Israel-Gaza: Hostages Returned, Prisoners Released

Newscast

BBC

Politics, News

4.4 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, President Trump has said that “war is over” as the final twenty living Israeli hostages and almost 2000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The president flew to Israel and then Egypt to discuss the next stages of his plan for peace with world leaders at a Gaza summit.

What’s being discussed and are things really ‘over’? Adam is joined in the studio by the BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner and down the line with the BBC’s chief presenter in Washington Caitríona Perry.

Plus, Adam speaks to the deputy First Minister of Scotland Kate Forbes from SNP conference about her reflections on the ceasefire deal, and the party’s plan to overhaul the NHS in Scotland. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.

You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord

Get in touch with Newscast by emailing [email protected] or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.

New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Anna Harris with Adriana Urbano and Shiler Mahmoudi. The social producers were Grace Braddock and Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.5	With American politics, everything seems to be changing by the second.
0:11.9	Yeah, sometimes the news does a full 180 while we're recording the podcast.
0:16.4	It can be a difficult job, but we stay up to date on your behalf.
0:19.9	Makes sense of what's happening in the US with new podcast episodes throughout the week.
0:24.2	America's. Listen on BBC Sound.
0:27.5	Hello, hope you had a good weekend with Laura and Paddy. Today, Monday, has basically
0:32.5	been a day of two different types of hug, if that doesn't sound too cheesy. On one side, you've had the
0:39.2	hugs of the hostages and their families as Hamas releases 20 living hostages and they are reunited
0:46.9	with their loved ones and all the hugging that was going on in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv as more
0:51.7	than two years of that ordeal was over for them and their families.
0:56.0	Then you had the hugs in Gaza and the West Bank as lots of Palestinian prisoners were released
1:01.0	back to their families as part of this exchange deal to end the fighting in Gaza.
1:06.8	And then you had a very different type of hugging, more like back slapping actually,
1:15.0	which is where Donald Trump went to Israel and then he went to Egypt.
1:27.7	And as he's in Egypt, he's just been welcoming all these leaders from around the world and shaking hands, patting them on the back, getting pats on the back from them as they have this big peace conference, where it kind of looks like he is the king of Egypt rather than just a visitor there. So those are the two kind of big
1:33.2	strands of what's going on today. The actual things that have been happening on the ground,
1:37.7	and they're the things that have been happening in international diplomacy. And we will try and
1:41.2	untangle the two on this episode of Newscast. Newscast from the BBC. Fat boy sliver me in the classroom doing our violin lessons. I was the tappletail in the class. Can I have an apology, please? I trust almost nobody. That daddy has to sometimes do strong language. Next time in Moscow. I feel delulu with no salulu. Take me down to Downey Street. Let's go have a tour.
2:03.3	Blimey. Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio. And I know that word momentous is tossed around by
2:09.0	us journalists all the time, but I think I will use it today because what's been happening in the
2:13.6	Middle East is momentous. We have seen the return of the 20 living Israeli hostages
	...

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