live from london — this is bbc news. a tense truce in gaza — israel and palestinian leaders agree a ceasefire that's now supposed to be in effect. a president, a prime minister and a pope — volodymyr zelensky gets a warm welcome as he visits italy. and it's merry across the mersey — the final of the eurovision song contest is under way in liverpool. hello, i'm lukwesa burak. welcome to bbc news.

in the last hour, a ceasefire between israel and palestinians in the gaza strip has begun. these are live pictures from gaza. the agreement — brokered by egypt — follows five days of violent exchanges which have killed at least 35 people — all but one of them palestinians. there has been no comment from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, or other officials since news of the truce emerged. a palestinian source told the bbc that the new agreement included a commitment by israel to stop so—called targeted assassinations. israel has been demanding a complete halt to rocket fire by islamichhad at its civilians. our reporter in gaza, rushdi abualouf, has the latest on the ceasefire. ten minutes before the ceasefire

went into effect, islamichhad fired a barrage of rockets towards the israeli southern city. and some of the rockets were quite close to the southern city of tel aviv. the ceasefire agreement has gone into effect ten minutes ago, brokered by egypt. according to islamic jihad, it was a veryjihad, it was a very difficult discussion for about two or three days. egypt offered first a proposal that was rejected by islamic jihad and israel. they kept a delegation in egypt, talking and pushing for it until they brokered this deal tonight. as we speak, probably another rocket was fired. so we fear that this ceasefire is fragile from the very beginning. but it's still early to judge whether the ceasefire will hold or not. people are hoping the ceasefire could end five days of fighting, where 35 people were killed. half of them are civilians. and several injuries. over 1,200 rockets at

least were fired from gaza and israel, according to the israeli army they have targeted up to 400 targets for islamichhad. within five days of fighting. egypt will announce officially the details of that deal, according to the senior official of islamichhad. he said that they managed to get a guarantee by israel to stop the so—called killing, the targeting, which israel started this wave of escalation by killing three islamichhad leaders. what islamichhad want is a guarantee by israel not to keep killing their leaders, and also they want israel to stop targeting the houses of the islamic jihad activists.

which we have seen intensify in the last two days or so. they have completely destroyed four or five houses. i wonder if you could just remind us why is this a spate of violence kicked off? we have had five days of it. what kicked it off? well, as they have treated rockets, both sides traded accusations about who started this. but what has happened is last thursday at two o'clock in the morning, israel killed three senior islamichhad commanders. they are members of their military council. islamichhad next day started firing rockets, they fired hundreds of rockets towards israel. they said in retaliation for the killing of their leaders. and then escalation was mounting for a couple of days until we reach today a ceasefire. egypt was there from the beginning, pushing for the ceasefire, trying to de—escalate the situation. they offered three drafts. the first one was rejected by israel, the second one was rejected by islamichhad, and the third one tonight egypt succeeded to hopefully end this

round of fighting. until now, we can hear still the fighting is going on. but we have seen it in the past many times. this is the fifth escalation in the last 15 years so always the first few hours is difficult, but egypt will will do, through a team that will come to gaza maybe tomorrow, try to put an end to the fighting and to make the ceasefire hold. and finally, rushdi, this was between islamichhad and israeli authorities — if i understood this correctly. and yet, gaza is controlled by hamas. yes, hamas, the militancy group, was controlling gaza, was saying all the time that they are... but in fact, hamas did not claim

responsibility throughout the fight for firing any of the rockets. so islamichhad was firing the rockets, as they said, in retaliation or revenge for the killing of their leaders. hamas seems to have their own calculation. they are the authority running 2.3 million people and they have more duties. they were a bit cautious about being in this fighting. hamas was repeating, "we support islamichhad" in their response to the escalation but they are not willing to be part of this. from gaza to rome, where ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky, is on a one day visit. he's been meeting italy's prime minister, giorgia meloni — who said italy would remain a solid ally, and provide kyiv with all the assistance it needed.

a the prime minister also stressed that the conflict would only end when russia stopped its aggression, and withdrew from all ukrainian territory, adding that any other outcome would jeopardise peace in all of europe. president zelensky then had a private audience with pope francis. it's the first meeting between the two men since russia invaded ukraine. president zelensky says he thanked the pope for focusing "on the tragedy of millions of ukrainians". our europe regional editor paul moss has been telling us about the significance of this visit to vatican. let me set the context for you. pope francis has talked a lot in the past about the suffering of the ukrainian people. he's also condemned certain specific war crimes committed in ukraine. however, critics suggest that the pope has not been strong enough in making very clear that it's russia that's in the wrong and ukraine that's been invaded. they say he should come down on one side or the other. in fact, the pope has never criticised vladimir putin personally. he once described him

