civilians have been killed in gaza as a civilians have been killed in gaza as a consequence civilians have been killed in gaza as a consequence of civilians have been killed in gaza as a consequence of those bonds and other ways in which they collapsed centres we made it clear that if they go into rafah, i am it clear that if they go into rafah, lam not it clear that if they go into rafah, i am not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with the cities and deal with that problem. we will continue to make sure israel is secure in terms of their ability to respond to attacks. defense secretary lloyd austin said wednesday the us is reviewing weapons deliveries to israel after it paused a recent shipment over concerns it would invade rafa h. biden administration officials have warned for months that the president is opposed to an israeli ground invasion rafah without efforts to protect more than 1.4

million palestinians sheltering there, most of whom are already displaced from other parts of gaza. and following developments from washington is our us state department correspondent tom bateman. what we know is that there was a pause as the administration has described it on one consignment of weapons from the americans to the israelis that was put in place last week. this is on a consignment that includes a batch of 2000—pound bombs, among the most destructive munitions, air dropped musicians western military is hard and capable of wiping out multiple buildings at the same time. israel's argument having those as it needs to attack hamas below and above ground but they have been at the heart of complaints of criticism and controversy relate raised by human rights groups when they have looked at the catastrophic high numbers of civilians killed by the israelis in gaza because of the destructive

force that these weapons. the americans specifically have said that it is the past use of those munitions in gaza by israel that means they are holding back on this consignment because what the americans are doing here is firing a warning shot across the bowels of the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu as part of their stated position that they do not believe israel should carry out a full—scale ground offensive into the city of rafah in gaza. the israeli prime minister has said that that will happen regardless of whether or not there is a ceasefire agreement he says to eliminate the final battalions of hamas in gaza. but what you have here is an extremely rare and significant moment where the americans are holding back on some weapons to their key ally in the region to israel. you have to go back over a0 years to find the last time

something like this has happened publicly in this way at least, the days of ronald reagan holding back some weapons to the israelis because he disagreed with parts of the way the invasion of lebanon was being carried out at that time. it is a significant moment and we heard today the americans say they would review other weapons shipments to try to get into exerting pressure on the israelis. predictably perhaps republicans in washington have laid into this. the house speaker mike johnson and the leader of the republican senate mitch mcconnell have written to president biden to say this is daylight between the us and its key ally, israel. they want answers by the end of the week about how this was communicated and how the review is being carried out, which part of government is doing it and fundamentally if there will be an end to this pause on the weapons shipments. all of that being said, there is also a practical point here which is of the american assessment that israel has everything it would want anyway

to carry out an invasion of rafah so it probably wouldn't make practical difference in that sense but this is much more about the pressure that it puts on prime minister netanyahu from the biden administration to try to get to that point where the americans are trying to stop a full—scale ground offensive on rafah. meanwhile, the us says, no aid has yet passed through the newly reopened kerem shalom aid point — and israeli forces remain in control of the rafah crossing. it comes as the israel defence force continues to bomb areas in and around rafah. the idf has ordered 100,000 palestinians to leave eastern parts of the city. on wednesday an israeli air strike hit a home in western rafah, killing four people and injuring children, according to gaza's health ministry. i spoke a short while ago with drjohn kahler, co—founder of medglobal about the humanitarian struggle in rafah.

0n on friday received and noticed it was going to be potential problems happening this weekend. 0n problems happening this weekend. on monday, when we actually left at four o'clock in the morning, about a third of the way they are the un staff was notified they were encouraged to not receive. —— proceed. they turned around. another group and does continued forward but the morning, ominous. the rafah

