Page 5 - Gaza

Palestinians return, US expects hostages freed as Gaza ceasefire holds

The Gaza ceasefire held in its second day as tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to their neighbourhoods Saturday and Israelis cheered Monday's expected release of remaining hostages. Gaza is completely destroyed. I have no idea where we should live or where to go, said Mahmoud al-Shandoghli in Gaza City as bulldozers clawed through the wreckage of two years of war. A boy climbed debris to raise the Palestinian flag. Israelis applauded US President Donald Trump, and some booed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner addressed a weekly rally in Tel Aviv that many hoped would be the last. To the hostages themselves, our brothers and sisters, you are coming home," Witkoff told the crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands. Kushner said they would celebrate on Monday, when Israel's military has said the 48 hostages still in Gaza would be freed. The government believes around 20 remain alive. Kushner also noted the ...

Fattah el-Sisi, Trump to chair Gaza peace summit in Egypt on Monday

The meeting will see the participation of leaders from more than 20 countries

Israel refuses to release top Palestinian leader Barghouti from prison

The most popular and potentially unifying Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is not among the prisoners Israel intends to free in exchange for hostages held by Hamas under the new Gaza ceasefire deal. Israel has also rejected freeing other high-profile prisoners whose release Hamas has long sought, though it was not immediately clear if a list of around 250 prisoners issued Friday on the Israeli government's official website was final. Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told the Al Jazeera TV network that the group insists on the release of Barghouti and other high-profile figures and that it was in discussions with mediators. Israel views Barghouti as a terrorist leader. He is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted in 2004 in connection with attacks in Israel that killed five people. But some experts say Israel fears Barghouti for another reason: An advocate of a two-state solution even as he backed armed resistance to occupation, Barghouti could be a powerf

Several Palestinians return to Gaza as US-brokered ceasefire takes effect

Tens of thousands of Palestinians headed back to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip on Friday as a US-brokered ceasefire came into effect in a deal that raised hopes for ending the Israel-Hamas war. All the remaining hostages were set to be released within days. Questions remain over who will govern Gaza as Israeli troops gradually pull back and whether Hamas will disarm, as called for in US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who unilaterally ended a ceasefire in March, hinted that Israel might renew its offensive if Hamas does not give up its weapons. The latest truce nevertheless marks a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war that was triggered by Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced around 90 per cent of the Gaza population of some 2 million, often multiple times. Many of them will find fields of rubble where their homes once stood. The military confirmed the ..

Israeli forces start pulling back from parts of Gaza under ceasefire deal

Israeli forces withdrew from the Mediterranean coastal road into Gaza City, allowing hundreds to return to the main urban centre after a month of Israeli assault

Paves way for just peace: Saudi Arabia welcomes Gaza ceasefire deal

'The Kingdom appreciates the active role of US President Donald Trump and the mediation efforts by the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Republic of Turkiye to reach this agreement'

US to deploy 200 troops to Israel to support, monitor Gaza ceasefire deal

The United States is sending about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team that includes partner nations, nongovernmental organisations and private sector players, US officials said Thursday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorised for release, said US Central Command is going to establish a civil-military coordination centres in Israel that will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into the territory wracked by two years of war.

PM Modi calls Netanyahu to congratulate on progress on Gaza peace deal

During the conversation, PM Modi congratulated Israeli PM on the progress made under US President Donald Trump's Gaza Peace Plan

Israeli govt approves ceasefire, hostage release under Trump peace plan

The government has now approved the outline for the release of all the hostages - the living and the dead," the Israeli Prime Minister's office announced

None of it would have been possible without Trump: Rubio on Gaza peace plan

Rubio said the Gaza peace plan, once thought impossible, became feasible after Trump convened a "historic" meeting of Muslim-majority nations, including Indonesia and Pakistan, at UN on September 23

Israeli strike kills 30 Palestinians since ceasefire deal announcement

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that the attack was on a "Hamas terrorist cell" in northern Gaza that "posed an immediate threat"

We settled 7 wars, this is number 8, says Trump after Gaza ceasefire deal

Trump stated that he had ended seven "unendable" wars and reiterated his claim of having helped broker a truce between India and Pakistan earlier this year

Explained: What we know about next steps in deal to pause war in Gaza

A breakthrough deal pausing the war in Gaza has been reached. But will it lead, as US President Donald Trump proclaimed, to a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace? It took pressure on both Israel and Hamas from the United States, Arab countries and Turkiye, each saying it was time to end a 2-year-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, sparked other conflicts around the region and increasingly isolated Israel. That push sealed an agreement on a first phase that would free the remaining living Israeli hostages within days in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. But it left unanswered a long list of questions over what happens next. Israel wants to ensure Hamas disarms. Hamas wants to ensure Israel pulls its troops completely out of Gaza and is not allowed to restart the war. At the same time, a postwar government for Gaza must be worked out to replace Hamas' rule. Without that in place, reconstruct

Trump wants Israel hostages freed by Mon-Tues, will attend signing ceremony

Trump opened a White House Cabinet meeting by discussing a deal reached on Wednesday under which the hostages held by Hamas militants are to be released in the first phase of a broader Gaza plan

Israel–Hamas peace breakthrough: Here's what has been agreed upon | Israel-Gaza war | Trump

In a major breakthrough, Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a US-brokered peace plan.

UK PM Starmer welcomes moment of profound relief with Gaza peace plan

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is on an India visit, welcomed an agreement on the first phase of the Gaza peace plan to halt Israel-Hamas hostilities on Thursday as a moment of profound relief. The agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye will see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the entry of aid into Gaza. I welcome the news that a deal has been reached on the first stage of President Trump's peace plan for Gaza, said Starmer, in a statement released from 10 Downing Street in London. This is a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world, but particularly for the hostages, their families, and for the civilian population of Gaza, who have all endured unimaginable suffering over the last two years, he said. The UK PM hailed the tireless diplomatic efforts of Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and the United States, supported by regional partners in ...

PM Modi's 'unqualified praise' for Israeli PM 'morally atrocious': Congress

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcoming the agreement on the first phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan for West Asia, the Congress on Thursday termed as "shameful and morally atrocious" the prime minister's "unqualified praise" for Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and slammed his "silence" on the future of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine. Congress general secretary in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, also said that Modi said nothing on the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. "The prime Minister has welcomed the new developments regarding Gaza and hailed President Trump. That eagerness to do so is not surprising. But what is shocking, shameful, and morally atrocious is Mr Modi's unqualified praise for the Israeli PM Mr Netanyahu - who has unleashed a genocide in Gaza over the past twenty months," Ramesh said. "Mr Modi has also maintained a total silence on the future of an independent, sovereign state of Palesti

PM Modi welcomes agreement on first phase of Trump's Gaza peace plan

Prime Minister Modi welcomed the agreement after US President Donald Trump, on Thursday (IST), took to his private social media platform, Truth Social, to announce the development

Families of Israeli hostages erupt into joy as freedom nears for captives

For 24 months, it's been Israel's ground zero of anguish, uncertainty, torment and despair. But early Thursday, the central Tel Aviv area that's become known as Hostages Square was a burst of unfettered jubilation. A Champagne bottle was popped open to cheers from the crowd. Sweets were doled out. Tears of joy mixed with laughter and long embraces as the news sunk in: The struggle to free Israeli captives held in Gaza appears to finally be coming to a close. Matan is coming home! yelled Einav Zangauker, arguably the most prominent face of the 2-year-long campaign to free the hostages, referring to her captive son. Her arms raised to the sky, she shouted out Thank you! as a crowd of supporters, families of hostages, and former hostages freed earlier in the war filled the square. I want to smell his smell, she told reporters of her son. "If I have one dream, it is seeing Matan sleep in his own bed. After their loved ones were kidnapped in Hamas' Oct 7, 2023, attack that sparked the

Asian stocks rise on AI optimism, oil slips after Gaza ceasefire deal

Stocks in Taiwan climbed 1.2 per cent to a fresh record, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.3 per cent