in his time there. ukraine's troops are forced to withdraw from several frontline positions after months of russian attacks and dwindling resources. officials in kenya warn of further heavy rainfall as deadly flooding and downpours batter parts of east africa. hello, i'm helena humphrey, glad you could join me. the united nations says famine is looming in northern gaza. it says 70% of the population there is facing "catastrophic hunger". the un's human rights director says israel may be using starvation as a weapon of war — an assessment israel rejects. it comes after seven months of war in which more than 3a,000 people in gaza have been killed, according to the hamas—run health authority. but what is life like for people struggling to find food, while under israeli bombardment? israel and egypt won't

allow the bbc to report from inside gaza. but the bbc has obtained exclusive access to footage filmed by an american doctor recently returned from the north of the territory, where the crisis is most acute. fergal keane sent this report. you may find parts of it distressing. this is the story of a doctor who travelled to hell. desperate voices cry out. sam attar went to help people trapped by war. he usually works in a hi—tech hospital in chicago. in gaza, his skills and mental strength will be tested to their limits. immediately upon crossing the border, we were met with the familiar stench ofjust millions of people packed on top of each other, living together. in some pockets, the air you breathe, you feel like you're decaying,

just breathing it, because there are just so many people. the crisis is constant. lives in the balance. the wounded and the lost. woman cries. the mother who will not leave the side of her dead boy. amin, amin! you have no ct scans? no ct scans. so you just watch them and hope for the best? yes. rami, with shrapnel in his brain, but no equipment to properly investigate the damage. you 0k? long day. it is the great paradox of all war that, in the midst of slaughter, so many will risk their lives for humanity. the doctor whose

daughter was killed comforts rami's mother. but sam attar must now travel north, where the un human rights chief alleges israel may be using starvation as a weapon of war. israel rejects this, saying un figures are wrong, and blames delays and distribution on the un and aid agencies. in kamal adwan hospital — the desolation caused by hunger. baby nahed, three months old. a 22—year—old woman, malnourished and sick, photographed just after she died. this boy is dead — a victim, his mother says, of disease and malnutrition. those who already had serious medical problems are now acutely vulnerable. jena, before the war, learning the alphabet.

she already had a condition that made it difficult for her to absorb nutrition. now she's bed bound by sickness and the trauma of what she's seen. so this isjena. she presented, you said, as a skeleton? due to malnutrition. so she's just skin and bone. a child sam had to leave behind, like so many others in this war. jena's mom came to me, and she was saying, "i thought we were coming with you. "what's happening? "why are you going and we're staying?" and it's because the convoy was only approved for the delivery of food and fuel and not for taking any patients back. but memories of war have their own way of following, as sam knows well. i left a piece of my soul in gaza, and i do hope to go back. i'd say it's the best time of my life but

the worst time of my life. the best time because of the people, but the worst time because of all the horrors you witness. child cries. sam managed to organisejena's evacuation to the south. today, our cameraman visited and found a child whose sickness made worse by war has left her mother feeling hopeless. translation: what can i do? she can't be treated and her mental state is very difficult. she doesn't talk at all whenever anyone talks to her. her situation is bad, and as a mum, i cannot do anything. in all of this, it is hard to speak of hope, except to know that gaza's medics keep going — the steady light of decency. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. in a statement on sunday,

israel's military spokesman claimed the amount of aid going into gaza has increased significantly in recent weeks and will scale up even more in the coming days. that statement came before a sunday afternoon phone call between us presidentjoe biden and israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, in which mr biden reportedly pushed the issue of aid. america's top diplomat, secretary of state antony blinken, is on another round of shuttle diplomacy, tacking stops to israel and jordan onto a previously—arranged trip to saudi arabia. separately, hamas officials are set to arrive in cairo on monday for ceasefire talks. our north america correspondent will vernon has more. i think the most significant thing about this phone call is the timing. this really is a crucial moment for the middle east. the us secretary of state antony blinken is just starting another diplomatic tour around the region, he'll be meeting qatari officials, egyptian officials too, to discuss a us—led ceasefire plan for gaza. under that proposal,

three would be a six week cessation of hostilities as well as the release, potentially, of dozens of hostages still held by hamas in gaza, as well as palestinian prisoners in israeli jails. we know that mr biden and mr netanyahu discussed that in their phone call earlier. there's also the issue of the planned israeli offensive on southern gazan city of rafah. there are around a million palestinians sheltering there, and yesterday, on saturday, the israelis said if there is a deal over the hostages then they could potentially suspend that offensive in rafah. so it's a really high—stakes game here. you've got antony blinken trying to hammer out a crucial deal against the clock before any offence in the city of rafah which would happen against the wishes of the americans, and also the president of the palestinian authority, mahmoud abbas, he said in saudi arabia earlier, that america is the only country that can stop that offensive on rafah.

