tour in the uk soon. but police and consumer groups are warning fans to be vigilant to ticket scams. hello and welcome to bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the israeli military has recovered the body of a hostage in gaza during an overnight operation. it accused the islamichhad group of murdering the man, who's been identified as 47—year—old elad katzir. israel said its mission to search for hostages and return them to israel would continue. from jerusalem, hugo bachega reports. elad katzir kidnapped in southern israel six months ago, his body returned from gaza today. the israeli military says he was murdered in captivity by the islamicjihad group.

and that his body was found in khan younis overnight. during the attack on a kibbutz in october, elad's father was killed and his mother was abducted but freed in a deal in november. in a facebook post, his sister blamed the israeli government for his death. in gaza, a desperate wait for food amid warnings of famine. aid deliveries have been, at best, sporadic, but when help does arrive, people rush to get it. translation: when we were displaced at the beginning, we used to eat - rotten bread because of the high prices of food here. this is the only place where i can get food for my children. the attack on a convoy that killed seven aid workers this week has put even more pressure on israel. from the us came a warning — it should do more to boost humanitarian assistance and protect civilians and aid workers or risk losing american support. the world food programme has been

able to serve 1 million people every month with food because they completely depend on us. but we have challenges. we don't have the necessary security guarantees to work here. israel is not only facing pressure from its allies, but also threats from its enemies. the army here is on high alert. there's anxiety about a possible iranian strike. iran has vowed to respond to the death of a senior commander in damascus earlier this week in an attack iran has blamed on israel. both sides may still want to avoid a full—out war, but miscalculation is always a risk and the consequences of an escalation unpredictable. hugo bachega, bbc news, jerusalem. earlier i spoke to arwa damon, founder of the charity inara, the international network for aid, relief and assistance.

she is in rafah and began by asking more about her charity. we're very focused on medical and mental health care for children, especially those who have complex injuries resulting from war or natural disasters. in the context of gaza, we launched a emergency rapid response, and as such, we sort of diversify the work that we do, which still revolves around pediatric mental health, but also providing meals where we can. distributions of things like diapers, baby milk, women's sanitary pads, hygiene kits, pretty much anything that the population could need. and the big challenge, of course, is that everyone in gaza needs everything. and there simply is not enough aid, there is not enough capacity on the ground. and we're all very, very impacted

by what happened earlier this week with that strike on the world central kitchen, volunteers and staff, and that's had a massive impact on the ground. i'm not entirely sure if most people recognize the the reach and the number of individuals that w was able to feed every single day. so in the wake of that strike, how are you and your team feeling about your safety? look, our our team is gazan. this is their land. these are their people. and as upsetting as that was and as jarring as that was, they very much have this attitude of we have to continue serving our people. if we're not able to sort of put aside our own fears, put aside our own tragedy, and continue to serve the shelters where we're working, continue to do our work with the children, then who is going to do it? but it is, of course, extremely unnerving. and i got into gaza about two days after that world central kitchen strike took place with a humanitarian group from different organizations. and it was all that we were talking about because the world central kitchen had some of the best

deconfliction with the israelis. they had the strongest lines of communication to the israelis, which is evident in the fact that they were able to do more deliveries to the north, they were able to get aid in and meals in, food and supplies in by sea. and yet this still happened to them. and this really goes to the crux of what a lot of organizations have really been complaining about and trying to raise awareness about. and that is that this whole process of deconfliction, quite simply, is not working. and it's one of the big, big challenges when it comes to getting aid to those who need it. how do you think people are witnessing people coping psychologically in rafah, particularly with the prime minister laying out his intentions to enter rafah in the next offensive? it's one of the first questions that people ask. and i don't know if it's maybe because i came in from the outside and they think that i might have some sort of magical answer to all of this. but they want to know. they want to know if i think this

is going to be happening. they want to know that if it does happen, are there any plans for where they're going to go? are they going to get pushed out to the sea or are they going to get pushed out against the egyptian border? what is going to happen to them? and that's the big issue is nobody knows. there is no actual plan for moving the civilian population at this stage. and it's notjust moving the civilian population, but then you also need to realize that the entire humanitarian infrastructure that is currently supporting the population of rafah is also somehow going to need to be moved. and it's an extraordinary psychological toll. look, i was a journalist with cnn for 17 years. i've been to war zones across the region and in many other places. and this is very, very different. this is the first time that i'm actually seeing this level of desperation, a population that is starving, a population that is unable to access aid that is just a few kilometers away, and that is effectively being forced into this completely and totally catastrophic humanitarian situation by a democratically elected nation.

