a us deadline for israel to improve humanitarian aid access in gaza has expired — without repercussions from the united states. us ambassador to the un, linda thomas—greenfield said — while israel has "taken some important steps" toward addressing america's demands — their actions will be continue to be monitored. last month, us secretary of state antony blinken gave israel an ultimatum of 30 days to ensure more aid trucks reached gaza daily, or risk losing the supply of us weapons. as the deadline expired — the israeli army announced the opening of a new aid crossing into gaza, but un agencies still say israel has not done enough to meet the threshold. the acting head of the un's humanitarian agency has said acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes are being committed by israel in gaza. the deadline comes as israel's president isaac herzog is here in washington, holding talks with presidentjoe biden.

our defence correspondent, jonathan beale, has more details. well, it is 30 days, that deadline has passed since the us issued essentially an ultimatum to israel to deliver more aid into gaza, the key to that was they should step up the delivery of aid trucks into gaza to avoid a humanitarian crisis which aid agencies had been warning about. they wanted the us to see 350 aid trucks going into gaza, and we know that that is nowhere near being met now. at the moment, aid agencies, un agencies are saying there had been over the past month about a0 aid trucks and their situation in gaza, they say, is critical, with the risk of starvation to tens of thousands of palestinians in gaza, which, remember is still under siege by israel.

belatedly you have to say, israel has responded and today they announced more than 100 aid trucks had gone into gaza. they have in the past few days opened up a new crossing into gaza in addition to the fore they already have. it's certainly nowhere near the us certainly nowhere near the us certainly wanted to be. that said i think the us will hold onto that as a sign of progress, so any threat in the us said this was not a threat, but if it was any threat of the us withholding, for example, military aid, which is essential to israel, i don't think that is going to happen. you have to remember about the us's issued warnings to israel in the past, for example, earlier this year, they told the israelis, "don't launch an offensive operation and rafah in southern gaza." the israelis still went ahead and did it. so the warnings from the us are not always heated, but i think the us will be saying the situation is slightly better thanit situation is slightly better than it was 30 days ago.

after the deadline — the us state department said it has no policy changes to announce, but will continue to assess circumstances on the ground. spokesman vedant patel gave a press briefing in the past few hours — take a listen. i would not view it as giving them a pass because, we at this time have not made an assessment that the israelis are in violation of us law. i would not view it as giving them a pass because, one, no one is up here, certainly, i'm not saying that the situation in gaza or the humanitarian circumstances are rosy. it is a very dire circumstance. and what we need to see is we need to see these steps acted on. we need to see them implemented. tonight at the un security council, the uk said — the worst case scenario is now playing out in northern gaza. nick eardley from bbc verify has been looking atjust how much aid has been getting through. boosting aid was the key ask from the united states. well, this is the picture, the number of lorries crossing

into gaza as observed by the un. it was up at 500 a day before the current conflict, but you can see it fell significantly when the conflict started. it went up a bit in the spring. it had fell again down to this record low in october. it's cranked up again in the last few days, but have a look at this line up here. the current level of aid is still far less than 350 lorries a day that the us had demanded. ending the forced evacuation of north gaza, the area that we are highlighting on the map here. we have looked at all the areas where evacuation notices have been issued since the start of october. we can add that here. you can see the vast majority of the reason around 90% of north gaza. just to give you a sense of what that means in practice, this satellite image shows, you can see it here, dozens of tenants near a hospital in north gaza.

dozens of tents near a hospital in north gaza. that images from the 1ath of october. so after the us made its demands. well, this is ten days later. you can see here the tents are gone, there is damage on the buildings nearby. bbc verify has found other examples like this. a group of charities have argued that none of the us demands have been met. the un has said the entire population of north gaza is at risk of dying from disease, famine and violence. in response, the idf said it works to provide and accused hamas of stealing supplies using aid trucks to hide weapons. and we can speak more about the situation on the ground in gaza withjoe english — emergency communication specialist with the aid agency unicef. always good to have you on bbc news. thank you forjoining us tonight. the un says the amount of aid getting into gaza is at its lowest level in a year now. how do you describe the situation?—

