amid jubilation over the latest hostage and prisoner release, a precarious moment for the gaza ceasefire deal — as israel accuses hamas of breaching its terms. criticism on capitol hill — after president trump fires more than a dozen independent watchdogs, tasked with investigating government corruption. thirteen soldiers serving with peacekeeping forces in the democratic republic of congo are killed in clashes with m23 rebels. hello, i'm carl nasman. we start with scenes ofjubiliation in israel and the west bank, after four female israeli soldiers held hostage by hamas were released, in exchange for around 200 palestinian prisoners detained by israel. the release of naama levy, liri albag, daniella gilboa and karina ariev is the second exchange to take place as part

of the gaza ceasefire deal. meanwhile, crowds of palestinians turned out in the west bank to welcome two buses carrying detainees released from two israeli prisons. as part of the ceasefire deal, thousands of displaced gaza residents were supposed to be allowed to return to the north of the strip today. but israel has so far prevented them crossing into the north until a female civilian hostage, arbel yehud, is released. israel says she should have been freed today. we have this report from our middle east correspondent lucy williamson. in a theatre of war the theatre of victory. four israeli soldiers escorted by hamas to a specially built stage. naama, leary, daniella and karina smiling for the cameras. after 15 months in captivity, theirfreedom

signed moments before. hostages taken by brute force, released with a pen. back home in israel, they watched them freed. tension breaking into relief. into tears. the childhood friends of leary clinging together as she appeared. a moment imagined many times, still unreal. when i saw leary smile, when i saw leary walking on her two legs. it's everything. she's a hero. she's a fighter. and this moment, this couple of minutes just show me how brave she is. in exchange, israel released 200 palestinians from its jails to gaza, egypt and the occupied

west bank. first glimpses of long lost relatives, first glimpses of post—war gaza. running to meet the red cross van in gaza rafe alfare niece and nephew, with their mother. it's been 20 years, she said. my brother. my heart. but the homecoming of those displaced by the war here was delayed. blocked by israeli forces after israel accused hamas of breaching the deal by not releasing a civilian female hostage held by another militia group. then panic as shots were fired. israel doesn't allow outside journalists in to operate

independently from gaza, but reports suggest one man was killed and others injured. israel's army said it fired warning shots into the air. across the border 15 months of waiting ended. in the relief of hugging a parent holding a child. their return also a reminder of 90 hostages still held in gaza. for them, this isjust the beginning in a long and precarious road home. lucy williamson, bbc news, tel aviv. 0ur correspondent nick beake was in tel aviv where the families gathered to celebrate the latest release of hostages and sent this update. all and sent this update. through saturday hundreds of all through saturday hundreds of people have been in this

hostage square. there was great jubilation at the start when they saw in the big screen the images of the four women being freed and then being reunited with their families. what's going on now is that there is a rally. 0n the big screen other images of the other hostages who have not yet been released. there are about 90 of them. it's thought about a third have died. the family saying they won't give up their fight until everyone has been returned to israel. it was one complication in this prisoner swap today and that was a fact that over the past week or so it been widely reported in the israeli media that a particular civilian would be released but she wasn't on the list that hamas submitted on friday night. why was this? people wanted to know. the israeli government have set hamas have broke of the deal and so today prevented hundreds and thousands of gazans going further north and returning to their homes. we've been hearing from one hamas source that next weekend a

civilian will be released at apparently hamas have given proof of life to the mediators of this fragile cease—fire. this is a very delicate moment in this process. there has been on saturday some joy at the site of four more hostages coming home. the release of the israeli soldiers today prompted israel, under the gaza ceasefire deal, to release 200 palestinians it's been holding in detention. jon donnison was in ramallah for the release of those prisoners. earlier we saw a pretty chaotic scenes to be honest. as those prisoners were busted out off the jail down the road for remind at this reception center put on in ramallah. there were chaotic scenes as the buses on which they arrived were swarmed with their supporters, the family members we then saw the

prisoners file off the bus all in their great prison track suits for the many with shaven heads, some quite long beards. it has to be said in all looking pretty gaunt, like they've lost quite a bit of weight while in prison. 0verall weight while in prison. overall weight while in prison. overall we had 200 prisoners a free two dayjust we had 200 prisoners a free two day just over we had 200 prisoners a free two dayjust over 100 came back here to the west bank. they will then be allowed to travel home to the west bank or east jerusalem. 70 more, those who had been convicted of more serious offensive, they have now been transferred to egypt the going to be deported to neighboring countries such as qatar and turkey. a number of prisoners were sent to gaza for that we had a range of offenses but 121 of those people released today would have been life sentences some of them convicted on multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. membership of what israel calls