this is an entirely new ball game for a lot of humanitarian organisations to figure out exactly how to cope with all of this. and many people... we keep hearing the warnings, don't we, aboutan impending famine, starvation? and i think as the media, there are many images that we are unable to broadcast. what are you seeing that we, the rest of the world can't see it? you know, it's these sort of little details. you walk into someone's tent and its four families crammed into a tiny space. there's no sewage system. you take one step and flies just rise up. there's no way for families to keep themselves or their children clean. we're swarmed everywhere we go, mostly by mothers holding small children who are either burning up with fever and or unable

to access medicine. there's a number of mothers that were saying that they weren't able to get epilepsy medications for their children. then there's countless mothers that come up with these absolutely listless and limp babies who are malnourished. it's a very, very real fear. and then, of course, there is the psychological toll of all of this. adults cannot cope with what's happening to them. and so children, of course, can't. there was one mother who came up to us as we were leaving one location, and she said, you know, i don't know what to do with my son. he's six years old and he keeps screaming and convulsing every single night. and this started after he saw his sister had blown off. ——and this started after he saw his sister's head blown off. he saw his sister decapitated and a strike that took place that also injured his other sister.

and so we it's almost impossible to really try to describe the sheer psychological pressure that exists on everybody. you know, huge swaths of this stretch of land are in complete and total darkness at night. it's very unnerving. you hear the drones, you feel the explosions reverberating sort of through your body, the shock wave of them. and its constant. it's relentless. it doesn't end. families of israeli hostages have been speaking in tel aviv about the body of elad katzir being recovered. we are grieving today with the katzir family, part of our largerfamily from nir oz and hostages families. elad katzir managed to survive three months in captivity. he should have been with us today. he could have been with us today. and we demand the world to do anything to make this deal come true,

and bring them all back home. the british maritime security firm ambrey said on saturday it had received information that a vessel was targeted approximately 61 nautical miles southwest of hodeidah in yemen. the iran—aligned houthis have staged attacks on shipping in the red sea region for months in solidarity with palestinians in the gaza war. the head of nato says western governments are facing an authoritarian alliance comprised of russia, china, iran and north korea, which is working ever more closely together. jens stoltenberg told the bbc�*s sunday with laura kuenssberg programme that the government in beijing was propping up, what he called, russia's war economy. he added that north korea was sending enormous amounts of ammunition to support president vladimir putin's war against ukraine. mr stoltenberg said nato was responding by working

with countries outside the alliance, including japan and south korea. on the war in ukraine, he insisted kyiv must prevail but might have to make compromises. most wars end at the negotiating table. but what we know is that what happens around the negotiating table is very closely linked to the situation on the battlefield. so now russia believes they can achieve their goals on the battlefield by by continuing to push militarily against ukraine. so the way to convince russia that they have to sit down and accept a solution where ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation in europe is to give military support to ukraine. then, of course, at the end of the day, it has to be ukraine that decides what kind of compromises they are willing to do. we need to enable them to be in a position

where they can actually achieve an acceptable result around the negotiating table. viewers in the uk can see more of that interview on sunday with laura kuenssberg on bbc one tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. seven people have been killed in two russian drone attacks, on ukraine's second—largest city, kharkiv. the city's mayor reported that iranian—made drones hit several buildings, including a residential blocks of flats, early on saturday morning. 11 people were injured. our eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford updated us from kyiv. there are constant strikes on kharkiv at the moment. it is becoming increasingly regular to hear of missile and drone attacks against ukraine's second city up in the north—east of the country. certainly we know that seven people were killed early this morning. so the first missile struck sometime after midnight. two s—300 russian missiles, according to ukrainian authorities,

fired at kharkiv killing residents in a residential area of the city and wounding other people there. they then talk about a wave of drones launched by russia at kharkiv city centre. they say those were shot down by ukraine's air defences and of course when that happens it means fragments fall to the ground, they explode, more people are injured and more buildings are damaged. we know about nine residential buildings, blocks of flats, have been badly damaged in this latest attack on kharkiv, but it is the latest of many. certainly, we don't know exactly what the russians were targeting. they say it was a military target. we do know, though, in recent days the energy system in kharkiv has come under direct and sustained attack and that that city is now living with blackouts, rolling blackouts, people without power for at least six hours every day. now it's time for a look at today's sport with lizzie greenwood—hughes. hello from the bbc sport centre.

we're starting with football and the premier league where arsenal have moved back to the top of the table, a point ahead of liverpool who play manchester united on sunday. arsenal eased past brighton 3—0 today. they were rarely troubled by roberto de zerbi's team once bukayo saka have given them the lead from the penalty spot in the first half. kai havertz added a second after the break before leandro trossard scored arsenal's third against his former club. really difficult for him to play against, they had so many questions, but i think the team was really mature, was really clever in the game that we have to play, in the determination of the areas they were allowing us to play for, both attacking and defending, i think we had a big performance as well individually. manchester city kept themselves in the title race — level on points with liverpool after beating crystal palace 4—2. city were behind after five minutes but kevin de bruyne, back in the side after being rested midweek, marked his return with two goals — his 99th and 100th for the club.

