You are watching the press preview. First look at what's on the front pages as they arrive. It's time to see what's making the headlines with the CEO of Total Politics Group, Mark Wallace and the Guardian columnist Zoe Williams. They'll be with us from now until just before midnight, so let's see what's on some of those front pages for you now. Well, the eye has the headline free after 48 days. Picturing just a small handful of the hostages released by Hamas as part of the agreed prisoner swap. The Times declares, at last, freedom for some. The Mirror has a nearly identical headline. The Financial Times says a truce has taken hold in Gaza. The Guardian describes the war as having been paused. And according to the Telegraph, the chief executive of Comic Relief has resigned after disagreeing with the charity's stance that there should be a ceasefire in Gaza away from matters in the Middle East. The Mail calls for the end of the freeze on personal income tax thresholds, which the paper brands a stealth tax. The Express speaks to the broadcaster and campaigner Dame Esther Ranson as she undergoes treatment for cancer. And in a week, when the Home Secretary, James Cleverly, was forced to deny swearing about the town of Stockton ontes in Parliament.

The Star calls it a Garden of Eden, and a reminder that by scanning the QR code, you'll see on screen during the program, you can check out the front pages of tomorrow's newspapers while you watch us. And we are joined tonight by Mark Wallace and Zoe Williams. Welcome to you both. Let's start with the front page of The Eye and the headline there, Free after 48 Days. Pictured there some of the Israeli hostages being released. A good news day, but reservations because there are still many more people who have been kept.

I mean, there are reservations from literally every side, including all kind of external agencies. The ceasefire is only four days. The hostage swap obviously has left a lot of people, a lot of Israeli hostages still in Gaza. The release of Palestinian prisoners has obviously reignited an absolute furori over the way Israel in particular treats child know they've been censored internationally for trying children without their parents present and without them being able to understand the language in which they're being tried. So actually there's a huge amount of very difficult further conversations to have. Nevertheless, obviously it's a breakthrough. Obviously it signals a change in TAC. Obviously, I mean, I say obviously, but I would be surprised if it didn't result in either a longer than four day ceasefire or more ceasefires down the road.

And that's the hope that it will be a permanent ceasefire. Certainly those are the soundings that are coming out from the region.

And particularly I hope, I mean, obviously, as you say, Zoe, it's a four day agreement. Israel said that it's willing to extend it day by day based on continuing release and I think it's obviously, as they've said, a but not the only major goal of their operation in Gaza, and operation since the atrocities of the 7 October has been released, has been to secure the release of these hostages.

But they have also said that once the ceasefire, however long it will be extended for, is over, they are going to continue the war.

Yes, you can see Benjamin Netanyahu's comments today were that securing the release of hostages is one of the goals, but they intend to fulfill what he refers to as all the goals of their operation. That does, of course, include what they've stated to be the destruction of Hamas militarily. But before that, I think you're absolutely right. The first thing to focus on is these people, 48 days after being snatched from their homes amid unspeakable atrocities around them. Goodness knows what some of them may have suffered and experienced since that time. Elderly people, unwell people, small children, the relief for their families that they are free, the angst for the families of the 200 or so further hostages. We still don't know exactly who and how many people are being held because Hamas and others haven't said. One of the hostages released today is reported to have been allegedly claimed to have been dead a few days ago by Islamic Jihad. And so the angst of the loved ones of those who've not yet been released continues.

There is something, isn't there, because Netanyahu has really come under fire from families, precisely because the first three weeks of the fighting, he did not seem like he was movable on this. He did not seem like he was open to a hostage swap, he did not seem like he was open to any kind of ceasefire in the service of a hostage swap. So it is worth wondering whether this doesn't signal something either in regards to his mindset or in regards to his strength within his own cabinet.

I mean, I think a couple of things we don't know. We don't know how long these negotiations have been going on. For obvious reasons, they're not conducted in public. So it could be that they're extremely recent, it could be that they've been longer running. We do know from, and I think it was in the VT, the report earlier, that the preparations to receive released hostages have been put in place over quite some time preceding this. It's undoubtedly the case that within Israel the political environment has shifted and actually there has been a growing movement around the families of hostages. There is, of course, also an existing voice, rightly so, within Israel, for the victims of Israeli victims of terrorism in previous years, some of whom are very understandably, very concerned to see people convicted of terrorist offenses being released in return.

