Israel

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...

January 17, 2025 4:00 PM

Hamas set to release first hostages under Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel says

Hamas is expected to release the first hostages under a Gaza ceasefire deal on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday. If successful, the ceasefire would halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanised Gaza, killed over 46,000 people, and displaced most of the tiny enclave's pre-war population of 2.3 million several times over, according to local authorities. The Israeli cabinet will meet to give final approval to the deal with militant group Hamas for a cease...

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. ...

January 15, 2025 11:00 PM

Israel, Hamas reach ceasefire agreement meant to end 15-month Gaza war, official says

Negotiators reached a deal on Wednesday for a ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after 15 months of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and inflamed the Middle East. The deal, not yet formally announced, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, a...

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 .....

January 10, 2025 9:54 AM

US House votes to sanction International Criminal Court over Israel

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court to protest its issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over Israel's campaign in Gaza. The vote was 243 to 140 in favor of the "Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act," which would sanction any foreigner who investigates, arrests, detains or prosecutes U.S. citizens or those of an allied country, including Israel, who are not members of ...

January 6, 2025 8:54 AM

Hamas and Israel wrangle over talks as Israeli strikes in Gaza intensify

Israel and Hamas wrangled on Sunday over the details of a deal to halt fighting in the Gaza Strip and return hostages home, as Palestinian officials said intensified Israeli bombardments had killed more than 100 people over the weekend. A Hamas official said the group had approved a list of 34 Israeli hostages to be returned as part of a deal that could eventually lead to a ceasefire. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office swiftly issued a statement saying Hamas had not provided a hos...

January 4, 2025 5:28 PM

Israeli airstrikes push up Gaza death toll amid new truce push

Israel has carried out airstrikes on dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, it said on Friday, in attacks that Palestinian health authorities said had killed more than 110 people in two days. The surge in operations and casualties comes amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war and return Israeli hostages before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Israeli mediators were dispatched to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyp...