meanwhile, the us secretary of state heads to saudi arabia, where he will discuss the war with key international figures. police investigating the death of a man near in greater manchester find more body parts, at two separate sites. officials in kenya warn of further heavy rainfall, as deadly flooding and downpours batter parts of east africa. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line has worsened after rounds of russian attacks. hello, this is bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds. in the past hour, the white house said president biden has spoken to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyuahu about the situation in gaza. the white house issued a statement —

saying that the president reaffirmed his ironclad commitment to israel's security. it referenced what it said was a successful defence against iran's unprecedented missile and drone attack earlier this month. the two leaders reviewed ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages. together with an immediate ceasefire in gaza. and they also discussed increases in the delivery of humanitarian assistance into gaza — through preparations to open new northern crossings, starting this week. the statement concludes that the leaders discussed rafah and the president reiterated his clear position, although it didn't give details of what that is. hours earlier, the palestinian president said only the us could prevent an israeli attack on rafah, where more than a—million have fled. mahmoud abbas is at the world economic forum summit in riyadh. he will be joined there on monday by the us secretary of state, antony blinken. other key international figures are expected in the saudi city and sideline meetings are expected to discuss the war in gaza and the way forward. that could include further ceasefire talks — a hamas delegation is reportedly

in cairo for discussions there on monday. this is the appeal from palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, to the us, urging it to convince israel to reconsider any offensive in rafah. translation: and i say here - what's happening now in gaza, | and what will happen in the coming few days, and what israel will do by invading the city of rafah, all the palestinians from gaza are gathered in rafah and it's only one small strike that would force them to flee the gaza strip. and here, the biggest catastrophe in the history of the palestinian people would happen. we hope israel will not attack. we call on the united states of america to ask israel to not carry out the rafah attack, because america is the only country able to prevent israel from committing this crime. let's speak to our north america correspondent will vernon. good to see you, what is your

assessment of this phone call between president biden and benjamin netanyahu? between president biden and ben'amin netan ahu? ., ., ., ., netanyahu? samantha, the language in the statement — netanyahu? samantha, the language in the statement isn't _ netanyahu? samantha, the language in the statement isn't particularly - the statement isn't particularly exceptional. a lot of the things we have heard before, mr biden reaffirmed his ironclad —— ironclad

filament included through preparations to open new northern crossings starting this week. we know crossings starting this week. - know israel has increased access, but aid agencies say it's still nowhere near enough. we also know that the americans have started constructing this peer that will bring more aid into gaza via a sea route. i think the timing is very interesting. anthony boykin hasjust departed today on another diplomatic tour of the middle east. his first stop will be in saudi arabia, where he's expected to hold meetings with qatari officials, egyptians officials, to discuss this plan for a proposed cease—fire in gaza.

dozens of hostages still held by hostages in gaza as well of the release of potentially hundreds of palestinian prisoners that are held in israeli jails. the timing of this call is crucial. it's a very tense time in the middle east. not only have you got those ongoing negotiations on a potential cease—fire. they have stalled in recent weeks, but i hope mr lincoln is hoping he can get saarc those in re—— matt i don't of he's going to visit. re-- matt i don't of he's going to visit. �* re—— matt i don't of he's going to visit. but you also have the israelis planning for of an official offensive. overi million offensive. over i million palestinians offensive. overi million palestinians have sought refuge there, and in this readout, the final sentence missing that raffle mac rafah. they discuss rafah and i think the white house of cut that

purposefully blunt in order to get the point across the concern that mr biden has over a potential israeli offensive in that city. he has told the israelis several times that the us will not support any of active and less proper planning is taken to protect lives. you got the israeli planning and offensive and mr antony blinken to hold talks and unless a deal is reached between israel and hamas over the war, the fear is that israel will undertake that. to hamas over the war, the fear is that israel will undertake that.— the aid organisation world central kitchen, which provides meals for hundreds of thousands of people in gaza, has announced that it will resume operations there. it suspended its work after seven of its workers were killed in israeli air strikes, at the start of this month. world central kitchen says it has 276 trucks, with the equivalent of almost eight million meals, ready to enterthrough the rafah