rico lewis and erling haaland also scored. city will now turn their attention to their champions league quarterfinal against real madrid and their manager is clearly happy to see de bruyne back on form. today, kevin. kevin won the game. his first goal and the assist. the other one, the third, the fourth, and the team were in the game and yes, difficult place to come, it always has been here but we it just means i have been elsewhere, there were huge wins at the bottom for both everton — their first in 14 matches — and luton — theirfirst in ii league games. there were also wins for newcastle and west ham, while aston villa and brentford drew. onto germany, where bayer leverkusen are just one win from their first bundesliga title after victory over union berlin.florian wirtz scored the only goal of the game

from the penalty spot — as they extended their incredible unbeatn run to 41 matches in all competitions. meanwhile, bayern munich suffered a dramatic collapse at heidenhem. 2—0 up at half—time — they lost 3—2 which leaves bayern i6 points behind leverkusen withjust six games of the season left. the final of the copa del rey is under way in seville in spain — between athletic bilbao and mallorca. they've been going around half an hour. the score is 0—0 athletic are looking to win their first major trophy for a0 years, while mallorca, who won the cup in 2003, are underdogs. the us women's team kicked off the 2024 shebelieves cup with a 2—1 come—from—behind win over japanjapan were in front afterjust 30 seconds — kiko seike scoring the opener. jaedyn shaw brought the americans level in the 21st minute before

captain lindsay horan won the match from the penalty spot in the second half. the us will face brazil or canada in the final on tuesday. onto rugby union and we're almost halfway through the first knock out stage of the european champions cup. leinster will go through if they beat leicester — there's no place for three—time champions saracens who were thrashed by bordeaux. the bulls are comfortably into the quarter finals after beating lyon. exeter chiefs fought back to put—out fellow premiership side bath and the defending champions — la rochelle overturned a i6—point deficit to knock out the stormers in cape town. finally, formula one and red bull have locked—out the front row for sunday's japanese grand prix. max verstappen is on pole, maintaining his perfect qualifying record this season. the three time world champion failed to finish the last race in australia

but he was quickest in every session in suzuka although verstappen was only 600ths of a second quicker than his team mate sergio perez. britain's lando norris was third fastest and lewis hamilton will start from seventh on the grid. and that's all the sport for now. thank you. it's been described as an election between those who support the west and those who favour the kremlin — people in slovakia are voting in presidential elections. they are choosing a successor to the country's liberal president zuzana caputova. she decided not to seek re—election after receiving what she said was a torrent of abuse, including death threats. two men are now bidding for the largely ceremonial but highly influential post — the pro—western former diplomat ivan korcok and peter pellegrini, the candidate of the populist nationalist government.

i am joined now by our correspondent rob cameron, who is in prague in the neighbouring czech republic. hello to you, rob. have the polls now closed?— now closed? yes, the polls were extended by _ now closed? yes, the polls were extended by a — now closed? yes, the polls were extended by a few _ now closed? yes, the polls were extended by a few minutes - now closed? yes, the polls were extended by a few minutes to i now closed? yes, the polls were i extended by a few minutes to allow voting to continue and one polling station until five minutes past the hour and we should be getting soon, not exactly exit polls but some kind of protection that will give us an idea, but the opinion polls ahead of the said were so tight, i think we could be waiting perhaps for the next two or three hours until we know who has become the new president of slovakia in what is an extremely consequential vote, some people have said the whole future of liberal democracy in slovakia hangs in the balance, and that man, the

liberal —— liberal foreign minister, ivan korcok, he's supporters say he is a bulwark against the populist nationalist government of prime minister robert fico, and his critics say to unpick dismantle slovakia civil society and the element of siliki's democracy and replace them about some are calling an illiberal democracy. standing against him is peter pellegrini, the head of the parliament, the leader of one of the three parties in robert fico's coalition. he said that ivan korcok is the candidate of war and mr pellegrini is the candidate of peace, especially when it comes to ukraine, he is against sending military support to ukraine like robert fico, and favours a peaceful solution. so two different men with two different visions of how slovakia should move forward and

