hello, i'm carl nasman. in gaza, it's now the fourth and potentially final day of the temporary ceasefire. but there are strong signals that the deal could be extended, with several parties, including hamas, signalling they could be open to a longer pause. israel's prime minister benajamin netanyahu said in a phone call with us presidentjoe biden that he would welcome a continuation of the truce if it meant the release of ten more hostages each day. here's president biden after that call. more is needed, but this deal is delivering life—saving results — critically needed aid going in and hostages coming out — but there is still a structure to ensure that it can be extended, to keep building on these results. that's my goal, that's our goal, to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow, so that we continue to see more hostages come out and surge

more humanitarian relief in to those who are in need in gaza. we'll hear more on the possibility of an extended truce later from our correspondent on the ground. it all comes as m more israelis held by hamas, including nine children as well as three foreign nationals, were released on sunday. among them is abigail idan — the first us citizen to be freed. she was just three when she was taken hostage and she spent her fourth birthday in captivity. her parents were killed by hamas gunmen during the october 7 attacks. members of her family have released a statement saying: the family also thanked the qatari and us governments for helping to secure her release. here's her grandfather speaking earlier.

translation: it was "wow". i couldn't believe it until i saw her. i simply couldn't believe it. now i'm a bit more relieved. not relieved completely, because there is happiness mixed with missing abigail's parents. there are other people who have not returned. i want them to return and i want the army to finish the mission as it has promised. all the hostages and hamas. both go together. our senior international correspondent orla guerin is in tel aviv with more. rejoicing in israel, after the darkness of recent weeks. the latest group of hostages freed from gaza wave to supporters as they are welcomed home. both israel and hamas are signalling their deal could be extended to free more

of those being held, for reunions like this. after 50 days apart, young hostages finally home. emily hand embraced by herfather, thomas, who at one stage believed her dead. now she is free, and, he says, doing well. yesterday, we finally got emily back from the hands of the gazan terrorists. she's lost a lot of weight. from herface and body. but generally doing better than we expected. emily's family say they will throw her the biggest birthday party ever. she turned nine in captivity. avigail idan has also been freed.

also back in israel, yaffa adar. since coming home, she has learned her grandson is a captive. this was the 85—year—old being driven away by hamas. a survivor of the holocaust, taken hostage. her granddaughter says she is back from hell, strong as ever. her spirit is still there, and she's still looking all of us in the eyes, and she's still showing us that she wouldn't let them break her. and she's telling us how she thought about us and about the great grandkids, at night, when it became tough, and she's saying she could hear their voices calling her, and that she said, ok, i have to i have to push through. i have to do whatever it takes to be back. also coming home, palestinians in their teens freed from israeli jails. many children are detained by israel, the occupying power, on charges of throwing stones.

in the west bank, they got a hero's welcome. the green flag of hamas now flying high. in gaza, the truce is holding among the ruins. more than 14,000 palestinians have been killed, according to the hamas—run health ministry. many in the international community fear what's to come if israel's bombardment resumes altogether. orla guerin, bbc news, tel aviv. the latest releases bring the total number of hostages released during the window to sa. and the number of prisoners freed to 117. well, in the west bank, there were celebrations as the latest group of 39 freed palestinian prisoners were reunited with their families. as part of its deal with hamas,

for every israeli hostage freed from gaza, three palestinian prisoners are released from israeli jails. no adult men, nor anyone convicted of murder, is being exchanged. the detainees�* charges range from throwing stones to attempted murder. my colleague from bbc news arabic, muhannad tutunji, spoke to one of those convicted of a more serious crime as she was reunited with her family amid a police presence. her first footsteps as a free woman. 24—year—old marah bakeer is one of up to 150 palestinian prisoners being released, as part of israel's deal with hamas to bring its hostages home from gaza. translation: i feel emotional. it's a very good feeling. but also, we are very sad, because this deal came following the death of many innocent people, and this makes us unhappy and uncomfortable. bakeer is back home with her family in eastjerusalem, after being sentenced to 8.5 years for a knife attack on a border police

officer in 2015. i only heard i was going to be released this morning. i couldn't believe it. even when i was getting taken here in the police car. even when i saw my dad. i still can't believe it's not a joke. many palestinians view the prisoners as victims of israel's occupation. sawsan bakeer has been campaigning for her daughter's release. i asked her what it feels like to see her daughter sitting on her couch for the first time since she was a teenager. translation: my happiness has come back with her. - she has brought thejoy back into our home. finally, ourfamily is together again. israeli police told the prisoners' families to sign documents promising not to celebrate their release. the picture in the west bank, policed by the palestinians, is very different.

