and now it's erupted and it's now... live from london, this is bbc news. the us' national security advisor is due to visit palestinian authority leaders in the west bank, having urged israel to wind down the war. hungary blocks $55 billion in eu aid for ukraine, hours after an agreement was reached on starting membership talks. the british teenager, alex batty, who went missing six years ago, is found in france. and prince harry will find out later whether he's won his hacking case against mirror group newspapers.

hello. hello welcome to bbc news. the us national security advisor, jake sullivan, will visit the occupied west bank city of ramallah later on friday, for talks with palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas to discuss issues, including stability in the west bank and the future governance of the gaza strip. it comes after he met the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and other officials in tel aviv on thursday, during which he called for restraint on the war in gaza. the united states has called on israel to scale down its war on hamas in the "near future", with president biden urging more to be done to protect civilian lives in gaza. gaza's health ministry says that more than 18,500 people have been killed since the war began. internet and phone networks across gaza had gone down again overnight, according to the region's main telecomms

company. and in the last few minutes — the israeli military have said its specialforces have recovered the body of a hostage held by hamas in gaza. israeli special forces have recovered the body of 28—year—old hostage elia toledano who was kidnapped on october 7 at that music festival, where so many were killed as well as abducted. at last count, more than 130 hostages remain in gaza. some have beendeclared dead in absentia by israeli authorities. with me is bbc arabic�*s said shehata. thank you very much for being with us. looking at the backdrop, with the us calling on israel to scale down the war, what message do we expect jake sullivan to bring to ramallah on his visit there today?

i think the message is the united states is on the side of a two—state solution, which is a two—state solution, which is a dream for the whole palestinian books, and other people who are calling for lasting peace. they want to hear that. lasting peace. they want to hearthat. in lasting peace. they want to hear that. in addition to that, jake sullivan will tell mahmoud abbas about the communication between the united states and israel, regarding scaling down the intensive operation there, protecting civilians, doing more to help through aid, and trying even to talk about a temporary truce, in order to release hostages, prisoners, that more aid in unless fighting. i think the message ofjake sullivan is fighting. i think the message of jake sullivan is to give some hope to the palestinians in this difficult time about a two—state solution, which is a request from different parties. we have been talking about the two—state solution in recent days with israel saying it does not support that. hopeful

perhaps that we are now talking about future governance of gaza strip, washington certainly appears to be losing patience with the war, and with israel. israel itself saying it expects the war to last several more months. how would you read the influence that the biden administration hats right now over better men now you —— benjamin netanyahu has may government? mr benjamin netanyahu has may government?— benjamin netanyahu has may government? benjamin netanyahu has may covernment? ~ �* , government? mr biden said it is the most conservative - the most conservative government in israeli history. in addition to that, there are statement from within israel about not accepting a two state solution. so the situation of the position of israel now is not to accept that. even netanyahu be here before said he would not allow israel to repeat the mistake of oslo. the israeli ambassador to the uk said about a palestinian state in the future, a peace deal

with palestinians, he said absolutely not, and mr cameron, the uk foreign minister, said it is disappointing. so there is disagreement between them but at least israelis told the american official that the intensive scale of operation will stop within two to three weeks, and after that it will be specific targets. so at least there is some easing of the tension of that and it might pave the way to some resolution about the future. thank you forjoining us with that analysis. our viewers right now are looking at live pictures taken from israel, looking into the gaza strip, and you can see they're a large plume of smoke on the horizon. our international editorjeremy bowen considers whether the war has any chance of ending peacefully. "jerusalem," a historian wrote, "is the only city where "the dead are more important than the living." he meant the weight of its bloody past, but it's the last two months and more of killing that have sent

palestinians and israelis into new and unknown territory. and here in the holy city, which both sides claim as their capital, they are tense, watchful, waiting. choices lie ahead. a ceasefire will come eventually. will itjust be a pause before the next war? or will israel and the palestinians decide that the only way to avoid more sorrow and death is to try again to make peace? arabs and jews have contested the land between the mediterranean and thejordan riverfor more than a century. this is hebron, on the israeli—occupied west bank. do you have many families left here? i can see since october seventh... and this is issa amro, a palestinian activist. since the 7th of october, palestinians who live near hebron�*s illegaljewish settlement have been mostly under a curfew. so, the army's coming. what do you think they want?

