hello, i'm helena humphrey. glad you could join me. four israeli hostages taken by hamas during the october 7th attacks have now been reunited with their families. but israeli forces in gaza killed scores of palestinians in the military operation to free them. israeli special forces raided two locations in nuseirat, in central gaza in broad daylight. one israeli soldier was killed. hamas says more than 200 palestinians were killed in the operation. an israeli military spokesman said there were "under 100" palestinian casualties. the eu's top diplomat condemned the israeli raid. the us president has also spoken out at a press conference during his state visit to france.

i want to echo president macron�*s comments welcoming the return of the hostages to theirfamilies in israel. we won't stop working until they are all home. and they ceasefire it is reached.— and they ceasefire it is reached. . , ,, ., ., hugo bachega has more from tel aviv. a dramatic rescue and she's free again. 25—year—old noa argamani, captured by hamas on the 7th of october, and taken to gaza, is finally back in israel. she became one of the most well—known faces of this crisis. her kidnapping recorded in this video. today, her ordeal came to an end. this is her, reunited with her dad. translation: please don'tl forget that there are another 120 hostages in captivity. we must release them and make every effort in any way to bring them to israel and theirfamilies.

by the way, it's my birthday, look what a gift i got. also freed, andrei kozlov, who is 27. shlomi ziv, 40, and almog meirjan, 21. eight months ago, they were in the nova music festival in southern israel when hamas gunmen attacked. more than 360 people were killed here. this morning, the israeli military carried out a raid of the nuseirat refugee camp in central gaza. there were heavy airstrikes. special forces went in. the military said this was a complex operation and based on intelligence information. the four hostages, it said, were found at two separate locations in the heart of the camp and were brought out under fire. israeli forces have been preparing for this rescue mission for weeks. they underwent intensive training.

they risked their lives to save the lives of our hostages. if there was relief in israel, the operation meant yet more suffering in gaza. at the al aqsa hospital in nearby deir al—balah, chaos and desperation. doctors struggled to treat all the wounded. many arrived already dead. translation: we were at home. a rocket hit us. _ my two cousins died and my other two cousins were seriously injured. they did nothing. they were sitting at home. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, visited the freed hostages in a hospital near tel aviv. he's being urged to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal with hamas. today's rescue could help lift some of the pressure.

we can go to the former spokesman of the israel defence forces. ., ., , ., forces. now a member of the think tank — forces. now a member of the think tank which _ forces. now a member of the think tank which takes - forces. now a member of the think tank which takes a - forces. now a member of the think tank which takes a hard i think tank which takes a hard line against iran. thank you for being with us. i would like your reaction to the news of the hostages being released. good evening, thank you for having me. it is a glimmer of light in a sea of darkness and despair. forthe light in a sea of darkness and despair. for the first time in months, israelis have a moment to rejoice. and happy scenes of families being reunified. very happy to see it. i'm very happy for the families getting their loved ones back after what must be the most horrible experience of eight months. sadly however we still have 120 hostages. we still have iranian proxies all around us aiming to kill israelis and to killjews. and we still have a lot of work to do to return to safety and

security in israel. and as important as this event is, it is a drop in the ocean and there is still a lot of fighting left for us to be safe in our homeland.— in our homeland. there is concern — in our homeland. there is concern at _ in our homeland. there is concern at the _ in our homeland. there is concern at the death - in our homeland. there is concern at the death toll| in our homeland. there is - concern at the death toll among palestinians. do you think israeli forces anticipated the level of casualties incurred? i think the whole civilian issue here really needs to be analysed impartially and understood. according to the reports that i have got, and also the testaments and statements even made by hamas spokesperson, the israeli hostages were held by palestinian civilians in a palestinian civilians in a palestinian civilians in a palestinian civilian area. as forgettable as any loss of life is, we would have to investigate. —— is regrettable. who were the people who jailed these israelis for eight months? what was the role of

