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. in the brutal war that has followed, at least 33,000 palestinians have been killed, according to the hamas—run health ministry, and large parts of gaza have been destroyed. the un has called the situation in gaza a humanitarian catastrophe. protests have been taking place in tel aviv to mark the six—month anniversary. families of the hostages rallied together as well as thousands of anti—government demonstrators, calling on prime minister benjamin netanyahu to come to an agreement that ends the fighting and brings the remaining hostages home. on saturday, 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, nir oz, 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. 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 one 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. as we mentioned, there have been protests in tel aviv today. families of some of the israeli hostages have been speaking in tel aviv following the recovery of elad katzir�*s remains in khan younis. take a listen. 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. it has been nearly six months since hamas fighters broke into israel from gaza, killing about 1,200 people. two of those killed were bilha and yakovi inon. the couple were murdered at their home in the farming community of netiv haasaram after a rocket—propelled grenade hit their house. their son, maoz inon, is now an advocate for peace. we have maoz with us. welcome to the programme. this is the six month anniversary. what is there to mark six months on in your opinion? there to mark six months on in your oinion? ~ . u, there to mark six months on in your oinion? ~ . ., ~ , ., opinion? what we can mark is that israel is not _ opinion? what we can mark is that israel is not closer— opinion? what we can mark is that israel is not closer even _ opinion? what we can mark is that israel is not closer even with - opinion? what we can mark is that israel is not closer even with one | israel is not closer even with one millimetre to bring security and

safety to the people of israel. on the contrary, we are getting further and further from security and safety, and what i am afraid of the most is that we will and we will count the more people will be killed and the numbers will i think it is time for the world to wake up and stop the war, which is exactly what i am saying, parents bring a diplomatic solution to the region, a diplomatic solution to the region, a diplomatic solution to make this war the last war. we we are trapped in a war of revenge and we cant not the to intervene and to stop the war and

to intervene and to stop the war and to pressure maoz, where do you find the strength to talk. he to pressure maoz, where do you find the strength to talk.— the strength to talk. he lost the arents. the strength to talk. he lost the parents- i _ the strength to talk. he lost the parents. i found _ the strength to talk. he lost the parents. i found the _ the strength to talk. he lost the parents. i found the strength i the strength to talk. he lost the l parents. i found the strength and the strength to talk. he lost the - parents. i found the strength and my arents parents. i found the strength and my parents legacy- _ parents. i found the strength and my parents legacy- my — parents. i found the strength and my parents legacy. my father _ parents. i found the strength and my parents legacy. my father was - parents. i found the strength and my parents legacy. my father was a - parents legacy. my father was a farmer and it is very difficult to be a farmer in the israeli desert, because of drought and floods and insects but he would always tell me, maoz, next year i am going to sew again because next year is going to be better, and i totally believe, and i have so many palestinian and israeli partners in my efforts to bring peace and reconciliation, so i believe and i know that the future is going to be better, and we must do everything in our power to make it this way. and for my mum, my mum was a brilliant and talented artist, she painted thousands of mandalas, and she gave me only one as a present, and in the mandla she gave me, about five years ago, she wrote,

we can achieve all our dreams if we will be brave enough to chase them, and i dream of peace. that is my only dream, a dream of peace. and there are so many of us, israelis and palestinians, from the international community that i'll walking this path, the path of peace and reconciliation. but our leaders are trapped in this war of revenge, and we must stop it, we must stop the cycle of theirs. we are partners for peace, there are partners for reconciliation, and this is why a thank you so much for inviting me tonight to your show. please amplify our voices, tonight to your show. please amplify ourvoices, please, please. tonight to your show. please amplify our voices, please, please.— our voices, please, please. maoz, du, dee our voices, please, please. maoz, du. deep down — our voices, please, please. maoz, du, deep down in _ our voices, please, please. maoz, du, deep down in your _ our voices, please, please. maoz, du, deep down in your heart, - our voices, please, please. maoz, | du, deep down in your heart, think that peace can be achieved? how? i know it. i know that it will be achieved, and it was ourformer prime minister who back in 1977 who