remains close. _ morning, ominous. the rafah remains close. isabella - morning, ominous. the rafah remains close. isabella said l remains close. isabella said they would open the crossing but what is the aid of like currently so far as you are aware? it currently so far as you are aware? . , currently so far as you are aware?— currently so far as you are aware? , ., ,, ., currently so far as you are aware? , ., aware? it has stopped as far as i'm aware- _ aware? it has stopped as far as i'm aware. they _ aware? it has stopped as far as i'm aware. they said _ aware? it has stopped as far as i'm aware. they said it - aware? it has stopped as far as i'm aware. they said it would i i'm aware. they said it would be opened again for aid trucks, not for humanitarians. supposedly several fuel trucks tried to go through today but they were stopped. currently there is no aid flowing into gaza. ., . ., there is no aid flowing into gaza. ., ., ., ., gaza. no aid flowing in and humanitarian _ gaza. no aid flowing in and humanitarian brokers - gaza. no aid flowing in and l humanitarian brokers cannot gaza. no aid flowing in and - humanitarian brokers cannot get in, the teams that are there i pulling many workers out to other parts of gaza for the plumbers longer can be a humanitarian operation in rafah? . ., ., ., , , rafah? there are national ngos. we have a _ rafah? there are national ngos. we have a team _ rafah? there are national ngos. we have a team underground - we have a team underground there for five years. we along with other major ngos have cut

supplies. if things were stopped completely, i would estimate that would be if three orfour estimate that would be if three or four weeks of supplies cashed since the humanitarian supplies have come back and forth it is not going to be stopped completely for short. it will be some trucks coming in but the issue will be whether or not to build anything to scale. but it's always a problem.- anything to scale. but it's always a problem. this current conflict is _ always a problem. this current conflict is more _ always a problem. this current conflict is more than _ always a problem. this current conflict is more than seven - conflict is more than seven months old was a people have been deprived of adequate food, water, medicalsupplies for water, medical supplies for that length water, medicalsupplies for that length of time. given what you are seeing, how much longer can be people of gaza hold on? that is an excellent question because we are at a tipping point. six two eight months of food preparation is when symptoms of malnutrition and starvation begin to take effect for the people can go a long time without food. children

will begin to slow signs of inflammatory changes, inability to fight off infections. we are at a critical tipping point and if things don't get better, in regards to aid and nutrition, we will begin to see the dismount of both directly related such as death to starvation and organ failure and indirectly related to the ability to fight off infections with mothers giving birth to babies that are premature. for those very _ babies that are premature. for those very small children, many of whom have spent a quarter half, all of their lives in this current situation. what is the long—term damage like to them for those that do survive? it is difficult to predict. the weight gain will come back as soon as calories are back. the

effect on brain and development you get from both the emotional stress that they have been jointly and also from the deprivation notjust calories but nutrients also. you can get calories just from carbohydrates but babies and mothers are not getting the micronutrients they need to supply for adequate brain growth. these are problems that will not show up probably sometime for a decade but these are problems you will see come back later on in their life with learning problems, attention problems and inability to concentrate and things like that.— inability to concentrate and things like that. you have a lot of experience _ things like that. you have a lot of experience working . things like that. you have a j lot of experience working in conflict zones. we see signs of imminent it looks like drought invasion into rafah force of have you ever encountered a situation like this before were neither aid or aid workers can get into an area? mat neither aid or aid workers can get into an area?— get into an area? not even close. get into an area? not even close- i — get into an area? not even close. i thought _ get into an area? not even close. ithought i - get into an area? not even close. i thought i was - get into an area? not even - close. i thought i was prepared

for it, been in haiti many times, was there during the earthquake, been in yemen during the siege, i thought i would be prepared for this, i was loaded near prepared for this, by far the crosses i have personally seen and probably the worst humanitarian crisis since world war ii.— the worst humanitarian crisis since world war ii. thank you very much — since world war ii. thank you very much for— since world war ii. thank you very much for speaking - since world war ii. thank you very much for speaking to - since world war ii. thank you very much for speaking to us | since world war ii. thank you i very much for speaking to us on bbc news. very much for speaking to us on bbc newe— very much for speaking to us on bbc news. ., ~ i. . ., bbc news. thank you so much for havin: bbc news. thank you so much for having me- _ earlier, i spoke to tal heinrich, a spokeperson for prime minister benjamin netanyahu. just to pick up on what dr kayler of medglobal said there about having never seen a humanitarian crisis as bad as is in gaza now. aid agencies have told us that no aid has gone into gaza for the last two days, nothing through that kerem shalom was re—opened but no

aid crossed in. when will israel permit aid to flow again? let's set the record straight here. since the beginning of the war, smokers alleged against us on 7 october more than halfi million tons of humanitarian aid have crossed into gaza. israel facilitated the insertion of this aid, more than 400,000 tons of food, hundreds of her trucks as you know and you've reported, have come in daily. in recent days hamas fired multiple times if i'm not wrong at least three or four times at the kerem shalom border crossing, firing from humanitarian aid areas and the eastern part of rafah to that border crossing which is the main artery from which the trucks are coming in. hamas is trying to create a humanitarian crisis in gaza, not only stealing the aid to feed their own war machine, not only stealing the aid to sell the food, tenfold the price of the market, they are also firing at the aid routs including 80 roots where aid is transported

from south to the northern parts of gaza. sorry, to bring it back to the question i asked, which is when will israel allow that age to come i . naga|n? there is a humanitarian crisis there. we've had many descriptions of that so i'm asking when that will happen again. kerem shalom is not the only droughts. kerem shalom is not the only drou~hts. , , kerem shalom is not the only droughts-_ droughts. yes but there was nothin: droughts. yes but there was nothing coming _ droughts. yes but there was nothing coming through - droughts. yes but there was i nothing coming through rafah droughts. yes but there was - nothing coming through rafah at the moment... crosstalk. when will that be? soon enough which we will announce but rafah will be operational, i guarantee it. you can't put a timeframe on that. to bring it to the talks in cairo that are ongoing. in the coming days.

to bring it the talks in cairo that are ongoing to agree on some sort of pause in the fighting get the hostages out and get aid into rafah and all of gaza as it is needed as we've been discussing, have you any update for us on how those talks are progressing? bringing our hostages are back home is the top priority, we want all of our people back, all 132. as you know when time has run out for 38 over hostages as far as we know. we've been exerting military pressure on hamas and butorac pressure because as we've seen in november this is the only way to achieving the framework that will see the release of hostages and we've working and i know bbc has covered it tirelessly not only us but also the us administration and other international media to try to bring another agreement that will see the release of the remaining hostages. but hamas has rejected our office again and again. crosstalk.

sorry to trouble because i don't have a lot of time. i want to get to the point of this because the talks are ongoing and hamas has accepted the current proposal so i am asking what the israelis... that is a cheap pr hamas trick but unfortunately many media outlets have fell for. crosstalk. has not accepted the offer. what's the israeli decision? there is a delegation in cairo and hamas says crosstalk. israel has put a generous because on table, the words of secretary blinken. a very generous proposal hamas rejected and they tried to turn the on israel and in a cheap pr trick to say they accepted a ceasefire but these were not the details discussed. it's like saying i hereby accept the nomination to become the next un average general but nobody is offering that. crosstalk. we are moving off topic.

to bring it back to what i'd like to get the prime minister's response to the announcement from president biden to hold back on the shipment of bombs to israel, big 2000 lbs bombs what is the prime minister's response to that? i can't speak to the specific reports, i will hinder to your reporter before because tourism and what he did have a certain way to address such issues between close allies and crosstalk. president biden has said that himself. the prime minister said in recent days and spoke with the holocaust remembrance day in israel, israel will fight hamas even if we have to fight them without fingernails. we achieve all of our war objectives which include bringing hostages back home, dismantling hamas's military and government capabilities and ensuring gaza will not oppose the terror threat as again but it's important to understand as well that our war objectives must be defined as a nation on 7 october have been supported from day one today 215 by

united states, it's no secret there are some differences crosstalk. but we discuss them in different channels. you don't think withholding the bombs will make a difference to the israeli war effort? we know that president biden is committed to the security of israel and so is the us congress and american people, we see it in polls and the recent poll that i saw before going on air was more than 70% of americans support israel in rafah. we are almost out of time but on that point, president biden said he withheld the bombs to try to deter prime minister netanyahu from a ground invasion into rafah and from what you're saying it is not a deterrent withholding of bombs the prime minister still plans to go into rafah with the ground invasion. i can tell you that at the moment and as you know the past 2a hours or so we've been focusing on the eastern part of rafah, and a precise toad operation we've had intelligence that the rafah crossing was being used for terror purposes.

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making news. another conservative member of parliament has switched sides to labour. in a defection no—one saw coming, natalie elphicke, who represents dover, crossed the aisle. she says the conservatives under rishi sunak "have become a byword for incompetence and division." in a statement, she said the key factors for her decision are housing and border security. there seemed to be confusion about the decision on both sides of the aisle, with people from both parties criticising the move. certainly backbenchers are confused. my stance on immigration and refugees and asylum seekers for example has always been completely different natalie and i'm not sure what that means know about labour's view of those things, is it me or is it her�*s? i am as baffled as everyone watching this. with natalie being further to the right of me, i'd be surprised if she finds a home

with a labour party. mrs elphicke was elected to her seat in 2019. she is the second tory to change to labour in the past two weeks. last month, conservative mp dr dan poulter announced he was leaving the party. both say they will not run in the upcoming general election. you're live with bbc news. china's president xijinping is in hungary on the final leg of his european tour. 0n arriving in budapest, he was greeted by hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban. president xi is expected to announce further economic ties between the two countries. hungary provides an important gateway for beijing into eu vehicle markets. earlier, xi visited belgrade, where serbia's president, aleksandar vucic, told thousands of supporters that beijing was a sincere friend and that serbia backs china's claim to sovereignty over taiwan. from budapest, our central europe correspondent nick thorpe has the latest. here in hungary, the third and final leg of his three—nation visit to europe, the chinese president will be hoping to drive home some

of his main messages. notjust to hungary, but to the people of europe. don't be afraid of doing business, of trade with china. it is to our mutual benefit. there will be no criticism we've had for example from the european commission president ursula von der leyen for the french president president macron, the hungarian prime minister has been seeking chinese investment with open arms. he has read some of the benefits of that. two chinese car factories are planted hungary several chinese electric vehicles battery and battery component factories already built or planned. some of the finishing at 36 factories, many of them chinese, associated with this green energy with battery production already planned orfunctioning here in hungary. so none of the criticism from elsewhere, a very warm welcome here and hungary's chance, viktor 0rban,

the prime minister's chance to show the world and the rest of europe the fruits of cultivating a close friendship with china. rescuers say they've made contact with 11 people trapped under the rubble of a building that collapsed in the western cape of south africa. seven people were killed when the five—storey apartment block fell down in the coastal city of george. dozens of people remain unaccounted for. 0ur correspondent, shingai nyoka, is in george. those rescue efforts are ongoing. last night, the focus was behind me where you might be able to see a huge gaping hole in the concrete slab. we understand that at least two people were rescued from there. but the operation now has moved to another part of this construction site behind the slabs, and that's where the rescuers are working now. but it's been more than a0 hours since the building collapsed. the majority of people are still trapped underneath the rubble.

but we have been hearing some really great stories here. we spoke to a man whose son had been trapped underneath the rubble who had been speaking to him via cell phone. and we understand that he has since been rescued and that he is in hospital. and so there is still a lot of hope here that some of those people that are still trapped will be found and found alive. let's turn to some important news around the world. washington, dc police cleared early wednesday morning a pro—palestinian protest at george washington university. police used pepper spray and made 33 arrests as they brough the 13—day demonstration an end. it's one of the latest crackdowns on anti—war protests at university campuses across the us. climate activist greta thunberg has been fined by a judge in sweden over a protest that blocked the entrance to the swedish parliament. thunberg said she refused to obey police orders because she wanted to highlight the world's climate emergency.

every single day over the past year, the world's oceans have broken temperature records thought to be because of climate change. for many decades, the world's oceans have been the earth's �*get—out—of—jail card' when it comes to climate change. not only do they absorb around a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans produce, they also soak up around 90% of the excess heat. but over the past year, the oceans have displayed the most concerning evidence yet that they are struggling to cope. 0ur climate editor justin rowlatt reports. look at the coral, it bleaches and turns white when the water gets to warrant and cannot die as a result. last month, ocean experts announced record world sea

temperatures had led to a global mass coral bleaching event, the fourth ever recorded. and it's easy to see why. this grey area shows the range of average global sea temperatures over the last a0 years. now, look at this. the red line shows the sea temperature last year and this is how warm they've been this year. as you can see, the oceans are significantly warmer than in earlier years. should people be concerned? very much so. i mean, this is... these are real signs of the environment moving into areas where we really don't want it to be. and if it carries on in that direction, the consequences will be severe. it isn'tjust tropical seas that are changing. in cardigan bay, off the coast of wales, scientists have been using traces of dna to track the progress of this — an invasive sea squirt that carpets the sea floor, preventing the growth of native organisms. scientists say it appears to thrive in oui’ warmer waters. it shows just how fragile some of our marine ecosystems can

