Four female soldiers taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023 by Hamas were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza on Saturday morning, and then transferred to the Israeli military.
The summer home of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad was once off-limits to ordinary Syrians. Now people are lining up to visit and wandering around the rooms — which are empty after being looted.
All four hostages are female Israeli soldiers. They are expected to be released Saturday in accordance with a ceasefire agreement with Israel that's halted fighting in the Gaza war since last weekend.
After the ouster of Syria's longtime leader Bashar al-Assad last month, Israel's military has taken up a new post in the demilitarized buffer zone created in Syria after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Lebanese volunteers are anxious to get back to sea turtle conservation on southern beaches that were off-limits to civilians when fighting escalated between Israel and Hezbollah.
After more than 15 months of relentless Israeli bombardment, Gaza has been left in ruins. If last week's ceasefire holds, rebuilding could take decades, cost tens of billions of dollars and present overwhelming obstacles.
Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal that went into effect this morning.
There are men, women and children on the list of 33 to be released from Gaza. Two are U.S. citizens. Israel is set to free hundreds of prisoners in exchange for them.
The deal was set to be ratified by Israeli Cabinet on Thursday. But Netanyahu says, without specifying, that Hamas has gone back on several parts of the ceasefire agreement at the last minute.
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on a multiphase ceasefire that commits them to end the war in Gaza, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch said.
