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narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news". >> hello, i'm christian fraser and this is "the context." >> the first thing we heard was on social media a statement from a hamas statesman saying that two u.s. hostages, a mother and daughter were being released on

what was described as humanitarian reasons. >> these trucks are not just trucks. they are a lifeline. the difference between life and death for so many people in gaza. >> we've made good progress on tangible areas, like ensuring access to humanitarian aid but most important lip it's important to intensify dialogue because we all have a shared interest in peace and stability in this region. ♪ christian: so hamas has reased two hostages, an american mother and daughter. they are judith and natalie raanan, handed over to the palestinian red cross on humanitarian grounds. the mother is said to be well. they were taken hostage on october 17. the u.s. state department is

about to hold a press conference. we'll bring you that life. 20 hostages hamas is holding are still alive, 20 under 1. an israeli official tells the bby, there is a good chance the trucks will be allowed in tomorrow for aid. good evening. after days of continual bombardment in gaza, it was noticed today that issued lynn there was a lull in the fighting and perhaps a good reason. tonight hamas has freed two hostages, an american mother and her daughter. they're heading to a base in central israel. in a statement hamas said they were being released for humanitarian reasons. the mother is not in good condition. let's bring in our correspondent paul adams. paul, what can you tell us about

the way this exchange took place? paul: not a whole lot about the mechanics of the release. not an exchange but a release. we're not aware that there is any additional component to this story. as you say, hamas said this was a release that took place for humanitarian reasons. there is some suggestion that the mother is not well. i should tell you that their names are judith and natalie rannen. they're from evanston, illinois and they were kidnapped from kibbutz nahal oz on october 7. as you say, they were handed over to the israelis, we think on the edge of the gaza strip. they've been taken to a military base somewhere in the middle of the country where we understand family mix will be waiting to meet them and at the end of the statement from the prime minister's office, it says the government of israel, the israeli army and the entire

military establishment will continue to operate to the best of their abilities in order to locate and return all of the abductees home. some of the operations, the small, limited operations that are already being conducted inside the gaza strip by the israeli military are precisely to gain intelligence on where hostages might be. christian: paul adams, thank you very much for that i can tell from you reporting that we've already done on jude it and natalie rannen that they were taken hostage at the kibbutz nahal oz and visiting relaves at the time. her husband, had said that his daughter had texted him as they were hiding and they were bunkering in a safe room and the last time they were seen they were being eggs courted byhamas militants.

we're joined by long time dip lo mat mr. moisha. thank you for joining us. what does the release of these two hostages tell us about qatar's negotiation that is ongoing in the background? >> that's obviously great news, christian. targeted civilians should never be condoned and i hope this is part of the process in which there are negotiations. i know there are negotiations going on as we speak in order to either deter israel from going all the way into gaza or having it done in a different way the bottom line is we do need to

have a cease-fire first and if this is a prelewd to that then that's extremely good news. christian: why do you think they released these to hostages. they are american citizens and there were other hostages we know were injured before crossing the border so why these particular two. is it a message do you think at this stage from hamas? >> i am not privy to why. but the fact they were released is a good sign. it is a sign that negotiations are going on and i hope it's a part of a bigger deal with the hostages. christian: you've been involved in some of the diplomacy in recent days. are you aware of whether the jordanian government is playing a role in any of this negotiation?

>> i hope they are but i'm not aware of any role. christian: ok, i want to ask you about the aid. a dire situation in grassa. the u.n. secretary general has been at the crossing today. what is the hold-up? those 20 trucks have been in rafa now for several days. >> look, for example, 20 trucks a day is not enough. gaza needs at least 100 trucks a day and on a sustainable basis. that's one. two, this collective punishment also should not be condoned where all of gaza has been shut off from electricity, medicine, food, etc., so this is not a question of only whether 20 trucks go in or not, it's a question of whether the international community is going to condone two million people being under siege locked up with

nowhere to go and even if these trucks go in -- if israel goes into gaza, there will be casualties in the thousandses and that's what i'm really concerned about. yes, the 20 trucks are needed but a lot more than this is needed and what is actually needed is to stop the incursion altogether. christian: there have bee a number of statements recently from some israeli and state officials that after in conflict, gaza will be smaller. some indication that they'll increase the size of the buffer. if they are demolishing buildings. thousands of palestinians are displaced, maybe towards egypt and jordan. do you worry about that? >> it's a huge worry, particularly in jordan, about a mass transfer of palestinians