slovakia's place in the world. it has been pointed out it is a space between the west and the kremlin, why would that clamouring —— creme be courting slovakia? why would that clamouring -- creme be courting slovakia?— be courting slovakia? well, up until now, be courting slovakia? well, up until now. hungary _ be courting slovakia? well, up until now. hungary was _ be courting slovakia? well, up until now, hungary was the _ be courting slovakia? well, up until now, hungary was the big _ be courting slovakia? well, up until now, hungary was the big outlier, l now, hungary was the big outlier, just down the danube from bratislava, hungary was a country that was not telling the nato and eu line over support for ukraine and now all of a sudden, another country, slovakia appears to be moving, drifting towards moscow. robert fico, the prime minister, he says things like the war in ukraine was started by rampaging —— rampaging ukrainian neo—nazis. he says that vladimir putin is wrongly demonised and peter pellegrini, that candidate of the coalition very much echoes those words and when asked about ukraine, he gives a lot of the same talking points that are coming out of moscow, so clearly i think

russia sees slovakia as another wedge to drive a wedge between the allies of the european union and nato over ukraine.— allies of the european union and nato over ukraine. what does it tell us, in nato over ukraine. what does it tell us. in terms — nato over ukraine. what does it tell us. in terms of _ nato over ukraine. what does it tell us, in terms of politics _ nato over ukraine. what does it tell us, in terms of politics in _ nato over ukraine. what does it tell us, in terms of politics in slovakia i us, in terms of politics in slovakia or society in general that zuzana caputova had been harassed and received death threats? yes. caputova had been harassed and received death threats? yes, well, she has had _ received death threats? yes, well, she has had a _ received death threats? yes, well, she has had a pretty _ received death threats? yes, well, she has had a pretty torrid - received death threats? yes, well, she has had a pretty torrid time . received death threats? yes, well, she has had a pretty torrid time of| she has had a pretty torrid time of it since she came to power five years ago. she was elected president in the wake of the murder of the slovak investigative journalist and his fiancee in 2018, and she was not a politician, she came into thejob, but she said, i was ready for the rough—and—tumble left slovak politics but i was not ready for this abuse that not only she but also her partner and two teenage daughters were getting, including death threats, so she had five years of that and she said she had simply

had enough. she has also pointed the finger of blame at robert fico for mac supporters, the prime minister's supporters. she said that all of these threats and including these death threats comes from that part of slovak society so it is a pretty difficult time i think to be a liberal pro—western politician, especially a woman in slovak politics today.— especially a woman in slovak politics today. especially a woman in slovak olitics toda . ., , politics today. remind me, how is the winner — politics today. remind me, how is the winner of— politics today. remind me, how is the winner of the _ politics today. remind me, how is the winner of the selection - politics today. remind me, how is i the winner of the selection decided? is it pretty straight forward? is there the risk of a run—off down the line? there the risk of a run-off down the line? ., , , ., ' ~ line? no, this is the run-off. we had the first— line? no, this is the run-off. we had the first round _ line? no, this is the run-off. we had the first round two - line? no, this is the run-off. we had the first round two weeks i line? no, this is the run-off. we i had the first round two weeks ago, and ivan korcok, the former foreign minister, he emerged in first place and behind him something of a surprise, five points behind him peter pellegrini, the candidate of the government, so there two top candidates amount nine, they were the ones who went through to the second round today. qm. the ones who went through to the second round today.— the ones who went through to the second round today. 0k, thank you ve much

second round today. ok, thank you very much for— second round today. 0k, thank you very much for that _ second round today. 0k, thank you very much for that explanation, i second round today. 0k, thank you i very much for that explanation, rob, thank you. nicaragua hasjoined mexico in suspending relations with ecuador. it's in protest against a police raid on the mexican embassy in the capital quito. officers arrested the former ecuadorean vice—presidentjorge glas who later appeared in court on saturday. he'd been sheltering in the diplomatic compound since december but was wanted on corruption charges. mexico says it had granted mr glas political asylum — a move ecuador described as illegal. glas's lawyer said he was innocent. the military regime that seized power in myanmar three years ago, has suffered another big defeat, this time on the eastern border with thailand. opposition forces have taken control of the busiest border crossing into thailand, through which much of myanmar s trade passes. for months, the soldiers have been under attack by ethnic karen insurgents, who are fighting to overthrow the military. the authorities in myanmar have also lost control along parts of its border with india and china.

stay with us here on bbc news. we have plenty more coming up right here on business news after this short break. hello there. windy and warm — that's been the two main characteristics of the weekend's weather so far. in fact, storm kathleen brought gusts of winds along west coast of 60 to 70 mile an hour and the tops of mountains in scotland just shy of a 100 mile an hour gust was recorded. but it was warm with it as south—westerly winds fell across east anglia and south—east england — we've had the warmest day of the year so far with temperatures widely getting over 21 degrees. low pressure is still the dominant feature, though, into the second

