hello, i'm carl nasman. israel's military says it's recovered the body of a man taken hostage and held in gaza, in an overnight operation in khan younis on saturday. it accused the islamichhad group of murdering the man, who's been identified as 47—year—old elad katzir. elad was a farmer who was kidnapped from his kibbutz during the hamas attacks on southern israel last october. his sister said she blames israel's government for failing she, along with thousands of protesters, are calling on their government to do more to free the remaining hostages. from jerusalem, our middle east correspondent, hugo bachega, reports. in tel aviv, protesters are back on the streets. it has been six months since palestinian gunmen stormed southern israel from gaza, and more than 100 israelis remain in captivity. people are urging their

government to reach a deal with hamas for hostages to be freed, and they also want their prime minister to go. he should resign after what happened. six months ago the war start, and hamas and everything. he claimed that he wants to go to war and make hamas go away and bring all the hostages home, back home. for one israeli family, the hope is over — elad katzir, kidnapped from kibbutz nir oz, his body returned from gaza today. the israeli military says he was murdered in captivity by the islamichhad group in january and that special forces recovered his body in khan younis overnight. during the attack in october, his father was killed. his mother was abducted but later released. in a facebook post, his sister blamed the israeli government for his death, saying: "he could have been brought back alive if there had been a deal with hamas", and said the israeli

leadership was cowardly. 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, i 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. israel is not only facing pressure from its allies, but also threats from its enemies. the army here is on high alert. there is 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. meanwhile, a hamas delegation is expected to attend ceasefire talks in cairo on sunday, following an invitation extended by egyptian mediators. others expected there, include us central intelligence agency director bill burns and qatar's foreign minister israel's war cabinet is reportedly set to discuss whether to send a delegation. the uk foreign office and ministry of defence said on saturday that a british royal navy ship will supply aid to gaza as part of an international effort to help set up a new humanitarian maritime corridor in early may. the news comes as british foreign minister david cameron warns of famine in the region. in a statement, lord cameron says: "the situation in gaza is dire and the prospect of famine is real.

we remain committed to getting aid to those who so desperately need it." a short while ago i spoke to hani almadhoun, the director of philanthropy with unrwa usa. he has been helping his brother mahmoud, who's in gaza, to establish a soup kitchen operation. you've set up a soup kitchen there. tell me a bit more about your operation, and how many people are currently being fed by it? great, thank you for having me again. so my brother is in north gaza with my family and my parents, and then we got tired of watching them eat pigeon food and rabbit food for the longest time. not enough aid is allowed in, and really this is an intentionalfamine that's happening. so we decided, hey, can we get some produce, wherever we could locally get that? so we started cooking up some meals. the first day, 120 families were aided. now we're up to 620 families a day, and basically we're making soups. we're not bringing in any aid because it's not coming. we source local ingredients wherever we can find them. but again, there is a large

response that is needed. this is an initiative for us, by us, to provide food for families and friends. we're looking, i think, right now at some videos. is that your brother there? yes, my brother mahmoud, who actually made the news in december. he was detained among these unclothed men and released a short while after, so it has really transformed him into something bigger about himself. he has found his purpose by making soups and providing meals for kids. we can see a line of people there behind your brother. what does it mean to them to have a hot meal served, in an area that has seen such a lack of food? yeah, it actually means survival. the first day he served food, it made the local news. everybody was talking about it. it was on social media, on telegram, and that tells you something is wrong. it shouldn't be such a big deal that people are making soup. he would love to get some flour, bake some bread for people, but those are not allowed in. this is not an accident. you know, i have read the area report. people are aware that there is a situation.

the population of gaza in the north, they're surviving on 12% of their caloric intake. that's the equivalent of a soda bottle. that's what they are getting now, and my brother is helping on the front line with the hunger, and we need a bigger, much larger response. where are you sourcing this food from? we know, of course, it's difficult to get supplies, even the basics. right, so beit lahia used to be the breadbasket of the gaza strip, so there's foraging. he goes around and gets some greens, collard greens or similar, swiss chard, common mallow, and just chops them up and cooks them. my mum helps out, but there are also some things that they have left over. he's been getting more white beans, things like that, more recently, because sometimes they're either air—dropped or gets into gaza somewhere. he always pays for it, and that's the tragedy — that the aid is not getting distributed through the existing mechanisms. i want to ask you, hani, because we heard this announcement from israel saying