intimidation. yeah? everything they do, it's about intimidating the palestinian population and make them scared, to make this area empty. that is what they do. issa is well—known in hebron, and the army regard him as a troublemaker. they didn't want us to film, but we did when one of the soldiers butted into our conversation. you don't know what it's like to grow up in israel with neighbours like this. i know them. i live with them. i want peace. they don't want peace. even the ones working for me, they hate me. take your mask off. i'm not your enemy. confrontation is built into israel's military occupation of the palestinian territories. peace is impossible while it continues. can you have peace? with them? no, we should force them to peace, pressure them. you should...? pressure them. pressure them? yes. the international community and international law must be implemented. the international community should make israel accept peace.

do you think that the shock of the war in gaza and everything that's happened — the hamas attacks, everything that israel did in response — do you think that will change things orjust make them deeper and worse? i think its two opportunities. it's either we choose to make it deeper and worse, or we make it as an opportunity to solve the conflict and to solve the occupation, to solve the apartheid and make living together possible, because their security solution failed. israel says it has a right to be in hebron and this is security, not apartheid. this was kibbutz be'eri just after the 7th of october. the government here says the only response is to destroy israel's enemies. vivian silver lived at the kibbutz. she was one of israel's best—known peace campaigners. she believed israelis would never have real security until palestinians had their own state.

on the 7th, she was at home, in the place where she'd brought up her two sons. the bodies of israelis killed by hamas were still being recovered when we went there to try to find vivian's house. her family hoped she was a hostage inside gaza. as hamas shot their way into be'eri, she texted her son, yonatan, that she feared a massacre. her house was burnt. a month later, vivian silver's remains were identified in the ash left by the fire. so, you were there, i was there afterwards, and her bones were in the safe room all the while. yonatan believes the war lacks a political objective. war, if we're not naive, it should be a means, right? but it feels like this war is a cause in itself, of revenge, of...

..of making a point. you are still a believer in peace, even though these people came over into your country and killed your mother? they came into my country and killed my mother because we didn't have peace, so, to me, thisjust proves the point that we need it. after the war, the americans want israel's walls and fences, here between jerusalem and bethlehem, to go from a security measure into an international frontier with an independent palestine. the current israeli government says the two—state solution will not happen. so, when the war is over, what needs to go right to give peace a chance? well, first of all, a change of leader on both sides. there's too much bad history, and they don't trust each other. next, there has to be even—handed mediation, something the americans have never managed to do.

and as well as that, both israelis and palestinians are going to have to accept painful compromises on things that really matter to them, especially territory. so much has to go right to move from war to peace. so much has already gone wrong that peace might just be impossible. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. hungary has blocked $55 billion in eu aid for ukraine hours after agreement was reached on starting membership talks. after late night negotiations, the hungarian president victor orban posted on social media "summary of the night "shift: veto for the extra money to ukraine." speaking to reporters charles michel — the president of the european council — hailed the opening of membership talks as a clear signal of hope — and in comments aimed at reassuring ukraine he said eu would attempt to reach a unanimous decision on aid to ukraine next year.

i don't want to get too much into the detail because i want to work in the days to come in the weeks to come to prepare that so many that will take place next year, early next year. but i would like to send a positive and reassurance, because we have tools, to guarantee that we are reliable and that the ukrainians can count on our support. us senate is delaying its christmas break as negotiations continue on securing more american military support for ukraine. congress is deadlocked over a $50 billion package. our north american correspondent david willis has more. members of the us senate were due to head home from the christmas holidays later today, in fact, and not return until

the new year. instead, they will be in washington, dc on monday, hoping to reach agreement on new measures to toughen security along the us southern border with mexico. republicans have been refusing to approve billions of dollars in new military aid spending for both ukraine and israel until the biden administration implements tougher measures to staunch the unprecedented flow of illegal immigration into the united states. immigration is of course a key issue for republicans, some of whom have accused president biden of caring more about securing ukraine's borders than his own. well,, for his part, the president has said that further military aid for ukraine is vital if it is to see off russia's aggression. he makes the point that the existing funding for the united states is due to run out in a couple

