possible compared to any point before, to reaching a ceasefire. the special counsel's report to congress states: donald trump engaged in unprecedented criminal effort to overturn the 2020 election result. and as strong winds are forecast to return in los angeles — nine people are charged in connection with looting. hello, i'm lauren taylor. after more than a year of bloodshed, a ceasefire agreement between israel and hamas appears close. the talks are being hosted by qatar, and in the past hour a spokesman confirmed that the parties are at their closest point to a deal in months. the foreign ministry spokesperson said the major differences had been overcome and talks were now focussed on the final details. we have said this for months. this war should have been over

a long time ago. the humanitarian cost of the ongoing war is unbearable and continues to be unbearable for the people of gaza and the safety and security of this region and therefore we again call on both parties to seriously engage in the negotiations, which is happening right now. and we do applaud the fact that the negotiations are taking place but we also, you know, are urging both sides to end this now and sign the agreement as soon as possible so that the people can have the respite that they need and both the hostages and prisoners can get back to theirfamilies hostages and prisoners can get back to their families and life, and stability in this region can have a moment of clarity that is much—needed. the main reason, as i said, during the past month there were underlying issues, major issues between the two parties, and result. these issues were resolved during the talks in the past couple of weeks and therefore we have reached a point where the major issues

that were preventing this from happening were addressed and we have language pertaining to this issue between both parties. we especially appreciate both the biden administration and the incoming trump administration in the talks in the past couple of weeks. on monday, us president joe biden expressed his hopes of an agreement. we are pressing hard to close this. the deal we have enstructured will free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the palestinians who have suffered terribly in this war that hamas started. the toll continues to rise. the health ministry and gaza run by hamas has announced that 61 people have been killed in the past 2a hours alone. just to get back to the statement from

qatar, he said there is a special kind of optimism this time round. mediators hope it will become an agreement but it was also cautious because we have been here before with agreements appearing to be close and then falling apart at the last minute. he said they have now passed the biggest challenges but it does not mean that we have reached the end of the negotiations. the most minor detail, he said, can undermine the whole process. the underlying issues have been ironed out. this does not mean the deal as a reality. so a degree of caution coming with the optimism, and he also was at pains to point out that, in this case, in the incoming administration and the outgoing administration and the outgoing administration in the us have both been instrumental. he said that they had been fully involved in working in tandem during the negotiations and they said that they appreciated they said that they appreciated the role of the two presidents on this. he said that the statements from both president

trump, president biden, i should say, and president elect trump, had been helpful. we know that one of the sticking issues had been her permanente ceasefire is. one of the hurdles has been hamas wanting this to be a comprehensive end to the war whereas israel wanted to be able to go back in and continue a war after an initial hostage release and an initial hostage release and an initial ceasefire. it seems that sticking point has been one of the things they have managed to resolve because they said that on the major issues, they have come a long way. if you want to follow some of the detail of this on our website we have got a lie paid training at the moment. details there from our correspondent. —— we have got a life page. more details about how the deal would work and writing about the way that the biden and trump administrations have been

involved in this latest round of negotiations. if you remember, this war started when hamas launched an attack on israel on the 7th of october 2023 in which about 1200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were taken. we can bring in our correspondent. let's speak to rushdi abualouf — the bbc correspondent formerly based in gaza — and is now in istanbul. it is looking as though they are close. they sound very optimistic that something can be happening very soon. yes. optimistic that something can be happening very soon. yes, i think the qatari _ be happening very soon. yes, i think the qatari official - be happening very soon. yes, i think the qatari officialjust - think the qatari officialjust confirmed that they are at the closest point. as we said, there is a palestinian senior official involved in the talks told me this morning that there was about six hours of meetings last night and they resume

meeting today. i think most of the important, the key issue of this deal has been solved. now they are talking about very small micro details, technical details about where the israeli tanks will be moving from player to player, the buffer zone and which area the israeli army will stay. 800 metres in some areas, 600 metres. so they are talking about very small details but the key issue has been solved. we understand that hamas will release 3334 israeli hostages, including women, children, sick people. —— 33 or 34. israel will release 1000 or may be more palestinian prisoners including 200 of those who are convicted for 15 years or more but, most important for 2.3 million people in gaza, is that the people in gaza, is that the people who are first displaced

