could defer its planned incursion into rafah — if there is a deal on the hostages. a conservative mp defects to labour — dan poulter says his former party is no longer focused on public services. as a russian missile narrowly misses a kharkiv hospital... president zelensky again calls on ukraine's allies to provide more air defences. and — police have moved in to break up a pro—palestinian protest at northeastern university in boston. officials say a—hundred people were detained. we'll have the latest. hello, i'm samantha simmonds. we start in the middle east — where israel's foreign minister has said that his country's planned military incursion into rafah in gaza could be suspended — if there is a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages held by hamas.

this comes after egyptian mediators arrived in israel — with local media reporting there's been "notable progress" in finding common ground. in the last few hours, it's also been announced that america's top diplomat, antony blinken, will visit saudi arabia this week. the state department says he'll discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire that secures the release of hostages. meanwhile, hamas has posted a new video, which shows two of the hostages captured during its october attack. keith siegel, and omri miran, both identify themselves. while the video is not dated, there is a reference to the recent passover holiday. it's the second such video that hamas — considered a terror group by the uk and us governments — has published in the past few days. our correspondent, anna foster, is in tel aviv where families have been gathering to call again for all the hostages in gaza to be released omri miran�*s father was actually already on the list of confirmed speakers for this event tonight.

when he got up on the stage, he talked about the moment, he said he was sitting having coffee with someone and talking about his grandchildren when the man he was talking to held his phone and said, "look, they have released a video of omri." what was also interesting was as the crowd were gathered here tonight, is they showed that video in full, it is not something that normally happens because of course when you see the people in it, the two men in this case looking very malnourished, obviously speaking under duress, sending messages to their families and urging the israeli government to come to some sort of arrangement, some sort of deal to try and achieve their release. now, of course that deal and those talks have been going on for weeks and weeks. the last time we saw a significant hostage release was at the end of last year. at one point, we were told the talks had very much broken down, the two sides weren't really in communication at all but the egyptian delegation�*s visit this week and the further efforts of the us and us secretary of state antony blinken, we are led to believe that perhaps

they are moving slightly closer in terms of trying to achieve a deal, but certainly those powerful messages we heard tonight on the stage from the hostage families, they were talking directly to israel's leaders, directly to the politicians and were saying, you need you to do a deal. while we know they are alive, you need to do what they can to ensure their release now. antony blinken, us secretary of state heading back to the region, he has been there at least five times since the october the 7th attacks, what is the thinking he might be able to achieve with this latest visit because we know there is pressure for the us to put more pressure on qatar who have an influence over hamas, so what is it hoped he can achieve? well, the leadership of hamas, some of them that are not in gaza, they are based in qatar. in the last week or so, qatar said they didn't really want to continue in that important mediating role they have had,

they said there was not necessarily a great deal of benefit to that and that looked like it was setting the talks further back. what we have at the moment are two distinct sets of demands, hamas lay out what they want and the israeli government layout what they want and it is a question of trying to move those two sides as close together as possible. hamas want things like, they are talking about an end to that war, they want a full withdrawal of israeli troops from gaza, they want people to be able to move back to the north of the strip. israel is asking for the release of hostages, which hamas is, we are told, saying they cannot achieve, whether or not they have enough hostages alive to do that, whether or not they know whether hostages are, to be able to achieve that. so i think when you ask about antony blinken, i think what he is trying to do is do what he can to try and get those two sides to slightly refine, slightly change their demands

so they can get position where both sides can feel they have got something from a deal. crucially, they could be a ceasefire for a period of time in gaza, more humanitarian aid could get in and those israeli hostages, more than 130 of them, they could be released. meanwhile, the bbc has learned that british troops could be deployed to gaza to help deliver humanitarian aid. soldiers may be used to drive lorries across floating causeways on a new sea route, dropping supplies onto beaches. the us army has already begun building floating platforms like this off the coast of gaza — where aid will be taken off ships, and be put onto trucks. the us has said there will be no american troops on the ground. earlier, we spoke to olga cherevko — from united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, or ocha. shes�*s currently in rafah, and told us about the aid situation in gaza right now. the situation here remains really dire and catastrophic and we are having massive challenges

with access, with getting aid in and getting access points open and just moving around gaza as safely and freely as possible. are you seeing more aid coming in and the difficulty is logistically moving it around? it is a lot of things. there are a lot of elements involved. and we have seen a bit more aid coming in lately, but to say that it has made a tangible difference, we cannot say that because we have not seen that yet make a difference on the ground. describe to us the conditions that people are living in right now in the tented camps that have sprung up. the conditions are absolutely dire.

i mean, there is no sanitation, people need food, there is no water, no electricity, fuel, all of the basics of life are missing in gaza. and, of course, overi million people are on the brink of famine, 70% of this number, 70% of the population in the north is facing imminent famine and just overall the situation is becoming more and more desperate by the day. here in the uk, a conservative mp has defected to the opposition labour party. dan poulter has been the mp for central suffolk and north ipswich since the 2010 election. he combines his political career with practising medicine as an nhs hospital doctor on a part—time basis. he confirmed he was defecting to labour in an interview with laura kuenssberg — take a listen. i found it increasingly difficult to look my nhs colleagues in the eye,

my patients in the eye, and my constituents in the eye with good conscience. and ifeel that the nhs deserves better than it has at the moment in terms of how it is run and governed. the party i was elected into valued public services. it valued...it had a compassionate view about supporting the more disadvantaged in society. i think the conservative party today is in very different place. its focus is not on delivering or supporting high quality public services. the labour leader sir keir starmer tweeted about the defection. he described it as �*fantastic�* — and said he was really pleased that dan had decided tojoin his party. the conservatives issued this statement: "for the people of central suffolk and north ipswich this will be disappointing news. "what dan says is wrong as sir keir starmer has no plan for our nhs. we have already virtually eliminated the longest waits and overall

waiting lists have fallen by 200,000 in the last five months. the world—class care they need". john rentoul is chief political commentator at the independent. he gave me his assessment of events. defections are the hard currency of politics and they don't happen very often and when they do, they are, as you were saying there with ben, they are designed to wound. so, yes, it is damaging. personally, i am surprised it has taken so long. because there has only been one conservative to labour defection in this parliament so far and that is christian wakefield who defected some time ago, 2022, i think it was. and i was expecting more to follow that path, but i wasn't expecting dan poulter. i don't know why not because he has always been very much on the centrist wing of the tory party and a likely candidate. what about the labour party?

keir starmer said it was fantastic to welcome dan poulter to the party. how big is this a coup for labour? this is the sort of thing that was happening in the 1990s, i mean, people may not remember but there was a former tory minister called alan howarth who defected to tony blair's labour party in 1995, shaun woodward, the better—known defection, that was actually after labour got into government. but all the traffic was in that direction at that time and the same thing seems to be happening again, and that will add to labour's confidence about the coming election. and we've got big local elections coming up in just a few days�* time. obviously, we don't know what is going to happen there, but if they are as bad for the tories as some are anticipating, does that again, combined with this, call rishi sunak�*s leadership

into question in the coming weeks? i don't think so because i think the general election is not far away, whatever happens, i mean, it is going to be by the end of this year. conservative mps are divided into two groups. one group who recognise that it would just make the party even more unpopular to try to change leader again, and another group who have just given up anyway. and they regard the election as a hopeless cause. and what i am surprised about is that more of that group haven't done what dan poulter did and defected to labour. i mean, it is not to save his career, because he is standing down from parliament anyway, but i would have thought that other mps might want to save their careers or look for a position under a labour government. and viewers in the uk can see the full interview with dan poulter

on �*sunday with laura kuenssberg' at nine o'clock on sunday morning, on bbc one. ukraine says its energy infrastructure has been hit again, in another night of russian air attacks. officials in kharkiv said one missile had hit the grounds of a psychiatric hospital, damaging buildings and injuring a woman. there were also attacks in the dnipro region in central ukraine — and in the western areas of lviv and ivano—franki—vsk. officials say equipment was damaged and at least one energy worker injured. russia has repeatedly targeted ukrainian energy infrastructure over recent months. it's attacks such as these that have led to the us providing more aid for ukraine. the united states outlined what will be included in a $six billion package of military assistance. it's part of a larger $60 billion commitment — approved by congress a week ago following six months of delays. the package will focus on air

