Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was traveling to Washington on Sunday for meetings this week with President Donald J. Trump and senior administration officials at a pivotal moment for the Middle East. Mr. Trump has made it clear that he wants the wars in the Middle East to end after the October 2023 Hamas-led … Read more
Hamas released three more hostages on Saturday as part of its cease-fire deal with Israel, in a quick process that was a stark contrast to a chaotic handover earlier this week. The hostage release is part of a 42-day cease-fire deal that went into effect last month, pausing the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Hamas … Read more
Israel and Hamas exchanged a new group of hostages and prisoners on Thursday in a handover that devolved into chaos as the armed militants struggled to control a chanting, jostling crowd of Palestinians trying to catch a glimpse of Israelis held captive during 15 months of war. Hamas released a total of eight Israeli and … Read more
President Trump’s Middle East envoy is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu. The visit by the envoy, Steven Witkoff, was set to take place as Israeli and Hamas officials prepared for a new round of negotiations aimed at cementing the current cease-fire in … Read more
The cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon will most likely hold for now, despite being tested to their limits over the weekend, because all sides want to avoid full-scale fighting at least for a few weeks, analysts said. In southern Lebanon, Israeli troops remained in position past the deadline on Sunday for their withdrawal, amid Israeli … Read more
Israeli troops were preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes in the north of the Gaza Strip on Sunday after Israel accused Hamas of violating the terms of the cease-fire agreement. Under the terms of the initial phase of the deal agreed earlier this month, Israel had been expected to withdraw some of its forces … Read more
In the days since a cease-fire agreement took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel has turned its attention to a Palestinian city about 75 miles northeast of the enclave — one with a long history of resistance and militant activity. On Wednesday, as some of its troops withdrew from Gaza, the Israeli military said it … Read more
When three Israeli hostages were released from Gaza on Sunday, Meytal Ofer, an Israeli kindergarten teacher, felt two competing emotions. First and foremost, Ms. Ofer felt joy — three of her compatriots, all women, were being released after more than 470 days of captivity. Yet somewhere in the back of her mind was also a … Read more
Three hostages have been freed in the first phase of the cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel. The hostages, all women, were released into Red Cross custody in Gaza on Sunday and were transferred to Israeli forces, who took them to meet their mothers, the Israeli military said. About 100 hostages, living and dead, are … Read more
At the end of a war in Gaza in 2021, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, was photographed sitting in an armchair in his ruined home, a symbol of continuing resistance to Israel. Mr. Sinwar was killed in this latest Gaza war, in which Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, vowed to dismantle and … Read more