as a "cultu red fellow". when he was asked to visit ukraine, he's made it clear he would visit ukraine if he could also visit russia as well. for some people, again, suggesting some kind of moral equivalence. so, volodymyr zelensky went to see him today. what was he hoping for? one presumes he might have been hoping to get the pope a bit more clearly on side. if that was his hope, i think he'll be disappointed. the vatican's now issued a statement. and it's really rather remarkable that, bear in mind, we have a president from ukraine going to see the pope to talk about how his country was invaded by russia. and this statement does not mention russia once — it speaks in rather elliptic language. it says, and i'm reading here, when the vatican describing the meeting says they "discussed issues relating to the humanitarian and political situation in ukraine caused by the ongoing war. together, they agreed on the need to continue humanitarian efforts to support the population." no mention of why that

population is suffering. in other words, because russia invaded. what the pope offered instead — he said he would give mr zelensky his prayers. well, i think mr zelensky may well have been hoping for more than prayers, a little more condemnation of russia, in which case he will be disappointed. i should say, though, that mr zelensky has expressed his gratitude. he said on telegram, "i'm very grateful to the pope for his personal attention to the tragedy of millions of ukrainians." there was something else, though, that was missing from the vatican statement. the pope has said before he has a secret mission under way to bring peace to ukraine, but no details of that. what does it mean? well, perhaps we were hoping for a little idea of what the pope meant. if so, again, disappointment. no mention of that secret mission today. and that was paul moss there. well, because of the russian invasion, ukraine has been unable to host the eurovision song contest — despite winning the competition last year.

the uk is holding the contest on ukraine's behalf. maryam moshiri has been following the events in liverpool all week and she told me all about the opening ceremony as it was kicking off. we saw an amazing introduction with the princess of wales playing the piano, andrew lloyd webber amongst other performers. it was really inspirational. it sent shivers down my spine, to be honest with you. this is the culmination of months and months of preparation, lukwesa. the city of liverpool has been preparing for this for so long. the eurovision song contest is 26 countries battling it out, if you like, in terms of music. who has produced the best song? after all of those 26 countries sing their hearts out, there will be a vote, a public vote, and of course those points in the public vote will be added to the jury vote. and then together we will discover a new winner. now, ukraine is very much in focus for this competition. of course it is.

because last year, the kalush orchestra, who i can hear behind me now, won the competition. and the winner normally gets to host. but this year, because of the war in ukraine, it means that the uk has stepped forward and stepped up and liverpool is hosting the event. in the fan zone, the fan village which you can see there in the shot as well, there are 15,000 people gathered to watch the ceremony on special screens. there are eurovision parties going on i'm sure around the world. it's the first year, actually, that countries outside of europe and australia — countries like india, countries like the united states — are going to be able to vote in this competition. so, really, is it the eurovision song contest? it is a global song competition. 160 million people around the world are tuning in now as we speak to watch. and the whole thing will be kicked off by the austrians. their song will be the first one to play. and the last one, just before the public vote opens,

will of course be the uk's very own mae muller with i wrote a song. so, lukwesa, nothing more to say, really, other than this is such an exciting culmination of so many months of preparation. i've been here all week. i cannot wait to go sit down with my popcorn and watch what's going on. now it's time for a look at today's sport with lizzie greenwood—hughes. i'v e i've got one eye on the football and one eye on eurovision. we are starting with football. we're starting with football, and a big weekend in the premier league — southampton were relegated today after 11 years in the top flight. bottom of the table southampton — needed to win to stand any chance of survival, instead they lost 2—0 to fulham. the uk prime minister, rishi sunak, was amongst the disappointed saints fans. his side have been mostly last in the league since christmas. it's a very tough day for me, for everybody in the dressing room,

for the city and the fans. it has been a tough season for all of us. we have been fighting for not being relegated from the very beginning. and the day came today. i just want to say thank you to everybody for the support that we feel from the very first day. it's tough, especially for the fans that have been supporting us their entire life. this club has quality enough to bounce back immediately, with or without me. and i think what we feel now is very deep on us, a very big disappointment. leeds remain in the premier league relegation zone despite rescuing a point against newcastle. it was sam allardyce�*s first home game as he tries to perform a miracle at leeds — who went 1—0 up and were flying until patrick bamford's penalty was saved. then newcastle fought back with two of their own — both successfully converted. but leeds scored again to seal the draw and take what could be a vital point in their survival battle. crazy is an understatement.

