hello, i'm helena humphrey. 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 rescue of the hostages to theirfamilies in israel. we won't stop working until they are all home. and a ceasefire it is reached. that is essential. hugo bachega has more from you 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.

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 places and hamas was able to kill some of them. so very, you know, they divide

palestinians 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. i'd like to get to your reaction to the news of the

four hostages getting released. thank you for having me. it is a glimmer of 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. 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 civilian area. as regrettable as any loss of life is, we would have to investigate. who were the people who jailed these israelis for eight months? what was the role of the surrounding community of the thousands of palestinians who were aware 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? sure, of course, we 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. we do not know for certain 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.

there were rpgs, heavy fire, grenades 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, ithink, 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. we have to say that we haven't been able to establish that at this stage. there 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 think a ceasefire is 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.

they said two people were killed in an israeli drone attack in southern lebanon. they say they launched the rate of they identified a hezbollah fighters in the area. they said they retaliated by firing rockets at the command centre in northern israel. joining me as aaron david miller who held as aaron david miller who held a number involved if us state department were healed formally for us policy on the arab—israeli peace process, always good to having you with us. nevertheless, hostages as we have been discussing, also a high civilian death toll. i want to stop getting your reaction to the operation. from a perspective. _ reaction to the operation. from a perspective, i'm _ reaction to the operation. from a perspective, i'm sure - reaction to the operation. from a perspective, i'm sure it- reaction to the operation. from a perspective, i'm sure it was l a perspective, i'm sure it was an extraordinary effort. it provides a nation still in the collective ptsd in the wake of the october seven attack. but

seven hostages in almost nine months were freed. all of them freed from either apartment buildings or structures above ground. but not in time. it is clear israel is operating on the ground were able to develop and derive intelligence probably because the circle of palestinians aware of where this hostages were capped —— capped was larger than expected. it was a black and horrific day for a palestinians. it points, to me, that the reality of nine months into this war the israelis have succeeded was that i don't want to trivialise the effort in freeing seven hostages, 120 remain, 46 the israelis believe either were killed on october seven or died in captivity. the

only pathway it seems to very large numbers of hostages and prevent mass custody events is not through successive military operations. if the last eight or nine months is any guide, but through diplomacy. the good news is the administration, both in administration produced a practical guide way forward. the bad news is the real urgency for closing this agreement exists only in debated administration. —— the biden administration. they have to move in a way to accept the package in its entirely. fix, package in its entirely. a region in the aim of reinforcing the sense of urgency, coming back to this operation, the eu top diplomat calling it a massacre.

washington reportedly gave intelligent support for this operation to go ahead. do you think debated administration will be at ease with how this unfolded today and that high civilian death toll?— civilian death toll? they are not at ease. _ civilian death toll? they are not at ease. if— civilian death toll? they are not at ease. if you - civilian death toll? they are not at ease. if you look - civilian death toll? they are not at ease. if you look at l civilian death toll? they are l not at ease. if you look at the statement the president and national security advisor put out, there is no reference. i am, these are humans with consciences, the president, secretary of state, national—security advisory, in a way that is quite clear, no months into this war the administration is pursuing what i would describe as a passive—aggressive policy towards israel. they have yet towards israel. they have yet to compose a single cost or consequence that normal humans you or i would describe as sustained pressure. the reason they avoided a breach with the

israeli prime minister is precisely because i think the president and i would agree with him here, believes the only way to de—escalate this war, the only way to free hostages, prevent palestinian deaths, humanitarian assistance into gaza, it is an negotiated deal. that is the strategic cul—de—sac the administration now finds itself in. the israelis, your previous guest talked about the notion of victory which means what? hmmm a snack having no influence on gaza? —— hamas. the survival of leadership and families. and a cessation of hostilities in returning israeli forces from gaza. i cannot foresee right now, we are injune now, i

