live from london, this is bbc news... washington approves $30 million of funding for a controversial us and israeli-backed group set up to deliver aid in gaza. iran acknowledges that serious damage was done to its nuclear facilities during the us and israeli bombings. a massive climb-down - the prime minister caves in to labour rebels over changes to the benefits system. and a norfolk teenager becomes the first patient in europe to receive a potential cure for a rare immune disorder.

hello, i'm luxmy gopal. we start with a focus on gaza, the struggle people are facing to access food there, and the near daily reports of killings at distribution sites. the us has announced it will give $30 million to the gaza humanitarian foundation, a us and israeli-backed body set up to distribute aid in gaza. it's the first known direct us funding for the group, which has been operating in the strip since the end of may, following an eleven-week aid blockade by israel. on tuesday, the un said more than 400 palestinians had been killed in recent weeks by the israeli military, while trying to collect food at the distribution sites. our presenter mark lowen is on the border between israel and gaza, where he will be broadcasting throughout the day. let me just show you where we are, because the gaza border is just over there, over the road. we have stopped here because there is an israeli military checkpoint which we are not allowed to show you and we cannot go further than this. we will be broadcasting throughout

the day through busy news from sites along the crossing to bring into focus the gaza story which has been somewhat out of the media spotlight during the israel and iran war. let us turn this hour to hour gaza correspondent who is monitoring the situation from cairo. just give us the latest on the casualty figures over the last 24 hours. yes, about 23 people were killed since midnight. for nearly gaza humanitarian foundation in rafa. we have got reports about that and earlier there were three people killed near another centre in central gaza near a settlement. that is in the last hour. that is ten people killed in gaza city near a school sheltering people. but

today and yesterday, there were 17 people altogether killed. many of them near to the humanitarian foundation centres. give us a sense of what is happening with the power vacuum in certain areas of gaza, because there are different armed groups now that are filling that vacuum and also, taking over in areas that were previous hamas stronghold. can you give us the picture as far as that is concerned. look, before the war between iran and israel started, i was able to speak to a significant officer in gaza, and very high up level officer. he said almost 80% of its capability to control gaza, the most significant incident was yesterday when 20 or 30

armed people from a clan in the area had attacked the hospital. they accuse the hamas police unit of killing one of them and hiding them in the hospital. the hospital was in a chaotic situation. we saw fire in one department and big destruction in the emergency department and people were burning cars inside the hospital and it was under their control for about two hours. patients and doctors were hiding. we are talking about the only functioning hospital in the entire south of gaza. it was about three or four hours from receiving casualties. everywhere now, not only the clan in rafah which her mother is accused of collaborating with israel, we have a clan in every single neighbourhood. we have seen the

same in another area in the east of gaza. there is a growing concern among the people that law and order is not there in gaza and hamas is not able to confront people who are looting and not able to maintain law and order. thank you very much indeed. well, even though the majority of israelis, according to opinion polls, want a ceasefire with gaza and a return of the remaining 50 hostages who are still not home here in israel, about 28 of them are thought to be dead. there is of course a range of opinions on this from israelis. we are on the way here, we stopped at a kibbutz which was one of them that was overrun by hamas on the 7th of

october. more than 100 people were killed in that massacre. we started speaking to some residents and we will return when we come off air to continue our gathering there. it was striking and vivid to see the impact of the 7th of october there. you could see buildings shot out by hamas as they stormed that and a range of opinions inside that kibbutz and people close to gaza about whether a ceasefire should be reached and whether aid should be brought in. we are going to speak to a medical advisor for doctors without borders. she joins us from northern gaza. thank you for talking to us. can you give us a sense of the scene on the ground as far as aid is concerned where you are. thank you. i arrived last week in north geyser. -- north

geyser. there is widespread food and security and people are lining up in the markets where there is not much of a bailable. we know aid systems are not successful at this point. are you getting any aid in today or yesterday, because, of course, the israeli government has put out a directive that there should be a two-day stoppage for aid deliveries until they can secure the situation on the ground and are accusing hamas of looting the aid. to my knowledge there is no aid coming today and we have not seen or heard any trucks. i am sorry to interrupt. it is a drop in the bucket of two days.

there really has been a 100 day siege and lack of entry of food, medical supplies, fuel... you are in the north of gaza, the worst hit area and where the new age distribution points by this controversial gaza humanitarian foundation are. describe the needs on the ground where they are not those aid distribution centres. basically, daily life is a struggle for everybody living in north geyser. in the north of the area all the hospitals have been closed and people have been displaced into the gaza city area. there are hundreds and thousands of newly displaced people putting pressure on all of the health care facilities. we are seeing rising rates of malnutrition and hospitals are overcrowded with trauma cases. stress on

the blood supply and blood donation clinics are struggling because the majority of the population is now anaemic because of lack of nutritious food. another important problem is the water. we are in the very hot months of the climate. people are hard and getting dehydrated. the water system and distribution system has been destroyed so we are seeing a lot of waterborne illnesses as well. what do you make of the gaza humanitarian foundation and this us-israeli backed mission. it is now set to receive $30 million from the us state department and has replaced the established un aid mechanism working on the ground that israel accused of being in collaboration with hamas. how would you describe that mechanism and what are the issues with it? basically, it

is not humanitarian. humanitarian principles exist to enable the facilitation made to those in need with dignity. the ghf is not fulfilling any of those principles. people are walking long distances. their choice is starvation or possibly getting killed. people from the north it is basically almost inaccessible because of the distance. joanne with msf in northern gaza thank you for your time. thank you for describing the dire situation on the ground in northern gaza. all of our best because dozens of aid workers have been killed on the ground since the 7th of october. it is an extremely dangerous situation for humanitarian workers. as i said, we will be broadcasting

all through the day from the israel-gaza border. do stay with us. the us defence secretary has called the recent strikes on iran's nuclear facilities the most complex and secretive in military history - but he gave few new details about their impact. the iranian foreign minister, abbas araghchi, has now acknowledged what he called "serious" damage from the strikes, saying an assessment was under way. but he disputed president trump's assertion that there would be us-iranian talks next week, saying no such plan had been set. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is in the iranian capital tehran , she is being allowed to report from there on condition that none of her coverage is used on the bbc's persian service, which broadcasts to the people of iran. this law from the authorities applies to all international media agencies operating in iran. here is her report.

translation: iran, with this iron national resolve, reject surrender. for a country like this, the idea of surrender is laughable to anyone who truly knows the iranian nation. for now, a fragile ceasefire. tehran starts to look like itself. its infamous traffic... ..its beautiful bazaars, residents slowly

returning to a city they left to escape the bombs. but for some, it's still a battle just to breathe. in this ward, there are civilians, not soldiers. this man shows us his scars. he was working in the transport department when the entrance to the notorious evin prison was bombed. translation: israel lies, saying they are only hitting military and nuclear sites. they hit a prison. i was there, i was hurt, and i'm amazed countries like england, france, the us and the un don't condemn israel. the abandoned american embassy, a monument to iran's troubled relationship with the west, accused of sponsoring terrorism, of trying to develop a nuclear bomb, charges tehran denies. but even inside this former embassy, a cafe serving iced americanos.

amir tells me he wants to see a better relationship between america and iran. so many iranians do. but in this dark time, there's still not much light. the message in public was defiant, but this blackened studio symbolises this dark moment in iran. the most difficult and dangerous decisions confronting the supreme leader, the most fateful choices in his nearly 40 years in power. a new, uncertain chapter in an old, long standing war. lyse doucet, bbc news, tehran.

some breaking news. a29-year-old women and two men have been arrested on suspicion of a terror offence after two voyager aircraft were damaged at raf brize norton in an action claimed by the group palestine action. that is according to their counterterrorism policing in the south-east. news coming through of arrests in england. that has come on in the past few minutes. let's turn to the big story in the uk today. there's been a major u-turn by the uk government - which will make changes to its planned benefits reforms - following a wave of pressure from labour mps. the climb-down is a blow to prime minister sir keir starmer's authority - as more than 120 mps from his own party publicly criticised the government's plans.

our political correspondent, damian grammaticas reports. sir keir starmer, saluted this week as he visited royal marines training in holland. but it's his own troops among his backbenchers he's struggled to control, and who forced him into the most significant retreat of his premiership, with this u-turn over key benefit cuts. more than 120 had said publicly they'd block his reforms to disability and sickness benefits. chanting: when they say cut back, we say... the original plan was to limit who receives some benefits and cut others to save £5 billion. now, liz kendall, the work and pensions secretary, has written to rebel mps, saying there'll be no change for those currently receiving pips. no cuts for those currently receiving universal credit's health element. new claimants will face cuts. but support to help people back to work will be increased, and disability rights groups will be consulted on the reforms. miss kendall said, "we have

listened to colleagues who support the principle of reform, but are worried about the impact of the pace of change." these are really important changes, and shows how labour supports the most vulnerable, and also this overall package is about helping people get into work, which is absolutely a core labour value. i'm going to be backing it now because i think it is a good step forward and these major changes are very welcome, and i'm really delighted that the government's been listening. in ellesmere port on the wirral peninsula the original plan had left many deeply worried. camille, who has epilepsy, gets pip payments, her husband employment support allowance. they're going on about getting rid of universal credit and cutting off pip. we're going to struggle even more. and it's sad because that is scary for me, and as well as other families around ellesmere port. we're all going to struggle. jill is registered blind. she says people fear losing help, but change is needed. the welfare benefit system is very heavily used and spending huge amounts of money, which this country

