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Tag: Ceasefire

  • Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza ministry says

    The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday, while a hospital said that Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the territory’s south.The toll has continued to rise after the latest ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10. Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble.The Health Ministry says the Palestinian toll is now 70,100. The ministry operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and militants taking more than 250 hostages. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.Staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies of the children in southern Gaza, said the brothers, ages 8 and 11, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila.Israel’s military said it killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, “conducted suspicious activities” and approached troops. The statement didn’t mention children. The military said it also killed another person in a separate but similar incident in the south.At least 352 Palestinians have been killed across the territory since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.Israel says its strikes are aimed at militants violating the truce. Both Israel and Hamas have accused the other of violating the deal. Hamas again urged mediators on Saturday to pressure Israel to stop what it called ceasefire violations in Gaza.A U.S. blueprint outlining the future of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than two years of war, is still in the early stages. The plan to secure and govern the territory authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by U.S. President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.Israeli forces have pushed forward on a number of other fronts in the region in recent weeks.Syrian officials said that Israeli forces raided a Syrian village on Friday and opened fire when they were confronted by residents, killing at least 13 people. Israel said it conducted the operation to apprehend suspects of a militant group planning attacks in Israel, and that the militants opened fire at troops, wounding six.Israel also has escalated strikes in Lebanon, saying it’s targeting Hezbollah sites and asserting that the militant group is attempting to rearm.Hezbollah called on Pope Leo XIV to “reject injustice and aggression,” in reference to the near-daily Israeli strikes, despite a ceasefire that ended the 14-month war between the two sides a year ago. The pope is visiting the region on his first foreign trip.In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers were accused by Palestinians of executing two men on Thursday after footage aired by two Arab television stations showed troops shooting the men after they appeared to surrender. The Israeli military said that it was investigating.Israeli settler violence has continued to rise in the West Bank. On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that 10 Palestinians were injured by beatings and live ammunition during settler attacks in Khallet al-Louza village close to Bethlehem.

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip —

    The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday, while a hospital said that Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the territory’s south.

    The toll has continued to rise after the latest ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10. Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble.

    The Health Ministry says the Palestinian toll is now 70,100. The ministry operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

    The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and militants taking more than 250 hostages. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.

    Staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies of the children in southern Gaza, said the brothers, ages 8 and 11, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila.

    Israel’s military said it killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, “conducted suspicious activities” and approached troops. The statement didn’t mention children. The military said it also killed another person in a separate but similar incident in the south.

    At least 352 Palestinians have been killed across the territory since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

    Israel says its strikes are aimed at militants violating the truce. Both Israel and Hamas have accused the other of violating the deal. Hamas again urged mediators on Saturday to pressure Israel to stop what it called ceasefire violations in Gaza.

    A U.S. blueprint outlining the future of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than two years of war, is still in the early stages. The plan to secure and govern the territory authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by U.S. President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

    Israeli forces have pushed forward on a number of other fronts in the region in recent weeks.

    Syrian officials said that Israeli forces raided a Syrian village on Friday and opened fire when they were confronted by residents, killing at least 13 people. Israel said it conducted the operation to apprehend suspects of a militant group planning attacks in Israel, and that the militants opened fire at troops, wounding six.

    Israel also has escalated strikes in Lebanon, saying it’s targeting Hezbollah sites and asserting that the militant group is attempting to rearm.

    Hezbollah called on Pope Leo XIV to “reject injustice and aggression,” in reference to the near-daily Israeli strikes, despite a ceasefire that ended the 14-month war between the two sides a year ago. The pope is visiting the region on his first foreign trip.

    In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers were accused by Palestinians of executing two men on Thursday after footage aired by two Arab television stations showed troops shooting the men after they appeared to surrender. The Israeli military said that it was investigating.

    Israeli settler violence has continued to rise in the West Bank. On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that 10 Palestinians were injured by beatings and live ammunition during settler attacks in Khallet al-Louza village close to Bethlehem.