of weeks' time at the end of the year, hence the us national security spokesmanjohn kirby security spokesman john kirby told reporters today that ukraine, as he put it, needed help right now and not after the egg nog. well, negotiations between senate democrats and republicans are expected to continue into the weekend, with the possibility of a vote in the possibility of a vote in the upper chamber if agreement is reached sometime next week. any new military aid package for ukraine would of course require approvalfrom for ukraine would of course require approval from the house of representatives, whose members have already left for their christmas recess, but they could in theory be recalled to washington, dc to vote, should agreement on this issue have been reached by the senate. jeffrey willis reporting. let's get some of the day's other news now. venezuela and guyana have signed a joint agreement promising to avoid force amid their conflict over the guyana's oil—rich

essequibo region. earlier this month venezuela threatened to annex the territory which has been considered part of guyana since the 19th century. as part of the deal both sides have agreed to meet in brazil forfurther talks in three months�* time. the president of a top—flight turkish football club has been permenantly banned from the sport after punching a referee in the face. faruk koca attacked halil umut meler after his team, mke ankaragucu, conceded a late goal in a match on monday night. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. police are continuing the search for mother of three gaynor lord a week after her disappearance. officers say there is a high probability that the 55—year—old went into the river wensum. it comes as a friend of ms lord said she was upbeat and happy and talking about christmas just days before she disappeared.

parents of children who died in circumstances linked to social media and gaming have accused the government of watering down online safety laws. they claim science secretary michelle donelan is making a callous decision to retract a personal commitment. ms donelan said she took the commitments she made incredibly seriously. the national association of head teachers has said that school leaders are being pushed to the edge of despair by their workload and inspections. the union warned of a mass exodus from top school jobs without reforms. it comes after an inquest found an ofsted inspection contributed to head teacher ruth perry taking her own life. you're live with bbc news. uk officials in france are preparing to fly home a british teenager who was found after being missing for six years. alex batty — now 17 — disappeared after travelling to spain with his mother and grandfather. the boy was discovered

on wednesday near the city of toulouse. simonjones reports. missing for six years but now preparing to head home as early as today to be reunited with his grandmother. alex batty from old and was 11 when he disappeared on holiday in spain in 2017. he was taken out by his mother and grandfather who were not his legal guardians. police have been searching for melanie and david bathy who are accused of abducting alex. he was found on this road in southwest france carrying his skateboard by a delivery driver. translation: he explained _ driver. translation: he: explained had been walking for four days and he'd set off from a place in the mountains but did not say where. i typed his name onto the internet and saw that he was being looked for. alex then use the driver's phone to stitch his grandmother in england and wrote, hello grandma, it is me, alex, and i

am in france, to this. i hope you will receive this message. i love you and want to come home. overthe i love you and want to come home. over the years his grandmother, his legal guardian, has made repeated appeals for information. been an absolute _ appeals for information. been an absolute nightmare. - appeals for information. been an absolute nightmare. whatl appeals for information. been an absolute nightmare. what it feels _ an absolute nightmare. what it feels when you might not ever see the — feels when you might not ever see the grandson that you love so much — see the grandson that you love so much. might not see him over again _ so much. might not see him over aaain. , .., ., , again. they could not be realised _ again. they could not be realised within _ again. they could not be realised within hours. i again. they could not be l realised within hours. she again. they could not be - realised within hours. she is said to be shocked but thrilled. after being taken to this police station and a town, alex was handed over to french social services who said he spent the past two years in a remote pyrenees as part of the community and now want to live a normal life stop its thought he has not revealed where his grandfather and father. it's been handed over to police were alex will fly home. investigations into what happened will now continue. but now this boy, teenager, is now safe and well. jones, bbc news.

