been mediated by qatar, 13 israeli hostages are due to be released later today, with 50 being released over the four days. as part of the agreement, israel will release 150 palestinian prisoners. sir stephen o brien is a former un under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. hejoins me now. tell us what has been happening at the border and how difficult it is been for some of these eight trucks to get through. how long they have been there, how long the jets were. you are in a hot part of the world so it has been a long, arduous time for people to be waiting but there has been plenty of time for assessments by the professionals, not least for the unh wr, to which i used to run, which has been really active in making sure there is a real assessment for the people, particularly in south casa, where they have been gathering to have the humanitarian supplies distributed to them to help them survive and maintain some kind of ability to give th
and late yesterday, the chancellor announced the minimum wage is to go up by more than a pound, to £11.44 per hour, from april next year. and jeremy hunt decided the rate would also apply to 21 and 22 year olds for the first time. here s our econmics corrrespondent, andy verity. ona cold, on a cold, damp day at the south london market, ask what they want the government to do something about and you will hear two big concerns that haven t gone away. energy and food. , ., , ., , food. used to get six or seven oran . es food. used to get six or seven oranges for food. used to get six or seven oranges for a food. used to get six or seven oranges for a pound, - food. used to get six or seven oranges for a pound, now - food. used to get six or seven oranges for a pound, now it i food. used to get six or seven i oranges for a pound, now it has five. lemons, ten for a pound, now 87 for a pound. it is hard for the customer, it is hard for the customer, it is hard for us as well.
and other groups in gaza. a senior israeli official told the bbc that in return, israel would pause its attacks on hamas forfour days, while a us official says some palestinian prisoners would also be released. will so what about those prisoners held by israel who may be released under the deal? earlier i spoke to sari bashi, programme director at human rights watch, who s based in the occupied west bank. she gave me her reaction to the negotiations. any development that would lead to civilian hostages being returned in particular, mothers and children would be welcome. i do have to say, though, that human beings are not bargaining chips. hamas and islamichhad are required to immediately and unconditionally release all civilian hostages men, women and children. this shouldn t have to wait for a deal. the deal itself and i will underline every time i say we re we re not in any position of any confirmation, but we re just reporting what we re hearing so far from various off