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pain and blame. l the labour government says it is all the fault of the tories. we will get a view on what we might expect of the upcoming budget. israel's defense minister says opportunity to return thevery hostages who remain in gaza after freeing one of them in a special forces operation. we will get the view tonight on the state of the cease-fire talks in ukraine, how do they defend their cities if they cannot fire at targets deep inside russia? president zielinski wants washington to release the shackles but at what cost?

♪ a warm welcome to the program. the israeli defense forces say they have rescued a hostage who has been held by hamas in gaza for more than 10 months. his name is -- he is a bedouin arab who was abducted during the october 7 attacks while working as a security guard in southern israel. he is recovering in hospital where he has been undergoing tests. the israeli army says the 52-year-old was rescued from an underground tunnel in the southern gaza strip in what has been described as an extremely complex operation. here is our middle east correspondent, lucy williamson. lucy: a few final moments in hiding. a wall of israeli soldiers shielding him from the world he left 10 months ago. from a tunnel in gaza to an israeli ambulance in a couple of hours. his family racing the last few

meters to britain. thin and pale, but staff said after more than 10 months in captivity, the 52-year-old was in a good and stable condition. >> it is difficult to explain how it feels. newborn.tter than having a we thank god, everyone, and hope to see him healthy. we are very happy, very happy. >> israel's army released this footage of him moments after the rescue. rumors that he had managed to escape without help from israeli forces denied by a military spokesman. >> we cannot go into many details of this special operation but i can share that is really commandos rescued him from an underground tunnel following accurate intelligence. lucy: last week, israel brought back the bodies of six other

hostages. the funeral of one was held in israel today. the joy of one family and the grief of another, a trickle of hostages returning as more than 100 others and a cease-fire deal remain stubbornly out of reach. lucy williamson, bbc news, and southern israel. >> lucy suggests it is difficult to give you precise numbers on those hostages who remain alive in gaza. of 251 that were taken on october 7, 100 17 have been released. eight of them rescued by the israeli army. we understand that the remains of 30 hostages have so far been recovered and that leaves 108 still unaccounted for and that includes four hostages who were being held before october 7. the israelis saying maybe only 70 of those hostages are still alive. moss thinks the number is even lower than that. let's speak to oliver, the

cofounder and director of forward thinking which specializes in conflict resolution. i suppose if nothing else, oliver, this is the clearest signal we have had in some weeks that in spite of the intense bombardment we have seen in gaza, there are hostages who remain alive and that will provide some hope to the families. oliver: yes, and the fact that we are told, he is in reasonably good health, i find the extraordinary after 10 months sheltering presumably in a tunnel most of the time with limited food and so forth. he is in reasonably good condition. that must give hope to the families of other hostages who are being held. i would love to see, as we said before, an immediate cease-fire and the return of all the hostages that are still alive to their families. christian: the defense minister said in a statement today that

israel is committed to taking advantage of every opportunity to return the hostages which is an interesting statement because it remains the case that the vast majority of those who have returned negotiated settlement in november last year. >> i think that is the only way. today, i heard netanyahu's response to this news that they will continue through negotiation and rescue operations. in my experience, you cannot have a two way bet. if you are going into negotiations, you have to be totally committed to find a solution. otherwise, if you are using this double act of on the one hand putting military pressure on, trying to use intelligence while at the same time people have to believe you are in good faith

and saying let's sign the solution that will work for both parties. christian: what is the real state of the cease-fire talks as you understand it? the white house puts a fairly positive spin that the technical talks are continuing in qatar and cairo. the israelis say they are ready to talk but hamas are not engaging. hamas is saying netanyahu it is putting down new terms. oliver: who knows? what i know is that hamas is not directly involved in the negotiations. they went to cairo to be told what is the outcome of the negotiations going on between the israeli security chiefs, the qatari prime minister, the egyptians and the americans. they are told that. what we learned is what came out

of these talks is a change of what was agreed on july 2 and that is that they are now that the israelis are putting forward to on acceptable conditions. it would give them complete control of movement over people between the gaza strip and egypt. we are told they want to impose what was there prior to 2005, a checkpoint between southern gaza and gaza city in the north. those of us who have traveled in and out of gaza prior to 2005 knew that you ever went to rafah, you never knew when you would come back because frequently that checkpoint would be closed and you can be left stranded for several days.