will vernon there. and as negotiations over a ceasefire continue, so does the violence. overnight, israeli air strikes on three houses in rafah killed at least 13 people and wounded many others. in the us, protests against the war in gaza are continuing at university campuses, despite police making a series of arrests. the protesters — who some university officials say are not exclusively members of their student bodies — have demands that range from a ceasefire in gaza, to universities ending investments in israeli enterprises linked to the military. however, the solidarity of the demonstrators is felt in rafah, where displaced gazans have written messages of gratitude on their tents. the commander—in—chief of ukraine's armed forces has said that the situation on the frontline has worsened in the face of multiple russian attacks. general oleksandr syrskyi confirmed that ff ukrainian soldiers have retreated from positions close to the town of pokrovsk in the eastern donetsk region. the withdrawal comes

after weeks of fierce fighting that has depleted ukraine's already dwindling military resources. general syrskyi also said russia had what he called "partial successes" near kupiansk but that ukrainian forces have stopped their advance. ukrainian troops are waiting for much needed weaponry from the us, following the approval of a $60 billion aid package by politicians in washington last week. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has the latest from kyiv. general oleksandr syrskyi painted a bleak picture. he talked about, as you say, the eastern donetsk region being the worst affected for ukraine, where defending troops have had to pull out from defensive lines which were established when the town of avdiivka fell earlier this year. we've just travelled from there, where we saw new trenches being dug — as many as 30 kilometres back from the front line, which gives you an idea of the direction of travel. but it doesn't stop there. russia is using its air superiority,

notably in the north—east, around the town of kupyansk. president zelensky says more than 9,000 aerial bombs have been dropped on troop positions there as the russians fly almost unchallenged in the skies. ukraine does try and counter—punch where it can. today, its intelligence service released footage of a drone strike on a radar system in neighbouring belgorod region inside russia, which can see targets as many as 300 kilometres away. so ukraine tries to hit back where it can. but you mentioned that us aid package, that multi—billion dollar offering. it's meant to arrive imminently, we're told, but it's clear from today's forecast that any ukrainian benefit won't come before significant russian gains along this eastern front line and right across it, in the words of general oleksandr syrskyi today. for more, i spoke to brendan kearney, former us marine chief of staff in europe and military affairs analyst. we've heard that assessment

from the top military general there in ukraine, oleksandr syrskyi, saying what he calls a tactical retreat in three villages. just explain to us exactly what a tactical retreat means. well, you know, ithink it's an interesting term that he used but i think the more appropriate term is that it is a repositioning of your defensive forces and it is not unusual, even in the most successful of military campaigns, to go ahead and periodically shorten your lines or maybe flatten out some of the bulges you have into enemy territory that make you susceptible to attack. so i'm not surprised that this sort of thing is occurring at all. is there any extent to which, though, the fact that shortening of lines, for example, might be taking place due to the fact there has been that delay in military aid from western allies,

from the united states? helena, i do believe that plays a part of the decision—making process and of course everything is built, quite frankly, on the reality of the ground situation. but those arms, it would have been nicer to have them a couple of months ago. the ammunition resupply, in particular. but i think those are going to flow very, very quickly because it's going to come from arms storages depots that are in europe, so we're going to see this, i think, quickly change over the coming weeks. in terms of the potential for it to change, i'm just wondering what you think we could see in the year ahead, for example — whether there's a fully fledged counteroffensive. one military analyst i was speaking to yesterday said that the best he thought the weapons could achieve was essentially to reinforce the lines that are currently there. perhaps not go any further than that. what do you make

of that assessment? i'm not sure. i might disagree with him slightly. i think what you're initially going to see is that the ammunition resupplies are going to allow for the lines to stabilise. then what you're going to see is for the ukrainians to build up enough combat power in areas that they want to attack in, where they will be able to launch that counteroffensive. now, the big question mark here is going to be air superiority. the russians have had some limited air superiority over small parts of ukrainian airspace but what the arrival of the f—i6s and some other aircraft, i think you're going to see the ukrainians being able to go ahead and launch counterstrikes here against the russians where they may very well have, and be able to achieve, air superiority. and that's going to be a telling difference on the battlefield.

