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By Paul Kirby & Anna Holligan
BBC News, The Hague
Veteran anti-Islam populist leader Geert Wilders has won a dramatic victory in the Dutch general election, according to the latest forecast.
After 25 years in parliament, his Freedom party (PVV) is set to win 37 seats, well ahead of his nearest rival, a left-wing alliance.
"The PVV can no longer be ignored," he said. "We will govern."
His win has shaken Dutch politics and it will send a shock across Europe too.
But to fulfil his pledge to be "prime minister for everyone", he will have to persuade other parties to join him in a coalition. His target is 76 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
Mr Wilders, 60, harnessed widespread frustration about migration promising "borders closed", and he put on hold his promise to ban the Koran.
He was in combative mood in his victory speech: "We want to govern and... we will govern. [The seat numbers are] an enormous compliment but an enormous responsibility too."
Before the vote, the three other big parties ruled out taking part in a Wilders-led government because of his far-right policies. But that might change because of the scale of his victory.
The left-wing alliance under ex-EU commissioner Frans Timmermans is set to come second with 25 seats. He made clear he would have nothing to do with a Wilders-led government.
It was time to defend Dutch democracy and rule of law, Mr Timmermans told supporters: "We won't let anyone in the Netherlands go. In the Netherlands everyone is equal."
That leaves third-placed centre-right liberal VVD under new leader Dilan Yesilgöz, and a brand new party formed by whistleblower MP Pieter Omtzigt in fourth.
Freedom party leader Mr Wilders made a direct appeal to his political rivals to work together, and both Ms Yesilgöz and Mr Omtzigt congratulated him on his success.
Although Ms Yesilgöz doubts Mr Wilders will be able to find the numbers he needs, she says it is up to her party colleagues to decide how to respond. Before the election she insisted she would not serve in a Wilders-led cabinet, but did not rule out working with him if she won.
Mr Omtzigt said initially his New Social Contract party would not work with Mr Wilders, but now says they are "available to turn this trust [of voters] into action".
REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
A Wilders victory will send shockwaves around Europe, as the Netherlands is one of the founding members of what became the European Union.
Nationalist and far-right leaders around Europe praised his achievement. French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen said it "confirms the growing attachment to the defence of national identities".
Mr Wilders wants to hold a referendum to leave the EU, dubbed a "Nexit", although he recognises there is no national mood to do so.
He tempered his anti-Islam rhetoric in the run-up to the vote, saying there were more pressing issues at the moment and he was prepared to "put in the fridge" his policies on banning mosques and Islamic schools.
The strategy was a success, more than doubling his PVV party's numbers in parliament.
During the campaign Mr Wilders took advantage of widespread dissatisfaction with the previous government, which collapsed in a disagreement over asylum rules.
For political scientist Martin Rosema from the University of Twente, it was one of several gifts that had been handed to Mr Wilders on a plate in a matter of months. Another was that the centre-right liberal leader had opened the door to working with him in coalition.
"We know, also from international precedent, that radical right-wing parties fare worse when they're excluded," he said.
Migration became one of the main themes, and Mr Wilders made clear on Wednesday he intended to tackle a "tsunami of asylum and immigration".
Last year net migration into the Netherlands more than doubled beyond 220,000, partly because of refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the issue has been aggravated by a shortage of some 390,000 homes.
At the Hague headquarters of Ms Yesilgöz's VVD, supporters had been preparing to raise their glasses at the prospect of the Netherlands' first female prime minister.
Reuters
But there was a collective gasp of disbelief when the exit polls flashed up on the screens and they huddled over their phones trying to understand what went wrong.
Ms Yesilgöz's took over as centre-right leader when the country's longest-serving prime minister, Mark Rutte, bowed out of politics in July. She came to the Netherlands as a seven-year-old refugee from Turkey but has adopted a hard line on immigration.
Some politicians and Muslim figures have accused her of opening the door to the far right by refusing to rule out working with Geert Wilders.
Ms Yesilgöz, 46, had tried to distance herself from the Rutte government in which she was justice minister, but ultimately she was unable to live up to the opinion polls.
Right up to the eve of the election, almost half of the electorate were being described as floating voters. Many of those may well have decided not to back her.
A measure of Mr Wilders' success in winning over voters came from one Muslim voter in The Hague who said: "If he wasn't so opposed to Muslims, I'd be interested in him."