half of the weekend. and this weather front here could bring more persistent outbreaks of showery rain as we go through the day. so closest to the low, we'll see a frequent rash of showers here. and by the middle part of the afternoon, we'll have a line of showers developing across south—west england, driven on by that south—westerly wind. there'll be some heavier bursts mixed in there as well as it pushes its way into wales and the midlands. east anglia, south—east england, largely dry and sunny. not as warm, but nevertheless 17 degrees still above average for the time of year. few showers into northern england as scattering of showers continues for scotland and northern ireland, with top temperatures of 10—13 degrees. and in comparison to where you were a few days ago, that's still better. now, as we move out of sunday into monday, there's another low going to start to push in from the south—west. so we start off the new working week on a pretty unsettled note — still relatively mild, not a cold start to monday. 5—10 degrees first thing. will be a bright and sunny one to begin with, but clouding over from the west with that rain arriving. showery outbreaks of rain across the south west

into wales, heavier bursts through northern ireland, northern england it stays largely dry into scotland and the midlands, east anglia, south—east england dry with some sunshine and still relatively warm. 17 degrees the overall high. now, as we move through the middle part of the week, it looks likely to stay unsettled. a ridge of high pressure for a time. another low moves in, bringing gale force gusts of winds, perhaps, to the south—west. and then we've got this high pressure that's sitting across europe — that mightjust keep things a little bit quieter down towards the south by the end of the week. but looking ahead, an unsettled start. showers or longer spells of rain and temperatures back to where they should be, really, for this time of year. take care.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the israeli military confirms it's recovered the body of hostage, elad katzir, from khan younis — after he was abducted by hamas. six months since the october 7 attack — protests in tel aviv against the israeli government demanding a dealfor the release of the remaining hostages held by hamas. seven people have been killed in russian drone attacks on ukraine's second—largest city, kharkiv.

the city's mayor says residential buildings and a children's nursery were struck. and in australia, more than 150 people are rescued from floods in sydney — as others prepare to leave their homes. taylor swift will soon be performing her eras tour in the uk — but police are warning people to be aware of scams when buying tickets online, saying criminals have pocketed thousands of pounds in recent weeks. more now on our top story — the israeli military has recovered the body of a hostage in gaza, during an overnight operation. it accused the "islamichhad" group of murdering the man, who's been identified as a7—year—old, elad katzir. israel said its mission to search for hostages, and return them to israel, would continue. vivian silver was a prominent

israeli—canadian peace activist, and was killed by hamas on the 7th of october. she co—founded women wage peace in 2014 — a grassroots peace movement that now brings together 50,000 israelis. its mission is to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict. ms silverian was originally thought to have been taken hostage by hamas, but was confirmed dead when her remains were identified five weeks later. manuela rotstein worked with vivian at women wage peace and i began by asking about the organisation. if you could just describe a little bit further the work that your organisation does. we are a ten years old organisation with 50,000 supporters in israel,

and we work for the... in favor of a peace agreement with our palestinian neighbours. so what are your thoughts on the war, six months on? well, this is something that is really the worst nightmare we can ever be on the brutality of this war. the way it started and the way the way it followed is beyond imagination really is absolutely devastating. speaking of devastating, obviously, you lost, as i was just telling our viewers, you lost one of your founders, vivian silva, on the 7th of october. i wonder if you could tell us a little bit more about her.

she was an amazing, intelligent and very pragmatic woman. and she wasn't at all a naive person. she knew she was living in a war zone and she was working for peace and working every day. she was a very active woman. she took girls and children to hospitals in israel she took gazan children to hospitals in israel so they can receive treatment. she founded also with bedouin people, another charity to develop the negev desert. so an absolute person to admire. and we really miss her every day.

six months on, manuela, what are you hoping your organisation can achieve? what would you like to see happen? well, i think then at this point we need to understand and after the 7th of october and the terrible war that followed, then war is not leading us anywhere but hell say we need then war is not leading us anywhere but hell. say we need a diplomatic solution. and this is what we've been demanding since we started. really. and now there is a deal on the table. and the reason alliance that the united states is forging together with the pragmatic

arab countries. and definitely we think then that our government needs to consider it and needs to embrace it. just before i let you go, manuela, you said that there is a diplomatic solution. you said that there is a deal on the table, as you understand it. what is that deal that's been proposed? well, the deal involves recognizing that the palestinian people deserve freedom, deserve rights. and we also, we deserve security and we deserve a state as well. so i think that this mutual recognition is the basis of an agreement that at the moment with the united states and the pragmatic countries, it will be supported so that we can arrive,

obviously not immediately to peace. this will demand a long time, but yes, to humanitarian ceasefire and the release of all hostages. so we think... manuela. very quickly. why do you think that that solution is not acceptable to the prime minister? why is not acceptable? yes, why is it not acceptable to him? well, i think that this government is a government whose agenda is definitely an agenda that is not supporting the recognition of the palestinian people. quite the opposite. earlier, our chief international correspondent lyse doucet spoke with the jordanian foreign minister ayman

