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 thousands of people take to the canals of amsterdam to celebrate the dutch king's 57th birthday. 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 anthony blinken will visit saudi arabia this week. 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. we can cross live now to tel aviv and speak to our correspondent anna foster. anna, welcome to you, i know you are at the sight of where the latest hostage video has been held, let's start with that in those dead elements in the past few hours. it seems it does possibly appear to be some movement with the release of his latest hostage video and the new wording coming from the israeli

government?— wording coming from the israeli government? wording coming from the israeli covernment? ~ . �*, ., government? omri miran's father was actually already _ government? omri miran's father was actually already on _ government? omri miran's father was actually already on the _ government? omri miran's father was actually already on the list _ government? omri miran's father was actually already on the list of - 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 it was sitting having coffee with someone and talking about his grandchildren when the man he was talking to held his phone i said look, they have released a video of him. the cloud were gathered here tonight and 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 and 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 in 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 went in communication at all but the egyptian delegation, visit this week and the further efforts of the us 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 had tonight on the stage from the hostage families, they were talking directly to israel's leaders, directly to the politicians and saying, we need you to do a deal. while we know they are alive, you need to do what they —— you can to ensure their release. you need to do what they -- you can to ensure their release.— to ensure their release. antony blinken, us — to ensure their release. antony blinken, us secretary - to ensure their release. antony blinken, us secretary of - to ensure their release. antony blinken, us secretary of state | 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 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 hope he can

achieve? ~ . , , ., achieve? well, the leadership of hamas, achieve? well, the leadership of hamas. some — achieve? well, the leadership of hamas, some of _ achieve? well, the leadership of hamas, some of them _ achieve? well, the leadership of hamas, some of them that - achieve? well, the leadership of hamas, some of them that are l achieve? well, the leadership of i hamas, some of them that are not 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, mocking anna mocking in a tearing aid could get in and those israeli hostages, more than 130 of them, they could be released. in gaza itself, the hamas—run health agency says at least 50 people have been killed in israeli attacks in the past day. on saturday, people searched through the rubble of rafah, trying to recover what they could, after two houses were struck in the southern gaza city. 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. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports from jerusalem.

some aid is getting into gaza by land. trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies. some aid is being dropped by air, but the united nations says it is nowhere near enough to help the people of gaza who, it says, are facing famine. so there are plans for aid to come by sea. the us army is building floating platforms like this off the coast, where aid will be taken off ships and put into trucks. that floating causeway is expected to be anchored on the beach somewhere near here, where israeli forces will secure a distribution area. the us says there will be no american boots on the ground. so the uk is considering whether british forces should drive the trucks along the causeway that may look something like this. but that would mean british forces being put in harm's way on the beaches of gaza, so—called wet boots on the ground, potentially at risk

from hamas fighters. hamas at the end of the day could try and interrupt this. i would like to think they won't but i think probably they won't. but it's possible that they could. unfortunately in these sorts of operations, you end up in places you wouldn't want to have gone to. british forces could be deployed from this uk air base in cyprus, but, as of now, it is just an option. there has been no decision and it is yet to pass the prime minister's desk. the mod refused to comment. sending british troops to the beaches of gaza would be a big decision. they would be at risk in a war zone, they would be operating in the holy land for the first time since the 1940s. but someone has to drive these trucks and they've got to make a decision soon, the us says this new aid corridor is going to be up and running by early next month. james landale, bbc news, injerusalem. here in the uk, a conservative mp has defected to the opposition labour party in a blow to the leadership of

prime minister rishi sunak. 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. our political correspondent ben wright told me more about dr poulter. he has been an mp since 2010.

he represents central suffolk and north ipswich. hejoined the party under david cameron. he is very much a cameroonian conservative. he is in the centre of the party,a one—nation tory. he is a working doctor in the nhs, working in mental health, and he has continued to do that alongside his time in parliament. he was briefly a minister but has been a backbencher for the last few years. this has come out of the blue. there has been speculation for a long time that the despondency and anger simmering on the tory backbenches could burst into a defection at some point. today we have it. i think it is a big blow for rishi sunak. we are going to have big local elections in a few days which the tory party is braced for being bad. the clock is ticking down quite fast to a general election. the prime minister doesn't have long to try to gee up his troops and prove he has a plan for pulling this back. here you have a stinging intervention, actually. what he says about public services,

