Living hostages and Palestinian prisoners are released as part of ceasefire in #Gaza.

All 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel walked free Monday as part of a ceasefire pausing two years of war that decimated the Gaza Strip and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Hamas said Monday it will release the bodies of four of 28 deceased Israeli captives, though it was not immediately clear when the rest would be sent back to Israel. Israel said it has released more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Speaking to parliament, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared he was “committed to this peace,” raising hopes that the ruinous war, which triggered other conflicts in the Middle East, might come to an end. But fundamental questions remain over when and how, whether Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza.

Cheering crowds greeted buses of released prisoners in the West Bank and Gaza, while families and friends of the hostages gathered in a square in Tel Aviv, Israel, cried out with joy and relief as news arrived that the captives were free.

U.S. President Donald Trump flew to the region and addressed the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. He was later to head to Egypt for a summit to discuss the U.S.-proposed deal and postwar plans with other leaders.

Speaking ahead of Trump’s address in the Knesset, Netanyahu pledged that he was “committed to this peace” and he noted that on the Jewish calendar “today ... marks the end of two years of war.”

Despite ceasefire, a long road ahead for Gaza

While major questions remain about the future of Hamas and Gaza, the exchange of hostages and prisoners raised hopes for ending the deadliest war ever between Israel and the militant group. The ceasefire deal calls for a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, parts of which are experiencing famine.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage.

In Israel’s retaliatory offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the dead were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

The toll is expected to grow as bodies are pulled from rubble previously made inaccessible by fighting.

The war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its some 2 million residents. It has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.
Hostages and prisoners released

Tens of thousands of Israelis watched the hostage transfers at public screenings across the country. In Tel Aviv, families and friends of the hostages broke into wild cheers as television channels announced that the first group was in the hands of the Red Cross.

The freed hostages, all men, were later reunited with their families, and footage released by Israeli authorities showed tearful reunions.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank rejoiced as buses carrying dozens of released prisoners from Ofer Prison arrived in Beitunia, near Ramallah. Later, giant crowds were gathered to greet buses carrying other prisoners arriving at Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.

The prisoners include 250 people serving life sentences for convictions in attacks on Israelis, in addition to 1,700 seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge. They will be returned to the West Bank or Gaza or sent into exile.

More than 150 prisoners were sent to Egypt by Israel and arrived at Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt early Monday afternoon, according to an Egyptian official, who had direct knowledge of the deal’s implementation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

The Hostages Family Forum, a grassroots organization representing many of the hostage families, said it was “shocked and dismayed” that so few of the deceased hostages were imminently coming back.

An international task force will work to locate deceased hostages who are not returned within 72 hours, said Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the hostages and the missing.

PM Carney making last-minute trip to Egypt for #Trump peace plan summit.

Carney will join leaders from more than 20 countries in the Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says he will co-chair a “peace summit.”

Heads of government and state will be represented from across the Middle East as well as France, Germany and the U.K.

Media were not notified of Carney’s trip before it had been confirmed through an update to his Sunday itinerary, roughly three hours before his plane was set to depart.

Sunday marked three days of a truce in which aid agencies are preparing to rush in food and medicine for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, just as Israel gradually draws back its soldiers.

Hamas is expected to release roughly 20 living hostages as early as Monday morning, in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Hamas would then release the bodies of about 28 dead Israeli hostages.

Trump brokered the truce, but questions remain over a longer-term ceasefire or whether a detailed peace deal will be reached.

He has said that the Sunday meeting will take a wider look at the Middle East, such as whether rich Arab nations could help finance the reconstruction of Gaza and how to end decades of strife between Israelis and Palestinians and possibly normalizing Israel’s relations with many Arab countries.

— With files from The Associated Press.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2025.

Ghana boat capsize kills 15, mostly children: authorities

Trump sets off for the Mideast to mark a ceasefire deal and urge Arab leaders to seize the moment.

It’s a fragile moment with Israel and Hamas only in the early stages of implementing the first phase of the Trump agreement designed to bring a permanent end to the war sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants.