safadi. she asked him if washington's angry reaction, to the killing of seven aid workers this week, could spell a turning point in the conflict. let's hope it is at least, because for the past six months we've seen nothing but an israeli government that is defying the will of the whole international community, proceeding with a massacre that has produced nothing but death and destruction and suffering to the palestinians. six months into this massacre, the world has to act more assertively to ensure that israel complies with international law, international humanitarian law. not only stop killing palestinians through this war, but also stop the starvation, which is claiming more lives day in, day out. so it is way past time that israel is held responsible for what it has done and stop this massacre and allow all of us then to come together and see how we can get beyond this misery and work towards a future that will ensure peace and security

for palestinians and israelis. israel has announced new steps to get desperately needed aid into gaza, including opening a northern crossing, an israeli port, and expanding the capacity throuthordan. will that make a difference? we've heard those promises before, we'll believe them when we see them. thus far, in the last six months, only an average of 100 trucks a day have entered gaza, compared to what the un estimated was 800 trucks needed on a daily basis. so the amount of humanitarian aid entering into gaza is completely insignificant as of yet. we wait and see if israel really does take any action to allow more aid in. and also to allow humanitarian agencies into gaza, because without the un being there, in charge of those operations, without ngos being able to work, without the threat of being bombed and killed, the issue

of distribution will also be a major problem. so what's needed now is opening all land crossings into gaza and allowing the un and other ngos full access and full ability to receive the aid and to distribute the aid. there's a growing debate in britain, in the united states, about whether arms sales to israel should be suspended. is that a move that you and your arab colleagues would welcome? the reality is, for the past six months, israel has ignored every call by the international community to do what's right and stop violating international law and stop this war. we've seen un security council resolutions, we've seen two sets of provisional measures by the icj and israel has done nothing. so i think it is time israel faced consequences and real consequences for what this government is doing. israel has not listened, now the israeli government has to face consequences for its actions and instead of sending weapons to israel, i think the world should be sending aid and should be sending political

delegations in order to get delegations to make sure we get over this catastrophe. so, yes, we do support ending arms sales to israel, among other sanctions. it must be tough, being an arab foreign minister, you're shouting as loudly as possible, including to your friends the united states, it doesn't seem to be having much impact. pressure is growing in your own street, saying you're not doing enough. absolutely, the whole world is not doing enough. that's the perception and the belief and that's reality. the fact is, we have an israeli government dominated by radical racist extremists who are defying the will of the whole international community, who are killing with impunity, who are starving people, using food as a weapon. and despite calls by all members of the international community, almost, including, for instance, the support of israel, this israeli government has not listened.

so, yes, it is frustrating, people are outraged, we are outraged and the anger that you refer to demonstrated by people in the streets ofjordan is an anger that represents not just ofjordan, it represents a growing number of people across the world. so, yes, there is tremendous anger and tremendous frustration, notjust with what israel is doing, but also with the inability of the international community to impose international law and to have this israeli government stop the massacre that it is allowing or leading or enabling in gaza. and in one word, are you now more hopeful that the end of this war will be coming soon? unfortunately, no. you hear statements coming from the israeli government, they're talking about a ground invasion into rafah, despite warnings by the us, europe, everybody, the directors from israeli politician saying that they are willing to go in. and they go into rafah, that will be another massacre and that should not be

allowed to happen. so now we are at a point where, do we allow an israeli government dominated by radicals to continue with this massacre and determine and doom the future of the region to more conflict and suffering, or does the international community to take the necessary action to stop that and impose compliance with international law? thank you. to australia next. more than 150 people have been rescued from floods in and around sydney. others have been told to be prepared to leave their homes because of the rising floodwaters. the region's main reservoir, which supplies most of the city's drinking water, is overflowing. there've been three days of torrential rainfall across much of eastern australia. people living in parts of new south wales have been told to stay indoors.

our sydney correspondent phil mercer explained what conditions were like now. at the moment, we know that there are two deaths that have been associated with these wild days of weather here in eastern australia. on thursday, a 71—year—old man was found in floodwaters near brisbane in the state of queensland. and earlier today, a man's body was found in floodwaters in western parts of sydney. now, the police here say that they don't know the circumstances of the second fatality but safe to say it has been a wild few days in eastern australia. record—breaking amounts of rain have fallen. here in the state of new south wales, across one 24—hour period, a month's worth of rain fell. so at the moment, there are still evacuation orders in place in parts of sydney, but thankfully for the five million

or so residents of this city, this storm system is moving south, and it is expected to head out to sea over the weekend. but as you'd imagine, the flood warnings are continuing because all of that rain is flowing into rivers and creeks. their levels are rising, so with them the risk of flooding to low—lying areas. dutch police have arrested several climate activists who attempted to block a main road in the hague. those detained included the swedish campaigner, greta thunberg. our correspondent, anna holligan was there. the final few activists have packed up the final few activists have packed up their banners under preparing to go home. up their banners under preparing to no home. ., go home. earlier there were cries and tears of _ go home. earlier there were cries and tears of you _ go home. earlier there were cries and tears of you are _ go home. earlier there were cries and tears of you are not -

