lam i am live in dublin where vote counting is continuing in ireland's general election although it remains unclear who will form the next government. hello, welcome to the programme. the united nations is pausing the delivery of aid to palestinian refugees in gaza through a key crossing after more food trucks were looted by armed gangs. the relief agency unrwa has used the kerem shalom crossing as the main way of bringing in aid for the 2.3 million palestinians inside the gaza strip. but the head of unrwa philippe lazzarini says the route has not been safe for months and recent attempts to bring in food have failed. he says five food trucks were stolen on saturday, a couple of weeks after an entire convoy of lorries was looted.

we can cross live tojerusalem and our correspondent there nick beake. this is a major blow for the people of gaza. it is, this is a crucial route, probably the route for aid brought into gaza and the un is saying the security situation has deteriorated to the extent they can no longer attempt to make these deliveries. we have heard how in recent weeks they have been failing, notably yesterday when five trucks were looted. you mentioned what happened a fortnight ago, 100 trucks bringing in food were targeted. what is happening is it is criminal gangs spotting when deliveries are coming in, sweeping in, taking all the food being brought, in some cases the palestinian drivers

are attacked and injured. the un says they cannot continue with this. they say israel are to blame because they are creating a siege situation, and the israelis occupying the gaza strip should be responsible for what happens here, and they say a ceasefire would allow the flow of aid, unrestricted, to be able to continue. israel has not responded directly but in the past we know israeli authorities have said they do all they can to facilitate the entry of aid trucks into the gaza strip, and time and again the israelis have rejected accusations from international agencies and others that there is a lack of food, saying there is a lack of food, saying there is insufficient food in gaza. they had previously blamed hamas for taking the aid. that is right. people have been telling the bbc in the past couple of weeks how bad the

security situation is. we had her masts have been bringing back a security force of their own designed to stop some of these raids by local criminal gangs —— hamas. 0ne these raids by local criminal gangs —— hamas. one particular family in gaza said to be operating with impunity while the israelis looked on. others are critical of hamas saying they are the key culprits when it comes to stealing food and israelis have been critical of them in terms of taking supplies. a really difficult situation for charities on the ground, making them work even harder, and they are warning once again, the un today saying the problem in terms of hunger as we move deeper into winter is getting much worse for the 2.3 million seniors in the gaza strip. you say it is the root in, is there any other

possibility, how else can aid getin? there are other routes. by air, and other land routes. the raffle crossing was an important route from egypt —— rafah. if the ceasefire talks will be resumed, it could be that crossing is something discussed and maybe comes to fruition. this is a key artery into gaza which we are talking about today and in terms of when it will reopen or when the un will resume attempts to bring aid in, they say they can't say at the moment but will continue to monitor the situation and resume deliveries when it is safe to do so.- when it is safe to do so. thank ou. let's speak to unrwa

senior emergency 0fficer louise wateridge who is in khan younis in southern gaza. nick was explaining about what you have been saying, but explain it again while you have taken this decision. it is a devastating reality on the ground, what has happened is over the last few months we have had repeated serious incidences at the kerem shalom crossing which has meant we have not been able to facilitate aid in. not only does it mean that supplies do not reach the intended population and people here need everything, but the safety of our staff, truck drivers are being killed, injured, humanitarians trying to distribute this aid and collect aid are in significant danger.

yesterday we didn't receive aid, and the days before. the reality on the ground is this decision does not prevent any aid coming in because we are not having anything to be prevented, it is being looted. what it does do is provide safety to staff risking their lives every day. who are looting the trucks? we had from the israeli government naming hamas for stealing eight, who do you say is doing it? our understanding is that these are criminal activities, criminal gangs. we are not permitted by the israeli authorities to have a permanent base at the border crossing. 0ur base at the border crossing. our knowledge in itself is limited, a lot of these instances happen through the night, on the aid convoys. it is difficult for us to know who is difficult for us to know who is involved but our understanding is as the desperation and criminality

increases since may and when the raphael crossing was closed, these families in the area are making it more difficult and preventing aid from getting in. will you be trying to get aid in through other routes, other possible land routes we will keep doing everything we can. there are two other crossings in the north. unrwa is not permitted to access these crossings. we have a bird that allows a0 trucks in which the israeli authorities provide. after the rafah crossing closing, kerem shalom is the biggest crossing we have been able to use. 1.9 million people are in the southern and middle areas of the gaza strip,

