ceasefire deal

January 20, 2025 12:03 PM

Hamas frees hostages, Israel releases Palestinian prisoners on Day One of ceasefire

Hamas released three Israeli hostages and Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the first day of a ceasefire suspending a 15-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East. The truce allowed Palestinians to return to bombed-out neighborhoods to begin rebuilding their lives, while relief trucks delivered much-needed aid. Elsewhere in Gaza, crowds cheered Hamas fighters who emerged from hiding. Fireworks were launched in celebration as buses carryin...

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators carrying a banner reading 'Gaza' march during a protest against Israeli attacks in Gaza since the announcement of the ceasefire, on January 16, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images

January 17, 2025 11:35 AM

Israel set to approve Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal, Netanyahu’s office says

The Israeli cabinet will meet to give final approval to a deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday. In Gaza itself, Israeli warplanes kept up intense strikes, and Palestinian authorities said late on Thursday that at least 86 people were killed in the day after the truce was unveiled. With longstanding divisions apparent among ministers, Israel delayed meetings expected on ...

January 16, 2025 8:41 AM

Israel, Hamas ceasefire accord followed by airstrikes on Gaza, residents say

Israel intensified strikes on Gaza hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, residents and authorities in the Palestinian enclave said, and mediators sought to quell fighting ahead of the truce's start on Sunday. The complex ceasefire accord between Israel and militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, emerged on Wednesday after months of mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. and 15 months of bloodshed that devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East. ...

Smoke, rising over the destroyed and heavily damaged residential areas following the Israeli attacks on Gaza, is seen from Sderot, Israel on January 14, 2025. Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images

January 15, 2025 5:14 PM

Gaza ceasefire still elusive as negotiators try to hammer out deal

Negotiators were trying to hammer out the final details of a complex, phased ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday after marathon talks in Qatar aiming to end a conflict that has inflicted widespread death and destruction and upended the Middle East. More than eight hours of talks in Doha had fuelled optimism. Officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. as well as Israel and Hamas said on Tuesday that an agreement for a truce in the besieged Palestinian enclave and the release of hostages w...

January 14, 2025 8:39 AM

Gaza ceasefire deal close after ‘breakthrough’ in Doha

Negotiators will meet in Doha on Tuesday seeking to finalise details of a plan to end the war in Gaza after U.S. President Joe Biden said a ceasefire and hostage release deal he has championed was on "the brink" of coming to fruition. Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight "breakthrough" in talks attended by envoys of both the outgoing U.S. president and President-elect Donald Trump. "The deal .....