where he thought the tory party used to be compassionate — in his view they no longer are. he feels that the conservativism he joined the party to represent has been abandoned by the current prime minister and his team, and i think this is quite wounding. it is intended to be. defections don't come out of the blue. i am sure this will have been orchestrated to an extent. there will have been talks going on for a while, perhaps, between dan poulter and keir starmer. it is certainly a coup for the labour party. it is a big blow for rishi sunak. yes, tell us about... i don't think we've had reaction from the conservatives but what about the labour party? keir starmer on social media said it was fantastic to welcome dr poulter to the changed labour party. it is time to end conservative chaos, turn the page and get britain's future back. pleased that dan poulter has decided to join us on this journey and dan poulter says he would like to see an election happen now. it is not about to, i don't think. the expectation still

is that the general election will probably be towards the autumn. he intends to stay in parliament. there is no requirement to have a by—election if there is a defection like this but he will now be sitting in labour's ranks. and already the conservatives are facing mass numbers of their mps choosing not to stand at the next election for various reasons. which again, is indicative of a political cycle. i think it is about 70 have decided they would rather do other things after the next election, whoever wins. i think defections like this often seem to symbolise a moment as well. they are quite rare. this is the third defection from the conservative party that we have had since 2019. christian wakeford left the tories in 2022 when borisjohnson was still prime minister, during the partygate scandal. he switched to labour. just last month, lee anderson, former deputy chair of the party, was suspended and then went to join reform uk. his journey is indicative of some of the anger and disillusionment

there is on the right of the party. what dan poulter�*s move suggests or represents is concern within the centre of the tory party about the direction it is heading in. how do you think the tories are going to be able to manage this? they will hope to move on very quickly and it is going to be difficult. but quickly, i think, our attention will be shifting to the local elections later next week and the results coming in friday and saturday. that i think will be a very big moment and there is speculation around that that could potentially uncork a wider rebellion among tory mps against rishi sunak. i'm not quite sure myself but the numbers are there for that to happen. this is a political punctuation mark, this sort of defection, that often symbolises a moment. i think this is how it will be seen. 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, the country's second biggest city, 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—frankivsk. 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 $6 billion package of military assistance. it's part of a larger $60 billion commitment which was 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. let's speak to oleksandr krayev, who is an international security expert at the foreign policy group ukrainian prism. hejoins me from kyiv. thank you he joins me from kyiv. thank you for being with us. now that we have more detail about what air defences will be heading ukraine's way, what kind of a difference do you think they will make?— of a difference do you think they will make? , , ., ~ will make? they will definitely make a ureat deal will make? they will definitely make a great deal of _ will make? they will definitely make a great deal of difference, _ will make? they will definitely make a great deal of difference, although | a great deal of difference, although we do see that our government once again stresses out that the number of patriot missile systems is very much needed to be increased because the only one system provided by germany is still not enough to cover all the skies above ukraine. the minimum amount of new systems that

are needed to be added to the existing numbers are at least seven new systems. so, the package of the united states consisting of mostly ante missile defence is clearly a very big step forward, especially if we speak about protecting civilian and critical infrastructure but still it is notjust about the munition, it is also about the number of systems themselves which currently are not enough. haifa currently are not enough. how effective will _ currently are not enough. how effective will these _ currently are not enough. how effective will these new - currently are not enough. how effective will these new supplies be in protecting that national infrastructure which we see rush increasingly target? if infrastructure which we see rush increasingly target?— increasingly target? if we speak about protecting _ increasingly target? if we speak about protecting infrastructure, | increasingly target? if we speak| about protecting infrastructure, i do believe that our government and the military supervisors are already doing everything possible to provide formal systems, specifically to that area in kharkiv, dnipro, and in the western part of our countries, to protect the heat generated city's

