live from washington, this is bbc news. after days of deadly exchanges, a ceasefire between israel and islamichhad militants in the gaza strip appears to be holding. and turkey's president faces his biggest challenge yet ahead of sunday's presidential election. 215 points — we have a winner! a historic end to eurovision, with sweden's loreen becoming the first woman to win the contest twice. hello, i'm carl nasman. a ceasefire between israel and

palestinians in the gaza strip appears to be holding, despite some reports of fighting. the agreement was brokered by egypt. it follows five days of violent exchanges which have killed at least 33 palestinians in gaza and two people in israel. the truce, which as you see here prompted celebration in the streets, includes a commitment by israel to stop so—called targeted assassinations. in return, israel reportedly demanded a complete halt to rocket fire by palestinian militants at its civilians. however, just hours after islamichhad militants confirmed a ceasefire was in effect, a rocket was fired from the gaza strip, prompting rocket warning sirens across a region of southern israel. it's not yet clear who fired the rocket, but it is worth noting that several smaller militant palestinian groups are opposed to the truce brokered earlier in the day. a reminder, though, that for now the ceasefire does appear to be holding.

in the past few minutes the white house has issued a statement on the ceasefire, welcoming the statement and thanking officials for their diplomacy, saying us officials worked closely with regional partners to achieve this resolution to the hostilities to prevent for two further loss of life and restore calm for both israelis and palestinians. for more on this i spoke earlier to khaled elgindy, senior fellow at the middle east institute and the director of its programme on palestine and palestinian—israeli affairs. it would seem the ceasefire is being welcomed. what's your sense? there's no doubt, particularly in gaza, which has been under bombardment for five days. i mean, gazans have been all over social media talking about the terror that they've felt over the past five days. and so there's no question that there is a huge sigh of relief there in gaza,

in particular since, you know, obviously in terms of firepower, what israel possesses and can unleash is far greater than any single or group of palestinian actors could ever inflict on israel. how fragile of a truce is this likely to be? i think it's very fragile. i think we have to remember the way things began five days ago. eight days before that we had a ceasefire agreement, and then this week israel unilaterally broke that ceasefire agreement because it — apparently for a combination of reasons, but a lot of it had to do with domestic pressure from the more extreme wing of israel's already very extreme government. there are people in the israeli government who were not

satisfied with the ceasefire the week before and wanted basically israel to resume its policy of assassination, and that's how this ceasefire broke. and then, of course, islamicjihad responded with various barrages of rockets. so neither of these two sides have a particular good record in terms of keeping their commitments to ceasefires. we've seen a number of outbreaks in the past couple yea rs. and all of this kind of speaks to the absence of... you know, at the end of the day, there is no military solution to whatever the problems are. israel can't impose a quiet simply by bombing gaza, and certainly palestinian rockets aren't going to achieve anything other than more death and destruction brought on by israel's military.

but all of this kind of points to the fact that there is no political process, there's no diplomatic process, and there aren't really even any responsible third—party actors beyond the egyptians, let's say, who clearly have a direct stake in stability in gaza because they have a border with gaza. but one glaring absence is the role of the united states. i think this outbreak has been met with sort of a collective shrug, and besides kind of boilerplate... should they doing more? is there a political will in the united states to step in? we're seeing egypt actually getting involved. yeah, i don't think there is any political will in washington or, frankly, from the european side. there's a lot of fatigue about the issue.

i think the biden administration in particular has downgraded the whole issue of the palestinians. the two—state solution, many people feel, is no longer possible, and the administration pays lip service to two states but isn't really interested in pushing the issue, in large part because to do that would require seriously confronting an israeli government that is very, very extreme that has already abandoned the idea of two states and is in fact much more aggressive in his dealings with the palestinians on a whole range of issues. so the us administration does not want to pick a fight with the israeli government, and frankly doesn't want to spend political capital on the palestinians. you mentioned at the beginning that this is a truce that could be fragile. what is the key to at least extended, if not permanent, peace in the region?

