Jonah Fisher
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: Three freed hostages back in Israel
You might have heard, actually, the sound of a cheer going up here in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. What they are watching is Israeli TV, but rebroadcasting pictures from Gaza. It looks like those Red Cross vehicles are starting to move. Huge crowds that are pressing in around them. Members of Hamas with their faces covered, holding weapons that look like they're on the back of that vehicle.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: Three freed hostages back in Israel
But what people here have been watching for and responding to, they're looking for any glimpse of those women basically being handed over. You can hear it again, listen. Where people are applauding. Now, Reuters say they've been told by a representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross that the handover has begun. Looks like they're trying to close the doors.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: Three freed hostages back in Israel
I mean, this is the real sort of key moment. And in fact, it's worth saying this is a moment that people feared that they might not see, that might not happen when that ceasefire was delayed. It was supposed to happen at 8.30 this morning, local time, and it didn't actually come into force until 11.15 at the end. People were worried that this timetable would slip.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: Three freed hostages back in Israel
But what you're seeing now is what looks very much like just a very chaotic handover. of those three Israeli hostages. Emily Damari, who's that 28-year-old British-Israeli national who was taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The crowd cheering around me again. Also, Romy Gurnen, who was taken at the Nova Music Festival. She was 23 years old when she was abducted.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: Three freed hostages back in Israel
She was believed to have been shot in the hand as well when she was taken by Hamas from the Nova Music Festival, on the phone to her mum at the moment when she was abducted. And also, Doran Steinbrecher, who was a veterinary nurse She also lived in Kfar Aza. She was taken from her apartment on the 7th of October. And people here in the square in Tel Aviv are really responding to those pictures.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: Three freed hostages back in Israel
We can speak to Jonah Fisher again, our correspondent, who is outside Shiba Hospital. When the hostages get to where you are... It is sort of the end of that handover process, really, when they go to hospital. And I imagine, you know, you and many of the world's media are there waiting for that part of the handover as well.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
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Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
Well, first up, it was the first time we'd seen Mr Netanyahu speak to the Israeli public since the agreement was signed off on Wednesday. I suppose the most interesting thing which I noted was how often he spoke about this being a temporary ceasefire, about how Israel remained prepared to go back to war, how many assets they were keeping in Gaza.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
and the ability to go back and fight again with the United States backing if Israel did not feel that its objectives were being achieved. So what's important to remember about this deal that's coming into place is that it is a six-week temporary ceasefire. Some people are hoping that it would carry on longer than that, but in paper that's what it is, to allow hostages to be released.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
with all the further and most important details about Gaza's future being discussed during phase one to allow phase two and phase three to take place. So here within Israel, there have been members of Mr Netanyahu's government who have insisted that after this phase one, the war would resume again, that Israel would continue to fight in Gaza and pursue a complete victory over Hamas.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
And in the address, it was interesting that he was clearly in part talking to those members of his cabinet, reassuring them that this isn't the end necessarily and that if Israel does not feel that it's working out for it after six weeks, that they have the backing of the United States if they want to resume fighting again in Gaza.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
Yeah, there was a statement that came from the prime minister's office saying Hamas had yet to give them the names of those hostages that were being released. It feels to me like this is a hitch rather than a more major problem. There's a list of 33 hostages, women, children, the injured and the sick, that has been widely circulated.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
It seems that what Mr Netanyahu's office is referring to in this rather angry statement is that they haven't been given the names yet of the three, we assume, women who are due to be released on the first day of the ceasefire. This is a phased release of hostages and it doesn't appear yet that those names have been given over by Hamas.
Global News Podcast
Millions hit by huge winter storm in US
Efforts to negotiate a Gaza ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages are continuing in Qatar, with a delegation from Israel holding talks with mediators who then relay any proposals to Hamas. Jonah Fischer.