Trump thinks there is a narrow window to reshape the Mideast and reset long-fraught relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

It is a moment, the Republican president says, that has been helped along by his administration’s support of Israel’s decimation of Iranian proxies, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The White House says momentum is also building because Arab and Muslim states are demonstrating a renewed focus on resolving the broader, decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, in some cases, deepening relations with the United States

“I think you are going to have tremendous success and Gaza is going to be rebuilt,” Trump said Friday. “And you have some very wealthy countries, as you know, over there. It would take a small fraction of their wealth to do that. And I think they want to do it.”
A tenuous point in the agreement

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement calls for the release of the final 48 hostages held by Hamas, including about 20 believed to be alive; the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel; a surge of humanitarian aid to Gaza; and a partial pullback by Israeli forces from Gaza’s main cities.

Israeli troops on Friday finished withdrawing from parts of Gaza, triggering a 72-hour countdown under the deal for Hamas to release the Israeli hostages, potentially while Trump is on the ground there. He said he expected their return to be completed on Monday or Tuesday.

Trump said he will first visit Israel, where he has been invited to address Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, an honor last extended to President George W. Bush during a visit in 2008. Trump then will travel to Egypt, where he and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi will lead a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh with leaders from more than 20 countries to discuss peace in Gaza and the broader Middle East.

It is a tenuous truce and it is unclear whether the sides have reached any agreement on Gaza’s postwar governance, the territory’s reconstruction and Israel’s demand that Hamas disarm. Negotiations over those issues could break down, and Israel has hinted it may resume military operations if its demands are not met.

“I think the chances of (Hamas) disarming themselves, you know, are pretty close to zero,” H.R. McMaster, a national security adviser during Trump’s first term, said at an event hosted by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies on Thursday. He said he thought what probably would happen in the coming months is that the Israeli military “is going to have to destroy them.”

Israel continues to rule over millions of Palestinians without basic rights as settlements expand rapidly across the occupied West Bank. Despite growing international recognition, Palestinian statehood appears exceedingly remote because of Israel’s opposition and actions on the ground,

The war has left Israel isolated internationally and facing allegations of genocide, which it denies. International arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister are in effect, and the United Nations’ highest court is considering allegations of genocide brought by South Africa.

Hamas has been militarily decimated and has given up its only bargaining chip with Israel by releasing the hostages. But the Islamic militant group is still intact and could eventually rebuild if there’s an extended period of calm.

Netanyahu reiterated that Israel would continue with its demilitarization of Hamas after the hostages are returned.

“Hamas agreed to the deal only when it felt that the sword was on its neck — and it is still on its neck,” Netanyahu said Friday as Israel began to pull back its troops.
Trump wants to expand the Abraham Accords

Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble and rebuilding is expected to take years. The territory’s roughly 2 million residents continue to struggle in desperate conditions.

Under the deal, Israel agreed to reopen five border crossings, which will help ease the flow of food and other supplies into Gaza, parts of which are experiencing famine.

Trump is also standing up a U.S.-led civil-military coordination center in Israel to help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into Gaza.

Roughly 200 U.S. troops will be sent to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal as part of a team that includes partner nations, nongovernmental organizations and private-sector players.

The White House has signaled that Trump is looking to quickly return attention to building on a first-term effort known as the Abraham Accords, which forged diplomatic and commercial ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

A permanent agreement in Gaza would help pave the path for Trump to begin talks with Saudi Arabia as well Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, toward normalizing ties with Israel, according to a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.

Such a deal with Saudi Arabia, the most powerful and wealthy Arab state, has the potential to reshape the region and boost Israel’s standing in historic ways.

But brokering such an agreement remains a heavy lift as the kingdom has said it won’t officially recognize Israel before a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Aamer Madhani, Joseph Krauss And Darlene Superville, The Associated Press

Krauss reported from Ottawa, Ontario.

#NEWS: #Russia attacks Ukraine’s power grid as Moscow worries over #US #Tomahawk missiles.

Kyiv regional Gov. Mykola Kalashnyk said two employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK were wounded in Russian strikes on a substation. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said that infrastructure was also targeted in the regions of Donetsk, Odesa and Chernihiv.

“Russia continues its aerial terror against our cities and communities, intensifying strikes on our energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, noting that Russia had launched “more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs” over the past week.

Zelenskyy called for tighter secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. “Sanctions, tariffs, and joint actions against the buyers of Russian oil — those who finance this war — must all remain on the table,” he wrote on X.

He also wrote Sunday he had a “very productive” phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, in which they discussed strengthening Ukraine’s “air defense, resilience, and long-range capabilities,” along with “details related to the energy sector.” Their discussion followed an earlier conversation on Saturday, Zelenskyy said, during which the leaders agreed on Sunday’s topics.

The phone calls came after Zelenskyy said Friday that he was in discussions with U.S. officials about the possible provision of various long-range precision strike weapons, including Tomahawks and more ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.

Trump, who has been frustrated by Russia in his efforts to end the war, said earlier this week that he has “sort of made a decision” on whether to send Tomahawks to Ukraine, without elaborating. A senior Ukrainian delegation is set to visit the U.S. this week.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published Sunday that “the topic of Tomahawks is of extreme concern.”

“Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides,” he told Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also said in comments released Sunday that he doubts the U.S. will provide Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

“I think we need to calm down in this regard. Our friend Donald … sometimes he takes a more forceful approach, and then, his tactic is to let go a little and step back. Therefore, we shouldn’t take this literally, as if it’s going to fly tomorrow,” he told Zarubin, who posted them on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

Ukraine’s energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its all-out invasion more than three years ago.

The latest attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid came after Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings and caused blackouts across the country Friday, which Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko described as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Each year, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the bitter winter season, apparently hoping to erode public morale. Winter temperatures run from late October through March, with January and February the coldest months.

Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that its air defenses intercepted or jammed 103 of 118 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight, while Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had shot down 32 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.

#Palestinians return to ruins and U.S. troops land in #Israel as ceasefire holds.

“Gaza is completely destroyed. I have no idea where we should live or where to go,” said Mahmoud al-Shandoghli as he walked through Gaza City. A boy climbed a shattered building to raise the Palestinian flag.

About 200 U.S. troops arrived in Israel to monitor the ceasefire with Hamas. They will set up a center to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance. The head of the U.S. military’s Central Command said he visited Gaza on Saturday to prepare it.

“This great effort will be achieved with no U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza,” Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement.

An Egyptian official said U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with senior U.S. and Israeli military officials in Gaza on Saturday and that Witkoff stressed the implementation of the ceasefire deal’s first phase. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to reporters.
Tons of desperately needed food

Aid groups urged Israel to reopen more crossings to allow aid into Gaza. A U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet public, said Israel has approved expanded aid deliveries, starting Sunday.

The World Food Program said it was ready to restore 145 food distribution points across the famine-stricken territory, once Israel allows for expanded deliveries. Before Israel sealed off Gaza in March, U.N. agencies provided food at 400 distribution points.

Though the timeline and how the food will enter Gaza remain unclear, the distribution points will allow Palestinians to access food at more locations than they could through the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which had operated four locations since taking over distribution in late May.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid, said more than 500 trucks entered Gaza on Friday, although many crossings remain closed.

Some 170,000 metric tons of food aid have been positioned in neighboring countries awaiting permission from Israel to restart deliveries.
Israel braces for hostages’ return

Israel’s military has said the 48 hostages still in Gaza would be freed Monday. The government believes around 20 remain alive. They were among about 250 hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

“It’s been a few nights that we can’t sleep. We want them back and we feel that everything is just hanging on a thread,” Maayan Eliasi, a Tel Aviv resident, said at a gathering at the city’s Hostages Square.

Israel is to free some 250 Palestinians serving prison sentences, as well as around 1,700 people seized from Gaza the past two years and held without charge. The Israel Prison Service said Saturday that prisoners have been transferred to deportation facilities at Ofer and Ktzi’ot prisons, “awaiting instructions from the political echelon.”
Questions about Gaza’s future

Questions remain on who will govern Gaza after Israeli troops gradually pull back and whether Hamas will disarm, as called for in the ceasefire agreement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who unilaterally ended the previous ceasefire in March, has suggested Israel could resume its offensive if Hamas fails to disarm.