be. in southern brazil, more rain storms have interrupted rescue efforts in devastating flooding there. days of torrential rain have caused rivers to overflow, leaving entire towns submerged. 100 people are now known to have died in the state of rio grande do sul. dozens of people are missing and hundreds of thousands have been forced to leave their homes. and before we go, a look at a rare almost—winter wonderland in santiago, chile. drove views captured santiago's metropolitan area after an unusual autumn snowfall. more than 200,000 people have been affected by power outages. snow is rare for the city due to its dry temperate climate with mild winters. quite the scenes. that is it for the moment. as always, you can keep up—to—date with everything going on around the world on our website. and on our up and check on your

favourite social media platforms. that is it for the moment. thank you for watching. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. we've got a long—awaited spell of dry and sunny weather for many of us over the next few days. not quite dry everywhere. a bit of rain around across the far north of scotland. and we'll also see some misty, murky patches during the mornings. they could be a little bit slow to clear. so, not wall—to—wall blue skies for the next few days, but high pressure is bringing a lot of dry, settled weather, with light winds, too. now, we're likely to start thursday morning with that patchy rain in the far northwest, but further south, i think some mist and some fog patches around here and there, particularly so for parts of the southwest of england and wales. could be some mistiness

creeping in to east anglia. around some of these irish sea coasts, the isle of man, towards cumbria, some of that fog could be quite slow to clear. for scotland, there'll be some brighter spells across eastern areas — like aberdeenshire, for instance — but there'll be more cloud and outbreaks of rain moving in across the western isles, parts of highland too. that rain looks like it eases away, pushes a little bit further northward. so for much of the uk, dry with sunny spells, and that's going to lift those temperatures to somewhere between around 19—22 degrees for many of us. just a little bit cooler across the north of scotland. now, through thursday evening, overnight into friday, we've got some more rain that'll push across parts of highland. elsewhere, dry once again, relatively mild temperatures — in double figures for many of us. but, again, i think friday morning could see a few misty patches that will gradually clear away. so, friday itself, i think longer spells of sunshine on offer, light winds and those temperatures probably up a degree or so. so, more widely, we're looking at temperatures in the low 20s, possibly the mid—20s in the south. still a little cooler than that for stornoway and lerwick, for instance. into the weekend, high pressure still close, but it slips away towards the east, and that will just open the doors for areas of low pressure to

try and move in from the west. but i think saturday itself, a good deal of dry weather. cloud will tend to bubble up through the day, and that could just spark off one or two showers, perhaps northern england, southern scotland, but they'll be hit and miss. temperatures are again up in the mid 20s — could see 2a in one or two places. similar start to the day on sunday, but you'll notice these showers trying to push in towards the west. they could be quite slow—moving, potentially heavy and thundery in places. where it does stay dry, probably towards the south and southeast, we could well see temperatures again in the mid—20s, but then it looks like the showers will dominate as we head into next week. so, more unsettled weather on the cards for the start of next week. still a little bit warmer than average, but not as warm as the next few days.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello and welcome to kerala. india is in the middle of the biggest election in the world. nearly 970 million people will go to the polls over six weeks. now, this week, we've been to two states — bihar and kerala — to ask people what they want from the leaders that they will be electing. let's take a look at what we have on the programme. women make up almost half the electorate, a71 million, but only 15%

of parliamentarians. translation: we will go| stand in the queue at 6am and on our way back from voting, we will encourage others too. translation: each vote is very important for us. | if one person doesn't vote, then their voice will not be represented. that's why we take it upon ourselves to educate all women that voting is your duty, your responsibility as a citizen of india. a staggering 18.3 million first—time voters are eligible to vote in these elections. this is the age that we start to form our political opinions. we can actually vote for the first time right now and see how it's going to unfold. what, for you, is the most important election issue? india lacks infrastructure. there is some kind of dictatorship- that is going around in the country, - promotion ofjust one religion. so that should not be done. take a look at these empty, dusty beds. this entire building was meant to be a trauma centre.