among the singing and chanting in the capital, ramallah, were some hamas flags. all this comes in the context of the effort to free israeli hostages. around a dozen a day are being driven across from gaza to egypt, then airlifted to israeli hospitals to meet their families. muhannad tutunji, bbc news arabic, jerusalem. the current truce expires at midnight on monday. our middle east correspondent lucy williamson is in eastjerusalem and has more on the possibility that the agreement will be extended. both sides seem to be edging towards a deal. hamas has said they are open to it and sing sources have told the bbc that hamas has let negotiators know it may be willing to extend the truce by two to four days to allow more

hostages to leave. now, prime minister netanyahu here in israel has also signalled that he may be open to an extension of the deal. he said tonight that the framework for this kind of extension, already outlined in the agreement with hamas, was a blessed thing, but he also made the point that after the end of any framework, any agreement, israel would return to its core goals, and top of that list is the elimination of hamas. but each day that this truce continues, the pressure rises for what happens the day after. for more on the hostage situation, i spoke with michael singh, managing director and senior fellow at the washington institute for near east policy for his perspective. we are hearing these signals from several parties involved, including from hamas spokespeople, president biden as well, that this ceasefire could be extended. what do you make of these signals and what are

the chances we could see some sort of extension to this truce we have been under the past three days now? i think as you heard, both the us and israel probably would like to see the ceasefire extended. it accomplishes two things primarily. one, it secures the release of more israeli hostages and that is one of israel's war aims, to get all the people out of gaza and to do as many as possible during this ceasefire window would be ideal, from israel's perspective. it also gives the us and israel a bit of time to think about the next phase of the war. obviously israel has focused a lot on northern gaza. that campaign has been a devastating campaign. israel now probably will be turning its attention to southern gaza, where presumably a good number of hamas fighters and the leadership would have fled during the first phase of the war, and of course the us will be interested in understanding how does israel intend to prosecute this

phase of the conflict and how will it minimise civilian casualties, quite importantly. in terms of these hopes that these exchanges could continue, maybe even to the point that all the hostages, there are still several hostages being held in gaza, until all those hostages are released, but how likely might that be on the side of hamas? would they be willing to free all hostages currently in captivity? you know, it is honestly a bit harder to say what hamas's calculation is. i think so far hamas has been willing to agree to a ceasefire. it may give them a bit of time to regroup. obviously they have been able to secure release of some palestinian prisoners, and they have gained some credit from the public for that. i doubt that though hamas will be willing to release all of the israeli hostages. obviously it wants to use those

hostages quite frankly inhumanely and cynically as leverage against israel, and i think especially once you get to the question of the soldiers who are held hostage, likely it will be much harder to secure their release from hamas. i worry that this will be a very lengthy process of trying to focus on the hostages and frankly hamas has every incentive to try and drag it out as much as possible, offering fewer hostages in exchange for more time of a ceasefire and so forth. now that we have seen some hostages released, going forth now, how does that maybe recalculate israel's two stated goals? one, israel says it wants to eliminate hamas, and the other is to free all of the hostages. is that now something it may have to recalibrate? i don't know that israel is now going to recalibrate, it has stated multiple war aims, and israel has so far shown a willingness to try

to pursue both of those in parallel, getting the hostages released and eliminating hamas. israel conducted a lengthy campaign in gaza before there were any substantial hostage releases so i don't really think we have any reason to believe israel will cease to presume that campaign once the pause is stopped. aside from what we saw yesterday, this brief hours long delay, this has been a successful work of diplomacy from many different countries. does this pause and exchange lay some of foundation for further negotiations for a longer lasting peace in the future? in past gaza conflict, you would see a ceasefire put in place and it would often become permanent. it would last longer, it would give the parties time to negotiate a longer term, not peace, but a truce,

as it were. this case though it's quite different obviously. this case is qualitatively different from past gaza conflict over the past 20 years, and israel has been quite adamant about still wanting, still intending and insisting upon the elimination of hamas, and we have even heard that from the families of the hostages who have not yet been freed, that the elimination of hamas is an important goal for israel, and so i think in this case it is far less likely that this ceasefire, even if it is extended for another couple of days orfour days, is going to turn into a permanent settlement or a permanent ceasefire. michael singh, managing director and senior fellow at the washington institute, thank you forjoining us. and for sharing your insight. thank you very much. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. the irish writer paul lynch has taken home the booker prize forfiction for his novel prophet song. he spoke to our media editor katie razzalljust after his win.

