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 convince israel to reconsider any offensive in rafah. Translation and i say here whats 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 its 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. 0ur correspondent Sameer Hashmi is in riyadh, where mr blinken is due to arrive. Well, today is the first day of the World Economic forum, a special meeting thats happening in riyadh. And its focused a lot on whats happening in gaza. We had the palestinian president , Mahmoud Abbas, who gave a speech earlier in the morning, and in his address, he reached out and appealed to the United States and President Biden to stop israel from carrying out the invasion in rafah. He said it was important the United States exerts that pressure on israel and prevents that. So that was one of the first things, and then there will be a lot of action tomorrow, and a lot of diplomacy around gaza, because us Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken will be arriving here, he will be meeting a lot of leaders from the region, including the Foreign Ministers of the gulf region, hell be meeting arab leaders. And then in the evening, there will be a meeting between the five countries from the eu along with the arab countries to find a resolution to this issue, to take stock of where the situation is and how to take this process forward. So tomorrow is going to be a pretty busy day as far as gaza goes. 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 0lmert and ariel sharon. I asked him about the progress of any deals on hostages and a ceasefire. In the last two months, theres 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, weve 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, didnt 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. Thats by the American Administration, but lets 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, were just postponing the problem, because its going to happen in two months, in three months or in four months. That is the main problem. Thats why we are trying to solve the issue. If there will be a cease fire now and the hostages come back, hopefully we can solve this problem as well, but if not, we will have no other option. The problem that youre alluding to is the elimination of hamas, isnt it . If israel doesnt go into rafah, as it said it would, if it doesnt eliminate those last units of hamas which is what it wants to do how do they deal with, as you see it, the problem of hamas . This is one issue. The second issue is that theres the border with egypt. As we speak now, iran is continuing to send weapons into the gaza strip, through rafah. This is how they brought the weapons in, and we saw on october 7th and even afterwards that they have weapons like an average european country. So if we will not solve this problem, not only hamas but also the border between egypt and rafah, and weaponry will continue to go in, this war will never end. This is what hamas is very explicitly saying, that they will continue to do the same. To what extent do you think Prime Minister netanyahu is listening to what the us wants now, its urging of restraint . I think hes listening very carefully. The United States is our closest ally, and it has a huge influence on the way we conduct the war, obviously. I think if it was only the Prime Ministers decision, we would go to rafah earlier. But i think, now, the americans understand as well that we came to the situation that we have to do it. Its either cease fire or going into rafah. There is no point of. Its not only that israel suffers, the palestinians suffer as well from this situation, because the innocent people of gaza, they are in a situation of war only because of one thing the hamas problem has not been solved. That is the main problem. We have to solve it for peace in the region, not only for israels sake. Asaf shariv, talking to me earlier. The future of scotlands 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 its 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. 0ne 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 imaginej 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 unilaterally on thursday. Thats broken. The snp leader has written to the Opposition Leaders at holyrood, arguing that people want to see Political PartiesWork 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. Albas 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. Lets just take you to spain now where thousands of people are marching to show their support for spains Prime Minister pedro sanchez. He announced last wednesday he will take a few days away from public duties to decide whether he wants to continue leading the government after a court launched eight Business Corruption Probe into his wifes private dealings, and these people out on the streets of madrid in support of the Prime Minister. 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. 0ur 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 14 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. Its 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 thats what keir starmer and the labour party i know will do, and they will be trusted, im sure, to do it by nhs staff as well. Not so, said a Government Minister this morning. Well, i dont 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, were 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 im aware of. Hes said very clearly to me when i was talking to him this week about how he might help. Hes going back to the nhs full time when parliament is dissolved, which cant come soon enough, as far as were concerned. Theres been speculation over the past week that an election could come as soon asjune orjuly. Rishi sunak didnt rule that out, speaking to sky news this morning. Weve talked about it. Youre not going to rule outjuly . Youre going to try and draw whatever conclusion you want from what i say. Im going to always say the same thing. You should just listen to what i said, the same thing ive said all year. Mr sunak has said repeatedly that his Working Assumption is that hell 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 weeks 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 campaign. Clearly, at the moment, people do feel grumpy with the government, but as we get closer to an election, its 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. The home office says its entering the final phase of putting its rwanda policy into practice. A report in the guardian suggested detentions of Asylum Seekers ready for deportation would begin on monday. A Home Office Spokesperson said at some stage people would inevitably start being detained in preparation for the first flight, which is due to take off in 10 to 12 weeks. Meanwhile, the irish Prime Minister has said foreign Migration Policies cannot be allowed to undermine those of ireland. Simon harris said ireland will not provide a loophole for anyone elses migration challenges. His governmentsjustice minister said there had been a rise in the number of people crossing from Northern Ireland to the republic of ireland. A uk government source said the uk wont accept any asylum returns from the eu via ireland until the eu changes its policies. 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 kenyas longest could overflow in the coming days, with people in affected areas advised to move to higher ground. These pictures are from kenyas 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. Tanzanias Prime Minister has blamed environmental degradation for the severity of the damage. 0ur 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 have 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 its 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 theyre 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 floo