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  • Israel identifies the latest remains returned from Gaza as hostage Dror Or

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel had identified the latest remains returned from Gaza as hostage Dror Or.That leaves the bodies of two hostages in Gaza as the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement nears a conclusion.Palestinian militants released Or’s remains Tuesday.Israel has agreed to release 15 Palestinian bodies for each hostage returned.Dror Or was killed by Islamic Jihad militants who overran his home in Kibbutz Beeri on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s military said. His wife, Yonat Or, was also killed in the attack.That day, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people across southern Israel and abducted 251 to Gaza. Kibbutz Beeri was one of the hardest-hit farming communities in that attack that started the war in Gaza.Two of Or’s children, Alma and Noam, were abducted by the militants on Oct. 7 and released in a hostage deal in November 2023.Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals. The remains of two — one Israeli and one Thai national— are still in Gaza.Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 69,700 Palestinians have been killed and 170,800 injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive. The toll has increased during the ceasefire, both from new Israeli strikes and from the recovery and identification of bodies of people killed earlier in the war.The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures, but has said women and children make up a majority of those killed. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel had identified the latest remains returned from Gaza as hostage Dror Or.

    That leaves the bodies of two hostages in Gaza as the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement nears a conclusion.

    Palestinian militants released Or’s remains Tuesday.

    Israel has agreed to release 15 Palestinian bodies for each hostage returned.

    Dror Or was killed by Islamic Jihad militants who overran his home in Kibbutz Beeri on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s military said. His wife, Yonat Or, was also killed in the attack.

    That day, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people across southern Israel and abducted 251 to Gaza. Kibbutz Beeri was one of the hardest-hit farming communities in that attack that started the war in Gaza.

    Two of Or’s children, Alma and Noam, were abducted by the militants on Oct. 7 and released in a hostage deal in November 2023.

    Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals. The remains of two — one Israeli and one Thai national— are still in Gaza.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 69,700 Palestinians have been killed and 170,800 injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive. The toll has increased during the ceasefire, both from new Israeli strikes and from the recovery and identification of bodies of people killed earlier in the war.

    The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures, but has said women and children make up a majority of those killed. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

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  • Opinion | Can Trump Deliver Putin?

    The hysterics will get hysterical all over again when it turns out peace isn’t nigh.

    Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

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  • IDF ‘increasing attacks’: UN says 127 civilians killed by Israel in Lebanon since ceasefire

    The UN human rights office said that at least 127 civilians had been killed in Lebanon in strikes by the Israeli military since the ceasefire’s implementation.

    Following a series of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the UN and Lebanese Health Ministry on Tuesday reported casualty estimates for those wounded and killed in the country since the implementation of the ceasefire between Israel and the terror group nearly a year ago.

    The UN human rights office said that at least 127 civilians had been killed in Lebanon in strikes by the Israeli military since the ceasefire’s implementation, and called for an investigation into the matter and for the truce to be respected.

    “Almost a year since the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel was agreed, we continue to witness increasing attacks by the Israeli military, resulting in the killing of civilians and destruction of civilian objects in Lebanon, coupled with alarming threats of a wider, intensified offensive,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said at a Geneva press briefing.

    He said the number included deaths the UN had verified using its own strict methodology, but that the actual level could be higher.

    Women Hezbollah members mourning during the funeral procession on November 24, 2025 in Beirut, Lebanon. Hezbollah confirmed that its top military commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai was killed yesterday in an Israeli air strike on Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. (credit: Adri Salido/Getty Images)

    Lebanese Health Ministry reports 331 ‘martyrs’ since ceasefire start

    Earlier on Tuesday, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that 331 “martyrs” had been killed since the start of the ceasefire and that another 945 had been wounded.

    The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

    The reports come two days after Israel killed Hezbollah military commander Ali Tabatabai in a strike in Beirut. Four additional Hezbollah terrorists were killed along with him.

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  • Russia keeping

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that the suggested legal recognition of Russian sovereignty over captured territory in the east of his country remained a “main problem” in negotiations as President Trump pushes for a deal to end Moscow’s nearly-four-year war on Ukraine.

    Ukrainian and American officials met over the weekend in Switzerland to discuss a 28-point proposal floated last week by the White House. They discussed the possibility of Zelenskyy visiting the U.S. this week as part of Mr. Trump’s bid to get an agreement by Thanksgiving, CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reported, citing multiple U.S. and Ukrainian officials familiar with the discussions. 

    Mr. Trump has described the Thanksgiving deadline as flexible, and he told reporters Saturday that the plan presented last week was “not my final” proposal. 

    President Zelenskyy addressed the Swedish Parliament on Monday morning.

    www.president.gov.ua


    Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Geneva for the weekend talks, said “very, very meaningful” progress was made with the Ukrainian and European delegations, but that “there’s still some work left to do and that’s what our teams are going to be doing right now.”