terrorist organizations. we also had some people who hadn't ever been charged the youngest person to be released today was a 16—year—old boy. i would say finally is that those images that were broadcast all over the middle east today will do... give a boost to hamas�*s prestige for the it allows hamas to say look, we're the ones getting the prisoners out. we're the ones who are the only real legitimate resistance as they would see it to israel's military occupation. i think over the next five weeks we work two will see 16 more prisoners coming out and it will do that back it will benefit hamas�*s popularity which is surging over the past few months. joining me live is mara rudman — former deputy envoy and chief of staff for the office of the special envoy for

middle east peace at the us. state department. i'm sure you're watching those scenes earlier today and the hostage in prisoner exchange for the due agree, do you think this will be a boost for hamas and potentially also good publicity for the prime minister benjamin netanyahu with reese of four more hostages? it with reese of four more hostages?— with reese of four more hostaues? . . , ., hostages? it certainly a good day seeing — hostages? it certainly a good day seeing these _ hostages? it certainly a good day seeing these hostages i hostages? it certainly a good . day seeing these hostages come home. and knowing as well that there are many more to follow. i would say that hamas and the israeli government are going to look to maximize the gains that they can get respectively from these releases. i don't entirely agree with what your correspondent laid out in terms of the palestinian prisoner release. he omitted the fact that hamas's popularity in gaza has anything but surge. so in

both gaza, the west bank and throughout the arab world i think there's much of a nuanced picture about what's going on. within israel there are divisions too. i think part of what the mediators are counting on and the united states is counted on is that the scenes for example acknowledging the hostages that have endured such horrendous atrocities within gaza during the time of captivity as more and more come out, the momentum in israel for example will continue for the importance of going forward with the next stages of the cease—fire agreement. that goes hand—in—hand with needing to find a solution for governance in gaza. frankly, that is not hamas. we should also ideally move some of the other parties. if we just focus on hamas for that we're looking at some images of hamas soldiers up on

the stage wearing the green vendettas, they were armed. what do you think that was choreographed to signal here? this goes back to each of the parties of the agreement i get a look at each stage of what is always a precarious implementation of a cease—fire agreement, i get a look to position and posture to the greatest advantage. hamas wants to show that they still have power, they still have control, that they are the de facto if not the de jure leaders on the ground in gaza. that is part of why there should be an incentive from israel and the mediators to offer other alternatives to the palestinian people and to ensure that the best pass forward to governance is not hamas. in terms of what you saw, it is a show. i think they have been significantly weakened by the actions of israel today for the obviously a tremendous cost to the

innocent palestinians in gaza. a bit of a snag today as well, a civilian hostage expected to be released, she was not. could there be a fax on the deal going forward? that also means or hundreds of thousands of palestinians waiting to get back into the north of the territory and they are being prevented from doing so. it seemed that reporting related to her release, the agreement had been clear on the cease—fire that all civilians, women in particular were to be released in the first tranche, which is by the expectation was that she would be out. she reportedly is being held by islamicjihad. there's been islamic jihad. there's been backin islamicjihad. there's been back in for attention as i understand it throughout the cease—fire negotiations from hamas about how much control they have over those being held by islamicjihad, which is a faction group that some would argue is further and more extreme than hamas. hamas itself is quite extreme. hamas

is disputed how much islamic jihad is under its control. i believe that your reporting was just that there was proof of life of that hostage that was probably intended to reassure the israeli side and to allow the israeli side and to allow the next phase is to go forward. hopefully she will be released very soon. that is also important for the step—by—step for the palestinians who need to get back to northern gaza to be able to do so.— back to northern gaza to be able to do so. there have been members _ able to do so. there have been members of — able to do so. there have been members of the _ able to do so. there have been members of the israeli - members of the israeli far right, this deal hasn't been popular with them from the very beginning. as we see more and more these palestinian detainees being released the criticism here, as it progresses into the next stages, which i could be even more difficult to implement. first let's be clear, the two extreme right extremist members

of prime minister netanyahu is coalition have not been supportive. they were willing to give up on israeli lies in hostages from october seven onward. they are not about doing what is the best interest of israel. certainly not about saving israeli lies with them they are about pursuing their own ideological agendas and have been in a sense holding prime minister netanyahu to their account for the and not to the account of the israeli people. the release of hostages, the progress or permanent cease—fire is overwhelmingly popular in israel for that even as israelis may disagree on a number of things, this is not an issue on which the population at large disagrees. mara rudman, always great to have you here. in lebanon israel has warned people in the south