go home. earlier there were cries and tears of you are not alone, i and tears of you are not alone, as rittenberg was picked up off the highway and ushered to a minibus including with hundreds of other protesters, you can see her here chatting happily to fellow activists. she was here at the hague to announce international actions against governments who make it cheap and easy for large companies to use fossil fuels by offering them tax breaks and subsidies on excise duties. greta thunberg described her arrest is peaceful. most of the protesters have gone home i have been detained by police and taken away in minibuses. police are keeping watch to make sure nobody else tries to block this highway, a12, in the hague. taiwan has condemned the bolivian government for sending a message of sympathy for the island's recent earthquake to the chinese government in beijing. china claims taiwan as part

of its own territory china claims taiwan is part of its own territory and insists other nations accept this position. taiwan's foreign minister accused bolivia of acting as the puppet of beijing. our asia pacific editor michael bristow has more on the story. on the face of it, quite an odd story, isn't it? but it's one of those quirks of international relations which sometimes arises. essentially, bolivia has a diplomatic relationship with china and it doesn't have official diplomatic ties with taiwan. now, that's because china insists that whenever it establishes official ties with any country in the world, that they can't at the same time have ties with taiwan as well. and that's because taiwan because china considers taiwan to be part of its own territory. so it doesn't want it to establish diplomatic relations with other countries, because that would give the impression that it was an independent country, which beijing believes it isn't. so that sometimes produces these

odd kind of situations like we find here. so, for example, bolivia has sent a note to sympathy about the earthquake, but sent it to china because officially bolivia believes that china controls or ought to control taiwan. but of course it doesn't. taiwan is an independent country, nothing to do with the government in beijing. so quite an odd situation, but one which is thrown up because of strange diplomatic ties between these countries. and what's the wider reaction been in the region to this? well, this is there hasn't been a lot of reaction in the rest of south—east asia because of course those countries have been dealing with this issue all along, how to deal with taiwan while still maintaining good relations with china, because of course you can't not have good relations with china because it's such a large and powerful country. countries want to trade with china.

so it has to tiptoe around this kind of very knotty diplomatic issue when it's coming to have when it has relationships, relations with taiwan. incidentally, china doesn't do anything itself to make this situation easier. in fact, when the earthquake happened last wednesday in the united nations, the chinese ambassador to the united nations in new york, he held a meeting at the end of that meeting. he said, "oh, thank you for everyone who's been sending their good wishes and condolences and sympathy about the earthquake." so china themselves try to, or don't do anything to kind of make this situation any easier. the conservative mp, dr luke evans, has said he was a victim of "cyber flashing".

he alerted police who are now investigating a suspected westminster honeytrap. he spoke to the leicestershire force last month after receiving unsolicited pictures of naked women on whatsapp. the metropolitan police has also confirmed it is investigating explicit images and messages sent to mps. dozens of flights have been cancelled in the uk as storm kathleen hit parts of the country. the met office has issued a yellow weather warning, with winds of up to 70 miles per hour forecast. but some of the country has been basking in sunshine and temperatures of up to 22 degrees. simonjones reports. wet, windy, and wild. weather warnings failed to keep these vehicles away from strangford lough in county down in northern ireland. gusts of around 70 mph have brought down trees and part of a roof of the visitor attraction

titanic belfast has been damaged. for families trying to get away on holiday, it's not gone entirely according to plan. we were expecting to be sitting in the hot tub overlooking strangford lough. unfortunately, it's very, very, very, very windy. kathleen is the 11th named storm in the past eight months, with the republic of ireland hardest hit. the south—west and north—west of england have also been affected, but elsewhere you might wonder what all the fuss is about. in scarborough in north yorkshire, people headed to the beach as the winds actually blew in unusually warm weather. but in edinburgh, it has been a hair raising day. simon jones, bbc news. pop sensation taylor swift will be performing in the uk this summer, as part of her record—breaking eras tour. but police and consumer groups are warning fans to be vigilant when buying tickets online, after reports of people

falling victim to scams. here's our culture reporter noor nanji. her report contains flashing images. welcome to the eras tour! it's the hottest ticket in town — taylor swift's world tour, which comes to the uk later this year. this has been the most extraordinary experience of my entire life. but some fans, desperate to see the us pop idol, have fallen victim to scams. they include sian williams, who had promised to take her daughter to swift's show in cardiff. it's the fact that we've paid £250, lost £250, so you're out of pocket, and we still haven't got any tickets. so it's sort of that roller—coaster of emotions. being angry with myself, sad that we've lost the money, even sadder still that we don't have tickets. tickets to taylor swift concerts sold out within minutes