how do you describe the situation? �* , . ., , situation? it's quite clearly the situation _ situation? it's quite clearly the situation over- situation? it's quite clearly the situation over the - situation? it's quite clearly the situation over the last| situation? it's quite clearly i the situation over the last few days has markedly deteriorated. it was ignored because my children having to scavenge through rubble and debris and solid waste to find things to eat. that puts them at the risk of waterborne diseases but also disturbing unexploded ordnance, thatis disturbing unexploded ordnance, that is the level ofjet devastation we are talking about. children and families living on next to nothing and families having to watch their children waste away day by day. the uss israel has not breached american laws and israel itself has said, look, this is the fact that aid simply has not been distributed and is also being stolen by hamas. what is unicef and its partners on the ground seem? i unicef and its partners on the ground seem?— ground seem? i mean, we distribute _ ground seem? i mean, we distribute aid _ ground seem? i mean, we distribute aid all— ground seem? i mean, we distribute aid all around i ground seem? i mean, wel distribute aid all around the world of the most difficult circumstances and it's not like we are here to say, oh, we are not going to distribute this aid because it's to propagate it. we are working day in, day

out to reach children and families, so what we are looking at is the situation on the ground. the fact that parents every single day or having to watch their children get hungry get sicker and ultimately for many parents, they are watching their children died in front of their eyes because they are not getting the basic necessities of life. let us reach children and families, let us do the work that we do, as i say, all around the world and the most complicated and complex situations. we know how to to save children's lives. we have to be allowed to do it.- save children's lives. we have to be allowed to do it. what is it at the moment _ to be allowed to do it. what is it at the moment that - to be allowed to do it. what is it at the moment that is not i it at the moment that is not arriving? is it food and water? i mean, one of my colleagues said it best, the needs are absolutely staggeringly huge. they are also so, so simple. it is the basic necessities of life. it is food, it is nutrition supplies, it is safe drinking water, it is shelter. winter is approaching. and the temperatures are going to drop. ultimately at the moment,

manufactured tents are a luxury in gaza right now. many families are sheltering under curtains or other fabric. and these are not going to protect them from cold rain, snow, freezing temperatures, let alone the bombs and artillery that we continue to see falling and taking children's lives. the us pointed to the fact that since that letter was issued, this ultimatum to israel that another aid crossing had been opened. has that had any impact? opened. has that had any im act? ~ opened. has that had any impact?— opened. has that had any im act? ~ . ., , opened. has that had any imact? ~ u, , , impact? we welcome every single extra opening. — impact? we welcome every single extra opening, but _ impact? we welcome every single extra opening, but what _ impact? we welcome every single extra opening, but what can't - extra opening, but what can't happen is it cannot be one open and one closes, one open one closes. it has to be consistent and we have to be able to reach families in these where they have been forced to evacuate, and those who are left behind are often the most vulnerable, so it is elderly commit his children, it is people with disabilities and injuries. i was speaking to you on friday about the fact that when the strikes on residential areas happen, children of the victims, that was friday

evening post on sunday morning, a strike on a residential building and valium, what happened? there two more children killed. it continues to happen and we continue to be warned that this will happen. there has to be in the fighting, that is the only way to save children's lives. i guess my final question she would be what is your message done at this point to the international community as we are hearing? they tried to restart negotiations to reach some sort of cease—fire agreement and they continue to stall. . . , agreement and they continue to stall. . ., , ., , , stall. find a way to bring this to an end- — stall. find a way to bring this to an end. release _ stall. find a way to bring this to an end. release the - to an end. release the hostages, bring about a cease—fire, otherwise the status quo will continue in the status quo will continue in the status quo will continue in the status quo is children starving to death, children being killed by bombardments and ultimately being killed by in action. emergency communication specialist with the aid agency unicef, thank you so much for joining us tonight. all this comes against the backdrop of israel's continuing operations in lebanon —

