from the egyptian capital, rupert winfield hayes reports. >> the violence that has swept cairo over the last 4 hours has been as confusing as it has been bloody. this was a mob filmed this morning attacking a car thought to be driven by a christian. but many of the christians here say it was the army that carried out most of the killings and they have evidence to prove it. this one she says was run down by apple armored car. the soldiers, she said. it was the soldiers. they ran him down when i tried to help him, the soldiers insulted me. i tried to carry him to the car, but he was dead. whether it was the army or muslim extremists, it is no doubt that egypt's christian community believes it is the victim. this afternoon, thousands crowded into cairo's giant cathedral for the first funeral. the news was angry. they waved the bloody clothes of the freshly made martyrs. egypt's christians are not a small insignificant. they are increasingly under attack. particularly from hardline islamic fundamentalists. things here are gotten worse, not better. >> egypt has become a much freer country. b

rupert winfield hayes reports from jerusalem. >> last night in jerusalem, the israeli cabinet gathered to confirm a decision that people here have been waiting for for five years, a decision that israel's government has agonized over for nearly as long. the words from prime minister netanyahu's lips confirmed a deal has been struck with hamas to release a young israeli soldier, gilad shalit. >> i bring a proposal to the government, he says, for a deal that will bring gilad shalit home, alive and well. this is the last proof that gilad shalit is still alive, a video released by hamas more than two years ago. at that time, the young soldier had already been held somewhere in gaza for three years. the open hatred between israel and hamas has made this an extremely difficult deal to strike. shalit has been in captivity for more than five years. now israel says it will release 450 palestinian prisoners, and once gilad shalit is free, another 550 palestinian prisoners will be released. for the hamas leadership, this is a huge propaganda coup. and it has been very quick to point out the scale

rupert winfield-hayes, "bbc news," jerusalem. >> jonathan has been on the streets of jerusalem to witness the celebrations. >> hundreds of israelis have gathered this evening to celebrate something which many of them have been waiting for for more than five years now. the release, they believe, of the man captured by hamas militants in 2006 when he was just 19 years old. he's now 25, and his plight really has touched the hearts of many israelis. most families have relatives who serve or who have served in the israeli army. we're just getting details of the deal coming through from hamas. they're saying a thousand palestinian prisoners will be released, possibly 450 sometime in the next week, and then a further 600 or so in a couple months time. and the belief is that he will be released only when that first 450 palestinian prisoners are freed. as for his family and probably for the families of some of prisoners, they've been waiting for this for a long time. they actually won't believe it's reality until their relatives will back home. >> we can now speak to martin indig, who has twice se