Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Yocheved Lifschitz is describing the conditions she and her fellow captives were kept in, which she says were clean.

She says they slept on mattresses on the floor in the tunnels under Gaza, with a doctor coming to visit every two to three days.

A captive who was badly injured in a motorbike accident on the way to Gaza was treated for his injuries.

Lifschitz adds that a paramedic came to see them to bring the medicines they needed.

Lifschitz's daughter, Sharone, continues her translation. She says her mother's captors took off her watch and jewellery as she was being driven.

When she got off the motorbike, she was told by the people who greeted her that they "believe in the Quran" and therefore would not hurt her.

Her mother, and 24 others, were taken into the tunnels, which she described as having "soft, wet ground".

She says after two or three hours they separated five people from Kibbutz Nir Oz into a separate room

She says there were guards, a paramedic and a doctor.

Yocheved Lifschitz's daughter Sharone is helping her mother recount the ordeal.

She confirms that her mother was taken on a motorbike and, explaining the bruising, says she was hit by sticks.

Yocheved was then forced to walk for a few kilometres on wet ground, her daughter says.

Sharone describes a "huge network" of underground tunnels run by Hamas, which she likens to a "spider's web".

Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, says she has been through hell, describing how she was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen on motorbikes from her kibbutz.

She says they brought her into Gaza through a gate, with the ride causing her to suffer bruises. She also says she struggled to breathe.

Lifschitz adds that the Israeli government spent billions on the border fence - but it did nothing to stop Hamas from getting through.

A reminder: Lifschitz is one of two women released by Hamas yesterday - the third and fourth hostages to be released by since more than 200 people were kidnapped from Israel and taken into Gaza.

We're about to hear from a news conference at the hospital in Tel Aviv where hostage Yocheved Lifschitz has been recovering after being freed by Hamas last night.

You can watch by pressing play at the top of the page, or stick with us and we'll bring you key updates.

A dire situation in Gazapublished at 09:55 British Summer Time 24 October 2023

09:55 BST 24 October 2023

Jeremy Bowen
International editor, reporting from Israel

Image source, Reuters

The situation in Gaza is clearly dire, going by what the UN says – and our colleague Rushdi who is reporting daily from there.

The airstrikes have continued in the southern area, fewer than the north, but the south which is where the Israelis told people to go to be safe.

The Israelis say very strongly the action is intelligence-led and focused on military targets, and they announced overnight that they had killed some Hamas leaders.

But in the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian authorities in Gaza, they have also killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians as well.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in just over two weeks in Gaza, which is a very large number. One of the calculations that Hamas may also be making is that voices – even from countries allied to Israel and strongly supporting them – will be raised increasingly as that death toll mounts.

Based on past behaviour they might think that a delay in any Israeli ground invasion would help them out.

Whether to invade Gaza is getting more complicated for the Israelispublished at 09:50 British Summer Time 24 October 2023

09:50 BST 24 October 2023

Jeremy Bowen
International editor, reporting from Israel

I think that there is now an increasing debate. or bifurcation, in Israel about the timing of what is going to happen next here.

It was interesting that last night, the politicians and generals felt it necessary to issue a joint statement saying we are united in our views and plans.

That’s because there have been briefings here - on all sides - suggesting that the army want to press on with an operation and the politicians are dithering.

And there’s an additional calculation here - the families of hostages are getting more vociferous.

They have a permanent protest in Tel Aviv outside the army headquarters. I don’t think people will be that keen on the idea of a great big military operation when their families are still captured and there’s a chance of a negotiation.

So it’s getting more complicated for the Israelis. They may have thought at the beginning that this was going to be very simple - the language they have been using is "sort Hamas out once and for all".

But Hamas take hostages for a reason - as leverage. And their intention may well have been to play mind games, to try to get into the heads of Israelis that maybe they shouldn’t be going in.

And a delay might be good for Hamas as it gives them more time to prepare more nasty surprises.

Image source, Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron has been speaking during his visit to Israel, saying the "first objective" in the war should be to secure the release of all hostages.

Macron was speaking alongside Israel's President Isaac Herzog, adding that Israel's duty was to fight against Hamas "without, I would say, enlarging this conflict".

He landed in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and met Israeli-French nationals who have lost loved ones, as well as families of hostages.

He's the latest European leader to head to Israel for a show of support - as well as joining in the international pressure to get hostages freed.

Macron said nine French nationals are still missing or being held hostage.

As we've been reporting, the BBC spoke to Sharone Lifschitz this morning, after she saw her mother in hospital in Tel Aviv.

Yocheved Lifschitz was freed by Hamas last night, having been held since 7 October.

Sharone, who lives in London, also spoke to the BBC last night on the flight to Tel Aviv, before she saw her mother.

She told Fergal Keane of the mixed emotions she's feeling - as her dad remains missing.

We've just been sent the first pictures from hospital of one of the released hostages, Yocheved Lifschitz.