crossing. they will also send trucks from jordan, and are exploring the maritime corridor — as well as adding a third high production kitchen. the organisation's ceo, erin gore, says that they have no concrete assurances about the safety of their staff, but had to make a choice — to either stop feeding people during one of the worst hunger crises ever, or continue, knowing that aid workers and civilians are being intimidated and killed. mr gore signs off by saying... asaf shariv served as consul general of israel in new york between 2007 and 2010. he also worked as the director of media and public affairs to former israeli prime ministers ehud olmert and ariel sharon. before today's call between mr biden and mr netanyahu, i asked him about the progress of any deals on hostages and a ceasefire. in the last two months, there's not a real war in gaza because we are waiting for a response from hamas, and there is negotiation going on. as the american administration has said, we are waiting for hamas's

response to the egyptian suggestion, and if that will happen in the coming weekend, there will be no operation in rafah in the coming days. that is the situation. this is why the american president is talking to the prime minister, and obviously blinken�*s visit will be, among other issues, dealing with this. yeah, we've heard mahmoud abbas today urging the us to put more pressure on israel not to continue, not to go ahead with its offensive in rafah. just three weeks ago, president biden and benjamin netanyahu spoke, didn't they? and then biden told netanyahu he would re—think his support for israel unless more aid was sent into gaza and more done to limit civilian casualties. are those things happening? according to the american administration, this is happening. the official spokesperson has said that the aid is going out in a much higher amount than in the past and also that hamas is responsible

that there is no cease—fire. that's by the american administration, but let's say something about rafah. israel left rafah in 2005, in august, with the intentions of never coming back. the reason we are here today is because of what happened on october 7th. if the international borders would not be crossed by hamas, we are not here. we have no intentions to be in rafah, rafah is not the goal. our goal was to live peacefully. but if we will not finish the issue of hamas controlling the gaza strip, and as long as they are saying that they will do october 7th again and again, we're just postponing the problem, because it's going to happen in two months, in three months or in four months. that is the main problem. that's why we are trying to solve the issue. if there will be a cease—fire now and the hostages will come back, hopefully we can solve this problem as well, but if not, we will have no other option.

more human remains have been found by police investigating the death of a man in greater manchester. a torso was discovered this month in salford. they have now set up four investigation scenes in and around manchester — in winton, salford, and in bury. detectives say they are also looking through hundreds of hours of cctv vision. two men are in custody. our correspondent greg mckenziejoins me now. bring us up to date on this, what more do you know?— bring us up to date on this, what more do you know? yes, the first gruesome — more do you know? yes, the first gruesome discovery _ more do you know? yes, the first gruesome discovery was - more do you know? yes, the first gruesome discovery was made i more do you know? yes, the first gruesome discovery was made on more do you know? yes, the first - gruesome discovery was made on the 4th of april. earlier this month, a member of the public walking their dog discovered a clear plastic bag and the contents was that of a torso. they contacted the police and an investigation, murder investigation was launched by greater manchester police. further on in their investigation, they had searched a number of locations over the weekend. yesterday and today.

and they have confirmed to us that they have now discovered more human remains at two sites in greater manchester. now, the police believe the victim is a man in his 60s, and his next—of—kin have been contacted and are being updated as to the latest developments of their investigation. the police have confirmed that two men who were arrested last thursday remain in custody for questioning, and they have told us that those two individuals were known to the victim, a 20—year—old that was arrested last week has since been released on police bail. and police have told us tonight that they are reassuring the community that offices will remain on patrol in those four search areas of the city.

the future of scotland's first minister humza yousaf hangs in the balance, as he prepares to face two no confidence motions. they could come as early as wednesday. it follows the collapse of the power sharing agreement with the scottish greens. mr yousaf�*s asked to have meetings with all opposition parties — but only alba has so far agreed. their leader, alex salmond, told the bbc that a renewed push for scottish independence is the price of their support. more from our scotland correspondent alexandra mackenzie. wow, what a view! it's been a bruising few days for humza yousaf, as he faces a vote of no confidence as first minister in a minority government... good morning, everyone. ..after he decided to end a power—sharing deal, the bute house agreement, with the scottish greens. one senior snp mp made an appeal to the scottish green party. i apologise for what has happened this week. it could have happened in a different way, but we are where we are. the choice that every member of the scottish parliament has this week is, are we going to support that government under humza yousaf, to make sure

