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
hostages released now up to 99, two more women were freed by hamas in the past couple of hours. today, though, fears that new violence including a deadly shooting in jerusalem could derail the truce in hopes of bringing more hostages home. a single sentence was all it took in appeals court. we ve got an update on that case. plus, on what could be his last full day in congress, republican george santos attacking his colleagues for trying to bully him, as he puts it, out of washington. his wild and i mean wild press conference, and why he s spending what could be his final hours in office trying to get another lawmaker expelled. we want to start, though, with the hour-by-hour, minute by minute negotiations happening to keep a truce between israel and hamas in place. remember, it was a last minute deal just beforeidnight our time that kept the fighting on pause for one more day allowing for the release of more hostages today. hours ago, the israeli government announcing
coming up, liverpool have to avoid defeat against an austrian side to guarantee getting out of the group stages of the europa league. they are top of their group ahead of the match at anfield. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the former health secretary matt hancock has told the covid inquiry that with the benefit of hindsight the uk should have locked down much sooner at the start of the pandemic. he said many, many lives could have been saved if the first lockdown had began three weeks earlier on the 2nd of march 2020. mr hancock also dismissed allegations from other colleagues that he had lied to them, and described what he called a toxic culture in government. 0ur political editor chris mason reports. one of the biggest names of the pandemic. the health secretary for england, matt hancock. the man in the middle on the television many nights, and the man who resigned for breaking the very rules he d helped draw up. today, his moment of accountabilit
hello, i m christian fraser. you re watching the context on bbc news. global leaders pay tribute to the veteran us diplomat, henry kissinger, who s died at the age of 100. the united states has long been a welcoming country we have life pictures tonight of the rafer crossing, where people are being released rafah. you can see the ambulances. we just lost those pictures, but standing by. i can t give you the names until we ensure they are back in israeli hands. six women, two of them from the same family, sisters, whose father and older brother are still held in hamas. this is them crossing the border a few minutes ago into egyptian territory. then they are transferred to israel, and you can see they re in the hands of the international committee of the red cross. the important thing is one or two of these women in fact, three of them, still have relatives inside gaza still. they will be released. bittersweet for many of them tonight. will not be told who is alive we