live from washington, this is bbc news. a us state department report criticises israel's conduct in gaza but stops short of recommending the us halt weapons supplies. in gaza, the territory's main un aid agency warns it only has three days�* worth of food remaining. and russian forces launch a surprise cross—border attack on ukrainian territory near the city of kharkiv. hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. the us has released a report to congress finding that israel may have used american—supplied weapons in breach of international humanitarian law during the war in gaza. the document says, however, that the us government does not have complete information to verify its assessment. it also finds that,

despite israel not fully cooperating with us efforts to get humanitarian aid into gaza in the initial months, it does not currently assess that israel is prohibiting or restricting the transport of aid supplies. it has been a difficult week for us—israel relations. presidentjoe biden said the us could suspend certain arms shipments to israel if it launches a full—scale invasion into rafah, a densley populated area where over one million civilians are sheltering and in dire need of humanitarian assistance. our state department correspondent tom bateman has this report. this report has been three months in the making. it was ordered by the white house back in february with president biden under growing pressure from human rights organisations, from part of his democratic base, over the way that american weapons were being used by the israelis in gaza.

and what we have so far are the key findings that the state department here have released, and there is a key line in this report and it is this — that it is reasonable to assess, they say, that weapons supplied by the americans have been used by israeli security forces since october 7th in instances inconsistent with international humanitarian law. so that is a deep criticism by the american administration of its key ally in the region. but the report then goes on to effectively couch this in quite a lot of caveat. they say, for example, they don't have enough information to specifically say that in certain instances there has been a breach of international humanitarian law, and they also say, crucially, that israel has given assurances that there is what they call remediation, that there's an accountability process if there are any potential breaches of law, and this report says it's satisfied with those and therefore it gets to the fundamental endpoint of this — that it stops short of saying there should be any further withdrawal or withholding of american

weapons to the israelis. and i think that's one of the ways in which this report appears to try to come down in two places at the same time and so perhaps it won't satisfy either part of the pressure that's being exerted on president biden. he's caught in a deep political bind over his support for the israelis in gaza, pressure from both sides, and that is why a ceasefire for hostage release negotiation remains politically the only way out for president biden. but those talks broken down or at least suspended for the moment in cairo with no sign at the moment of a visible breakthrough. i've also been speaking with david satterfield — a us diplomat and former special envoy for middle east humanitarian issues. my my colleague spoke to him a little earlier. i want to ask

you about what this says about how it is reasonable to assess that these weapons have been used by the israeli military inconsistent with its humanitarian law obligations but it also says the us government does not have complete information to verify the assessment. we heard this might be a softening to what this actually means. what do you think of this?— you think of this? this is comprehensive. - you think of this? this is comprehensive. it - you think of this? this is comprehensive. it is, . you think of this? this is comprehensive. it is, as| you think of this? this is - comprehensive. it is, as noted by your correspondent, the first of its kind. we will keep under review is really actions as time goes by but the report frankly notes those areas where there were difficulties, problems, obstructions in the delivery of assistance, where question marks had been raised with respect to international humanitarian law but it notes

as it has to the context in which this review took place. what information is available, what information is alleged and can't be confirmed, and the overall context of the conflict with a terrorist group deeply embedded in, under, around civilian and humanitarian infrastructure. this is a combat, a conflict, quite unlike any the world has seen and we tried to take account of all those factors in coming up with a very frank but also crediblejudgement. i with a very frank but also credible judgement. credible 'udgement. i have to follow credible judgement. i have to follow up _ credible judgement. i have to follow up with _ credible judgement. i have to follow up with a _ credible judgement. i have to follow up with a few - credible judgement. i have to i follow up with a few questions. you say it is a comprehensive report but how can it be comprehensive if it says the us does not have complete information to verify its findings? it information to verify its findings?— information to verify its findinus? , , , findings? it is comprehensive in notin: findings? it is comprehensive in noting where _ findings? it is comprehensive in noting where we _ findings? it is comprehensive in noting where we have - in noting where we have information. where we believe credible allegations have been made, even if they can't be