For this kind of main that isn't.

The main opposition, but that's in the mix too.

What I'm saying is in the mix. But if you look at the pressure who's under he's under pressure from the center and he's under pressure from the center of his own political environment. And anything to the left of the center is being putting him under pressure for a long time. So I think what this signals is not that there's this kind of side voice about what to do about previous conflicts. I think it signals that his strength in his own agenda, which was very much not hostage focused at the start, you will recall he actively said he didn't want to talk about the hostages in kind of key discussions.

Well, some of the families reported in the papers today that exactly that that he didn't want to talk about the hostages. And it didn't seem to be his focus. His focus was to wage war and they felt that they weren't being listened to. Let's look at the Times to talk about what we saw in the West Bank and thousands of Palestinians gathering outside the Offer military prison that's to witness the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Yes. And I think actually this image that's so bold and so clear on the front page, the Times underscores a little bit what we were just saying. This is a picture of armed and masked men escorting elderly people and vulnerable children. But I do think it's quite important. I don't think all the coverage so far of this deal in this exchange has fully reflected I think some of it's become too close to risking the idea of equivalence between who is being released by Hamas innocent civilians and who is being released by the Israelis. Some, but not. I completely agree with you about the criticisms of the Israeli handling, particularly of some child internees. But some of those who are being released, who are convicted of things like stabbing attacks, petrol bombings and so on, I think it's really important that we make clear there isn't an equivalence between who's being swapped. This isn't hamas releases hostages, israel releases hostages. And so it is important that we do make that clear and put in that light. It is troubling, I think, in some ways, to see crowds celebrating the return of people who were in prison in Israel, for, for example, stabbing police officer.

Come on. The girl you're talking about who stabbed a police officer a sorry, it's a quote Mark, because she was tried and this is actually a matter of public record. She was tried. Not understanding what the process was. The idea that you could convict somebody when they don't understand the language they're.

Being tried in just we're completely clear. The quote marks mean? You're disputing that people who've been released.

Are I'm disputing that you can call somebody guilty when the terms of their trial.

You're disputing the person who stabbed a police officer, the person who did an attempted stabbing attack the ass, attack the lady who exploded a gas canister.

And she was a child when that crime was committed and she didn't understand the procedure, so she couldn't there is no way of calling that due process. Now, obviously, I wasn't there, I don't know what happened, but I can't look at that and say, oh, that person definitely did stab a policeman, or definitely was convicted correctly. If the actual due process in the trial of a child isn't upheld, which.

It hasn't been, I mean, I think it's difficult to debate when we don't know the detail.

That's what justice is for.

Go back to what I was just saying. If you have a crowd of people who believe they are welcoming home people who are treating as heroes because they believe they have attacked Israeli no, that's a problem.

They're welcoming them because they were imprisoned as children and they missed them and they didn't know why they were imprisoned.

I mean, they did know why, but you're just disputing, honestly.

There are international agencies who have called into question so many child convictions in Israel. This is a real thing.

They weren't all children that were released. No were adult women. And it's something that the IDF wanted to stop, as you say. That the celebratory mood. That's something that they'd banned, but obviously was completely ignored.

Well, I mean, from a Garzan point of view, if you're going to get bombed anyway, and then somebody says, don't cheer, I don't see what I think. What Israel might do next, from a Garzan point of view, is so unknowable and so the proportion of it is so unknowable that I doubt very much that they could have much say over how people behave in a crowd.

On this we agree. I think the likelihood of Garzans, or indeed residents of the West Bank following IDF orders about what to say and do is extremely low. I'm still troubled by what appears to me to be lionization and celebration of people who've done really bad things.

Nobody's lionizing terrorists.

Hamas have essentially a cult of lionizing terrorists.

Hamas are terrorists, so they are lionizing.

Terrorists, but there is a major cult of lionizing terrorists.

No attempt at all to say if somebody celebrates when their teenager comes back from a prison sentence, which they thought unjust to begin with, and many impartial observers agreed with them, I think you're pushing the point to say that that's wrong for them to look happy.

Well, I'm skeptical that every member of the crowd was a parent.