rightly, there is concern over these new conditions because it is exercising far greater military control on gaza than previously expected in the negotiations. christian: i know you talk to palestinians about the state of the negotiation. who ultimately is pulling the strings from their side? hamas has been taken off the table, then is it still sinwar that is calling the shots? oliver: i would imagine he has a big influence on whether the proposal put to them are acceptable or not. at the end of the day, i think what i understand is they have not changed their policy in accepting what was on the table o on july 2. if you recall, originally

proposed by president biden in may. that offer of a temporary cease-fire leading to negotiation or exchange of hostages and detainees, and then gradually negotiations for a permanent cease-fire and a total israeli withdrawal, i think those conditions are still acceptable. given the terrible situation in gaza, and you know it is getting worse day by day. we are seeing terrible pictures that no one will broadcast, it is so horrific. for this to stop, i think there needs to be an agreement now, first and foremost, a complete cessation of hostilities and then proper negotiations leading to exchange. and where it is possible, a reestablishment of normal life for the 2.3 million people

living in gaza. christian: we should never lose sight of the dire situation for the people in gaza. thank you for coming on. oliver: thank you. christian: keir starmer has warned that october's budget will be painful for the british public, blaming the previous government. speaking this morning, the premise there said his government inherited a 22 billion pound blackhole, the result of 14 years of economic mismanagement, he said. he said those with the broader shoulders will carry the heaviest burden. the conservatives say it has labour's intentions to raise taxes all along. >> blue skies and sunshine but the prime minister did not come here to paint a rosy picture. is accused theonservatives of wrecking the economy, leaving him to put it right. >> there is a budget coming in

october and it igoing to be painful. we have no other choice given the situation that we are in. those with the broadest shoulders should there the heavier burden. i will have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well. >> it has been announced that millions of pensioners will no longer get the winter fuel payment, something that was not mentioned during the election campaign. the chancellor admitted that some taxes will go up. many now want to know what the impact of the budget will be. so, if you are being honest, can you tell them now what kind of tax rises were considering? >> i did not want to have to deal with the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, but we have to fix the nhs. we have to fix our homes, our schools. pensioners rely on them in the same way as everyone else does so i will not preempt the budget, but i'm absolutely not gog to accept the inheritance

that we have isn't anything other than dire. >> kier starmer has only been on the job for a few weeks but already managing expectations about how much you can achieve in five years. previous prime ministers have been accused of overpromising and under delivering. he seems to be trying to do the opposite. invited to downing street today were campaigners and business owners that the prime minister met during the election. what did they make of his message? >> i think he will do the right things for the right reasons. some of them will be unpopular. >> we've been in shambles for years. i voted for that shambles and i am horrified. >> we are concerned about any tax rises. we have to wait and see. >> conservatives deny the left the economy in a mess and say labour want an excuse to put up taxes pai. >> they found billions and billions of pounds for payments

for going on strike and paying those pay demands, and labour has no plan for tackling welfare. >> and the liberal democrats want more detail from the government about health plans. >> the liberal democrats thought on a bold and ambitious program to reform nhs, properly funded. the mp will be championing that and pushing the new government, not just to look backwards but to have a plan so we can afford to turn aroundur nhs. >> parliament returns next week and you can bet these arguments will be rehearsal many times in the run-up. christian: we can speak to the co-editor of tribune magazine, a magazine on the left. welcome to the program. thank you for coming. it was such a contrast with the first weeks of the balir government -- blair a

government. what do you understand by painful? what does painful mean? >> i think what we can expect from this budget is a mixture of potential austerity cuts alongside some taxes. we heard some talk prior to the election about equalizing capital gains tax. i think fundamentally, the institute for fiscal studies warned in july that this was always in the cards. whichever party came to government, it would be about 20 billion pounds worth of cuts. it is unfortunate we did not have a proper discussion during the general election campaign around where savings will be found and where revenue would be raised. starmer's slogan throughout the campaign was hope. that single hope, after austerity cuts to public services, after the cost-of-living crisis. if you tell people you are in for pain, that will not go down

well and i think it fundamentally misreads the mood of the public. people want change, optimism. christian: clearly, he's involved in a period of expectation management here. but right now, he has two levers to pull. higher taxes or spending cuts, deep spending cuts. is that what you are expecting when he says things are going to get worse? taj: i am trying to figure out where the spending cuts will come because if you look at the justice sector, we are seeing a prison crisis. ifou look at local government, we have councils on the brink of bankruptcy. what i would like to see is a very honest conversation around carbon taxes, land tax, corporation tax. it does not have to be income tax. it does not have to follow on working people. there are multiple ways to raise revenue and when politicians say there's no other way, i think

