island of garbage". hello, i'm carl nasman. israel says it intends to ban the un agency for palestinian refugees, unrwa, from operating in the country — a move which could severely impact the agency's ability to provide aid in gaza and the west bank, under a law passed late monday by israel's parliament, the knesset, unrwa is to be banned from any activities in israel and ejected from its headquarters in annexed eastjerusalem. the israeli government has repeatdly accused unrwa staff of involvement in the attacks of october seventh and of diverting aid in gaza. the move will also ban contact between unrwa and israeli government officials. co—operation with the israeli military — which controls

all crossings into gaza — is essential for unrwa to transfer aid into the territory. it is the main un organisation working on the ground there. unrwa's boss, philippe lazzarini said the measure would only deepen the suffering of the palestinian people. we'll hear more reaction from unrwa with our guest in a moment. but first — several nations have also condemned israel's decision, including the uk and germany. here in the us, the state department's spokesperson said the us is urging israel not to pass the law. as far as we're aware to this date the government hasn't supplied any evidence to unrwa, which they should. if they want unrwa to take action page just by evidence. there is an important role that unrwa plays that no one else can play right now. if unrwa goes away you will see civilians, including children, babies not be able to get access to food and water and medicine that they need to live for that we find

that frankly unacceptable. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, welcomed the move, posting on x — "unrwa workers involved in terrorist activities against israel must be held accountable. since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in gaza now and in the future. " the agency has repeatedly denied being involved in terrorism. david mencer is a spokesman for the israeli government. he spoke earlier to my colleague, caitirona perry. the problem with unrwa is number one only employees actually took part in the october seven massacre. not just a few rotten apples but widespread support amongst

unrwa for hamas. we always say in israel that unfortunately, unrwa is a front for hamas. they constantly defend them. secondly, so many of the unrwa facilities which should have been for ordinary gazans like schools have been found to store weapons and serve as a coverfor store weapons and serve as a cover for hamas channel networks. always remember that the unrwa headquarters sat right above the hamas computer server farm. right above the hamas computer serverfarm. this organisation server farm. this organisation unfortunately serverfarm. this organisation unfortunately is nothing but trouble. it doesn't help gazans and we need an organisation from the un that does. there is no evidence of unrwa being on top of control centres with that we have no independent... we don't have any independent verified evidence of that. i any independent verified evidence of that.- any independent verified evidence of that. i can happily share that _

evidence of that. i can happily share that with _ evidence of that. i can happily share that with you. _ evidence of that. i can happily share that with you. of - evidence of that. i can happilyl share that with you. of course. but that's _ share that with you. of course. but that's coming _ share that with you. of course. but that's coming from - share that with you. of course. but that's coming from the - but that's coming from the israeli government. crosstalk we can't verify that independently. that's coming from your government. on part of the staff members, the investigation that still on bear has found that there are nine staff members unrwa says whether it may be evidence if authenticated and cooperated it said that could indicate that they were involved in those october seven attacks. joining me live is william deere, director of unrwa's representative office in washington. what s your reaction to this move and what kind of effect will this have on your unrwa s ability to operate in the region? first, thank you for having me on. thanks to the united kingdom government for its support at this moment. the

boat result was an unexpected but it style good back still kind of a dark day for humanitarians working all over the world. these situations to instances, the legislation has passed. if the government implements the legislation it's going to devastate the humanitarian response in gaza. it's going to have a major impact on the west bank because we will no longer be able to educate almost 50,000 boys and girls club. we will have to close our 43 health centres and stop providing social support to about 250,000 palestinians in the west bank. it also sets a precedent, you really can't forget this, it sets a precedent. it's going to be a model for other nations to use whenever they want to eliminate the un voice that they may find to be inconvenient.— to be inconvenient. unicef calls unrwa _ to be inconvenient. unicef. calls unrwa indispensable, irreplaceable, it laid out many

of the operations that unrwa doesin of the operations that unrwa does in the region. if this is implemented who or what do you think will fill in those gaps? we're not sure there is a plan b right now. if this legislation is implemented it is going to be up to the united nations general assembly to decide how we're going to go forward here. the truth is, you just hit upon it, we're the backbone of the humanitarian response. we're the warehouses, we're the truck network, we're the staff to say for example during the polio vaccine campaign in gaza recently, but with the staff of inoculated most of the children. the issue is, the legislation stays can't be contact between unrwa and israel. if that comes to pass it ends what we call

de—confliction. we will be able to move in gaza without being subject to possible attack for the international staff will be able to get visas any longer, will be able to get work apartments for our national staff. if you can imagine, the supply chain is going to fall apart. supply chain is going to fall a art. ~ . ., supply chain is going to fall a art. ~ ., ., , ., , apart. we heard in a previous interview _ apart. we heard in a previous interview some _ apart. we heard in a previous interview some of _ apart. we heard in a previous interview some of the - apart. we heard in a previous. interview some of the criticism of unrwa coming from a spokesperson from the israeli government saying there is "a deep connection between the terrorist organisation hamas and unrwa, ." terrorist organisation hamas and unrwa, other members say they simply cannot put up with this relationship here. what is your reaction to those claims and what israel is saying the reason why they pass this bill? first of all the real rationale is the idea that by removing unrwa from the region the issue of palestine refugees somehow goes away. of palestine refugees somehow goes away-— goes away. there were some re goes away. there were some pretty stark _ goes away. there were some