said we can prevent the war but we cannot prevent peace, peace will definitely happen. the world knew how to bring peace to lands that suffered from walls and so many victims, millions were killed in europe and millions were killed in rwanda, and millions were killed between japan and rwanda, and millions were killed betweenjapan and us in the second world war. but humanity knows how to end war, how to end conflict, and how to bring peace. but instead, instead of sending us tools of reconciliation, tools of peace, the well descending israel tools of war. —— the world is sending stop more than 20 us billion dollars was sent to israel but if you would match it with reconciliation and peace

initiatives, we will make peace by the time, we will mark an anniversary for peace. maoz, your arents anniversary for peace. maoz, your parents looked _ anniversary for peace. maoz, your parents looked as _ anniversary for peace. maoz, your parents looked as if _ anniversary for peace. maoz, your parents looked as if they - anniversary for peace. maoz, your parents looked as if they enjoyed | parents looked as if they enjoyed their time together, they looked like they had fun, and that is really what comes across when you look at them, we have just brought a picture up on the screen. obviously, in your heart, in terms of a legacy, you want them to be victims of peace, not victims of war. ideally, this is what you want to come out of this. have you always felt that peaceis this. have you always felt that peace is achievable? or is this is it something that changed loss of your parents and realising that this cycle potentially will continue? , , ., that this cycle potentially will continue? , i. _, ., continue? first, you could not hrase continue? first, you could not phrase it— continue? first, you could not phrase it better, _ continue? first, you could not phrase it better, i _ continue? first, you could not phrase it better, i want my . continue? first, you could not - phrase it better, i want my parents to be victims of peace. i think

peaceis to be victims of peace. i think peace is the only thing worth sacrificing your life for. i am israeli, i was born in israel in a community not farfrom israeli, i was born in israel in a community not far from the gaza border. both my grandparents were immigrating to palestine under this british mandate. the last 20 years, i have been engaged partnering with dues and arabs, israelis and others then ian's, —— partnering with jewish people and arabs. focusing on equality, justice, security and safety. and i have so many palestinian friends that stand by me when i lost my parents, sending me their condolences and just being there with me, and i will always be grateful for them and this is where know it is possible, jewish people and arab people can live together in peace. but we must dream it, we must dream that peace is an opportunity

and that this dream can be into reality and the world showed gemma humanity showed before that dreams can come true, and it is up to us to make hope and convince as many as we can, firstly between the river and the sea and then worldwide that peaceis the sea and then worldwide that peace is achievable and it can be achieved soon if we just work hard enough and we will be brave enough to chase this dream. maoz enough and we will be brave enough to chase this dream.— to chase this dream. maoz inon, thank you _ to chase this dream. maoz inon, thank you very _ to chase this dream. maoz inon, thank you very much _ to chase this dream. maoz inon, thank you very much for - to chase this dream. maoz inon, thank you very much for your - to chase this dream. maoz inon, i thank you very much for your time here on bbc news. earlier, i spoke to arwa damon, founder of the charity inara, the international network for aid, relief and assistance who is in rafah. she said she has been asked questions by many about how the people in rafah are feeling about the threat of an offensive. 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? 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 realise 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. arwa, many people... we keep hearing the warnings, don't we, about an 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'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. let's speak now to our correspondent hugo bachega in jerusalem. hugo, all eyes are going to be on events taking place in egypt tomorrow as hamas sends a to cairo. exactly. so, tomorrow, hamas said it is sending a delegation to cairo for these ceasefire negotiations that have been arranged by egypt and qatar. the us is pushing israel and hamas to try to negotiate a