Hours before the vote, Mr Wilders was buoyant about his chances, telling the BBC. "I think it's the first time ever in Holland that in one week we gained 10 seats in the polls."
He was realistic about the uphill task he faced in forming a government led by him, but he said he was a positive person and victory would make it "difficult for the other parties to ignore us".
North Korea had sent data to Russia on launch vehicles used in two failed previous satellite launches, and Moscow had offered its analysis of the data, Yoo Sang-bum, a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, said after a briefing by the spy agency.
The launch was "successful", with the satellite entering orbit around the Earth, and North Korea could launch additional satellites and conduct a nuclear test next year, Youn Kun-young, another committee member, said.
Image:North Korea says it dismantled its nuclear testing facility at Punggye-ri
The last time the secretive state tested a nuclear bomb was in 2017 - at a facility it apparently demolished ahead of talks between then US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In 2018, Sky News correspondent Tom Cheshire was the only British broadcaster invited to watch a series of demolition explosions at the Punggye-ri test site ahead of the meeting.
Image:A satellite image of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site before the explosions
North Korea state media claimed the site had been completely dismantled in the blasts "to ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear tests".
South Korea suspended part of a military agreement after the North defied warnings to launch its spy satellite.
The move means Seoul will step up surveillance along its fortified northern border - negating a clause laid out in a 2018 pact between the nations.
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Critics had argued the deal had only weakened South Korea's ability to monitor the northern border - while North Korea had violated the agreement.
Image:A picture claimed to show Kim Jong Un watching the rocket launch. Pic: KCNA via Reuters
Kim calls for more satellite launches
Images published in North Korean state media on Tuesday showed what appeared to be Mr Kim watching a rocket launch from a base.
According to the KCNA news agency, the North Korean leader was later briefed on the satellite's operations and viewed pictures taken above the US territory of Guam in the Pacific.
He emphasised the need for more satellites on different orbits to give his forces "abundant valuable real-time information about the enemy and further promote their responsive posture", the agency added.
After adjustments, its reconnaissance mission is due to start on 1 December.
It was the first launch since Mr Kim met Vladimir Putin at a Russian space facility in September, where the Russian president promised to help North Korea build more satellites.
South Korea has suspended parts of its 2018 agreement with the North aimed at lowering military tensions.
This comes after Pyongyang claimed to have successfully launched a spy satellite into space.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the launch threatened South Korea's security.
Seoul said it would resume surveillance flights along its border with North Korea, breaching a no-fly zone established under the military pact.
Some analysts have said these developments could escalate tensions further.
Pyongyang fired a rocket, said to contain its Malligyong-1 spy satellite, late on Tuesday and hailed the launch as a "success".
On Wednesday, South Korea's military confirmed that the satellite had entered orbit but noted that it was too soon to tell if it was actually functioning, though both it and the US strongly condemned the launch.
US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the move risked "destabilising the security situation in the region and beyond."
Developing a functioning spy satellite is a major part of North Korea's five-year military plan, set out by its leader Kim Jong Un in January 2021.
The technology could in theory enable Pyongyang to monitor the movement of US and South Korean troops and weapons on the Korean Peninsula, allowing it to spot incoming threats. It would also allow the North to plot its nuclear attacks with more precision.
Reuters
North Korea's space agency, the National Aerospace Technology Administration, said the launch was an attempt to bolster the country's self-defence capabilities, in the face of "dangerous military moves" by its enemies. Pyongyang added that it planned to launch several more spy satellites "in a short space of time".
Some analysts are sceptical as to whether the satellite is advanced enough to be effective. Jang Young-geun, who runs the Missile Centre at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, predicted that given past attempts, the resolution of the satellite's camera is "probably not at a level to allow for detailed military reconnaissance."
Nonetheless, he said, a low resolution is "better than nothing", as an attack - regardless of the target - will need information to make it more effective.
Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also reckoned that while the satellite could enhance the effectiveness of North Korea's armed forces, it could conversely have a "stabilising effect" on the Peninsula.
"It could make Pyongyang act less skittishly in crises," he said. "For instance, it could use its satellites to verify that the US and South Korea were, in fact, not surging their forces to prepare for a major attack."
