four female israeli soldiers taken hostage by hamas are freed in return for 200 palestinian prisoners. truckloads of aid make it into gaza under the precarious ceasefire agreement, but the un says the humanitarian situation remains dire. criticism on capitol hill after president trump fires more than a dozen independent watchdogs, tasked with investigating government corruption. hello, i'm carl nasman. we start with scenes ofjubilation 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. cheering 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. cheering 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�*s 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. earlier, my colleague nick beake spoke to michael levy, who's the brother of hostage 0r levy. or and his wife, eynav, arrived at the super nova festivaljust minutes before the attack began. as the violence unfolded, they sought refuge in a shelter, but hamas forces

entered and killed eynav. 0r, who has a young son named almog, survived the attack but was kidnapped by hamas. got there at 6:20am together with his wife eynav. they left their then two—year—old son almog at home with his grandparents, and then a few minutes before, 0r called us from inside the bomb shelter, they ran into a bomb shelter. he was completely terrified and just repeated the sentence — "mum, you don't want to know what's going on here." and a few minutes after, a group of terrorists arrived and started throwing grenades. they sprayed the bomb shelter with bullets. they even fired an rpg into it, murdering eynav and or was kidnapped. your sister—in—law was killed, your brother taken hostage. when you see what happened today, the greatjoy of the four women being released, how does it leave you? i'd imagine

conflicting emotions. very conflicting emotions. on one hand, you're happy because those families became my family, they became part of us. so i'm happy, almost as if it's my own family. but on the other hand, there are still 90 hostages back in gaza, including my brother. and you cannotjust rest and hope for the best. you have to keep fighting to get them all released. now, your brother, or, is one of the 33 hostages who are supposed to be released in this first phase of the ceasefire. so for you, there is hope there after these 15 months of anguish? once again, on the one hand, you have a lot of hope because you finally have an end date to this nightmare. but at the same time, we remember that we are dealing with monsters.

hamas will do everything they can to make us suffer and to stop this deal in any kind of excuse. and they did it before and we are afraid they will do it again. so we cannotjust be calm and hope for the best. like i said, we have to keep going until he's here, because i won't believe it's actually happening until i'll hug him with my own hands. you've been waiting for news, and actually you've come here speaking to us this evening as we wait any moment, really, for hamas to release this list of the remaining 26 hostages due for release in this first phase. hamas is supposed to be saying whether these people are alive or dead, including your brother. i mean, an incredibly difficult moment for you. i keep saying, it's like a reality that the devil himself invented.

that's how we feel. part of an evil reality show that hamas is enjoying. they are, like i said, they will do everything to make us suffer. and i hope we'll get this list soon and we'll know who's alive and who isn't. and hopefully we can put an end to it soon. your little nephew, just three and a half years old, his dad has been taken hostage, his mother was killed. people will probably want to know, how is he possibly doing at this moment? three—and—a—half—year—old boy. he's happy. he's enjoying himself. he's doing things he isn't he's doing things he isn't supposed to do, but there supposed to do, but there are a lot of moments are a lot of moments where he misses them. where he misses them. when he whenever he sees when he whenever he sees

a woman with long hair, a woman with long hair, he asks if she'll pick him up he asks if she'll pick him up because this is what his mum used to do. he keeps asking if or is really coming back. he cries when he sees parents coming to pick up their kids from kindergarten. he misses them. he misses 0r. he wants to be a normal kid. the hostage—prisoner exchange is part of a fragile ceasefire agreement between israel and hamas that took effect last sunday. hundreds of truckloads of aid have entered gaza daily since then, but the un says the humanitarian situation remains dire. and israel's un ambassador has said that the united nations agency for palestinian refugees, gaza's main aid agency, must end all operations injerusalem by thursday —

along with these exchanges of hostages and prisoners we have been being, stage i also allowing for the surge of aid to enter gaza. what have you been seeing in terms of how much aid has been making it in? there has actually been 2&00 trucks coming into the gaza strip in the first three days following the ceasefire, and this aid really came in largely unhindered and that is after previous to the ceasefire where they may have been 20 or 30 or 60 at most trucks coming in for a day, some days only nine or six injanuary, so this is a huge increase in aid and we have already been able to feed 250,000 people and we have food fori million people right now.