that we deliver the legislation that we all agree on? but the greens insist they will not back mr yousaf in the coming days. the scottish green group have said we will vote in support _ of a vote of confidence, vote of no confidence . against humza yousaf. and i cannot imagine - anything at this point that could change that position. this was a spectacular breach . of trust, from going on tuesday to saying the bute house agreement was "worth its weight _ in gold" to stopping it i unilaterally on thursday. that's broken. the snp leader has written to the opposition leaders at holyrood, arguing that people want to see political parties work together and inviting them to discuss their concerns and priorities. ash regan, of the alba party, could be the kingmaker. her support alone might be enough for mr yousaf to survive. alba's leader, alex salmond, has set out the political

price for that support — prioritising a re—emphasis on independence. ash regan, who leads alba in the scottish parliament, is obviously in a highly influential position, given the political arithmetic. she will be meeting with humza yousaf at his invitation. she will take with her some very reasonable, positive proposals, in which, hopefully, if the first minister accepts them, will help him to get out of a very tight political corner. the main opposition parties say the first minister has run out of road, but the snp leader struggles on, in a bid to secure enough support to keep hisjob. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news. now it's time for a look at today's sport with karthi. arsenal held on in a tense match to beat local rivals tottenham hotspur 3—2 and move four points clear at the top of the english premier in their north london derby on sunday, but with second placed manchester city able

to close that gap later. an own goal by pierre—emile hojbjerg and efforts from bukayo saka and kai havertz put the gunners in control at halftime, 3—0 ahead. spurs did eventually fight back through a goalfrom cristian romero and a son heung—min penalty but aresnal managed to claim three valuable points. you know how much it means to north london, this match, and we were really efficient in the first half, really efficient in the first half, really good in the second half, and with a chance to win and with a control we had but we gave it away, a huge mistake, and then another one with a penalty. it is even more difficult, you know, and it is great when at the end you manage to rein it, it is great. it isa it is a difference of where we are

at the _ it is a difference of where we are at the moment and where we want to .et at the moment and where we want to get to, _ at the moment and where we want to get to, it _ at the moment and where we want to get to, it is _ at the moment and where we want to get to, it is about the details, making — get to, it is about the details, making sure you are always focused every _ making sure you are always focused every minute of the game of the transition — every minute of the game of the transition moments, set pieces, and, you know. _ transition moments, set pieces, and, you know, we're still not there, you pay a _ you know, we're still not there, you pay a price — you know, we're still not there, you pay a price for it, maybe get away with it _ pay a price for it, maybe get away with it with — pay a price for it, maybe get away with it with other teams but they are arsenal, good at taking advantage of a lack of focus on the details. _ advantage of a lack of focus on the details, and you give yourself a mountain— details, and you give yourself a mountain to climb. manchester city are keeping the pressure on arsenal thoguh — they had a 2—0 win over nottingham forest and finish the day just one point behind the league leaders but with the knowledge that they have a game in hand. bournemouth beat brighton 3—0 to guarantee that they will finish the season with their highest top—flight points total. french side lyon are through to the women's champions league final after beating domestic rivals, psg, in the second leg of their semi—final.the eight—time winners led 3—2 from the first leg and took an early lead at the parc de princes through selma bacha. tabitha chawinga's equaliser before half—time gave the hosts

a little hope, but a late goal sealed a 5—3 aggregate win and lyon will take on reigning champions barcelona in bilbao next month. to tennis now and the women's world number four elena rybakina eased to a straight sets victory over mayar sherif to reach the last 16 of the madrid open. the 2022 wimbledon champion, who has a tour—leading three titles this season broke twice in the first set to move 5— love ahead in the spanish capital. sherif battled in the second set, surviving four match points to hold for 5—4 down but rybakina proved too good taking the victory 6—1 6—4. two—time defending champion carlos alcaraz beat thiago seyboth wild in the third round of the madrid masters and it was another comfortable victory as he returns from injury. alcaraz won 6—3, 6—3 — a second straight sets victory in his first tournament after withdrawing from both monte carlo and barcelona

