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brook: these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. i'm thriving by helping others everyday. people who know, know bdo. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". sumi: i am caitrionan washington. this is bbc world news america. eight israeli hostages are released in exchange for palestinian prisoners as talks continue to extend the temporary truce. america's top diplomat warns israel to protect civilians should fighting resume in gaza.

as the u.n. climate change conference kicks off, delegates agreed to start payouts to countries worst impacted by natural disasters. ♪ >> ♪ and the bells are ringing out on christmas day ♪ caitriona: tributes pour in fo the polka singers shane reg out who has died at the age of 65. ♪ hello and welcome to "world news america." i am caitriona perry. america's top diplomat has urged israel to take steps to protect civilian lives, and some of the most direct public comments made by the u.s. to its ally about its military operation in gaza. after meeting the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his war cabinet in jerusalem, the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken said massive loss of civilian life in northern

gaza cannot be repeated in the south. he acknowledged the difficulty of israel's fight against hamas, who he says embeds itself among civilians. he issued a warning. sec. blinken: before israel resumes major military operations, it must put in place humanitarian protection plans that minimize further casualties of innocent palestinians. that means taking more effective steps to protect the lives of civilians, including by precisely designating areas in southern and in gaza where they can be safe and out of the line of fire. it means avoiding further significant displacement of civilians inside of gaza. it means avoiding damage to life critical infrastructure, like hospitals, like power stations, like water facilities. caitriona: mr. blinken said the immediate focus was to extend the temporary truce between israel and hamas, so further aid could be delivered to gaza and more hostages be released.

six further israeli hostages held in gaza have bee freed, including two minors and six women, and two nationals from mexico, russia, and guayaqui they were handed over to the red cross and our with the israel defense forces, who will accompany them to hospitals. they will be reunited with their families there. hamas handed over two female hostages on thursday. a 21-year-old and another, bringing the total released to eight. the white house condemned what it called a terrorist attack in jerusalem where hamas gunman killed three people at a bus stop. let's discuss today's developments. we are joined by our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, who is in jerusalem. some of the strongest words we have heard to date from the last directed towards israel who has made clear that they will continue their military campaign. what is the significance from what we heard from anthony -- from antony blinken today? paul: i think he realizes, as

everyone does, that this phase of hostage releases, in exchange for the release of palestinian prisoners is gradually coming to an end. we may have seen the last of them tonight. with the release of these eight further hostages. the moment for israel to return, to pick up where it left off in the gaza strip militarily, that is approaching. and may be imminent. antony blinken is saying, if you are going to do that, here is how you were going to do it. you are not going to repeat the scenes that we saw in the northern gaza strip in the south. you are going to make sure people know precisely where they can go to keep safe. you are not going to target civilian infrastructure, including hospitals. and you will make sure there is no large-scale displacement of civilians. no repeat of the hundreds of thousands of people we saw fleeing from the northern gaza strip.

i should point out that his remarks were very much about the south. when and if israel does resume its military campaign, it is likely to do that first of all in the north, where it has unfinished business in and around gaza city. whether these new rules that antony blinken has laid down apply in the north and the south, we will just have toee. certainly when it comes to what israel has got planned for the southern gaza strip, mr. blinken was clear to say, here are the rules, and we will be watching. caitriona: paul adams jerusalem, thank you for that. younger hostages have been released and they have been brought to the schneider children medical center in israel for checks treatment. earlier, i spoke to the ceo of the hospital about the care they have been providing. thank you very much for joining us on bbc news.

once the hostages have been freed by hamas, they come to your medical center. you might talk us through just what happens first, how they are when they arrive. >> yeah, at schneider children's medical center, we received during the last week or so 26 of the hostages that were kept by hamas. mostly children, mothers, and even one grandmother. and i went all the way to the heliport of the hospital in order to get them through the whole process of getting off the helicopter, and getting into hospital. and actually, since the first minute, until the time they leave, i watched them. i look at them. i listen to them. and i see a very painful process that they are going through.

and also very happy process that they are going through coming back home. caitriona: we don't want to infringe on anyone's privacy, obviously. but can you tell us in a general way, what sort of condition the people are when they arrive with you, the women and children? >> it is very sad, because i try to put it into words the images that i see once they get to our hospital. and i would say that when they come, they don't really look like children. i would say they look more like shadows of children. kind of hollow children. they have no impression on their face. not sad, not happy, just no impression. they hary speak. very, very quiet. if they do speak, it is very, very quiet. it is the same with the mothers. using mothers with their -- you

see mothers with their children, hugging them, not letting any of them, not even one centimeter away from them, and a very, very worried. and it takes them quite a while to really believe that they are no longer in a place that might hurt them. that they are in a safe place. all of them are very skinny. some of them lost over 10% of their weight. even 15% of their weight. very pale. and happily, once we have them, we start feeding them in a very precise way in order for them to gain their weight back, gain their power back. some of them are having a hard time getting up from a chair. a little like older people that need some help while they get up from a chair. some of them need help on the