a00,000 are still in the north. with the majority down here, we need the crossings in the south to open and the safest way is through land borders which we need to be opened, and we need the occupying power with their legal obligation to allow safe passage of aid. for that you need a ceasefire i suppose, what are your thoughts in terms of the likely prospect of that? honestly we need everything. i have spent the last few days with people in shelters, makeshift shelters. a95—year—old woman on a soggy mattress, she had one blanket, she barely sit up. travelled down from the north on a donkey cart. people can tell you what they need endlessly, but what

they need endlessly, but what they want is the ceasefire and to go home. every single person i speak to in the gaza strip, all they want is to go home and for the war to end. there needs to keep growing but we need a ceasefire now. thank you for taking the time to talk to us. syria's president, bashar al—assad has vowed to defeat islamist rebels who've captured the second city of aleppo — and are moving towards the capital, damascus. it's the largest offensive against the syrian government in years — and has led to it withdrawing its troops from the city. the islamist rebels have since made further advances on their fourth day of their lightening offensive and are now sweeping south towards syria's fourth biggest city, hama. rebels celebrated in the streets of aleppo. president bashar al—assad — who hasn't been seen in public since the offensive began — has promised to defeat the opposition fighters, describing them as terrorists.

it's the first blow to assad's power or, you know, after decades of battling the opposition, supported by both, you know, russia providing the air force and iran providing militias on the ground, pushing the opposition out and controlling big swathes of lost lands to the opposition. so this is the first time in years that we see the opposition advancing and capturing a big city. it's the second largest city of syria. it's the industrialist capital. and it's also taking the government by surprise, at a time where both its allies are busy. russia is busy in ukraine, and hezbollah and iran are, you know, weakened by israeli attacks both in syria and lebanon. so it's definitely changing

the dynamics on the ground. and, you know, there are lots of diplomatic movements to discuss the situation and find a way to stabilise it. and just talk us through the international reaction to this, in particular from the us and also turkey's role. yeah, this is very important. i mean, we've seen announcements coming from the united states national security advisor today, blaming the fall of aleppo to assad, relying both on iran and russia. but also saying that assad for years ignored peace, a road map that has been presented by the un in 2015 and ignored it, did not adhere to it. turkey also is, you know, believed to be supporting this operation because they have been also calling on assad for talks for years, and he has been ignoring. so it seems that there are joint powers today to bring assad back to the negotiation table to find a solution for syria, but also, most importantly, to deter iran from using the void of iran's presence and hezbollah's presence in lebanon and using syria as a new battlefield

against israel. so this is also a message to the iranians and to bashar al—assad, not to, you know, take advantage of any void in the region and deter iran from, you know, further control of syrian land. georgia's prime minister has denied suspending talks onjoining the european union, as mass protests against his government continue. riot police used tear gas and water cannon for a second consecutive night on saturday in the centre of tblisi, where demonstrators have set up barricades. georgia's prime minister irakli kobakhidze has told a press conference today that opposition leaders and media outlets were lying and that nobody has suspended european integration for georgia, an apparent contradiction of comments he made

on thursday, that negotiations would not take place till 2028. he also said the president will have to step down at the end of her term later this month. salome zourabichvili yesterday restated her refusal to accept the legitimacy of the government, following 0ctober�*s disputed parliamentary election which kept georgian dream in office. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg sent this report from tbilisi and a warning it contains distressing images. as night fell in tbilisi, they were building barricades using anything they could find. people here are angry that the ruling party has suspended georgia's bid tojoin the european union. they believe that russia is pulling the strings. i am protesting against our government who is pro—russian, and they don't want to have any

relationship to europe or usa. and i am here for my freedom, for my future. suddenly, fireworks aimed right at the parliament building. we could see a room inside ablaze, and figures who climbed up to the windows looking perhaps for a way in. most of the protesters i've spoken to here say they won't give up. they will keep coming out onto the streets until they can secure georgia's future in europe. the authorities are clearly under pressure, but so far there is no sign of any u—turn by the government, it seems determined to crack down on defiance on the streets and from one of the government's fiercest critics, georgia's pro—eu president. her role is largely ceremonial and her term due to end in december. but she refused to step down, dubbing

the government illegitimate. do you fear for your safety? i mean, do you think you could be arrested? i think that i'm defended by the people that are there on the streets, so i don't think so. i think that today the ruling party is very isolated, and it will be more and more so. 0ne georgian journalist on tv when this happened. he said he blacked out. translation: i think our citizens are being forced to think, do they want to live in a country where peaceful protest is being punished and where journalists are being attacked from behind when they are speaking about what is really going on. if we want to live in a country like this, so be it. georgia's government blames what it calls violent protests on european politicians

and local agents. on the streets, they say they're fighting for georgia's future. and the battles are daily now. police have once again used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the protesters. steve rosenberg, bbc news, tbilisi. our correspondent in tbilisi rayhan demytrie says the protesters plan to remain on the streets. i am at the protest site, we are about one kilometre away from the parliament building which has been the focal point for clashes between the police and protesters overnight. this is the third night that the protests have continued. they were sparked by the government's decision to put georgia's accession talks with europe on hold. and the protest — they have moved to the street. they are blocking quite an important intersection outside the country's main university. well, with me here is one of the protesters. she has been

protesting for days. can you please tell me how important is this fight that is happening now for georgians? the fight that is happening right now has been going on actually four years, which is our integration in europe. we want to be a democratic country of european union, and we have been fighting for this for years and we definitely do not want to be part of russia who has occupied 20% of our country, who has tortured our people for years and years, and who has never done anything good for our country. everything that we see in this country that has been happening for the last ten years, the improvement is because of the help from the western world, europe and the united states. because of our government today, the united states is cutting relationship with this country. the european countries are not recognising our current government as a legitimate government, because the election has been stolen.

the democratic right of our people to vote and choose our government has been stolen. the constitution has been torn apart because of what this government is doing which is anti—constitutional. that is why we are here, and we will be here until we get back the democratic european country that we are trying to build. in the uk, the masterchef presenter greg wallace has responded to allegations of misconduct while filming the tv show. he stepped aside earlier this week after a bbc news investigation revealed a string of claims of this inappropriate sexual comments and behaviour against him. mr wallace's lawyers have strongly denied that he engages in sexually harassing behaviour. in a video posted on instagram, mr wallace said there had been "13 complaints" from "over a,000 contestants" that he'd worked with in 20

years on the show. i can see the complaints coming from a handful of...middle—class women of a certain age, just from celebrity masterchef. this isn't right. in 20 years over 20 years of television can you imagine how many women female contestants on masterchef have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo? can you imagine? the bbc is facing more questions about its handling of allegations against mr wallace — after emails emerged showing it was warned about him in 2017. the bbc said it would "always listen if people want to make us aware of something directly". here's our culture reporter, noor nanji. aasmah mir taking part in celebrity masterchef

in 2017, but the broadcaster has now revealed she complained to the bbc about remarks allegedly made by the show�*s presenter gregg wallace. in an email seen by the sunday times, a bbc executive, kate phillips, said that his behaviour on set was unacceptable and cannot continue. aasmah mir later sent an email that was copied to kate phillips, saying this must not happen again to another woman. but this week, a bbc news investigation has revealed a string of misconduct allegations against gregg wallace, some of which relate to events after aasmah mir�*s complaint. separately, the observer says a letter containing several claims of inappropriate behaviour by gregg wallace was sent to the bbc in 2022 but did not result in further investigation at the time. on thursday, masterchef�*s production company banijay uk said mr wallace would step away from presenting the show while allegations of historical misconduct were investigated. last night, a cryptic

post, as gregg wallace wrote on instagram. "we are all different." his lawyers say it's entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature, while the bbc says it has robust processes in place to deal with issues if they are raised. noor nanji, bbc news. with me is our culture correspondent yasmin rufo. what's he been saying? and what have you been finding out through your investigations? it out through your investigations? out through your investiaations? , ., investigations? it is important to say everything _ investigations? it is important to say everything gregg - investigations? it is important i to say everything gregg wallace has said he denies all of these allegations, he says he never engaged in any sexually harassing behaviour. on instagram, he says these are women of a certain age. compared to an investigation this does not match up, we have

