and the number of prisoners freed to 117. let s take a closer look at some of the hostages released by hamas today. among the group are sisters, dafna and ela elyakim. they were attacked at their home in kibbutz nir oz. the girls were part of a family group whose capture was live streamed by the attackers themselves. also for the first time, an american israeli citizen was released earlier today. abigail idan was just three at the time she was taken hostage she spent her fourth birthday in captivity. her parents were killed by hamas gunmen during the october seven attacks. her great aunt and cousin said they hoped and prayed today would come and expressed graititude to president biden, the qatari government and other parties involved in helping the release. they also said today s release proves that we can get all the hostages back home. the israel defense forces spokesman daniel hagari said the release of four year old abigail was proof this is a justified war, fighting a
..a bit adventurous. that s how i got into it to begin with. and i think the biggest piece of it was hoping that i had done something worth doing, and that it had made a difference. so the values behind the work were important to you, but on a day to day basis, you were having to deceive and to lie. are you good at that? and protect. she chuckles and i got rather good at it indeed. yes, ican. ican. i can prevaricate with the best of them. let me take you back to the beginning. you ve described entering the cia through a side entrance, by which i think you mean that you weren t sort of formally recruited. that s right. you sort of fell into it because you married a guy who, it turned out, just before your wedding, you learned was in the cia. wasn t there a movie or a book? something titled marrying the mob? there was a similarity, yeah. i didn t realise until shortly before we were getting married that my first husband had an unusualjob. when he told me about it, i had. i had
he was visiting idf troops in gaza. as we ve been hearing, the hostages are being freed in exchange for a group of palestinian prisoners from israeli jails also all women and children. 39 of them, we are told, being released today. 39 of them, we are told, being released today. here they are being welcomed back in the west bank on saturday. our correspondent hugo bachega has this report. translation:, our translation: , our brave translation:, our brave combatants are doing everything possible to bring our people home, and ultimately we will bring them home. we have three main objectives, to eradicate hamas, bring back the hostages and ensure the gaza strip will no longer be a threat to the state of israel. i will no longer be a threat to the state of israel. state of israel. i am here with these combatants state of israel. i am here with these combatants who - state of israel. i am here with these combatants who have l state of israel. i am here with i these combatants
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
Im philippa thomas. From here in the bbc news room, we send out correspondents to give you the best stories from across the globe. In this weeks programme is Americas Mission in afghanistan accomplished 7 Justin Rowlatt asks what the Trump Administration should do about the United States longest war. According to the american governments own estimates, the taliban still controls a third of the country, Opium Production is at record highs, and corruption is still rife here. Who are the happiest children in the world . Anna holligan meets mums who have gone dutch to try to find out. Commentator punches the air. Hes done it. And the future of formula i, as its legendary leader, Bernie Ecclestone, is replaced. Dan roan examines his legacy, and meets the man who is taking hisjob. Its been running as a one man dictatorfor a long, long time. I think the sport needs a fresh perspective. As donald trump settles into his new home in the white house, one of his most pressing issues in is in tray