How close is a ceasefire for Gaza?
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Qatari mediators say major differences have been overcome in negotiations on a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
What will it mean for Palestinians there and for the relatives of Israeli hostages, who are anxiously waiting for news of the negotiations?
Also on the programme: the BBC investigates new evidence after the deaths of tourists on a boat that capsized off Egypt; and why Starbucks is about to get less welcoming to people who hang around in its shops without buying anything.
(Photo: Supporters of Israeli hostages, kidnapped during the deadly October 7 2023 attack by Hamas, protest amid ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in Tel Aviv. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:07.9 | We're coming to you live from London. My name's Paul Henley. |
| 0:11.5 | In a moment, why hopes are high that a ceasefire deal in Gaza might finally be about to be agreed? |
| 0:18.2 | Also on the programme, a rescue operation is underway at a South African mine to bring hundreds of workers up to the agreed. Also on the program, a rescue operation is underway at a South African mine |
| 0:22.1 | to bring hundreds of workers up to the surface. And we speak to the families of Ukrainian prisoners |
| 0:28.3 | of war who are facing attempts by Russia to get them to carry out sabotage. He said they'd kill my |
| 0:34.8 | husband. For days, he kept calling, saying, your husband is being tortured, and it's your fault. |
| 0:42.1 | Did you at any point consider going through with it? |
| 0:46.0 | No, not for a second. My husband never would have forgiven me if I had done something like that. |
| 0:53.9 | That report in about 45 minutes from now. |
| 0:57.3 | First, after 15 months of a bloody war that's had big repercussions around the world, |
| 1:03.3 | what is happening in Qatar today has been described as the final round of peace talks. |
| 1:08.7 | Qatar's foreign ministry says the major differences have been overcome |
| 1:12.4 | between Israel and Hamas, and a draft agreement exists for a ceasefire in Gaza. |
| 1:18.4 | Here's Majid al-Ansari, the Qatari foreign ministry spokesman. |
| 1:22.9 | The main reason why we are more optimistic right now is, as I said, during the past months, |
| 1:27.1 | there were underlying issues, major issues, between the two parties unresolved. |
| 1:31.3 | These issues were resolved during the talks in the past couple of weeks, and therefore we have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed, and we have a language pertaining to this issue that has been |
| 1:45.7 | distributed between both parties. We especially appreciate the roles of both the Biden |
| 1:51.3 | administration and the incoming Trump administration in the talks in the past couple of weeks. |
| 1:56.4 | President Biden says the deal is imminent and will free hostages, halt the fighting, |
| 2:02.3 | and provide security to Israel, as well as allowing more humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians. |
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