that into account? i do. i think the israelis will take these opinions from its friends around the world into account and i don't know if at the end of the day the decision is going to be what president biden or others want because you can take steps or more steps or even take more steps to try to minimise the visual casualties —— civilian casualties —— civilian casualties but there is no way to guarantee there won't be civilian casualties even in numbers when hamas is firing from within all of these apartment buildings as we saw in the raid, holding hostages in the raid, holding hostages in the raid, holding hostages in the second floor of a regular apartment building, so part of what has to happen is well communicating to the israelis the concern about what a raid into rafah could mean for the large number of civilians there is, what are we

doing to try to impress qatar, egypt and turkey and threw them hammers to have some —— and through them hammers to have some type of temporary ceasefire. the position that hamas laid out for a six week pause was just ridiculous, so we have to come at this from both angles. we have to come at this from both angles-_ both angles. matthew levitt from the washington - both angles. matthew levitt i from the washington institute, thank you very much.— from the washington institute, thank you very much. thank you for having _ thank you very much. thank you for having me. _ labour says it has withdrawn support for rochdale by—election candidate azhar ali after his comments on israel. the party said the decision was taken after "new information about further comments" by mr ali came to light. earlier on monday, labour had defended standing by him as a candidate. it is too late for the party to replace mr ali as its candidate.

our correspondent alex forsyth has more. keir starmer has putting rooting out anti—semitism that the heart of his leadership and says that the party stance is clear on that despite the prospects of what it might do to the party in the rochdale by—election but others say he should have acted more quickly and the fact it took two days before labour changed its position is in fact a sign of keir starmer�*s in decision. and here's a full list of candidates standing in the rochdale by—election, which takes place on february 29th. the winner will replace labour mp sir tony lloyd, who passed away last year. former president donald trump is asking the us supreme court to intervene over his claim he is immune from charges that he tried to subvert the 2020 election. mr trump claimed in his election interference case that he could not be tried

for acts that he said fell within his duties as president. a federal appeals court rejected those arguements, so he asked the top court to pause the ruling while he pursues an appeal. he also indicated that he may request a stay so that he could also ask all of the judges on circuit court to rehear the case. this comes as the former president is doubling down on his controversial nato comments in the last few days, implying the us would not protect allies that fail to spend enough on defence. he posted on his social media site, sayingl it follows his comments at a campaign rally in south carolina on saturday where mr trump said he would encourage

russia to �*do whatever the hell they want�* to nato countries who haven't the controversy comes as ukraine faces mounting difficulties — with the second anniversary of vladimir putin's invasion less than two weeks away. when the war started, ukrainians rushed to sign up to fight — and western aid and weapons poured in. two years later, and there's an ammunition shortage — and problems recruiting soldiers. our eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford reports on ukraine's struggle to find soldiers for the frontline. these are the patrols many ukrainian men now dread. conscription officers like pavlo hunting for draft dodgers. ukraine needs a lot more soldiers, but they're not flooding to the front—lines any more. so some have to be caught and cajoled. pavlo lost his arm near bakhmut in a mortar attack, but he wanted to go on serving his country. so now he looks for other men who can still fight.

translation: there'sl a full-scale war, but it's still like people don't care. we need everyone to come together like they did on the first day. everyone was united then, like brothers. but when i ask about friends who've served with him, pavlo tells me there's almost no—one left from his company. translation: everyone's either injured like me or dead. - when the russians occupied lilia's town, her son was captured and tortured. when sergey escaped, he signed up to fight for ukraine. he's now been badly injured, but his mother's afraid he'll recover and go back to the front. sergey says his friends there need him. translation: while he's in hospital, i can sleep calmly. when he's on the front—line, i can't sleep.

so i really shouldn't say this — i'm glad he's not there at the front. for more on all this, let's bring in former us permanent representative to nato, kay bailey hutchison. i want to ask you about these comments by former president donald trump essentially suggesting he would let russia do whatever they want to nato members who do not meet the spending guidelines. what do you make of what he said and how seriously do you think nato members should take the comments?— members should take the comments? ~ �* ., , _ comments? well, i'm troubled by that kind of _ comments? well, i'm troubled by that kind of language, _ comments? well, i'm troubled by that kind of language, of- that kind of language, of course, and i think most people here are. first, let me say that congress is very much pro—nato and pro—ukraine help.