    Addressing Sweden’s parliament on Monday, Zelenskyy made it clear one of the key points of contention over the U.S. proposal was a call for Ukraine and the global community to formally recognize some portion of the ground Russian forces have occupied by force as no longer Ukrainian.

    “Putin wants legal recognition to what he has stolen, to break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Zelenskyy said. “That’s the main problem. You all understand what that means.”

    Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said there were still “major issues which remain to be resolved” regarding the U.S. peace proposal, though he also welcomed progress made during the high-stakes talks in Geneva.

    Rubio struck a more optimistic tone in describing the weekend talks, saying Sunday that the session in Geneval was “probably the most productive day we have had on this issue” since President Trump came back into office for his second term in January.  

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    Ukrainian officials say four people died and 13 were injured in an overnight drone attack on Kharkiv. The attacks come as U.S.-Ukraine peace talks continue.

    Ukrainian State Emergency Service


    Rubio stressed that there was more work to do and said he didn’t want to “declare victory or finality.” 

    The top U.S. diplomat was pressed by reporters but would not offer any insight into which issues were the main sticking points in the peace talks. He called the proposal a “living, breathing document” and said he believed the issues that remained unsettled were “not insurmountable.”

    The White House said in a statement Sunday night that U.S. and Ukrainian officials “drafted an updated and refined peace framework” following their discussions, but Russia’s government said Monday that the revisions had not been shared, and that it would reserve judgement.

    Putin said Friday that the U.S. proposal could serve as the basis of a negotiated resolution to what his government has refused to acknowledge as a war, but he warned that if Ukraine turned down the plan, Russian forces would remain on the attack, seizing yet more ground.

    “We are, of course, closely monitoring the media reports that have been pouring in from Geneva over the past few days,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, “but we have not yet received anything official.” 

    “We read a statement that, following the discussions in Geneva, some amendments had been made to the text which we had seen earlier. We will wait. It seems that the dialogue is continuing,” he said, adding that there were no plans for a meeting this week between Russian and U.S. officials on the topic, but that Moscow remained open to dialogue.

    The 28-point plan, which U.S. officials said last week had Mr. Trump’s backing, sparked alarm among America’s European allies for being perceived as too favorable to Russia.

    Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S., Olga Stefanishyna, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday that her country had not agreed to all of the terms in the draft plan, which was leaked to media outlets last week.

    “This plan is not about justice and the truth of this war and the aggression,” Stefanishyna said. “It’s about, you know, ending the war and stopping the military engagement.”

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  • Trump approves 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace plan, but so far, no indication Ukraine is on board

    A senior White House official confirmed to CBS News on Thursday that President Trump has approved a 28-point plan to end the war Russia launched nearly four years ago with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    There was no indication, however, that Ukraine has backed the proposal, which is believed to call for the current battle lines to be frozen where they are — with Russia’s occupying forces in control of a massive portion of eastern Ukraine. Mr. Trump’s endorsement of the plan was first reported by NBC.

    In an interview with Axios on Monday, Kirill Dmitriev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff had written a 28-point peace plan during a face-to-face visit last month in Miami. 

    Just days after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Russian oil and gas in October, Dmitriev traveled to the U.S. to hold previously scheduled talks with Witkoff in an effort to continue to make progress on a proposal to end the war, as a senior U.S. official described it at the time. 

    The White House official who spoke with CBS News’ Nancy Cordes on Thursday said Witkoff had been working on the proposal quietly for about a month, consulting with both the Russians and Ukrainians to take their feedback into account.

    The plan calls for Ukraine to abandon territory, give up some weapons and shrink its army, and while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that the war must end, he reiterated that from Kyiv’s perspective, “there can be no reward for waging war.”

    Speaking with Cordes on Wednesday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said he didn’t have any announcements to share about a peace plan, but he added that it was an issue “the president has continued to put at the forefront of our foreign policy goal.”

    Ukrainian rescue personnel operate at the site of a heavily damaged residential building following Russian strikes on the city of Ternopil, in western Ukraine, Nov. 19, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP/Getty


    Amid the U.S. diplomatic efforts — which include a visit to Kyiv this week by a delegation led by the U.S. Army secretary — Russian missiles have continued to pummel Ukraine.

    Rescuers were still searching on Thursday for victims of a devastating Russian strike on an apartment building in the western city of Ternopil that killed at least 26 people, including three children, according to Ukrainian authorities.

    Shrieking Russian missiles slammed into the building on Wednesday, burning at least 19 people to death in the apartments.

    The strike came just as the Army secretary Dan Driscoll arrived in the Ukrainian capital, one day after the U.S. greenlit a $100 million package to upgrade Ukraine’s Patriot missile-interceptor systems.

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  • Opinion | Trump Changed the Stakes in the Middle East

    In the 77 years since the formation of the Jewish state, and for the 2,000 years since the destruction of the Second Temple, the West has understood peace in the Middle East—peace between Arabs and Jews—as impossible.

    Semantically, the “Peace Process” was the continuing enjoyment of a process which could be ended only by peace. What, then, have the West, the world and the United Nations been doing in regard to the Mideast since 1948?

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    David Mamet

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  • Israel says Gaza ceasefire back on after dozens of Palestinians killed in airstrikes

    The Israeli military said it had “begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire” in Gaza after carrying out airstrikes that it said hit “dozens of terror targets and terrorists” in the Palestinian territory. The flare-up of violence on Tuesday sparked fears that the U.S.-brokered peace deal between Israel and Hamas could crumble. 

    At least 104 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s strikes, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

    The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that it would “continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it.”

    An Israeli military source said Tuesday that IDF forces had been operating in Rafah, southern Gaza, to dismantle tunnels when enemy fire was directed at a structure and an engineering vehicle, killing Master Sergeant (Res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum.

    Shortly after, anti-tank missiles were fired at a separate armored vehicle and troops in the area, the Israeli military source said.

    Hamas denied any involvement in the shooting.

    Relatives of Palestinians, including children, said to have been killed in Israeli strikes on central Gaza, mourn as they carry the bodies from the al-Shifa Hospital for burial in Gaza City, Oct. 29, 2025.

    Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu/Getty


    Later Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered Israel’s military to conduct “powerful strikes” in Gaza in response to ceasefire violations by Hamas. 

    In response, Hamas said it would delay the return of the remains of another hostage that had been expected to take place on Tuesday.

    President Trump, who is on a trip to Asia, said Israel was justified in carrying out the strikes against Hamas, telling reporters on Wednesday: “As I understand it, they [Hamas] took out an Israeli soldier, so the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back.”

    “Nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire, Mr. Trump added. “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”

    On Wednesday, Hamas accused the Israeli military of committing “a large-scale massacre” overnight, “despite the agreement to halt the war.”

    Israel’s strikes “reflect a clear lack of respect by the occupation government toward the mediators and guarantor states, which have failed to stop the occupation from continuing its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement.

    Mohammed Hasan Abu Daqa, a Palestinian in Khan Younis, told CBS News’ team in Gaza that he believed Israel had breached the truce.

    “We call on the Arab nations, on world leaders, on the International community to stand with the people of Gaza,” Abu Daqa said. “The people of Gaza are searching for food. They are searching for water. They are searching for freedom. They are asking for the crossings to be opened and for a decent life like everyone else.”

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  • Vance says if Hamas doesn’t cooperate in ceasefire, it will be “obliterated”

    Vice President JD Vance and U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are in Israel to bolster the Gaza ceasefire. During an address on Tuesday, Vance doubled down on President Trump’s threats against Hamas if they do not cooperate. CBS News’ Imtiaz Tyab has more details.

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  • Opinion | A Mamdani Mayoralty Threatens New York’s Jews

    By propagating lies about ‘occupation,’ ‘apartheid’ and ‘genocide,’ he helps promote antisemitism.

    Elisha Wiesel

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  • As Vance arrives to bolster the Gaza ceasefire, how committed are Hamas and Netanyahu to peace?

    Vice President JD Vance, as well as President Trump’s negotiating team — his son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff — were all in Israel on Tuesday, trying to shore up the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. Before he left for Israel, Vance said bumps in the road to peace were expected.

    “There are gonna be fits and starts,” Vance told reporters. “Hamas is gonna fire on Israel, Israel’s gonna have to respond, of course.”

    Hamas has denied responsibility for an alleged RPG attack that killed two Israeli soldiers over the weekend. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that it was a Hamas attack, and that the Israeli military responded to the alleged ceasefire violation by dropping almost 169 tons of bombs in Gaza.