of the country not to return home, after saying its troops would remain there beyond sunday. they're supposed to withdraw under a ceasefire with hezbollah. lebanon's army accused israel of procrastination. president trump there referring to his "border csar tom homan — who's tasked with immigration policy and border security. meanwhile, pete hegseth, newly sworn—in as president trump s defense secretary, has issued his set of priorities for the department, saying that the pentagon will put america first, and we will never back down. he was confirmed late friday night after a knife—edge 50—50 vote in the senate — amid allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking, all of which he denies. on saturday, the senate also confirmed former south dakota governor kristi noem as trump's homeland security secretary. separately, the trump administration fired at least a dozen federal watchdogs, a move which could face legal challenges and prompted concern on capitol hill. republican senator chuch grassley releasing a statement saying...

there's been no response from the white house. the senate minority leader, democrat chuck schumer, said it marked the start of what he called a "golden age of abuse in government". yesterday in the dark of night president trump fired at least 12 independent inspector generals and important federal agencies across the administration. this is a chilling purge. it's a preview of the lawless approach donald trump and his administration are taking far too often as he's becoming president. these dismissals are possibly in violation of federal law, which requires congress to have 30 days notice of any intent to fire inspectors general. these firings are donald trump's he is terrified of accountability. plenty of donald

trump news. for more on this i spoke to our correspondent david willis. what does that tie vote that either the tie—breaker about the way that he will be perceived as he takes up his new role? so tight it required the intervention of the vice presidentjd vance. after that boat was deadlocked in the senate at 50—50 against, 50 in favor of pete hegseth nomination. and republicans have a majority in the senate so all the more surprising thatjd vance had to be called upon to cast the tie—breaker vote. only the second time in us history that he tie—breaker vote has been used to confirm a cabinet nominee. and pete hegseth will now head a department with budget of close to $850 billion

a year, a staff of 3 million people after being as i say, edged over the line byjd vance who today oversaw him being sworn into that role. pete hegseth face that rather grueling process in the senate put up he faced charges of womanizing, heavy drinking, financial irresponsibility, all of which he denied. he also had to answer for previous comments he had made about the unfitness of women in the us military. there was another confirmation today, kristi noem will be the next secretary of homeland security. she's a former governor of south dakota. this vote not nearly as close. central of course do donald trump's agenda in the second term is beefing up security in the border and deporting record numbers of people who have entered this country illegally.

and to make good on that promise is kristi noem, who was today approved by the senate. confirmed by a vote of 59—34 as the new us homeland security secretary. she shares president trump's hardline views on immigration. she was one of the first state governors to send dozens of national guard officers to the border with mexico. south dakota is actually closer to canada then it is to mexico but nonetheless, that won her plaudits for many conservatives. seven democrats voting to approve her as well. there was backlash today from democrats over another move by donald trump. a late—night firing of a dozen independent watchdogs. tells more about that. we've seen the tightening come

of the attempts to tighten control over the central, federal government by putting in place these loyalists, donald trump loyalist. we also see evidence of a night of an attempt to put loyalists in place in the federal government. perhaps i should say remove those seen as disloyal. about a dozen inspectors general of some of the largest departments in the federal government, including the department of labor and transportation. dismissed, it's been reported. it's thought that may even be illegal bearing in mind that it is now the law that congress be given 30 days notice of any such dismissals. there has been no word on this so far from the white house. a lot of consternation expressed over those who believe this really is the thin end of the wedge as far as rooting out opponents of donald trump. the government are concerned.

thirteen un peacekeeping soldiers have been killed in the eastern region of the democratic republic of the congo. that's where congolese forces are clashing with the rwanda—backed m—23 rebels. the group is steadily advancing on the city of goma, a regional hub that is home to around 2—milion people. it comes as the un peacekeeping mission evacuates non—essential civilian staff in the area. the armed milita has already captured the towns of sake and minova. the rebels are now calling on congolese troops in goma to surrender in order to avoid bloodshed. the un says that more than 400—thousand people have fled their homes since the start of this year. and human rights watch is warning that civilians are at increased risk. the m—23 is a prominent rebel group that has been operating in the north kivu province since it turned against the drc�*s government in 2012. the armed milita has been gaining a stronghold in the mineral—rich eastern congo, which shares a border with uganda and rwanda.