“If it’s achieved the easy way, so be it. If not, it will be achieved the hard way,” Netanyahu said Friday, pledging that the next stage would bring Hamas’ disarmament.

The scale of Gaza’s destruction will become clearer if the truce holds. More than three out of every four buildings have been destroyed, the U.N. said in September -- a volume of debris equivalent to 25 Eiffel Towers, much of it likely toxic.

A February assessment by the European Union and World Bank estimated $49 billion in damage, including $16 billion to housing and $6.3 billion to the health sector.

The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies that couldn’t be retrieved during Israel’s offensive are found.

A manager at northern Gaza’s Shifa Hospital told The Associated Press that 45 bodies pulled from the rubble in Gaza City had arrived over the past 24 hours. The manager, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said the bodies had been missing for several days to two weeks.
New security arrangements

U.S. President Donald Trump’s initial 20-point plan calls for Israel to maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza, along its border with Israel. An international force, comprised largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside Gaza, though the timeline is unclear.

The Israeli military has said it will continue to operate defensively from the roughly 50 per cent of Gaza it still controls after pulling back to agreed-upon lines.

Witkoff told Israeli officials on Friday that the United States would establish a center in Israel to coordinate issues concerning Gaza until there is a permanent government, according to a readout of the meeting by a person who attended it and obtained by the AP. Another official who was not authorized to speak to the media confirmed the readout’s contents.

The readout said no U.S. soldiers will be on the ground in Gaza, but there will be people who report to the U.S. and aircraft might operate over the strip for monitoring.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel in the 2023 attack, killing some 1,200 people.

In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

The war has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.

Abdel Kareem Hana, Sam Metz, Sarah El Deeb And Sam Mednick, The Associated Press

Metz reported from Jerusalem, El Deeb from Beirut and Mednick from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Jon Gambrell in Cairo contributed to this report.

#Hamas official says disarmament ‘out of the question’, Doha, Qatar — Hamas’s disarmament as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza is “out of the question”, a Hamas official told AFP on Saturday.

“The proposed weapons handover is out of the question and not negotiable,” the official said.

The U.S. president has indicated the issue of Hamas surrendering its weapons would be addressed in the second phase of the peace plan.

AFP

#Hamas official says disarmament ‘out of the question’

#Russia wipes out group of foreign mercenaries in Kharkov Region
According to the source, IDs found at the scene confirmed the identities of the three men.

A group of foreign mercenaries fighting for the Ukrainian armed forces consisting of troops from the United States, Poland, and Colombia has been eliminated in the Kharkov Region, Russian security agencies told TASS.

"Today, near Otradnoye, soldiers from the Battlegroup North discovered the bodies of three mercenaries from the Ukrainian army’s foreign legion who had been killed by Russian troops doing a sweep of enemy positions," a source in the agency said.

According to the source, IDs found at the scene confirmed the identities of the three men: William Francis McGrath from the United States, Wilfredo Martinez Almeida from Colombia, and Grzegorz Rafal Wasilewski from Poland.

Woman dies after riding Haunted Mansion at #Disneyland: reports, A woman in her 60s died earlier this week after riding Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion attraction, according to news reports.

An investigation is underway in Anaheim, Calif., KCRA Channel 3 Sacramento reported Thursday.

The Anaheim Police Department confirmed in a statement to Deadline on Wednesday that the woman was “unresponsive” and received CPR from Disneyland security personnel before paramedics brought her to hospital on Monday. According to Deadline, she was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Officials haven’t determined a cause of death. However, Anaheim fire and rescue workers said the woman appears to have died from a medical episode not connected to the ride, according to a CNN video report.

Officials called it “an unfortunate medical episode” and say there’s no indication of any issues with the ride, NBC News reported Wednesday.

The ride opened soon after the incident, according to reports.

The Haunted Mansion is considered a family friendly attraction. It’s described as a “gentle” ride on Disneyland’s website. However, it added that the special effects may scare young children.

With files from CNN