honduras is grappling with an epidemic of violence towards women with the united nations warning of a femicide emergency. in 2022, six out of every 100,000 women in the central american country were killed because of their gender, and this figure is thought to be increasing. our latin america reporter mimi swaby has more. honduras is experiencing a femicide emergency, according to the united nations. with at least 66 women murdered so far this year, the country has the highest rate of femicide in latin america, and that's alongside some of the most restrictive laws against reproductive health, including a complete ban on abortion. in 2021, xiomara castro became the first female president of honduras, generating high hopes for change in attitude towards women. she promised to not fail them to defend their rights and that all women could count on her. however, little has changed. as in 2023, around 380 femicides were recorded,

according to the observatory of violence of the national autonomous university of honduras. the director also stated that the degree of hatred and contempt against women is evident. despite feminist movements across the country trying to tackle this epidemic of violence against women, the un has said the situation is alarming, as violence towards women and femicide is becoming normalised. and, in australia, a rise in the number of women killed by men in the country has spurred a wave of protests this weekend. tens of thousands of people joined rallies across the country, calling for action on gender—based violence. the australian government says that, on average, a woman is killed by a man every four days. on sunday, prime minister anthony albanese attended a rally in canberra and declared the issue "a national crisis". around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

let's look at another story making the headlines. senior conservatives have been defending the prime minister after the mp dan poulter defected to labour. mr poulter, who works part time as an nhs doctor, accused the tories of no longer valuing public services. the home office minister chris philp rejected that claim, and said the government was spending more money than ever on the health service. helen catt has more. for labour, the defection is a breeze to the claim to be the party which can reform the nhs. the shadow etc deny speculation might�*ve also offered dan poulter any other inducements. not that i am aware of, he said clearly to me about how he might help, going back to the nhs full—time when parliament is dissolved which cannot come soon enough as far as we're concerned. dr poulter said the labour party had a "track record" of improving the nhs and that sir keir starmer could be "trusted" with the health service.

his defection from the conservatives is the third since 2019. you're live with bbc news. officials in kenya have warned about even heavier rainfall as downpours flood parts of east africa. more than 150 people have been killed in neighbouring tanzania, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced in burundi and uganda. there is also growing concern that dams on kenya's longest river — the tana — could overflow in the coming days. these pictures are from kenya's makueni county south east of nairobi. so far, at least 76 people have died there and 130,000 have been displaced. our correspondent anita nkonge is in nairobi with more. we continue to see heavy rainfall this weekend. just last night, we saw such heavy rainfall here in kenya that caused flights to be disrupted, some delayed, some having to be diverted to other parts of the country, due to poor visibility and heavy rainfall.

like you said, in burundi, 100,000 people have been displaced. in tanzania, 200,000 have been displaced, with 51,000 households affected by the floods and 155 people dead in tanzania. in kenya, over 20,000 households have been affected, roughly 131,450 people affected by the floods as well and 90 dead. part of what we've been seeing and people posting on social media has been houses being flooded, people being stranded with the roads being cut off, trains having to be delayed. so it's definitely a very devastating time right now. 30 years after south africa's first democratic votes were cast, the country is facing a new reckoning, with pivotal elections taking place next month. some polls suggest the governing anc — the african national congress — which came to power in 1994, could receive less than 50% of the vote for the first time, as the country experiences high unemployment and crime, persistent economic inequalities, frequent power cuts and corruption allegations.

nomsa maseko reports. singing drumming in celebration of 30 years of democracy. south africa's transition to democracy was the culmination of decades of resistance and armed struggle against nearly 50 years of racial and violent white minority rule. chanting. on the 27th of april in 1994, i came to this polling station with my mother. we started queueing from 6am, filled with both hope and anxiety. thousands of black people lined up with their fists in the air chanting "sikhululekile" — we are free. and i understood that now — i was, too. the anc liberation movement turned political party won by a landslide and the early years

were promising. a constitution enshrined the rights of all citizens. thabo mbeki replaced nelson mandela as president in further democratic elections. civil society flourished — as did a free press. but 30 years later, south africa remains deeply unequal. unemployment has reached nearly 35%. it's very much clear that people don't feel like we fundamentally changed the architecture of our country. we still have amongst black populations high levels of inequality in terms of access to economic opportunities, jobs. in soweto, i meet young mothers struggling to get by.

on the 29th of may, the country will go to the polls. for people here, it feels very much like a pivotal moment. injohannesburg, the constitution hill memorial celebrates our democratic transition and its firmest foundation, our institutions. ourjudiciary remains the most robust on the continent. our media is strong, it's been independent, been pushing back. and civil society as well. that triumvirate is important. but it's a commitment from that triumvirate to institutional integrity of the state, building institutions that are accountable. and i think that's the lesson for africa. across the world's fastest growing continent, nearly a third of nations are heading to the polls this year. for south africa, it is likely

