Four Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas
Newshour
BBC
4.4 • 984 Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Four female Israeli soldiers taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023 were released on Saturday as part of a swap which will also see 200 Palestinian prisoners freed. Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag, all aged between 19 and 20, were released to the Red Cross in Gaza City during a heavily choreographed handover involving dozens of Hamas gunmen.
Also on the programme: rebel forces in Democratic republic of Congo are advancing on the city of Goma, we speak to a bishop who is in Goma; and why some TV streaming channels are getting round TV sports rights issues by using cartoons. (Picture: Palestinian Hamas militants keep guard on the day of the release of four female Israeli soldiers, who had been held in Gaza since October 7th 2023 Credit: Reuters/Dawoud Abu Alkas)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service coming live from London. |
| 0:07.6 | This is Owen Bennett Jones. |
| 0:09.3 | So four Israeli soldiers have been freed in the second hostage release of the Gaza ceasefire deal. |
| 0:15.8 | In exchange, 200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel have just been set free as well. The Israeli soldiers were all |
| 0:24.0 | young women and the release was used by Hamas to show it is still standing. There were dozens of |
| 0:29.5 | armed Hamas fighters in full combat gear surrounding the women as they were turned over to the |
| 0:34.6 | Red Cross with matching new-looking combat fatigues, |
| 0:38.2 | back balaclavas and green bandanas as a crowd of Garzans looked on. |
| 0:49.0 | Well, over the border in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, cameras showed Israelis, some draped in blue and white |
| 0:55.7 | flags. People there were praying as they watched the release on a big screen. Some gave their |
| 1:01.2 | reaction. |
| 1:01.7 | Karina. |
| 1:05.0 | Who had Irma from here to me, again to me, again with Daniela. The soldiers were seen her by the war on behalf of time. |
| 1:12.5 | Nama, me and Daniela, Karina. |
| 1:16.9 | The soldiers were seized from an Israeli border base when Hamas attacked Israel in October |
| 1:23.7 | 2003. |
| 1:25.3 | And in a statement, the Israeli army spokesperson, Daniel Higari, confirmed that Israel |
| 1:31.0 | had received the hostages. Since the October 7th massacre, our mission has been clear. |
| 1:38.7 | Bring home all the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Today, as part of this ongoing efforts, we welcomed |
| 1:47.5 | home four more Israeli hostages after 477 days in Hamas captivity. Liri Elbag, age 19, |
| 1:57.9 | Naama Levi, age 20. Karina Arraev, age 20, Daniela Gilboa, age 20. |
| 2:05.8 | So he mentioned Liri Al-Bagh there as one of them, and her aunt, Professor Rahmer Al-Bag, gave this reaction. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.