Israel | DD News

October 13, 2025 9:50 PM

Trump says Holy Land at peace as last Israeli hostages swapped for Palestinian detainees

Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday under a ceasefire deal and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees, as U.S. President Donald Trump told Israel's parliament that peace had arrived in the Holy Land. The Israeli military said it had received all hostages confirmed to be alive, after their transfer from Gaza by the Red Cross. The announcement prompted cheering, hugging and weeping among thousands waiting at "Hostage Square" in Tel Aviv. In Gaza, thousand...

October 13, 2025 12:40 PM

Hamas begins releasing Israeli hostages, as Trump lands in Israel

Hamas handed over some of its last surviving Israeli hostages on Monday, a key step in ending two years of devastating conflict in Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who landed in Israel to address the parliament. With hundreds of cheering people gathered in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, Israel's military said it had received the first seven of 20 surviving hostages after their transfer out of Gaza by the Red Cross. "I am so excited. I am full of happiness. I...

October 13, 2025 8:43 AM

Trump to be lauded in Israel as long-held hostages return home

U.S. President Donald Trump will receive a hero's welcome in Israel's parliament on Monday as a fragile Gaza ceasefire he helped to broker enters a fourth day, with the expected release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners marking tentative steps in a conflict long resistant to resolution. Trump's Knesset speech follows two years of war sparked by a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that killed around 1,200 people in Israel with 251 taken hostage. Israeli airstrikes and ground assaults ...

October 11, 2025 3:11 PM

Gazans trek to ruined homes as Israeli forces pull back under ceasefire

Thousands of displaced Palestinians trekked over the wastelands of Gaza to return to the ruins of their abandoned homes on Friday, after a ceasefire took effect and Israeli troops began pulling back under the first phase of an agreement to end the war. A huge column of people filed on foot north along the coastal road overlooking sandy beaches towards Gaza City, the enclave's biggest urban area, which had been under attack just days ago in one of Israel's biggest offensives of the war. "Thank ...

October 10, 2025 4:33 PM

Details of the Gaza ceasefire agreement

Israel's government approved the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal early on Friday, setting the clock ticking on the first phase of an agreement that aims to end the two-year-old war. The agreement covers only an initial stage, including handing over hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners inside Israel, and a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from positions in the enclave. Plenty of pitfalls remain with negotiators yet to resolve some of the thornier issues on whic...

October 10, 2025 10:49 AM

US to deploy 200 troops to Israel for Gaza task force, no operations in Gaza

The United States will deploy up to 200 troops to Israel to establish a task force to support stabilization efforts in Gaza, but no Americans are expected to be deployed into the Palestinian enclave, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The U.S. military's Central Command will stand up the task force, known as the Civil-Military Coordination Center, or CMCC, one of the officials said. The CMCC's job will be to facilitate the flow of assistance into Gaza, including security assistance and humanitar...

October 10, 2025 8:55 AM

Israeli cabinet ratifies Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas

Israel's government ratified a ceasefire with the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday, clearing the way to suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours and free Israeli hostages held there within 72 hours after that. The Israeli cabinet approved the deal early Friday morning, roughly 24 hours after mediators announced the agreement, which calls for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the start of a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza under U...

October 9, 2025 9:32 AM

Israel and Hamas agree to Gaza ceasefire and return of hostages, yet many questions remain

Israel and Hamas said they had agreed to a long-awaited ceasefire and hostage deal, the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end a war in Gaza that has killed more than 67,000 people and reshaped the Middle East. Just a day after the second anniversary of Hamas militants' cross-border attack that triggered Israel's devastating assault on Gaza, indirect talks in Egypt yielded an agreement on the initial stage of Trump’s 20-point framework to bring peace to the Palestinian encla...

October 8, 2025 9:56 AM

Gaza aid flotilla says Israeli forces ‘attack convoy’, intercept boats

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said on Wednesday its vessels were "under attack" by the Israeli military, which intercepted several boats sailing toward the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave. The FFC is an international network of pro-Palestinian activist groups that organises civilian maritime missions aimed at breaking Israel's blockade of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians there. The flotilla's vessels and passengers were safe, had been transferred to an Israeli port and w...

October 7, 2025 10:39 PM

Hamas says on war anniversary it’s serious about Gaza deal, but conditions remain

Hamas said on Tuesday it wants to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza based on U.S. President Trump's plan but still has a set of demands, a statement signalling that indirect talks with Israel in Egypt could be difficult and lengthy. Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum set out Hamas' position on the second anniversary of the Palestinian militant group's attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, and one day after the indirect negotiations began in Sharm el-Sheikh. The talks appear the most...