captured on october the 7th and held in gaza since then. the three men and one woman have been taken to hospital they re said to be in good health and have appeared in front of cameras. news of their rescue triggered celebrations in israel. these pictures show israelis gathering outside the hospital where the four were taken for checks and remain for treatment. the israeli military has released these picture of the moment one of the hostages, noa argamani, was taken to safety in a helicopter. but the military operation, which israel says was based on precise intelligence it had received, was hard fought. israel s military says it suffered some casualties. hamas says that more than two hundred palestinians were killed during the raid in central gaza. a hamas spokesperson has said that some hostages were also killed during the clash. our middle east correspondent hugo bachega reports from tel aviv. free again four hostages captured by hamas on the 7th of october and taken t
but it has its problems, and among its members there are very different opinions. this weekend, citizens across the bloc will elect members of the european parliament. who will shape the eu as it faces defining challenges. so what are the issues driving this election? and what s foremost in people s minds as they head to the ballot boxes? welcome to europe votes 202a. hello and welcome from sunny lisbon, where we are coming to you from today. i m mark lowen, one of the bbc s europe correspondents. and over the course of this programme, we will bring new reports from across the continent as the election gets under way. but first, what is it all about? elections to the european parliament take place every five years. it is the only directly elected institution of the european union, shaping the bloc s policies, legislation and budgets. voting happens by proportional representation. each country gets a number of members of the european parliament, or meps, relative to its size.
attacks on schools and hospitals. so we don t know the accusations that the israeli military is facing, but obviously, thousands of children have been killed since this war against hamas started, as the result of those attacks on the 7th of october, and we have seen that thousands more are in desperate need of aid. there is a huge humanitarian crisis going on in gaza. we saw days ago a school being used as a shelter by displaced palestinians in the same refugee camp in central gaza that was hit in an israeli air strike. the israeli military said it was targeting hamas members who were using it as a base to plan and carry out attacks. but critics of the israeli military say that even though the military claims that many of those facilities are being used by hamas as bases to carry out attacks, they say that this cannot be used as a justification for attacks that result in a large number of civilian casualties. so again, we see today that this huge rescue operation has resulted
festival on october 7th. here is the moment argamani was reunited with her father while being transferred; she s also spoken on the phone to prime minister netanyahu. and this is the moment where two of the hostages arrived in a helicopter at the hospital in tel aviv. all four of the relaesed hostages are said to be in good medical condition. the israeli security forces said the operation was long planned, and conducted under heavy fire. they have confirmed that one israeli special forces officer was killed they have confirmed that one israeli specialforces officer was killed in the operation. an israeli police inspector died of wounds sustained during the raid. hamas said more than 90 palestinians were killed. lieutenant colonel peter lerner from the israeli defense forces spoke to us from tel aviv. it was intentionally in civilian homes, it was intentionally in civilian homes, and this is what hamas has done homes, and this is what hamas has done we homes, and this is