Israel awaits hostage release
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Trump's Middle East envoy has told a packed rally of relatives of Israeli hostages and their supporters in Tel Aviv that they were coming home. Steve Witkoff's remarks come ahead of Monday's expected release of 48 living and dead hostages by Hamas, as part of the Gaza peace deal. Mr Witkoff praised President Trump -- to cheers -- as well as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu -- whose name was booed. We speak to a doctor at one of the Israeli hospitals where they're expected to arrive.
Also, protests in Madagascar, where at least twenty two people have been killed in recent weeks.
And the Hollywood actress Diane Keaton has died. She was 97. Known for her versatility, Diane Keaton first became famous in the early 1970s when she appeared in the Godfather films. She later won an Oscar for her role as Woody Allen's love interest in the 1977 romantic comedy, Annie Hall.
(Photo: U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff speaks at "Hostages square", flanked by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 11, 2025. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:08.7 | Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service, coming to you live from London. I'm James Kimmer-A-Sami. |
| 0:15.6 | Thank you, God! Thank you, Ruff! Thank you,, Trump! Thank you, Ruk. |
| 0:23.1 | In Tel Aviv's Hostages Square tonight, chance of thanks to President Trump, |
| 0:28.1 | as crowds who've gathered there regularly on Saturday nights, |
| 0:31.0 | listening to impassioned and emotional speeches from hostage families and freed hostages, |
| 0:36.3 | came to take in a very different mood, |
| 0:38.2 | with the release of all the remaining captives being held by Hamas and other groups in Gaza |
| 0:42.6 | expected within the next two days. Donald Trump's envoy to the gathering, his envoy to the |
| 0:47.8 | Middle East and to just about everywhere. Steve Wickoff, who you may have also heard, |
| 0:52.3 | being thanked there. This is what he told the crowd. |
| 0:55.6 | Tonight, we celebrate something extraordinary, a moment that many thought was impossible. |
| 1:02.7 | Yet here we stand, living proof that when courage meets conviction, miracles can happen. |
| 1:10.4 | A peace born not out of politics, but out of courage, the courage of |
| 1:16.7 | those who refuse to give up hope. He went on to thank others, including his fellow negotiator, |
| 1:22.4 | President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was there with him in Tel Aviv, and the Israeli |
| 1:26.8 | Prime Minister, who wasn't, and who, as you're about to hear, who was there with him in Tel Aviv, and the Israeli Prime Minister who |
| 1:27.8 | wasn't, and who, as you're about to hear, wasn't popular with the crowd. |
| 1:32.6 | This moment was made through the tireless dedication of leaders who would not rest until the world |
| 1:40.3 | saw what could be achieved. One of them standing right here with me, Jared Kushner. |
| 1:51.8 | To Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. |
| 1:56.8 | Oh. |
... |
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