North claims success after two failed launches
This is the North's third attempt this year to put a spy satellite into orbit, after two previous attempts in May and August failed. South Korean officials said they believed Pyongyang had received technical support from Moscow, which allowed it to overcome the hurdles that had led to its previous failures.
When Kim Jong Un met Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny space centre in Russia's far east in September, the Russian leader hinted he would help Mr Kim build satellites. The US and South Korea believe the North is sending Russia arms to use in Ukraine, and that Moscow may have agreed to share its military expertise in return.
But Mr Panda said there was no evidence that Pyongyang had received Russia's technical assistance and implemented it. "This was North Korea's third launch attempt and they've been carrying out their own research and development on space systems for a while now," Mr Panda noted.
Reuters
Jo Bee Yun, an associate research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defence Analysis (KIDA), added that the time was too limited for Russia to have provided "game-changing" technology, but that "significant transfers" could be expected in the future.
Mr Kim and then South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed the Comprehensive Military Agreement in 2018, in an attempt to de-escalate tensions between their two countries and prevent a conflict erupting. It limited military movements by both sides near the border, removed guard posts, banned live-fire drills, and created a no fly-zone.
But the South Korean government had recently argued that the deal left it vulnerable to an attack, by prohibiting it from flying surveillance aircraft and reconnaissance drones along the border.
Members of South Korea's National Security Council met in the early hours of Wednesday morning, followed by its defence chiefs and cabinet. All agreed the country should restart surveillance operations along the border with immediate effect and with the president's backing.
This increased surveillance will allow the South to monitor North Korean outposts and long-range artillery, previously hidden behind its mountain slopes. Seoul currently relies on US spy satellites to monitor the North, but is planning to launch its first home-built model into space at the end of November.
Some analysts warn that the suspension of the military pact could escalate tensions and make cross-border skirmishes more likely.
Hong Min, from the Korea Institute for National Unification, pointed out that the deal had significantly reduced the number of cross-border incidents and had been successful in deterring the North. He said Seoul risked providing it with "the justification to carry out further provocations."
However Jo Bee Yun of KIDA, does not believe the suspension would increase tensions, noting that Pyongyang has been regularly launching missiles since 2022. "The cycle of provocations has already resumed. South Korea had to respond sometime or another."
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has announced a series of government meetings tonight “in light of developments on the issue of the release of our hostages”.
The war cabinet will meet at 6pm (4pm GMT), the security cabinet at 7pm (5pm GMT) and the full government at 8pm (6pm GMT).
The UN has warned that a “tragic … entirely avoidable surge” in child deaths is expected in Gaza where on average a child is killed every 10 minutes.
“About 160 children are killed every day; that’s one every 10 minutes,” said World Health Organization (WHO)spokesperson Christian Lindmeier on Tuesday.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, he said that “every 10 minutes, two children are injured” and that children and families have been dying “in terrifying circumstances”.
The UN children’s agency (Unicef) warned that number could skyrocket due to the serious additional threat of a mass disease outbreak in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Unicef spokesperson James Elder said:
If youngsters continue to have restricted access to water and sanitation in Gaza, we will see a tragic yet entirely avoidable surge in the number of children dying.
“The death toll among children is sickening,” he said, noting that more than 5,350 Palestinian children had reportedly been killed, according to Gaza health authorities.
Grief is becoming embedded in Gaza. So this then is a stark warning: without sufficient fuel, without sufficient water, conditions for children will plummet.
He said the daily minimum need in emergency situations was 15 litres of water per person, but that in parts of Gaza as little as three litres per day is available, and none on some days.
Pointing to “a desperate lack of water, faecal matter strewn across densely-populated settlements (and) an unacceptable lack of latrines”, Elder said it was a “perfect storm for the spread of disease”.
At least 52 journalists and media workers have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The toll now includes 46 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese killed since 7 October, as well as 11 journalists injured and three missing journalists.
Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator, said:
Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heart-breaking conflict. Those in Gaza, in particular, have paid, and continue to pay, an unprecedented toll and face exponential threats. Many have lost colleagues, families, and media facilities, and have fled seeking safety when there is no safe haven or exit.
The US president, Joe Biden, has said they are “very close” to securing the release of potentially dozens of hostages held by Hamas.
Haaretz is reporting Biden as saying:
We’re now very close, very close – we can bring some of these hostages home very soon, but don’t want to get into the details of things.
He added:
Nothing is done until it’s done and when we have more to say we will, but things are looking good at the moment.
Meanwhile, a US official told Reuters that Israel and Hamas were “very, very close” to agreeing a deal.
The deal would include Hamas releasing 50 hostages, mostly women and children, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners and a pause of four or five days, the official said.
We believe we are very, very close to having a deal. There is still a lot of work to be done, still approval that has to be achieved. But we believe we are very close.
It comes as Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has convened his war cabinet amid growing signs of an imminent deal on the release of hostages.
Netanyahu is expected to then meet his security cabinet at 7pm local time (5pm GMT) and the full government at 8pm (6pm GMT).
The European Commission has said it will continue to provide financial aid to the Palestinians after an investigation found no evidence that the money was going to Hamas.
On 9 October, after the Hamas terror attack on Israel, the EU’s executive branch announced a review of the use of hundreds of millions of euros in development assistance meant to help the Palestinians fight poverty.
The European Commission executive vice-president, Valdis Dombrovskis, at a press briefing in Strasbourg today, said:
The review found no indications of EU money having directly, or indirectly, benefited the terrorist organisation Hamas.
The EU is the world’s biggest provider of assistance to the Palestinians. Almost €1.2bn is earmarked for 2021-2024.
In a statement, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the review was “necessary” and that it has “confirmed that the safeguards in place are effective”, adding:
Work is now ongoing on the design of our future support to the Palestinians in view of the changing and still evolving situation.
A celebrated Palestinian poet and author, Mosab Abu Toha, has reportedly been released after he was arrested by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and taken into questioning.
Abu Toha was detained on Monday by Israeli forces while trying to leave Gaza, according to his friends and family.
He had been told by US officials that he and his family would be able to cross into Egypt, as one of his children is an American citizen. They were on the way from north to south Gaza, heading for the Rafah crossing point on Sunday, when he was rounded up along with other Palestinian men at an Israeli military checkpoint and taken away.
Abu Toha had been writing in the New Yorker magazine about his experiences under bombardment in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The newyorker.com’s editor Michael Luo said Abu Toha had now been released and reunited with his family in central Gaza.
More than 1,800 writers and publishers have signed an open letter in support of the pro-Palestine protesters who disrupted the ceremony of a prestigious Canadian literary award last week.
Among the signatories is the Canadian author Sarah Bernstein, the winner of the C$100,000 (£58,000) Scotiabank Giller prize.
The Giller prize event was first interrupted when protesters jumped onstage with signs that read “Scotiabank funds genocide”, while another protester shouted that Scotiabank “currently has a $500m [£398.7m] stake in Elbit Systems” and that “Elbit Systems is supplying the Israeli military’s genocide against the Palestinian people”.
The event was interrupted a second time when the winner’s announcement was being made. As Bernstein’s name was called, a protester posing as a photographer began shouting, so the organisers repeated the announcement.
The letter states that protesters were booed by the audience, forcibly removed, detained by police for three hours after the event ended and are now facing charges, which it says should be dropped.
We reported earlier that a Lebanese news channel said two of its journalists were killed by an Israeli airstrike in the south of Lebanon, near the UN-marked boundary with Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it is reviewing the incident. In a statement, the IDF said:
We are aware of a claim regarding journalists in the area who were killed as a result of IDF fire.
This is an area with active hostilities, where exchanges of fire occur. Presence in the area is dangerous. The incident is under review.
The Al-Mayadeen news channel earlier accused Israel of a direct attack on its journalists, a correspondent, Farah Omar, and cameraman Rabih Maamari, who were reporting on military activity along the border with Israel.
A third civilian was killed along with the two journalists, according to the broadcaster’s director Ghassan bin Jiddo, who said it was “a direct attack, it was not by chance”.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has called for the convening of an “international peace conference” to resolve the Israel-Hamas conflict, as he urged the release of “civilian detainees” and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Xi, addressing a virtual summit of fellow Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) leaders on Tuesday, was quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency as saying:
All parties in the conflicts should immediately cease fire and hostilities, stop all violence and attacks targeting civilians, and release civilian detainees to avoid more loss of lives and suffering.
He said there could be no “sustainable peace and security” in the Middle East “without a just solution to the question of Palestine”, adding that China has been “working actively to promote peace talks and a ceasefire”.
Beijing “calls for an early convening of an international peace conference” to “work toward an early solution to the question of Palestine that is comprehensive, just and sustainable”, he said.
Patrick Wintour is the Guardian’s diplomatic editor:
A revolt by leaders of the global south against US support for Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is brewing as Arab diplomats met their counterparts in China and Moscow, while South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa convened a virtual meeting of the leaders of the Brics countries to condemn Israel.
The Biden administration has been repeatedly warned, including by its own diplomats, that it risks serious loss of support among global south nations that accuse the US of displaying double standards by condemning Russian war crimes in Ukraine, yet remaining largely silent over Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The Brics group consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and new Brics entrants whose full membership commences next year, including Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, were also invited. South Africa has already cut off diplomatic ties with Israel.
The Arab diplomats have been on a tour of capitals of permanent members of the UN security council to gather support for a further UN security council resolution instructing Israel to stop preventing humanitarian aid reaching Gaza. It may also ask for the security council to upgrade the call made on Israel to implement a humanitarian pause to an instruction. Israel immediately rejected a UN security council last week to introduce humanitarian pauses.
The delegation started their tour in China before heading to Russia on Tuesday in a sign that the Arab countries now realise they will have to demonstrate to the US president Joe Biden he cannot take an Arab-US alliance for granted if he continues to provide such strong support to Israel.
It is also expected that some members of the delegation will visit France and the UK. The Qatar prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulraham bin Jassim Al Thani had announced he is due to visit Moscow and London this week.
An Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson said the diplomats had “drafted a new resolution to be submitted to the security council by the Arab and Islamic groups; to deal with existing obstacles and imbalances of humanitarian aid entry to Gaza.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Dan Sabbagh is the Guardian’s defence and security editor:
Britain has deployed an extra 1,000 military personnel around the Middle East since Hamas’s deadly 7 October attack on Israel, junior defence minister James Heappey said on Monday in a parliamentary answer, revising upwards the deployment to the region.
The figure is notably higher than the 600 mentioned by Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, to British MPs yesterday, but it is understood that he was incorrectly referring to an older figure that also did not fully include the UK’s naval commitment.
Responding to a question from opposition Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey, Shapps also confirmed that UK forces personnel “have been moved to Tel Aviv” in Israel as well as Beirut and Jordan to help protect British military and civilians in the region.
Defence sources indicated on Tuesday these were British officers to provide liaison with the Israeli Defense Force, and to draw up emergency evacuation and other plans in event of a wider war involving Hezbollah and possibly Iran – but not combat-ready soldiers providing force protection.
Healey asked on Monday whether the government was right to continue to pursue planned cuts to the size of the British army to 73,000, given the Israel-Hamas war, but Shapps said the UK could manage the extra deployment and more if needed. “I am satisfied that we cut our cloth in order to react to events around the world,” the defence secretary said.
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By Andrew Clarance in Delhi and Cherylann Mollan in Mumbai
BBC News
A camera has captured footage of the 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in India's Uttarakhand state for the first time in nine days.
The video was filmed using an endoscopic camera that was slipped inside a new pipe drilled into the tunnel on Monday.
Rescuers also used the pipe to give the workers their first hot meal in days.
So far, they had been subsisting on snacks sent through a narrower pipe inserted earlier.
The under-construction tunnel caved in after a landslide.
The incident took place on the morning of 12 November in the northern state's Uttarkashi district. Contact with the trapped men was established soon after that and they are being provided oxygen, food and water since then.
On Monday evening, the rescue operation witnessed a breakthrough after rescuers were able to push a six-inch diameter pipe through the debris inside the tunnel.
Officials slipped a small camera attached to a flexible cable into the pipe and used it to film the trapped men.
In a video released to the press, rescuers can be seen viewing the footage on a computer screen outside the tunnel.
An official asks the men to appear before the camera and smile and wave - the workers can be seen responding to the instructions.
He also tells them that they will be rescued soon and later asks them to identify themselves in front of the camera.
Rescuers appear to be using two-way radios to communicate with the men - the video shows one of them holding a walkie-talkie in his hands.
The men, many of whom are wearing safety helmets and jackets, can be seen standing in a semi-circle near the camera.
The official then tells the men that the pipe will soon be cleaned after which water will be sent to them.
Some colleagues of the workers said they were delighted to see their friends after so many days.