because of an arm injury. the spaniard is trying to become the first player to win three straight madrid masters titles — he'll play jan—lennard struff in the next round. scotland's stephen maguire is through to the quarter—finals of the world snooker championship in sheffield. he beat the 2005 winner, shaun murphy by 13 frames to 9 to set up a meeting with dave gilbert next. it's the fourth time in eight years that the scot has made the quarters. ronnie o'sullivan is taking on ryan day in the second round, and the seven times champion is currently 8—1; up at the first interval. it's the first to 13 for a place in the quarters. and that's all the sport for now. officials in kenya have warned about even heavier rainfall as downpours batter parts of east africa. more than 150 people have been killed in neighbouring tanzania,

while hundreds of thousands have been displaced in burundi and uganda. there are also fears that five key dams on the tana river — kenya's longest — could overflow in the coming days, with people in affected areas advised to move to higher ground. these pictures are from kenya's makueni county south east of nairobi — so far at least 76 people have died there with a further 130,000 displaced. meanwhile in tanzania, flood waters have engulfed houses in the capital dar es salaam and displaced more than 200,000 throughout the country. tanzania's prime minister has blamed environmental degradation for the severity of the damage. our correspondent anita nkonge is in nairobi and gave us this update. we continue to see heavy rainfall this weekend. just last night, we saw such heavy rainfall here in kenya that it caused flights to be disrupted, some delayed, some having to be diverted to other parts of the country. like you said, in burundi,

100,000 people have been displaced, in tanzania, 200,000 have been displaced, with 51,000 households affected by the floods and 155 people dead in tanzania. in kenya, over 20,000 households have been affected, roughly 131,450 people affected by the floods as well and 90 dead. part of what we've been seeing and people posting on social media has been houses being flooded, people being stranded with the roads being cut off, trains having to be delayed. so it's definitely a very devastating time right now. the kenya meteorological department say that we should be expecting more heavy rainfall even tonight. and those who have been living in places where there are dams have been asked to go to higher ground, those in the main city have been asked to stay indoors or go to higher ground, especially if they're in areas that could be affected by flooding. and the government has been launching a multi—agency response

unit to those places where they may predict flooding. the red cross even created centres in parts of informal settlements where we have seen a lot of flooding, in anticipation of houses and people being affected by flooding tonight. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line there has worsened in the face of multiple russian attacks. oleksandr syrskyi confirmed that ukrainian forces had withdrawn from positions close to the town of pokrovsk in the eastern donetsk region, where there has been fierce fighting. he also said russia had what he called �*partial successes' near kupyansk but said ukrainian forces had stopped their advance. russia is trying to take advantage of its current superiority in manpower and artillery before ukrainian forces get much—needed supplies of us weapons. meanwhile, ukrainian military intelligence has released a video it says is of a drone strike on an advanced russian radar station.

the radar is reported to be able to detect targets up to 300km away. senior british conservatives have defended the prime minister after the tory mp, dan poulter, defected to labour. dr poulter — who also works for the nhs — accused the tories of no longer valuing public services. the home office minister, chris philp, rejected the claim and said the government was spending more money than ever on the health service. our political correspondent helen catt reports. dan poulter�*s surprise defection is still being digested by westminster — a part—time working doctor and, for the last 1a years, a conservative mp, who will now spend his last months in office as a labour one, abandoning his tory colleagues because he said he could no longer look his nhs ones in the eye. it's been the case in the last eight to ten years or so the nhs is not a priority to the conservative party and to the government. we need to look to a party that has a track record when it was in government before

under tony blair and gordon brown. and that's what keir starmer and the labour party i know will do, and they will be trusted, i'm sure, to do it by nhs staff as well. not so, said a government minister this morning. well, i don't accept what dan is saying at all. he talked about the nhs as a priority. well, of course, the nhs was one of only two departments that was protected during those years of necessary spending restraint after the last labour government bankrupted the country. as we heard earlier, we're now spending £165 billion a year on the nhs — that is more than ever at any point in history. for labour, the defection is a boost to its claim to be the party which can reform the nhs. the shadow health secretary denied speculation that it might have also offered dr poulter any other inducement, like a seat in the lords. not that i'm aware of. he's said very clearly to me when i was talking to him this week about how he might help. he's going back to the nhs full—time when parliament is dissolved, which can't come soon enough, as far as we're concerned. there's been speculation over the past week that an election could come as soon asjune orjuly.

