10 h. ago Steve Witkoff: from property developer to global spotlight as Trump’s tough

His friendship with the president dates back to a late-night encounter in a deli. Now he is a loyal envoy brokering the Gaza ceasefire and peace talks on UkraineWith the first phase of the ceasefire nearing its end, an American property developer has emerged as a key figure in determining whether Gaza attains a more enduring peace or slips back into war.Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s typically idiosyncratic pick as special Middle East envoy, has also found his way into the midst of talks with Russia over Ukraine’s future, sitting opposite Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, instead of the official special envoy for the region, Keith Kellogg. Continue reading...

Politics

17 h. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel says body of Shiri Bibas returned as Hamas releases more hostages

Hamas has released two hostages so far today, with another four to come laterA 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

18 h. 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

19 h. 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

19 h. ago Body of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas returned after Hamas release her remains

Ms Bibas was kidnapped with her sons from Niz Or kibbutz during Hamas's terror attack in October 2023

Politics

20 h. 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

31 h. ago David Lammy describes Hamas’s release of wrong body as ‘sick and abhorrent’

Israeli authorities said what were supposed to be remains of Shiri Bibas were in fact the body of an unidentified woman from Gaza.

Politics

37 h. ago 'Hamas didn't shoot Ariel and Kfir Bibas, they killed them with their bare hands': Israel claims forensic tests show infant hostages were murdered

Israel has blamed Hamas for murdering siblings Ariel an Kfir Bibas 'with their bare hands' after the terrorist group handed over their bodies.

Events

42 h. ago Netanyahu slams 'cruel and malicious violation' of Gaza ceasefire deal over release of body

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed revenge for what he described as a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire agreement after a body that Hamas released as part of the deal was found to not be that of an Israeli mother of two young boys, as the militants had promised

Economics

43 h. ago Israel claims Hamas handed over unidentified body instead of missing mother Shiri Bibas

The Israeli military said Hamas’s actions amounted to a ‘violation of utmost severity’

Politics

44 h. ago Middle East latest: Netanyahu says body Hamas released was that of a Gazan woman, not a hostage

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a body that Hamas militants released during the handover of remains of Israeli hostages is that of a Gazan woman instead of that of Shiri Bibas, the mother of two young boys whose bodies were returned on Thursday

Events

50 h. ago Israeli mum slaughtered with children not among hostages' bodies returned by Hamas in 'serious violation'

Shiri Bibas' body was supposed to be in the caskets released by Hamas but the Israeli Defence Forces have reportedly told the Bibas family that only Ariel, 4, and nine-month-old baby Kfir's remains were positively identified

Events

51 h. ago Fresh hell as Hamas hands over WRONG body to youngest hostages' grieving family: Remains of tiny Kfir Bibas, nine months, and his brother Ariel, 4, are returned

The bodies of Hamas' youngest hostage Kfir Bibas and his brother have been formally identified but the third body returned Israel is not their mother.

Events

65 h. ago Middle East crisis live: remains of four hostages, including mother and two children, returned to Israel

Bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, who Hamas says were killed in an Israeli airstrike, as well as Oded Lifshitz, 83, handed overThe handover of the four bodies from Hamas to the Red Cross is now complete.The vehicles are on their way to Israel, and the crowd in Khan Younis is beginning to disperse. Continue reading...

Events

67 h. ago 'Heart of nation torn' as bodies of mother and two young children first dead hostages returned from Gaza

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu said ‘heart of the entire nation is torn’ as bodies of four hostages returned

Events

67 h. ago Middle East crisis live: Hamas hands bodies of four Israeli hostages, including two children, to Red Cross in Gaza

Bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, who Hamas says were killed in an Israeli airstrike, as well as Oded Lifshitz, 83, handed overThe handover of the four bodies from Hamas to the Red Cross is now complete.The vehicles are on their way to Israel, and the crowd in Khan Younis is beginning to disperse. Continue reading...

Events

68 h. ago Middle East crisis live: Hamas to return bodies of four Israeli hostages, including two children

Bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, who Hamas says were killed in an Israeli airstrike, as well as Oded Lifshitz, 83, to be handed overAhead of today’s release, Hamas said it is ready to release all its remaining hostages in a single exchange if the ceasefire agreement with Israel moves forward to a second phase next month.The offer came as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled his readiness to talk about a second phase of the Gaza ceasefire after an extended delay, by appointing one of his closest advisers, Ron Dermer, a US-born cabinet minister and former ambassador to Washington, to lead the Israeli delegation to the talks.Hamas has said it is ready to release all its remaining hostages in a single exchange if the ceasefire agreement with Israel moves forward to a second phase next month. A senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nunu, told Agence France-Presse “We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one b...

Events

3 d. ago Hamas’s youngest Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas, brother and mother confirmed dead

Shiri Bibas and her children Kfir and Ariel were kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October 2023

Events

3 d. ago Hamas' youngest Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas, his brother and mother are confirmed dead: Families forum shares 'heart

A group representing the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 has tragically confirmed that Kfir Bibas, the terror group's youngest hostage, is dead, along with his brother and mother. 

Events

3 d. ago Hamas offers handover of all hostages to Israel if next phase of ceasefire agreed

Benjamin Netanyahu signals readiness for talks on second phase by appointing adviser Ron Dermer to lead delegationHamas has said it is ready to release all its remaining hostages in a single exchange if the ceasefire agreement with Israel moves forward to a second phase next month.The offer came as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled his readiness to talk about a second phase of the Gaza ceasefire after an extended delay, by appointing one of his closest advisers, Ron Dermer, a US-born cabinet minister and former ambassador to Washington, to lead the Israeli delegation to the talks. Continue reading...

Events