from khan younis and gaza. pictures from khan younis and gaza. a six—week truce is expected to begin on sunday. president biden used his farewell address to warn americans against a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ridge people. an investigation has been launched after the convicted murderer of jimmy mizzen has reportedly released violent rap music reference in the crime. hello if you have just hello if you havejustjoined us. let's return to our top story. israel's canada is due to meet today to approve the ceasefire hostage deal with hamas in gaza agreed after months of tense negotiations. the deal has three phases and comes into

effect on sunday, raising hopes of a permanent end to 15 months of war. our special correspondent fergal keane reports. they're used to false rumours. hope has been a lost language in this war. but tonight, perhaps an end. to fear. exhaustion. degradation. they have suffered while the talk has gone on and on. mahmoud aldebe and his family have evacuated nine times. his children scavenge for anything that could be sold to buy food. and they suffer for it. skin diseases. hepatitis.

the smell is suffocating, he says. and the dogs are everywhere. there's nowhere to go to the bathroom. so at night, my family and i went together to relieve ourselves, only to be attacked by dogs that tried to bite us. they lived here before the war, jabalia. bombed now into an age of stone. the consequences of the war stretched the length of gaza and into every life in one way or another. noara al—najjar and her children. just after the israeli strike that took her husband. their father abdel rahman, one of more than 70 people killed in an operation to rescue two hostages. his daughter malak lost an eye in the attack. pain, she says. i lost my father. enough.

noara was pregnant at the time and now has the couple's baby, rahma. the ceasefire is welcome, but it's not the end of suffering. translation: after the ceasefire, i want to give my children the best life. i want them to get over the fear we lived. my children are really scared. the terror has settled in their hearts. the scale of rebuilding ahead is immense. of a lost world of broken lives. fergal keane, bbc news, amman. us presidentjoe biden says he is confident the ceasefire and hostage agreement will hold. my colleague caitriona perry has been speaking to john kirby, the communications adviser at the white house. she began by asking him how confident he was that all sides would abide by the deal.

well, that is the key question. and implementation is the most important thing right now, now that we have the deal itself. that is why we kept the trump's team fully informed of this negotiation process. that's why president—elect�*s special adviser envoy for the middle east, mr witkoff, was there so he could be fully informed about what implementation it needsto look like because it will will pass to that team to do that. it is going to require commitment and effort, leadership on all sides here, certainly in the region, to make sure that each phase can be achieved and that all the commitments in each phase can be accomplished. and when you mention keeping president—elect trump and his team involved here, have you received assurances from them that they will oversee the implementation and such as it has been agreed so far? absolutely. 100%. mr witkoff was in daily communication multiple times a day over the last week or so with our coordinator who was doing the negotiating. he is aware of every detail here of the implementation, and he and the incoming team are just as dedicated to the success

of this deal as we have been. so, as the president said today in his remarks, we are confident that that leadership, that that effor, that energy will be applied by the incoming team to implement all these details. was there an extra influence from president—elect donald trump and getting the deal over the line when it is so close to the deal outlined by president by dan, president biden in may? by president by dan, president biden in ma ? ., , by president by dan, president biden inma ? ., , , by president by dan, president biden inma ? ., h , in may? some of his comments in the ublic in may? some of his comments in the public made — in may? some of his comments in the public made clear— in may? some of his comments in the public made clear that _ in may? some of his comments in the public made clear that he _ in may? some of his comments in the public made clear that he wanted - public made clear that he wanted this deal and that certainly sent a strong signal to everybody in the region that the efforts had to continue, that the efforts we were already engaged in were important, sadly important to the incoming team, he made that a priority. so i think undoubtedly that helped, there is no question about that. but as you rightly noted, this was a deal that president biden originally put on the table back in may and we have

been involved in months and months of intense diplomacy to get to where we are. the other huge factor here was a further weakening and isolation of hamas since may. they have been decimated militarily, they have been decimated militarily, they have been decimated militarily, they have been further isolated, iran is weaker, hezbollah haven't come to the rescue, so there were a lot of changes in the hamas front as well. talk to us a little bit about what is going to happen on sunday, then, when this deal comes into effect. is there a role for the us and that point? in there a role for the us and that oint? , ., ., ., point? in terms of an active role, physically. _ point? in terms of an active role, physically. to _ point? in terms of an active role, physically, to handle _ point? in terms of an active role, physically, to handle the - point? in terms of an active role, physically, to handle the first - physically, to handle the first releases of hostages, i am not seeing any need for that. there wasn't a need the last time either. but the first tranche of hostages will start to come out, these are the elderly women civilians, the sick, the injured, the most at risk

hostages will be the first to be released. i can't tell you here on wednesday evening exactly who is coming out and at what hour but that first tranche will start to be released as early as this weekend. and the other thing that will be happening this weekend is a complete ceasefire. you happening this weekend is a complete ceasefire. ., ., ceasefire. you mention the possibility _ ceasefire. you mention the possibility of, _ ceasefire. you mention the possibility of, the - ceasefire. you mention the | possibility of, the hostages, president biden said there would be americans among that tranche, do you have any details on which americans? i would rather not go into that level of detail here tonight but we do know that americans, more than one, are qualified in that tranche of again civilian women, the elderly, the sick, and the injured. we know that there are americans in a trash and we fully expect they will be part of this initial release. , we know there are americans in that tranche.