    “One of our hands holds a weapon, the other hand is stretched out for peace,” Netanyahu told lawmakers on Monday. “You make peace with the strong, not the weak. Today Israel is stronger than ever before.”

    The Israeli strikes killed at least 45 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory.

    President Trump warned Hamas on Monday against breaching the deal that took months to negotiate.

    “They’re gonna behave, they’re gonna be nice,” he said. “And if they’re not, we’re gonna go and eradicate them if we have to.”

    Kushner and Witkoff met Monday with Netanyahu, and the Israeli leader’s office said Vance would also meet him this week. The vice president and second lady Usha Vance were greeted upon their arrival Tuesday by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Israel’s Minister of Justice Yariv Levin.

    U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives at Ben Gurion airport, Oct. 21, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

    Nathan Howard/Pool/Getty


    Vance was scheduled to have a working lunch with Witkoff and Kushner on Tuesday before his meeting with Netanyahu.

    The peace process has taken incremental steps forward despite the weekend violence, with Israel returning the remains of 15 Palestinians to Gaza on Tuesday following the handover by Hamas on Monday evening of the body of another deceased hostage. As part of the peace deal, a total of 165 Palestinians’ bodies have now been returned to Gaza, many of them former detainees, while all 20 living Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas, along with the remains of 13 deceased captives.

    But despite those steps, the long-term viability of Mr. Trump’s peace plan, which he’s said will end nearly eight decades of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians, remains less certain.

    Ex-Israeli official casts doubt on prospects for Trump’s peace plan

    Some Israelis remain skeptical that the Israeli prime minister is genuinely interested in a lasting peace. Among them is fierce Netanyahu critic Alon Pinkas, who served as an advisor to four Israeli foreign ministers.

    He told CBS News that Netanyahu signed the peace deal brokered by Mr. Trump, but never really backed its core purpose, or Mr. Trump’s stated goal of securing an enduring peace in the heart of the Middle East.

    “This was an agreement he was bullied into,” Pinkas said. “This is an agreement he signed under duress, and now he is developing a new scheme to manipulate Trump.”

    Pinkas credited Mr. Trump for doing “something that his predecessors were disinclined or hesitant to do, and that is exert real pressure” on Israel’s leader.

    “It worked, but it only worked for the first phase,” Pinkas said, referring to the living Israeli hostages being released and the ceasefire coming into effect.

    He said after the weekend’s violence that the deal had been “ostensibly restored, but when Netanyahu says, ‘I’m restoring the ceasefire,’ it’s only because there’s a visit here of the vice president, JD Vance, and because the U.S. sent its envoy.”

    Pinkas said he was certain Israeli forces would resume operations in Gaza within days, noting they remained deployed in about half of the Palestinian territory.

    Israeli soldiers stand next to tanks near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel

    Israeli soldiers stand next to vehicles near the Israel-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Oct. 19, 2025.

    Amir Cohen/REUTERS


    “The hostages are no longer in danger because they were freed, and Hamas was not decisively destroyed, as Mr. Netanyahu promised and boasted and bragged for two years, so I see a serious incentive for Mr. Netanyahu to resume” an offensive against Hamas, Pinkas told CBS News. “Maybe not on a huge scale, given the agreement, but I do see … a local skirmish that becomes a wider flare-up, that then deteriorates or escalates into a full Israeli military operation.”

    Hamas’ top negotiator said Tuesday that the group remained committed to the ceasefire agreement. But President Trump’s peace plan calls for the demilitarization of Gaza, and many analysts, including Pinkas, have doubts that Hamas will willingly hand over all its weapons.

    “That’s probably the biggest flaw in the agreement,” said Pinkas. “The agreement in and of itself is a good agreement, but in order for an agreement like that to work, it requires good faith, good will, and trust. None of these ingredients exist. In fact, both sides have a vested interest in not progressing beyond the ceasefire.”

    “Hamas wants to lure Israel inside [Gaza] into a de-facto occupation, and mount an insurgency and show to the Palestinians that they are the real resistance. And Netanyahu wants to go in because he knows that if everything stops now and there is progress into the next phases, that almost inevitably means that he will be deemed as the guy who failed to defeat Hamas.”