into jordan. christian, the current israeli government has clearly said they do not intend to end occupation or establish a -- state. and i would assume also they don't intend a palestinian majority to be under their control and today the home runs are a majority inside areas that israel controls. if that is the case then the only logical thing to the israelis is to affect anises transfer of gaza into egypt and west bankers into jordan. that's what the egyptians and jordanians are most worried about. the palestinians were expelled in 48, never to go back again, despite resolutions. they don't want a repeat of resolution 194. and that's why there is concern

that we're going to result in a second tragedy for palestinians. this is why the cycle of violence cannot remain. why there is no military solution to this conflict. the two sides have to september together and discuss the root cause of the whole issue, which is the occupation. without discussing the root cause and doing something to end it, i'm afraid the cycle of violence is going to continue. christian: the egyptian president has been cat going that no refugees will be accepted but that's difficult to maintain in coinues. if of is in a contingency plan? >> a lot of people are asking why is it that the human corridor is not done to take palestinians to want to leave gasa to the west bank, for example? to their own land where they

don't fear or they're not concerned that this would be evicted from their land never again to come back to it. why is it that the human corridor is only to gym? that raises concerns that israel's real intention is to displace them outside their natural home. christian: somehow the lymph authority could be emboldened, refinanced, reempowered to take over in gaza say some. do you think that's possible, even feasible in gaza? >> look, it's too early to speculate on any of this. also, the palestinian north is in a weak spot, made weaker by what hamas did starting october 7 and i believe that moving forward, we will need elections

inside the lymph territories to develop new leadership. i'm not a palestinian and, you know, this is something for the palestinians themselves to decide on but it is true that the palestinian authority also lacks any degree of credibility or legitimacy today among the palestinian people and moving forward we need a process where there are palestinianelection. christian: just before i let you go -- we're going to talk later in the program about the real concerns there are now within the biden administration that this could spread and clearly there's a lot of diplomacy going on in the region today. are you concerned that if there was a ground incursion that the tensions we currently see at the northern border would be further inflamed and hezbollah might come into the war?

>> well, it depend on the extent of the incursion. this is the fifth war that israel wages against gasa in the last 16, 17 years. hezbollah has not interfered in any of these wars before. so at this stage, i'm not as concerned that hezbollah has an interest in entering this war. now, if the number of casualties rise, if the incsion stays for a very long time, one cannot predict what would happen but at this stable i'm not concerned. christian: thank you very much for coming on the program this evening. it's a great pleasure to talk to you. >> thank you. christian: well, as we were discussing earlier in the day, the secretary general visited the rafa border crossing with egypt and there were 20 trucks waiting at the gate. mr. gutierrez says he expects the first shipment to cross in

the first day or so but 20 trucks will not feed two million. the hospitals are overrun. the water is out. the main hospital in gaza city says the generators which power life support machines will run out of fuel tomorrow. tonight, two special reports for you from our correspondents who live and work in gaza. first, adnan has more from central gaza. >> this is a neighborhood in central gaza. overnight it's been completely destroyed. 32 tower blocks, each containing dozens of flats are now totally gone. >> they told us to evacuate at around 8:30 or 9:00 at night. we ran through the streets.

then israel started bombing the area nonstop from 9:00 until 7:00 this mortgage. you can see all of this destruction. >> lived in one of these blocks of flats. she tells me all the families in her tower are now living stranded in the streets of gaza with nowhere to go. other resents say many people remain trapped. >> we cannot bring people out from under the rubble. ambulances cannot get here. we cannot pull the bodies out. people are screaming but we cannot pull them out. >> last night, the attack took many residents by surprise. as people told me that it has been a relatively calm area in gaza. >> we are civilians living peacefully in our homes. why are you bombing us and ruining our lives?