confirmed. that is the confidence of character. we cannot make up facts or confirmation of assertions where none exist, but we are obliged to know them, and we have. i spoke about the report and the israel—gaza war with former us centcom spokesmanjoe buccino and dana stroul, former us deputy assistant secretary of defense for the middle east and seniorfellow at the washington institute. the report doesn't call for the halting of weapons or the withholding of weapons but yet we've seen president biden in the last week dojust that. do you think he'll use this report to continue with the supply? yes. so i think these are two separate issues which is a hard needle to thread. so when it comes to this report it's about whether — if the report had said that we have determined in a definitive manner that israel has violated international humanitarian law in its obligations to minimise civilian harm and it's not taking remediation practices in a genuine and meaningful way

then it would trigger, under us law, obligations to stop transferring military equipment to israel. and the report did not do that which opens the door to continuing to transfer military equipment. but what the president announced he was holding this week were two types of munitions — 2000 pound bombs and 500 pound bombs. and when it comes to rafah, the white house has been pretty clear that it's concerned about about how the idf might prosecute that operation in rafah and if you're doing precise, targeted operations that are seeking to minimise civilian harm in a densely populated area, you don't need 2000 pounds bombs to do that. joe, you were obviously a military man in central command for quite some time. from what we've seen israel and its assault in gaza, it has been using those bombs and that's the president's concern, isn't it? it has been using those bombs, and it has enough munitions, israel has enough munitions to continue with the assault

and to start a large—scale assault, and ultimately, this will change really nothing in terms of the outcome. israel is going to go forward with the assault. it's going to be a catastrophe. israel will be further isolated on the world stage and america's standing in the middle east will take a further hit. from what you've seen from what prime minister netanyahu has said in past days, do you think that assault in rafah is imminent? we've heard about it from some months now but we do have some movements in the area of idf presence. i think the encircling of the tanks in the south, i think that's an indication that it's imminent. i think the falling apart of the negotiations of the ceasefire, i think that's another indication so i think in the coming days to weeks this is going to go through. now, at the united nations in new york, the general assembly voted in favour of a palestinian bid to become a full un member.

in a largely symbolic move, more than 140 countries voted in support with nine voting against, including the us and israel. in a heated debate, the israeli ambassador, gilad erdan, called the vote a travesty, producing a mini—shredder into which he fed a pocket—sized un charter. the palestinian representative can now fully take part in debates and propose agenda items, though it still won't still won't have voting rights — something only the un security council has the power to confer. following the council's vote, palestinian president mahmoud abbas said the territory will continue its endeavour to obtain full membership. our north america correspondent john sudworth recaps the day's events. we ought to say that the general assembly does not have the power to confer full membership on a new state. so, in a way, this result, passed overwhelmingly today, is largely symbolic but it does do a couple of things. first of all it reiterates that call for full membership and asks the security council

to reconsider but it also grants some enhanced rights and privileges to palestine in its what's called nonmember observer status. all of that, although limited, was enough to provoke that furious reaction from israel. its ambassador taking to the podium to say that this vote was a reward for terror. he accused many of those voting in support of this resolution as being jew hating, in his words. and the point he was making essentially was that this was a backdoor way of circumventing normal un procedures to grant many of the attributes of statehood to palestine, in contravention of the charter which is why we saw that active protest as he used that mini shredder to push a pocket sized version of the un charter through its blades at

the end of his speech. meanwhile on the ground, the main aid agency in gaza, unrwa, says it only has three days' worth of food supply left in its stockpiles. by sunday the food is expected to run out. when speaking to bbc�*s us partner cbs news, scott anderson, a senior unwra official, also confirmed that 157,000 litres of fuel was permitted into the region today, which will cover the agency operations for a few days. i've been speaking with professor nick maynard, a surgeon who has just returned to the uk from gaza. thanks for being with us. you left rafah on monday as the idf was asking people to evacuate, ordering people to evacuate. what did you see as you left? what did you see as you left? what was the situation like? thanks for having me on

tonight. it was a strange feeling driving to rafah to get to the crossing because they had been given notification a few hours earlier through leaflets and texts and there was already a rapid evacuation of people leaving through rafah as we were driving to get to the crossing. so, there were many people leaving, some of them on foot with their belongings, some of them on cars, some on a donkey and car. what was particularly distressing was not see them leave their normal homes but their tents, the shelters some of them have been living in, some only for a few weeks, having been displaced already. so, seeing them leave those makeshift shelters to move yet again was awful to see, frankly. again was awful to see, frankly-— again was awful to see, frankl. , frankly. this is your second tri - frankly. this is your second tri to frankly. this is your second trip to gaza. _ frankly. this is your second trip to gaza. you _ frankly. this is your second trip to gaza. you were - frankly. this is your second | trip to gaza. you were there around christmas, new year.

what changes did you notice in the intervening time period? i spent two weeks in middle gaza on both occasions. the major difference — we saw quite a lot less immediate trauma than my first visit. when i was there over christmas and new year we really saw non—stop trauma from explosive injuries, predominantly, and we were very busy operating all the time on major thoracic and abdominal trauma, but this occasion we saw less trauma but we saw a huge amount of complications on people who'd had surgery as a result of malnutrition. so i think the most stark difference was seeing the malnutrition, seeing the effect of the starvation of the gazan people on their illnesses, on their healing from major surgery. and of course the most striking thing was not only how thin they were but how many bad infections they had, how all their wounds were falling to pieces because they weren't healing,

and that was a really stark difference compared to when we were there over christmas and new year. given the degradation in medicalfacilities, the lack given the degradation in medical facilities, the lack of medical facilities, the lack of medical supplies in gaza, how, as a surgeon, as a medical professional, are you able to deliver care to people that make the level of care that they need? it make the level of care that they need?— they need? it is very difficult. _ they need? it is very difficult. we - they need? it is very difficult. we have i they need? it is very difficult. we have to| they need? it is very - difficult. we have to use a really limited set of instruments in theatres. we did not have any sterile drapes, for example, so we had to make our own out of gowns. we have little water in theatres and limited instrumentations but i think the most — there were very few resources on the wards as well, so one of the effects of the malnutrition and the failure of the wounds to heal was that a lot of these patients have had parts of their bowel removed because of shrapnel injuries and they are

joined together again with stitchers or stables and because of the malnutrition, the lack of healing, these are all leaking, so there were patients that had malcontents leaking internally, externally, and we had no means of really controlling that other than carrying out more major surgery. so, we had limited colostomy bags, for example, very limited wound management systems, so these poor patients who had their bowel contents leaking out of their wounds, covering their beds, and there was not enough equipment to look after these and it was an awful thing to see because not only were they very unwell for this but there was no privacy there so having these awful linkages in full public, in view of all the other patients and it is very distressing for them and humiliating for them, frankly. them and humiliating for them, frankl . . . , them and humiliating for them, frankl . , ., , ., , frankly. given that the idf has now closed — frankly. given that the idf has now closed the _ frankly. given that the idf has now closed the rafah - frankly. given that the idf has now closed the rafah crossing and is occupying that, aid has

granted almost to a halt in most of gaza. the conditions you are describing there, the effective malnutrition, how much longer can the people of gaza survive in those ways? it is a very good question and i think the malnutrition that is there now is already leading to a large number of excess deaths which will eventually well exceed the 35,000 odd people who have died from trauma. and this will only get worse. and the malnutrition is so severe now that it is not something that simple food can correct. they need acute medical care with medical nutrition and, of course, that is almost impossible to provide. in most of gaza, it is certainly impossible in northern gaza, middle gaza and with the invasion in rafah imminent and the loss of hospitals there, it will be difficult to provide

there so i think this will get much worse and we will see a large number of deaths from, not exclusively malnutrition, but a variety of infections and complications from which malnutrition will be a major cause. malnutrition will be a ma'or cause. ~ ., ., cause. ok. we will have to leave it — cause. ok. we will have to leave it there _ cause. ok. we will have to leave it there for _ cause. ok. we will have to leave it there for the - cause. ok. we will have to - leave it there for the moment. doctor nick maynard, thank you for speaking to us on bbc news. thank you very much indeed. russian forces have launched a surprise new ground offensive in ukraine, crossing the border into the north—eastern kharkiv region. for months fighting has been focused in the east, where russia occupies large areas. friday's attack may be an attempt to open a new front and intensify pressure on kharkiv, which is the country's second—largest city. it comes as president biden authorised more us military aid for ukraine. small groups of russian troops with armoured vehicles pushed through the front line. military sources say they advanced a kilometre before being pushed back, amid reports of sustained russian shelling. here is president zelensky. translation: russia started| a new wave of offensive action

in the kharkiv region. ukraine forces met them there with brigades and artillery fire. it is important to understand that they can increase and bring more forces in this direction. it is a fact. our defence correspondent jonathan beale sent this report from kharkiv in north—eastern ukraine. there's no doubt these are dangerous and difficult times for ukraine. remember, since the start of this year, russia has taken about 300 square miles of ukrainian territory. the focus of its efforts have been in the east where it's been making slow but significant progress. but at the same time, russia has been massing forces, tens of thousands of troops just across the border from europe 20 miles from the city of kharkiv where i'm speaking to you now from, and in the early hours of this morning, some of those troops crossed the border from what we toured where a massive air and artillery

strikes and they now have a foothold in the kharkiv region. president zelensky says they have repelled those initial attacks but there are concerns that there will be another wave in the coming days. there is no doubt president putin believes he has a window of opportunity here, notjust because ukraine is outgunned or outmanned but also because of the delay in us military support, delay of six months and aid is only slowly coming to the front line and these are going to be difficult dangerous months for ukraine and already there being stretched right across this 800 mile front. let's turn to some important news around the world. taliban officials in afghanistan say at least 60 people have died in flash floods in the northern province of baghlan.

more than 100 have been injured by the heavy rains, and at least five districts had been hit — according to a taliban spokesman. brazil has announced the release of $10 billion to help rescue efforts and reconstruction in the state of rio grande do sul. at least 113 people have died, more than 100 are still missing, and more than 330 thousand have been displaced. at donald trump's criminal trial in new york, his former white house assistant madeleine westerhout continued her evidence, describing a complex system to get post, including cheques, from trump tower to the white house, where he allegedly signed some cheques without reviewing them. earlier this week the adult film actress stormy daniels testified, clashing with mr trump's defence team during a combative cross—examination. donald trump's former lawyer and long—time fixer michael cohen is expected to take the stand on monday. the former us president denies falsifying business records to conceal a payment to ms daniels for her silence over an alleged sexual encounter in 2006.

our new york correspondent nada tawfik is at the manhattan courthouse with the latest. lemon this week saw testimony from one big — lemon this week saw testimony from one big witness _ lemon this week saw testimony from one big witness - - lemon this week saw testimony from one big witness - stormy i from one big witness — stormy daniels and next week, michael colin, donald trump's former lawyer is set to take the stand as early as monday and it is the moment that prosecutors have been building up to for the last three weeks of their case, piecing together testimony from corroborating witnesses and pieces of evidence as they went through what they allege was a conspiracy to hide information from the voting public, bringing figures like the tabloid editor of the national inquirer david packer to outline a catch and kill scheme to buy negative stories and kill them before they reach the public to someone like stormy daniels's lawyer keith davidson

who outlined that the payment was being done ahead of the 2016 election. then prosecutors moved into what they said was the cover—up with testimony from donald trump's organisation's former controllerjeff mccartney and another accounting executive. as they outlined the payments, the physical records, invoices, e—mails, ledgers and checks that they say all corresponded to the reimbursement of michael cohen for the so—called hush money payment and then it stormy daniels with her vivid, salacious testimony. that was meant to corroborate her account that the alleged sexual encounter with donald trump did take place and that she was paid off to keep silent about it. the defence all throughout tried to sew enough doubt in jurors minds but with michael cohen, he is a make or break witness for prosecutors. he has

a history of lying under oath, so he is problematic. but they are hoping that they have built up are hoping that they have built up enough evidence to bolster his account when he takes the stand. forthe his account when he takes the stand. for the defence, they are hoping that they are able to attack his credibility enough to makejurors enough to make jurors second—guess enough to makejurors second—guess everything he says. tech firms are continuing their efforts to clamp down on deceptive ai in a year when half of the world is holding elections. the latest announcement is from tiktok, which announced it will begin automatically labeling ai—generated content on the platform. i spoke about the effort with tiktok�*s head of operations and trust and safety, adam presser. thanks forjoining us on bbc news. given that tiktok has decided to invest in al transparency, how concerned are you as a company about deceptive ai?— you as a company about deceptive ai? thank you for havin: deceptive ai? thank you for having me- _ deceptive ai? thank you for having me. one _ deceptive ai? thank you for having me. one of- deceptive ai? thank you for having me. one of the - deceptive ai? thank you for. having me. one of the things that makes tiktok a vibrant