and electrical facilities. protect the heat generated city's and electricalfacilities. however, and electrical facilities. however, i and electricalfacilities. however, i once again need to stress that the lack of systems themselves also provides for a better choice for our superiors because either we protect the front line from additional usage of russian aviation or we protect the critical infrastructure that is necessary for our economy and for the civilians in ukraine. so, although the civilian infrastructure can and will be protected with the new support from our western allies, there is still the grim reality that we should choose between either protecting the front line of protecting the front line of protecting the front line of protecting the rear. find protecting the front line of protecting the rear. protecting the front line of rotectin: the rear. �* ., ., , protecting the rear. and more aid is headin: protecting the rear. and more aid is heading your— protecting the rear. and more aid is heading your way. _ protecting the rear. and more aid is heading your way, not _ protecting the rear. and more aid is heading your way, notjust - protecting the rear. and more aid is heading your way, notjust from - protecting the rear. and more aid is heading your way, notjust from the us but from other countries in the alliance as well that are supporting ukraine. how do you think that is going to help ukraine in its fight against russia, and where do you see this conflict going in the next few months? if this conflict going in the next few months? ., this conflict going in the next few months? . , , ., ~ this conflict going in the next few months? . , , ., ,, ., months? if we are speaking about the next few months _ months? if we are speaking about the next few months generally _ months? if we are speaking about the next few months generally speaking l next few months generally speaking about 2024, the whole year, the

western support, especially the support from our british allies, from americans, from germany, this will be enough for us to withstand the possible russian counteroffensive that according to ukrainian intelligence could start as early as may, june this year. so, basically, these supplies, these munitions and additional systems can help us to hold the line and hold the front line without sufficient changes, without any russian progress on the line. but every speak about retaking our territory and freeing the occupied cities in ukraine, well, then the plan for 2025 in a positive scenario, so as of now, if we bring in forces, it is to hold the line and provide for as many casualties on the russian side as possible, especially if we speak about aviation, if we speak about russian facilities in the rear and if we speak about russian artillery,

they are the main targets for our rocket troops and for our artillery as well. ~ , ., rocket troops and for our artillery as well. ~ , . ., , rocket troops and for our artillery as well. ~ , . ._ ., ~ , ., as well. oleksandr krayev, thank you for much for — as well. oleksandr krayev, thank you for much forjoining _ as well. oleksandr krayev, thank you for much forjoining us _ as well. oleksandr krayev, thank you for much forjoining us from - as well. oleksandr krayev, thank you for much forjoining us from kyiv. - now it's time for a look at today's sport. hello from the bbc sport centre. start with the premier league where liverpool's hopes of staying in the race for the title have suffered another blow after they were held to a 2—2 draw with west ham united. jared bowen put the london side ahead just before half time. liverpool came back in the second half — left back andy robertson equalising soon after the interval. an own goal from the west ham keeper alphonse areola gave the visitors the lead again. but they couldn't hold on to it with bowen, who was later given the player of the match award, picked out michail antonio to earn a point for west ham — a result that isn't much help to either team's ambitions.

it is not a great date for liverpool fc. we were unlucky a couple of times and unlucky too often is most of the time your own fault and we know that it is not anything else, so now again, let's recover and go again. let's have a look at the other results from saturday.

england ran in six tries to beat france 42 points to 21 in their six nations championship decider in bordeaux and claim the grand slam for the third year in a row. centre megan jones scored two tries in the victory as the red roses led 35 points to 14 at halftime. france remained in the contest despite a second—half red card for prop assia khalfaoui as marine menager also scored twice. england top the six nations table with 28 points followed by france on 19. ireland finished third in the championship and qualify for the world cup following their 15—12 win over fourth—placed scotland, while wales collected the wooden spoon despite a 22—20 victory over italy. holders barcelona are through to the final of the women's champions league, overturning a first—leg 1—0 deficit to beat chelsea, who were down to 10 players, by 2—0 in the second leg of their semi final at stamford bridge.

it was the second season in a row that barca had beaten chelsea 2—1 in the semifinals and was a blow to home coach hayes who is leaving chelsea to manage the us national team after 14 years in charge. chelsea have never won the champions league, reaching the final only once, in 2021 when they were thrashed 4—0 again by barcelona. the five time madrid mastesr champion, rafael nadal, is into the third round at the tournament after an impressive straight sets win over the 10th seed alex de minaur. the 22—time grand slam champion who is now 37 years old, is playing in spain for what is expected to be the last time but after winning a 77—minute opening set on a tie break. he went on to take the second set 6—3 to extend his time in madrid and will face pedro cachin in the third round. former world championjudd trump says he has rejected an approach to join a potential breakaway snooker tour. there's been speculation the sport's biggest names could be tempted to leave the existing world snooker tour and play