>> as we were filming here, a new warning came in from the israeli army telling people to evacuate. >> we have now left because it's dangerous but the reality is for many to stay there. there's nowhere safe to go. adnan bush, "bbc news" from central gaza. >> first night with a little hope that might be a good sign for this corridor to reopen. the militants of hamas say they have released two american citizens who were taken hostage that day on saturday and since the qataris have intervened we have decided to release them for humanitarian reasons. we understand that negotiations have been taken place in qatar, many foreign countries involved

in visiting qatar. people here are hoping that this sign might be going to lead to the opening of the humanitarian corridor to allow 4,000 trucks of fuel, medicine fuel to enter into gaza as gaza is struggling to deal with the lack of supplies. hospitals are facing and in this city, million are living here now. christian: that was our correspondent who is living and telling the story and things getting increasingly difficult for him and our other bbc core responsibilities in gaza. this is the u.s. state department where we're expecting an update on the two hostage

released byhamas. they are natalie raanan and judith, her daughter. both were taken from kibbutz nahal oz on october 7. they were both hiding in a bunker in a house where they were visiting relatives and the last we saw am of them was footage shot byhamas of them being taken across the order border. it would appear that jude sit not in good health and wasn't before she went to gaza and they're saying they've released her and her daughter on humanitarian grounds. they are now on their way to a military base in central israel. we'll talk plenty more about that through the course of the program. around the world and across the u.k., you're watching "bbc news." let me just quickly bring you up to speed with other stories in the u.k.

the, conservative suffered two heavy bi elections last night. the party made history in mid bedford scheyer, winning the seat for the first time. labor is redrawing the frill map. the conservative cheryl said the results were disappointing. the office for national statistics say net borrowing last month was 14.3 billion pounds. many economists had predicted that figure to be more than 28 billion. the actress hayden begin has died, age 66. she was known for roles in "drop the dead donkey" and "the windsors." she was normal nateed for olivier and tony awards for playing billy elliott's dance brdway. at the west end and she was set to return to the

age before being diagnosed with cancer. tonight there are jewish families around the world sitting down to chabat dinner and scores of israel tables will have empty places. at the tel aviv museum a table has been set for the 201 hostages hamas is holding. the ibf thinks the majority of them are still alive. at least 20 of them are under the age of 18. between 10 and 20 are over the age of 60. that information and of course the release of the t hostages tonight will give hostages some hope. so let's hear from somebody who has experienced -- experience on being held as a hostage. the former sunday express reporter. it's good to see you again.

thank you for coming on the program. i guess you can relate to the relief that these two people will be feeling tonight a they get acclimatized to having their freedom back. >> they will be excited, elated but they will also be concerned to see their friends and family who -- from my experience --ist held for 11 days -- i was quite shocked when i sawow stressed all of my friends and relatives had been in my absence and they will have a lot of catching up to do. tonight will be a joyous occasion for judith and natalie and it's interesting that they were released on humanitarian

grounds. that's exactly the term used by the taliban when i was released and i'm sure that they will be debriefed at the moment to see if there's any ounce of intelligence that they can give which will help the release of the other hostages. and this is a huge, huge intelligence job and the negotiators in qatar should really be praised for their unstinting work. there's always a lot that goes on behind the scenes. christian: indeed so we've just had a statement from joe biden in the last minute. he said today we've secured the release of two american hostages that were taken during the horrific terrorist assault on

october 7. they've endured a terrible ordeal and i'm overjoyeded that they will soon be reunited with their family. these individuals and their family will have the full support of the u.s. government as they recover and heal and we should all protect their previewcy. we will continue to work around the clock to free american citizens who are still being head. there are still a handful of american citizens who are still being held byham. i want to come back to that point of being debriefed. when you came out, were you able to paint and create a picture to the authorities or was it all a bit of a blur? >> no, i can remember everything quite distinctly. i was held, along with some german hostages, two american girls and an australian and when

i was released, their ambassadors and intelligence agencies asked me about the other hostages, how they were, how they were coping mentally and i tried to give as much information as i could. one of the things that we used to talk about was being rescued and we were all agree had in we hoped that nobody would try and rescue us because we didn't want to be caught up in any crossfire and become collateral damage. christian: that's a really important point, isn it? because clearly there is enormous value in these hostages to hamas and they've been able to use these two tonight. the statement they've put out talking about their humanitarian thoughts about the couple that

they've released but obviously with a ground incursion pending, there must be 200 or so hostages who are wobbleddering whats going to happen next. >> well, yes. i mean, i was still locked up on the seventh of october, 2002 when america and britain launched the war and they dropped more than 20 cruise missiles in car boll and that was terrifying because there's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and, of course, we've heard this constantly from the palestinis living in gaza that they've got to moveout and they say where to? there is nowhere and it must be even more concentrated and focused for the hostages because

they will have all heard the bombs drop. you can hear a missile land from about 20 miles away and, of course, gaza isn't that big so i would imagine that that has been terrifying. christian: i was aboveground in gaza in 2008 and i can tell you it was terrifying above ground. @thh narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

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