what has been the impact so far for that aid making it in? what has been the impact so far forthataid making it in? it forthat aid making it in? it has been a huge, there has been food and non—food items distributed across the gaza strip and i can tell you that we have seen actually family members of our own staff who haveitin members of our own staff who have it in chicken now for the first time in 15 months, children eating candy, there is certainly anecdotal evidence that food is getting too many parts of the strip in the videos that we have seen in our own office. we videos that we have seen in our own office-— own office. we heard there was a sna: own office. we heard there was a snag on _ own office. we heard there was a snag on a _ own office. we heard there was a snag on a saturday _ own office. we heard there was a snag on a saturday with - a snag on a saturday with israeli hostages expected to be released who was not released. there are now thousands of displaced gazans, who are stuck, waiting for israel to let them move back to the north of gaza. what more do we know about those efforts for people to return home? we about those efforts for people to return home?— about those efforts for people to return home? we know people are returning _

to return home? we know people are returning home _ to return home? we know people are returning home and _ to return home? we know people are returning home and that - to return home? we know people are returning home and that is i are returning home and that is such an important moment, the ceasefire is such an important moment but people are returning home to their houses that have been completely destroyed, they have none of their household items left. we have i have none of their household items left. we havei million children facing trauma, the trauma of living under one of the worst sieges in a modern history, and expected to pick up history, and expected to pick up again their lives, when they have been out of school, 600,000 children now for the second year. we used to educate 300,000 students, half of those in gaza, and we are ready to educate or 600,000 of those children who were displaced during these long and horrible 15 months. figs during these long and horrible 15 month-— during these long and horrible 15 months. �* , . ., 15 months. as we heard, we are approaching _ 15 months. as we heard, we are approaching the _ 15 months. as we heard, we are approaching the 30 _ 15 months. as we heard, we are approaching the 30 january - approaching the 30 january deadline, when an israeli law will take effect forcing unrwa

to and operations in israel but also making it difficult to wake in gaza and the west bank. what you expect to take place in a matter of days?— what you expect to take place in a matter of days? truly they have been _ in a matter of days? truly they have been no _ in a matter of days? truly they have been no details _ in a matter of days? truly they have been no details provided | have been no details provided around this law in terms of how it will affect unrwa and the occupied palestinian territory, gaza, the west bank including — we have seen injerusalem how they are stopping our activity there. in gaza and the west bank, there have been no details. we expect it will be difficult for unrwa staff to obtain visas and any of our ongoing efforts to be able to reach some agreement for them to go into a certain area of gaza and the west bank without being targeted. 0f gaza and the west bank without being targeted. of course we have 272 unrwa staff killed by israeli military during this

last 15 months, and we are very concerned for the safety of some 13,000 unrwa staff members in a gaza, even more concerned than we have been in the last 15 months, if the law is implement it.— 15 months, if the law is implement it. 15 months, if the law is imlement it. ~ , ., implement it. we should say that israel _ implement it. we should say that israel itself _ implement it. we should say that israel itself has - implement it. we should say that israel itself has been . that israel itself has been critical of unrwa and has accused some members of participating in the attacks of october 7, participating in the attacks of 0ctober7, but participating in the attacks of october 7, but i want to ask you, looking at pictures, the state of much of gaza right now, really destroyed. if unrwa cannot operate there and you have people coming back to their homes, there is essentially nothing left, who will be there to provide shelter and the aid that people need for many months to come? months, years, it will take years to rebuild and billions of dollars. while we are different from any other un actor on the ground in a gaza is because there are 13,000 trained staff members who have

been — the vast majority — about 5000 during the last 15 months have been doing the main infrastructure, the logistics around aid, unrwa has become the primary provider of medical services across the strip, and previous to this 15 month unrwa educated 300,000 children and was essentially a ministry of civil work in a gaza. we are talking about hundreds of thousands of children out of school, and talking about the logistics of a kind of rebuilding operation being incredibly hampered without those 13,000 palestinians who have served unrwa for many years, and may not be able to help with the rebuilding of their own homes in this moment, when the other ones are the most expertise.— when the other ones are the