i don't quite believe it, to be honest with you. well, you have won it for this dystopian novel about an ireland set in the future potentially which is sliding into totalitarianism. yeah. the judges that they were looking for something timely that would also endure and i wonder as he watched last week the events unfolding, the riots on the streets of dublin, i wonder whether you thought, "goodness, my novel is very timely." the book is much further along, shall be say, in the process of realisation. in terms of, like, the events the other day, it's small but you can see where it can lead to. in my own case, i think the counterfactual is a really important, to write something that can ask questions about the now and the future. the annual prize recognises the best original novel written in the english language and published in the uk.

you're live with bbc news. the governor of the us state of vermont says the shooting of three students of palestinian descent shouldn't incite more hate. police say the men, who are all 20 years old, were visiting the city of burlington for thanksgiving. they are receiving medical care, but are not critically injured. burlington police are investigating "the potential "that this was a hate crime" but the exact motive is still unknown. in sierra leone, a daytime curfew will be lifted after most of the leaders of an attack on military barracks and prisons were arrested. you can see the empty streets in the capital freetown earlier on sunday after the government said security forces had repelled "renegade soldiers" who broke into a prison, setting inmates free. sierra leone's information minister told the bbc some of the assailants were in military gear but it was too early to say whether there had been an attempted coup. a new night—time curfew will be put in place beginning tuesday and flights at the international airport have been cancelled. the president of sierra leone said calm has been restored.

i thank all citizens for complying with the security measures and advise everyone to remain vigilant and to co—operate with the security forces. let us not succumb to fear or division. let us come together as one people, one nation. our west africa correspondent mayenijones has more on regionalfears of another coup. this comes at a time when, as i mentioned, a number of countries in the region has faced occurs. you have mali, burkina faso, nigerand faced occurs. you have mali, burkina faso, niger and even beginning next to sierra leone who are under military control and for a long time ecowas the regional bloc have been saying these coups are dangerous for stability and these countries's economies which are already struggling because of the global economic crisis and they are also dangerous because they

are also dangerous because they are contagious, they feel is one is successfully one of the country than it is more likely to happen elsewhere and so there will be a lot of nervousness this morning because some of these things that have happened, you know, early—morning gunfire, prisons being targeted, are signs that we've seen in other coups in the region. they would be concern on their part and the us has also released a statement, condemning the violence, calling for a return to order, to constitutional order, pledging their support of the sierra leone and governments of these concerns are notjust shared on a regional level but also internationally. rescue efforts are at a standstill at the site of the collapsed tunnel in northern india where 41 construction workers have been trapped for 15 days. our south asia correspondent samira hussain reports. this was day ten. the first glimpses of the 41 construction workers. "we will get to you quickly. "don't worry." five days later, they are still

cut off from the outside world. the men were constructing a roadway through this mountain when a nearby landslide crushed partially built tunnel, trapping them behind piles of rubble. as crews race to get them out, family and friends wait in anticipation. like chaudhary, who has been here for 11 days, waiting for his son, manjit. he lost one son in a construction accident two years ago and says he cannot face that grief again. translation: i pray to god but, please, don't take this son - away from me. all i want is that my son should be out. this is my prayer. this is my last wish. for days, we waited while rescuers drill a hole through the rubble but the machine keeps getting stuck and, finally, it has failed completely.

what makes this rescue operation so complicated is that they are not only dealing with rubble and debris but they are also dealing with construction material, pieces of metal, and that's what the drill keeps getting caught on. remember — this tunnel was still being built when it collapsed. now, the plan is to manually dig the remaining 8—10 metres — a process that could take several days, which means more waiting for the men inside and their families on the outside. samira hussain, bbc news. let's take a look now at some other stories making headlines around the world. new zealand's new centre—right government has been sworn in at a ceremony in wellington. the national party won october's elections but needed the support of two smaller right—wing parties. heavy snowfall across romania and moldova has killed one person and left more than 400 regions without power.

and in bulgaria, officials issued a state of emergency for large parts of the country. the vatican says that pope francis is suffering from "lung inflammation" the day after it said he was suffering from a mild flu. young or old, tiktok or x — formerly known as twitter — your social media feeds are often unique to you but could they be shaping how you view the israel—gaza war? the bbc�*s disinformation and social media correspondent marianna spring has been investigating. social media algorithms, which recommend content to you, seem to be driving some users towards increasingly divisive posts about israel and gaza that can shape public opinion. i've been told some mps are receiving a huge influx of messages, including from young people. others are worried about hate online. let's start with tiktok videos. here, from israeli soldiers, these kinds of videos seem a bit more polished, trying to play into viral trends. meanwhile, videos from bloggers