how can they get a ceasefire to finally stick? well, the key would be to connect the ceasefire to a bigger political process that addresses the core issues of the conflict, and they are many, and they are actually increasing. i mean, there is a ioo—year dispute between israelis and palestinians. you have two national groups with competing national claims, but only one of them has a state, and quite a powerful state. and the other half or so, about 5 million palestinians, are stateless and living under israeli rule. so if there was a way to address that, to end 56 years of israeli occupation, you know, then there would be hope. but like i said, there's no political will to deal with these very difficult issues. there's no way to address the core issues of the conflict

without putting pressure on israel, and that's something that the united states in particular does not want to do. never an easy solution in that region. khaled elgindy, seniorfellow at the middle east institute and director of the programme on palestine and israeli palestine affairs, thank you so much. to thailand, where polls have just opened. let's go to some live pictures now in bangkok of people lining up to vote. it's an election that pits the current military—backed government against the populist opposition leader paetongtarn shinawatra. i believe we may have some images here of the current prime minister, prayuth chan—ocha, casting his own vote in the capital city. i closely watched election in thailand.

it is expected to be thailand's most closely contested election since the military deposed her aunt, yingluck shinawatra, in 2014. live now to virot ali, associate dean of international affairs at bangkok's thammasat university. as we heard there, there is a lot at stake in this election. can you walk us through the top parties in this election and what they represent? indeed. in this particular _ what they represent? indeed. in this particular election, - what they represent? indeed. in this particular election, we - this particular election, we have what we call — you could say two big groups. the first one is the military backed parties, which are in the coalition at the moment. you have parties like the party led by prayuth chan—ocha, and another led by another general, and then you have the democrat

party, pheu thai, and so on. this is what we call the conservative group for the military backed government. on the other hand we have the opposition, which now they call themselves the liberal democratic alliances, which includes the move forward party, the pheu thai party, and a few other similar parties and so on, and now at the moment it is the competition between the two ideologies, and they are under a lot of pressure, because for the past nine years we have been under the military or military backed government. one of the most important things that people believe is that it things that people believe is thatitis things that people believe is that it is time now for thailand to move forward into a much more democratic kind of climate. ., , ., climate. professor, we are actually — climate. professor, we are actually looking _ climate. professor, we are actually looking at - climate. professor, we are actually looking at life - actually looking at life pictures there, and we can see the media scrum taking place, and that is because the prime minister of thailand has just

cast his ballot in this election, and taking a look, this is live in the capital city of bangkok, and now giving an impromptu press conference there. i wanted to ask you, this is also the first election since those student led protests in 2020 and 2021. how has that protest movement now morphed into more of a political movement in thailand? very much. one thing is, it is a heavy what we call laws that have been applied, so all of the student leaders have big cases, so they have not been any kind of movements. for the past couple of months people have been looking forward to the election itself, so that is why the protest and so on hasn't been that — what we call it very clear. there might be a couple of students for a couple of the newer generation activists which are moving, which are protesting against

the government on various different issues, including issues about reforming the monarchical law, and as they believe the election could be the only way out of this whole political crisis that we have seenin political crisis that we have seen in the past decade or so. as we are now looking at these low photos, life pictures of the prime minister, what is his stake in this election? what is his legacy in the way he has been leading the country? i think for him he needs to still hold... he has a couple of years left after the ruling of the constitutional court, where he has i think at least two years from now on to still become the prime minister under what we call the constitution that allows a prime minister to be in powerfor not more than eight years. but for him, he believes that if he leaves the political scene, there are a lot of mistakes that have been

done, they have been a lot of allegations against him running the country, especially during the country, especially during the covid period, and the use of forces from the queue up until the student protests. so for him, it is a very big steak, because he needs to be in power in order to protect himself out of those particular allegations. at the same time, it is very important to have someone to still be able to lead the conservative side of society, where so far other contenders who are in the government coalition have not been performing that well. so for prayuth, he needs to take this initiative in order to become the leader that can reflect the votes of the conservative side of society.

at the same time he needs to protect himself and for him, this is a very big kind of stake that he needs to gamble with. but as we know, the problem within the thai constitution is that for the conservative side or the military backed government, which has appointed especially the 250 senators, they will be in the parliament as well. sorry to interrupt, professor, but we can see in those life photos the prime minister himself, as well as other voters in bangkok, heading to the polls as morning is breaking there. we want to thank you for your time, professor. thank you. the presidential candidates in turkey have finished their final day of campaigning before sunday's crucial election. president recep 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 is at stake in this election. turkey is facing a binary choice, in effect. after 20 years of rule by president recep tayyip erdogan — an increasingly authoritarian rule — there is now an alternative on offer, and that is the opposition candidate kemal kilicdaroglu. he is the leader of the main opposition party here but in this election, he is standing on behalf of a coalition of six opposition parties, which really is a very broad church. every kind of party — islamists, nationalists, even former allies of president erdogan — are in this coalition and they have come together with one aim only, really, which is to unseat him. now, we saw today that president erdogan was campaigning up to the last minute with that rally in istanbul, which you mentioned.