that they would open up new routes into gaza to allow aid in. we don't know exactly when they will open, but what kind of impact do you think that announcement will have on the humanitarian situation there? it will mean life or death. you know the boy that passed away in the al—awda hospital, yazan kafarneh, just a few days ago, would be able to survive — i have seen some footage — if israelis allowed relief into north gaza. i want to believe it. our history always makes us question those announcements, but the action is where we are going to know, and we're waiting to see that. my family will survive, will have a proper meal in ramadan. and people have been hungry and starving, both at the same time. we're trying, but there is a lot more response. there's at least 300,000 palestinians in the north that are starved or are close to starvation. briefly, if you don't mind, israel warned gazans, of course, to leave the north of the territory before it began its invasion. we saw this mass exodus to the south. could you just help us

understand why people like yourfamily, the many thousands, decided to stay despite the risks? the first one is the history of the nakba. my family were refugees from 1948. they left once, they were never allowed again. there's also the families who moved from the north to the south and were targeted. so my mum decided, like, hey, death is here in the south. in the north we're going to stay, and preserve our dignity and our home. they paid dearly for this decision, as you know. we've lost my brother and his family. so that is why they are still there. i hope that they remain safe for the time being. hani almadhoun, director of philanthropy with unwra usa and other co—founder of the gaza soup kitchen, which is cooking hot meals and feeding people in the community, thank you so much for coming in to speak with us. thank you for having me. the us treasury secretary, janet yellen, has told the chinese premier that the ability to have difficult conversations has put the two economic superpowers on a more stable footing, over the past year. she made the comments

at the start of high level talks with li qiang. the chinese premier said the us and china need to respect each other and should be partners, not adversaries. despite the more optimistic tone, ms yellen also issued a warning during earlier talks, saying there would be consequences for chinese businesses if they support russia's war in ukraine. trade between beijing and moscow more than doubled last year compared to 2020. ms yellen's main aim on herfour day visit is to persuade beijing to rein in excessive production, on goods such as electric cars. china says talk of over—capacity is a pretext for american protectionism. for more on the trip, i spoke to michael sobolik, senior fellow in indo—pacific studies at the american foreign policy council and author of the book countering china's great game. what do you make, first of all, of this warning from janet yellen to china over its businesses supporting russia's war effort?

beijing is going to laugh it off, like they've laughed off so many other warnings from the biden administration in the past. the reality is that the united states is in a cold war with china, and america is losing. and one of the biggest reasons the united states is losing is because so many american politicians seem to think that they can reason with the chinese communist party and negotiate with them in good—faith diplomacy and try to come to a win—win outcome. that sounds great in theory, but there have been so many instances... why do you think the us is losing that battle? on the other hand, of course, china is being hit pretty hard economically by some sanctions and some preventions of exports of things like semiconductors. so it only takes one person for a cold war to happen, and the chinese communist party knows and believes that they are in a cold war with the united states, and america doesn't.

that's simply why the united states is losing. our leaders are not even aware of this fundamental reality. you mentioned semiconductors. to be sure, the biden administration has tried to take some efforts to curtail china's dominance in certain economic sectors that are going to be important. but if you listen to janet yellen's rhetoric and president biden's rhetoric and others, they continually say we need to co—operate with china where we can and then compete with china where we have to. what that has meant, practically, is that this administration has pulled its punches and has not gone after china's problematic actors with human rights abuses and with a whole host of other issues with the intensity and focus they should have. and they're trying so hard to keep diplomacy as an option because they think they can shape china into a responsible actor. history suggests otherwise. we have been hearing a lot

from janet yellen on this trip about topics like electric vehicles and solar panels. why do you think she has made those topics such a priority? well, i think it's, first off, important to note that even though china is investing a lot of money in green energy, they're also the world's greatest greenhouse gas emitter, so let's keep that in perspective. but i think secretary yellen is focusing on those issues with a lot of intensity because china has invested a lot of resources for its own companies to be the dominant players in the 21st century for solar power and for electric vehicles. and once those technologies get to a critical mass, they're going to change a lot of our daily lives, and china wants its companies to be the ones controlling not only the vehicles and the solar panels that people and companies are buying, but they want to control the whole supply chain. and if america has learned anything from covid and the pandemic, we had a lot of critical supply chains running through china

when the virus spread, and it impacted us in a whole host of really bad and dangerous ways. so to secretary yellen's credit, she's trying to get ahead of the curve, but she's going about it all wrong. you don't reason with the chinese communist party and play diplomacy with them, you outcompete them and out—leverage them. in slovakia's presidential race, government candidate peter pellegrini has won the election. slovak opposition candidate ivan korchock conceded defeat earlier and congratulated his rival, once it appeared his lead was unassailable. mr pellegrini is seen as having more pro—kremlin views compared to mr korchok — who is a pro—western former diplomat. the role of president is seen as largely ceremonial but highly influential post — especially at a time when there are divisions over support to ukraine. here's mr korchock speaking after the results. translation: honestly,