I think you're not going to agree on this. We can't go into the Minutiae, the legal system, and whether those that were found guilty were actually guilty, that's not our place to do that here. Let's look at the Ft weekend and the fact that this truce is ongoing. Really looking at the likelihood of will it last. I mean, so far it's gone according to textbook. It's amazing. It's been absolutely, completely smooth, and I.

Think this shows a number of different I mean, firstly, mercifully, it's begun as it's begun, and I very much hope it continues. I hope it holds and it succeeds in seeing the release of the hostages and continuing beyond those four days. As I say, it says a number of different things. It certainly does say something about the political pressure that Net nyahu is under. It says something about the rightful importance that Israeli society places on seeing these hostages return. It also says something about the pressure that Hamas in particular is feeling from the Israeli campaign, because the expectation was there was a lot of speculation that this was all part of a cunning ploy to enmesh the IDF in Gaza City. And then I think Ali Bunkel was saying Hezbollah would swoop in, the Iranians would get part of a grand plan. Now, seems Hamas made a variety of very severe miscalculations, and it has been brought to the table as well. I don't think Hamas it depends what you think.

Their calculation was right. I mean, the American intelligence of their calculation was that they were intending they have this kind of necropolitical disregard for the lives on either side, and they were intending to provoke a disproportionate Israeli response. And so they've succeeded.

And Mark, we're going to have to leave it there for the break. Much more coming up afterwards. But in the meantime, the Mail calls for an end for the freeze on personal tax thresholds. We'll be discussing that next. Do stay with us. You are watching the press preview. Still with me, Mark Wallace and Zoe Williams taking us through the papers this evening. Let's have a look at the front page of the Daily Telegraph and this story about the Comic Relief chief who's quit his position. This is Eric Salama. I think that's how you pronounce it. He's left allegedly over Comic Relief taking a stance on calling for a ceasefire. What more detail do we know about this story?

So, basically, Comic Relief signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire, which many, many charities and other agencies were signing at the time. They apparently did not consult the board, which is what Eric Salamar has resigned over. It's surprising to me because he was due to exit in March 2024 anyway. So resigning prematurely over a governance issue which won't be his problem in a couple of months seems to signal a very great state of agitation on that. I'm surprised that Comic Relief didn't anticipate and therefore discussed that. That would have been the case. But Mark is less surprised than me.

Well, I think that's normal, I suppose. It's certainly a bit easier to resign when you're stepping down a few months later. Well, I think on the governance thing, if you're on the board of a charity, it comes from really serious responsibilities and some really serious risks if it's done wrong. But it may also be a question of personal opinion that's not entirely clear.

Well, he's saying he's stepping down because management took an approach to an issue which I thought was profoundly wrong and which I could not live with.

Yeah. And I do think it's a valid interpretation to say that signing this statement, but as far as I'm aware, comic Relief has never called for Hamas to stop its regular firing of missiles in peacetime prior to but that is taking sides to some degree, isn't.

Comic Relief the calling for a ceasefire has been quite widespread. It's been the UN line for at least two and a half.

The United Nations has said a variety.

Of somewhat dubious no, honestly, if you look at the UN if you look at the Unhcwr.

That'S what this is uncontroversial. I mean, the Labor Party has been riven over the issue. For example, one of my own local councilors has basically been either resigned or chucked out the Conservative Party in an argument.

The fact that British politics manages to tie its neckers in a twist about.

It not just British politics, it's riven over this.

But it is not that controversial for a charity which is well dominated children.

There is disagreement over called for a seat. Just very quickly, the Mail story, just take us through that very quickly. We want to end the stealth tax.

Mark, this is really, really interesting. Obviously, this is coming a couple of days after the Autumn Statement. One of the big criticisms this was a criticism of Gordon Brown for many years, rightly? It's been a criticism of the Conservatives, particularly of Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the idea of fiscal drag. So you keep tax rates down, but you keep thresholds the same. While wages rise, more people get caught in higher rates and effectively by stealth tax. The Conservatives used to oppose this when Gordon Brown did it. They've come in for a lot of stick over continuing to do it, and now they're saying, well, maybe in the budget in the spring, or maybe in a manifesto in the spring, we might be willing to undo this if you vote for us, Mark. I would argue belated, but it shows that it's hurting.

Mark must leave it there. And Zoe. Thank you.