rishi sunak didn't rule that out, speaking to sky news this morning. we've talked about it. you're not going to rule outjuly? you're going to try and draw whatever conclusion you want from what i say. i'm going to always say the same thing. you should just listen to what i said, the same thing i've said all year. mr sunak has said repeatedly that his working assumption is that he'll call the election in the second half of this year, which of course does coverjuly, although many in westminster think that an autumn election is much more likely. some tories think that this talk of a summer poll is designed to scare off conservative mps who might be tempted to move against rishi sunak if this week's local elections go badly for the party. and why might that work? well, given the current state of the polls, many tory mps are fearful they could lose their seats if an election was imminent. although chris philp voiced the hope held by some that the polls would narrow in a campaign. clearly, at the moment, people do feel grumpy with the government, but as we get closer to an election, it's not so much a referendum

on grumpiness, it becomes actually a choice. who do you want to run the country? for dan poulter, the answer to that is now labour. rishi sunak will hope he can convince tory voters not to do the same. helen catt, bbc news. visitors to tokyo's nightlife area were in for a surprise when a 100 metre tall godzilla was projected on to buildings. the fictional radioactive monster is 70 years old this year. tourism bosses hope that projecting images of the beast onto buildings, in the shinjuku ward, will encourage visitors to flock to the area. �*digital godzilla' will be making three appearances a day at weekends and on national holidays. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. once again, we've had some really contrasting weather conditions across the country with a west—east divide.

the best of the sunshine certainly in western areas, despite a few shower clouds brewing up through the afternoon. pleasant enough in morecambe, lancashire. different story to the east of the pennines, though. in leeds, an afternoon of heavy, persistent rain, blustery, cool winds as well. now, we're going to flip that while the story on its head into tomorrow, with the best of the sunshine out to the east. it will be a bright and breezy affair first thing in the morning. but this weather front will introduce more cloud and outbreaks of rain across northern ireland, gradually pushing its way into scotland, north—west england, wales and south—west england as we go through the morning. so, after that bright and breezy start, into the afternoon, the best of the sunshine is likely to be anywhere from dorset over towards east yorkshire. south and east of that, we could see highs of 18 degrees. still mild, but outbreaks of showery rain continuing out to the west. an improving picture into northern ireland. here, we'll see sunny spells and scattered showers. top temperatures under the cloud and rain in scotland, perhaps around 11 to 13 degrees.

low pressure will stay with us as we move into tuesday and it will stay out to the west. so that's where we're likely to continue to see showery outbreaks of rain. but a southerly breeze means that we're going to continue to tap into that mild air, so it will be a mild start to our tuesday morning. into tuesday, then, that southerly wind feeding in the mild air, a lot of sunshine expected for most. we'll see showery outbreaks of rain into the south—west, wales, parts of northern ireland. but with that sunshine, well, it will feel quite pleasant to close out the month of april. temperatures likely to peak into the high teens and that'll feel quite pleasant. now, as we move through the middle part of the week, low pressure will continue to dominate for a while. but as we head into the weekend, some potential for that low pressure to drift away and an area of high pressure to build in from the westjust in time for the bank holiday weekend. we still continue to tap into that milder air off the near continent, so those temperatures

will still stay just slightly above where they should be for the early half of may. so, with some showers around through the middle part of the week into the bank holiday weekend, it looks a little bit quieter and a little bit drier.

this is bbc news. the headlines. joe biden and benjamin netanyahu

have spoken by phone about the ongoing war in gaza. the white house says they discussed aid deliveries and the rafah offensive. police investigating the discovery of a human torso in greater manchester have found more body parts at two separate sites. detectives say they are also looking through hundreds of hours of cctv. two men are being questioned in connection with the investigation. officials in kenya have warned of further heavy rainfall, after flooding has killed at least 76 people there. more than 130,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line has worsened after rounds of russian attacks. he confirmed they have withdrawn from some towns in the eastern donetsk region. but he said that ukrainian forces had stopped russian advances in several areas. now on bbc news, click.