welcome to the programme and we are tracking the latest on the israel gaza conflict. us secretary of state antony blinken is back in tel aviv. wednesday was the sixth day of a truce between israel and hamas. talks are ongoing in an effort to extend this before it expires. in the past few hours, senior israeli government adviser mark regev told the bbc that israel would agree to an extension as long as hamas continues releasing hostages. earlier, ten israeli and four thai hostages held by hamas in the gaza strip arrived in israel, after being handed over to the red cross. two russian israeli women were freed earlier. this is the sixth group to be released in as many days of the truce. meanwhile, israel announced 30 palestinian women and teenage boys have been freed from israeli prisons in return for the latest releases. also looking at more news on israel, still trying to confirm a claim by hamas that a 10 month old baby the youngest hostage being held in gaza has been k
jasem albudaiwi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. thank you for having me. it s a pleasure to have you. now, we are talking as the temporary truce in the war between israel and hamas continues in gaza, but benjamin netanyahu, israel s prime minister, has made it plain that it will come to an end very soon and then, he says, israel s military operation will continue with full force until complete victory . when you hear the israelis say that sort of thing, what is your response? thank you, stephen, for having me. i m not surprised. he s been neglecting all international calls to cease fire for a long time. we re happy to see that the efforts by our brothers in qatar and egypt bear fruit and reach that agreement where exchange of prisoners, civilian prisoners, is done, and some of the goods and humanitarian and development assistance is moved through. it s not enough. the assistance is not enough. on that question of assistance, the gcc did pledge substantial amounts of money