just released this photo on x, formerly known as twitter, showing natalie and judith on that call with biden. mr biden also released a statement after their release was secured saying, i am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear. from the earliest moments of this attack, we have been working around the clock to free american citizens who were taken hostage by hamas, and we have not ceased our efforts to secure the release of those who are still being held. earlier, us secretary of state anthony blinken said the us is relieved about the hostage release. our correspondent barbara plett usher has more. the release of the hostages disrupted the day here at the state department. we were sitting down for the daily briefing and then we were told that it would be delayed for two hours because of breaking news. now, they didn't say what the breaking news was, but we knew what it was. and so when we returned to the briefing room, there was another delay and then secretary of state antony blinken came up to speak. and this was an important moment for him, because he has really been pressing for the release of the hostages during his recent trip to the region, engaging in shuttle diplomacy between israel and the arab states. he was pressing for this, especially in qatar, which has taken the lead in trying to negotiate the release of the hostages because it has relations with hamas. there is a hamas office in doha, so qatar has been working very hard on this. the foreign ministry there released a statement saying there had been days of continuous communication to get to this point with all parties, and saying that the qataris would continue talks with hamas and with the israelis to try to get the rest of the hostages released, and hopefully that would help to de—escalate the situation. michael allen served as special assistant to the president at the national security council and gave his assessment of the release of the hostages. so i think it might give israel some hope that the qatar negotiation channel with the leaders of hamas who are there in doha might bearfruit. they may — they may — give the hostage negotiations channel more time to work before going into gaza. we'lljust have to see whether this is an isolated incident where hamas decided it was in their interest for these two american hostages to be let go or whether it's a sign that they might be able to do more negotiations, perhaps hamas hostages for ones that israel has in prison for whatever crimes they might have committed. rabbi meir hecht knows both judith and natalie raanan personally. he spoke to my colleague caitriona perry after the news of their release. judith prays every week in our congregation, for every sabbath, every holiday, and we miss her. and she's been a part of our congregation in such an important way, and as a family friend, someone who would come to our home every sabbath, parade around the house with our baby and bring over gifts for the children. really, our hearts are filled with gratitude to almighty god for this miracle. and again, we continue to pray and ask everyone to pray for the release of the other 200—plus hostages in the hands of hamas terrorists. and what more can you tell us aboutjudith and natalie? as you say, they're members of the congregation there. what kind of women are they? what kind of role do they have in the community there? judith and natalie are really special people. judith is the most kind, giving, sharing, generous person, someone who is always first to be there for other people in their time of need. she is a woman who would, as i said, come over, bring gifts for the children. she's someone who loves life, loves humanity. her daughter natalie is the same. like mum, like daughter, these are people who have a love for every human being. and they are both artists, which means that they have a special touch of spirituality in their soul — something that they're able to convey through the beauty of art. for more on the hostages returning home and the wider regional conflict, i spoke with north dakota republican senator kevin cramer. senator, thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news tonight. i first just want to get your reaction to the news that two american hostages have been released. well, first of all, it's impossible to be anything other than pleased by it — joyful about it, grateful, frankly, that at least a couple more people are free and they get to be reunited with their families. and thanks to everybody in the value chain that made that possible. senator, are you confident that this is a sign, perhaps, that other hostages might also be released? well, you know, it's obviously... we'd like to get them all released, and right now would be a good time to do it since we couldn't get it done sooner. that said, hostages are hostages for a reason. usually they're used for some motivation, and so we'll see. but obviously two today is great, and let's hope that it leads to two later and two again and again and again. but in the meantime, we still need to be diligent, do everything we can to identify where they are, and do everything we can to get them released, either by diplomatic means or by force if necessary. hopefully diplomatic means will do it. but this is where we need our friends in the region, like the qataris and like egypt and our other friends in the region, to help us with the diplomatic side of things. and that seems to be what happened here. i don't know what, if anything, hamas gets out of this or if they're going to demand anything going forward, but we're just grateful for these two for now. i want to ask you about what we saw from president biden on thursday evening. he has said that he's asking congress for more than $100 billion in funding for israel, for ukraine, also some money for the us—mexico border. and he said in his address that it's, quote, "a smart investment that's going to pay dividends for american security for generations." do you agree? well, i agree that it can, but we've got a long ways to go to make it the type of package that actually does have forward—leaning opportunities — that does, in fact, secure the southern border of the united states of