the surrounding community of the surrounding community of the thousands of palestinians who were aware foreshore of the fact that israeli hostages were being held in their midst? why were they complicit with hamas? we don't know they were necessarily complicit with hamas. the casualties incurred, there are reports of women and children among the dead. it is appearing to be a high civilian death toll. would there have been a warning to those civilians for them to get out on time?— civilians for them to get out on time? ,, ., _, , on time? sure, of course, we cannot anticipate _ on time? sure, of course, we cannot anticipate israel - on time? sure, of course, we cannot anticipate israel to - on time? sure, of course, we cannot anticipate israel to be | cannot anticipate israel to be warning ahead of a grade two save hostages. because then the terrorists would kill the hostages, that would defeat the purpose. —— ahead of an attempt to save hostages. we do not know. in that all of the people who died today were directly

related to the effort to hold israeli civilians in gaza for eight months. there was a significant firefight according to testimony of israeli soldiers. they were rpgs, heavy grenade fire, look it's being thrown, and we cannot rule out some of the alleged palestinian casualties were the result of reckless palestinian fire. it may have been israeli fire, but we don't know. the most important thing here, i think, again, just like we saw in rafah three months ago, israeli civilians were held hostage by palestinian civilians. hamas gunmen guarding as well, but the bottom line, we have complicity of palestinian civilians shot we have to say that we haven't been able to establish that at this stage. they will have to be a further investigation. are you

concerned about the potential for this to jeopardise ceasefire plan? and of course the potential to see the rest of those hostages released, as you say? i of those hostages released, as ou sa ? ~ . of those hostages released, as ousa? , you say? i think a ceasefire is not an aim — you say? i think a ceasefire is not an aim to _ you say? i think a ceasefire is not an aim to aspire - you say? i think a ceasefire is not an aim to aspire to, - you say? i think a ceasefire is not an aim to aspire to, but l not an aim to aspire to, but victory is what israel aspires to. victory in order to defend israeli civilians to bring hostages back home. and they ceasefire in my humble opinion is defeat for israel and a victory for hamas. it is not what israelis aspire to do, because a ceasefire would mean an existing hamas and it would mean further attacks against israel months or perhaps a year from now, and that is not something i think we should aspire to. we should do everything possible, and the world should help israel, in getting the hostages back by applying pressure on hamas to release the hostages,

civilians, women, children, and of course also the soldiers taken unlawfully from israel and held in captivity in gaza. i think that should be the focus, and that is what i think should be the centre of attention.— should be the centre of attention. ., ~ , ., ., , attention. thank you for being with us. thank _ attention. thank you for being with us. thank you _ attention. thank you for being with us. thank you for - attention. thank you for being with us. thank you for having | with us. thank you for having me. for more, i spoke with hugo bachega a short while ago. tell us more about that reaction you have been seeing from israel and from gaza, in light of the high civilian death toll that we appear to be seeing from the palestinian side. i think this is obviously going to lead to more criticism he is of the israeli military. we've seen that these operations, many of them, by the israeli army result in large numbers of civilian casualties in gaza. but here in israel, obviously there have been celebrations across the country, but here in tel aviv, there was

a huge protest with thousands of people who came here to tel aviv, to demand a deal with hamas for the remaining hostages to be freed. this is one of the key questions — what is going to happen with those ceasefire and hostage release negotiations? the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been under pressure to accept a proposal put forward by president biden a week ago — a proposal he described as an israeli proposal. this would see not only the release of the hostages, but would also pave the way for a permanent ceasefire in gaza, which is a contentious point here in israel. we have seen that there has been opposition from many in the country, including some members of the coalition government, including far right ministers itamar ben—gvir and bezalel smotrich, who have threatened to quit the government. if they do so, this could lead to the end of the governing coalition.