cannot foresee anything other than perhaps if we're a phase one implementation which would create a six week ceasefire in exchange for a limited number of hostages and asymmetrical number of palestinian prisoners. six weeks of calm in gaza. it is not perfect, i don't know where it would leave but it is absolutely critical, being of hostages and 2.3 million palestinians that have to cope with this horrific environment. that is where the focus is going to remain.- focus is going to remain. aaron david miller. — focus is going to remain. aaron david miller, as _ focus is going to remain. aaron david miller, as always, - focus is going to remain. aaron david miller, as always, thankl david miller, as always, thank you for sharing your thoughts. regular having me. —— thank you for having me. 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. president biden spoke about the war in ukraine, saying the russian president is not going to stop at ukraine. our two countries are standing with the ukrainian people as they fight off putin �*s aggression. yesterday announced $225 million in new security assistance to ukraine and it is the sixth package we have provided since we signed the national security legislation earlier this year. i wish we could have done it when we want to do six months earlier but we got it done. with $61 billion in additional aid to ukraine and i command france and their leadership at all. you have provided $107 billion in

assistance to ukraine since the war began. because we know what happens if putin succeeds in subjugating ukraine. putin is not going to stop at ukraine it is notjust ukraine, it is about much more than ukraine for the all of europe will be threatened. we are not going to let that happen, the united states is standing strong with ukraine, standing with allies and standard with france, we will not walk away.— and standard with france, we will not walk away. parties are back in the _ will not walk away. parties are back in the election _ will not walk away. parties are back in the election trail. - politicians locked horns over the economy, armed forces, nhs, immigration and climate policy. the conservatives are pushing a permanent cut rishi sunak was putting on a brave face after the events of the past few days. keen to move

on from his d—day apology with an announcement to make temporary tax relief for first—time homeowners permanent. his ministers will 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 multibillion—pound plan to plant 60 million trees a year. this is a capital investment over the next five years. you are 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. joe inwood has the latest. just a few hours working on the hills of symi is enough to leave you exhausted. two hours. two hours? 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. let's turn to some other important stories around the world. the world health organization 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 princess of wales has written to the irish guards, apologising for not being able to attend the trooping the colour on saturday. signed colonel catherine, she said she hoped to be back very soon. the irish guards shared video of the letter being read to the personnel this morning. the princess is having preventative chemotherapy for cancer. an american veteran who flew back to france for the d—day celebrations got married near the beaches where the allies landed 80 years ago. harold terens, who is 100 years old, married his 96—year—old fiancee, jeanne swerlin, in the small town of carentan—les—marais. mr terens was a radio technician, who assisted fighter pilots in the skies over normandy and called their wedding day the best one of his life.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello. if you are hoping for some properly warm weather over the next few days, i suspect this forecast pa rt part two of the weekend doesn't look quite as good and will start chilly but some weather fronts pushing down from this weather front approaching the north—west. showers merging together. unsettled and breezy shower in the north turning claudia for northern ireland but clear skies of a large pot of england and wales and will

turn chilly for most. we start off with quite a bit of sunshine. scotland, england and wales, cloudy skies for northern ireland, southwest 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 southwest, 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. then 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. before low pressure starts to move in from the southwest, 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 and all the main stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to the media show. on the programme this week, a couple of subjects familiar to us. one is howjournalists should cover donald trump. the other is about the business models of news.

one is howjournalists should cover donald trump — and of course, he's trying to become president of america again — and the other is about the business models of news, because they are under ever more pressure. and when it comes to the business model, we are also looking at al and journalism, because several news organisations have done recent deals with the big tech firms. so that is all coming up. on this week's programme, we're going to hearfrom andrew neil, who has a brand—new show on times radio. he's also the chairman of the spectator group. and we'rejoined by caroline waterston, the relatively new editor in chief of the daily mirror. yeah, we've also got two guests coming out of the states — one, katie notopoulos, who's the senior tech and business correspondent at business insider. but the first person we spoke to isjeffrey goldberg, who is editor in chief of the atlantic. and we started off by asking him just to sum up what the atlantic is. how is that even possible? on the rare... just in case people don't know, it's a 167—year—old