Image source, Reuters

A mother waiting for her daughter to be released from captivity in Gaza has told the BBC the process feels like "Russian roulette".

Mia Schem was abducted from the Supernova festival on 7 October - and in the weeks after the attack she appeared in the first hostage video released by Hamas.

Keren Schem says she has waited every day since Friday to see if the 21-year-old's name will be on the list of hostages to be released. The family know Mia, who holds dual French and Israeli nationality, is injured and she needs surgery - on top of an existing medical condition - so "every day inside Gaza is a risk for her life", Keren says.

"I don't have time and I don't know if she's alive. I don't know [anything] about her."

Asked about what she would do if Mia's name comes up on the list, Keren says she is not allowing herself to think about it as it feels very far away at the moment.

She says there are too many unknowns about Mia's condition, from her physical health to mental wellbeing, after being held in Gaza for more than 50 days.

Over the past few days, people living in Gaza have been trying to make the most of the pause in fighting to gather supplies, return to their homes - or what is left of them - and search for loved ones.

Israel has warned those who have fled to the south not to return to the north, where the fighting has been most intense. But some people have continued to travel to the south.

More pictures from today give a sense of the situation Gazans are facing.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Jerusalem

Differences have reportedly emerged between Israel and Hamas over the hostages and prisoners to be included in the final exchange, due to take place today. The latest obstacles seem to have caused a delay in the expected release of 11 Israeli captives held in Gaza and of Palestinians in Israeli jails.

For every Israeli citizen returned, Israeli officials have freed three Palestinians. Reports say mediators from Qatar - which helped negotiate the deal - are working to solve the dispute.

This happens as negotiations continue for an extension of the four-day ceasefire truce, which ends on Monday. Qatar, Egypt, the US, the European Union and Spain are working to extend the agreement, according to the Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister.

Israel is offering a further day’s pause in the fighting in Gaza for every ten captives released, and Hamas says it is seeking an extension. It is still not clear whether a renewed deal would include a days-long extension, or if an extension would be decided on a day-by-day basis.

Israeli officials say 184 people remain in captivity in Gaza. Hamas has previously said it is not holding all the hostages brought to the territory on 7 October.

An extension would also allow for more aid to be delivered to Gaza as the humanitarian crisis in the territory, triggered by Israel’s offensive in response to last month’s Hamas attacks, continues.

Image source, Maya Roman

One of the remaining hostages, Yarden Roman-Gat, helped save her family from being taken to Gaza as well after they tried to escape their captors on 7 October, her brother has told the BBC.

She was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri, along with her husband Alon and three-year-old Gefen.

Speaking to the BBC News channel, Gili Roman says the three of them managed to escape for a short time by jumping out of the moving car they were being taken to Gaza in and fleeing on foot.

Gili says Yarden handed their daughter to her husband to carry, as he was faster and more likely to escape - while she put her hands on her head and surrendered.

He explains Alon and Gefen were able to find a place to hide, where they sheltered for 24 hours without food, water or communication before returning to the kibbutz and the protection of the Israeli military.

Gili says the whole family are waiting for and hopeful that she will make it home, given the hostages deal relates to women and children being held in Gaza.

You can read more about the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel here.

Image source, Reuters

In Jerusalem today, protesters have gathered outside a United Nations building to call on the UN to speak up about the women who they say were raped by Hamas militants during the 7 October attacks.

"We want them to shout out for all the women in Israel. Like they shout out for all the other women in the world. It doesn't matter what's your nationality or where you come from. You have to shout out for women that were abused, that were raped," Linor Abargil, an Israeli lawyer at the protest, told Reuters news agency.

Israeli police announced an investigation two weeks ago into allegations of sexual violence during the attacks - but they said the investigation was complex and likely to take months. One of the reports was from a woman who says she was raped at the Nova festival site.

At the weekend, UN Women, a group working for gender equality wrote on X, external it was "alarmed by gender-based violence reports on 7 Oct" and called for a "rigorous investigation prioritising the rights, needs and safety of those affected".

We've been reporting on the growing international pressure to extend the current truce deal - and now the UN is the latest to join the calls.

A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said "the dialogue that led to the agreement must continue" - and repeated his call for "a full humanitarian ceasefire, for the benefit of the people of Gaza, Israel and the wider region".

The spokesperson added that organisation scaled up humanitarian aid going into Gaza over the last four days, but those supplies "barely registers against the huge needs of 1.7 million displaced people".

Guterres reiterated calls for the remaining hostages to be released "immediately and unconditionally", and urged all states to "use their influence to end this tragic conflict" and to support steps towards "the only sustainable future for the region: a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side, in peace and security".

Image source, Reuters

It's coming up to 16:00 in Israel and Gaza on the fourth and final day of the current truce. Here's a quick look at what's been happening:

• Today is the last day of the temporary truce as initially planned, which has seen Hamas release hostages in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israel
• There is growing international pressure to extend the truce. Both the head of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, and EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, have called for the temporary ceasefire to be continued
• Under the terms of the current deal, another 11 hostages and another 33 detained Palestinians are supposed to be released today
• But there are reported disagreements over the names of hostages and prisoners scheduled for release today. The Israeli prime minister's office said talks over the list of the next freed people continue
• So far, since the truce began on Friday, 40 Israeli hostages and 117 detained Palestinians have been released so far
• Among them are a number of Palestinian teenagers, an 84-year-old Israeli woman whose family say she is now critically ill and a four-year-old Israeli-American girl
• At the same time calls are multiplying to seek solutions for lasting peace in the region, with the EU's top diplomat calling for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza

• Hamas has offered to extend the agreement and release more hostages and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is open to it be extended but that Israeli operations in Gaza would resume with full force after the truce

Adnan El-Bursh
BBC Arabic, reporting from Gaza

Image source, Getty

The weather in Gaza has been terrible since last night. It is very windy and rainy, and dust is filling the air.