so this rescue operation has been considered a success by the israeli authorities, and could perhaps change the calculations of the prime minister, who is under pressure from all sides. let's talk more about the pressure prime minister netanyahu has been under. we know benny gantz today was due to hold a press conference. he called it off. how do you read that? does it tell us anything about the stability and the unity of the government? this is very interesting, because this was a deadline imposed by benny gantz. he had demanded a plan by benjamin netanyahu for gaza, and he said if there was no plan, he would quit the government. he has been facing a lot of pressure from members of his own party who say he should return to the opposition. obviously we focus a lot on benny gantz, because he is seen as a possible candidate to be the next prime minister in the next elections in israel.

so now he has cancelled this statement. he was widely expected to announce his decision to leave the government. after the rescue operation, the prime minister benjamin netanyahu asked benny gantz to reconsider his decision. so i think there was a fear here that with the decision by benny gantz to leave the government, this could give more power to those radical far right ministers in the government. but it seems that, for now, this crisis has been averted. talking about this rescue operation and having unfolded, and the high civilian death toll we have seen on the palestinian side, ijust want to get your assessment about what you think it means for any potential agreement and success of that ceasefire proposal. yeah, so we know the us secretary of state antony blinken is returning to the region.

he will be in egypt, israel, jordan and qatar. i think the idea of this trip is to put more pressure on both israel and hamas for a deal to be reached. i think one of the most contentious points of the plan put forward by president biden was the idea of a permanent ceasefire. so hamas is demanding that any kind of deal leads to a permanent ceasefire. in other words, the end of the war. because they want a guarantee that the israeli military is not going to return to gaza once the hostages are released. and continue with this military operation against the group. and the idea of a permanent ceasefire again is a divisive point in israel. the prime minister has been saying the goals remain the same, and that is to destroy the military capabilities of hamas, the ability of the group to continue to govern gaza,

and there has been lots of opposition from some of his allies and from many in this country. so it is a very difficult position for the prime minister, and these negotiations have been extremely difficult as well. the indications are there hasn't been any kind of breakthrough after days of mediated talks between israel and hamas. in the aftermath of the raid, our correspondent rushdi abualouf has been speaking to palestinians in gaza. yeah, i think the people were quite angry about the number of people killed in this rescue operation. some of them, they have told me that hamas should have accepted the ceasefire proposal that had been in the table for quite a long time. and instead of, like, you know, going in and killing people to get the hostages, they could have been released for also an exchange of some of the palestinian prisoners in the israeli jail. some of the people were also

expressing their views towards the other side. they were defending hamas and they said what happened is very little comparing to the period of this war, eight months. i mean, one person told me that they managed to rescue four people after four months, and this is very little achievement where they have been defeated many times in very places and hamas was able to kill some of them. so very, you know, they divide palestinian as always. they are always divided about the issue of hamas. many people are supporting what hamas is doing in gaza and they keep defending them. but today we noticed that many, many people in a very rare way were criticising hamas. and one person, he lost his family, as far as i remember, two months ago, in one of the air strikes. he wrote in his facebook and he said, why keeping hostages among a very crowded refugee camp in a market

and put all of the people's life in risk? and some went more far and they said those who are sitting in the doha in qatar and controlling our life should go home. here in washington dc, pro—palestinian protesters gathered in front of the white house to demand that presidentjoe biden push for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. meanwhile in tel aviv, the rescue of the four hostages did little to mollify anti—government activists. they held their regular saturday night protest, demanding fresh elections and a deal to free all the remaining hostages. president biden has been hosted for a state dinner in france as a commemoration of the d—day landings. there was a parade at the champs—elysees.

and a visit to the tomb of the unknown soldier and a meeting with business leaders. they held a press conference on saturday and during his speech, president biden also spoke about the war in ukraine, saying the russian president vladimir putin is not going to stop at ukraine. our two countries stand with the ukrainian people as they fight off putin's brutal aggression. yesterday i announced $225 million of assistance to ukraine, the sixth package since we signed the national security legislation earlier this year. i wish we could have done it when we wanted, six months earlier, but we got it done. $61 billion in additional aid to ukraine. and i commend france and our european allies for their leadership as well. the eu has provided over $107 billion in assistance to ukraine since the war began. because we know what happens if putin succeeds in subjugating ukraine.

