The cobbled streets of Newport in Middlesbrough survive from the Victorian era.

The staggering levels of child poverty here also feel like they belong in a different time.

Six out of every seven children in Newport are classified as living in poverty.

The measure is defined by the Child Poverty Action Group as a household with an income less than 60% of the national average.

More than half of children across the whole of the constituency of Middlesbrough and Thornaby East are growing up in poverty.

As a long-awaited new strategy on child poverty is expected from the government, much of the focus on tackling the problem has been placed on lifting the two-child cap on benefits for families.

Researchers say there is direct link between areas with the highest rates of child poverty and those with the highest proportion of children affected by that two-child cap.

Mother-of-three Gemma Grafton said: “Maybe if families do have more than two children, give them that little bit of extra help because it would make a difference.”

Three months ago, she and partner Lee welcomed baby Ivie into the world. With two daughters already, the cap means they receive no additional universal credit.

“You don’t seem to have enough money some months to cover the basics,” said Lee.

“Having to tell the kids to take it easy, that’s not nice, when they’re just wanting to help themselves to get what they want and we’ve got to say ‘Try and calm down on what you’re eating’ because we haven’t got the money to go and get shopping in,” added Gemma.

The couple had to resort to paying half of the rent one month, something they say is stressful and puts their home at risk.

Those who work in the area of child poverty say they are engaged in a battle with child exploitation gangs who will happily step in and offer children a lucrative life of crime.

“Parents are crying that they’re failing because they can’t provide for their children,” said Tracey Godfrey-Harrison, project manager at the Middlesbrough Food Bank.

“In today’s society, it’s disgraceful that anyone should have to cry because they don’t have enough.”

In the shadow of a former steelworks, Dormanstown Primary Academy serves pupils in a community hit hard by the economic collapse that followed.

The school works with charities and businesses to increase opportunities for pupils now and in the future.

Katrina Morley, the academy’s chief executive, said: “A child who hasn’t been able to sleep properly can’t concentrate. They’re tired. We know that the brain doesn’t work in the same way. A child who is hungry can’t access the whole of life.

“When you face hardship, it affects not just your physiology but your emotional sense, your brain development, your sense of worth. They don’t get today back and their tomorrow is our tomorrow.”

The school’s year six pupils see the value of things like the on-site farm shop for families in need.

They are open about their own worries, too.

Bonnie, 10, said: “I think that’s very important because it ensures all the people in our community have options if they’re struggling.

“It can be life-changing for families in poverty or who have a disadvantage in life because they don’t have enough money and they’re really struggling to get their necessities.”

Mark, also 10, said: “I worry about if we have nowhere to live and if we haven’t got enough money to pay for our home. But at least we have our family.”

They also see the homelessness in the area as the impact of poverty. “I think it actually happens more often than most people think,” said Leo, “because near the town, there’s people on the streets and they have nowhere to go.”

The school is one of many calling for the lifting of the two-child cap.

The need for life’s essentials has prompted more than 50 families to register for help at Barney’s Baby Bank in the last 11 months. Nappies, wipes, clothing, shoes, toys, are a lifeline for those who call in.

Founder Debbie Smith said local people “are struggling with food. They’re obviously struggling to clothe their babies as well. It’s low wages, high unemployment, job insecurity and that two-child benefit cap”.

“Middlesbrough does feel ignored,” she added.

A government spokesperson said: “Every child, no matter their background, deserves the best start in life. That’s why our Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.

“We are investing £500m in children’s development through the rollout of Best Start Family Hubs, extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest don’t go hungry in the holidays through a new £1bn crisis support package.”

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But what is the message to those making the decisions from the North East?

“Come and do my job for a week and see the need and the desperation the people are in,” said Ms Godfrey-Harrison. “There needs to be more done for people in Middlesbrough.”

Sky News has seen multiple warehouses in the Jordanian capital Amman, packed full of critical aid earmarked for the Gaza Strip.

There are three other similar locations in the country and run by the Jordanian authorities holding aid intended for Gaza.

There are also large amounts of aid being stored separately by the United Nations in Jordan.

Both the Jordanian authorities and the UN say the majority of aid collected has been sitting in Jordan since March, with only a negligible amount of aid being allowed into Gaza because of Israeli restrictions on aid going into the Strip.

The news comes as tens of thousands of families living in tents in Gaza have been affected by flooding following heavy rains across the region.

The stored aid is equivalent to thousands of trucks’ worth of aid – in Jordan alone.

And the United Nations says there’s even more aid being held back in Egypt too – in total, enough aid to provide food for the entire Gaza population for about three months, according to the deputy commissioner general for UNRWA, Natalie Boucly, who was interviewed by The Guardian.

Sky’s special correspondent Alex Crawford, who is in Amman, said: “The aid in Jordan alone includes critical supplies such as tents and tarpaulins as well as blankets, mattresses, medicines like paracetamol as well as baby formula… all being stored here and held back, according to the UN here in Jordan and the Jordanian authorities, all being refused entry by the Israelis.”

What has UNICEF said?

The UN aid agency for children has called on Israel to allow all of its supplies into Gaza.

Writing on X, UNICEF said it had already distributed more than 5,000 tents, 220,000 tarps and 29,000 winter clothes kits.