for more on the situation, i spoke to the senior advocate for the horn and southern africa at refugees international, abdull—ahi halakhe. where does this conflict stand? has this been going on for a while but it feels like we're close to seeing a major city falling? right. that will be catastrophic for very many reasons yes, the conflict in the drc has been protected. close to the city of goma falling into the hand of rolando backed m 23. if that happens, in a region that is already under severe humanitarian crisis this is catastrophic. how powerful is this group? do you think it's capable of fully taking on government forces? yes. in january last year at me and my colleague could feel it even in the air that m 23

if they really wanted they could take over goma for the them taken over means they can do it. the cynical part of all this is, they know that the eyes of the international is focused here. they are taking advantage of what is the transition going on to really make their moves. by transition do you mean donald trump taken office? donald trump taking office. under the previous government they took a fairly hardline position with the rwandan government telling them to respect the territory of drc. notwithstanding some maybe really overplayed hand of saint the air for attracting their population inside the drc. the next question is, what is driving the fighting near? we heard it's a mineral rich area. there are many factors, i guess. indeed.

if we really want to resolve this, we can go back to 1994 in recent history, the government that came into power in rwanda from 1994 and the government they post, that government completely went to the eastern part of the drc. rwanda thinks and rwanda says that that government in exile, which was a general see a government wants to take over rolando. to take over rawanda. that's not necessarily the issue. rwanda does not want that against any military problem from the eastern part of the drc. i think rwanda has overplayed its hand. the international community really needs to step in otherwise were going to witness a dire situation spiral out of control. let's turn to some other important news

around the world. hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses are still without power across the uk and ireland — a day after powerful storm eowyn. one man was killed in the storm — which the met office describes as probably the most powerful to hit in at least 10 years. thieves in the netherlands have broken into a museum, using explosives, and stolen ancient treasures from romania. three gold bracelets and the centrepiece of the exhibition — the helmet of cota-fenesht - the helmet of — were taken. the helmet, which is around two—and—a—half—thousand years old, was on loan from romania's national history museum. detectives believe it was a carefully planned operation — and warn it is part of a worrying trend. romania says it will do everything possible to recover the ancient artefacts. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. saturday was a day where the clean—up could begin from that incredibly powerful storm eowyn that battered parts of the uk and the republic of ireland on friday. a much calmer end to the day saturday. we had a fine sunset across southern areas. it was quite cold across northern portions of the uk on saturday, cold enough for some snow in the showers across high ground. now, eowyn is continuing to disintegrate just to the west of norway, but this is our next weather system that's coming in off the atlantic. and this is another named storm. it's been named by the spanish authorities as storm herminia, and it's going to be bringing wet and windy weather over the next few days, with rainfall totals building up, particularly across parts of wales, the midlands, and south west england, where we could see some localised flooding concerns as we head into the early part of the new week. now, at the moment we've got a little trough pushing eastwards, bringing rain, a bit of sleet and hill snow, mostly above 200 metres elevation across northern

england and scotland, could be a few centimetres actually in scotland and a risk of some icy surfaces wherever we see a frost. so, into sunday morning, actually most of us having a fairly decent start to the day. there will still be some showers and blustery conditions for conditions for northern scotland, and it won't be long before we see the rain and winds pick up across england, wales, and northern ireland. gusts through the irish sea coast reaching around 60 to 70 miles an hour. winds that strong could topple one or two trees, bringing some localised disruption, but it won't be on the same scale of disruption that eowyn brought on friday. that really was an exceptional system. monday, the same area of low pressure is with us. we've still got further outbreaks of rain and the wind is still blowing at the same kind of levels around coastal areas. it will be, i suppose, a fairly mild kind of day, but probably not feeling so, given the strength of those winds. by tuesday, a lot of the rain will start to work a little bit further northwards, affecting parts of scotland by this stage. but the worst of the weather should clear through from wales

and south west england. still a few showers left over, still breezy, but the worst of the wind, the worst of the rain should start to push away. temperatures ranging from around seven to ten degrees, so a few degrees above average for the time of year. now, looking later in the new week, it looks like the weather should tend to settle down as the week goes by and into the following weekend, it might be dry for most of us.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour which is straight after this programme. yes, i've been talking to some of this year's awards contenders. hello from new york. i'm tom brook, and welcome to our talking movies awards lookahead 2025. the wildfires in los angeles have caused massive pain and agony. they've dislocated the entertainment industry, including awards season. the 0scar nominations announcement was delayed, but now all has been revealed and we have a very strong field of academy awards nominees for 2025.