and we won't... you know, putin won't stop at ukraine. it's notjust ukraine, it's about much more than ukraine. all of europe will be threatened. we're not going let that happen. the us is standing strong with ukraine, with our allies, and with france. we will not walk away — i say again, we will not walk away. the man who assaulted the danish prime minister has been remanded in custody for 12 days. the 39—year—old polish man is said to have been drunk and under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack in copenhagen on friday night. the man is reported to have struck mette fredriksen on the shoulder, causing her to stumble and suffer minor whiplash injuries. in a statement the prime minister says she is "shaken but fine". in the uk, parties are back on the campaign trail following last night's seven—way debate. the conservatives are pushing a permanent cut to stamp duty and labour

is outlining its position i'lljust try and get the sign in! rishi sunak was putting a brave face on the events of the past few days. is this taking over from those fidget spinners? he was keen to move on from his d—day apology with an announcement to make temporary tax relief for first—time homeowners permanent. but his ministers were still having to fight on the political beaches... the prime minister has made a mistake, he's apologised for it and has apologised to those who would have been particularly hurt by it. so how has the prime minister's misstep gone down on the doorstep? we have been talking to conservative candidates, some have spoken about anger and disappointment. one of them despairingly said, "whatever is going to happen next? will the prime minister's trousers fall down?" others said voters haven't raised the issue at all, and one candidate said that those who are so vexed by this have already defected

to labour or reform. elections are often about political theatre, but the snp say, in this campaign, the main westminster parties are sidestepping difficult decisions. the biggest issue that's not been spoken about is the fact there are £18 billion worth of cuts agreed to by the conservatives and endorsed by the labour party, and they are coming down the track towards us. but what about raising revenue? labour say, if they form the next government, then, just like the conservatives, they won't be able to increase tax thresholds in line with inflation any time soon. we will inherit the _ government's spending plans. i will be candid — there - are in those plans tax rises. i mean, the personal allowance, the personal allowance we all. get in terms of our income tax, that is set to be frozen - for several years. but the lib dems are courting voters with spending pledges, including a multi—billion—pound plan to plant 60 million trees a year. this is a capital investment

over the next five years. you're right — it is a significant investment. but i believe this is hugely important for our environment. it will help the fight against climate change. the main parties are preparing to launch their manifestos this week. only then will we know how well their policies will connect with the voters. iain watson, bbc news. the wife of the missing tv presenter michael mosley says his family refuses to lose hope. efforts are continuing to find the 67—year—old, on the greek island of symi, where he's been missing since wednesday. just a few hours working on the hills of symi is enough to leave you exhausted. that is why there is such concern that michael mosley may still be up here after more than three days. the major search operation to find the missing broadcaster has today focused on the hills to the north of the village of pedi. so that search and rescue

helicopter has been circling for maybe half an hour or so. there's been a huge amount of emergency services activity focused on those hills, and that's because we know from cctv taken at this spot that, on wednesday at about 1:30pm, two o'clock, michael mosley passed this road and headed into those hills. the search is focusing on the hills because, finally, a picture has emerged of michael mosley�*s movements. he left the beach where he'd been with his wife, clare, at about 1:30 on wednesday. he was then picked up on a camera at a coffee shop here. a second one at a restaurant here, and then, finally, the one at the marina, before he is thought to have headed into the hills. the disappearance of michael mosley has been a major story in greece. here on symi, locals have even joined the search, as have british holiday—makers. this morning, she came in my room and said, "let's go and look for michael." it would have been terrible. we know the paths, so we...