here in the uk, prince harry will find out today whether he has won his phone—hacking lawsuit against mirror group newspapers. the duke of sussex became the first senior british royal for 130 years to appear as a witness in court this summer, after he sued the publisher for damages. our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds, has the latest. there some other worlds media camped outside darling court, duke of sussex testified for hours but his life in print. it was the first time for more than a hundred years that a senior royal had appeared in the witness box. he said he'd be damaged since childhood by constant newspaper intrusion. how much more blood will stay in their typing fingers, he said, before someone can put a stop to this madness stop today for him, isjudgement day. harry says 33 newspaper stories about him were obtained using phone hiking and liking his private information. if the

judge agrees on as many as 20 of these stories that duke's legal team will claim victory. but it's notjust about him. the coronation street actor nikki seiber is suing along with colleague, michael turner. fiona whiteman is not famous. she was just married for a while to the committee and paul whitehouse and says the mirror papers try to get her medical records. this process started campinas has unlovable information gathering caused them personal damage. the?e them personal damage. they assume there _ them personal damage. they assume there families, - them personal damage. tie: assume there families, friends and partners were selling this information to newspapers and they came to believe there was no—one that they could trust. every time it's been to sell newspapers and it's not been so it is some sort of wider public interest in the issue or holding wrongdoers to account. it's just been for their profits. it'sjust been for their profits-_ it'sjust been for their rofits. ., , , , profits. the mirror publisher now called _ profits. the mirror publisher now called reach _ profits. the mirror publisher now called reach plc - profits. the mirror publisher now called reach plc at - profits. the mirror publisher. now called reach plc at canary wharf has already played hundred million as adults 600

claims. in 2015 the actor forced the company in court to make some crucial admissions. private investigators the company admitted had heart mobile phone voicemails and unlawfully obtained private information. also admitted that they were paid byjournalists looking for stories. the company says the journalists concealed what they were doing. reach did not admit that the newspaper editors knew what was going on for that board level executives and senior lawyers were away. the judge will have to decide whether that's true and he may also rule on whether the former mirror editor piers morgan knew about phone hiking. this demorgan denies he did. reach insisted senior people operated within the law. it called some of the claim is trivial. but the financial implications of losing are anything but. 80 more people are waiting to see. if prince harry loses today, his cases against other newspaper groups

could be severely damaged. tom symonds, bbc news, at the high court. a russian propaganda campaign involving thousands of fake accounts on tiktok spreading disinformation about the war in ukraine has been uncovered by the bbc. users in israel and europe have been subjected to false claims that senior ukrainian officials and their relatives bought luxury cars or villas abroad. tiktok said it had taken down more than 12,000 fake accounts originating in russia, including more than 800 profiles uncovered independently by the bbc. here's bbc verify�*s olga robinson. bbc verifiers are covered a major russian propaganda campaign involving thousands of fake tiktok accounts. the videos pushes information about the war in ukraine and some of had millions of years. let's take a closer look at some of the accounts. many of them use footage of celebrities like that of a mike allen or scarlet

fever hansen. they pose as ordinary users from germany, israel, ukraine, france and poland and in some cases the use am solid profile pictures over and over again. use am solid profile pictures overand overagain. now use am solid profile pictures over and over again. now they have no personal information on their accounts, as you see here, and most of them only ever post one video. tiktok told me this is a tactic they have not seen before and some experts say the approach appears to be tailored to the platform's unique algorithm because they're not trading a follows for those accounts because of the nearby tiktok pushes our content.- because of the nearby tiktok pushes our content. perhaps the of sin . le pushes our content. perhaps the of single serving _ pushes our content. perhaps the of single serving effort _ pushes our content. perhaps the of single serving effort as - pushes our content. perhaps the of single serving effort as a - of single serving effort as a way to avoid detection of an individual account while still having your content up there on the platform. 50 having your content up there on the platform-— having your content up there on the platform. so how do we know the platform. so how do we know the accounts _ the platform. so how do we know the accounts are _ the platform. so how do we know the accounts are part _ the platform. so how do we know the accounts are part of - the platform. so how do we know the accounts are part of a - the accounts are part of a russian propaganda effort? firstly the content. all of the accounts we found permit propaganda about ukraine that