targeting hezbollah. in just the last hour we've seen these pictures that shows an explosion in the southern suburbs of beirut. earlier in the day the lebanese health ministry said five people were killed in an israeli strike near beirut. the israeli military reportedly carried out nearly a dozen air strikes on the southern suburbs of the lebanese capital on tuesday.and in northern israel, two people were killed by rocket fire. it's been nearly a week since donald trump won the white house for a second time, and the president elect�*s new administration is taking shape. on tuesday, mr trump said he plans to nominate former director of national intelligencejohn ratcliffe to be director of the cia. new york real estate developer stephen witkoff to be his special envoy to the middle east. and to put forward former arkansas governor mike huckabee to be his ambassador to israel. they're the latest in a string of announcements from the president—elect. the wall streetjournal and washington post both report mr trump will nominate south dakota governor kristi noem to be his secretary of homeland security. 0ur correspondent jessica parker has more

details from florida. yesterday we talked about the issue of immigration, people who reflected donald trump's hard—line stance, they talked about during the campaign, plans for mass deportations, of course, i think today, tonight we have may be a bigger broader sense in terms of his foreign policy direction because of appointments he's either made or ones that are being widely muted as well. and i pick out a few areas, and the middle east, unsurprisingly picking people who have been staunch backers of israel. 0n ukraine, people who have may be expressed sympathy or support for kyiv but have also questioned the amount of money going to ukraine and being critical of joe biden�*s approach on that war. and then on china as well, some interesting potential pics. china hawk signalling may be a tougher stance on beijing. so broadly, again, what we are seeing is trump loyalists being rewarded are people who are also willing to reflect his views on key issues. we will get a little bit of change of tempo tomorrow because donald trump will leave his malaga home, which you may not be able to see right now because it's

gotten pretty dark, but it is behind me and head to washington, dc where he will meet with joe biden at the white house, all part of the transition. ——mar—a—lago. of course, it's not a courtesy that donald trump extended tojoe biden back in 2020 when he lost the election but donald trump refused to concede. i think it will be quite a moment when he heads back into the white house tomorrow. we have heard reports from donald trump that he will nominate pete hecht sought to be his defence secretary. he is a former fox news personality coming through here for defence secretary. the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, has resigned after days of mounting criticism over his handling of a long running abuse scandal carried out by a man he knew who was associated with the church.

john smyth subjected around 130 boys and young men to physical, sexual and psychological attacks over decades. the archbishop was made aware of the abuse in 2013 but failed to stop it before smyth died in 2018. todayjustin welby said he felt a profound sense of shame that more was not done by the church of england and that it was clear that he "must take personal... responsibility". 0ur religion editor, aleem maqbool, reports it was a turbulent five days that led to the resignation of the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby. that report criticised the church of england and the archbishop of canterbury for their handling of the case of one of in this case, it was accepting responsibility forfailings in dealing with this man, who abused at least 120 boys. i kept it a secret apart from to my very close family and friends. and the prime minister spoke about it. my thoughts are with the victims who have obviously

been failed very badly. the archbishop apologised for not doing enough to stop the abuse but the many that was insufficient. sadly his position is untenable. i think he should resign. today he announced he would. in a statement he says... the archbishop of york, with whom he's worked closely for many years, said it was the right thing to do, but it had been a difficult time. i admire him for taking this decision, which is not him taking the blame for everything but exercising leadership and responsibility for the failings of the church.

i admire him for taking this decision, which is not him taking the blame for everything but exercising leadership and responsibility for the failings of the church. coming through here for defence secretary. there was what the report calls and active cover—up. by the early �*80s, church officials were informed, but there was what the report calls an active cover—up. in 198a, smyth carried on his abuse in zimbabwe, and later, south africa. we know the archbishop of canterbury was definitely told by 2013, but the abuse continued and was exposed by channel a in 2017. smyth died in 2018, without ever facing justice. it a case that will haunt the archbishopjustin welby who now steps down. it is incumbent on leaders

to show good behaviour for others to follow and this is critically to in relation to safeguarding so it seems appropriate. there is no timeline as to when he will vacate lambeth palace but he says his decision makes clear how seriously the church understands the need to change in the way it handles abuse allegations. aleem maqbool, bbc news. the archbishop of canterbury is the symbolic head of the worldwide anglican communion, which has autonomous member churches across the world, including the us episcopal church. if you live in the uk and have been affected by sexual abuse or violence, details of help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline. some and if you live elsewhere in the world, you can find help| and support at child help line international .org. around the world and across the uk.