first day and can't raise themselves up by themselves. many of them are very weak. caitriona: they told you, and can you share with us again without infringing on anyone's privacy, how they were kept? whether they were inside, outside, if they are very skinny, did they have access to food, bathing facilities? >> you know, first of all, like any other patient that we are receiving to a hospital, you cannot really generalize the whole group as a group that underwent the same conditions. i would say that different children and mothers describe different experiences that they had. some of them were moved through panels from one place to another. during this time. many times, so they have been to a few places underground and

over the ground. some of them have been kept within one place for most of the time some of them met other people. some of them did not meet anyone other than the people that were keeping them. very different experiences. but many of them, young childrenjust by the way they speak, we understand that they were under very strict conditions wherever they were. caitriona: i understand that you have been able to discharge some of them from hospital already, that they are making good progress? >> yes. happily, we have been already trying to discharge some of the families. so we are now about a week after receiving our first family, and we have already discharged three

of the famils that we have had at schneider's children. we really want them to stay for a long -- as long a period as they can, or they feel that they should at the hospital. because we believe that we are giving them this sterile atmosphere, and you have to understand that i don't think there is a lot of experience around the world of so many children and families being in captivity for such a long time. either as individuals, or as a group. so there is not a lot of literature that we can study from. for us, after studying whatever there is to study, and getting ready for those children, we look at them, we listen to them, we don't ask questions in the first minute. we try to discharge them from the hospital only when we feel

that they are safe enough, that their family is strong enough in order to face the new reality that they now have to face to go into a rehabilitation period, that might need a lot of emotional work in order for these people just to get back to regular normal life. caitriona: indeed. we wish you well in those endeavors in caring for those individuals. clf schneider children's medical center in israel, think you very, very much for joining us. >> thank you very much. day. -- good day. caitriona: 30 palestinian prisoners e being released from israeli prisons as part of the hostage deal. lucy williamson has spent the last few days speaking to some who have already been released and she has heard their stories about their time under tension.

[no audio] caitriona: our apologies. we seem to have technical difficulties with lucy's report. we will try to return to that if we can. let stand to other maneuvers. as the cup 28 summit begins, the united nations has issued a warning about the pace and scale of climate change. the u.n.'s climate body warns this year's global temperature is already 1.4 degrees above the preindustrial average. 2023 is set to be the hottest year ever. the paris summit in 2015 committed to keeping the temperature rise below two degrees, opening cop 28, its president urged countries to live up to their commitments. there is huge controversy about whether phasing out fossil fuels will be part of any agreement.

our climate editor is in dubai and has sent this report. >> a petro state hosting a climate conference sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. but the president of cop 28, who is also the head of th uae's huge state oil company, says he knows the world has to change and is taking action. >> hearing no objections, it is so decided. reporter: the chairs are because the conference has agreed to create a fund to pay for the loss and damage climate change is already wreaking on poorer countries. >> this whole neighborhood was destroyed. reporter: it has been a bone of contention between the developed and developing world for decades. >> it is great that we got it adopted here at the start. it has been over 30 years in the making. and it is time now to get the job done. putting money into the areas affected by the rms of climate

change. >> more than 300 million pounds has already been promised for the fund, including 60 million from the u.k. what else is on the agenda? here are the three most contentious issues on the table. first up, cutting carbon. will countries be persuaded to include food and agriculture, a third of all omissions, in their carbon cutting targets? second up, cash for developing countries. the rich world caused the climate crisis. poorer countries say now you have to pay to solve the problem. and finally, the future of fossil fuels. will the conference agree to phase down or maybe phase out fossil fuels? at the moment, the only commitment the world has made is to phase down cold. -- coal. it has been in a even full start, and it is only day one. caitriona: let's return to lucy williamson's report on those palestinian detainees who have been freed from israeli jails.

lucy: come here to the village just outside jenin. mohammed, a teenager, who was released from israeli jail this week. he says israeli guards beat him and injured his hands. muhammad says both hands were fractured and they also, a days before his release. freed from jail monday night, mohammed is still imprisoned by his injuries. needing help to eat, drink, and go to the bathroom, he says. first from his fellow prisoners. now from his family. happy reunion they expected, rewritten on the faces of his relatives around the room. >> they arrange us so the elderly prisoners are put in the back and the young in the front. they took me inside and started beating me.