    Pinkas said that while the past two years of war have left Hamas defeated militarily and degraded, “Hamas is not done. Hamas are there, and you see those pictures every day. You show them on CBS — Hamas gangs walking around in battle fatigues, armed. That’s not going to cut it politically for Mr. Netanyahu.”

    Red Cross receives bodies of hostages from Hamas as part of Gaza ceasefire swap

    An armed Hamas militant stands guard as a Red Cross vehicle arrives to receive the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, in Gaza City, Oct. 14, 2025.

    Dawoud Abu Alkas/REUTERS


    Speaking in a recent interview with CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil, Netanyahu said his government had agreed “to give peace a chance,” but he noted that the conditions of Mr. Trump’s 20-point peace plan “are very clear — it’s not only that we get the hostages out without getting our military out, but that we would subsequently have both demilitarization and disarmament. They’re not the same thing. First Hamas has to give up its arms. And second, you want to make sure that there are no weapons factories inside Gaza. There’s no smuggling of weapons into Gaza.”

    “We also agreed: Okay, let’s get the first part done. Now let’s give a chance to do the second part peacefully, which is my hope,” the Israeli leader told CBS News.

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  • As Israel-Hamas clashes test Trump’s Gaza peace deal, Vance, Witkoff and Kushner all head to region

    The fragile peace deal President Trump spearheaded between Israel and Hamas in Gaza appeared on Monday to have survived serious threats over the weekend. The top U.S. officials who helped negotiate the ceasefire and hostage release agreement — senior envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — were back in Israel on Monday to help ensure it does not unravel.

    Israel struck multiple targets inside Gaza after a deadly attack on Israeli soldiers. Hamas has rejected Israel’s claim that it was involved in that attack.

    On Monday, the skies over Gaza were quiet again in the wake of the gravest threat since the ceasefire there came into effect on Oct. 10. Hamas and Israel accused each other of violating the terms of Mr. Trump’s peace plan over the weekend, but both sides recommitted to the process on Monday.

    For a couple tense days, however, war was back in Gaza. Local health officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory said 45 people were killed in Israeli strikes. The Israel Defense Forces said, meanwhile, that two soldiers were killed when Hamas operatives opened fire with an RPG.

    Israeli soldiers stand next to vehicles near the Israel-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Oct. 19, 2025.

    Amir Cohen/REUTERS


    As mediators raced to get the peace process back on track, President Trump said the situation would be “handled toughly, but properly,” and added that in his view, the ceasefire remained in effect.

    Over the weekend, Palestinian families had come out to enjoy a quiet moment at a seaside café in Gaza, when cameras captured the moment that an Israeli strike shattered the peace.

    Many feared the blood-soaked scenes left in the wake of the explosions were a sign that two years of relentless violence had resumed after just a week.

    “We were drinking tea,” said Salih Salman, “when suddenly people were bombed.”

    PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-GAZA

    Smoke billows following an Israeli strike that targeted a building in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip, Oct. 19, 2025.

    EYAD BABA/AFP/Getty


    Once again Gaza’s crippled hospitals filled up with dozens of injured in the wake of 1multiple Israeli strikes.

    The IDF said it was targeting Hamas forces responsible for ceasefire violations, and it provided video purportedly showing armed Hamas fighters moving toward Israeli troops.

    A media center in central Gaza was among the locations bombed, with the strike killing a cameraman and an engineer, and wounding three other people.

    “We are all journalists here,” protested Ajeb Mohamed at the scene. “No-one else can even enter here.”

    More than 220 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the war started, according to the international advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.

    Amid the renewed fighting and accusations over the weekend, an Israeli official said all humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza would be suspended. On Monday, however, COGAT, the Israeli government agency that handles affairs in the Palestinian territories, told CBS News that the Kerem Shalom border crossing was open for aid to transit.

    The United Nations and a number of humanitarian aid agencies have called repeatedly since the ceasefire came into effect for Israel to open all of the border crossings into Gaza to allow far more food, water, medicine, building materials and other essential items in.

    The ingress of aid — which under the U.S. peace plan should be maximized under the ceasefire — is likely to be among the key issues as Witkoff and Kushner meet with Israeli officials this week to ensure the process stays on track. Vice President JD Vance is also due in Israel this week, and set to meet with Netanyahu.

    Netanyahu met Monday with Witkoff and Kushner to discuss “developments and updates in the region,” Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu’s office said Monday. 