this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the police watchdog is looking into the death of a 17—year—old girl, who died after being hit by traffic when she got out of a police car on the m5 in somerset. police say she was being transported to custody but left the vehicle when it stopped and was later hit by traffic on the opposite carriageway. the nhs will start offering an "improved" stop smoking pill to tens of thousands of people in england who want to quit cigarettes. nhs england says varenicline, a daily tablet given over a few months, is more effective than nicotine replacement gum or patches. it works by reducing cravings and blocking nicotine's effect on the brain, while also helping with withdrawal symptoms. sir keir starmer�*s former chief of staff, sue gray, will not be taking up her post as the prime minister's envoy to the nations and regions. she was appointed to the newly—created position after stepping down from her role in downing street. sue gray said then that she risked becoming a distraction, after a series of negative

headlines about her pay. more information on our website. you're live with bbc news. a russian doctor has been jailed for five and a half years after a patient reported her for comments on the war against ukraine. nadezhda buyanova, a paediatrician, was reported to police by the mother of a seven—year—old boy she'd been treating, who claimed she'd made negative remarks about the boy's father, a russian soldier. from moscow, our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. you might have thought this was a dangerous criminal — handcuffed, locked in a cage. but dr nadezhda buyanova was on trial for spreading fake news about the russian army. in effect, for criticising russia's war in ukraine. "it's absurd," nadezhda tells me. "i can't get my head around what's happening to me." there's been huge interest in this case.

huge concern, too, about how it would end for the 68—year—old paediatrician. so the verdict was announced a few moments ago — a prison sentence of five and a half years for comments allegedly made about the war in ukraine. it shows, i think, that for russia now, a war abroad is fuelling repression at home. nadezhda buyanova worked at this moscow clinic. there, a patient�*s mother claimed the doctor told her russian soldiers in ukraine were legitimate targets. the mother, whose ex—husband had been killed fighting in ukraine, recorded an emotional video and then wrote to the police. a denunciation.

it led to the doctor's arrest, trial and conviction. "the sentence is monstrously harsh," the doctor's lawyer, 0skar cherdzhiyev, tells me. "even given what's happening in russia today, "we didn't expect this." but last month, a moscow nurse, 0lga menshikh, was sentenced to eight years in prison on the same charge. that was for two anti—war posts on social media. as for nadezhda buyanova, she's been a children's doctorfor a0 years. now, she's a prisoner. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. ukraine's military says russia suffered a second straight day of record losses in the war. ukraine claimed that on monday, russia suffered 1,950 casualties, defined as deaths or injuries. ukraine said russia the previous day suffered a record 1,770 casualties. meanwhile memorials have been laid fora ukrainian mother and three children, ages ten, two, and two months. they were killed in a russian missile strike on an apartment complex in central ukraine. elsewhere, ukrainian drone footage captured the moment a dam was blown up in the donetsk region. the regional governor blamed russia while pro—russian telegram channels blamed ukraine. telegram channels blamed ukraine. amid heavy losses, russia amid heavy losses, russia

is getting military is getting military support from north korea. support from north korea. its leader, kimjong—un, ratified a defence treaty that requires north korea to come requires north korea to come to russia's defence to russia's defence in wartime, and vice versa. in wartime, and vice versa. nato secretary—general, nato secretary—general, mark rutte, condemned the deal and said the growing military cooperation between russia mark rutte, condemned the deal and its allies poses and its allies poses a threat to global security. a threat to global security. russia working together with north korea, iran and china is not only and china is not only threatening europe, it threatening europe, it threatens peace and security, threatens peace and security, yes, here in europe, yes, here in europe, but also in the indo—pacific but also in the indo—pacific and in north america, and in north america, so we must stand together. so we must stand together. donald trump's re—election has generated some donald trump's re—election has generated some uncertainty regarding uncertainty regarding the us role in nato. the us role in nato. the nato chief met with the nato chief met with french president emmanuel french president emmanuel macron in paris. macron in paris. without directlly mentioning without directlly mentioning trump, mr macron acknowledged trump, mr macron acknowledged the importance of europe the importance of europe

