Trump sent Witkoff to ensure the ceasefire agreement advances to the second phase, which will require hashing out more thorny questions about Gaza’s future.

Three years of war with Russia and the threat of U.S. support dwindling has many Ukrainians ready for a ceasefire, but they want some guarantees.

Mughrabi, Emily Rose and Maayan Lubell CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinian militants began handing over three Israeli hostages in Gaza on Thursday in return for 110 Palestinian prisoners to be freed in the latest stage of a ceasefire deal.

The ceasefire agreement between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah is in new jeopardy Sunday as various groups slow walk responsibilities under the deal.

Hamas is set to free three more Israeli hostages as well as five Thai captives, and Israel is to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners, in the third such exchange since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning home to northern Gaza on Monday, bracing for what awaits them in a region that has been reduced to rubble by months of brutal bombardment and fighting.

An Israeli military doctor who has been treating hostages recently released by Hamas says they are in poor physical condition and face a long recovery process.

Much of the beleagured city of Goma was calm early Wednesday morning, after a day during which thousands of fleeing people hunkered down by roadsides as missiles flew and injured people streamed to overwhelmed hospitals.

The ceasefire is aimed at eventually ending the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas.

In the ceasefire’s first phase, Israel and Hamas have agreed that 33 Israeli hostages in Gaza will be released in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Israel instructed buses carrying Palestinian detainees slated for release under the Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas to return to prisons, an official involved in the operation told Reuters on Thursday.