DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, mediators announced Wednesday, raising the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies.
The three-phase ceasefire deal promises the release of dozens of hostages held by militants in Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and to allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Gaza to return to what remains of their homes. It would also flood desperately needed humanitarian aid into the territory ravaged by 15 months of war, mediators said.
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President Joe Biden, center, with Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Sec. of State Anthony Blinken, right, speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House on the announcement of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages after more than 15 months of war, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
President Joe Biden, center, with Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Sec. of State Anthony Blinken, right, speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House on the announcement of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages after more than 15 months of war, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians celebrate the imminent announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A boy looks at the bodies of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip as they are brought for burial at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
FILE - Destroyed buildings are seen through the window of an airplane from the U.S. Air Force overflying the Gaza Strip, on March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
FILE - Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and their supporters protest outside of the hotel where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is staying during a visit with Israeli leadership in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
FILE - Palestinian children play next to buildings destroyed by Israeli army strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Demonstrators wave flags and signs during a protest demanding a cease-fire deal and the immediate release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - A Palestinian man mourns a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, on Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - Rockets fired from Gaza and intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system over Israeli skies are seen from Gaza City, on May 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
The prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said the ceasefire would go into effect Sunday and that its success would depend on Israel and Hamas "acting in good faith in order to ensure that this agreement does not collapse.” He spoke in the Qatari capital of Doha, the site of weeks of painstaking negotiations.
U.S. President Joe Biden touted the deal from Washington, saying the ceasefire would stay in place as long as Israel and Hamas remain at the negotiating table over a long-term truce. Biden credited months of “dogged and painstaking American diplomacy” for landing the deal, noting that his administration and President-elect Donald Trump’s team had been “speaking as one” in the latest negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Wednesday that the ceasefire agreement with Hamas was still not complete and final details were being worked out.
An Israeli official familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity said those details center on confirming the list of Palestinian prisoners to be freed. Any agreement must be approved by Netanyahu’s Cabinet.
Netanyahu thanked Trump and Biden for “advancing” the ceasefire agreement, but did not explicitly say whether he has accepted it, saying he would issue a formal response only “after the final details of the agreement, which are currently being worked on, are completed.”
His measured reaction may reflect domestic politics. Netanyahu's governing coalition depends on the support of two hard-line factions whose leaders have threatened to leave the government over the planned release of Palestinian prisoners. Although opposition leaders have vowed to support the ceasefire deal, the loss of his hard-line allies could lead to the collapse of the coalition and trigger early elections.
Early Thursday morning, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement accusing Hamas of backtracking on an earlier understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which prisoners accused of murder would be released. Netanyahu said he told the negotiators to stand firm on the earlier agreement.
Hamas did not immediately respond.
Earlier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on Netanyahu’s government to approve the ceasefire in a nationally televised speech. Hamas said in a statement the ceasefire was “the result of the legendary resilience of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip.”
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. are to meet in Cairo on Thursday for talks on implementing the deal, according to a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Once the first phase of the deal takes effect, it is expected to deliver an initial six-week halt to fighting along with the opening of negotiations on ending the war altogether.
Over those six weeks, 33 of the nearly 100 hostages are to be reunited with their loved ones after months in captivity with no contact with the outside world, though it’s unclear if all are alive.
It remained unclear exactly when and how many displaced Palestinians would be able to return to their homes, and whether the agreement would lead to a complete end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza — key Hamas demands for releasing the remaining captives.
Many longer-term questions about postwar Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction after a brutal conflict that has destabilized the broader Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.
Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack, which killed some 1,200 in Israel and took 250 others hostage. Israel responded with a fierce offensive that has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half of those killed.
More than 100 hostages were freed from Gaza in a weeklong truce in November 2023.
The U.S., along with Egypt and Qatar, have brokered months of indirect talks between the bitter enemies that finally culminated in this latest deal. It comes after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November, after more than a year of conflict linked to the war in Gaza.
U.N. and international relief organizations estimate some 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times. They say tens of thousands of homes have been destroyed and hospitals are barely functioning. Experts have warned that famine may be underway in northern Gaza.
Abed Radwan, a Palestinian father of three, called the ceasefire deal "the best day in my life and the life of the Gaza people. ... Thank God. Thank God.”
Radwan, who has been displaced from the town of Beit Lahiya for over a year and has been sheltering in Gaza City, said he hopes to return and to rebuild his home. As he spoke to AP by phone, his voice was overshadowed by the celebrations of fellow Gazans.
“People are crying here. They don’t believe it’s true," he said.
In Israel, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Israel’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv, calling for a deal to be completed. Many held posters of hostages, others hoisted candles in the air.
As the deal was announced, some people were unaware it had gone through. Sharone Lifschitz, whose father Oded is being held in Gaza, told the AP by phone she was stunned and grateful but won’t believe it until she sees all the hostages come home.
“I’m so desperate to see them, if by some miracle my father has survived,” she said.
The Hostage Families Forum, which has long pressed Israeli leaders to make a deal that would bring the captives home, said it welcomed Wednesday's announcement with joy and relief.
“After 460 days of our family members being held in Hamas tunnels, we are closer than ever to reuniting with our loved ones,” it said in a statement.
Biden, who has provided crucial military aid to Israel but expressed exasperation over civilian deaths in Gaza, announced the outline of the three-phase ceasefire agreement on May 31. The agreement eventually agreed to followed that framework.
He said the first phase would last for six weeks and include a “full and complete ceasefire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, older adults and wounded people, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Humanitarian assistance would surge, with hundreds of trucks entering Gaza each day.
The second and most difficult phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.
Hamas had been demanding assurances of a permanent end to the war and complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza. Israel, meanwhile, has repeatedly said it would not halt the war until it destroys Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.
With Biden’s days in office numbered and Trump set to take over, both sides had been under pressure to agree to a deal.
Trump celebrated the agreement, posting on his Truth Social social media platform: “WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!”
Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said Biden deserves praise for continuing to push the talks. But Trump’s threats to Hamas and his efforts to “cajole” Netanyahu deserve credit as well.
“The ironic reality is that at a time of heightened partisanship even over foreign policy, the deal represents how much more powerful and influential U.S. foreign policy can be when it’s bipartisan,” Panikoff said.
Hezbollah’s acceptance of a ceasefire in Lebanon after it had suffered heavy blows, and the overthrow of President Bashar Assad in Syria, were both major setbacks for Iran and its allies across the region, including Hamas, which was left increasingly isolated.
Israel has come under heavy international criticism, including from its closest ally, the United States, over the civilian toll in Gaza. Israel says it has killed around 17,000 militants — though it has not provided evidence to support the claim. It also blames Hamas for the civilian casualties, accusing it of using schools, hospitals and residential areas for military purposes.
The International Court of Justice is investigating allegations brought by South Africa that Israel has committed genocide. The International Criminal Court, a separate body also based in The Hague, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas commander for war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war.
Israel and the United States have condemned the actions taken by both courts.
Netanyahu also faced great domestic pressure to bring home the hostages. Their families have become a powerful lobbying group with wide public support backed by months of mass protests urging the government to reach a deal with Hamas.
Israeli authorities have already concluded that more than a third of the roughly 100 remaining people held captive are dead, and there are fears that others are no longer alive. A series of videos released by Hamas showing surviving hostages in distress, combined with news that a growing number of abducted Israelis have died, put added pressure on the Israeli leader.
Hamas, a militant group that does not accept Israel’s existence, has come under overwhelming pressure from Israeli military operations, including the invasion of Gaza’s largest cities and towns and the takeover of the border between Gaza and Egypt. Its top leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who was believed to have helped mastermind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, have been killed.
But its fighters have regrouped in some of the hardest-hit areas after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, raising the prospect of a prolonged insurgency if the war continues.
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas’ military and governing capabilities are destroyed. But it has never been clear what that would entail or if it’s even possible, given the group’s deep roots in Palestinian society, its presence in Lebanon and the occupied West Bank, and its exiled leadership.
Both sides still face many difficult and unanswered questions.
As the war winds down, Netanyahu will face growing calls for postwar investigations that could find him at least partially responsible for the security failures of Oct. 7 — the worst in Israel’s history. His far-right governing partners, who opposed a ceasefire deal, could also bring down the coalition and push the country into early elections.
There is still no plan for who will govern Gaza after the war. Israel has said it will work with local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. But it's unclear if such partners exist, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with Israeli forces.
The United States has tried to advance sweeping postwar plans for a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza with Arab and international assistance. As part of those plans, the U.S. hopes Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel in return for U.S. security guarantees and aid in setting up a civilian nuclear program.
But those plans depend on credible progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, something Netanyahu and much of Israel’s political class oppose. Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza as well as the occupied West Bank, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war that the Palestinians want for their future state.
Federman reported from Jerusalem. Magdy reported from Cairo. Fatma Khaled in Cairo, Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington, contributed.
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
President Joe Biden, center, with Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Sec. of State Anthony Blinken, right, speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House on the announcement of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages after more than 15 months of war, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians celebrate the imminent announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A boy looks at the bodies of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip as they are brought for burial at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
FILE - Destroyed buildings are seen through the window of an airplane from the U.S. Air Force overflying the Gaza Strip, on March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
FILE - Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and their supporters protest outside of the hotel where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is staying during a visit with Israeli leadership in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
FILE - Palestinian children play next to buildings destroyed by Israeli army strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Demonstrators wave flags and signs during a protest demanding a cease-fire deal and the immediate release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - A Palestinian man mourns a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, on Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - Rockets fired from Gaza and intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system over Israeli skies are seen from Gaza City, on May 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
Hamas militants on Saturday released four female Israeli soldiers held captive during the brutal 15-month-long war in the Gaza Strip in return for 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israel, in the second exchange since a fragile ceasefire took effect last weekend.
The truce halted the fighting in Gaza for at least six weeks during which dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be freed while more aid flows in.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel wouldn't allow displaced Palestinians to begin returning to northern Gaza, which had been expected to begin by Sunday, because a civilian hostage who was supposed to be released by Hamas hadn't been freed on Saturday. Mediators are trying to resolve the dispute, and it’s not clear when Palestinians will be able to return home.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. The war was sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people.
Here's the latest:
JERUSALEM — Israel's military has confirmed that it won't complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Sunday as outlined in its ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
The deal gave both sides 60 days to remove their forces from southern Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to move in and secure the area. Israel says the Hezbollah militant group and the Lebanese army haven’t met their obligations, while Lebanon accuses the Israeli army of hindering the Lebanese military from taking over.
In a statement Saturday, the Israeli military said the agreement is progressing but in some sectors, “it has been delayed and will take slightly longer.”
It said the withdrawal process will continue “in the near future,” but said that displaced residents from towns in southern Lebanon should not return.
WASHINGTON — The White House welcomed the release of four Israeli captives on Saturday, saying their freedom was secured by President Donald Trump and promising to work with Israel for the release of all remaining hostages.
“Today the world celebrates as President Trump secured the release of four more Israeli hostages who were, for far too long, held against their will by Hamas in horrific conditions," the White House said in a statement.
"The United States will continue with its great partner Israel to push for the release of all remaining hostages and the pursuit of peace throughout the region,” it added.
WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip -- Hundreds of Palestinian families have crowded on the upper edge of southern Gaza, waiting for the Israeli military to allow their return to their homes in the northern half of the coastal enclave.
“I’m waiting, and I’m staying until the morning until they open the road and I return,” said Khalil Abd, from Gaza City. “Open the way for us to return, that’s enough.”
According to the ceasefire deal, the Israeli military had been expected to allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinian to return to northern Gaza through a road that bisects the territory starting Sunday.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pullback was on hold because of delays in the release of an Israeli civilian woman from captivity in Gaza.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — “The people want Hamas,” the crowd chanted as buses carrying dozens of released Palestinian prisoners arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Israel released a total of 200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday in exchange for four young female Israeli soldiers captured in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Around 70 of the prisoners were released into Egypt.
In Ramallah, a crowd of thousands cheered and flashed victory signs as the buses arrived. Gaunt-looking prisoners in gray jumpsuits were hoisted onto people’s shoulders.
Most of the prisoners released Saturday were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah celebrated the arrival of buses carrying dozens of prisoners released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Israel said it released a total of 200 prisoners after Hamas freed four young, female Israeli soldiers.
The prisoners include 120 who were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis. Around 70 were released into Egypt.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military is warning Palestinians in Gaza not to return to northern Gaza.
The army’s Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, published a post on social media telling Palestinians not to approach the east-west Netzarim route, which bisects Gaza.
Israel had been expected to open the route by Sunday as part of the latest stage of the ceasefire. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pullback was on hold because of delays in the release of an Israeli civilian woman from captivity in Gaza.
Mediators say they are trying to resolve the dispute.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The head of a Palestinian prisoner advocacy group says that some of the 70 convicted militants being transferred to Egypt after their release from Israeli prison will ultimately be sent to other Arab countries.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, told The Associated Press that Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey have all expressed willingness to receive some of those required to live in exile according to the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has released a video showing the freed hostages being welcomed at an army base in southern Israel.
Some of the hostages hugged the female soldiers who greeted them. One of them, Liri Albag, 19, smiled, gave two thumbs-up and made a heart shape with her hands before boarding a van.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s president has welcomed home the four female soldiers released from captivity.
“You are heroes,” President Isaac Herzog said in a post on X.
Herzog wished them healthy recoveries, but says the nation “will not rest” until all hostages return.
CAIRO — Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV says Israel has released 70 Palestinian prisoners into Egypt under the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The network says they arrived at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.
Hamas had earlier released four female Israeli soldiers. Israel is expected to release a total of 200 Palestinian prisoners or detainees, many of whom will be sent into exile.
JERUSALEM — Israel says it will not allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza until Arbel Yehoud, one of the dozens of hostages held by Hamas, is released.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Yehoud was supposed to have been released Saturday as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Hamas had earlier released four female Israeli soldiers.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the released hostages are “in our hands” and on their way home.
In a televised statement Saturday, Hagari criticized what he called the “cynical” public display of the young women by Hamas before their release.
He also said that Israel is concerned about the fate of the two youngest hostages — Kfir and Ariel Bibas — and their mother Shiri. Kfir Bibas marked his second birthday in captivity earlier this month.
Hagari says the army is committed to bringing all hostages home.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian authorities have released a list of 200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees expected to be released from Israel in exchange for four female Israeli soldiers held by Hamas in Gaza.
The list includes 120 militants serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. The rest are serving lengthy sentences.
The list shows that 70 of the prisoners will not be allowed to return to their homes in the occupied West Bank or Jerusalem and will be required to live in exile. It’s unclear exactly where they will go.
The more notorious militants being released include Mohammad Odeh, 52, and Wael Qassim, 54, both from east Jerusalem. They were accused of carrying out a series of deadly Hamas attacks against Israelis, including a bombing at a cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2002 that killed nine people, including five U.S. citizens.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Four female soldiers freed from captivity in the Gaza Strip are with Israeli forces, the second such release as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Israel confirmed it had received the freed hostages on Saturday. The truce, which began Sunday, is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
The four Israeli soldiers, Karina Ariev, 20, Daniella Gilboa, 20, Naama Levy, 20, and Liri Albag, 19, were captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.
BEIRUT — The Lebanese army on Saturday said it has been unable to deploy its forces throughout southern Lebanon as laid out in a ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war because of Israel’s “procrastination in withdrawal” from the area.
Under the deal reached in November, Israel is supposed to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by Sunday, after which the Lebanese armed forces would patrol the buffer zone in southern Lebanon alongside U.N. peacekeepers to prevent Hezbollah from reestablishing a military presence there.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Friday that Israel might not withdraw by the deadline, and Washington appears prepared to push for an extension. Netanyahu said the Lebanese government hasn’t yet “fully enforced” the agreement, an apparent reference to the deployment of Lebanese troops.
The Lebanese army statement said “procrastination in the withdrawal by the Israeli enemy complicates the army’s deployment mission.”
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Crowds began to gather in Tel Aviv and Gaza City on Saturday ahead of the expected swap between Israel and Hamas of more hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, a big screen showed the faces of the four female soldiers expected to be released. Some in the growing crowd wore Israeli flags, others held posters with the hostages’ faces.
“I’m extremely excited, exhilarated,” said onlooker Gili Roman. “In a heartbeat, in a split of a second, their lives are going to turn upside again, but right now for a positive and a good side.”
Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd after getting off a bus following their release from an Israeli prison after a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Buses carrying Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Mohammed Aradeh, 42, an Islamic Jihad militant, is greeted after his release from an Israeli prison following a cease fire agreement between Hamas and Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. Aradeh became something of a Palestinian folk hero in 2021 along with five other prisoners after an extraordinary escape from Israel's most secure prison. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Buses carrying Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Palestinians wait with their belongings in central Gaza, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, as the Israeli military is warning Palestinians not to return to northern Gaza. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd after getting off a bus following their release from an Israeli prison after a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Released Palestinian prisoners are carried on the shoulders of supporters as a crowd greets them in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
CORRECTS POSSIBLE IDENTITY OF THE PERSON GESTURING.- A person gestures to the crowd from inside an Israeli helicopter as it lands carrying the four Israeli female soldier released from Gaza, in the Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli staff and military stand next to the military helicopter, carrying the four Israeli female soldier released from Gaza, after landing at the Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
An Israeli military helicopter, carrying the four Israeli female soldier released from Gaza, arrives to the Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
One of the abducted Israeli female soldiers gestures from inside the military helicopter as it lands in the Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli female soldier hostages Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev and Liri Albag, in no particular order, and on a stage in front of a Palestinian crowd before being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)
Israeli female soldier hostages wave and react at a Palestinian crowd before being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)
Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters are deployed in central Gaza City ahead of the planned release of four Israeli female hostages set to be handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)
Relatives and friends of Israeli people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react as they follow the news of the hostages' release, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Relatives and friends of Israeli people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza follow the news of the hostages' release as they gather in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Relatives and friends of Israeli people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react as they follow the news of the hostages' release, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli female soldier hostages wave and react at a Palestinian crowd before being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)
Hamas fighters are deployed in central Gaza City ahead of the planned release of four Israeli female hostages set to be handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)
Relatives and friends of Israeli people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, listen the news of the hostages' release as they gather in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters are deployed in central Gaza City ahead of the planned release of four Israeli female hostages set to be handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)
Relatives and friends of Israeli people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, follows the news of the hostages' release as they gather in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters are deployed in central Gaza City ahead of the planned release of four Israeli female hostages set to be handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)