america as well as other countries�* borders. so we're going to obviously have to work it over in the united states senate, and certainly the house will as well. it's a collaborative process that gets to something that can actually pass. i don't think the amount is so horrible. that doesn't bother me. in fact, i wouldn't mind if it was twice as much, as long as it's put to a use that does in fact secure our future. but at the same time, part of why we're here at the moment we are is because we've been projecting weakness both out of the white house. and frankly, out of the country for the last few years, as we've really neglected our military. we've neglected rebuilding. so, senator, could ijump in there and just ask you... could i ask you what you'd like to see then instead from president biden? sure. what i'd rather see, quite honestly, is a united states of america national defence supplemental. and yes, ukraine is part of that. yes, israel is part of that. certainly, the southern border has to be the most important part of that, because what good is it to secure other nations if we're not going to secure our own? but i think we need to recognise that we've been taking a peace dividend, really for decades, and it's caught up to us. we have a 60—year—old nuclear deterrent and we need to modernise that. our strategic posture is not what it needs to be. so what i'm saying is, let's rebuild our weapons systems, let's modernise our weapons systems, let's put more money into intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and next—generation war fighters and make sure that the world is safer because the united states is stronger, much like ronald reagan and maggie thatcher did when they won the cold war without firing a shot. so you said, senator, that this request would need some work in the senate, in congress. if you look over at the house at the moment, they've been without a speaker for two weeks. it doesn't look like the process is going to get resolved any time in the next few days, at least. what is your message to your colleagues in the house? well, first of all, i would say to individual members of the house — and i have many good friends over there, i served there for six years — i would say, "you exist for the congress. the congress does not exist for you." put aside your petty differences and whatever disagreements you might have on an individual basis and look at the collective. and that is your colleagues, the other 434 members, what's good for the institution, what's good for the country and what's good for the world. because right now, part of that projection of weakness, unfortunately — as a republican it pains me to say this — but part of that projection of weakness is coming from the message coming from the house of representatives and the chaos that's ensuing over there. because when a small group of people can sort of force the vast majority of people into a compromising position or a chaotic position, we're not projecting the kind of strength that the united states needs to project. so it's time to get over it. now, if in fact it's hard to get over it, and i don't want to dismiss just how difficult it is when there are people that are hurting for various reasons or feeling disenfranchised, then let's do the patrick mchenry thing. let's go ahead and empower the acting speaker, who doesn't want thejob, which i think makes him smarter than most. he doesn't actually want thejob. let's empower him to continue to function as a speaker so that the house can function in its responsibilities, notjust as it relates to the security of the nation and the world and this particular supplemental, but all of the appropriations bills. and realising, again, we're coming up against another fiscal cliff in less than a month. all right, senator, thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news tonight. my pleasure. thank you. turning to the humanitarian situation in gaza, and several trucks loaded with food, water and medicine are still stuck in egypt. the un secretary general visited the rafah crossing on friday. he said aid should be moving in the next day or so. the bbc�*s andrew harding has more from el—arish in northern egypt, close to the gaza border. high above the egyptian desert, a consignment of humanitarian aid on its way towards the besieged territory of gaza. this military plane from nearby jordan has brought medical equipment, including bandages and syringes. theyjoin other supplies being offloaded here in egypt, just a few kilometres from the border crossing into gaza. and inside gaza today, more signs of growing hunger and desperation, people scrambling to buy a few remaining chickens in crowded cities that remain entirely cut off from the outside world. no wonder there is such pressure to get this aid in. this is an operation fraught with risk. the aim is to channel vast amounts of humanitarian aid into gaza through one narrow border crossing, amid continuing israeli air strikes, amid genuine israeli fears that this route could be used by their enemy hamas to smuggle in more weapons, and amid the constant risk that at any moment an israeli ground offensive could put a stop to all of this. but first the border itself needs to open, a logjam of over 100 trucks packed with aid still stuck on the egyptian side as negotiations drag on. so when the united nations secretary—general arrived at the border this afternoon, he did not hide his frustration. behind these walls, we have two million people that are suffering enormously, that have no water, no food, no medicine. nearby, an angry crowd demanding the border be opened and the siege of gaza lifted. andrew harding, bbc news, egypt. for more on the humanitarian situation in gaza, my colleague caitriona perry spoke earlier with ghaith al—0mari. he is the former executive director of the american task force on palestine and former political advisor to the palestinian authority. before we talk about the humanitarian situation, just to get your response first of all to the news that hamas has released two hostages today. first of all, any positive news right now is welcome. i'm happy that two hostages were released, but as you said, there are still more