will the,... willthe,... we are will the,... we are still working out the modalities of that. largely, though, this will be three truck movements on the ground, that is how i would look at this. and, of course, the united states has not been driving trucks into gaza, but we will be closely monitoring the surge of humanitarian aid which is so desperately needed, and that is going to require, again, implementation and leadership by certainly, by the israeli side, but also hamas, meeting their commitments to allow those tracks in and to allow them to get to the people who desperately need them in gaza. ibis people who desperately need them in gaza. �* , , ., people who desperately need them in gaza. �* , ,., ., ., people who desperately need them in gaza. ~ , y., ., ., , people who desperately need them in gaza. a ., ., , , gaza. as you have noted, this is the first hase gaza. as you have noted, this is the first phase before _ gaza. as you have noted, this is the first phase before the _ gaza. as you have noted, this is the first phase before the bigger- first phase before the bigger negotiations have to take place, in terms of a more permanent solution, who will be in charge, what the reconstruction of gaza will look like, what is your vision for that?

well, in a phase one, you've got a ceasefire, some humanitarian aid getting in, hostages coming home and being reunited with families. while this is happening, the sides will be negotiating for phase two. the phase one will last six weeks and they will be a lot of negotiating to see what phase two looks like. what it needs to look like is the withdrawal of idf forces from gaza and on a permanent end to the war, that is what you get out of phase two, an additional two additional hostages coming home of course. in phase three, it is the returns of the remains of the hostages who are sadly no longer living, but phase two is a critical phase because it really does allow you, if you can get there, to end this war permanently. and can we get there? yes, man. we believe we can. this is a good deal, this is a deal that we have painstakingly worked on for months now, and backed by the

international community, including the un. this deal will work, itjust requires leadership in the imagination —— in the implementation. there is no doubt in my mind that the incoming administration is committed to that implementation and in getting it done. that is a good start but it will require leadership on all sides and certainly there inside the region but yes, we are confident this deal can be fully implemented. ijust want to this deal can be fully implemented. i just want to take you back to the live pictures from gaza. actually, this is hostages square in tel aviv. reaction coming over time, and we arejust hearing that reaction coming over time, and we are just hearing that that israeli cabinet meeting that we are expecting has been delayed slightly. this is while israel's negotiating team in qatar continues to discuss final details. we are also just hearing that this from the office of israel's prime minister benjamin

netanyahu, which has ricky, accused hamas of reneging on elements of the deal. these pictures are from jerusalem, they have issued a statement, spokesperson for benjamin netanyahu who is saying that the palestinian group are trying to, quote, extort last—minute concessions. it goes on to add the israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify israel that hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement. so this is some breaking news, within the last few minutes, coming from the office of the israeli prime minister mayjimmy netanyahu. , benjamin netanyahu. a spokesman says hamas are trying to extort last—minute concessions and that the israeli cabinet will not convene until the negotiators that hamas has accepted all the nets of the agreement. —— elements. those

negotiations are going on in qatar. let me take you to the pictures from khan younis. reaction coming all the time. we have had some reaction from around. its powerful revolutionary guards have issued a statement, hailing the ceasefire agreement as a great victory for hamas. so, as we were expecting, there are a lot of moving parts in this, so although that agreement was announced yesterday, there are still details, and the main one in the last few minutes that prime minister netanyahu accusing hamas of backtracking on some of those ceasefire deal details. more on the bbc news website. here, holyhead port on anglesey has partially reopened for the first time in six weeks after damaging caused by a storm in december and it

was forced to close. no passenger or freight traffic has been able to use the site, which provides the main ferry connection between great britain and ireland, let's go live to our wales correspondent, how's it looking? it to our wales correspondent, how's it lookin: ? . , to our wales correspondent, how's it lookin: ? .,, , , to our wales correspondent, how's it lookina? , , , _ looking? it has been very busy here this morning. _ looking? it has been very busy here this morning, almost _ looking? it has been very busy here this morning, almost all _ looking? it has been very busy here this morning, almost all of - looking? it has been very busy here this morning, almost all of the - this morning, almost all of the traffic we have seen going through the port this morning, 1421 00:13:21,509 -->