most expertise. there is a lot of rebuilding _ most expertise. there is a lot of rebuilding still _ most expertise. there is a lot of rebuilding still to _ most expertise. there is a lot of rebuilding still to be - most expertise. there is a lot of rebuilding still to be done. | of rebuilding still to be done. thank you. 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. in the past hour, president trump told a bbc reporter that he plans a phone call with british prime minster keir starmer in the next 2a hours, saying he gets along with sir keir "very well", saying "i may not agree with his philosophy, but i have a very "good relationship with him." elon musk recently criticised the uk government over the response for child exploitation cases. the comments came aboard air force one as the president returned from a visit to nevada. that's a state that flipped republican in the recent presidential election for the first time in two decades. he told a rally of his supporters he might re—join the world health organization — days after he ordered the us to withdraw from the un's global health agency. he said it would have to be —

as he put it — "cleaned up". president trump also addressed his plans to tackle illegal immigration. he's sending hundreds of troops to states bordering mexico — like neighbouring arizona — to boost security. these are new pictures of soldiers arriving at fort bliss in texas, just across the border from mexico — a staging ground as they prepare to deploy. in the last 2a hours, the trump administration has fired at least a dozen federal watchdogs, a move which could face legal challenges and prompted concern on capitol hill. republican senator chuck grassley releasing a statement saying: donald trump has defended his actions, saying firing the watchdogs was "a common thing to do". he will replace them with people who will be quote very good. but 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 way of telling us he is terrified of accountability. as we've been hearing — president trump's first week has been busy. ros atkins has been taking a look at his first few days in office. week one of his second presidency and a lot has happened. 0n presidency and a lot has happened. on monday he was sworn in. i happened. on monday he was sworn in. ., , happened. on monday he was sworn in. .,, , happened. on monday he was sworn in-_ happened. on monday he was sworn in. _ ., sworn in. i was saved by god to make america _ sworn in. i was saved by god to make america great _ sworn in. i was saved by god to make america great again. -

sworn in. i was saved by god to make america great again. to | make america great again. to make more speeches, a rally in a press conference would follow, and executive orders, 26 of them, some signed at the rally with pens thrown into the crowd, others signed in the oval office, bringing a declaration of a national emergency of the us border with mexico, pardons or many involved in 6january, withdrawal from the world health organisations, withdrawal from the paris climate agreements, the gulf of mexico renaming the gulf of america, and restrictions east on oil and gas exploration or as he puts it drill, baby, drill. there was this as well. there are only to make genders, male and female. {lin there are only to make genders, male and female.— there are only to make genders, male and female. on a gaza, the president said _ male and female. on a gaza, the president said he _ male and female. on a gaza, the president said he was _ male and female. on a gaza, the president said he was not - president said he was not confident the ceasefire will hold an added... aha, confident the ceasefire will hold an added... a phenomenal location, hold an added... a phenomenal location. on _ hold an added... a phenomenal location, on the _ hold an added... a phenomenal location, on the sea, _ hold an added... a phenomenal location, on the sea, the - hold an added... a phenomenal location, on the sea, the best l location, on the sea, the best weather. br; location, on the sea, the best weather. �* , , location, on the sea, the best weather. j , ., weather. by this point a gesture _ weather. by this point a gesture by _ weather. by this point a gesture by elon - weather. by this point a gesture by elon musk. weather. by this point a l gesture by elon musk was getting attention and his day ended with three balls. and some dancing. two ymca, with a

sword. tuesday brought another part in, the man who really dark web marketplace where illegal drugs are sold. calling those who prosecuted him a scum. it was announced diversity staff will be put on paid leave, and 500 really dollar ai start—up was announced to which elon musk responded... 0n announced to which elon musk responded... on wednesday, trump called vladimir putin to stop the ridiculous war in ukraine, russia would face sanctions. then on tv the president appeared to him, joe biden could be prosecuted, and a security protection mike pompeo had his revoked. so had the former national security adviser, was allegedly facing threats from iran. thursday brought another speech, tariffs mentioned, as with the idea of canada becoming part of the us. you can always become a state and if you are a state would not have a deficit. in seattle, a federal _ not have a deficit. in seattle, a federaljudge _ not have a deficit. in seattle, a federaljudge blocked - a federaljudge blocked