i mean, i don't believe what's happened out there, what we have actually done to ourselves today. on such a spirited and gritty and determined fight, and a little bit of quality in there. it is a tremendous point considering the circumstances that we've left ourselves in that we really shouldn't have done. in the day's other games — aston villa beat tottenham, nottingham forest earned a valuable point at chelsea, crystal palace beat bournemouth and manchester united — are now only behind third—placed newcastle on goal difference — after winning against wolves. the fight for the bundesliga title looks set to go all the way — bayern munich cruised past schalke 6—0. but second placed borussia dortmund also beat borussia monchengladbach 5—2 in the later match, jude bellingham on the scoresheet. that means just a point seperates the sides with two matches left to play. bayern have a slightly harder run in.

in spain, it's a big week for real madrid, they face manchester city in the champions league semifinal second leg on wednesday and tonight they must beat getafe to mathematically stay in la liga's title race. they're14 points behind barcelona. the latest score from the bernabeu is 0—0. in scotland, celtic have already secured the title but glasgow rivals rangers won the last old firm of the season 3—0 at ibrox. it's the first time rangers have beaten celtic this season and it ends celtic�*s 3a match domestic unbeaten run. basketball star brittney griner has played her first game since being released from a russian prison. the american, who spent 10 months in custody for possessing cannabis oil before being released in december, played in a preseason match for phoenix mercury. she was cheered onto the court and scored in the first minute. and some cyclingnews for you now.

ireland's ben healy won his first ever grand tour stage, taking stage eight of the giro d'italia with the biggest winning margin forfive years. healy attacked with 50km to go to win in fossombrone by a minute and 49 seconds. norway's andreas leknessund still holds the overall race lead with a week to go. and that's all the sport for now. i let you get back to watching the eurovision. the presidential candidates in turkey have finished their final day of campaigning — before sunday's crucial election. president erdogan held a rally in istanbul earlier, a city where he built his popular support as mayor more than 20 years ago. and his secular challenger, kemal kilicdaroglu, has also been campaigning — pledging to restore democracy and improve relations with the west. from ankara, our international correspondent, orla guerin, has more on what's

at stake in this election. turkey is facing a binary choice in effect after 20 years of rule by president erdogan. there is now an alternative on offer, the opposition kemal kilicdaroglu, who is the leader of the main opposition party in this election. he is standing on behalf of a coalition of six opposition parties. that is a very broad church, every kind of party — islamists, nationalists, even former allies of president erdogan are in this coalition. they have come together with one aim, really, which is to unseat him. we saw today that president erdogan was campaigning up to the last minute with that rally in istanbul, which you mentioned. he's been sitting hard against his opponent, once again today claiming without any proof that kemal kilicdaroglu and his party are linked to the banned pkk, the kurdistan workers' party, which is classed here and in the us and europe as a terrorist group. that is an accusation

he makes pretty regularly during the campaign. mr kilicdaroglu is very different in style and tone and has emphasised his desire to bring people together. he appeals particularly to young turks, there are five millions here voting tomorrow for the first time. pakistan's former prime minister, imran khan, has called for supporters to hold nationwide protests, following days of clashes between his followers and security forces. mr khan repeated his call for immediate elections and told supporters they would have to make "sacrifices" for their freedom. the violence was sparked by his arrest on corruption charges — at least ten people were killed in the unrest. mr khan was freed on friday after the supreme court ruled that his detention was unlawful. bbc urdu's saher baloch has been analyzing imran khan's speech. he spoke about three things.

he spoke about how he is still in disbelief over the fact that his supporters are being accused of perpetrating violence and damaging public property. this is something very new from him because he spoke about it in a roundabout way as you may be aware after his arrest. his supporters allegedly went out and damaged public property and went into military houses in lahore. so now he was addressing his supporters and saying how he is still in disbelief over the fact that his supporters chose violence. he didn't apologise or condemn it but said his supporters cannot do this. some of his address was still a repetition of what he has been saying so far, but in this case it was a huge thing that he still spoke about the fact that military is misunderstanding his intentions. since he has now back in his lahore

residents. since then, there has been a lot of quiet. i came from lahore to islamabad and i saw how most of the container is used as roadblocks were removed from the area after supporters were dispersed by the police. there is already a section imposed on islamabad which means there is a ban on public gatherings. so former prime minister imran khan could not address his supporters at that point of time. there was lots of clarity, it's still thought he is still going to ask his supporters to come out tomorrow, apparently. it will be seen how they go about it but so far, it's far more peaceful than it was two days before. and that was saher baloch speaking to us earlier.

well, this school has now become a cyclone shelter. and throughout the afternoon, we've seen families arrive with young children, carrying bags full of whatever they want to get them through the next few days of this terrible weather, even some people turning up with their livestock as well, with chickens and with cattle. now, the government has been telling people that they should come to one of these shelters to seek sanctuary. although away from here, we've seen a lot of people who are carrying on with their normal lives,

unaware of what might rohingya refugees not too far from where we are who are living in the world's largest refugee camp in very flimsy, makeshift shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin. and the bangladesh government doesn't allow them to leave those refugee camps. and there are real concerns in the camps about how safe people will be. and here and in the camps, another concern isn'tjust that the storm may pass through this area, but it's also the aftermath, flash flooding and also landslides.