community for people all over the world is authenticity. it is the authenticity that comes from a creator and from people watching content online, and so giving users the tools to be able to understand what is fact and what is fiction online is really important. that is why we are making big investments and implementing new technology so that any content that is post dated on tiktok that has been created with our own ai tools is labelled as ai generated and content that is created on other platforms that have implemented this technology is labelled as ai generated to make sure that users have that ability to distinguish between what is real and what is not. halli distinguish between what is real and what is not. half of the countries _ real and what is not. half of the countries in _ real and what is not. half of the countries in the - real and what is not. half of the countries in the world . real and what is not. half of. the countries in the world will hold elections. as we know, deceptive actors will try to target platforms like your own, like many others. what are you doing specifically about

elections, around democracy, to try and detect and stop that? or can you stop it?— try and detect and stop that? or can you stop it? keeping our community _ or can you stop it? keeping our community safe _ or can you stop it? keeping our community safe is _ or can you stop it? keeping our community safe is our - or can you stop it? keeping our community safe is our top - community safe is our top priority, especially through these important civic processes. we have navigated over 150 elections over the course of the last several years all over the world. so, we work with partners like democracy works to provide reliable information to people searching for information about the election in the united states, for example. we also have 18 fact checking partners to ensure the content we are seeing is reliable and has been verified. ~' seeing is reliable and has been verified. ~ , ., seeing is reliable and has been verified. ~ , . verified. tiktok is a big tech company — verified. tiktok is a big tech company that _ verified. tiktok is a big tech company that signed - verified. tiktok is a big tech company that signed the - verified. tiktok is a big tech | company that signed the tech accord at the munich security conference vowing to combat deceptive ai by coming together. that is self—regulation. would you welcome greater regulation from governments? we have the eu ai act but there is not an equivalent in the us, for example.

equivalent in the us, for example-— equivalent in the us, for examle. ~ , example. we believe facing these challenges _ example. we believe facing these challenges requires l these challenges requires partnerships of all kinds. that is it for the — partnerships of all kinds. that is it for the moment. - partnerships of all kinds. that is it for the moment. to - partnerships of all kinds. that is it for the moment. to stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. settled and warm again on friday, with plenty of late spring sunshine around and temperatures rising across the four nations into the low 20s in celsius. the warmth is set to last as we head through the weekend. temperatures will remain above the seasonal average, warmest towards the east. and it's still dry for the vast majority of us on saturday. a scattering of showers, with the real breakdown happening on sunday. heavy, thundery showers out towards the western half of the uk. further east should stay largely dry. and here is the area of high pressure that's keeping these dry, settled conditions for the time being. it will eventually push further eastwards into scandinavia. but we've got a bit of an easterly breeze, and that's been dragging some mist and low cloud in from the north sea. but that will lift and clear across the south—east of england and east anglia through saturday morning. still maybe a hang—back of cloud towards parts

of the yorkshire lincolnshire coast, though. lots of sunshine to start the day and we'll keep the sunny skies for most through the afternoon. but a scattering of showers across scotland pushing northwards, perhaps some heavy and thundery, but they'll be fairly isolated. it's still very warm — 2a degrees celsius in glasgow. chance of a shower, too, across northern areas of northern ireland and north wales. a little cooler towards these north sea—facing coasts, with some of the cloud possibly lapping onshore again at times. 25 or 26 degrees celsius in london and south—east england. so the high pressure starts to push further eastwards as we head through sunday. that allows for these low pressure systems to roll in from the west. and this weather front will bring us thickening cloud across the south—west of england, western wales, on sunday morning. some showers across the western isles and western scotland, pushing into northern ireland, and the chance of some thunderstorms developing all across the western half of the uk. but it should stay drier further east. again, there will be a lot of sunshine here, and once again we could see temperatures in the low to the mid—20s in celsius.

but cooler out towards the west, of course, underneath the cloud and with the eventual rain. and here comes that low pressure system swinging in as we head through monday. it's going to give us quite widespread rain on monday, especially through the afternoon, so expect it to turn a lot more showery as we head through next week. and there'll be a drop in temperature, too, so unsettled and cooler as we head through next week. bye—bye for now.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the alba, which is freed after this programme. a warning — our next programme contains flashing images. hello and welcome. israel has banned the television network aljazeera. it says it's a mouthpiece for hamas. we'll hear from aljazeera's managing editor to get his response, and we'll explore the implications of the ban. the israel—gaza war reverberates around the world, and in the us, university campuses have been the scene of pro—palestinian demonstrations over the last month. we're assessing how they're being reported and why student journalists have been crucial to our understanding of the story. we're going to talk about the met gala.

i imagine you may have seen the photos of the extraordinary