in gaza and pro—palestinian users at home seem to trigger a more positive reaction from young users. tiktoks using the hashtag #istandwithisrael have racked up more than 240 million views overall, compared with more than 870 million views for videos using the hashtag #istandwithpalestine — similar to other video—based sites with younger users. one israeli soldier called daniel makes tiktok videos like this one, with 2.1 million views. but, since then, his views have decreased significantly. daniel has had support, criticism and anti—semitic abuse. he told me, "i am not taking personally the hate reactions "because, first of all, i did nothing wrong. "second, people around the world are so dedicated "to hating israel, it doesn't matter what is in my content." pro—palestinian creators like ariana share their views from their bedroom — like she does in the us. she experienced criticism and islamophobic hate at first but then, that changed. people started following me, they started discovering me and so, the numbers started shooting up. i have received more

engagement on tiktok, i've had multiple videos receive more than one million views. both creators say that their content hasn't been sponsored. questions remain about whether the israeli government or hamas — which is prescribed as a terrorist group by the uk government — is involved in encouraging unofficial content. when users are pushed more content confirming their views, extreme ideas can gain traction. you can see here how tiktok blocks the search term "letter to america" — that's because on the app, several young users began to share and praise part of osama bin laden�*s letter to america — hisjustification for the 9/11 attack — without mentioning its anti—semitic or homophobic content. tiktok said there were only a small number of these videos, which it's since removed, and interest amplified on other sites. tiktok has also said:

and it's removed 1.1 million videos from the region promoting hate and terrorism. professional pro—israeli content, including videos about hostages, is having a significant reach on x, formerly known as twitter — a site which is popular with politicians and journalists. clips of released palestinian detainees seem less popular on x than tiktok. according to x, posts shared there buy the state of israel's official account racked up over a0 million views between 16—21 november, compared to 200,000 views for the official account for the palestinian mission to the un. x has been accused by politicians and celebrities of allowing the spread of hateful and misleading content under its new owner, elon musk — which he and the company have denied. social media feeds are many people's window into what's happening in the war and they're shaping views worldwide. and before we go, italy's having a ball as they are now davis cup champions. the tennis tournament is described by organizers as the world cup of tennis where players compete for their country's team. davis cup posted a photo

on instagram of the last time an italian team won, way back in 1976. tanti auguri to the italian team. a lot has changed since then! stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. if you thought sunday was a cold day, well done — you go to the top of the class. yeah, it was cold across large areas of the uk — really cold as well. temperatures in lentran, near inverness, only got to 0.4 degrees celsius. the november average, meanwhile, here is nine. with the cold air in place, the next question — will it snow this week? stay tuned for the answer to that one. now, it's cold at the moment because we've got this northern latitude blocking. this area of high pressure in the arctic is sending cold air our way and this blocking pattern is with us all week, so it's going to stay cold all week as well. low pressure that's been bringing rain over recent hours through monday will slowly pull away to the near continent but still some wet weather to come across eastern england with the rain reluctant

to clear here. some showers across north east england and eastern scotland. the best of any sunshine will be in the north—west of the uk but wherever you are, it's going to feel cold through the afternoon — temperatures typically around six or seven degrees celsius. so, only really as we go through monday night that that area of low pressure pulls out of the way, skies clear and we'll start to get the winds falling a bit lighter and we're looking at quite a widespread frost developing once again in the countryside. that takes us into tuesday, and it's a completely different day. loads more in the way of sunshine after that frosty start but there'll be some showers across northern and eastern areas and with colder air working in here, we'll probably start to see some of those snow showers working into parts of shetland, maybe even down to sea level. across the mainland of scotland, meanwhile, the snow probably still at this stage confined to some modest hills. similar kind of weather picture, really, through wednesday. it's a mostly dry day with sunshine after a cold and frosty start but, again, we've got those showers, some of which will fall wintry across the north—east of the uk, and it's another cold one — temperatures still well below average

for the time of year. now, it's thursday that looks like to be a particularly tricky day with a balance of cold rain or snow. a couple of scenarios. low pressure coming up from the south. we could see some rain turning to snow across the hills of southern england. some wintry showers across the north—east of the uk as well. but this area of low pressure may end up being a bit further northwards and a bit more intense. that could bring more areas snow — even into parts of wales and the midlands. still got those wintry showers across the north—east. so, there's still quite a bit of uncertainty but thursday has potential. what i do know, though, is it's going to stay cold for a long time yet.

voice—over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. pope francis has been head of the catholic church for ten years. the hope was this first pontiff from the global south would shake the church up, provide a new sense of unity and purpose. instead, there are signs of deepening division, a widening gulf between so—called liberals and conservatives. significantly, catholic numbers

in the west are in decline. the area of fastest growth is africa. my guest is cardinal peter turkson, ghanaian by birth, widely seen as a possible first african pope. is the catholic church at a crossroads? cardinal peter turkson, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. in your long career in the church, you have seen the centre of gravity, the geographical centre of gravity of the church, shift quite dramatically.