and many aid agencies have already been preparing for what they fear could be a humanitarian crisis as well in the aftermath. rajini vaidya nathan there. let's get some of the day's other news now. officials in somalia say about 200,000 people have been displaced due to flash flooding after the shabelle river burst its banks and submerged roads. the united nations says it is a "perfect storm" of overlapping crises for the country. the rain should help with the country's drought though which has been the the worst in a0 years. us regulators have demanded that a parts supplier recall 67 million car air bag inflators. they're concerned they might explode and even project shrapnel. the supplier, arc automotive,

has refused, paving the way for a court battle. a large proportion of the almost 300 million cars registered in the united states would be affected by a recall. for the past few months, we've been telling you about the above average temperatures and drought in spain which have been causing havoc for its agriculture industry and also forcing changes to working practices. but this is la raya in northern spain which saw a freak may snow storm. the mountainous area of asturias saw the unexpected covering of snow. and other areas in spain were affected by storms, which saw catalonia and valencia battered by hail stones and torrential downpours after months without a drop of rain. lets return to our top story this hour — islamichhad militants have confirmed a ceasefire

is in effect in gaza. these are live pictures from gaza. egypt, who brokered the agreement, said the deal included an end to targeting civilians and house demolitions. the truce follows five days of violent exchanges which have killed at least 35 people — all but one of them palestinians. a series of air strikes by the israeli airforce aimed at islamichhad fighters in gaza began on tuesday. palestinian militants have since launched more than 1,000 rockets from there aimed at israel. a in the last few moments, israel has thanked egypt for mediating the gaza truce, saying" quiet will be met with quiet. a palestinian source told the bbc

that the new agreement included a commitment by israel to stop so—called targeted assassinations. israel has been demanding a complete halt to rocket fire by islamichhad at its civilians. despite the truce, israeli air strikes battered gaza and militants fired rockets again. this is bbc news. much of the country had a very fine, sunny start to the weekend. part two of the weekends looks quite mixed. there will be some sunshine around, particularly england and wales. scotland and northern ireland will start to see this with a friend moving on from the atlantic, bringing a drop in temperature. but high pressure will bring us a fine evening and night, largely clear skies for many. western scotland and northern ireland will be turning better, brazier is that weather front pages in. quite a mix of temperatures. quite cool under clear

skies. for many, 6—8. temperatures. quite cool under clear skies. for many, 6—8 . sunday, we start off with some sunshine around, that grey weather across the east of england should tend to improve. clouds burning back to the coast. 12 showers in the afternoon for the midlands. this weather front will start to move out of scotland and northern ireland and it up later in the day here. low to mid—teens. england and wales, up to 20—21. sunday night, that weather front weakens, bringing cloud and some patchy rain. clearer skies, weakens, bringing cloud and some patchy rain. clearerskies, one weakens, bringing cloud and some patchy rain. clearer skies, one or two blustery showers to cut the north west of scotland. with this cooler air mass, it is going to be quite a chilly night to come here. the south—eastern areas where we have the weather the rain generally 7-10 . that have the weather the rain generally 7—10 . that weatherfront have the weather the rain generally 7—10 . that weather front clears away eventually. we do see further showers around the edge of this area with high pressure that will bring us north north—westerly winds.

showers for scotland, north—easterly england. the best of the sunshine towards the south in the west. we could be up to 15 degrees here, but you will see it as a much cooler day across the board, ranging from 10-13 c across the board, ranging from 10—13 c for most of us, below par for this time in may. the cooler air hangs around through tuesday and into wednesday, particularly towards northern and eastern areas, but slowly we will start to see those yellow and orange colour is returning. although it starts quite chilly during the week, temperatures will recover by the end of the week. because it is higher pressure, we should stay mostly dry.

this is bbc news, the headlines. a ceasefire�*s supposed to have come into effect in the gaza strip. it follows five days of violent exchanges which have killed at least 35 people — all but one of them palestinians. a series of airstrikes from israel aimed at islamichhad militants in gaza began on tuesday. pope francis and president zelensky have held talks at the vatican — with both men agreeing on the need for continuing humanitarian efforts to support ukraine's population. while failing to directly condemn russia — the pope stressed the urgent need for "human gestures" towards the most fragile people. the eurovision song contest grand final has got underway in the english city of liverpool. acts from 26 countries will vie for the title.

the united kingdom is hosting eurovision on behalf of last year's winners ukraine — who can't stage it because of