The cease-fire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas this week sets in motion the release of dozens of hostages that Hamas and its allies have been holding in Gaza since the start of the war more than a year ago. About 100 hostages, living and dead, are thought to be held captive in Gaza, most […]

Israel is due to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners over the course of the 42-day initial cease-fire, according to the terms of the agreement, beginning with at least 90 on Sunday in exchange for three Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Israelis say that many of the prisoners are terrorists and murderers. Many […]

Making his final trip as America’s top diplomat last week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken arrived in Paris, his former hometown, to a hero’s welcome. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, proclaimed Mr. Blinken “an eminent servant of peace” at a ceremony at the Élysée Palace before awarding him the country’s highest tribute, the Legion of […]

The Israeli authorities are making preparations to welcome home dozens of hostages held incommunicado by Hamas for over a year in Gaza, without knowing whether they will return starved, traumatized or dead. Thirty-three hostages are supposed to be freed in the first phase of the Gaza cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the first […]

At his seaside office complex in Doha on Wednesday evening, the Qatari prime minister thought he had a deal. Hamas’s negotiators, led by a burly former lawmaker, had left the prime minister’s office, having given up on an 11th-hour demand that was the last major obstacle to a cease-fire in Gaza after 466 days of […]

Since the cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel was announced on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes have continued across the Gaza Strip, with northern Gaza facing the heaviest attacks, emergency officials in the territory said on Friday morning. Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency services organization, said that more than two dozen children were among those killed, and […]

It is almost over, the end so close they can practically feel the keys they have kept all these months sliding into the locks of their old homes, the doorknobs turning in their hands, the beds they will sink into for their first night’s peaceful rest in more than 15 months — their own beds. […]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a meeting of Israel’s political security cabinet on Friday to approve the Gaza cease-fire deal after Israeli and Hamas negotiators worked out their remaining differences. Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement early Friday that he had ordered the meeting to approve the deal for later in the day. Lawmakers […]

Negotiators raced on Thursday to resolve last-minute disputes in a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would free hostages and halt the violence that has devastated Gaza over the past 15 months. The disputes helped delay by at least one day a critical Israeli vote to approve the deal. Even though negotiators for Israel […]

Despite the announcement of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, deadly strikes in Gaza have continued. Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday morning that at least eight Israeli attacks in the territory had killed 81 people and injured nearly 200 others over the previous 24 hours. The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency service, said […]