to be the closest fought vote in its democratic history. nomsa maseko, bbc news, south africa. first minister of scotland humza yousaf�*s leadership hangs in the balance as he faces two no confidence votes, which could come as soon as wednesday. it comes after mr yousaf ended a power sharing agreement between his scottish national party and the scottish greens. our scotland correspondent alexandra mckenzie reports. a week that will decide his future with implications notjust for humza yousaf but also for his party, the snp. good morning, everyone. it comes just days after he decided to end a power—sharing deal — the bute house agreement with the scottish greens. one senior snp mp made an appeal to the scottish green party. i apologise for what has happened this week. it could have happened in a, in a different way, but we are where we are. but the choice that every member of the scottish parliament

has this week is are we going to support that government under humza yousaf to make sure that we deliver the legislation that we all agree on. but the greens insists they will not back mr yousaf in the coming days. i cannot imagine anything at this point that could change that position. this was a spectacular breach of trust from on tuesday to saying the bute house agreement was worth its weight in gold to stopping it unilaterally on thursday. that's broken. the snp leader has written to the opposition leaders at holyrood, arguing that people want to see political parties work together and inviting them to discuss their concerns and priorities. ash regan of the alba party could be the kingmaker. her support alone might be enough for mr yousaf to survive. alba's leader, alex salmond, has set out the political price for that support, prioritising a re—emphasis

on independence. she will be meeting with humza yousaf at his invitation. she'll take with her some very reasonable, positive proposals, which hopefully, if the first minister accepts them, will help him to get out of a very tight political corner. the main opposition parties say that humza yousaf has run out of road. the scottish conservative party say that even if he is saved by alex salmond, that's just prolonging the agony. the scottish labour party have called for a no confidence vote in the scottish government, describing it as embarrassing and incompetent. but the snp leader struggles on in a bid to secure enough support to keep hisjob. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news. let's turn to some important news around the world. burkina faso has suspended more western and african media outlets over their coverage of a human rights watch report accusing the army of more

than two hundred extrajudicial killings. the report said the soldiers had suspected local villagers of supporting islamist militants. bbc journalists were suspended earlier in the week for covering the report. on saturday, a spokesman for burkina faso's government said the report was premature. at least four people are dead after tornadoes left a trail of destruction in the us state of oklahoma. clean up operations are underway in the town of sulphur, which was badly damaged. the storm flattened buildings and flipped over cars. on a visit to the town, the state's governor said it appears that every business in the town had been destroyed. you are watching bbc news. our colleagues in london take over from here. hello. expect a different feel to the weather over the next few days. some warmer weather on the way this week, but with that,

we will still see some outbreaks of rain at times, so don't be expecting blue skies and sunshine all the way. and certainly low pressure in charge of the scene for monday, this frontal system pushing in from the west. that'll make for a really soggy start to the day across northern ireland. conversely, central and eastern parts of england and a good part of scotland starting with some sunshine. a touch of frost first thing across parts of scotland. outbreaks of rain spreading from northern ireland, into southern and central scotland, northwest england, wales and the south—west as we go through the day. but for central and eastern parts of england, where we hold on to some brightness, temperatures could climb to 18 degrees. more generally, 11 to 14. now, through monday night, this first band of cloud and patchy rain pushes a little bit further eastwards and northwards. we'll see further heavy rain returning to western parts by the end of the night. some clear spells, too, but temperatures between seven and 11 degrees — much milder than recent nights. we should be frost—free as we start tuesday morning, but still with low pressure in charge, this frontal system bringing another dose

of rain to western parts. and this front creeping in from the east, that is going to bring a band of clouds and perhaps some heavy, thundery showers into parts of eastern england as the day wears on. but in between our rain bands, a slice of sunshine across central parts of england, up into southern and eastern scotland. the warmth a little more widespread on tuesday, highs of16,17,18 degrees. the odd spot may be up to 19. now, by wednesday, levels of humidity will be climbing a little. that'll mean more in the way of low clouds, some mist and murk, particularly for eastern coasts. outbreaks of rain also likely to develop across many parts of central and eastern england. those temperatures, 16,17 or 18 degrees. as we head towards the end of the week, low pressure still fairly close by, so there'll still be some bouts of rain, but the winds coming from the east will feed some rather warm air from the near continent in our direction. now, the highest temperatures of all for the end of the week may be across western scotland — could be looking at temperatures up to 20 degrees.

as we head into the weekend, looks rather mixed. some dry weather, some rain at times, but staying just a little warmer than it has been of late.

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.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. lebanon has long been a dysfunctional state, tragically for the lebanese people it suits many powerful players, both inside and outside the country to keep it that way. having just about staved off total economic collapse at the start of this decade, lebanon is currently the arena for an increasingly dangerous showdown between israel and the iranians backed militia hezbollah. my guess is lebanon's economy minister amin salam. does his government have the means and the will to avert a national calamity?