incredible is happening. rocket fires. alarms sound. at that time, what it was was hundreds and hundreds of rockets being fired into israel. but it subsequently transpired that that was. and very quickly, it became clear that hamas had crossed the border, was in israel. gunshots. and videos started emerging of dead soldiers, dead civilians. so, very quickly, we decided and i spoke to the people here in london that we needed to change plans. we immediately started packing, making plans, we managed to get going by about midday. before i left kyiv, i did some lives from the roof of the hyatt regency hotel, in the pouring rain, talking about what was going on. they wanted me to talk about it and it was already clear that what we were seeing was an absolutely enormous story. let s talk to our international editor, jeremy bowen, whojoins us this morning live from kyiv. and, jeremy, you know this region well, what s your assessment of what s going on right now? what s going on
i mjeremy bowen. i m the international editor of bbc news. ijoined the bbc on september 24th, 1984. jeremy bowen explains. airships blimps, as they re known, seem to be coming back into fashion. and 2005, i got thejob of middle east editor and in a way i m still middle east editor, but i m also international editor. where were you on october 7th? well, i woke up that morning in kyiv, in ukraine. i woke up and, you know, i reached for my phone to see what had been going on in the world, and the first thing i saw on whatsapp was a message to thejerusalem whatsapp group chat, saying, something incredible is happening. rocket fires alarms sound at that time, what it was was hundreds and hundreds of rockets being fired into israel. but it subsequently transpired that that was. and very quickly, it became clear that hamas had crossed the border, was in israel. gunshots and videos started emerging of dead soldiers, dead civilians. so, very quickly, we decided and i spoke to the
western governments, and 39 palestinian prisoners who d been held in israeli prisons. more israeli hostages and palestinian prisoners are expected to be released today. our middle east correspondent yolande knell reports on a rare moment of hope in the conflict. on arrival to celebrate as this is really childrens hospital as some of the free hostages were flown in last night, much to the relief and happiness of a crowd of well wishers. the women and children were said to be physically well. altogether, 13 israelis were released after they spent almost seven weeks being held captive by hamas in gaza. along with 11 foreign workers. earliervideo hamas in gaza. along with 11 foreign workers. earlier video released by the military wing of hamas shows the moment they were taken to vehicles belonging to the international committee of the red cross. these are the youngest of the hostages, aviv, too, and her sister, for , shown in a family video. they were snatched by hamas gunmen
hold. on rafah crossing, trucks carrying humanitarian aid, food, fuel, heading into gaza for the second day. the palestinian red crescent saying it received almost 200 vehicles packed supplies on friday, that is the biggest number since the conflict began. they are in desperate need of aid in and that is coming in, a drop in the ocean, but nevertheless, it is making its way in. desperately needed aid. now on bbc news, behind the stories: on the front line: jeremy bowen. gunfire, yelling. jeremy! 0k? i don t get scared. i ve covered many wars over many years. what we were seeing was an absolutely enormous story. i think someone who spends many years going to tough stories around the world, if they say they haven t been affected by it, they re not telling the truth. i mjeremy bowen. i m the international editor of bbc news. ijoined the bbc on september the 24th, 1984. jeremy bowen explains. airships blimps, as they re known, seem to be coming back into fashion. and 2005, i got