than 200 left and there a wider humanitarian crisis. so yes, this is an important first step, but let's see how it plays out. and my main concern that the issue of hostages is not being used as a political move by hamas and by qatar, so with all the talk about hostages and the humanitarian situation, let us not politicise it. i situation, let us not politicise it. situation, let us not oliticise it. . ., ., politicise it. i wanted to ask ou politicise it. i wanted to ask you about _ politicise it. i wanted to ask you about the _ politicise it. i wanted to ask you about the role - politicise it. i wanted to ask you about the role of - politicise it. i wanted to ask you about the role of the i you about the role of the qatari government in this. they put out a statement saying they have been involved in negotiations with hamas and israel, and they intend to continue those. what you make of that? to continue those. what you make of that? ., , ., , continue those. what you make ofthat? ., , ., , m, ., of that? to be honest, qatar has come — of that? to be honest, qatar has come under _ of that? to be honest, qatar has come under a _ of that? to be honest, qatar has come under a lot - of that? to be honest, qatar has come under a lot of- has come under a lot of criticism in washington in the last few days for supporting hamas leaders both rhetorically and financially, and i think this is a message from the qataris to basically say look, we are still relevant, look, you still need us. i think it is a bit of posturing by qatar. we still need qatar. we have to play this double approach where we are on the one hand working with them on humanitarian issues but we should not give them a pass on issues like supporting hamas and hosting hamas leaders, etc. we supporting hamas and hosting hamas leaders, etc.— hamas leaders, etc. we have seen a lot _ hamas leaders, etc. we have seen a lot of _ hamas leaders, etc. we have seen a lot of protest - hamas leaders, etc. we have seen a lot of protest right - seen a lot of protest right throughout the region since president biden visited there, his unwavering support for israel, the extra arms that will be sent there. what do you think— how do you think the us is viewed in the region currently? is viewed in the region currentl? ., ., , , currently? unfortunately very negatively- — currently? unfortunately very negatively. some _ currently? unfortunately very negatively. some in - currently? unfortunately very i negatively. some in washington fully understand it is consistent with policy to support israel and i think the president in a sense uses his very famous kind of empathy. in israel they say he is the most popular politician, yet the way he was received in the arab world, coupled with the images of death and destruction we see from gaza, is the us support israel. we got so bad that some of the us�*s closest allies, jordan, the closest ally, had to cancel a summit from the president because the jordanians assessed that the public is just not ready for these pictures of their king sitting with the american president. so it is making the ability of the us to pursue its policy objectives quite a bit more complicated. fine policy objectives quite a bit more complicated.- policy objectives quite a bit more complicated. one of the successes. — more complicated. one of the successes, if _ more complicated. one of the successes, if you _ more complicated. one of the successes, if you want - more complicated. one of the successes, if you want to - more complicated. one of the successes, if you want to call| successes, if you want to call it that, the president biden claimed from that visit was that he had got some aid to be allowed in through the rafah crossing. we still haven't seen that aid actually allowed through though, yet. first of all, through though, yet. first of all. you're — through though, yet. first of all, you're absolutely - through though, yet. first of all, you're absolutely right, l all, you're absolutely right, the president get get this achievement. the problem right now as we have political issues. the israelis are putting certain conditions that the egyptians are saying basically, no, this is too destructive, we need to allow more in. on the other hand, egypt is very afraid that if they opened this humanitarian corridor, they will be faced with a magnitude of gazans wanting to go into egypt, and egypt does not want to deal with the refugee problem. egypt is having its own security challenges, is having its own economic challenges, and egypt believes that ultimately it is israel's responsibility deal with gaza. it should not be the one responsible. so whether these considerations are really complicated things. find these considerations are really complicated things.— these considerations are really complicated things. and yet the world is looking _ complicated things. and yet the world is looking at _ complicated things. and yet the world is looking at these - world is looking at these desperate images coming out of gaza. the secretary general of the united nations is at the crossing today, pleading for the gates to be opened. what do you say to the international community?— you say to the international communi ? ., ., , community? you are absolutely riaht, the community? you are absolutely right, the humanitarian - right, the humanitarian situation is dire. when hospitals have no fuel, this is major. the international community should be putting much more pressure on the egyptians, on the israelis, on the qataris, to push hamas to allow for humanitarian action. yes, there political objectives and there are legitimate political objectives, but as the president said, we are stronger, democracy are stronger, democracy are stronger, when they respect the rule of law. the rule of law and international conflict is to allow civilians to receive assistance, etc, so i believe we need to be very firm. i think the president needs to talk again to the egyptian president, to the israeli prime minister, and say this is one area that is the us, we will not accept any equivocation. how much more can the people in gaza take? how much longer can they sustain without this aid, without water, without fuel, without water, without fuel, without medicine? i without water, without fuel, without medicine?