congress understands that while there are a lot of political factors that are in the cross hairs now that we do believe our european allies should know that we understand the commitments of nato and america as being the leader of nato that we will continue to do that we will continue to do that and there will be a lot of rhetoric and a lot of talk, but you have to look at what it's actually done and what it has done is increase the support for nato and increase the support for ukraine. ambassador, i have to ask you, because i recently saw that you met with jens stoltenberg, the head of the nato alliance and you had a picture of him on your twitter account and he said recently that the comments from donald trump undermine security and put us and european troops at greater

risk. do you agree with him assessment?— risk. do you agree with him assessment? well, i think it's important _ assessment? well, i think it's important when _ assessment? well, i think it's important when you _ assessment? well, i think it's important when you are - assessment? well, i think it's important when you are in - important when you are in international relations that you are careful with your words and the words that he spoke were not careful or thoughtful and not recognising what europe is doing for its own defence. it was said europeans are not paying their dues, and that is not right, they always paid, and the operations of nato goes on. what he's referring to is that europe needs to step up more on defence and they are. they are standing up more now, certainly more after ukraine, because they do understand the consequences because they are on a border with russia, and i think it's very not really comprehending how much the europeans are doing and that is

not acceptable. we need to continue, all of us, to do more. �* more. at the same time, when ou take more. at the same time, when you take a _ more. at the same time, when you take a look _ more. at the same time, when you take a look at _ more. at the same time, when you take a look at the - more. at the same time, when you take a look at the nato - you take a look at the nato spending numbers, and this is interesting, from 2023, the figures show that 19 of the 30 member nations, including france, germany, norway, are below the target of 2% of annual gdp spending on defence which is what the former president was referring to. so is there anything there you can agree with with donald trump where he says, look, there were some funding in touche —— issues when it comes to the alliance?— alliance? absolutely, and i think brazier _ alliance? absolutely, and i think brazier -- _ alliance? absolutely, and i think brazier -- previous i think brazier —— previous presidents have said the same thing both republicans and democrats and have urged europe to do more for its own defence spending and what has happened is, they are, they are doing well. yes, we need to all be doing the 2%, but 2% should be

the floor now. we should be looking at three or 4% with all of the chaos that is going on in the world, especially right now with russia invading ukraine, having invaded ukrainian 2014, crimea, and then georgia before that in 2010 and now we are also facing other bad actors like north korea, iran, look at the proxies of iran and what they are doing in the middle east and then you are looking at china, which is toying with trying to take away some of the business that taiwan has had and hong kong, so this is not a world that is serene. it is in a lot of turmoil and we need to be careful with the words were used and we need to be allied. the main thing i would say tonight is we need to be allied

together with our european allies and asia—pacific allies and the allies we have in the middle east so the culture of freedom is what prevails here. and we must be united to do that. ., and we must be united to do that. a , and we must be united to do that. , . that. kay bailey hutchison, former us _ that. kay bailey hutchison, former us representative l that. kay bailey hutchison, | former us representative to nato, thank you very much. that's all we have for this hour. stay tuned. plenty more news coming up at the top of the hour right here on bbc news. hello. we had a sunny start to the week, but tuesday is going to be very different for many of us. extensive cloud, outbreaks of rain and drizzle, but it is going to be relatively mild, and indeed this is the outlook for the next few days. now, let's have a look at the big picture across our neck of the woods. weather systems gently streaming in from the southwest and the jet stream is generally

just to the south of us. so the air hasn't been all that mild over the uk. but in the next few days we will see these warmer air masses streaming in almost from the subtropics. so temperatures are expected to rise, of course, not to subtropical values, but it will be milder. anyway, here's the early morning forecast, then. some wintry showers in scotland, pretty chilly as well, with a touch of frost in the highlands. and then the further south you are, the less cold it'll be in the morning. so around, say five or six degrees celsius in the south of england. tuesday's weather map shows this weather front approaching. it's a warm front. so behind it, we've got that warmer air streaming in pretty much from the azores. and that means extensive cloud across many parts of south western britain initially, then that weather front will basically move sort of north and eastwards through the course of the day. outbreaks of rain will come and go. almost impossible to say at what time. it's just going to be a pretty overcast and dreary day across the bulk of the uk apart

from scotland here. in fact, some sunshine and a little bit colder. and then into wednesday it looks as though that weather front will move a little bit further north into scotland. so yes, clouds will increase eventually later in the day on wednesday in southern scotland, eventually the lowlands, too. but to the south, itjust stays cloudy, rainy. you can see the winds are coming in out of the southwest, not particularly strong, but noticeable on coasts. and look at these temperatures, up to 14 degrees in yorkshire, still a little bit colder the other side of the weather front in scotland and the northern isles. you can see that slightly colder air there just in the north of the uk. and then the outlook, so this is really for the rest of the week into the weekend, and even into next week. it's a general trend here for these milder air masses to sweep in off the atlantic. so pretty stable temperatures, maybe as high as 16, but generally around 13 or 14 in the south of the country. closer to single figures, around average, in the north of the uk. bye— bye.

heightened security in india's capital. and we look at how

unemployment is likely to impact voters in indonesia. police in delhi have imposed a month long ban on public gatherings ahead of a planned march on the indian capital on tuesday by thousands of farmers. farmers from more than 200 unions plan to converge on the city on tractors reminiscent of the protests in 2021. we now go to mumbai. memories still fresh from the protests in 2021. what the farmers want and how has the farmers want and how has the government responded? the government responded ? essentially, the government responded? essentially, the farmers are demanding minimum support prices they get for their