41 m. ago Israel and Hamas agree to Gaza ceasefire in Donald Trump's Middle East peace deal: Live updates

LIVE UPDATES: Follow the latest developments as Israel and Hamas agree to the first phase of Donald Trump's Middle East peace deal with a ceasefire in Gaza set to come into effect.

Politics

50 m. ago What happens next after Israel and Hamas agree ‘first phase’ of Gaza peace deal?

US president Donald Trump announced the deal Wednesday evening, calling it ‘the first steps toward a strong, durable, and everlasting peace’. Bel Trew explains what may come next.

Politics

2 h. ago Trump tells families of Israeli hostages 'they're all coming home Monday' in heartwarming video as he celebrates 'peace in the Middle East'

Donald Trump spoke to the families of Israeli hostages on Wednesday night just hours after he announced a peace deal between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza.

Politics

3 h. ago Gaza ceasefire latest: Trump says ‘first steps’ of peace deal agreed with Israel preparing to receive hostages from Hamas

Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to first stage of ceasefire plan involving release of hostages and partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza

Politics

4 h. ago Gaza latest: Trump says ‘first steps’ of ceasefire deal agreed with Israel preparing to receive hostages from Hamas

Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to first stage of ceasefire plan involving release of hostages and partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza

Politics

7 h. ago Gaza latest: Trump says deal reached for Hamas to release hostages and Israel to withdraw troops as ‘first steps’ toward peace

Trump claims all hostages will be released ‘very soon’ after negotiators ‘sign off’ on plan

Economics

9 h. ago Dramatic moment Trump is interrupted during summit for urgent note on Gaza deal: 'We need you'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has interrupted a summit held by Donald Trump at the White House to hand him an urgent note on the Gaza peace deal.

Politics

11 h. ago Trump says Gaza peace deal ‘very close’ and he may travel to Middle East in days

US president optimistic after US, Qatari and Turkish officials join third day of indirect Israel-Hamas talks in EgyptDonald Trump has said he may travel to the Middle East at the end of the week, adding that negotiations in Egypt to end the two-year war in Gaza were “very close” to reaching a deal.The US president said that he could visit the region on Saturday or Sunday as he hailed talks that could bring “peace for the Middle East”. Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago Trump preparing for Middle East visit as Gaza peace deal 'very close'

Trump said he had just off the phone with officials in the Middle East, where his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner had just joined talks in Egypt.

Politics

11 h. ago Trump says he may travel to Middle East as Gaza deal is ‘very close’

Senior officials from Qatar and Turkey also attend in push for breakthrough over US president’s peace plan

Politics

16 h. ago The Hamas veteran who Israel failed to kill – and is now leading Gaza peace talks

The senior official has led Hamas' delegations in mediated talks with Israel to try to secure a Gaza ceasefire deal

Events

19 h. ago Why Tony Blair just can’t kick the habit of imperial interference in the Middle East | Oliver Eagleton

The Blair-Trump fantasy for postwar Gaza shows the former PM still thinks that free enterprise can solve all the world’s ills“There are two types of politician,” Tony Blair observed in 2012. “Reality creators and reality managers.” While postwar politics was generally a matter of steady management, he claimed, the emerging order called for more creativity, “both in the economy and foreign policy”. Only a particular type of visionary leader was fit for the task.More than a decade later, Blair has now joined forces with the pre-eminent reality-creator, Donald Trump, to draft a hallucinatory 20-point plan for Gaza. It aims to turn the devastated Strip into what seems to resemble a colonial protectorate: cleansed of armed conflict, buzzing with development projects and a “special economic zone” through which foreign capital can flow, and overseen by an international “board of peace” with Trump himself as chair. Continue reading...

Society

22 h. ago The critical difference that means peace is closer than ever in Israel

Negotiators for both sides are in Egypt, with Trump’s plan being treated as a guidebook rather than the finished product. Chief international correspondent Bel Trew has been speaking to officials behind the scenes

Politics

24 h. ago Israel prevents new aid flotilla from reaching Gaza and says activists will be deported

Israel intercepts all nine boats of Freedom Flotilla Coalition in international waters

Politics

38 h. ago ‘We’re the closest we’ve ever been to ending the war’: Inside the Hamas

Hamas and Israeli negotiators are in Egypt, with Trump’s plan being treated like a guidebook rather than the deal itself. Chief international correspondent Bel Trew has been speaking to officials behind the scenes

Events

41 h. ago Netanyahu enrages families after using incorrect hostages figure as poll shows most Israelis want him to quit

Netanyahu incorrectly told an interviewer there were 46 hostages captured by Hamas, rather than 48

Politics

41 h. ago Between bullets and breadlines: Bearing witness to Gaza’s endless war

As the war in Gaza enters its third year, Independent Arabia’s correspondent Ezz Al Din Abu Eisha recounts the challenges of reporting from the frontlines

Events

45 h. ago Two years on from October 7, hostage families hope that a deal can finally bring them home

After months of protests, political chaos and a brutal military campaign in Gaza, hostages kidnapped by Hamas in 2023 still remain in captivity. Their devastated families tell Alex Croft of their pain – and their unwavering hope that a peace deal can finally bring them home

Society

46 h. ago Two years on from 7 October, hostage families hope that a deal can finally bring them home

Hamas militants captured 250 hostages in Israel in the most devastating attack on Israel in its history on 7 October, 2023. Their families tell Alex Croft that they hope a peace deal can finally bring them home - but say for two years they have been ‘collateral damage’

Society

48 h. ago Two years of unprecedented bloodshed in Gaza: ‘Our greatest hope is that this nightmare will end’

Two years on from the brutal Hamas killings of October 7 and Israel’s retaliatory bombings, life in Gaza has been a hellscape of death and famine, report Nedal Hamdouna in Gaza and chief international correspondent Bel Trew

Events