in lucrative events elsewhere. well, trump, who was the 2019 world champion, has progressed into the quarterfinals at the crucible by beating fellow englishman tom ford — 13 frames to 7. after the match, trump distanced himself from suggestions that he may join a break away tour. and that's all the sport for now. thank you. 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 that those with student id would be released and not face any legal action. it's the latest stand—off in a wave of pro—palestinian sit—ins that have sprung up at campuses around the united states. our north america correspondent will vernon is following developments from washington. the main incident today has been at northeastern university in boston, as you mention. the university administration have just told us that over a dozen

people who were detained were released after showing their student id. as you mentioned around 100 of them detained at that protest. but it is notjust boston. there are protests going on all over the country this morning, in indiana, in colombia. these protest camps have spread across the country and the situation really has escalated in the last week or so. that is after an incident at columbia university in new york when the nypd were called in to clear one of these protest camps and dozens of people were arrested there. that really ignited the situation and then all these encampments sprung up right across the country and these protests carry on this morning. the protesters are demanding that... well, they are demanding a ceasefire firstly in gaza. they are unhappy about us government support for israel. and they are demanding that the universities divest,

so cut off ties with any companies that have links to israel. manyjewish students say that they feel intimidated by these protests. there have been reports ofjewish people being verbally or even physically assaulted by pro—palestinian demonstrators. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, many others in congress too, have said these protests are anti—semitic. the protesters deny that there is anti—semitism there and many universities say that a lot of the trouble is caused by outside elements, by radicals who have infiltrated the students. that is certainly the case with northeastern university. in a statement earlier they said that the police were called in after anti—semitic language was used during the protests and that professional organisers had infiltrated the students. certainly in one case

at columbia one of the student a gold pocket watch worn by the wealthiest passenger on the titanic has sold for £900,000 at auction. when taxes and other fees are taken into account, the anonymous buyer will have to pay nearly £1.2 million pounds. that's more than seven times it's estimated pre—auction price — and a world record for a single item from the titanic sold at auction. it belonged tojothacob astor, who died when the titanic sank in april 1912. a brown leather violin bag owned by wallace hartley, the leader of the orchestra who, with his colleagues, famously played on as the ship sank, fetched £366,000 pounds, including taxes and fees. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. it certainly has been a saturday

of contrasts across the country. we started off grey and wet across southern england. the rain petered out to a blanket of cloud and drizzle. a lot of cloud across wales, the midlands, for much of the day. further north it was a different story. sunny spells and scattered showers but escape those showers, a beautiful afternoon in fife, as you can see. we have more heavy rain though arriving through the night tonight. it is across the south. that rain — some of it really quite intense — will gradually drift its way steadily north and east as we go through sunday. once again a day of contrasts because the rain will continue to move its way out of the midlands, up into the north—east of england and eastern scotland. west will certainly stay drier and brightest for longest. into the afternoon we should see an improving picture across much of england and wales. sunny spells, a few scattered showers, and temperatures peaking at around 13 degrees. it will be windy on those exposed east coasts. sheltered western areas clinging onto some glimpses of sunshine. a little more cloud generally and the rain still quite heavy and persistent,

with gusts of wind across the east coast of 40—50 miles an hour. that makes the eight degrees in aberdeen feel pretty disappointing. that low eases away. the isobars squeeze together. it stays blustery into monday. on the whole a relatively quiet start to the working week. temperatures to greet us first thing — we are looking at around 2—6. it will be dry, there will be some sunshine coming through early on. breezy but a southerly wind will make it start to feel just that little bit milder, particular in the sunnier moments. here is the low moving into northern ireland and perhaps clouding over across western coastal fringes as we go through the day. temperatures in the sunshine should peak at 16 degrees. starting to feel a little better. tuesday, final day of april, could actually see a little more warmth. we have still got this low pressure out to the south—west. because the winds are circulating around that low we are tapping in to a milder south—easterly. that is driving in some warmth from the near continent and you really will start

to notice the difference. for our final day of april, yes, it is likely that we could see temperatures peaking in one or two spots into the high teens. there will be some showers around but a little bit quieter and a little bit warmer than of late.

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. 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. british conservative mp dr dan poulter quits the party to join the opposition labour party. speaking to the bbc, he said the conservatives were no longerfocused on public services and a general election was needed as soon as possible. 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. now on bbc news — the travel show: cabo verde: beyond the beaches.