defence and includes interceptor missiles, anti—drone systems and artillery ammunition. what's not included are the new patriot air defence batteries, which ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky says are critical. tinatinjaparidze, is a political risk analyst at eurasia group. i asked her what difference the us aid package is going to make. first of all, it should be noted this is a significant political breakthrough, long overdue and controversial in terms of the various complicated political obstacles, especially leading up to the us presidential elections. and it is likely to be the last aid package, especially of this size and significance that the us approves in 2024, but it will be something that ukrainians can stretch into 2025. this has boosted ukrainian morale considerably and has sparked some hope in ukrainian cities, especially after months of increasingly gloomy coverage but we need to maintain an objective on what this crucial aid package can realistically achieve. it will do a lot for ukraine but it will not be a magic wand, it is certainly not a silver bullet.

yes, and the difficulty for the ukrainians is that while this aid will help them in their defences, they will have to choose whether or not they protect the front lines, the troops on the front lines of the infrastructure which is being targeted by russia, won't they? absolutely. we need to understand the aid package will be substantial in improving ukrainian military prospects for stabilising the situation in the eastern region of donetsk, that is very important. and it will broadly speaking be crucial in helping the country defend itself against russian attacks on a broader scale, in terms of any possible counteroffensive this year, we cannot really expect realistically to see ukraine launch one this year. in terms of trying to choose between the front lines, fortification of the front lines, versus critical infrastructure, it will be a very tough one, there is only so much the country can do, and they really have to be

very smart and creative in how they prioritise what they use that aid package for. what would it take for a counteroffensive for ukraine to be able to turn the tide against russia? probably it will depend in many ways notjust on what ukraine is capable of but also what russia can do on it's part. russia certainly hold a key advantage with constant manpower supplies, as well as a rather robust ammunition. but it is facing challenges in replenishing their substantial losses of equipment, which is what we have been hearing for military analysts, and this factor could in fact limit the effectiveness and scope of any offensive capabilities that russia could have in the coming months, going into sort of the later part of the spring and into the summer. so that will dictate to a degree what ukraine can do, did not so much that ukraine can turn the tide on its own but rather where the russians shortages are and whether ukraine is able

to try to make the most of those gaps. hopefully, it will be in a better position to do that with this new aid package approved in washington. but in terms of the command and equipment issues of its own, russian forces are still likely to achieve more territorial gains this year. police in the united states have moved in on a pro—palestinian protest at northeastern university in boston. officials said about 100 people were detained as they were moved from the site, but those with student id would not face any legal action. it's the latest standoff in a wave of pro—palestinian sit ins at campuses around the united states — including this demonstration, which has been ongoing at columbia university in new york. our north america correspondent will vernon is following developments from washington. there have also been arrests today at indiana state university. 69 people, we understand, detained there at indiana university, too. and negotiations are ongoing at columbia university in new york

over the protest camp there. and that's what really sparked this latest escalation in the protests, really. pro—palestinian demonstrations have been going on for several months now at a number of universities, but the mood has really changed in the last week or so, and that was because of an incident at columbia on the 18th of april, the nypd were called onto the campus to take down a protest camp there. dozens of people were arrested and that really ignited tensions. and a number of other protest camps were then pitched at various universities across the country. now, the protesters say that they're unhappy with the us government's support for the israeli military campaign. they want a ceasefire in gaza, but also they're demanding that their universities divest so cut ties with companies with links to israel. but manyjewish students say that they feel intimidated by these demos.