becoming more self—sufficient becoming more self—sufficient in its defense strategy. in its defense strategy. translation: this is - what the us administration rightly expects of europeans in the alliance. for too long, europe has avoided bearing the burden of its own security, believing that it could receive the dividends of peace without any time limit. michael bociurkiw is a senior fellow at the atlantic council's eurasia centre and a former spokesperson for the organisation for security and cooperation in europe. i asked him about the fighting on the ground between russia and ukraine, particularly in the kursk region it seems to be intensifying, russia trying they inflicted a lot out of damage on the russian side, what do we actually know about what is happening in the battle? information is not flowing freely out of that area, not even with what is happening in ukraine, so we rely on television channels and press reports but it looks like the russians are a mess in quite the amount

of manpower and kits and those north koreans you mentioned, and the strategy seems to be to try to flesh out the ukrainians, but they are well dug in, the ukrainians are well—equipped. but resident putin seems intent on getting the ukrainians out of their in this window between the victory of donald trump and inauguration day, so hard to say but i think you would see quite a bit of movement in the next few days. let's ask about the new north korean soldiers, we heard concerns about the russian military msn a large amount of troops, including north koreans, what would it mean for ukraine if they are both third by the north koreans? these troops don't have battle experience, they had to be trained by the russians, and we know what kind of experience they get been trained, so i don't think we would matter much,

but what needs to happen

and before we go — the british writer samantha harvey has won the 202a booker prize. she secured the prestigious english—language literary award, for her novel about a group of astronauts aboard the international space station. harvey's "orbital" touches on topics like grief, desire and climate change. a record five women were in the running for this year's £50,000 prize — that's more than 6a thousand dollars. stay with us here on bbc news. we are back at the top of the next hour. hello there. so far this week, it's generally not been as gloomy. there was some sunshine around for many places on tuesday, but some parts of northern ireland and southwest scotland stayed misty and murky all day. that fog is lifting as cloud comes in, lifting temperatures in the northwest but ahead of it with clearer skies in england and wales away from the southeast,

it's going to be cold to start wednesday, temperatures close to freezing in places and a few mist and fog patches in northern england, the midlands towards the west country, too. those will lift through the morning, sunshine developing. it looks quite cloudy for western scotland, a bit damp to cloud for northern ireland, moving over the irish sea into north west england and north wales, but further south and east we'll hang on to some sunshine — not a bad day. temperatures generally 11 degrees, i think, for england and wales. milder further north, typically 13 in scotland and northern ireland. those atlantic winds bringing in the cloud will push southwards behind that weak weather front overnight — that weather front bringing a little rain first thing in the far southeast. but following on from that much more cloud, so it's not going to be as cold to start on thursday. but sunshine, i think, is going to be harder to find. and in the far north of scotland, there could even be a few spots of rain returning here as well. temperatures going to be evening out because there's more cloud around, so typically

12, maybe 13 degrees. so quite mild, i think, on thursday. high pressure with us at the moment — starting to shrink away a little bit on friday. some stronger winds coming in ahead of this weather front, which will bring some rain into the northwest later on friday. stronger winds ahead of that, mind you. further south, though, we've got lighter winds. there could be some mist and fog patches lifting to give some sunshine, but temperatures across southern parts of england and the midlands, parts of wales, 9—10 degrees. it'll be milder further north with those stronger atlantic winds. and that weather front bringing the rain in the northwest scoots southwards. not much rain on it at all, i think, on saturday, showers following, and then on sunday we could see another spell of rain developing and that'll push its way eastwards, mainly across northern areas. but as it clears away, the wind direction changes and we draw in some colder air. so some big changes on the way. i think through the rest of this week, we're likely to find more cloud around before we see a spell of wet weather over the weekend. but then as that clears away and things turn colder, we're likely to find some snow

in parts of scotland.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. what does it feel like to be a palestinian living under israel's military occupation? the year—long idf assault on gaza, triggered by hamas's october the 7th attack on israel, generates images of death and destruction every day. but the grim reality of news footage, whetherfrom gaza or the west bank, doesn't capture the deeper context, can't flesh out those human stories. my guest is farah nabulsi, a british—palestinian film—maker who wants audiences to see the palestinian experience in intimate, human, emotional detail. but is that possible in the current cl