that is being dishonest with the eltorate every tax decision a government makes is a conscious choice. we don't have to have the nhs versus winter fuel payments. we can have investment in working-class communities, tackling child poverty, and making sure the wealthiest are paying their fair share in tax. i think what we lack is the political will, not the resources. christian: you talk about the rot at the heart of government and how this government will do things differently. here we are in the midst of a whole list of people being given jobs in civil service at the heart of government because of their connections to all their donations the labour party. are you disappointed with the way they have set it up? taj: i am. i think people want to trust their elected representatives. i think the influence, particularly of the corporate lobby in our politics, undemocratic, unaccountable is

not a good thing. people were very angry with the conservatives at the last general election, but they also felt that they were going through severe hardship. that living standards had declined. as much as they want no want solutions to the problems they face. half the kids are growing up in poverty,, yet we are beintold by the government that the two child limit has to stay in place. as much as i want them to tackle corruption and to end this dodgy sleeze and cronyism, i think we need to give solution to working-class people as well. christian: good to talk to you tonight. thank you for coming on. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. ♪

♪ christian: welcome back. aftehis speech today, the

british prime minister got on a plane to berlin for meeting with the german chancellor. with ukraine high on the list of issues to discuss. germany has been a huge contributor to the ukrainian defense effort but they have an economic crisis. of their own mr. schulz has been under pressure. and the issue of longer-range cruise missiles. wondering if missile should be authorized for u inside russia. germany has not sent its equivalent cruise missile. with us to discuss is christine in washington. the managing director of the think tank. keir starmer said no new decisions, different decisions have been taken on the use of weapons inside russia. does this come down to the white house? can you hear me?

christine: now i do. christian: i was making the point that the british prime minister has said no decisions or different decisions have been taken on the use of weapons inside russia. i wonder if ultimately this comes down to the white house? christine: this does come down to the white house but other actors are very important. you mentioned this trip to germany and germany is an important voice. with the particular british missiles, the washington decision is probably the most important there's a lot of cooperation in weapons production and importance to be on the same stage with washington. washington and berlin have been very cautious about the use of their weapons in russia. there have been movements that are going to make it easier for ukraine to use weapons in russia. we already saw this before.

now ukraine is holding russian territory. the hesitancy, the concern about escalation, what could be future next steps from russia potentially against ukraine's partners are very important considerations in washington. but especially in berlin. i woulsay the hesitancy is strongest of all in germany, less in washington. the boldness ists more in london than in other cities. christian: this advancing has caught many in the west by surprise. let's show our viewers the extent of what's going on in the region. ukraine controls 100 settlements. they have captured, they say, 600 russian soldiers. they had hoped to would redirect troops towards kursk, but so far it has not worked. they say the russians are

transporting more troops into the region. the strategically important town in the last 48 hours. it is delicately balanced at the moment. kristine: absolutely. something has happened to russia that has not happened earlier. russia has lost territory, russia has skin in the game besideits imperial ambitions, besides its soldiers lives. russia itself has not been held by an opponent. it has not been held by a foreign power in the way that is the situation. for now, putin is not taking the bait. he's continuing his onslaught and taking tara terry in ukraine -- territory in ukraine knowing this is what the ukrainians were seeking to avoid. now we have ukraine pushing into russia and russia continuing to push into ukraine. today, zelenskyy said this will

be another step towards an endgame, a negotiated settlement. but we are not there yet. the fight is very brutal and there is a sense that the more land each side has come of the more will be on the table to trade, the more they will be a deep conversation once we finally do get to a negotiated diplomatic settlement. christian: what would be the repercussions of these longer-range missiles and if he used them? clearly, the white house did not get advance notice about the assault on kursk. so, could he just go ahead and use them? kristine: potentially. so, there have been many redlines that russia has had. in some ways, the entire war is redlines, the ukrainians being able to do what they want to do which is integrate fully into europe and western institutions. yet, redlines such as an

incursion into russian territory, everything moves on as it has before. there has not been a use of a nuclear weapon. there has not been a massive counterattack by russia. there are western weapon systems in use. nothing big missiles but other ones. yet, the end of the world has not come. so, it is a very big question of what might happen if ukraine is able to strike additional blows deeper into russia. thus far, russia has not set up to the crossing of its any purported redlines. the redlines that also included, for example, crimea. for a long time, there was anxiety over what would happen if the ukrainians strike into crimea. nothing. there was a question about what uld happen if the ukrainians stood up to the opposition of grain transport from the black sea.

nothing. every time the ukrainians in the west have stood up to russia, russia has backedown. of course, there is anxiety about an escalation in warfare. of course, the priority of london and washington and berlin to protect citizens and yet, practice shows that russia is not eager to escalate either. christian: we will have to leave it announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: 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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