we're just staying there. we're within 2km of where he's got to be, so it was, feeling quite helpless. at the heart of this is not just michael mosley, but his family as well. today, his wife clare released a statement... nor, it seems, will the greek authorities. they say they will continue their search until michael mosley is found. the world health organisation is warning that help is urgently needed to prevent the collapse of the healthcare system in syria. it says half of all medical

staff has fled the country. and those still there are working in conditions last seen hundreds of years ago. syria has faced 13 years of civil war, sanctions and a major earthquake just last year. demonstrators were out in the capital of hungary today, protesting against the ruling fidesz party ahead of sunday's european parliament elections. demonstrations against populist and far right parties have also been organised in other european countries, among them germany. european elections are currently happening in 27 countries across four days. the man behind the lens of this iconic photo of earth has passed away. bill anders took the photograph. it came to be known as earthrise in 1968, one of the most memorable and inspirational photos. it is credited with kick—starting the modern environmental movement. he died

in a solo plane crash on friday at 90 years old. before we go, june marks pride month, and celebrations have kicked off all around the world on saturday. here in washington dc, these are the scenes as thousands celebrate with the lgbtq+ community. you are watching bbc news, more at the top of the hour. hello there. it's been a pretty decent start to the weekend. there was a good deal of sunshine around across most of the country. a bit of cloud here and there, a few showers mostly in the north. part two of the weekend doesn't look quite as good. it will start certainly quite chilly. but we've got a couple of weather fronts pushing down from the north—west that will increase cloud through the day with some splashes of rain. and we've got this weather front approaching the north—west of the country to move through this evening. showers merging together to produce longer spells of rain for the north and west of scotland. so unsettled, breezy, showery in the north, turning cloudier for northern ireland, but clearer skies for large parts of england and wales with lighter winds here. so it will turn chilly for most, single digits, i think, for the majority of the country.

but with more cloud across northern ireland, we will fall to around ten degrees in belfast. so sunday, then, we've got low pressure still towards the norwegian sea there, bringing northern—westerly winds into the country. we start to have quite a bit of sunshine. scotland, england and wales, cloudy skies for northern ireland, south—west scotland in towards north—west england, north wales. and that cloud with splashes of rain will spill south—eastwards through the day. so it will turn cloudy across much of england and wales, probably the best of the sunshine across the far south—west, and the northern half of scotland doing pretty well with sunny spells. but there will be blustery showers here and a cooler day to come, i think, because of more cloud around, temperatures of about 12 to 17 degrees. as we move through sunday night, that area of rain splashes across the irish sea into much of england and wales, becomes confined to southern and eastern areas by the end of the night. so where we have the cloud and the rain, then, a less cold night here, 10 to 12 degrees under clearer skies. further north, it will turn chilly. we start to pick up a northerly wind as we move into monday.

that rain slowly clears away from the south and east. it may take a while to clear the east of england. eventually it will do that. it's a bright day for most, sunshine and showers. most of these across the northern half of scotland, where they will be quite blustery and a chilly northerly wind at that. temperatures, 10 to 1a degrees in the north, 15 to 17 further south, giving some sunny spells. and we hold on to this chilly northerly wind through tuesday, even into wednesday as well. and before low pressure starts to move in from the south—west, that'll cut off the chilly northerly and temperatures will slowly recover towards the end of the week. but it's going to be a fairly unsettled and a cool week to come with a little bit of sunshine here and there.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello and welcome to unspun world here at the bbc�*s headquarters in london. we live in turbulent, changing times. after 80 years of peace, more or less, between the superpowers, where are we heading now?

scratch away at the surface of european sentiment, european sensibility, what you find is anxiety about peace and security. south africa has punished its ruling party for 30 years of failing government. but how does the chastened anc now select partners for the way forward? it is highly expected that the african national congress will come up with a coalition, even though it will be uneasy, but one that will be manageable. and immigration — the great issue in so many of the 60—plus elections which are taking place around the world this year — how does it affect us? we live in a much more globalised world. it's easier to travel. that has, you know, created movements of people around the planet which are presenting real challenges for governments.

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