you'll land now there. —— yolande knell there.st fews hour, hagar mizrahi, head of the medical division at the israeli ministry of health, gave this update on the status of the four returned hostages. about one hour ago, the four captives arrived at the rabin medical centre, all of us awaited at the arrival excited and gratefulfor the privledge to be able to witness their return home. the preparation for receiving them, as well as all of those returning, include establishing a broad professional and sensitive medical and mental health framework. over the last year, we meticulously planned for the reception, treatment in the hospitals and the ongoing care at the community, drawing on lessons learned from previous events. today, we are meeting them after a77 days in hamas captivity. this is an unimaginable reality. we, the medical teams in the health care systems, stand ready to address any medical needs that may arise. let's cross live to tel aviv and speak to our middle east correspondent nick beake. nick, i imagine there are scen

yolande knell in jerusalem yolande knell injerusalem on the latest reaction to president trump war, iis new special envoy to the middle east, steve wheatcroft, who was also very much involved in those indirect negotiations between israel and hamas, and he was indicating his ongoing commitment to this deal being implemented, outlining what he says was president trump's bold vision for the middle east and seeking to ultimately build new relations between israel and other arab countries, dangling out there the possibility that there could be a normalisation between israel and saudi arabia down the road. between israel and saudi arabia down the i prince harry will the doors. prince harry will not be here today, he does not have to be, but we will expect to see him because he is expected to give evidence at his trial. with me to discuss what we can expect a bit more is our media correspondent david silitto. david, what is this all about?— this all about? this is a fascinating _ this all about? this is a fascinating trial. - this all about? this is a fascinating trial. prince j this all abo

that rapport is from yolande knell.et's cross live to tel aviv and speak to our middle east correspondent, nick beake. thank you very much and welcome back to hostage square in the heart of tel aviv where this morning there was huge jubilation at the sight of those four hostages being released. theirfaces those four hostages being released. their faces light up the big screen here and they are preparing for an event later today and the emphasis will be to make the point that while there was greatjoy today the job is by while there was greatjoy today thejob is by no means done because lots of families and friends of the other hostages who remain in captivity in gaza say the effort can stop and they won't stop until their loved ones are released. i want to introduce you to michael whose brother was taken from the music festival. what happened with the rest of his family? happened with the rest of his famil ? , ., ., ., family? they all got there at 6:20am with _ family? they all got there at 6:20am with his _ family? they

let's speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell.g but ruin and destruction. i cannot describe the scene in words. i don't know what to say. it's likely to be an experience repeated again and again. 15 months of war and israeli strikes has reduced much of gaza to rubble. the fighting has now stopped and more aid should flow in. after so much misery, there is at least some grounds to hope. jonah fisher, bbc news, injerusalem. let's speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell. good morning. it has been a they should be able to around. they should be able to move more freely after a week as israeli forces withdraw from key areas in the gaza strip. we are seeing a promised surge in humanitarian aid going into gaza which is supposed to go up to something like 600 lorry loads of aid a day and already the un's humanitarian agency saying yesterday 630 lorries of aid were able to enter into gaza, about half going into the north of the gaza strip where they are of course desperately needed. but still questions about this deal, which h

with more, here's our middle east correspondent, yolande knell.n of the al—masri family have survived horrors. an israeli bombing killed jamal�*s parents and his cousin's mum and sisters. after they were rescued, like thousands of children in war—torn gaza, they were alone. we followed their difficult journey to be reunited with their grandma. translation: it's indescribable howjoyful i am, but my joy - is mixed with sadness. they came back without their parents. three months into what israel says is a new offensive to target hamas, the very north of gaza is now in ruins. the bereaved cousins fled with distant relatives who were filmed for us, saying a painful farewell. staff from the un children's agency had israeli permission to take the al—masri children south. covering a short distance involves a long drive and a laborious process, which unicef has managed in just a few dozen cases. those children who are on their own, or who are with adults that aren't related to them, or even with extended family are even more vulnerable than than other chil

yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem.iddle east is donald trump. his inauguration as us president is on january 20th — that's only a few weeks away. his policy decisions will affect millions. as he arrived for his new year's eve party at mar—a—lago, he spoke to reporters about his hopes for 2025. a great year. i think we're going to do fantastically well as a country. we're going to bring it back. it has to be brought back. people are not respecting our country very much and they're going to respect us a lot. i think a lot of progress has been made over the last five weeks. to talk more about what the trump presidency means for the middle east and what the year ahead could look like for the region, let's speak to talal mohammad in kuwait, an associate fellow at the royal united services institute. thank you forjoining us. let's start with donald trump. what do you think his presidency will mean for the middle east? i think basically stepping forward from the end of the biden presidency which was seen what you might call a

but first, here's this report from our middle east correspondent, yolande knell.nother show of force by hamas, its fighters lining up among the ruins in gaza city. whistling and then, with the red cross ready and waiting, the first glimpse of the israeli soldiers after 15 months in captivity... ..in army uniforms. karina ariev, daniella gilboa, naama levy, all aged 20, and liri albag, now aged 19. all four apparently in good physical health. with foreign reporters currently unable to enter gaza, we're relying on footage filmed by local journalists. and among israelis watching in hostage square in tel aviv, there were cheers, as events in gaza's palestine square unfolded. the body language is positive. i must say, what seems at first sight a good appearance does not necessarily say what's going on inside, inside the body, inside the soul. among the crowd, many are still anxious. everywhere here, there are signs, reminders of the dozens of israelis still held captive in gaza. it's not clear who's alive and who's dead. and there are worries, too, about whether this f

my colleague yolande knell is monitoring events for us injerusalem and told us more about the reactiony made a lot of headlines here in the israeli media is another decision by the trump administration to rescind us sanctions on extremistjewish settlers that were introduced by the biden administration really amid growing international frustration about what's been seen as israel's failure to rein in this rise in extremist violence against palestinians in the occupied west bank. just hours after that was rescinded, we had the news coming from the north of the west bank that there had been a new settler rampage that had gone on, with videos now coming out showing masked men going around setting fire to palestinian cars and property in a couple of villages. hamas has called for escalating the fighting against israel after this rate rate that that happened injenin. that is a real flashpoint. happened injenin. that is a realflashpoint. it's happened injenin. that is a real flashpoint. it's really military and intelligence services launching a counterterrorism operation there, but a large nu

let's speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell injerusalem.e taken place in what is called the humanitarian zone. the first happened in the early hours of the morning and we can see on social media, pictures of tents ablaze and at least 11 people killed. we heard from a hamas interior ministry statement, the director—general of gaza police and his assistant were among those killed. and then we had a separate statement from the israeli military which addresses one other individual targeted. the head of internal security for hamas in gaza. they accuse hamas of hiding among civilians in this area and also say that they took steps to avoid harming civilians. the bbc has also spoken to the father of three boys who were killed in that strike aged seven and 11 and 13. theirfuneral took strike aged seven and 11 and 13. their funeral took place a short time ago. in the latest strike, the israeli military says it has been targeting hamas fighters using a municipality building in the humanitarian zone. local people are telling us that it was civilians th

our middle east correspondent yolande knell is injerusalem.g the ceasefire closely. already president trump has been taking credit for this ceasefire and hostage release deal. we saw that coming into effect on the eve of his inauguration. we know the us was a key broker along with regional mediators going between. when he was asked by reporters in the oval office if he could see this deal going to all three stages, it is supposed to go in the next stage to a full end to the war and in the third stage, to reconstruction in gaza, he said he was not confident the deal would hold through all three stages. he made comments about gaza saying it looked like a massive demolition site. he said it should be rebuilt in a different way — it was in a phenomenal location and that beautiful things could be achieved there. people are looking to his policy towards the middle east for any indication of what might happen in the weeks ahead. the approach that his administration will take. we had the new middle east envoy, a man with a background in real estate, s

let's speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell who's injerusalem for us. 0n on that operationn you tell us? the palestinian _ bank, what can you tell us? tue palestinian ministry bank, what can you tell us? tte: palestinian ministry of health has been saying at least ten palestinians have been killed and 40 people injured since the start of the latest major offensive by the israeli military targeting jenin in the north of the west bank. sources told us there are many civilians who are casualties. we have heard reports that israeli troops shot at the entrance of a hospital injenin and made arrests. armoured bulldozers have been operating in that area, digging up the streets and the israeli military saying it is looking for explosive devices when we have seen operations like this before. jenin is somewhere that is known as a stronghold of palestinian armed groups and the israeli military said it is a counterterrorism operation being carried out. we had hamas and islamicjihad responding to what is going on, calling on palestinians in the west bank to step up attacks against israe