"I have seen them on camera, but now I'm waiting to see them in the flesh," said Rahul Ameen, whose two friends are trapped inside.
Mr Ameen said he has been regularly visiting the tunnel to keep himself updated about the progress of the rescue operations.
ANI
The new pipe is wider than the four-inch diameter pipe officials had inserted into the tunnel, hours after a portion of it caved in on 12 November.
Because of the narrowness of the pipe, only certain snacks and dry fruits could be given to the workers so far. The pipe was also used to supply oxygen to them.
Officials have said that the new, wider pipe will help supply the workers with more oxygen, food and other essentials such as medicines, mobile phones and chargers.
The operation, which entered its 10th day on Tuesday, has encountered several delays and obstacles primarily due to loose soil and falling debris.
The plan is to dig a hole wide enough to accommodate multiple 900mm pipes to create a pathway through which the workers can crawl out of the tunnel.
However, on Monday, officials said that they were attempting to dig two more tunnels by the side of the main tunnel as additional escape routes.
So far, four 900mm pipes have been pushed through the debris wall, which is estimated to be 60 metres, to create the main passage.
On Tuesday, welding work on the fifth pipe had started, officials said.
On Sunday, federal Highways and Roads Minister Nitin Gadkari had visited the site and said that the rescue operations could go on for "two to three days".
Col Deepak Patil, who is leading the rescue operation, told the BBC he was confident the men would be freed: "We are trying all our options and we will succeed," he said.
BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.
To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
By Andrew Clarance in Delhi and Cherylann Mollan in Mumbai
BBC News
A camera has captured footage of the 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in India's Uttarakhand state for the first time in nine days.
The video was filmed using an endoscopic camera that was slipped inside a new pipe drilled into the tunnel on Monday.
Rescuers also used the pipe to give the workers their first hot meal in days.
So far, they had been subsisting on snacks sent through a narrower pipe inserted earlier.
The under-construction tunnel caved in after a landslide.
The incident took place on the morning of 12 November in the northern state's Uttarkashi district. Contact with the trapped men was established soon after that and they are being provided oxygen, food and water since then.
On Monday evening, the rescue operation witnessed a breakthrough after rescuers were able to push a six-inch diameter pipe through the debris inside the tunnel.
Officials slipped a small camera attached to a flexible cable into the pipe and used it to film the trapped men.
In a video released to the press, rescuers can be seen viewing the footage on a computer screen outside the tunnel.
An official asks the men to appear before the camera and smile and wave - the workers can be seen responding to the instructions.
He also tells them that they will be rescued soon and later asks them to identify themselves in front of the camera.
Rescuers appear to be using two-way radios to communicate with the men - the video shows one of them holding a walkie-talkie in his hands.
The men, many of whom are wearing safety helmets and jackets, can be seen standing in a semi-circle near the camera.
The official then tells the men that the pipe will soon be cleaned after which water will be sent to them.
Some colleagues of the workers said they were delighted to see their friends after so many days.
"I have seen them on camera, but now I'm waiting to see them in the flesh," said Rahul Ameen, whose two friends are trapped inside.
Mr Ameen said he has been regularly visiting the tunnel to keep himself updated about the progress of the rescue operations.
ANI
The new pipe is wider than the four-inch diameter pipe officials had inserted into the tunnel, hours after a portion of it caved in on 12 November.
Because of the narrowness of the pipe, only certain snacks and dry fruits could be given to the workers so far. The pipe was also used to supply oxygen to them.
Officials have said that the new, wider pipe will help supply the workers with more oxygen, food and other essentials such as medicines, mobile phones and chargers.
The operation, which entered its 10th day on Tuesday, has encountered several delays and obstacles primarily due to loose soil and falling debris.
The plan is to dig a hole wide enough to accommodate multiple 900mm pipes to create a pathway through which the workers can crawl out of the tunnel.
However, on Monday, officials said that they were attempting to dig two more tunnels by the side of the main tunnel as additional escape routes.
So far, four 900mm pipes have been pushed through the debris wall, which is estimated to be 60 metres, to create the main passage.
On Tuesday, welding work on the fifth pipe had started, officials said.
On Sunday, federal Highways and Roads Minister Nitin Gadkari had visited the site and said that the rescue operations could go on for "two to three days".
BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.
