Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service, coming to you live from London.

I'm Paul Henley. On today's program, a look at the official classification of Gaza City as a famine zone,

and why it's a description that Israel angrily rejects. And there is breaking news from the United States.

There are multiple dead and several passengers trapped after a tour bus crashed near Niagara Falls

on a return journey to New York. In the last hour, New York State Police gave this update.

Today we had a vehicle collision, a significant vehicle collision. It is a tour bus

coming out of Niagara Falls back to what we believe New York City, and it had about 50 plus

passengers on that, women, children, also. The bus was traveling eastbound right before the

Pembroke exit, and for unknown reasons, the vehicle lost

control went into the median, overcorrected, and ended up in the ditch, which would be on

the right side of the roadway or the south side of what you would be the 90. And at this time,

we have multiple fatalities, multiple entrapments, and multiple injuries. More on that coming up

later in the program.

Now, the United Nations today officially declared a famine in Gaza City the first time it's

done so in the Middle East, with experts warning half a million people face catastrophic hunger.

The UN puts the blame firmly on Israel, accusing it of systematic obstruction of aid deliveries.

The report suggests the famine will soon spread.

The UN's top humanitarian official is Tom Fletcher.

This is what he had to say in Geneva,

as the report was released this morning by the IPC,

which is the international body backed by the United Nations looking into food

insecurity. Please read the IPC report. Cover to cover. Read it in sorrow and in anger.

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