i'm disappointed, but i'm an athlete, so i can respect this result. it turns out that in slovakia you can become president by running a non—transparent campaign. the campaign can also be won by making me a war candidate. mr pellegrini, i want to tell you very clearly, i won't forget it. for more on the election i spoke to our correspondent rob cameron in prague, in the neighbouring czech republic. it looks like ivan korcok has lost to peter pellegrini, as you say, the candidate of the populist nationalist governing coalition. it seems that mr pellegrini has won 53% of the vote to mr korcok�*s 47%, which is far better, a far wider margin, than had been suggested in the opinion polls running up to this second round of the election. so that has been something of a surprise. and i think, really, it is the worst fears of the liberal pro—western opposition in slovakia coming to pass, because now

the populist nationalist government, of which mr pellegrini is a part, led by robert fico — he now controls the parliament, the government, and will soon have his man in the president's office. they believe and they fear that that will give him free rein to create what they claim will be a sort of illiberal democracy, perhaps modelled along the lines of viktor orban's hungary. so they are certainly not celebrating this evening in bratislava. and what about when it comes to ukraine? we mentioned this is mostly a ceremonial role, but what could a pellegrini presidency mean for support to ukraine? well, it's certainly a ceremonial role, but an influential one, especially at a time when robert fico is making so many inroads on changing slovakia.

and, of course, slovakia only has one chamber of parliament, one house of parliament, so the role of president is very important. but on ukraine, i think what's happened here with the election of peter pellegrini as president, there will be in two or 2.5 months' time — there will be no senior slovak official who is unequivocally in favour of ukraine's right to defend its territory with weapons. since mr fico came to power in october and reversed the previous slovak government policy of giving ukraine everything it needs to defeat russia on the battlefield, there has been a substantial departure in policy on ukraine. the current president, zuzana caputova, a liberal president — she had been maintaining a very strong pro—ukrainian stance. but she will leave office in two months to be replaced by mr pellegrini, who is seen very much as an ally of robert fico, the prime minister, and so kyiv will have lost at least the official support of the slovak government. so after hungary, it seems that ukraine has now lost, officially at least, slovakia as an unequivocal ally in their military

campaign against russia. earlier this week, uganda's constitutional court refused to overturn a law restricting lgbtq rights. the law, which is considered one of the harshest in the world, was adopted in may last year. it imposes life imprisonment for consensual same—sex relationships and the death penalty for so—called aggravated cases. courtjudges have struck down certain sections of the law but refuse to overturn it, saying it reflects the country's values. there is broad support for the law among ugandans, despite international criticism. activists say abuses against lgbtq people are increasing, with an advocacy group reporting 306 human rights violations since the passage of the law. a short while ago, i spoke to frank mugisha,

one of the leading lgbtq rights activists in uganda, who petitioned the court. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. you were one of the petitioners in the effort to overturn this law. what was your reaction when uganda's constitutional court for the most part decided to uphold this anti—lgbto law? thank you so much for having me. i was very disappointed, not only as a petitioner but also as a ugandan. and as a ugandan lgbtq activist, i was disappointed in the judiciary, the judges in my country, that they upheld the majority of this anti—gay legislation based on people's reactions. it was totally based on conspiracy theories. they say they were doing this because of the ugandan public. imaginejudges ruling in favour of the public and forgetting about the law. so i was very disappointed

that the judges decided to go on the side of the majority and punish the minority. i want to talk about the effects of this law, potentially, and this is something you recently said. you said it's likejudges have told ugandans, go and get violent towards the lgbtq community. what do you think this law means, and how is it already affecting people there in uganda? this law has already been enacted. prior to the introduction of this legislation, the anti—gay christian groups have radicalised ugandans into hatred, and so ugandans have been implementing this legislation in terms of violence towards the community. we have seen many people get thrown out of their homes. we have seen people lose employment and education. and these are non—state actors, but on the other hand, there are also state actors implementing this law. for instance, we have had people who have been arrested, who have been tortured when they are in police custody. when you have an arm of the government that is thejudiciary coming up with such a ruling, it means they are telling

ugandans, go and act. part of the court ruling did strike down some measures in this law. can you explain what was taken out of the law and what was your reaction to that? is that at least a small

victory for you? well, yes, i'm glad that from the work we did with our lawyers, the lgbtq community and members of civil society, that some parts were taken out. but you see, the parts that were taken out were aimed at making sure lgbtq persons, one, don't get discriminated when accessing health services. numbertwo, lgbtq persons are not discriminated if they are seeking employment. lgbtq persons are allowed to rent houses, but you cannot say that there won't be that kind of discrimination when you're saying people should not be able to express themselves as lgbtq persons.

