The latest edition of BBC Breakfast was suddenly interrupted when a breaking news segment took over the broadcast.
Presenters and were delivering Saturday’s (February 22) international headlines from their iconic red sofa when the show switched focus to cover a significant development in the Middle East.
The leading story centred on an upcoming exchange involving hostages and Palestinian prisoners in . Hamas agreed to release six Israeli captives in a Saturday swap, with set to free over 600 Palestinian inmates in return—the most substantial single release since the peace process commenced this past January.
As Stayt was discussing matters with Simon Smith, ex UK ambassador to , the interview was cut short for live coverage from Gaza. Stayt had to interject, “Simon, I appreciate your time this morning and your expertise and I apologise for interrupting you but we’ve got to go straight to Gaza where the latest handover of the hostages looks like is about to begin.”
At the scene, two hostages were ushered on stage at Rafah by armed men. Reports suggested these were Avera Mengistu, an Israeli of Ethiopian heritage who wandered into Gaza in 2014 and has been detained since, and Tal Shoham, taken from Kibbutz Be’eri during an attack on southern led by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, reports Manchester Evening News.
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Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty were back on the BBC Breakfast red sofa (Image: BBC)
During Thursday’s (February 20) broadcast, announced some “very sad” news as they shared with viewers the heart-wrenching tale of Southport’s Alice da Silva Aguiar, whose grief-stricken parents made their first visit to her primary school since her untimely death in July last year.
Naga introduced the segment by saying: “Good Morning, it’s Thursday 20th of February. In their first broadcast interview since their daughter was killed, the parents of Alice da Silva Aguia have said that she was born to be a star.”
Her co-presenter provided more details on the sorrowful event: “Alice, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Bebe King were killed in a knife attack last July.
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Both Alice and Bebe were pupils at Churchdown Primary School, which is now planning to build a playground in memory of the two girls.”
Following their commentary, the show moved to a pre-recorded clip featuring Alice’s devastated parents, Sergio and Alex, as they visited the primary school for the first time since their tragic loss.
Breakfast airs daily on One at 6am