when they first went on sale, and now it is extremely difficult to find them. some swifties are turning to social media or other means, but that leaves them open to fraudsters. police scotland says it has received 16 reports of fraudulent taylor swift ticket sales online in the past fortnight, amounting to more than £5,000. it's urging the public to be vigilant. the warning has been echoed by consumer groups. fraudsters love mass appeal and huge emotion, like a taylor swift concert, so we would say, buy your tickets through an official secondary ticket reselling platform. if you buy from a private seller, use a credit card or paypal, and always, if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is. a cautionary word for swifties if they want to avoid a cruel summer. # it's a cruel summer #. noor nanji, bbc news. 50 years ago today, a virtually unknown pop group from sweden,

made its mark in music history by winning eurovision with the song "waterloo". to mark half a century of abba's breakthrough moment, people were treated to an unexpected tribute to the timeless hit — by a flash mob choir. the venue? london's waterloo station, of course. # so how could i ever refuse # ifeel like i win when i lose # waterloo # couldn't excape if i wanted to # waterloo # knowing my fate is to be with you # wa—wa—wa—wa—waterloo # finally facing my waterloo # ooh—ooh, waterloo # knowing my fate is to be with you...# and our russia editor and exceptional pianist —

steve rosenberg — recorded his own tribute. let's take a listen. he plays piano arrangement of "waterloo" that's the bbc�*s tribute to waterloo. do stay with us because in the next hour, we will be continuing to cover the six months, sad six month anniversary of israel's war on hamas in the gaza strip, and i'll be

talking to someone whose parents were killed on the attacks on the 7th of october, you can read more of the human side of this conflict, go to the bbc news website and if you see there we have the human stories of the conflict that is currently gripping the middle east. plenty more coming up right here on bbc news. hello there. windy and warm — that's been the two main characteristics of the weekend's weather so far. in fact, storm kathleen brought gusts of winds along west coast of 60 to 70 mile an hour and the tops of mountains in scotland just shy of a 100 mile an hour gust was recorded. but it was warm with it as south—westerly winds fell across east anglia and south—east england — we've had the warmest day of the year so far with temperatures widely getting over 21 degrees. low pressure is still the dominant feature, though, into the second half of the weekend. and this weather front

here could bring more persistent outbreaks of showery rain as we go through the day. so closest to the low, we'll see a frequent rash of showers here. and by the middle part of the afternoon, we'll have a line of showers developing across south—west england, driven on by that south—westerly wind. there'll be some heavier bursts mixed in there as well as it pushes its way into wales and the midlands. east anglia, south—east england, largely dry and sunny. not as warm, but nevertheless 17 degrees still above average for the time of year. few showers into northern england as scattering of showers continues for scotland and northern ireland, with top temperatures of 10—13 degrees. and in comparison to where you were a few days ago, that's still better. now, as we move out of sunday into monday, there's another low going to start to push in from the south—west. so we start off the new working week on a pretty unsettled note — still relatively mild, not a cold start to monday. 5—10 degrees first thing. will be a bright and sunny one to begin with, but clouding over from the west with that rain arriving. showery outbreaks of rain

across the south west into wales, heavier bursts through northern ireland, northern england it stays largely dry into scotland and the midlands, east anglia, south—east england dry with some sunshine and still relatively warm. 17 degrees the overall high. now, as we move through the middle part of the week, it looks likely to stay unsettled. a ridge of high pressure for a time. another low moves in, bringing gale force gusts of winds, perhaps, to the south—west. and then we've got this high pressure that's sitting across europe — that mightjust keep things a little bit quieter down towards the south by the end of the week. but looking ahead, an unsettled start. showers or longer spells of rain and temperatures back to where they should be, really, for this time of year. take care.

live from london, this is bbc news. the israeli military confirms it's recovered the body of hostage, elad katzir, from khan younis after he was abducted by hamas. six months since the october the 7th attack, protests in tel aviv against the israeli government, demanding a dealfor the release of the remaining hostages held by hamas. seven people die in russian drone attacks on ukraine's second—largest city, kharkiv. the mayor claims residential buildings and a children's nursery were struck.

polls have closed in slovakia where voters were deciding on a new president in a contest between a pro—western former diplomat and a candidate from the nationalist government. and swift action by police as they warn of ticket scams ahead of the superstar�*s uk tour. hello and welcome to bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. sunday marks six months since hamas attacked israel on october 7th. in a swift and targeted operation, hamas fighters broke through from gaza into israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage. in response, israel vowed to "crush and destroy hamas" so that it no longer posed any threat,

launching a mission to bring all hostages home.