welcome to the programme. we start in the middle east. both israelis and palestinians are marking six months of war on sunday. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is monitoring events for us — she reports now from southern israel. today, a memorial service is being held here. there has been a press conference where members, loved ones of those who lost their lives here are expressing not just pain but anger — asking why the israeli security forces weren't here on this day to protect them. saying that they still feel abandoned. one of the people who did survive to tell the story was a photographer, shye weinstein, who has now returned to the united states. but as the rocket started being fired by hamas, he took out his camera and started filming. this is some of what he saw.

he joined us earlier from the city of denver. i was at my first music festival, i was not expecting it to end with us driving by gun men and over corpses. when... what was the moment when you realised it was no longer a music festival? after the rockets began at 6:30, and they did not stop. i was worried that it was notjust rockets, and they went on for a while. the rockets began at 6:30. and we actually physically got to our car at about 7:51am, over one hour later, and the rockets had not stopped. and at that point i was growing increasingly more anxious and concerned about the situation.

behind me, as i am speaking to you, i am at the site of the festival. there is now a sea of israeli flags and photographs of those who died here on that day. they may include some of your friends. would you like to tell us about the people who were with you on that day who did not escape? so i was with a group of eight others, total. myself, my cousin, mordecai, his now fiancee, tamara, and several mutual friends of ours, ellie, ballarat, doras, elmog, and i am very grateful to say that they all escaped, but some of the people i made friends with at the festival, including someone who was my age at the time, 26, were murdered. and you returned to the united states and i understand that since then you have been trying to keep the memory of what happened on that day alive? yes, correct.

israel is still my permanent residence, although now i have been away from the country the exact same amount of time as i have lived there. i moved there last april. i have only been there until october and have now been away since then. and i have been going to university campuses across the country. i have been to 157 different cities since november. canada, the us, east coast, west coast, all of the above, sharing my photos, my videos, my story and just letting people know what happened to us. and letting people know that even though this horrible, tragic thing that occurred causes terror, it is not going to keep us down. and how do people react to you and the stories you tell? i have had a mostly positive response. i have had a few instances where i have had protesters, but most of the time

very warm reception. audiences from 5—500 people, i have even had people who are pro—palestinian come to see me speak, i have had palestinian students come to see me speak, i have had black israelites come to see me speak, people who don't know anything about what is going on and just want to hear more, and many people are sympathetic and interested in hearing what i have to say and having a very reasonable discussion. that was shye weinstein, who was here during those horrific events of october the 7th. that day shook israel to the core and shocked many around the world. israel's staunchest allies, including the united states and britain, immediately rushed in to show very public and powerful backing to israel as it launched retaliatory strikes, intended, said the israeli army, to destroy hamas. but six months on, as the death toll in gaza continues to climb, and the un says the territories on the brink of famine, there are loud calls, including from israel's staunchest

friends, for an immediate ceasefire, for much more to be done to get desperately needed aid into gaza. in the past few days, for the first time, israel has opened the erez crossing in a northern israel into gaza. it has opened the ashdod port and it also says it will accelerate the capacity through jordan. will that be enough? we are joined by sidney mccain who is the executive director of the world food programme. welcome to bbc news. thank you. could you please first describe to us how bad is the situation in gaza when it comes to hunger? as the un said, and what i have said also, famine is eminent in the north, and this is something that if we wait much longer we are going to go over the edge and not be able to recoverfrom it. that is why it is so important that we be able to get food at scale in.

we at world food programme are grateful that there is consideration to open the erez crossing border point and ashdod port, we are hoping to see that happen very soon. all of those things and more, along with the airdrops, along with everything else that is going on, will help us get food in at scale. but it cannot stop. it can no longer be a dribble of seven or eight trucks a day or seven or eight trucks a week. it has to be multitudes of trucks, and quickly. there have been calls right up to the top of the united nations but while, welcoming these new moves, seeing all the crossings should be open, and if not it will still be difficult to get the amounts of aid in that are is that also your view? that is absolutely ivy we would like every gate open. we need to get food

in and get it at scale. we can no longer wait to see if our drivers are clear, wait to see if the checkpoints actually are going to be open. we need to get in now. children are dying. as we speak, they are dying of hunger. that is why it is so important that we do what we do best, and it is take large amounts of food in and feed those who are desperately hungry. figs those who are desperately hungry. as you know, those who are delivering the aid also feel at risk in the wake of the killing of seven aid workers with world central kitchen. some aid agencies suspended their operations. do you feel it is still safe for your wfp staff to operate, and are they still doing so? this safe for your wfp staff to operate, and are they still doing so?- and are they still doing so? this is dancerous and are they still doing so? this is dangerous work, _ and are they still doing so? this is dangerous work, no _ and are they still doing so? this is dangerous work, no matter - and are they still doing so? this is dangerous work, no matter how. and are they still doing so? this is i dangerous work, no matter how you look at it. we at wp are not going to halt or suspend any of our

operations. we continue to do the best we can to get aid in. again, these new openings and these new ports, etc, if we do get them to scale and get them operational, will be a great help. but we should have done it ago. this is something that has allowed the northern part of a gas are to simply die. for those in the un who work on humanitarian principles and believe that delivering food and aid in a principalfashion, we feel very strongly about how much needs to go on and why we should be in there. once again, aid workers should be safe. it was unconscionable that wc kay was hit. it is a terrible situation. when we say there has been more aid workers than those who have been killed, and we are sorry for all of them, but we have to keep going. we have to.—

going. we have to. your member in the early months _ going. we have to. your member in the early months of _ going. we have to. your member in the early months of this _ going. we have to. your member in the early months of this war - going. we have to. your member in the early months of this war you - the early months of this war you criticised what you described as the insane bureaucracy, the number of security controls that israel has imposed that in effect hold up the delivery of aid. has that improved? because the process becomes smoother? —— has the process becomes smoother? —— has the process becomes smoother? it is smoother? -- has the process becomes smoother? , , ., ' :: :: , , smoother? it is still not 100%, but it is smoother? it is still not 10096, but it is not what— smoother? it is still not 10096, but it is not what it _ smoother? it is still not 10096, but it is not what it was. _ smoother? it is still not 10096, but it is not what it was. a _ smoother? it is still not 10096, but it is not what it was. a lot - smoother? it is still not 10096, but it is not what it was. a lot of - smoother? it is still not 10096, but it is not what it was. a lot of the i it is not what it was. a lot of the confusion was that we only had one opening, and it was rafah. it was hundreds of other agencies trying to get aid in, hundreds of other agencies trying to getaid in, and hundreds of other agencies trying to get aid in, and there was no real controls on it. now i can say with regards to un aid agencies, we go through different pasts, and that is why we need other openings further north so we can get trucks through there and get directly to northern gaza. , ~ ~ . there and get directly to northern gaza. , a ., ., ., gaza. cindy mccain, one of the world's biggest _ gaza. cindy mccain, one of the world's biggest aid _ gaza. cindy mccain, one of the world's biggest aid struggling i gaza. cindy mccain, one of the l world's biggest aid struggling to get aid through to people who

desperately need it in gaza, welcoming those new steps from israel, but like many, saying much more needs to be done. that is how it looks on this day, the six—month mark of the israel— gaza war. we'll continue our special coverage here and across the region, but i will hand you back to london. studio: that was lyse doucet. our international editor, jeremy bowen, has also covered the war since the start and has returned to one of the kibbutzes in israel that was hardest hit by the hamas attacks. six months after the attacks, it is a bit like going back into a time machine because all the damage is to leave. into a time machine because all the damage is still here. and the reason for that is that in this kibbutz, nir oz, one in four of the population

of the more than 400 people was either killed, or taken into gaza, about a mile away on the border, as hostages. looking around at the damage here and hearing the stories also of what happened, hamas came in around 6:30 in the morning and were here until early afternoon, undisturbed, going house to house until the army arrived. the war is still going on, that is outgoing far that is outgoing fire from an israeli battery into gaza. this is now one of the typical houses in this kibbutz, abandoned and burnt out. six months on, it still smells of burning on the sofa,