here's our middle east correspondent yolande knell, injerusalem.n he was asked by reporters in the oval office if he thought that all three phases of this ceasefire and hostage release deal that he has been taking credit for would be implemented. he said to reporters, "it is not our war, it is their war, i am not confident." but at the same time we have been hearing from his new special envoy to the middle east, steve witcoff, who was also very much involved in those indirect negotiations between israel and hamas, and he was indicating his ongoing commitment to this deal being implemented, outlining what he says was president trump's bold vision for the middle east and seeking to ultimately build new relations between israel and other arab countries. dangling out there the possibility that there could be a normalisation between israel and saudi arabia down the road. coming up at 1600, we'll bejoined by experts and correspondents to discuss what to expect from donald trump's second term and answer your questions live. so get in touch using the hasht

let's speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell who's injerusalem.l us about the operation in jenin. ~ . . tell us about the operation in jenin. . . . . tell us about the operation in jenin. ~ . . ., ., jenin. what we are hearing from the ministry _ jenin. what we are hearing from the ministry of _ jenin. what we are hearing from the ministry of health _ jenin. what we are hearing from the ministry of health is - jenin. what we are hearing from the ministry of health is ten - the ministry of health is ten palestinians have been killed and a0 injured since the start of the latest major israeli military operation injenin yesterday. sources told us that there are many civilians who are casualties. palestinian reports of big israeli military reinforcements arriving at dawn, of another israeli drone strike on a neighbourhood close to the jenin strike on a neighbourhood close to thejenin refugee camp. the israeli military saying this is about counterterrorism. jenin is known as being a stronghold of palestinian armed groups and there have been many israeli

our middle east correspondent yolande knell updated me on the situation.re when it says it is going after hamas ministry confirming that one of those killed was the director general of police in gaza. he was killed along with his deputy. the statement accuses israel by killing police officers which assess are part of a civil force, of spreading chaos. what we have seen in the past year is that israel has appeared to target hamas police saying that this is a part of its strategy, that it is determined both to defeat the hamas ability in terms of military in gaza but also its ability to govern in the gaza strip. this strike being in al—mawasi, this is an area that is crammed with displaced people, they have come from the gaza strip and conditions have been increasingly desperate in the past few weeks, we have had wintry weather, very wet and rainy, there are people are struggling in these flimsy tents in which they are living. this morning a bbc cameraman was filming the funeral of three boys killed in the strike and their father said to us they were aged be

in exchange, israel will free around 180 palestinian prisoners. 0ur middle east correspondent yolande knellpart of the ceasefire plan to be implemented, everything has been carefully co—ordinated. we are expecting qatar, acting as a mediator between israel and hamas to release the names this afternoon the names they have been given a four israeli female hostages. 0nce names they have been given a four israeli female hostages. once we have those identities, the israeli side will be able to confirm the number of palestinian prisoners from israeli jails expected to be released later on saturday, tomorrow. what we are also expecting this weekend is that israeli troops will begin to withdraw further from the gaza strip, from strategically important areas and then what that should mean is many of the hundreds of thousands of palestinians displaced from the north of the gaza strip and the israeli military gave those mass evacuation orders in the early stages of the war, they should be able to return to what remains of their home so expect some dramatic scenes in the coming days.— scenes in the com

excited talking, cheering and applause let's speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell who'siv. let's start with the news that they have those for female young soldiers released —— four young soldiers released —— four young soldiers released —— four young soldiers released. they look to be in good health. yes. look to be in good health. yes, i was speaking _ look to be in good health. yes, i was speaking to _ look to be in good health. yes, i was speaking to someone - look to be in good health. yes i was speaking to someone from the health team from the hostages and missing families forum and they said the fact that they walked out and were able to give thumbs up and appeared on the stage, they appeared on the stage, they appeared to be in good physical health, although as many have been pointing out, we don't know about the psychological state of these four young women after 15 months in captivity. we've also had some more pictures shared by the israeli military showing their first contact with israeli forces after they were handed over by the red cross. here in hostages squ