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Evgeniia Kozlova was at home in St Petersburg last weekend when she got the call from her Israeli liaison officers.

“They asked, ‘how are things, how are you feeling? Are you alone there? Are you sitting down?’

“I dropped the phone to one side, and it fell under the table.”

Israel-Hamas war latest: IDF strikes back after Hezbollah fires 160 rockets

Her son, Andrey, had been living in Israel and working as a security guard at the Nova music festival when he was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th.

After eight months of hoping he was still alive but hearing nothing about his condition or whereabouts, Evgeniia feared the worst.

Yevgenia Kozlov, who's son Andrey was taken hostage by Hamas

“Suddenly I heard from under the table ‘it’s good news, good news!’ and so I crawled under the table.

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“Did you say good news?

“‘Yes, they are bringing Andrey over by helicopter, he’s almost in Israel now!’

“They said it three times, and I still couldn’t comprehend. Who is bringing whom over, and where?

“They said it over and over until I got it. From that moment on I haven’t stopped smiling, I haven’t stopped laughing!”

Mikhail Kozlov, divorced from his wife but on good terms, packed instantly and ran over to join her. They flew to Israel the following day.

An emotional video of them being reunited with the son in an Israeli hospital showed Andrey breaking down and hugging his mother’s legs.

Read more: The hostages rescued by Israel

“During the eight months we’ve been waiting for him we feared he would be changed a lot, that he would be a different man and we would have to help him rehabilitate, help him recover,” Evgeniia said.

Footage released by Israeli counterterrorism police showed the moment they were rescued amid heavy explosions and gunfire.

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Video of hostage rescue

As well as Andrey, three other hostages were rescued: Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan and Shlomi Ziv.

Ziv, Jan and Kozlov were held together. Kozlov doesn’t speak fluent Hebrew or English and so it was hard for him to communicate with the other two, but they supported each other through their captivity and remain close.

“One of the phrases that really scared or hurt us, was when he said, ‘there are some things I will never tell you about,’ as for everything else, yes, he tells us, but it’s as if he’s playing storyteller, as if to entertain us,” Evgeniia added.

“Even the fact that his hands and feet were tied for two months – his hands and feet were tied – he tells it as if it were a joke.

Yevgenia and Mikhail Kozlov, who's son Andrey was taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October

“At first, their hands were tied behind their backs, and he told us how proud he was that he managed to eat with his hands tied, unaided.

“Andrey said that they are kept in very difficult conditions. His guards told him ‘your conditions are good compared to the rest, they are kept in much worse conditions’.

“The main thought he carried out of there was that all those remaining there must be freed. For a living, normal person it is unbearable to stay there for such a long time, eight months.

“These are impossible conditions. Impossible.”

Hamas claims at least 274 Gazans were killed during the raid and hundreds injured. Mobile phone footage shows scores of dead and wounded in the crowded Nuseriat market area.

Israel says the death toll was below a hundred and blames Hamas for holding the hostages in a busy civilian area, but the United Nations has suggested both sides could be guilty of war crimes.

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From Sunday: Hundreds killed as hostages rescued

Diplomatic efforts to secure a new ceasefire and hostage deal are progressing unsteadily, despite the presence of US secretary of state Antony Blinken in the region again.

Hamas formally responded to President Biden’s proposal on Tuesday night but reportedly want amendments that might not be acceptable to Israel.

Both sides continue to differ over when a permanent ceasefire should come into force: Hamas insists on it being agreed before any deal is implemented, whilst Israel is sticking firm on its commitment to keep fighting.

Read more from Sky News:
Israel hit school while ‘targeting Hamas’

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Tensions have also risen to new levels on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. More than 160 rockets were fired into Israel on Wednesday morning after Israel killed a Hezbollah commander on Tuesday, the most senior killed during the war so far.

No casualties were reported, although small fires broke out where some of the rockets landed.

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COP30: Countries reach draft deal to help speed up climate action

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COP30: Countries reach draft deal to help speed up climate action

Countries attending COP30, the biggest climate meeting of the year, have agreed steps to help speed up climate action, according to a draft deal.

The meeting of leaders in the Brazilian city of Belem also saw them agree to reviewing related trade barriers and triple the money given to developing countries to help them withstand extreme weather events, according to the draft.

However, the summit’s president Correa do Lago said “roadmaps” on fossil fuels and forests would be published as there was no consensus on these issues.

The annual United Nations conference brings together world leaders, scientists, campaigners, and negotiators from across the globe, who agree on collective next steps for tackling climate change.

The two-week conference in the Amazon city of Belem was due to end at 6pm local time (9pm UK time) on Friday, but it dragged into overtime.

The standoff was between the EU, which pressed for language on transitioning away from fossil fuels, and the Arab Group of nations, including major oil exporter Saudi Arabia, which opposed it.

The impasse was resolved following all-night negotiations led by Brazil, negotiators said.

More on Cop30

The European Union’s climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said on Saturday that the proposed accord was acceptable, even though the bloc would have liked more.

“We should support it because at least it is going in the right direction,” he said.

The Brazilian presidency scheduled a closing plenary session.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and about 80 countries, including the UK and coal-rich Colombia, had been pushing for a plan on how to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

This is a pledge all countries agreed to two years ago at COP28 – then did very little about since.

But scores of countries – including major oil and gas producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia – see this push as too prescriptive or a threat to their economies.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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Israel launches strikes on Gaza in further test of fragile ceasefire

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Israel launches strikes on Gaza in further test of fragile ceasefire

Israel says it has begun striking Hamas targets in Gaza, reportedly killing at least nine people, after what it called a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement”.

Local health authorities in Gaza said there had been three separate airstrikes, one hit a car in the densely populated Rimal neighbourhood, killing five people and wounding several others.

Shortly after the attack on the car, the Israeli air force hit two more targets in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.

They said at least four people died when two houses were struck in Deir Al-Balah city and Nuseirat camp.

The Israeli military said there had been a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement”.

It claimed a gunman had crossed into Israeli-held territory after exploiting “the humanitarian road in the area through which humanitarian aid enters southern Gaza”.

A Hamas official rejected the Israeli military’s allegations as baseless, calling them an “excuse to kill”, adding the Palestinian group was committed to the ceasefire agreement.

More on Gaza

The Israeli airstrikes are a further test of a fragile ceasefire with Hamas, which has held since 10 October following the two-year Gaza war.

Israel pulled back its troops, and the flow of aid into the territory has increased. But violence has not completely halted.

Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed 316 people in strikes on Gaza since the truce.

Meanwhile, Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began and it has attacked scores of militants.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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Europe scrambles for counter-proposal to US-Russian plan for Ukraine

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Europe scrambles for counter-proposal to US-Russian plan for Ukraine

The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.

European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.

Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.

Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.

Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland

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Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20

The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.

One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.

Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.

Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Analysis: We could all pay if Europe doesn’t guarantee Ukraine’s security

Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders' Summit. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters

“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.

“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.

Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.

“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.

“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.

“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.

Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.

There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.

But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.

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