The Israeli defence body in charge of humanitarian aid in Gaza, COGAT, has said it is allowing in winter materials including blankets and tarps, which are water-resistant sheets made of canvas or plastic used for protection from the elements.

But aid organisations have warned the efforts are completely inadequate and vastly outnumbered by those in need – an estimated 1.4 million people are classified as vulnerable by aid agencies.

In contrast, on X, COGAT said it had “facilitated close to 140,000 tarpaulins directly to the residents of the Gaza Strip” and had spent the past few months coordinating with the international community.

It went on: “We call on international organisations to coordinate more tents and tarpaulins and other winter humanitarian responses.”

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But the UN insists Israel is in breach of international humanitarian law and has the responsibility as the occupying force to ensure the safe distribution and coordination of life-saving aid.

What does the Israeli military say?

An Israeli military official told Sky News that aid was stopped from Jordan after the main border crossing with Israel was closed following an attack there in September, which saw a Jordanian truck driver kill two Israeli soldiers.

Although both Jordanian officials and UN figures in the country say hardly any aid – a “negligible” amount – was allowed into Gaza from Jordan many months before this, dating back to March.

The Israeli military official said the crossing will not be opened until an investigation is concluded into the incident. They pointed out that there are other routes for aid to enter Gaza along the Egypt border, and hundreds of trucks enter the strip every day under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement.

However, the UN and multiple aid organisations say this is a fraction of what is required to meet the huge need inside Gaza and there are thousands of trucks’ worth of aid also piled up and waiting to be allowed over from Egypt too.

Meanwhile, in the sprawling Muwasi tent camp in Gaza, winter’s first strong rainfall sent water cascading through the flimsy tents, which are now homes to tens of thousands of displaced families.

Residents tried to dig trenches to keep the water from flooding their tents, as intermittent rains that began on Friday poured through tears in tarpaulins and makeshift shelters.

‘Water puddles are inches high’

Assil Naggar said he “spent all (Friday) pushing water out of my tent”, adding his neighbours’ tents and belongings were wrecked.

“Water puddles are inches high, and there is no proper drainage,” he continued.

The UN said Muwasi was sheltering up to 425,000 displaced Palestinians earlier this year, the vast majority in makeshift temporary tents, after Israel’s war with Hamas displaced most of Gaza’s population of more than two million people.

The bulk of Gaza’s infrastructure is estimated to have been destroyed or badly damaged during the Israeli bombardment.

What’s the latest with the ceasefire?

The first stage of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on 10 October, is now nearing its end with Israeli forces pulling back to a ‘yellow line’ and Hamas releasing all living Israeli captives who were held in Gaza.

Hamas has yet to return the remains of three more hostages, which Israel is demanding before progressing to the second stage, which includes an international stabilisation force to oversee security in Gaza.

On Monday, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on a US proposal for a UN mandate for such a force despite opposition from Russia, China and some Arab countries.

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has gone on for more than two years, killing nearly 70,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian territory’s ministry of health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The Israeli military campaign came in response to attacks inside southern Israel by Hamas militants on October 7 2023, which saw 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage.

The most advanced US aircraft carrier has travelled to the Caribbean Sea in what has been interpreted as a show of military power and a possible threat to Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro regime.

The USS Gerald R Ford and other warships arrived in the area with a new influx of troops and weaponry on Sunday.

It is the latest step in a military build-up that the Donald Trump administration claims is aimed at preventing criminal cartels from smuggling drugs to America.

Since early September, US strikes have killed at least 80 people in 20 attacks on small boats accused of transporting narcotics in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Mr Trump has indicated that military action would expand beyond strikes by sea, saying the US would “stop the drugs coming in by land”.

The US government has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narcoterrorists”, however.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford now rounds off the largest increase in US firepower in the region in generations.

With its arrival, the “Operation Southern Spear” mission includes nearly a dozen navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and marines.

Rear Admiral Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere”.

Admiral Alvin Holsey, the US commander who oversees the Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement that the American forces “stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilise our region”.

Government officials in Trinidad and Tobago have announced that they have already begun “training exercises” with the US military that are due to run over the next week.

The island is just seven miles from Venezuela at its closest point.

The country’s minister of foreign affairs, Sean Sobers, said the exercises were aimed at tackling violent crime in Trinidad and Tobago, which is frequently used by drug traffickers as a stopover on their journey to Europe or North America.

Venezuela’s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression.

They had no immediate comment on Sunday regarding the arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford.

The US has long used aircraft carriers to pressure and deter aggression by other nations because its warplanes can strike targets deep inside another country.

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Some experts say the Ford is ill-suited to fighting cartels, but it could be an effective instrument of intimidation to push Mr Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the US, to step down.

Mr Maduro has said the US government is “fabricating” a war against him.

The US president has justified the attacks on drug boats by saying the country is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, while claiming the boats are operated by foreign terrorist organisations.

US politicians have pressed Mr Trump for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the boat strikes.

Elizabeth Dickinson, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for the Andes region, said: “This is the anchor of what it means to have US military power once again in Latin America.

“And it has raised a lot of anxieties in Venezuela but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath to see just how willing the US is to really use military force.”