there have been a number of reports of verbal assaults or even physical attacks onjewish people by the pro—palestinian demonstrators. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, as well as many people in congress here, say that these protests are anti—semitic. of course, the demonstrators deny that. and university administrators say that a lot of this trouble is being caused by radical outside elements that have infiltrated the ranks of the students. and that's certainly what we heard from northeastern earlier today. they told us that whilst around 100 were detained, only about 12 or maybe a bit more than that of them actually had student ids. so many of them were not from the university at all. yeah. and just briefly, there have been there's been at least one leader who's being banned from the columbia university site for a video that was released of him that which many were calling anti—semitic. that's right. and the president of columbia university, manu shafik, is under huge pressure, not only due

to instances of hate speech on campus like the one that you just mentioned, but also over her decision to call in the police to clear the protest camp. yesterday, the columbia university senate passed a resolution condemning shafiq's administration, saying that they were undermining academic freedom and disregarding the privacy and due process rights of students and faculty members. so, university administrators under huge pressure here and it's not really clear what the solution is to this very tricky political. celebrations have been taking place across south africa — to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of apartheid. president cyril ramaphosa paid tribute to the people who he said had brought peace and freedom to the country. he described the first democratic elections three decades ago as a victory for human dignity, and progress against racism. a gold pocket watch worn by the wealthiest passenger

on the titanic has sold for £900,000 at auction. once fees are added, it's the highest price ever paid at auction for a single item recovered from the scene of the disaster in 1912. a leather violin bag owned by the leader of the orchestra which famously played on as the ship sank, fetched £290,000. duncan kennedy reports from the auction in wiltshire. there's nothing like the titanic to evoke memories, passion and buyers. this auction included one of the items that titanic collectors desire most of all. it's the gold pocket watch belonging to a passenger believed to be one of the richest people in the world, jothacob astor. he and 1,500 others died when the ship sank in april 1912 in the north atlantic. what jj astor's watch represents is something touchable from history, which is why people are still willing to pay so much money for it.

the bidding for the watch started way beyond the estimate of £150,000 and kept climbing at £900,000. add on all the fees and the anonymous buyer will pay £1.17 million a world record for an item from the titanic. at the end of the day, this price reflects not only the importance of the astor watch, but also the enduring appeal of the titanic story. books, films and documentaries have kept the titanic story alive, but it's artefacts like these that make it tangible and desirable. duncan kennedy, bbc news in wiltshire. a hole in the ozone layer over antarctica — fuelled by smoke from bushfires in australia — is exposing wildlife to protentially damaging levels of uv light. scientists from the university of wollongong say animals and plants are having to put more energy into avoiding the rays. here's our science correspondent, victoria gill.

the ozone layer that protects us from the sun's most harmful rays is healing, gradually, but in antarctica, in cold, high—atmospheric clouds, a hole in that layer still appears every year. that ozone thinning, or loss, used to peak in september or october, when animals and plants are tucked under winter snow and marine animals are protected by sea ice. but it's now lingering until december, well into the antarctic summer, when wildlife is much more vulnerable. researchers say that has been driven in part by smoke from the australian wildfires in 2019 and 2020, which were fuelled by climate change. the researchers found evidence that antarctic plants might have to put more energy into producing their own protective sunscreen compounds, and krill, the marine crustaceans that are the foundation of the food chain in antarctica, move deeper into the ocean to avoid ultraviolet rays, while penguins and seals are protected

by protective feathers and fur, scientists say exposure to damaging rays could harm their eyesight. the researchers say we can no longer take the recovery of the ozone layer for granted. it is more evidence, they point out, that carbon emissions have to be reduced quickly so that more bushfires don't put extra pressure on a vital shield in our atmosphere. victoria gill, bbc news. a british man has been seriously injured when he was attacked by a shark in the caribbean. peter smith from hertfordshire was attacked off the north coast of tobago. officials on the island say the 64—year—old is stable and will stay on the island while he recovers. louise pilbeam reports.

