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george: actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. 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". ♪ christian: hello. i'm christian fraser, and this is "the context." >> very close. we could bring these hostages home very soon. don't want to get into the details becaus nothing is done until it's done. >> we are working towards an agreement taking place, and we are now at the closest point we

ever have been in reaching an agreement. we are very optimistic, we are very hopeful. >> if we are getting close, it is because hamas needs that cease-fire. we have been hitting that hard, we have been crippling their military machine, we have been taking away their military fortifications. >> we are talking about people's lives, then we all feel, especially when we are talking better families, that this should be the top priority. christian: close, maybe imminent. we are told the deal for the release of 50 women and child hostages is almost done, but still no confirmation from either side. we will speak to a former hostage negotiator who knows what it is like to be in the room and those final tense moments. we will hear from the man who headof the u.n.'s operations around the world, poised that he

is to fast-track aid into gaza should the temporary truce come. and we will speak to the director of a charity in mourning for two of its doctors killed in a strike today on a hospital in northern gaza. good evening. a deal to release hostages taken from israel by hamas could be closer than ever tonight, with the israeli war cabinet meeting the last few hours to sign off on the final terms agreed in qatar. cording to the white house, the deal would secure the release of 50 women and child hostages in return for a four- to five-day pause in the fighting. earlier, a hamas leader said the group was close to reaching a truce agreement. it would give the group time together hostages in gaza, some of them held by other groups, anin return for each hostage their release, sources say the

israelis would be expected to freed three palestinian prisoners they are holding in israeli jails. the political leader of hamas said some weeks ago the group has what it needs to secure the release of roughly 7000 palestinians in israeli prisons. this seems to relate only to women and children that israel is currently holding, and nowhere near the number, although some questions remain as to whether eventually the israelis will have to and over some of the higher-value prisoners. >> right now we are talking about more than 7000. the numbers have skyrocketed since the seventh of october for also i of things, for alleged incitement, for publications on social media, including over 2070 people -- 270 people held under administrative detention without charges or trial, which is a record high number of palestinian detainees. christian: with us tonight, the

cofounder of the conflict mediation group forward thinking. he was deeply involved in the talks that led to the release of israeli soldier gil ad shalit 12 years ago, so he has lots of experience in this. welcome to the program. i can imagine you can remember just what it is like at the 11th hour. >> christian, it was a five-year process, that shalit deal. in the words of president biden, nothing is done until it is done. there is always at this period or this time in negotiations, almost a risk of spoilers. those who are opposed to any exchange, doing something that will get in the way of the process. christian: the critical player in all of this is the international red cross. the president was in delhi yesterday speaking to various -- was in doha yesterday speaking

to various parties. can you explain what they will do if and when a deal is agreed? >> as i understand it, the role of the international red cross is instantly to facilitate the process that when the hostages are handed over from the brigade, they will then be taken by the red cross and handed to the egyptian authorities. i don't think the red cross were involved actually in the process. we discussed before what a complicated process this has been, because you have not had direct communication through one mediator, but you have had the israelis talking to the americans, americans talking to the qataris, and qataris talking to hamas, and vice versa. there is enormous room there for what we may say, getting -- something important getting lost in translation.

i'm amazed that that they have reached a deal through this process. christian: so many parties involved, indeed in israel as well, oliver. we are hearing that the war cabinet and the security cabet have both now met. we don't know whether the conclusions of those two meetings were, but now it will go to the full cabinet. everybody has to agree and vote on this. there could always be a spoiler -- there are reports that there are two hard right groups who are opposed to it. we don't know yet what will come out of the israeli discussions. oliver: and there is a possibility that even if it gets through, some of those opposed to it will take it to the supreme court. i honestly can't see the supreme court standing in the way of a decision that would first of all give hope to the families of the hostages who have been suffering, but also to the 2.3 million people in gaza who every