there is still some neatly folded laundry, perhaps done the evening before october 7th. going around this place you can understand why israelis believe very strongly that they are fighting a just war in gaza. of course, their allies feel the same. their quarrel is with the methods that israel has been using that has cost so many innocent palestinian lives. and as for the family who lived here in this house, they are dead. there is also a long read by international editor, jeremy bowen, on our website and app, and we you to read that as well. events are being held across rwanda to commemorate three decades since the beginning of the genocide against ethnic tutsis and moderate hutus. nearly a million people were killed in a hundred days in 1994. a ceremony in the rwandan capital, kigali, will be led by president paul kagame. ahead of the anniversary, france acknowledged that it

could have stopped the genocide, along with its allies, but lacked the will to do so. now it's time for a look at today's sport, with gavin. thank you very much indeed. a big day in the premier league to come. liverpool look to regain top spot, after arsenal took the lead on saturday, but to do so they'll have to beat rivals manchester united at old trafford, whichjurgen klopp admits won't be straight forward. united is a top side, playing at home, we all know that. but we have to... let's do what we did from minute 15 to, i don't know, 70 something. football is not that easy, so we have to find a way to cause united problems, and they will try exactly the same. we have seen, two weeks ago, in the game against liverpool, how an effect and how an impact we can have in togetherness and in a positive way on the pitch. we are going for that again, positive mood, on old trafford.

that's one of three games in the premier league on sunday. chelsea, who had that dramatic late win over united in midweek, are away at sheffield united — they lost to liverpool on the same night of course. spurs host relegation—threatened nottingham forest. follow all those on the bbc sport website. rangers and celtic start the day just one point apart in the scottish premiership. it's proving to be the closest title race in scotland for over a decade — celtic top the table with 76 points but, perhaps crucially, rangers have a game in hand. if rangers were to lose, i still think the league title is really alive because with the game in hand, they got a chance to go back to within one point. if it's a draw, i think it is very much alive. i think if rangers win, i think they put one hand on the league trophy.

in that period since the last celtic game it's looked very, very special indeed. so if they win this one, it will look like a juggernaut. and if you're a celtic fan, it'll feel like a juggernaut too. so yeah, huge amount to be taken out of this game. in spain, athletic bilbao ended their run of six successive copa del rey final defeats, and a ito—year wait for silverware, with a dramatic penalty shoot—out victory over mallorca. alex berenguer stepped up to seal a 11—2 win in the shoot—out in seville after the match finished 1—1. it sparked jubilant scenes at a sold—out la cartuja stadium, giving bilbao's fans the chance to celebrate a trophy for the first time in four decades. afterfailing to finish in australia a fortnight ago, normal service resumed for formula one world champion max verstappen injapan earlier. the dutchman completed a clean sweep of pole position, fastest lap and race win as he claimed the 57th victory of his career. he beat his red bull team—mate sergio perez by 12.5 seconds. carlos sainz continued his impressive start to the season completing the podium at suzuka. england's women lost their final one—day international of their three match series against new zealand in hamilton. new zealand reached their target

of 195 to win with seven wickets in hand and 66 balls remaining. sophie devine with an unbeaten century. england had already won the series heading into this one, after taking the first two games. england captain heather knight says her side can learn from devine's excellent innings. the pitch wasn't quite as straightforward, it was a bit of a tricky one. i thought sophie showed us exactly how to bat. the way she soaked up pressure at the start of her innings, tactically targeted a baller that was matchup for her, and was able to soak up that pressure and put it back on us, i think it a really good lesson for our middle order and their batting route. american danielle collins will play daria kasatkina in the women's singles final at the charleston open on sunday. the miami open champion continued her magnificent run by knocking out number three seed maria sakkari in the semi final. collins has won 12 straight now, and can record number 13 in the final if she beats kasatkina, who overcamejessica pegula

in the other semi final. there we go, got it out eventually, jessica pegula. and that's all the sport for now. studio: jessica pegula, did i say that right? thanks, gavin. here in the uk, the prime minsiter, rishi sunak, has said britain continues to stand by israel's right to defend its security, six months on from the start of the israel—gaza war. but mr sunak said the nation remains "appalled" by the deaths of three british aid workers in an israeli defense forces strike this week. the deputy prime minister, oliver dowden, has been answering questions on gaza. our political correspondent, tony bonsignore was watching. the question was, for oliver dowden, specifically about what the advice, the legal advice, that the government had been given on whether israel was acting within international law, and of course that will have an impact on uk arms sales to israel, which have become a very, very live political

