i'm rajini vaidyanathan in london. also coming up... the lawyers who represented the late russian opposition leader alexei navalny have been jailed, accused of belonging to an extremist group. a bbc investigation has found the deaths of 56 babies and two mothers at two maternity units in leeds may have been preventable. and in breaking news, the award—winning actress damejoan plowright has died at the age of 95. hello and a very warm welcome to bbc news, i'm mark lowen and we are live here on hostages square in tel aviv where israelis are still waiting with bated breath for the israeli government to approve a ceasefire deal in gaza that has

now been agreed upon. there were some last—minute disputes between israel and hamas that were holding up the final approval of the deal, but the security cabinet of the israeli government is now meeting to discuss the deal. we are here on the square in tel aviv that has become the focal point for israel's national trauma since the 7th of october 2023 when hamas gunmen stormed israel, taking 250 hostages and killing thousands. there is a demonstration behind me from families of hostages calling for the ceasefire deal to get over the line. speeches are being held by families and loved ones of hostages, still putting pressure on benjamin netanyahu at this last minute. i can bring you live pictures from outside the israeli prime minister past my office where the security cabinet is meeting to discuss the ceasefire deal. it is a phased deal that would begin on sunday with the

release of the first hostages, three hostages would be released on sunday and then groups would be released every week for the first six weeks of the first phase. in that first phase they will begin discussing the second phase, which will see more hostages released and a complete israeli withdrawal from the gaza strip. that has prompted the ire of some members of the israeli cabinet with two ministers on the far right of the israeli government threatening to resign if israel is not allowed to resume the war in gaza. but the israeli prime minister's office believes the ceasefire will hold and the first israeli hostages will be released on sunday. on the ground in gaza are the killing and destruction goes on. health officials in gaza report at least 80 people have been killed since the ceasefire was agreed on wednesday night in qatar. a

little earlier i spoke to a doctor who is a gynaecologist and surgeon in humanitarian trauma who hasjust and surgeon in humanitarian trauma who has just spent a few weeks volunteering in southern gaza and nasser hospital in khan younis, the largest city in the south of the gaza strip. he started off by telling me what the situation was like they're on the ground. i was just about three weeks ago in gaza, we left gaza on boxing day. i spent a month there and the situation beyond belief, it was a dystopia. when i walked into gaza from the crossing on the 26th of november it was a really strange experience. it was as if from another world, another planet. the situation in nasser hospital, we went to support

colleagues, we were four british doctors in deployment through an amazing ngo, a charity—based ngo, medical aid for palestinians, who looked after us as well as delivering health care for gazans. nasser hospital, you might recall, was closed twice and rebuilt in terms of equipment and expertise but was still overwhelmed with daily casualties and frequent mass casualties came into nasser hospital. when i first met people in gaza they looked really underweight, they were skinny, they resembled the pictures we have all seen from people coming from concentration camps. it's not only the constant shelling and bombing, it's the hunger and starvation.

i was there only for 30 days and i lost more than three kilograms, and i'm nota big man. it is utter devastation. i'm so relieved and comforted that the ceasefire has come into place. people have some chance of living some type of life again now. under the terms of the ceasefire deal, 600 trucks of humanitarian aid will be allowed to get into the gaza strip per day. what do you believe is the most urgent necessity on those trucks in terms of the health care facilities in gaza? the health care facilities need almost everything. just imagine, i once finished operating, an operation performed on a casualty.

there was no piece of paper to write operation notes on. it is that level of blockade that people in gaza have endured over the past 15 months. a doctor with a vivid description of the situation on the ground in gaza. authorities say more than 10,000 people have been killed. a report in the lancet medicaljournal last the lancet medical journal last week the lancet medicaljournal last week suggested that number is a huge understatement. political machinations go on here. two cabinet ministers in israel have threatened to resign if the cabinet votes through the deal. but they say they will not actually withdraw from government altogether unless the israeli government actually refuses to continue the war in

gaza after the first phase of the ceasefire deal expires. they want israel to continue the war in gaza despite having signed that ceasefire agreement will stop earlier i spoke to gideon leavy, a journalist, author and columnist at an israeli newspaper. iasked author and columnist at an israeli newspaper. i asked what his assessment was of the political bind that benjamin netanyahu is in. the first phase will be approved, no doubt about it. the right—wingers are threatening, and maybe one of them will even quit to the government, on the condition that if the war will be renewed, he will be back. but for the very short time i think nothing can stop the first phase. i guess the first hostages will be released on monday, not on sunday, because of some bureaucratic questions in israel. but in any case i am quite confident that the first phase is on its way and nothing

can stop it. as you point out, the ceasefire demands that israel pulled out demands that israel pull out of gaza before reaching the second phase, which is due to begin after six weeks. and that there would be a full withdrawal from gaza. that's at the heart of the opposition from these two ministers who want israel to continue the war. do you believe benjamin netanyahu, you know how he operates very well, do you think he will cave in to pressure from the right in the end or do you think he will stick to an international agreement that he would have to sign? netanyahu and sticking to international agreements doesn't go so much together but i don't think it really depends on netanyahu. it depends on one person and this is donald trump. in the last week he showed that if the united states really wants something to happen in the middle east and

really wants to push israel from its policy, it is possible. for half a year, for eight months. the same proposal was made eight months ago on the table. but the biden administration was threatening israel, proposing the kind of proposals to israel, and warning israel, but they didn't take any measures and israel learned to totally ignore biden. now there is a new boy in town and within a week netanyahu has left all his oppositions and surrendered, there is no other way to put it, and agreed to the ceasefire. so will donald trump continue to be as tough and harsh as he is, or will he lose interest and go for his next problem to be solved? this will depend on donald trump. if he will be as strong and really decisive

as he was in the last week, then there will be a second phase. journalist and gideon leavey. some negotiations being kicked into the long grass of the second and third phase of the ceasefire deal, including who could run gaza after the guns fall silent, with israel's western allies wanting a greater role for palestinian authorities that currently run the other part of the palestinian territory in the west bank. but israel is fiercely opposed to that. earlier we heard from a doctor who is a palestinian political leader in the west bank who gave his reaction to the ceasefire agreement.