day that this is delayed are suffering more and in risk of their life. christian: you talked to other complications of all the parties dealing through qatar. from time to time the last six weeks, hamas, the military wing, the brigades have gone dark. for those families who will not get hostages back tonight, i imagine the most important thing for them in the next few days is to get a list of who is in gaza and what their condition is, correct? oliver: yes, but i think that will be difficult to produce. you may recall right at the beginning there was a commitment to hand although civilian hostages back -- all the civilian hostages back without any preconditions. that process time and time again was, we were told, impossible to implement because of the heavy bombardment. and i think that is reasonable,

because how can you move large numbers of people around such an environment as gaza under heavy bombardment and shelling? i don't think it was an excuse. that is why i was always saying you need a cease-fire in a bill -- in order to initiate the process and ensure the safety of the hostages. while you have heavy shelling and bombardment, even with a six-hour pause, i don't see how you can guarantee the safety of individual hostages being moved in the place where they need to, rafah crossing, in order to be handed to the egyptian authorities. christian: oliver, you will be aware of the anger and the frustration among the families of hostages in israel. they marched on jerusalem this weekend and they met with prime minister netanyahu yesterday. he has released a statement. let me read it to our viewers. he reiterates that he carefully listened to the plight of the hostages and told them

"returning the hostages is a sacred and topical." this is the line i wanted to pick out -- "the war effort will not be hurt, but will allow the idf to prepare for the fighting to come. i say again the war is continuing, the war will continue, until we release all the hostages, until there will be a day after hamas. with god's help, we will succeed." that will play on the minds of many of the families tonight, oliver, because it is surely the case that some of the hostages are in the southern part of the strip, and they will know that, once the women and children this group of women and children have been released, that the fate of their loved ones will be in the balance once again. oliver: yes, and i can understand that fully, their concerns. i feel a bit like a scratched record, christian, because i've said it time again i feel the two targets that prime minister

netanyahu has set himself are incompatib. you can't on the one hand talk about destroying the people who are holding hostages and on the other hand talking about releasing them and having them returned to their families. i think someone needs to sit him down and say, look, everyone is traumatized by what has happened. let's think rationally. to set those two competitive targets, i just can't see how it will be realized, the safe release of all the hostages. and certainly -- sorry, christian, but just to add to that, i think the plight of the soldiers is another matter, because i think they are the leverage for release of long-term prisoners in palestine. let's remember, too, that since october 7, i think something like 2300 palestinians have been given administrative detention.

so there has been a massive increase in the number of palestinians in israeli jails. christian: those high-value prisons certainly on the agenda of the hamas leadership and qatar. just a fin word about where these hostages are and the job that the icrc will have. will it be fair to assume, oliver, that hamas might not know the whereabouts of all of these hostages, and amid the chaos haven't been able to gather that information, that other groups are indeed holding them at the moment? oliver: i would think that is more than probable, given the fact that the israeli assault on gaza began immediately after the atrocities of the seventh of october, and given the fact that a number of people brought hostages back, including given groups. -- including different groups. it is almost impossible to say they can coordinate and know

exactly the whereabouts -- christian: so, would one of the conditions be, oliver, over this four- o five-day period that they go away and get a handle on this? i know that was discussed. oliver: if there was a five-date period, yes, but a six-our break doesn't give much opportunity to really have a serious process where you can identify where people are, where you can gather information, and more important, where you can actually ensure the safety of the hostages while you are trying to transport them through what is in effect a battlefield. christian: oliver, it's really good to talk to you this evening. thank you for your expertise. oliver: thank you, christian. christian: around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. let's take a quick look at the other stories making news in the u.k. police searching for four teenagers who have been missing in northwell since sunday money

have found the bodies of four boys. they were aged between 16 and 18. police say the car had left the road and was upside down and partially submerged in water. the minimum wage and the u.k. is to increase by more than a pound to 11.54 per hour in april of next year. in a major change of policy, chancellor jeremy hunt as decided the rate will apply for 21 as opposed to 23. the bbc's flagship show "top gear" will not return for the foreseeable future after the presenter was hurt in a crash while filming last year. the presenter was injured in december at "top gear's" test attracts, sustaining what he describes as life-changing injury on his face. you are live with bbc news. in gaza, the hunger in the