— without water, without fuel, without medicine? i mean, it is alread , without medicine? i mean, it is already. in _ without medicine? i mean, it is already. in a — without medicine? i mean, it is already, in a sense, _ without medicine? i mean, it is already, in a sense, the - already, in a sense, the disaster is happening already. not only in terms of the killings, but as you rightly said, procedures are being done without anything. i heard a very horrible statement from someone in gaza saying we need more body bags, we don't have enough body bags. so it is not how much longer to get wet, it is already a disaster. with every passing hour, someone dies, someone loses their lives, let alone, of course, the basic necessities of life. so the sooner that we can just depoliticise this issue, move ahead — again, understanding that there are legitimate concerns, including the need to defeat hamas, because they are, after all, those who started this, get the civilians should not pay the price, and this should be a very firm line by the whole international community.— the whole international community. the whole international communi ., , , , ., community. just briefly, are ou community. just briefly, are you hopeful— community. just briefly, are you hopeful that _ community. just briefly, are you hopeful that that - community. just briefly, are you hopeful that that can i you hopeful that that can happen anytime soon, that the politicisation? i happen anytime soon, that the politicisation?— politicisation? i am hopeful that we will _ politicisation? i am hopeful that we will start _ politicisation? i am hopeful that we will start seeing i politicisation? i am hopeful. that we will start seeing much more aid, the us has appointed a very capable diplomat to do that, yet i am unfortunately not hopeful because i see this conflict going on for weeks, if not months, to go. and as usual, civilians will pay the biggest price. we usual, civilians will pay the biggest price-— usual, civilians will pay the biggest price. we will leave it there for now. _ biggest price. we will leave it there for now. i'm _ biggest price. we will leave it there for now. i'm sure i biggest price. we will leave it there for now. i'm sure we'lll there for now. i'm sure we'll be talking to you about this again. thank you so much for joining us. it's been a busy day on the us political agenda. here are the headlines. us republican congressmanjim jordan is out as the party's nominee for speaker of the us house of representatives. he lost a third consecutive floor vote friday morning and was then voted out as nominee during a secret ballot by party members. a number of other republicans have announced their own bids for speaker. the party will reconvene on monday. another one of donald trump's former lawyers has taken a plea deal in georgia's 2020 election interference case, avoiding prison in exchange for their testimony. kenneth chesebro was criminally charged alongside 19 others, including mr trump, for his role in what prosecutors describe as a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election. mr trump's former lawyer sidney powell struck a similar deal yesterday. meanwhile, thejudge in mr trump's new york civil fraud trial has reprimanded him for violating an order barring him from attacking court staff. thejudge said mr trump had posted "untrue and disparaging" remarks about a court clerk and failed to remove them from his website. on friday night, a judge in mr trump's federal trial paused a similar gag order, according to court records. argentina goes to the polls this weekend in the first round of presidential elections. the front—runner is economist javier milei, who touts himself as an outsider and is often compared to donald trump. in a country where inflation is running at more than 100%, he has offered some radical solutions to shake up the economy. milei's campaign has largely played out on tiktok, as katy watson explains. this is the man attempting to take a chainsaw to argentina's status quo. javier milei likes to offer up drastic solutions to offer up drastic solutions to the country's problems, like demolishing the central bank. with argentina teetering on the edge of economic collapse, it's a message that resonates with millions. and he is doing it with an army of influences, spreading his word onto cox. a law student is in charge with his presence on the app. he has a fanclub himself. it is changing _ a fanclub himself. it is changing the _ a fanclub himself. it is changing the way i a fanclub himself. it is changing the way that| a fanclub himself. it 3 changing the way that people inform themselves and you don't have to have any more those big structures, you know, for making politics and to go to the villages and towns. you can come up with a phone, which all the country in one—hour, two—hour, three hours, one day. one paints himself as the 0ne paints himself as the outsider, a man who wants to slash spending but also loosen gun laws and restrict abortion. he is not afraid of controversy, going so far as to question the atrocities during argentina's bloody dictatorship. up against him are these little big hitters, economy minister sergio massa and conservative former security minister patrizia bullrich. 0n the streets of one azarias there are streets of all of the other candidates but milei is totally absent. because the campaign has gone on here, speaking to his millions of followers, and it fits with his narrative of being genuine, of being one of them. but his critics think the narrative is dangerous. young voters are hugely important in these elections so they too are going online to debunk fake news. translation: for going online to debunk fake news. translation: for us it is really important _ news. translation: for us it is really important to _ news. translation: for us it is really important to bring - really important to bring argentina's political history to the fore. the social history, economic history, liars of what he is proposing is not anything new. in fact, it's already happened. and it did not work. but it's already happened. and it did not work.