ceasefire deal that would see the release of hostages being held by palestinian groups in gaza in return for palestinian prisoners being held in israeli jails. we know they have been very many obstacles in these negotiations, these talks have been happening for weeks and they haven't managed to reach a deal. hamas says it is continuing with its initial demands. it says any kind of pause in the hostilities should be a permanent ceasefire. it also says that israeli troops should be pulled out from gaza and it also says that residents should be allowed to return to northern gaza. and these are demands that the israelis up until now have rejected, so we don't know whether these obstacles have been resolved, whether there is any kind of, there have been any kind of negotiations to try to overcome these obstacles, but indeed those negotiations are happening tomorrow in cairo. ., ., , ., .,

in cairo. hugo, how is it that hamas are travelling _ in cairo. hugo, how is it that hamas are travelling to _ in cairo. hugo, how is it that hamas are travelling to cairo? _ in cairo. hugo, how is it that hamas are travelling to cairo? because - are travelling to cairo? because when these talks first started, they said they would not be taking part certainly in person? what has changed for them to make this journey? because, like you said, there are likely to be key actors sitting around that table. exactly. and i think, _ sitting around that table. exactly. and i think, well, _ sitting around that table. exactly. and i think, well, there _ sitting around that table. exactly. and i think, well, there is- sitting around that table. exactly. and i think, well, there is a - sitting around that table. exactly. and i think, well, there is a lot i sitting around that table. exactly. and i think, well, there is a lot ofj and i think, well, there is a lot of pressure on hamas as well, especially from qatar which has been acting as a mediator. also, the egyptians have been putting pressure on hamas to try to reach a deal, as we approach the six—month anniversary of this conflict. and, obviously, the situation in gaza continues to deteriorate with more than 33,000 palestinians killed, humanitarian situation that only gets worse, and obviously there are many, many concerns that if there is no ceasefire, the israelis may go ahead with a military incursion into

rafah, which is where1 million palestinians have been seeking shelter. there are concerns that any kind of military operation there could be catastrophic.— kind of military operation there could be catastrophic. hugo bachega, thank ou. polls have closed in slovakia's presidentail election. it's been described as an election between those who support the west and those who favour the kremlin. voters today were 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. our correspondent rob cameron, is in prague, in the neighbouring czech republic, with the latest.

his attempts, his critics say to unpick, to dismantle slovakia's civic society and the element of slovakia's democracy, and replace them with what some are calling an illiberal democracy, standing against him as the candidate of robert fico's government, peter pellegrini, the head of the parliament, the leader of one of the three parties in robert fico's coalition. he says that ivan korcok is a candidate of war and peter pellegrini is the candidate of peace, especially when it comes to ukraine, he is against, like robert

fico, sending military support to ukraine and favours a peaceful solution. two different men with two different visions of how slovakia should move forward as lack of a mac place in the world. just should move forward as lack of a mac place in the world.— place in the world. just looking at the fact that _ place in the world. just looking at the fact that it _ place in the world. just looking at the fact that it has _ place in the world. just looking at the fact that it has been - place in the world. just looking at the fact that it has been pointed i the fact that it has been pointed out it is better between the west and the kremlin. why would the kremlin be courting slovakia? lip kremlin be courting slovakia? ii? until now, hungary was the big outlier, hungary was the country which 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 ukrainian neo—nazis. he said that vladimir putin is wrongly demonised. and peter pellegrini, the candidate of the governing coalition, he very much echoes those words. when he's

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 wage to drive a wedge between the allies of the european union and nato over ukraine. 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 — and 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. and before we go — 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 escape if i wanted to

# waterloo # knowing my fate is to be with you # wa—wa—wa—wa—waterloo # finally facing my waterloo stay with us 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.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the israeli military confirms it's recovered the body of hostage elad katzirfrom khan younis, after he was abducted by hamas. six months since the october 7th 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. fresh flood warnings in new south wales in australia, after three days of torrential downpours. more than 150 people were rescued from floods in sydney, as others prepare to leave their homes. now on bbc news — the zaks affair: anatomy of a fake collection.