thirst is as widespread as the fear and the anxiety. there is very little fuel to pump water and sewage. on average, 150 people are sharing a single toilet, and 700 people a single shower, when available. tele-communications are failing, too. we are seeing signs of civil order breaking down as people fight for whatever is left. among all of this it is the human agency for palestinians that is there lifeline. the humanitarian aid they so desperately need is conditional on the political negotiations ongoing in israel. but no doubt the u.n. is preparing and readying its staff for what will be four or five crical days in which to transfer hundreds of trucks of food, water, and desperately needed medical supplies. joining me to discuss is under secretary-general of the united nations and executive director of the operation that is tasked with supporting the operation in gaza.

thank you very much for coming on the program tonight. >> thank you, christian. christian: you must be poised and waiting for whatever news comes from jerusalem, but will you be ready if the deal is agreed? >> well, as all citizens in the world, we are eager to get the news from this negotiation. as you rightly said, we have to focus also on what is needed to recover from this current situation we are dealing with, a humanitarian crisis. as you said, we are focusing on operations, we are the u.n. agency dedicated to infrastructure, and we see that infrastructure is collapsing. it is collapsing on health, on water, on sanitation, on education. and we know that one key element to recover, it's the access to fuel. for several years and since

2018, we have been the agency that has brought the fuel from israel to gaza. every day we were procuring and delivering 500,000 liters of fuel. that was fundamental to increase the access to electricity from five hours a day to 12 hours a day. if you check the figures, what has been provided in the last week on fuel, it was around in total in one week, 300,000 liters. it is almost half of what we were bringing every day. obviously the access to fuel is fundamental for producing electricity, for health, to provide access to electricity in the hospitals, for food production. but also for the delivery of the aid as we have seen in the last days. access to the number of trucks

that have been entering gaza has decreased at the same time there was this lack of fuel. fuel is a fundamental element, and i hope that we can learn from the experience. christian: but you will know that it is also fundamental to hamas to pumping oxygen into the tunnels they are using. what assurances are you able to give the israelis, and have you any assurances back in return that would mean you can transfer this fuel that is needed over the course of the next four or five days? >> well, let me answer to your first question. in the last six years, we have been successful in bringinthe fuel from israel to gaza and providing the fuel to this powerplant without any kind of question. nobody questioned -- christian: so it's never been

intercepted? >> well, this was in israel, a camp that was providing the fuel, and you can see that in six years this was indisputable. nobody disputed -- christian: so what do you think is the israeli motive in not supplying the fuel? >> well, i cannot comment on that. i can just say that in case there is the political will, the negotiation capacity to bring the fuel, we and other u.n. agencies are ready to ensure that the fuel can be delivered and we can monitor and verify that access to this fuel. you are also asking about the next five days. obviously we are all in the you un system and readiness mode. we are ready to provide the support, but we need the safety

conditions and security conditions to guarantee that while have these corridors, humanitarian corridors being open, that not only the volume of aid, the number of trucks is consistent with needs. as you know, for many years we were bringing 500 trucks and in the last weeks he been only 40 trucks i david christian: just in terms of strategic planning, you will be aware that this is only a pause. we just had word from prime minister netanyahu that it will resume as soon as the four or five days has lapsed. are you discussing within the u.n. when you move your operations? we heard on the bbc today the spokesman for the israeli government saying there is this place near to the coast they want everyone to go. there is a very real possibility that this operation switches to the south where these 1.6 million people are displaced in the south.