really can't afford. and also, there are a lot of people getting those benefits that perhaps shouldn't be and it must be a terrible juggling act for people to try and stop all the cheats, to make sure that people with genuine need are getting the benefits that they are entitled to. the conservatives say the government's u-turn and failure to get welfare spending under control will come at a cost, likely higher taxes. the liberal democrats that a grubby deal will still hurt disabled people. but the government says its aim is to reduce the anxieties of those worried about the changes and put the benefit system on a sustainable footing. damian grammaticas, bbc news, westminster. the health and social care minister, stephen kinnock, said the process to a government climb-down was a positive one. well, i think it's been a positive and constructive process where, my colleagues

from the backbenches have engaged with ministers and we now have a clear agreement that is going to really strike the right balance between ensuring that we protect the most vulnerable in our society, but also reform the fundamentally broken system that we inherited from the conservatives. we are going to protect people who are now currently on pip and on the health element of universal credit. and we've also got my colleague stephen timms, the disability minister, who is going to lead on a review of the system. but what's vital is that it's going to be co-produced with disabled people. stephen will be working closely with disabled people on the review, and that will set out how we reform the system from november 2026 onwards for people who are signing on to the system after that date. a teenager from norfolk has become the first person in europe to receive a new medication, which doctors believe could cure her life-threatening immune disorder.

by the time she reached 19, several members of mary catchpole's family had died - including her mother and grandmother - as a result of the inherited condition known as apds. our medical editor fergus walsh explains. all her life, mary has carried the burden of a rare disease that killed her mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle. now that weight has lifted, the 19-year-old feels liberated. i just hope it will give me a new lease of life. it's really just a miracle. it means everything. it's bittersweet because obviously, my family members who passed away before they could have it, and it has brought me new hope and new joy about my life, and it makes me feel i can just do anything. mary's ultra rare condition is called apds, and makes her highly vulnerable to infection.

but she's the first patient in europe to get a transformative new drug. leniolisib, also called joenja, should stabilise mary's immune system by blocking the faulty gene which causes apds. it has a list price of £352,000 a year, but the nhs has agreed a substantial confidential discount. so here we're looking at a ct scan of a chest scan of mary. apds can cause lung damage and trigger blood cancers. mary's consultant at addenbrooke's hospital hopes the new drug will prevent that. it's extremely significant. we have a treatment that's targeted specifically for the disease. so that in itself is absolutely transformative and amazing. the future is that she potentially has a drug that leads to a cure, and it's a simple tablet. mary's mother was just

43 when she died. other affected family members also died prematurely. she died quite young, which was always a fear, that i'd die young, too. but with this medication, i know i can have a longer life, which is what she'd want. mary's dad feared he'd lose her, too. to know that is possibly the future for your daughter was really gut wrenching. but this has given her a chance to just live a normal life and have a family herself if she wants to. it's wonderful. mary's family played a crucial role in pinpointing the genetic origins of apds by providing blood samples for researchers at addenbrooke's. this is the lab at the university of cambridge, where the faulty gene which triggers apds was discovered in 2013. this is the lab at the university of cambridge,

to have an effective licensed treatment, just 12 years later, is astonishingly fast. the drug is one of several new targeted treatments which are helping to transform the lives of patients with rare diseases. it's thought up to 50 apds patients in england could benefit from the drug mary is taking, a treatment which is giving her a sense of independence. i want to go on more adventures and take risks, and just find me without the illness, if that makes sense. because all i've ever known is medication, needles, hospital appointments, whereas now i can find out who i am, truly. fergus walsh, bbc news. the home of hollywood actor brad pitt has been ransacked by thieves. police in los angeles said three suspects entered the property through a front window. mr pitt was in the uk earlier this week for the premier of his new film, f1.

staying with celebrity news we are taking you to the scene in venice where the wedding of the amazon founder jeff blazers and the journalist lauren sanchez are expected to exchange vows today it is opposite scent marks square. it is a ceremony that will not have legal status under italian law. they have already wed in the us anyway. many stars are expected to attend including bill gates, a banker -- misses trump. and it costs $46 million. celebrations will conclude on saturday and the

venue changed after protests in venice. do stay with

uk car production hits the brakes as us tariffs provide a major bump in the road. signed and sealed - the world's economic heavy weights put pen to paper on a trade agreement with the promise of more to come. and... back to my big beautiful bill. trump pushes his massive tax and spending plan- amid concerns about america's ballooning debt and a slumping us dollar. welcome to business today, i'm tanya beckett.