Latest Prisoner exchange News
Hamas official says group would lay down its arms if an independent Palestinian state is established
ISTANBUL (AP) — A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along...
Biden meets 4-year-old Abigail Edan, an American who was held hostage by Hamas
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden met Wednesday with Abigail Edan, the 4-year-old American girl who was held hostage in Gaza for several weeks at the start of the war. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the White House meeting with Abigail and her family...
Israel and Hamas dig in as pressure builds for a cease-fire in Gaza
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday blasted a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza cease-fire that his country's top ally, the United States, chose not to block. He said the resolution had emboldened Hamas and he vowed to press ahead with...
A deal between Israel and Hamas appears to be taking shape. What would it look like?
CAIRO (AP) — Israel and Hamas are inching toward a new deal that would free some of the roughly 130 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a weekslong pause in the war, now in its fifth month. U.S. President Joe Biden says a deal could go into effect as early as Monday,...
The families of a few Israeli hostages don't want a deal to bring them home. They want Hamas crushed
JERUSALEM (AP) — Chants of “Now! Now! Now!” ring out at nearly every protest in Israel imploring the government to do everything possible to win the immediate release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas. But a small group of hostages' families is pushing a different message:...
Blinken says a Hamas-Israel deal is still possible even though the sides remain far apart
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas was still possible, despite the two sides being far apart on the central terms for a deal. Blinken was in the region trying to...
Israel and Hamas are far apart on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage deal. What are the sticking points?
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Hamas are examining proposed terms for a deal meant to bring about a cease-fire in the 4-month-old war in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages still held there and the freeing of many Palestinians from Israeli prisons. The two...
Qatar gets 'positive' response from Hamas on cease-fire plan as group reiterates its broader demands
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Hamas' response to the latest plan for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages was “generally positive,” key mediator Qatar said Tuesday, as the militant group reiterated its demand for an end to the war, something Israel has thus far ruled out. ...
Live updates | Hamas is expected to respond soon to a proposal that includes hostage releases
A senior Hamas official said Friday the group will respond “very soon” to a proposal that includes extended pauses in Gaza fighting and phased exchanges of Hamas-held hostages for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Hamas and other militants in Gaza are holding dozens of hostages,...
Russia and Ukraine swap scores of POWs despite tensions over a plane crash last week
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine have exchanged about 200 prisoners of war each, the countries said Wednesday, despite tensions stemming from last week's crash of a military transport plane that Moscow claimed was carrying Ukrainian POWs and was shot down by Kyiv's forces. ...