of record temperatures. hamas releases two more hostages their families are overjoyed, but many in israel are still waiting to hear news of their relatives. the israel gaza truce continues as america s top diplomat, antony blinken, visits the region, in search of a longer ceasefire. hello, i m lewis vaughanjones, welcome to the daily global, where we ll bring you the top stories from around the world. we start here in the uk, where the former health secretary, matt hancock, has been defending his role during the covid pandemic. in a long day of evidence to the covid 19 inquiry he said many many lives could have been saved if the first lockdown began three weeks earlier than it did in march 2020. he also described what he called a toxic culture in government. mr hancock was a familiar face at regular press conferences that took place during that period, giving updates to the public about social distancing measures, the state of the nhs and the vaccine programme. here s o