executive order to bend birthright citizenship, calling it... the president ordered documents on the assassinations ofjohn f. kennedy, robert f kennedy and martin luther king jr to be declassified. that kennedy and martin luther king jr to be declassified.— jr to be declassified. that is a big one- _ jr to be declassified. that is a big one. the _ jr to be declassified. that is a big one. the week - jr to be declassified. that is a big one. the week ended | jr to be declassified. that is - a big one. the week ended with ima . es a big one. the week ended with images of _ a big one. the week ended with images of deportation - a big one. the week ended with images of deportation flights, l images of deportation flights, anthony vaki hill of the us response to covid—19 had his security revoked and the president left washington for california and north carolina. in his inauguration speech, he had declared... the in his inauguration speech, he had declared. . ._ in his inauguration speech, he had declared... the golden age of america _ had declared... the golden age of america begins _ had declared... the golden age of america begins right - had declared... the golden age of america begins right now. i of america begins right now. however you describe the trump presidency, it has definitely begun. 13 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 m23 rebels. the un says that more than 400,000 people have fled their homes since the start of this year. the m23 is a prominent rebel group that has been operating since it turned against the drc�*s government in 2012.

for more on the situation, i spoke to the senior advocate for the horn and southern africa at refugees international, abdull—ahi halakhe. to start, where does this conflict stand now? this has been going on for a while but it feels like we are close to seeing a major city, goma, falling to this rebel group? you are right, and that will be catastrophic for very many reasons. yes, the conflict in the drc has been protracted, but over the last few years, we have not come this close to the city of goma falling into the hands of rwanda—backed m23. if that happens in a region that is already under severe humanitarian crisis, this will be catastrophic. how powerful is the group? is it capable of taking on government forces? yes, injanuary last year we were in a goma, and you could feel it even in the air that m23, if they really wanted, they could take over goma, taking over other cities,

which is under 30 kilometres from goma, it means that they could do it. but the cynical part of this is they know that the eyes of the international community is not focused on them, especially here. they are taking advantage of what is the transition going on, to really make their moves. by this transition do you mean donald trump taking office? yes, because under the previous administration, they took a fairly hardline position with the rwandan government, telling them to respect their territorial integrity of the drc, notwithstanding some of their maybe overplayed hand of saying that they are protracting, they could see the population inside the drc. the next question, what is driving the fighting there? we heard it is a mineral—rich area, reports that rwanda is involved. there are many factors, i guess?

indeed, at its core is if we really want to resolve this, we can go back to 1994, just for argument�*s sake, in recent history. the government that came into power in rwanda after 1994, and the government that they deposed, that government completely went to the drc and rwanda thinks — and rwanda says that that government in exile wants to take over rwanda. that is not necessarily the issue, rwanda does not want that. it gets any military problem from the eastern part of the drc, at its heart, but i think rwanda has overplayed its hand and the international community really needs to step in, otherwise we will witness a dire situation really spiral out of control. before we go — news of a heist in the netherlands. thieves there broke 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 — were taken. the helmet, which is around 2500 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. a reminder of our top story, president trump speaking earlier on air force one thing he plans to hold a phone call with the uk prime minister keir starmer, saying that she take place in about 24 hours or so. we also heard him say that he plans to discuss bringing oil prices down with saudi arabia, also saying he spoke with the leader ofjordan and a potentially moving people out of gaza. more on those stories coming up the top of the hour.

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 200m 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.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello, i'm katie razzall. coming up on the media show: prince harry wins an apology from planet murdoch. donald trump's thoughts on the future of tiktok. if i do the deal, it's - worth maybe $1 trillion. a trillion. and the release of the israeli hostages in gaza, and the debate about the responsible way to cover that story. it's all coming up on the media show. on wednesday morning, prince harry settled his long—running legal battle with the murdoch family's news group newspapers.