Hamas has freed eight Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners under a last-minute deal to extend their ceasefire in Gaza by another day.

The talks appear to be growing tougher, with Hamas having already freed most of the women and children it kidnapped on October 7.

Seventeen Thai workers released from captivity by the militant Hamas group have been greeted by family and friends, officials and journalists in an emotional homecoming at Bangkok’s international airport.

Israel and Hamas agreed at the last minute on Thursday to extend their ceasefire in Gaza by another day.

It comes as Israel released another group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 16 hostages freed earlier by Hamas in Gaza

Israel has released another group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 16 hostages freed earlier by Hamas in Gaza. A bus carrying some of the Palestinian detainees was seen arriving in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn on Thursday.

Israel has welcomed the release of dozens of hostages in recent days and said it will maintain the truce if Hamas keeps freeing captives

The latest swap of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel got under way on Tuesday evening

The Biden administration has told Israel it must work to avoid “significant further displacement” of Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza if it renews its ground campaign aimed at eradicating the Hamas militant group, US officials said.

A truce between Israel and Hamas has entered a fifth day, with the militant group promising to release more civilian hostages to delay the expected resumption of the war and Israel under pressure to spare Palestinian civilians when the fighting ...

The announcement comes on the final day of a four-day truce between the warring sides, as they were preparing for a fourth exchange of militant-held hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel

International mediators are pressing to extend a ceasefire in Gaza that has halted the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades.

Two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen came near a US warship on Monday after it aided a tanker that had been seized in the Gulf of Aden, the US military said.

Red Cross representatives transferred the hostages out of Gaza late on Sunday. Some were handed over directly to Israel while others left through Egypt

Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank killed at least eight Palestinians in a 24-hour period, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday, as a fragile pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip entered its third day.

An oil tanker linked to Israel has been seized off the coast of Aden, Yemen, by an unknown force, authorities said on Sunday.

The tense ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appeared to be back on track early on Sunday after the release of a second group of militant-held hostages and Palestinians from Israeli prisons, but the swap followed an hours-long delay that underscored ...

Emily Hand had her ninth birthday as a hostage in Gaza, the day before she was reunited with her father, who initially believed she had been killed in the devastating attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel last month.

Hamas militants on Saturday released 17 hostages, including 13 Israelis, from captivity in the Gaza Strip while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage of a four-day ceasefire.

The army said Red Cross representatives transferred the freed hostages to Egypt late on Saturday. They were to be transferred to Israel later in the evening

Hamas has said it was delaying the release of a second group of hostages, claiming that Israel had not complied with the deal’s terms and not delivered enough aid to the besieged enclave. Hamas did not specify the delay’s length.

A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire has come under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an American defence official said.

Hamas is expected to swap more of its hostages for prisoners held by Israel on the second day of a ceasefire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.

The freed Israelis included nine women and four children aged nine and under. They were taken to hospitals in Israel to be reunited with their families

The freed hostages included 13 Israelis, 10 people from Thailand and one from the Philippines, according to Qatar

The freed Israeli hostages included eight women — six in their 70s and 80s — and three children.

After hitting a last-minute snag, the deal – which was brokered by Qatar, the US and Egypt – took effect on Friday, a day later than originally planned

The halt in fighting was scheduled to begin at 7am local time (5am GMT) and is to last at least four days

An agreement for a four-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of Hamas-held hostages and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel appeared to have hit a last-minute snag after a senior Israeli official said it would not take effect until Friday.

The truce announced on Wednesday raised hopes of eventually winding down the war, which was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 rampage into Israel

International aid groups that have lined up thousands of aid lorries for Gaza say they are ready to move quickly to send in food, water and other supplies if a pause in fighting between Hamas and Israel takes hold as hoped on Thursday.

The breakthrough agreement between Israel and Hamas has raised hopes of eventually winding down the war

Both sides will release women and children first, and the supply of humanitarian aid flowing into the besieged territory will be ramped up

Under the deal, Hamas is to free 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip over a four-day period

The Israeli Cabinet was expected to vote on a plan that would halt Israel’s offensive in Gaza for several days in exchange for the release of about 50 hostages

Israel and the Hamas militant group appeared close to a temporary ceasefire deal that could bring the first pause in fighting in a devastating six-week war and result in the release of dozens of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accused Israel of war crimes and acts “tantamount to genocide” in Gaza during a virtual meeting of leaders of developing countries including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping on Tuesday.

Details of any deal, worked out through international mediators, were not immediately known

The Pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV  identified the journalists as correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari

Israeli troops have battled Hamas militants in a packed urban refugee camp as they expanded operations across northern Gaza, where residents have been without electricity, water or access to humanitarian aid for weeks.

Cyprus is ready to “immediately” begin shipping large quantities of humanitarian aid to Gaza in vessels that can navigate shallow water once conditions on the ground allow for it, the president of the east Mediterranean island nation said on Monday.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said Israeli forces struck the hospital, killing at least 12 people. It was not possible to independently confirm the report.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the southern Red Sea and taken its 25 crew members hostage. The moves have raised fears that regional tensions heightened by the war are spilling into the seas.

It comes as scores of other critically wounded patients remained stranded there days after Israeli forces entered the compound