— did not work. but if the polls are right. — did not work. but if the polls are right, voters _ did not work. but if the polls are right, voters don't i did not work. but if the polls are right, voters don't care. | are right, voters don't care. this is the man of the moment in argentina in a country where inflation makes every day that much harder and a new kind of politics, no matter how uncertain, is appealing. katy watson, bbc news. and let's end the programme back with the israel—gaza war and remind ourselves of the human cost of the conflict. bushra khalidi is west bank policy lead for oxfam, who is originally from gaza. she shared an emotional message from one of her colleagues who's there now. he said, "the situation is getting worse day after day. "finally, i managed to get bread forfive shekel, "but it will only last for half a day. "when i was walking to the bakery, i saw people "who came from gaza sleeping in their car "because they were not able to find shelter. "i saw people sleeping in shops, in the streets, "on the asphalt, without any mattresses nor blankets. "it's a terrible situation they're suffering. "on my way back home, i found two children alone. "they were crying. "they told me they were in an unrwa shelter "but their parents went to get food and didn't come back. "we're looking for them. "we can't find them. "i was afraid to lose those children, so i took them "to a shop owner from khan younis who knows the area "and maybe could help them. "we don't have electricity. "we don't have water. "we're buying fuel at double its costs. "we rented a generator at a high costjust to pump "water for two hours. "we were able to buy water for double the price "but it can only cover the need for one day. "we're not hungry. "we have a little food but very limited choices. "every day, i hear my daughter and my son, "�*dad, i want to return back to gaza. "'why, dad?�* "�*i want to go back to gaza because i want my uniform. "�*i want to go and play football.�* "it's difficult to go. "the situation is risky. "inshallah, you'll get your uniform and you can go "back to the football club. "my children are deeply affected by what happened "at the hospital the day before yesterday. "they are scared. "they didn't know how to make sense of it. "it's difficult to understand why people are being targeted "like this and they are afraid they will be targeted "ina similarway. "we truly hope for a future where everyone is happy "and safe and where the humanitarian rules "are followed to ensure protection for all." remember, you can find more stories like that, plus all the day's news, on our website, or check out our app. we have the latest on the freed us hostages, plus reports from our correspondents around the world. i'm sumi somaskanda. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. for some places, the flooding situation could get worse before it gets better — not least in eastern scotland, where we have this new red warning from the met office. further rain through the day on saturday, falling on top of what we've already had. this is friday's rainfall radar. the rain was pretty relentless across eastern scotland and also northern england, parts of east anglia, the north midlands, north wales. huge amounts of rain. we've seen widespread flooding and this met office amber warning remains in force through the first parts of saturday morning. but of greatest concern, i think, is this red warning covering parts of angus and southern aberdeenshire — a further 100mm of rain, further significant flooding and a danger to life. amber warnings covering larger parts of eastern and northern scotland as this rainjust keeps on coming through the day tomorrow. for england and wales, broadly speaking, a drier day. this band of showery rain will push eastwards. could see hefty downpours skirting the south—east corner. northern ireland probably having some of the best of the weather — largely dry, just the odd shower, some spells of sunshine. windy in the south of england and the channel islands. still windy in north east scotland. but for many northern parts of the uk, not as windy as it has been. temperatures north to south 8—16 degrees. now, this heavy rain continues into saturday evening but it will clear northwards overnight, this band of showery rain pushing away from eastern england and then, things do turn drier. yes, a few showers, i think there'll be some mist patches around as well, but a drier start to sunday morning as an area of low pressure tends to swirl away north—eastwards. and this very, very weak ridge of high pressure — you can't see much of it here on the weather chart but there is some slightly higher pressure just toppling through, and that means drierweather, more in the way of sunshine. yes, there will be some showers but certainly not as wet as it has been. lighter winds, temperatures of 12—16 degrees, so a much calmer day to end the weekend. but then, as we head into next week, well, another area of low pressure looks set to push up from the south. this one probably not as potent but it will still bring further rain in places where we really do not need it. so, the outlook for next week is pretty unsettled. there will be some heavy rain around at times. it will be quite windy but with some drier interludes. voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. hello and welcome to unspun world. at a time when, in the words of anthony blinken, the american secretary of state, the middle east is in danger of slipping into war or as king abdullah ofjordan put it even more starkly, the whole region is on the brink of falling into the abyss, how worried should we be? if there are shocking scenes, heartbreaking, even more heartbreaking than now coming out of gaza, they will feel honour bound to do something. to what extent is iran pulling the strings in gaza and lebanon? hezbollah is a militant group. they have their own weapon, they have their own armies, and they have the sole decision that is basically coming from iran. and they're acting upon that. and china, ten years after the belt and road initiative, is the world's most impressive economy in danger of hitting the buffers?