i was trying to protect my head. and they were trying to break my legs and hands. lucy: israel's prison service says mohammed was examined by a doctor before relea, and that his claims are false. he has -- they published a video of him boarding a bus monday night, his hands on bandaged. meeting his family on arrival in the west bank, both hands are wrapped in bandages. mohammed says the first treatment he received was on the red cross bus. on the day he arrived back, hospital confirmed both his hands were fractured. we showed the x-rays to two u.k. doctors who confirmed the diagnosis. his medical report recommends admission to hospital, and possible surgery. mohammed says abuse of palestinian prisoners was common after the hamas attack/month. he showed me the bruises where he says guards used sticks, their feet, and dogs to assault

them. >> the dog attacking me wore a muscle with sharp edges. it left marco -- marks all over my body. then they started beating us. they took our clothes, pillows, and they threw our food on the floor. people were terrified. lucy: other prisoners have confirmed guards behaviors changed after the hamas attacks. the bbc has spoken to six prisoners who said they were beaten before they release. the palestinian prisoners society says it has heard testimony of guards urinating on handcuffed inmates. israel says it is not aware of these claims, and that all prisoners are legally detained. mohammed's brother said something in him is broken. >> this is not the mohammed we know. he was much stronger back then. it is as if his heart is filled with terror. lucy:he hominids freeman -- freedom was -- how mott's freemen was bought.

the attacks keenly felt, in the chance of relief, and in israeli jails. lucy williamson, bbc news. caitriona: turning to other news now, the pogue's front man has died at the age of 65. he was discharged from hospital last week after being treated for in cap a lightest. he fronted the band from 1982 until the band broke up into any 14. ey are best known for their christmas hit song "fairytale of new york." david cilento reports. >> ♪ there was christmas eve, babe in the truck tank an old man said to me ♪ ♪ >> happy christmas, i pray god it is our last. a bleak drink song duet about lives gone wrong is not your normal christmas classic. but it was a trademark.

>> ♪ i turned my face away and dreamed about you ♪ >>'s band the pogue's, brought a rambunctious attitude to irish folk. born out of his years in the london punk scene, shane hooligan, as he called himself, won a literary scholarship to public school. >> ♪ as i wandered down the long lonesome highway ♪ reporter: he was behind it all a writer, a rare talent. he created beauty and poetry out of hard lives and harder drinking. something he understood well. >> it's true though, i am out of it most of the time. but i can write. it's easier for me to write. reporter: on his 60th birthday, ireland's predent, bono,

johnny depp, and sinead o'connor led the applause. his life often overshadowed his talent. >> ♪ the nypd choir ♪ reporter: but we will always have this to remind us. >> ♪ ♪ and the bells are ringing out for christmas day ♪ ♪ caitriona: shane mccown who has diedt the age of 65. to discuss his life, i spoke to a member of the band and friend of mr. mccown. thank you for joining us on bbc news. firstly, sorry for the loss of your companion in news inc. and your friend, shane mccown. thank you for joining us to remember him your band would have been around the mate -- the same music scene. how would you remember him? >> one of my early memories of shane is when he came to my house. 33 years ago now.

when we brought my eldest girls, twin girls, we brought them home and there was a gathering at the house. the remarkable thing about shane is when he arrived, a few peopl were smoking and he said, guys, there are baby -- babies in the room. stamp out your cigarettes, will you? not what you may expect from him. that is one of my early funds stand up memories of shane. yes, we were at the same gigs, he came to see us when we played there. he went to see the pogue's when they opened for you two. it has been a wild year because we have lost tracy dickman, sinead 'connor and now shane my gallon. these are our temporaries. a huge loss to irish music and ourselves to us personally. caitriona: indeed. shane was born in kent to irish

parents and out -- but spent pa of his childhood in ireland before going back to the u.k. that emigrant experience seems to have informed his songwriting in which it resonates with irish communities around the world. what made his talent so special, do you think? >> i think he just had an intuitive -- he was fascinated by irish history. obviously, he was tapped into that i love traditional irish music as well and song. i think the combination of that and moving to london and being in the punk world, the end result of l of is that there was a new genre of music that shane and the pogues invented. it took irish traditional music into an arena that was angry and aggressive and full of energy and a lot of the traditional irish purist's did not like it. a lot of other people obviously loved it.

it was groundbreaking stuff, really. caitriona: briefly, how do you think shane macgowan would like people to be remembering him today and into the future? >> i think shane is gointo be remembered as one of the great figures, not only an irish music, but one of the great figures in irish literacy -- literature. he was a great poet. when you look at that body of work he created, they are just remarkable, unique, incredible songs. . i think he will be remembered as a poet and singer. and a london irishman. caitriona: on that note, we leave it there. on singer and guitarist, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. caitriona: tributes have poured in from around the world for henry kissinger, former u.s. secretary of state who died wednesday at the age of 10 mr. kissinger led engagement with communist china in the 19 entities, winning the nobel peace prize for helping to

negotiate an end to the vietnam war. the chinese foreign ministry has issued a statement saying he was a pioneer and builder of sino u.s. relations. the white house appeared to acknowledge this kissinger courted controversy and faced criticism. john kirby said there is no question but he shaped foreign policy decisions for decades. remember, keep up-to-date with all of the days news on our website, bbc.com/news. narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.

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♪ >> good evening. >> on the newshour tonight, civilians in gaza get another day of reprieve from war. we speak to the head of unicef about the urgent humanitarian needs of the war's youngest victims and the risks should fighting resume. >> the latest united nations climate conference opens in dubai amid global tensions and skepticism that the world will move away from fossil fuels. >> a masterful diplomat