pretty stark claims _ goes away. there were some pretty stark claims they - goes away. there were some pretty stark claims they are l pretty stark claims they are and there was an investigation found nine workers had possible links to the october seven attack. , ., ., attack. they were removed from theirjobs- _ attack. they were removed from theirjobs. sure. _ attack. they were removed from theirjobs. sure. absolutely. - theirjobs. sure. absolutely. remember, we acted swiftly and decisively when israel brought those concerns to our attention. we fired the people involved. the secretary general launched in investigation using the highest investigative body of the un, that is the result you just referred to. an independent outside review was conducted of how the agency handles neutrality is that what it actually said was unrwa does more in the space than any organisation. it also gave us 50 recommendations to do better. we immediately adopted them and we're in the process of implementing them. so these accusations are to say the least overstated. i heard in

the discussion with your reporter from the israeli spokesperson, a lot is accusations without proof. we have about — accusations without proof. we have about 30 seconds. there's been some vocal pushback to this move by the united states, by the united kingdom, what would you like to see done by those two nations when it comes to its relationship with israel in this move here? to to its relationship with israel in this move here?— to its relationship with israel in this move here? to be clear, unrwa wants _ in this move here? to be clear, unrwa wants the _ in this move here? to be clear, unrwa wants the hostages - unrwa wants the hostages return. we want a cease—fire. we want to be able to get humanitarian goods into gaza safely and at scale. if the uk and the us continue to work along those lines it would really be appreciated. william deere, really be appreciated. william deere. the — really be appreciated. william deere, the director _ really be appreciated. william deere, the director of - really be appreciated. william j deere, the director of unrwa office in washington, dc, thank you for your time.

meanwhile, a top member of the israeli team negotiating the release of hostages has resigned. the israeli defence forces said general oren setter had worked tirelessly to secure their return, but israeli media say he quit because the talks were at an impasse. talks are ongoing in the qatari capital, doha. israel has dismissed a draft plan by cairo, which would begin with a two—day pause in hostilities to pave the way for a longer—term ceasefire. hamas said it was studying the proposal to exchange four israeli hostages for some palestinian prisoners. and in lebanon, the health ministry says 60 people have been killed in israeli attacks on the bekaa valley. the local governor called the attacks the most violent in the area since israel escalated the conflict against hezbollah last month. the eastern bekaa valley is a stronghold of the group. earlier on monday, israeli air strikes on the coastal city of tyre left 7 dead. the latest figures from the health ministry say israeli attacks have killed more than 2700 people in the past year.

the nato military alliance has confirmed that north korean troops are supporting russian fighters in ukraine. in the us, the pentagon estimates that some 10,000 troops have been deployed to eastern russia. intelligence from south korea suggests north korean soliders are in the kursk region, where ukraine has an advantage. moscow has not confirmed or denied these reports. it's thought that in exchange for kimjong un�*s help, russian president putin will send pyongyang military technology, and help north korea evade sanctions imposed by western countries. in response, the us says it will not impose limits on ukraine's use of american weapons if north korea joins the fight. the announcement follows pleas from ukraine to lift restrictions on long—range missile strikes. nato secretary general mark rutte said russia also recieved ballistic missiles and millions of ammunition rounds from north korea.

he called it a serious escalation and dangerous expansion to the war in ukraine. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has more on the reactions from kyiv. president zelensky is currently in iceland where he is meeting scandinavian leaders. what is tamer saying, listen to south korea. they've been saying north korea troops are joining russia's invasion of our country. the west, nato needs to listen as well. we have the chief of nato confirming as well that north korean troops are indeed in russia now and could it's not be on the front line sooner than expected. that ukraine is calling for more sanctions on pyongyang and moscow to try and stop its operation from building. in terms of the troops themselves, the estimates range from between two and 12,000, a proportion expected to be

specially trained troops. it's not as simple as logging them into russia military. it's not clear how they will be deployed. it's interesting because on the western side western allies, the us have been wary of this wars footprint spreading. russia's strengthening relationship with north korea does just strengthening relationship with north korea doesjust that strengthening relationship with north korea does just that on the other side. here we have south korea, which is farfrom impressed with north korean soldiers getting battlefield experience potentially, gaining intelligence on western weapons with two which sold for us will be used on itself. south korea is looking at what he can do it's considering sending lethal weapons to ukraine. a real policy reversal. and will the west have to calibrate around that? what we're hearing from the pentagon is there will be no new restrictions announced on missiles provided to ukraine and what hits inside russia, that includes potentially,

hypothetically on north korean soldiers. the picture is building. the calls are billed to action or building. in terms of the battlefield itself i don't think we will see a step change in dynamics outside of what russia is doing. these are interesting geopolitical times as we approached the us presidential election. the bbc has been speaking with alexander vindman — restired united states army lieutenant colonel and former director of european affairs for the united states national security council. we asked what north korean support says about putin's strategy going forward. it is diminished access to resources frankly epic is more of a messaging tool. it's a message that he wants to send that this is not a stable conflict that there are a risk that this could blow up and be a bigger regional or global conflict. the message that he wants to send is this is not ——

something that will blow up in his face on one of the consistent miscalculations he is made in this war. south koreans could step in, provide significant material aid. they are very advanced technologies the europeans won't back off, nato will back off. once we get ourselves straight in the us, we're on the precipice with either greater support to ukraine or a complete withdrawal. we will be able to play a much more significant role also. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. sir keir starmer has been preparing for his government's first budget. the prime minister said the country had to �*embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality�*. this is not 1997. when the economy was decent, the public services were on their knees. and it's not 2010 where public services were strong at the

public finances were weak. we have to deal with both sides of that coin. these are unprecedented circumstances. but the budget the chancellor will deliver on wednesday will prevent devastating austerity in our public services. and prevent a disastrous path for a public finances. that's the reality of what would happen if we had stuck to tory spending plans it's why we had stuck to tory spending