peter smith was on the beach in front of the starfish hotel in tobago. officials say he was on holiday with his wife and friends and had been due to fly back today before going for a last swim in the sea. witnesses say the man suffered severe injuries to his leg, stomach and arm. i don't think they saw anything — they were casually... they were in about waist—deep to shoulder high water, so they weren't out of their depth. and i think their backs were turned and they were just kind of lounging around and nobody saw the shark coming. and even while the shark was around and doing the attack, the other people in the water were physically trying to fight off the shark. the islands authorities said sharks play a vital role in protecting coral reefs. we will see sharks pop up from time to time. it is part of theirjob, but it is ourjob to ensure we can keep you safe, while at the same time we keep our environment safe. mr smith was taken to hospital and officials from the island have told the bbc that he is recovering well. louisa pilbeam, bbc news.

a tourist visiting the norwegian arctic archipelago of svalbard has been fined more than £900 for getting too close to a walrus. members of the public alerted local authorities when they saw a man going onto an ice floe to approach the animal. it's against the law to approach the wildlife on svalbard in a way that disturbs them. it happened near longyearbyen — the world's northernmost settlement. the governor has encouraged everyone to keep a good distance from walruses so that they are not disturbed and to avoid danger to people. a photo hot spot injapan is going to be blocked by authorities annoyed by badly behaved tourists. a big black barrier is to be erected to obscure views of mount fuji behind this convenience store in fujikawaguchiko. locals accuse mainly foreign tourists of dropping rubbish and parking illegally as they stop for a snap. that's it from me from the moment, and for watching bbc news. hello there.

we're seeing some changes to the weather this weekend. part two of the weekend promises to be quite wet across some eastern areas, another chilly but bright day further west that you are, but it marks a changed all weather because as we move into the new week, we'll start to draw up some warmer air from the near continent. many areas will actually turn a lot warmer than what we've had over the past week. this area of low pressure will continue to bring some rain to central, southern and eastern parts of england through the night. so early sunday, this is the position the rain will be in. less cold for england and wales, 5—8 degrees, but another cold night for scotland and northern ireland, a touch of frost. but it's here you'll have the best of the sunshine from the word go for sunday morning. further east, it will be a cloudy, wet picture, with that rain slowly pulling away from eastern england, becoming confined to north—east scotland, the northern isles. elsewhere, plenty of sunshine around, a few scattered showers developing into the afternoon, and a windy day to come, particularly close to the north sea, close near to that area of rain. temperature—wise, the low teens for many, but distinctly chilly again across this north—east corner. that rain continues to clear northwards into the northern isles during sunday night. it turns a lot drier

for many with clear spells. we'll start to see thicker cloud and some showery bursts of rain pushing into western areas, though, by the end of the night, though many areas will stay dry. temperature—wise, well, actually milder for many, particularly scotland and northern ireland, than we've had of late. still a few chilly spots there for north—east scotland. this is the picture for monday, certainly the pressure picture. we've got low pressure out toward the west. this will be bringing south or south—westerly winds across the country. and actually for large parts of england and wales, particularly towards the south and east, it's going to stay dry all day with some good spells of sunshine. but rain will be splashing into western areas and moving across the irish sea as we move through the course today. some of this will be quite heavy. we've got the low teens celsius in the north and the west. could be up to 16 or 17 celsius in the south—east with that sunshine and the warm wind coming off the continent. for the rest of the week, we hold on to lower pressure towards the west of the uk. that will continue to bring our air source from the south—east or the east at times,

and there will be weather fronts close by. so it's an unsettled theme, i think, but it's going to feel warmer throughout this week than what we've had over the past week. it could be up to 20 degrees in the warmest spots across the south—east. but with low pressure nearby, it will tend to remain on the unsettled side. take care.

this is bbc news. the headlines: israel's foreign minister says it will defer a planned military operation in rafah if a deal is reached over the hostages still held by hamas. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is flying to the region to discuss the situation. ukraine says russia has carried out another air attack, narrowly missing a hospital. the us says it will "rush" patriot air defence missiles and ammunition to ukraine. president zelensky says they are "urgently" needed. police in the united states have moved in on a pro—palestinian protest at northeastern university in boston. it's one of a growing number of protests at universities in america over the war in gaza. and british conservative mp dr dan poulter quits the party to join the opposition labour party. he said the conservatives were no longerfocused on public services, and a general election was needed.

now on bbc news, the right to die.