issue here in the uk. so the deputy prime minister, as you say, oliver dowden, interviewed on sunday with laura kuenssberg here on the bbcjust a short while ago. here is what he had to say. have specific concerns about different areas of israel's conduct. we are raising those concerns with israel. by the way, it is so important to remember this, we have gone from the horrors of six months ago to holding israel to extraordinary high standards. it is right that we do so and it is right that we raise these concerns where we say, "look, what will you are doing "in respect of not getting aid in, or what you are doing in respect "of your targeting raises concerns for us, and we need "you to engage with..." now, some mps in the house of commons in westminster calling for arms sales to be stopped to israel, to be paused, given the events there. labour, the main opposition party, has not gone that far,

but what they do say is that in this instance, the government should publish the legal advice it has been given. so on the same programme, sunday with laura kuenssberg, labour's shadow foreign secretary, david lammy, was asks about this, and here is what he had to say. margaret thatcher suspended sales of arms to israel. tony blair suspended sales of arms to israel. gordon brown suspended sales of arms to israel. all during previous conflicts. this has been done before, this is a very serious issue, it has now gone on for six months. issues of proportionality, of precaution and distinction. there are real concerns, notjust from judges, from the intelligence community, but the broader public for that reason. let us be sure that we are not in breach of international humanitarian law. david lammy also today has written

to the government demanding that the foreign secretary, lord cameron, come to the house of commons to answer questions. of course that is something that he cannot do because he is a member of the upper house in the houses of parliament, the house of lords. i mean, oliver dowden was pushed on this repeatedly by our own laura kuenssberg. he said of course the uk will act in accordance with obligations under law, the way it works, he says, is the foreign secretary, lord cameron, is given advice, legal advice, he then forms a judgment and then he makes a recommendation and gives advice to the business secretary on whether those arms exports should be permitted. he said if it is the case that we cannot lawfully act in accordance with the law, of course we won't supply those arms. but an important caveat, he said, it is precisely the position, for example, even in respect of the united states or any other country around the world.

we do also have a life page on our website with a round—up of all those comments from oliver dowden. please do check that website. now, excitement is building as millions of people in north america will be able to witness a rare solar eclipse on monday, hoping to spend around four minutes in total darkness all right, guys, are we ready? preparing for totality. this is dallas, texas, where tomorrow lunchtime 100% of the sun will be covered by the moon. who's excited the eclipse is coming? the eclipse is coming, the eclipse is coming! who's excited the eclipse is coming? the eclipse is coming, the eclipse is coming! eclipse chaser leticia ferrer is ready to witness daytime darkness for her 21st time. i've seen 20, all over the world. it's just such a feeling in my soul, that i'm so grateful to be there, and so happy to see it, and i'm sort of addicted to them. i'm addicted to that feeling of that — of being there, for those few seconds or minutes, being one with the universe

and being really present and feeling it. i think it's going to be scary because it's going to be very dark at, like, daytime. and i've never seen an eclipse, so my parents are scared too, because they've also never seen an eclipse either. the last time a total eclipse was visible in the us was in 2017, when thousands gathered here in oregon. this year in the united states is a great place to see a total solar eclipse. it will be coming up through mexico and exiting up towards maine, so across the central part of the united states. you need to be inside the path of totality to see the total eclipse, which is a small band. however, you can see a partial eclipse from all over the united states. so here in washington we will see about 87% of the sun covered by the moon. in the uk, people in the west of the country should be able to catch a partial eclipse from just before 8:00pm tomorrow evening. it's been almost 25 years since the last total

eclipse was visible here, in 1999. the next one will be 66 years from now, in september 2090. 351 days ago russell cook, nicknamed the "hardest geezer", set off to run the entire length of africa to raise money for charity. since then he's fallen victim to an armed robbery and suffered a health scare — but finally the end is in sight. russell should cross the finish line in tunisia this afternoon, and our reporter ellie price has been looking back at his journey. let's go! day three! day four! day six! his nickname on social media is hardest geezer. day 349 of running the entire length of africa. after more than 350 days, 10,000 miles and 19 million steps, he's probably earned it. he's run through deserts, rainforests, savannahs, mountains, jungle and 16 countries, and he's raised well over £500,000 for the running charity and sandblast, posting updates