As a reminder, she was released by Hamas last night in the southern Gaza Strip, and is being treated in Tel Aviv.

Image source, Jenny Yerushalmi, Ichilov Hospital

Image source, Jenny Yerushalmi, Ichilov Hospital

Image source, Jenny Yerushalmi, Ichilov Hospital

The number of British nationals killed in the war between Israel and Hamas has risen to 10, UK government minister Victoria Atkins says.

She says a further six British people remain missing, believed to be held hostage in Gaza.

"We understand - and I'm being very careful because we know how important accuracy of words is in this context - but we understand that they are hostages," she told Sky News.

"They are our absolute priority."

We've published a list here of the British people we know who have died in the conflict.

The Israeli Defense Forces say they hit 400 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, including Hamas tunnels and attack sites.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 5,000 people have been killed since 7 October.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Rushdi Abualouf was reporting live from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip overnight when missiles and explosions were heard nearby.

We've been reporting this morning on Sharone Lifschitz - whose mother was freed by Hamas last night.

You can listen to her full interview on the Today programme now by clicking here.

Image source, Reuters

Six more United Nations staff have been killed in Gaza, according to the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).

It brings the total number of UNRWA workers killed in Gaza since the conflict began to 35.

"We mourn their loss and stand with colleagues doing all they can to assist those in need," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres tweeted on Monday night.

It's just gone 09:45 in Israel and Gaza, and 07:45 in our London newsroom. If you're just joining us, here's the latest:

• Freed hostages: Two hostages held by Hamas - Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifschitz, 85 - were released last night. Yocheved's daughter tells the BBC her mum seems "very sharp" and is keen to pass on information which could get more people freed. The women's husbands are among the more than 200 people still being held inside Gaza
• Gaza bombings: It's been another night of intense airstrikes in Gaza. The Israeli military says 400 targets were hit over the past 24 hours
• Iron fist: Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu says Israel is taking an "iron fist" in order "to eliminate Hamas"
• Aid latest: A third convoy of 20 aid lorries entered Gaza from Egypt yesterday - but aid agencies have warned it's not enough

• French visit: French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Israel this morning for talks with Israeli leaders

Rushdi Abualouf
Reporting from Khan Younis, Gaza

Image source, Reuters

There have been intense airstrikes overnight. This is the area where Israel asked 1.2 million people to come. They said it’s safer to be south, but every night there are airstrikes in this area.

When you talk about the humanitarian situation, things are getting worse and worse here.

People are watching the trucks coming in but there is no aid being distributed.

Very little aid goes to the UN shelters - about 130 shelters for the more than half a million people who are displaced from their homes elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it struck more than 400 targets in Gaza in the past 24 hours, up from the 320 it announced at the same point yesterday.

In an update posted to X, external, formerly Twitter, the IDF says its targets included Hamas gunmen setting up to fire rockets toward Israel, and a tunnel shaft allowing Hamas to infiltrate Israel through the sea.

It also says command centres used by operatives and staging armaments in mosques were hit.

The IDF adds it will "continue operating in order to ensure the safety of innocent civilians".

Image source, Reuters

Sharone Lifschitz says her family still has no news of her father, who was also taken captive.

"He was not with my mum, so my mum doesn't know where he is," she says.

"My father was getting more frail. Both of them are very loving people, family people. They really loved hosting the family and my father was very involved in political things in the kibbutz.

"He was very involved in rights for Palestinians and working towards peace with our neighbours."

She says he was dedicated to the belief that "we have to find a way to live together, he felt that it was very easy to find a way and was very disappointed and fought very hard against this idea of occupation, the idea of perpetual war".

"And I hope that he's there and he's being looked after and he's got the chance to talk.

"He speaks good Arabic so can communicate very well with the people there. He knows many people in Gaza. I want to think he's going to be OK.

"I know for my mum, she says they have been looked after and there was a doctor there so this brings a lot of comfort to everybody that there is some treatment."

The full interview with Sharone will be on Radio 4 Today after 08:00 this morning.

Image source, Reuters

Sharone Lifschitz says her mum's release is "a little ray of light but there's a huge darkness as well, the war is still going on".

There are "atrocities we haven't even started to process", she says. "I don't know if my mum knows about the house, that everything is gone.

"There's so much, I'm going to wait for her to wake up, give her a little kiss and see how I can help her."

She says the family does not yet have a plan to tell her mother the full extent of Hamas's attack on their home village, Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities worst hit on 7 October. "I’m not there yet. I can come to you in a while to tell you what we’re doing. We don’t have a plan, I guess no family has a plan for what happened if something like that happened, it’s so off the scale.

"We are just living one day at a time."

At the moment the family and her mum's priority is getting the rest of the hostages, says Sharone, who is based in London.

"She was sitting with people she knew her whole life, and people who were the children and grandchildren of her friends.

"She wants to pass the information, she wants to work towards sending them home I’m sure."