it's a relief that finally we have an agreement. it's a big relief especially for the population of gaza. we are talking about 2.2 million people who are taken hostages practically by israel. they are suffering from starvation, they have suffered huge losses. we are talking about maybe at least 70,000 people killed according to the lancet and more than 109,000 people injured. it's almost 10% of the population of gaza. that's a huge number. if it happened in the united states you would be talking about 32 million people killed in 15 months. so the people of gaza are feeling relief, hoping there will be a true ceasefire that last. ceasefire that could last. and of course there will be the release of israeli captives and palestinian prisoners, which is also very, very useful. but i also feel very sad, because all of this could have happened exactly six months ago. on the 3rd ofjuly this agreement was there. hamas had accepted it, the palestinian side had accepted it. but it was israel and netanyahu in particular who blocked the agreement and did not

allow it to take place. and in the process we lost 10,000 more people, and lots of destruction. and netanyahu caused the death of many israelis, israeli prisoners, because of his bombardment. it is clear that if it wasn't for the big pressure that was exercised by president trump, netanyahu would not have signed this deal at this time. that is a doctor, a palestinian political leader in the west bank, referring to the divisions that still exist and the difficult decisions over the difficult decisions over the future of both sides and also big divisions still from the israeli point of view over whether the palestinians would be able to have a unified state, uniting gaza and the west bank. a reminder that the

security cabinet meeting is still under way injerusalem. still under way in jerusalem. this is still under way injerusalem. this is the scene live outside that building where the security cabinet will be discussing the ceasefire deal. it has to give its approval and thenit it has to give its approval and then it would have to go to the full cabinet to discuss and ratify the agreement. they would then be a few hours given to all israelis to lodge appeals regarding the identities of the palestinian prisoners to be released from israeli jails. it is not expected that those appeals would halt or torpedo the agreement. the hope is that the ceasefire would come into play possibly as early as sunday. this is the live scene in hostages square in tel aviv where families and loved ones of those still being held captive maintain their pressure on the israeli government to get the deal over the line. some hostage families i have spoken to are not happy with the shape of the deal, they want all hostages released at once, but at the moment the

ceasefire deal is designed for the first phase of the deal to see 33 hostages released and successive phases to see remaining hostages, both alive and dead, to be released. we will continue to bring you all the updates from here in tel aviv and right across this region. you can visit the bbc news website for the live page with minute by minute updates. for now, back to the studio in london. studio: iwill for now, back to the studio in london. studio: i will keep you there because we are getting some more developments i want to ask you about. first of all we are hearing from the reuters news agents that hamas says any issues related to the ceasefire deal had been resolved on friday. that fits into what you are saying about things looking like they are likely to go according to the sunday timetable once the israeli cabinet meeting has concluded. yeah, indeed. itappears cabinet meeting has concluded. yeah, indeed. it appears that the last minute hiccups were

over the identities of some palestinian prisoners to be released from israeli jails with our gaza correspondent speaking to hamas. they said they wanted a few more people added to that list. and israel wanted a veto over the identity of some of those palestinian prisoners to be released. a reminder that under the terms of this deal there would be hundreds of palestinian prisoners released from israeli jails. there is still a question over whether how serious the crimes are of those who would be released. in other words, would israel allow prisoners convicted of the most serious crimes of murder to be released? israel does not want them released into the palestinian territories, the west bank or gaza. israel wants them deported to a third country, would that be qatar, or egypt? still some issues to be ironed out but it appears the main obstacle is holding up

the main obstacle is holding up the agreement at the last minute have been resolved and the hope is it will go into place as early as sunday and the first hostages will be released then.— the first hostages will be released then. �* ., ., released then. another thing to ask ou released then. another thing to ask you about. _ released then. another thing to ask you about, we _ released then. another thing to ask you about, we are - released then. another thing to ask you about, we are talking i ask you about, we are talking about the release of palestinians held injails and of hostages held by hamas since those attacks. we are also talking about aid and aid distribution as well. because gaza has been starved of essential supplies now for months on end. we have heard from the who just now saying they think it will be possible to ramp up aid to 600 trucks per day to gaza if new routes and crossings are opened. yes, and crossings are opened. yes, and we have — and crossings are opened. yes, and we have seen _ and crossings are opened. yes, and we have seen a _ and crossings are opened. yes, and we have seen a queue - and crossings are opened. yes, and we have seen a queue of i and we have seen a queue of trucks on the southern border of gaza with egypt and at other crossings as well waiting to get into gaza once the ceasefire deal goes into place.

as you say, the deal foresees 600 trucks going into gaza per day. a reminder that before the war erupted on the 7th of october 2023, 500 trucks were getting oc