on his progress on social media. originally, he'd planned a mere 9,000—mile trip, but complications with visas, health scares, geopolitical issues and even an armed robbery meant the 26—year—old was forced to extend the challenge. but he's taken it all in his stride. i was absolutely bricking it, to be totally honest. everything goes through your head in those moments. and i was...i was pretty terrified, i won't lie. your achievements are amazing. thanks — can ijust also compliment you on your beard? there's something else to be proud of too, as he told charlie back injanuary. i'd decided that i wasn't going to cut my hair for the entire mission, beard included. the locks are really coming into their own now. i started with a skinhead and now i've got some weird, little slicked—back look going on, but we make the best of it, you know.

to celebrate, he says, he's looking forward to a strawberry daiquiri on the beach in tunisia, before heading home to worthing to visit his local bakery. and there might even be time for a trip to the barbers too. ellie price, bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. storm kathleen yesterday brought us some curiously warm, but also some very windy weather. indeed, it was warmest out towards parts of east anglia, 21 degrees celsius, the warmest day of the year so far. but towards exposed western coast, we saw gusts of wind of 60 to 70mph. and it's another very blustery day again today. here's the deep area of low pressure. that is storm kathleen. it's gradually pushing further northwards, but still very tight squeeze on the isobars.

so it's very windy once again, it won't be feeling quite as warm as it was yesterday. some cooler feeling conditions, but still mild for the time of year. now, as we head through this afternoon, there are still plenty of blustery showers around. they'll generally be tracking eastwards. longer spells of rain across northwest scotland, some of the showers with some hail and some thunder in them, particularly out towards the west. but it's drier across parts of east anglia and southeast england. again, lighter winds here, but widely gusts of 40 to 50 miles an hour, maybe gales, severe gales possible across northwest scotland. these will be the day's highs — not the 21 degrees that we saw yesterday, admittedly, but still 13 to 17 degrees. it's above the seasonal average. now, as we head through tonight, the low pressure pulls away and weakens. but another deep area of low pressure will start to swing in from the southwest in time for tomorrow morning. the winds, though, will be lighter. so this is how we're starting off monday morning. again, it's mild for the time of year. there'll be cloud outbreaks of rain gradually pushing northwards across these

western spots by the south and east. a dry start, but some rain here later could stay largely dry across the midlands and across scotland for much of the day, but clouding over from the south as we head through the afternoon. temperatures again still above the seasonal average. now that deep area of low pressure will really strengthen, there will be some strong, gusty winds. you can see that squeeze on the isobars there towards the south coast as it will, pushes northwards and eastwards through tuesday morning. so it's going to be quite a wet start to the day for many of us. again, the details could change on this windy towards channel coast, particularly across the channel islands, the rain pulls away sunny spells. but look at the drop in temperature here. we've got more of a northwesterly wind and it will be feeling cooler with highs of 8 to 12 degrees celsius. but we don't have to wait too long before we see mild air spinning in from the south and the west again, along with more low pressure systems that will be wet and windy again at times.

this is bbc news, the headlines... tens of thousands of israelis rally in tel aviv demanding a deal to free the remaining hostages seized by hamas six months ago. on saturday, the israeli military said the body of one hostage had been recovered. the israel—gaza war reaches its six—month mark. on october the 7th, hamas attacked israel killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage. in the war that has followed, the hamas run health ministry say at least 33,000 palestinians have been killed. slovakia's elected a new president —

peter pellegrini is a nationalist who's sceptical of sending military aid to ukraine. he won by a greater margin than expected, defeating the pro—western candidate ivan korcok. and as millions prepare for the solar eclipse in north america we look at how to safely watch the total blackout as the moon blocks the sun's light. now on bbc news, victoria uwonkunda returns to rwanda for the first time since fleeing the 1994 genocide. tracing back her escape route from the capital kigali to the border with the democratic republic of congo, victoria speaks to survivors of the violence — both victims and perpetrators — to find out how the country is healing through reconciliation and forgiveness. and a warning, this programme does contain some disturbing images.