he has been hitting 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, indeed, by the us and europe — as a terrorist group. so, that's an accusation he makes pretty regularly during the campaign. mr kilicdaroglu is very different in style and tone. he has been emphasising his desire to bring people together and appealing particularly to young turks — and there are five million voters here who will go to the polls tomorrow for the very first time. ahead of the election, twitter announced it was restricting some content in turkey. the social media company said: it added the content would still be available to the rest of the world. twitter�*s owner, elon musk,

didn't mince his words when responding to criticism from a bloomberg columnist calling out the censorship. he said: let's change gears now. let's look at the eurovision song contest now because it's delivered a historic win. the disco lights are on in the studio. sweden has taken the crown for a record seventh time with singer loreen�*s song tattoo. this was the moment her victory was announced. she now becomes the second person to ever win the contest twice, and the first woman to achieve the feat. the bbc�*s david sillito was following all the action. live from liverpool, this is the grand final of the eurovision song contest 2023. cheering and applause. it began with last year's winners.

the kalush orchestra and stephanie na. —— the kalush orchestra and stefania. there was, as promised, a strong ukrainian flavour to this liverpool eurovision. sieben, sieben, eins, zwei! the opening an artful blend of ukrainian eurovision tunes and some very british elements, including the piano skills of the princess of wales. plays tune from stefania. let the eurovision song contest 2023 begin! and then, it was down to the songs with the familiar eurovision spread of style. # i don't care about the pain. it got epic from sweden's loreen, the hot favourite. # bring me closer to you. # you're stuck on me like a tattoo. finland brought manic energy. # cha, cha, cha—cha, cha cha!

croatia brought this. bombs and underpants. and the last of the 26 songs, the uk's own. mae muller. # and then i wrote a song... i feel ifeel much i feel much better now. with all of my girls around. and now, we stay at home. instead, i wrote a song. cheering and applause. and the cheer at the end — better check the rivets on the arena roof after that. cheering and applause. it is going wild. # walk on. the interval act — a celebration of liverpool. # with hope in your heart. # and you'll never walk alone.

# you'll never walk alone! it's not often the show has to have a pause to wipe away the tears. cheering and applause. a tear in my silly old eye. you don't see that every day! sweden took an early lead... 2a3 points! we have a winner! ..and stayed there. mae came a disappointing 24th. -- 25th. but the uk definitely had a winner on the night — like liverpool. david sillito, bbc news. so, that was the moment loreen took victory. shortly after, she reflected on what this win means to her. let's listen. only the second person to win the eurovision contest twice — johnny logan being the first, now you.

how does it feel? this is overwhelming. i'm so happy and i'm so thankful. thank you for this. this is for you. thank you. we're so happy for you, loreen, bringing eurovision to sweden for abba's 50th anniversary year. it's so, so special. cheering and applause. the bbc�*s maryam moshiri had more on the reaction for us in liverpool. it's so exciting. what a show. it was absolutely extraordinary, and ijust love the way that eurovision keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very last minute. all through the end, all through the voting, the jury voting, sweden kept getting 12 points, 12 points, 12 points, over and over again. finland were around fourth or fifth place and then, we went to televoting — and televoting changes everything. and clearly, audiences from not only europe but around the world — even audiences

in the us could vote for eurovision, and they voted in their droves for finland. so, one point, finland was in the lead but at the very last minute, sweden's audience votes were counted. they needed 187 points to beat finland and they got over 200 points, so history is made. loreen, a eurovision legend, already the queen of eurovision, is now a two—time winner. onlyjohnny logan from ireland has done that before. this also means that sweden is now a seven—time winner of the eurovision song contest and that puts it, again, on an equal footing with ireland. so, i guess next year, we're going be heading to sweden. i can't wait! while it's called eurovision, the song contest has plenty of fans here in the us as well and this year, for the first time ever, americans — and fans from anywhere in the world — could actually vote, even if their own country didn't compete.

alesia michelle is one of those superfans. i caught up with her after a large watch party here in washington and asked her why she thought sweden's loreen was a two—time winner. go for a deserving to winner. —— a deserving to winner. at the eurovision song contest before she won, that really changed how the song contest was even taken in by europe. so, the fact she is now our second time second winner of eurovision, it doesn't feel that crazy because she really was someone who marked a moment in the eurovision song contest and now, we're seeing it, i think, graduate again. so the fact that she is now our second—time second winner of eurovision — it actually doesn't feel that crazy, because she really was someone who marked a moment in the eurovision song contest. and now, we're seeing it, i think, graduate again beyond chapter, potentially. i think the fact that it was something that was radio friendly, i think it was something that felt current, i think it was something that didn't feel like just eurovision — it felt like something that felt like, "oh, "this is just what people would be

"listening to in 2012" and i think a fair critique of the eurovision song contest is that maybe it was just a touch behind, maybe it was just three years behind, maybe it was just five years behind what the actual charts were. but if you look at 2012 and if you look at her win in 2012, it felt like something that — "oh, no! "we can hear this on the radio now". despite not being able to host due the war, many ukrainians were still keen to follow along from home. this before we go, let's bring you this bar in kyiv, where fans still enjoyed the competition all the same. our correspondent hugo bachega has been speaking to some of them. frustrated but because of the war, because of lots of people dying and lots of people losing their homes, businesses, relatives. it's hurtful in any case, but not in case of eurovision. like, yeah, eurovision is continuing and we

have our representative. we have lots of countries that still participate, so it's — we're all good. and we participate as well. i feel ok because you guys as britain did a very good job and i'm — we're really grateful that it's truly a ukrainian—british eurovision this year. so, we watched with my friends and we can feel so much ukrainian history, culture and energy on the stage and it's amazing. maybe we would not even do such a good job in as we did collaboration with you guys in britain. really huge support and i feel it, like, from here. _ i don't expect some support from here right now, - eurovision, because like we've already talked - like this is not. a political show. but now i see that half of the songs are kind i of about us and support us, j

and this is really important. a symbolic night in kyiv and in liverpool. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. for the vast majority of places, saturday turned into a mostly sunny and very warm day. many parts of western england, wales, northern ireland and scotland saw temperatures up to 21 degrees. however, in eastern england underneath this stubborn area of cloud, some places only got to ten degrees. now, that stubborn area of cloud still with us for sunday morning but it should break up a little more effectively through the day to allow more sunshine and warmth. at the same time, this cold front pushing in from the north—west will bring rain into parts of scotland and northern ireland first thing and as that front pushes south—eastwards through the day, it will introduce something a little bit cooler to the north and the west

of the uk. so, through sunday morning, this cloud to start off across central and eastern england should break up a little more effectively, rolling back out into the north sea but this frontal system pushing south—eastwards out of scotland and northern ireland into northern england and west wales by the mid afternoon and behind that, things certainly will be a good deal cooler. 14 for aberdeen, for glasgow, for belfast, but a warmer day in eastern england — 20 or 21 degrees. now, as we head through sunday night, this weather front will push a little further south—eastwards and we'll also see this little clump of showers drifting across eastern scotland and down into north—eastern england. actually quite chilly for monday morning across northern and western parts of the uk — four degrees there in glasgow, for example. because as we head into monday and this frontal system clears through, we will be left in some cooler air — in fact, in quite a chilly north—westerly wind around the top of an area of high pressure. that wind will be noticeable through the day. it'll certainly make it feel chillier. we will see some showers running down the east coast

of england and, more generally, some scattered showers breaking up, particularly across central and northern parts of the uk. not as many down towards the south but lower temperatures — 12—15 degrees. actually, a little disappointing, or at least below the norm for this time of year. now, into tuesday, there will still be some showers around. not as windy, so it won't feel quite as chilly. 11 degrees there for aberdeen. 17 the high in cardiff. there will be some spells of sunshine. and as we head deeper into the week, well, a fair amount of dry weather. high pressure never too far away, but there will be some weather systems bringing a bit of rain at times, and it is set to turn a little warmer.

voice—over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. you can plan for everything except the weather. this is operation golden orb in action — the code name used for the king's coronation by those planning it,

from buckingham palace to the broadcasters.