in the beginning of this war from their villages and towns in the north, they will be allowed to go back into the northern gaza again after being displaced over a year in the south and a very difficult condition. israel want to make sure that all people are going back, excluding militants from hamas and other groups and that hamas and other groups and that hamas will not be able to move any military equipment. the qatari and the egyptians will be on the ground, monitoring, assisting, helping both sides to implement the deal. tell us a bit more _ to implement the deal. tell us a bit more about _ to implement the deal. tell us a bit more about that - to implement the deal. tell us a bit more about that because| to implement the deal. tell us| a bit more about that because i understand they would have go through checkpoints where there would be scans. are they going to have two, essentially, return to where they came from on foot? . ., ., ~ on foot? yeah, look, the details — on foot? yeah, look, the details of _ on foot? yeah, look, the details of the _ on foot? yeah, look, the details of the deal - on foot? yeah, look, the details of the deal that i | on foot? yeah, look, the - details of the deal that i was told is that, after seven days,

hamas will have to release, like, for additional. three hostages the first day, for after that. hostages the first day, for afterthat. israel will hostages the first day, for after that. israel will start to allow people on foot to go through what is called... and then from south to north, only on foot. then, after a couple of days, another checkpoint in the middle of gaza, the egyptian and qataris will have to install scanners for cars to be checked in this area and to go back to gaza. so there is a lot of technical details involving egyptian and qatari teams on the ground, involving equipment and now drawing a map where the cars will be and which road they will take because, you know, just to bring you back a little bit too october 13 threat is real issued warnings to all people

in northern gaza to move south and then, very quickly, israeli tanks cut gaza into two halves so gaza city and the north have and the southern gaza have and now two thirds of the population, may be more, in the south. so part of this deal, which is very significant for the people of gaza, that those who were displaced, they will be able to go back. it is going to be chaotic. the egyptian and qataris will have a lot ofjobs to do on the ground to try to organise their return. we are talking about hundreds of thousands of people. people carrying, they will be carrying their tents, their belongings, and they will have to go through a checkpoint and screening and security checks, so it might take days to allow those hundreds of thousands of people to go back to the north. and tell us about the

humanitarian situation. the qatari spokesperson said the humanitarian cost, he described it as unbearable. how would this deal provide more humanitarian aid in short order? ~ , , order? well, yesterday, there was a meeting _ order? well, yesterday, there was a meeting in _ order? well, yesterday, there was a meeting in the - order? well, yesterday, there was a meeting in the egyptianj was a meeting in the egyptian side of the crossing involving, as we understand, from the egyptians, the americans, the egyptians, the americans, the egyptians and the israelis, they are studying a better mechanism to allow at least 5-700 mechanism to allow at least 5—700 trucks every day from the egyptian side into gaza. now the humanitarian organisation, aid organisation in gaza are saying, what is being allowed is less than 20% of what is needed. so the idea is to increase the number of trucks going into gaza and, in order to do that, egypt will have to reopen the rafah crossing and allow hundreds of trucks to

enter gaza from egypt. we understand that hundreds, maybe hundreds of thousands of tonnes of equipment and medical supplies, food, on the egyptian side of the crossing, waiting for that deal to be achieved and then the process of starting to allow the aid into gazais starting to allow the aid into gaza is being studied in a meeting yesterday, there will be further talks. they are talking to the palestinian side and the businessmen to help in facilitating the aid into gaza. thank you very much indeed. the us congress has received

a department ofjustice reports that says donald trump took part in an "unprecedented criminal effort" to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. the report was written by jack smith, the lawyer appointed to investigate the case, and it says mr trump would have been convicted if he hadn't won re—election. the incoming president has responded by calling mr smith deranged and desperate, describing the findings as �*fake'. (pres)cbs news correspondent jarred hill has more on this. in this report which had been long awaited, it came out at 1am easter in time. it largely recounts the previously released information but does detail allegations trump knew that he lost the election were that he lost the election wer