echoes a russian state tv. like this video that went viral earlier this year injuly. the claims daughter off or make any defence ministerfor a luxury villa in france. i spoke to her and asked her if this was true. unfortunately, no! laughter. i still_ unfortunately, no! laughter. i still don't have it in either in great _ i still don't have it in either in great britain, france, or anywhere, _ in great britain, france, or anywhere, not in ukraine. we also trace _ anywhere, not in ukraine. we also trace the _ anywhere, not in ukraine. - also trace the property pictures to this real estate website. andy hagon confirms to me it is still a sale. as he can see here. there were also linguistic mistakes. typical of russian speakers. for example, in this french video the name of the british officials james heappey has been misspelled as hippie. in russian one letter e is used for both short and long e sound and thatjust the person writing the script was likely working off russian

translation. we know this was likely to be a co—ordinated effort. because the accounts often use identical scripts like these two videos that were posted on the same day. the visuals are different but the text is the same. we reported nearly 800 of these accounts to tiktok who confirmed us that they were part of a major influence operation originating influence operation originating in russia. they say they have now removed more than 12,000 fake accounts. the stiletto who exactly in russia is behind the network but i am getting to find evidence of new accounts that appear to be part of the same operation. tiktok told us they will continue to monitor they will continue to monitor the situation and soberly. olga robertson there. hundreds of people have gathered at the sydney opera house for a state memorial celebrating the life of the australian comedian barry humphries. the star — best known for his dame edna everage character — died in april aged 89. among those who sent tributes were king charles,

sir eltonjohn and australian prime minister anthony albanese, who described the performer a comedy giant. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. milder weather is set to develop across many parts of the uk over the next couple of days. that mild air spreading from the west — with it, a lot of cloud. yes, there'll be some sunshine, but i think it will often be cloudy. and the further north and west you are, particularly the north—west of scotland, we can expect strong winds and some heavy rain. but for friday, high pressure dominating to the south of us, keeping things mostly dry in southern parts. this warm front here introducing more cloud, cloud through the morning across northern ireland. that cloud then working its way up into a good part of scotland, clouding over across parts of north—west england, wales and the southwest. maybe the odd spot of rain or drizzle for coasts and hills, but for central and eastern parts of england, we should hold on to some spells of sunshine. not especially windy down towards the southeast, whereas the winds will be picking up all the while across the north—west of scotland.

temperature—wise, eight or nine degrees in some eastern parts, 12, maybe 13 out towards the west. and that mild air in the west continues to push further east as we head through friday night. with it, extensive cloud cover, some mist and murk, some spots of rain and drizzle, particularly across hills in western scotland. very windy in the north of scotland as well, but a milder night in prospect. temperatures generally between four and 11 degrees as we start saturday morning. that feed of mild air coming from the southwest and that mild air will be wafting across all parts of the uk as we head through the weekend. saturday will bring a lot of cloud. as you can see, that cloud producing some spots of rain and drizzle. it may be that things brighten up a little bit down towards the south with some sunshine. equally, though, this frontal system here will bring heavy and persistent rain into the north—west of scotland. and those temperatures, 12, 13, maybe 1a degrees, very windy up towards the north. now, that rain in the north—west of scotland just keeps on coming through saturday night and into sunday. it may be that over some high ground in western scotland,

we see up to 175 millimetres of rain. that could well bring some localised flooding and some travel disruption. a bit of rain into northern ireland and northern england. the further south you are, drier, brighter, a bit more in the way of sunshine, highs of 13 or 1a degrees. but after that milder weekend and a mild start to next week, it actually looks like temperatures will then drop away. we may start to see some wintry showers developing over high ground.

live from london, this is bbc news. sticking to its guns. the bank of england refuses to follow the us fed in predicting a fall in the cost of borrowing next year. my my view at the moment is it is really too early to start speculating about cutting interest rate. we need to see more. also coming up: a disputed border and 11 billion barrels of oil — venezuela and guyana agree to stop their territorial row turning into a war, as global energy firms watch nervously. plus: board director. from english pub game to global pay—tv business — we speak to the man behind the rise of professional darts as the world championship gets under way this weekend.