where can you locate your operations to ensure they are properly looked after? >> well, as you mentioned i have not been part of the negotiations so i cannot comment on the negotiations on the planning. i will just insist on one point -- it is fundamental that humanitarian aid is being provided and the safety and security. as you know, more than 100 u.n. staff have been killed. more than 100 facilities from the u.n. have been hit. so, it's important that while the u.n. is in the readiness mode to provide aid and guarantee that we are ready to provide in the fastest and most effective way, it's also important to ensure that the security context allows this operations. but i cannot comment on the planning, as i've been not

involved in the negotiations. christian: understood. it's good to have your thoughts this evening. >> thank you, christian. christian: didn't do some rudimentary meth on the trucks that have gone over since the war began -- 1268 trucks have crossed. if you do the calculations, the u.n. said for the work about 455 aid trucks entered gaza every day. just over 6% of what would normally go into gaza has gone in in the last six weeks, which tells you just how acute crisis is. let's get more on the hostage negotiations. we can speak to tom bateman, who is in jerusalem for us this evening. bring us up to speed, tom. we understand two of the three meetings have concluded. we have a statement from prime minister netanyahu. do we get what they're thinking? tom: we didn't get much of a steer from benjamin netanyahu about the deal. i think that is because, as you

say, that had the war cabinet, political cabinet, now the wider governmental cabinet, about 40 people who would vote on the broad contours of all of this, and crucially on the part of this which is about the release of palestinian prisoners. what we heard from mr. netanyahu is a prerecorded statement that he put together before this wider government meeting began. it basically had two messages. one was to address criticism -- he called it nonsense them outside -- that in his view the war would stop altogether because of this. this was particularly aimed at the right wing over the israeli coalition and their supporters in israeli society. he said absolutely adamantly after a cease-fire the war would go on. they would continue their mowar aim to eliminate hamas. the other thing he talked about his he revealed that he had in the last few days spoken to president biden and he said got a better framework, better deal

out of this procedure, got president biden to agree to that. he said there would be a better deal for israel at a lower cost. you would assume that to mean more hostages, for example, for less time for a cease-fire, for fewer palestinian prisoners being released. some revelations from him, largely for domestic consumption, to counter from further right of him. but will we -- but what we don't have yet is confirmation of the contours of this hostage deal. christian:hank you very much for that. we will keep touch with you in case things develop over the next few hours. it is expected that some of the hostages released will be americans. one of the youngest hostages is three-year-old abigail. her parents we killed in their home at the kibbutz. abigail was reportedly in her father's arms when a hamas gunman shot him.

you can imagine what horrific trauma some of these children have been through and what a relief to extended family to have her home for thanksgiving. joining us is a distinct fellow at the washington institute and director of the project on arab-israeli relations. thank you for coming on the program. just on the domestic politics for a second, to have american hostages come home on the eve of thanksgiving, what wou that mean for president biden, who is not faring too well in the opinion polls at the moment? >> i think -- i have to believe the qatari emir was saying, "don't worry, mr. president, the beginning will start on thanksgiving, it will be a great present to you for all your efforts." it seems to me the timing is not coincidental. christian: usually through many of these hostage -- you have lived through many of these hostage swaps in the past. what will be the discussions

ongoing within the wider israeli cabinet? >> look, there is going to be different sets of arguments. i think a hard right will not vote for it, from what i'm hearing, but it will pass anyway. there is enough votes for it to pass. the hard right is convinced this is like a plot of hamas to start these pauses and keep them going in a way that derails the ground incursion. what starts as a pause ends in a cease-fire, meaning hamas remains in place and it is going to require incredible vigilance because they are going to keep trying to say another three, another three. there is a provision for 10 extra hostages for one extra day. you could say there is 50 and they have to get to 235, whatever the number is. are they going to just keep finding ways to delay, to delay the ground incursion? winter weather, rainy

weather, justice of any momentum israel has -- just to stop any momentum israel has is it has wrapped up in northern gaza and is pivoting to southern gaza. netanyahu said don't worry, i'm definitely pursuing this, it's not an issue. christian: quickly, david. sorry, david, i'm going to have to squeeze you because we are out of time. sorry to cut you so short, but we are about to go to a break. narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. 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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♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is pvided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned.