Israel is due to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners over the course of the 42-day initial cease-fire, according to the terms of the agreement, beginning with at least 90 on Sunday in exchange for three Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Israelis say that many of the prisoners are terrorists and murderers. Many…
Putting aside that argument, there are certainly some diplomatic opportunities Mr. Trump can seize, though history and ominous recent warnings suggest that he may soften up his adversaries and his allies with threats of military action if he doesn’t get what he wants. (See: Iran, Greenland, Panama.) Here is a scorecard to keep handy in…
When Hamas militants led a deadly cross-border raid on Oct. 7, 2023, they triggered a war with Israel that has devastated Gaza. They also set off shock waves that have reshaped the Middle East in unexpected ways. Powerful alliances were upended. Long-established “red lines” were crossed. A decades-old dictatorship at the heart of the region…
The Israeli authorities are making preparations to welcome home dozens of hostages held incommunicado by Hamas for over a year in Gaza, without knowing whether they will return starved, traumatized or dead. Thirty-three hostages are supposed to be freed in the first phase of the Gaza cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the first…
The Palestinian militant group Hamas is expected to release the first hostages under a Gaza ceasefire deal on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday, after 15 months of war that demolished the enclave. If successful, the ceasefire would halt fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces that has razed much of heavily…
Jan. 17, 2025, 4:13 a.m. ET President Joe Biden and his advisers struggled for months to negotiate an end to the conflict in Gaza.Credit…Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times President Biden said Thursday that in the days after the war in Gaza began, he pushed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to prevent…
The long-sought, tortuously negotiated Gaza cease-fire deal announced on Wednesday came about in part through a remarkable collaboration between President Biden and President-elect Donald J. Trump, who temporarily put aside mutual animosity to achieve a mutual goal. The two presidents directed their advisers to work together to push Israel and Hamas over the finish line…
Negotiators from Israel and Hamas have agreed to the broad outline of a cease-fire in Gaza, though they have yet to confirm its start date and other technical issues, according to a senior official from one of the mediating countries and two senior Israeli officials. The deal still needs to be formally ratified by the…
After more than 15 months of nearly uninterrupted fighting in Gaza, diplomats trying to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas expressed cautious hope on Tuesday that a deal could finally be within reach. But that optimism was tempered — by the uncertainty of whether both sides would ultimately agree, by what details could still…
Lebanon’s fractured Parliament named Nawaf Salam as prime minister on Monday, handing the country’s political reigns to the prominent diplomat and international jurist as Lebanon emerges from a devastating war and attempts to recover from a dire economic meltdown. Mr. Salam was endorsed by a majority of lawmakers in the country’s 128-seat Parliament on Monday,…