bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Palestinian militant group Hamas will hand over female Israeli hostage Arbel Yehud and two other hostages before Friday, mediator Qatar said on Sunday, and Israel said it would allow residents of the northern Gaza Strip to go back home early on Monday.
In a statement, Qatar’s foreign ministry also said Israel will in return allow displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza starting Monday morning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that civilian Arbel Yehud, soldier Agam Berger and another hostage will be released by Hamas.
He also said in a post on X that Israel will allow displaced Gaza families to return home north of the Palestinian enclave starting Monday morning.

“The prime minister reiterates that Israel will not tolerate any violation of the agreement. We will continue to act for the return of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased,” said a statement issued by Netanyahu’s office.
Following the Qatari announcement, Hamas said early on Monday that it handed over to the mediators the required information regarding the list of Israeli hostages who will be released during the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The move brokered by Qatar and Egyptian mediators would allow around 650,000 Palestinians displaced in central and southern Gaza Strip to return home north of the enclave, most of which had been laid waste by 15 months of Israel’s aerial and ground offensive, that has also killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Hamas took around 250 hostages during the 2023 attack on Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies. It sparked the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The fighting has currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire.
The most recent swap saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, and 200 prisoners, nearly all Palestinian, released Saturday – the second such exchange during the fragile truce entering its second week.
Of the hostages seized during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have waited for two days at roadblocks to return to their homes in northern Gaza, voicing frustration after Israel accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.
Cars, trucks and rickshaws were overloaded with mattresses, food, and the tents that served as shelters for over a year for those in the central and southern areas of the enclave.
Under the agreement worked out with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the US, Israel was meant to allow Palestinians displaced from the north to return to their homes.
But Israel said that Hamas’ failure to hand over a list detailing who of the hostages scheduled for release were alive or to hand over Arbel Yehud, an Israeli woman taken hostage from her kibbutz home during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, meant it had violated the agreement.
The Israeli military put out a statement telling Gaza residents they would be allowed to return on foot through the coastal road at 05.00 GMT, and in vehicles through the eastern Salahudeen road at 07.00 GMT.
It warned them against approaching Israeli forces’ positions.
“The transfer of militants or weapons via these routes to the northern Gaza Strip will be considered a breach of the agreement. Do not cooperate with any terrorist entity that may try to exploit you to transfer weapons or prohibited materials,” said the military.
Responding to the news, thousands of displaced families burst in cheers at shelters and tent encampments.
“No sleep, I have everything packed and ready to go with the first light of day,” said Ghada, a mother of five.
“At least we are going back home, now I can say war is over and I hope it will stay calm,” she told Reuters via a chat app.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Associated Press


Deal reached to release more Israeli hostages, allow Gazans to return home north

Trump administration memo tells USAID to put ‘America first’ in reviewing foreign aid

Israel blocks Palestinians returning home to northern Gaza

Lebanon says Israeli forces kill 22, wound 124 in south on pull-out deadline

Israel-Gaza war

A person gestures from inside an Israeli helicopter carrying four Israeli female soldiers released from Gaza on Saturday. Photo: AP

A drone view shows Palestinians waiting to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza. Photo: Reuters

Four female Israeli soldiers released by Hamas on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Ceasefire begins, pausing devastating Israel-Gaza war

Children were among those cheering in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, the day a long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas was implemented. Photo: AFP

Displaced Palestinians cheer as they return to the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Photo: via AFP

Protesters stand with portraits of Israeli hostages during a demonstration last year by families of those taken captive during the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Photo: AFP

The war in Gaza has devastated the enclave and killed tens of thousands of people. Photo: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded a hostage list from Hamas before the ceasefire began. Photo: dpa

Families and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the October 2023 attack by Hamas attend a Tel Aviv demonstration in support of the ceasefire deal on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Hamas names four Israeli female soldier hostages to be freed in second swap

Demonstrators hold up a cut out of the Olympic rings with pictures of hostages Liri Elbag, Naama Levy, Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa and Agam Berger attached to the hoops in Tel Aviv, Israel, in July 2024. Photo: Reuters

(Clockwise from top left) Israeli hostages Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Daniela Gilboa and Liri Albag were seized from their army base in southern Israel during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas. Photos: Bring Them Home Now via Reuters

Hamas accepted draft agreement for Gaza ceasefire and release of hostages, officials say

Supporters of Israeli hostages during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Smoke plumes from explosions in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP

US President Joe Biden on Monday. Photo: AP

A boy looks on next to the body of a Palestinian killed in Israeli strikes. Photo: Reuters

Trump urges Jordan and Egypt to ‘clean out’ Gaza, take in more Palestinians

Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip. Photo: EPA-EFE

US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Palestinian families wait to return to the northern Gaza Strip from the southern Gaza Strip, in central Gaza on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE

A child looks on as Palestinians wait to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Tens of thousands wait to return to northern Gaza and their homes, demolished or not, on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: APA Images via Zuma Press Wire / dpa

News

World

Middle East

Deal preserves a fragile ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, which has devastated the Gaza Strip


Deal preserves a fragile ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, which has devastated the Gaza Strip.


Israel

War and conflict