4 h. ago Freed Israeli hostage held onto faith to get through months of captivity in Gaza

An Israeli hostage freed in the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas said faith sustained her during her captivity, and she used the few means that were available to her to observe Judaism

Politics

3 d. ago Hamas freed five Israeli hostages under phase one of ceasefire

Hamas has released five Israeli hostages, including Avera Mengistu, who had been held captive in Gaza for over ten years.

Events

3 d. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel says body of Shiri Bibas returned as Hamas begins release of six more hostages

Hamas says six captives to be freed from Gaza in swap for about 600 Palestinian prisoners and detaineesA masked militant has sat down at a table on the stage with a Red Cross representative and they appear to be signing documents.Live images from Rafah are showing masked Hamas fighters taking to the makeshift stage, with one speaking into a microphone. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Hamas hands over first of six Israeli hostages during tense prisoner exchange

Hamas has today handed over two of six Israeli hostages due to be freed from the Gaza Strip, as the body of murdered mother-of-two Shiri Bibas was handed back to her grieving family

Events

3 d. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel says body of Shiri Bibas handed over as Hamas begins release of six more hostages

Hamas says six captives to be freed from Gaza in swap for about 600 Palestinian prisoners and detaineesA masked militant has sat down at a table on the stage with a Red Cross representative and they appear to be signing documents.Live images from Rafah are showing masked Hamas fighters taking to the makeshift stage, with one speaking into a microphone. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel says body of Shiri Bibas handed over as Hamas prepares to release six more hostages

Hamas says six captives expected to be freed from Gaza on Saturday in swap for about 600 Palestinian prisoners and detaineesA convoy of Red Cross vehicles is now heading to a hostage handover site set up by Hamas in Rafah in southern Gaza, the Times of Israel is quoting an Israeli defense official as saying.The Red Cross is expected to receive two hostages there, the report says. According to Al Jazeera, hostages Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu will be freed in Rafah. The other four — Omer Shem-Tov, Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert and Hisham al-Sayed — will be released later in central Gaza’s Nuseirat.On the stage prepared by Hamas in Rafah are the usual placards with messages including “We are the flood” as well as military weapons and equipment the group claims were stolen from the IDF on October 7 2023.One piece is a gun on which the group wrote “Ravshatz,” the Hebrew acronym for the head of a community’s local security team, indicating it was taken from such an individual killed by terr...

Events

6 d. ago Israeli hostage vowed to return to his family – only to find they had been killed

Eli Sharabi learned his wife and daughters had been killed after his release from captivity in Gaza but is ‘mentally strong’, says British brother-in-law“Don’t worry, I will be back. Whatever they do to me, I will be back,” was one of the last things Eli Sharabi told his wife and daughters before he was abducted by Hamas. And when the 52-year-old was freed after 16 months in captivity in Gaza, he was desperate to know if his family were waiting for him.It was only then that he was told that his British wife, Lianne Sharabi, 48, and daughters Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, had been murdered at their home in the Be’eri kibbutz in Israel on 7 October 2023. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Trump’s Gaza takeover won’t happen. But it has already changed the face of Israeli politics | Yair Wallach

The US president’s support for forcibly relocating Palestinians has laid the ground for Netanyahu’s ultimate fantasyWhen President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to Hamas last week to release all hostages by noon on 15 February, warning that otherwise “all hell [will] break loose”, the Israeli right was ecstatic. Here was a chance to finally move ahead with the complete occupation and annihilation of the Gaza Strip. The families of Israeli hostages were petrified about the prospect of the ceasefire collapsing, yet members of the ruling coalition called to kill the deal. “We have international support, give the order!” demanded the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.But the order never came. Hamas abided by the agreement and freed three hostages; Israel then released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Trump shrugged and said that it was Israel’s decision. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, who visited Israel on Sunday, signalled that the direction of travel is not towards resuming h...

Politics

7 d. ago Hamas says it will release the body of Israel's youngest hostage Kfir Bibas and the remains of his brother and mother as well as six living captives under first phase of Gaza ceasefire

The fate of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, has reflected the feeling of helplessness as dozens of hostages remain in Gaza after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack.

Events