Tens of thousands of displaced people are staying in tents across the Gaza Strip. Many of them are makeshift structures and they’re not strong enough to withstand the wind and rain. I saw some fly open in the gusts.

There are many children living in them. It gets very cold at night and they have no mattresses or duvets to keep warm. The shops are empty, though many people don’t have money to buy new layers anyway, and the aid coming in during the ceasefire doesn’t include winter clothes.

I have spoken to people searching through the rubble for old blankets and anything else they can use to keep their children warm while others have returned to their damaged homes to look for old clothes in ruins.

Egyptian security sources cited by the Reuters news agency are saying that Egyptian, Qatari and US negotiators are close to agreeing an extension to the temporary ceasefire in Gaza.

The negotiators are still working to resolve differences over the length of an extension, and which prisoners would be freed under it, the sources are quoted as saying.

The BBC doesn't have any independent confirmation on this - and it comes as we've been hearing that negotiations are still continuing over hostage prisoner releases that had been expected within the next few hours under the existing four-day truce deal.

We've been expecting more Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be released later, on the fourth day of the temporary ceasefire deal.

But we're hearing the lists of those to be freed today is not yet agreed.

We've just heard from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's office, which says: "The negotiations regarding the list of the next freed people as part of the release plan for the hostages continues.

"We are aware of the stress that families are under, and we will add information when it becomes possible."

Sebastian Usher
Middle East analyst

International pressure is building not only for the current truce to be extended, but for new momentum to be injected into trying to find a way to resolve the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

The EU’s head of diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has said that a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza would be the best guarantee for Israel’s security and peace.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has said there needs to be an international peace conference soon.

There’s been a growing chorus of such calls in recent weeks, but little detail on how the many obstacles that have long prevented any real progress on a two-state solution could be surmounted.

Image source, Family Handout

A four-year-old Israeli-American girl was among the 17 hostages released yesterday.

Avigail Idan was three when she was taken by Hamas on 7 October from Kfar Aza kibbutz. Her parents were killed in the attacks, but her two siblings hid and were later rescued.

She survived the initial attack and walked to the home of her neighbours, but was later abducted along with them by Hamas.

"We hoped and prayed today would come," said Liz Hirsh Naftali, Avigail's great aunt, and Noa Naftali, her cousin, in a statement after the release.

"There are no words to express our relief and gratitude that Avigail is safe and coming home."

The family also thanked US President Joe Biden, the Qatari government and others who were involved in securing her release.

• Read more about the people released since Friday here

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has also called for the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas, now in its final scheduled day, to be extended.

"I call for an extension of the pause. This would allow for much needed relief to the people of Gaza and the release of more hostages," Stoltenberg said.

A Unicef worker who recently returned from north Gaza has told the BBC News channel he has never seen so many children so badly injured by a conflict.

James Elder says the "wounds of war" suffered by Palestinian children are the worst he has seen in 20 years of working for the aid agency.

He says when a shell or other explosive weapons hit people's homes it leaves many survivors with broken bones, wounds from shrapnel and "horrendous burns".

Elder explains because many hospitals are active warzones or have been shut down, makeshift emergency medical facilities have been set up in places like car parks, churches and gardens.

He tells the story of meeting a seven-year-old boy who'd lost both his parents and twin brother, asking the boy's aunt - who now cares for him - why the child kept closing his eyes while talking:

Qatar, Egypt, the US, the EU and Spain, are working to extend the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the foreign minister of the Palestinian National Authority, Riyad al-Maliki, says.

Al-Maliki says the truce could be extended for "one, two, three days", but adds that no one knows how long exactly, the Reuters news agency reports.

Another 39 Palestinian prisoners were returned to the West Bank by Israel last night, taking the total so far released to 117.

Crowds have been gathering in the area they are being let go near Ramallah to celebrate.

There have been emotional scenes each evening since Friday, with many crying and embracing their released relatives.

Some people, including released prisoners, have been photographed bearing green flags representing Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK and other countries.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The hostage deal is a complex and multi-layered diplomatic process, with many parties involved in negations that have so far seen 58 hostages being held in Gaza freed and 117 Palestinian prisoners released since Friday.

The terms of the Israel-Hamas deal, which is due to expire at midnight local time, are for 50 Israeli hostages to be released in return for 150 Palestinians.

For anyone confused about the numbers, here's what we know so far:

• Under the terms of the Israel-Hamas deal, 39 Israeli hostages in Gaza have been released so far
• In exchange, 117 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons
• Another hostage, Russian-Israeli Roni Krivoi, was additionally freed by Hamas on Sunday - so his release did not come in exchange for three Palestinians
• At the same time, one Filipino and 17 Thai hostages have been released, after separate negations with Hamas

Three Israeli hostages had already been released ahead of this deal beginning last Friday, while a fourth was rescued by the Israeli military.

Around 240 people in total were believed to be held hostage in Gaza in the immediate aftermath of the 7 October attacks.

More now from Josep Borrell, who has been talking about the Israel-Hamas war and how to take forward Middle East peace once the current conflict is over.

Speaking in Barcelona earlier, the EU's top diplomat called for Israel not to "recolonize" Gaza, saying both Palestinians and Israelis had an "equal and legitimate right to the same land", Reuters reports.

He added that a Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza was the "best guarantee" for "Israel's security and peace".

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has called for an extension of the temporary ceasefire in Gaza.

Under the initial terms of the deal, the temporary pause in fighting is in its final day. But as we have been reporting, there are early indicators it could be extended.

"The pause should be extended to make it sustainable and long lasting while working for a political solution," he said at a meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona.

We received some pictures this morning of humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza and being distributed to its people.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters