15 hours ago The inside story of how an unlikely alliance of Trump and Biden led to historic Gaza ceasefire deal

The two presidential camps worked together to bring about the talks that led to the pause in the conflictIt was a subtle, but significant flex of power by Donald Trump’s new envoy to the Middle East. Ten days before tomorrow’s presidential inauguration, he called Israel to announce he was coming to Tel Aviv to meet Benjamin Netanyahu.Trump had demanded a deal to release Israel’s hostages before he took his oath of office, and the man charged with making that happen was Steve Witkoff – a New York property developer confident that a long relationship with Trump could offset a lack of diplomatic experience. Continue reading...

Politics

96 minutes ago Gaza ceasefire begins as Hamas names British woman among three Israeli hostages to be released

Long-awaited truce on knife edge, worrying families of hostages and civilians in Gaza

Events

2 hours ago Gaza ceasefire: Brit woman among three hostages to be released by Hamas

Brit Emily Damari is among the three hostages named on a list to be freed on the first day of the implementation of the ceasefire deal in Gaza between Hamas and Israel

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2 hours ago Gaza ceasefire LIVE updates as Israel sets new time amid Hamas hostages release

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire in Gaza would not begin until Hamas provided the list of hostages to be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners

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5 hours ago Netanyahu warns again that Gaza ceasefire will not begin until Hamas provides a hostage list

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Sunday that the ceasefire in Gaza will not begin until Israel has received a list of the hostages set to be released from Hamas

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9 hours ago World holds its breath before Gaza ceasefire and hostage releases as bullish Netanyahu insists Israel 'reserves the right to resume the war with force' if necessary

The Israeli Prime Minister's declaration comes as families of hostages held in Gaza brace for news of loved ones, while Palestinians prepare to receive detainees.

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12 hours ago Rescued hostage Noa Argamani's appeal after Hamas puts Gaza ceasefire deal in doubt

Noa, 27, said her 'heart breaks' for her boyfriend Avinatan Or, 30, who is among 98 still held in Gaza , and pleaded for them to be freed.

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14 hours ago Faces of the 33 Hamas hostages set to be freed in first phase of Gaza ceasefire

Hundreds of Israeli hostages were captured during the October 7 attack with Hamas militants kidnapping them and taking them into Gaza where they have remained for 15 months

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17 hours ago The Observer view on the Gaza ceasefire: it’s time for both sides to think again

This brief, fragile pause is a chance for all involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict to accept that violence does not work The ceasefire in Gaza, due to begin tomorrow, will bring welcome relief from daily violence but amounts, at present, to little more than a fragile, temporary pause in a conflict that is far from over. Israel has not achieved its principal war aim, as defined by its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu: the total elimination of Hamas. Nor has Hamas achieved its objective: the destruction of Israel. The leaders responsible for the 7 October 2023 terrorist atrocities are dead. The organisation’s capabilities are severely reduced. But it has survived – which its supporters claim is a victory for Palestinian sumud (steadfastness).Most of the 98 remaining Israeli hostages, alive and dead, will not be freed in this first phase of the ceasefire, which is to last for six weeks. There is no agreed “day after” strategy for devastated Gaza, where nearly 47,000 Palestinians...

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19 hours ago ‘I’ll kiss the ground’: chaos feared amid Gaza ceasefire as families head home

Hundreds of thousands are now set to return to whatever remains of their houses or to claim bodies from the rubbleAid agencies in Gaza are bracing for chaotic scenes this week as hundreds of thousands of people try to return to homes across the territory after the expected implementation of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Sunday.Before the ceasefire, which is due to begin at 8.30am local time, Israel has continued to carry out attacks inside Gaza. The local health ministry claimed on Saturday that 23 Palestinians had been killed in the previous 24 hours, while the Israeli army said it had conducted strikes on 50 “terror targets” on Friday. Continue reading...

Events

24 hours ago Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will begin tomorrow with Brit Emily Damari one of the 33 hostages to be released

Until now, the exact time of the ceasefire's start had been unclear, though Israel had said that no Palestinian prisoners would be freed before 2pm GMT.

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25 hours ago Gaza ceasefire to begin on Sunday as Israel approves deal to free hostages in exchange for prisoners

Ceasefire set to start on Sunday when first hostages are expected to be released

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29 hours ago ‘It raised our spirits’: Palestinian refugees in Syria on the ceasefire in Gaza

Yarmouk camp residents lived through fighting and starvation in the Syrian civil war and feel intimately connected to the suffering in the Gaza StripAfter 15 months of watching their relatives suffering in Gaza, residents of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus finally breathed a sigh of relief. The war in the besieged Palestinian territory was soon to be over.“Hearing that the fighting will finally stop, it raised our spirits. We don’t have any work or money, but now we have something at least to make us happy, now you hear people laughing in the streets,” said Rbeia Abu Hmeida, 45, a Palestinian refugee who lives in the Yarmouk camp. Continue reading...

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