this bill is what could be seen as a growing anti—gay crackdown and where seeing similar situations in other parts of africa. what do you think is behind the wave of what appears to be discrimination against his community on the continent? the majority of what we are seeing now has not always been what africa has been towards lgbtq+ persons. we never saw criminalisation, this dramatic strategies of a racing the lgbtq+ population what strategies of a racing the lgbtq+ population what we're seeing now. all of this is promoted and funded

unfortunately by american evangelical christian groups who are spreading hatred and fighting the lgbtq+ community. unfortunately what is happening in uganda is happening in other countries like ghana, kenya, zambia and malawi and we are worried that we may see similar legislation is coming up in these countries. the parliament of ghana has already partly legislation and all of this is promoted, it is the christian evangelicals promoting this hatred, with donations and projects at the same time. promoting hatred towards the lgbtq+ community.- promoting hatred towards the lgbtq+ community. briefly, what ha--ens lgbtq+ community. briefly, what happens next _ lgbtq+ community. briefly, what happens next now— lgbtq+ community. briefly, what happens next now with _ lgbtq+ community. briefly, what happens next now with the - lgbtq+ community. briefly, what happens next now with the bill - happens next now with the bill in uganda? is it the end of the road? ., ., road? not the end of the road. we would _ road? not the end of the road. we would definitely _ road? not the end of the road. we would definitely go - road? not the end of the road. we would definitely go to - road? not the end of the road. j we would definitely go to court and appeal the decision. we are

optimistic that the supreme court will be more decisive but also we will give us a ruling thatis also we will give us a ruling that is in favour, a ruling that is in favour, a ruling that looks into the constitution of uganda and agrees with us that every ugandan deserves protection under the law. we are also looking at other avenues, the east african court, other avenues and any other medications coming through around this mitigation, will not stop until legislation has been nullified. frank mugisha, the executive director of sexual minorities uganda, and one of the country's leading lgbtq rights activists, thank you very much for speaking with us. thank you for having me. and finally, some smoke signals from italy — and we're not talking about the vatican. this is italy's mount etna. it's been sending rare smoke rings into the sicilian sky. a new crater opened on the summit of europe's largest active volcano leading to an unusual display

of vortex rings. they're made of gases and propelled upwards by a circular vent in the volcano. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. on saturday we saw two sides to storm kathleen. on the one hand, across eastern england with some weak sunshine, temperatures reached 21 celsius in suffolk — the warmest day of the year so far. further west, though, those winds were a lot stronger — gusts of 60—70 mph and some large waves as well. and storm kathleen is still on the scene, tracking northwards to the west of the uk. still going to bring with it some windy weather on sunday, and there'll be some further sunshine, but also some showers. it's not going to be quite

as warm as it was on saturday. we're going to start with a bit of early rain to clear away from north—east england and south—east scotland, and then more showers will come in from the north—west to scotland and northern ireland. we'll see some wet weather arriving in wales, pushing through parts of the midlands and northern england, later into the south—west of england. the best of the dry weather and sunshine probably through east anglia and the south—east of england, but it's going to be a windy day. the strongest of the winds likely to be in the far north—west of scotland — over 60 mph. temperatures are going to be lower than they were on saturday, but a pleasant 16 or 17 in the south—east and across east anglia in the sunshine. now, as storm kathleen weakens by monday to the north of scotland, we're going to find our next area of low pressure moving in from the south. and this one is going to bring with it some cloud and some outbreaks of rain. that's mainly going to run northwards up the western side of the uk, but we will see some rain for northern england and southern scotland. northern scotland likely to be dry. the winds becoming lighter, and we'll get some sunshine and dry weather for awhile through the midlands and across some eastern

parts of england. again, temperatures 16 or 17 degrees. by the end of the day it's not going to be as windy, but our area of low pressure is likely to deepen overnight and the winds strengthen again towards the south—west of england and through the english channel into the channel islands. and we've still got some cloud, we've got some outbreaks of rain left over on tuesday, to push steadily eastwards across england and wales, and some further showers to the north—west of scotland. the wind direction is changing to a north—westerly and that's going to bring with it some colder air, so maximum temperatures on tuesday are only 10—12 celsius. now, that colder air shouldn't last too long. during wednesday and into thursday, the wind direction changes. we get milder south—westerly winds, but that brings with it the chance of some more rain.

voice—over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme.

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