spoken to women of all ages including juniorfemale workers. he also says it is just masterchef but we have spoken to women across five different shows, one of which was at celebrity masterchef. gregg wallace says there have been 13 complaints out of a000 women he has worked with. actually we have reported as the bbc there have been 13 allegations but there have been more coming out in the papers. the sun newspaper reported three women have supposedly been groped by gregg wallace on the show, very different to what we are reporting which is inappropriate behaviour and comments. and questions around what the bbc knew and when. we heard in 2017 then knew of a complaint. the observer newspaper says there was a letter in 2022 with multiple claims of inappropriate behaviour and there was no further investigation. he is a well—known character, a

well—known show in the uk. a lot of reaction to this story. talk us through it. some huge reaction. in terms of how gregg wallace is responding, we have a clip from chef hugh fearnley—whittingstall. i don't know him well. i have met him a couple of times. he is a very likeable, professional screen presence. i have a very talented chef on masterchef right at the moment and she is doing incredibly well and i have been really enjoying watching her and enjoying gregg wallace's presenting. i think it is likely that gregg wallace has what we might call a bawdy sense of humour. clearly, that has offended people. i think one of the issues is that down the years people have not felt able to tell him when he might want to rein it in a bit and clearly he has crossed some lines. in terms of how he's going about defending himself, i understand the instinct when you feel you are backed into a corner, but i don't

think it is smart to come out talking like that when at the moment he should probably be listening. pa rt part of what he is saying is important, saying gregg wallace mightjust have a sense of humour, something we have seen online in terms of people defending gregg wallace saying he is lavish, making funny jokes. william sitwell, a friend, said he knows gregg wallace very well, he loves to make silly or outrageous jokes but ultimately they are just jokes. in terms of other reaction, gregg wallace has posted again to say in his 20 years of working across shows no member of staff has complained. this doesn't tally with what we know because we have spoken to members of staff as part of the 13 allegations we have reported and we know in 2018 members of staff on a show he appeared on complained about his behaviour to the bbc. it is not tallying

up to the bbc. it is not tallying up with what he is saying compared to our investigation. masterchef is still on air. it is, you can still watch him weekly on masterchef. thank you. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. mild for the time of year, we started in double figures with plenty of clout but things will change as we head into next week, turning colder with a cold northerly wind, a widespread frost, and wintry showers for some. today is day mild, sunshine and showers, especially towards the west. we have seen brighter skies behind his cold front pushing eastwards. remaining cloudy

across the far east. milder air scooped up by a brisk southerly wind which will continue today. sharpest showers in the north and west but also brighter skies. temperatures up to 15 degrees celsius, a shade below where we were yesterday. tonight, it turns interesting in the north and west, hear the wind will turn more northerly. showers will be wintry over higher ground of scotland, sinking southwards into the start of the day on monday. turning much colder across the north of scotland and northern ireland, possibly10 north of scotland and northern ireland, possibly 10 degrees celsius further south in the milder air. that colder air is coming, you can see that on our air mass chart. the whole of the uk turns blue, we will see chilly northerly winds developed. the start on monday

morning, still wintry showers over higher ground in scotland. cloud and rain set to sync southwards into the midlands and south—east england. some brighter skies in northern england, northern ireland and across scotland. again a sharp contrast in temperatures, mid—single figures in the north, double figures further south, a widespread frost into tuesday morning. temperatures below freezing for many. this front pushes in from the west, likely to turn to snow over higher ground in scotland and even at lower levels. staying very cold on tuesday. still chilly on wednesday but temperatures recovering through the week. more unsettled, wet and windy at times on thursday and windy at times on thursday and friday.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the un agency supporting palestinians says it's suspending aid deliveries through the main crossing between israel and gaza because of growing insecurity. the head of unrwa said two recent convoys had been looted by armed gangs near the kerem shalom crossing. syria's president is preparing a counter—attack on the rebel forces that captured the city of aleppo. russia, an ally of bashar al—assad, has carried out fresh air strikes near the city. the georgian pm denies

suspending talks on eu accession, as mass protests against his government continue. irakli kobakhidze said the president must leave office when her term ends this month. she's restated her refusal to accept the legitimacy of the government. masterchef presenter gregg wallace responds to complaints about his behaviour on the bbc show. hello and welcome. watching bbc news. counting has resumed in ireland's parliamentary election. during the first day of counting, 36 of the 17a seats in the dail or lower house were decided. the first preference votes have so far given the fina gael so far given the fine gael party of the prime minister simon harris 10 seats, with his fianna fail coalition partners and the main opposition sinn fein eight seats each.