    Kushner, Witkoff reveal key moments that led to the Israel-Hamas deal

    14:12

    She added that Vance and his wife were also expected in the country “for a few days and will be meeting with the prime minister,” but neither she nor the White House have confirmed the Vances’ arrival date.

    Witkoff and Kushner were entrusted by Mr. Trump to broker the peace deal, and in an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, they said an apology phone call from Netanyahu to Qatar’s leader, about unprecedented airstrikes on the U.S. ally’s capital, Doha, and a moment of personal connection between Witkoff and Hamas’ top negotiator marked two key turning points that led to the ceasefire. 

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  • Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff’s extended 60 Minutes interview

    After the Israel-Hamas deal was signed earlier this month, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoys and the leading brokers of the agreement, sat down with Lesley Stahl to discuss their unconventional deal-driven approach.

    Editor’s note: The video above is an extended version of the interview that was broadcast on 60 Minutes on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
    This extended version was condensed for clarity.

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  • Israel says transfer of aid into Gaza is halted ‘until further notice’ as ceasefire faces major test

    The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faced its first major test Sunday as an Israeli security official said the transfer of aid into the territory is halted “until further notice” after a Hamas ceasefire violation, and Israeli forces launched a wave of strikes.The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement on the halt in aid, which is occurring a little over a week since the start of the U.S.-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war.Israel’s military earlier Sunday said its troops came under fire from Hamas militants in southern Gaza. Health officials said at least 19 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza.Israel’s military said it had struck dozens of what it called Hamas targets.A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said “round-the-clock” contacts were underway to de-escalate the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the military to take “strong action” against any ceasefire violations but didn’t threaten to return to war.Israel’s military said militants fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled according to the agreed-upon ceasefire lines. No injuries were reported. The military said Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery.Hamas, which continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months and “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.”Shortly before sunset, Israel’s military said it had begun a series of airstrikes in southern Gaza against what it called Hamas targets. It also said its forces struck “terrorists” approaching troops in Beit Lahiya in the north.Strikes in GazaAn Israeli airstrike killed at least six Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials said. The strike hit a makeshift coffeehouse on the coastal side of the town of Zawaida, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.Another Israeli strike killed at least two people close to the Al-Ahly soccer club in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the ministry said. The strike hit a tent and wounded eight others, said Awda hospital, which received the casualties.A third strike hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis in the south, killing at least one person, according to Nasser hospital.An Israeli military official told journalists there had been three incidents Sunday, two in southern Gaza and one in the north, and noted that the update was partial for now.More bodies of hostages identifiedIsrael identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight.Netanyahu’s office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker from Kibbutz Be’eri.Both were believed to have been killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Engel’s wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.Hamas in the past week has handed over the remains of 12 hostages.Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that it had found the body of a hostage and would return it on Sunday “if circumstances in the field” allowed. It warned that any escalation by Israel would hamper search efforts.Israel on Saturday said the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed “until further notice” and its reopening would depend on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.Hamas says the devastation and Israeli military control of certain areas of Gaza have slowed the handover. Israel believes Hamas has access to more bodies than it has returned.Israel has released 150 bodies of Palestinians back to Gaza, including 15 on Sunday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has neither identified the bodies nor said how they died. The ministry has posted photos of bodies on its website to help families attempting to locate loved ones. The bodies were decomposed and blackened. and some were missing limbs and teeth.Only 25 bodies have been identified, the Health Ministry said.After Israel and Hamas exchanged 20 living hostages for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the handover of remains is a major issue in the first stage of the ceasefire. A major scale-up of humanitarian aid, including the opening of the Rafah crossing, for people entering or leaving Gaza, is the other central issue.Ceasefire’s second phaseHamas said talks with mediators to start the ceasefire’s second phase have begun.The next stages of the ceasefire are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesman, said late Saturday that the second phase of negotiations “requires national consensus.” He said Hamas has begun discussions to “solidify its positions,” without giving details.According to the U.S. plan, the negotiations will include disarming Hamas and the establishment of an internationally backed authority to run Gaza.Kassem reiterated that the group won’t be part of the ruling authority in a postwar Gaza. He called for the prompt establishment of a body of Palestinian technocrats to run day-to-day affairs.For now, “government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous, and this will continue until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions,” he said.Rafah border crossingThe Rafah crossing was the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.On Sunday, the Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For those who want to leave Gaza, Palestinian Embassy staff from Cairo will be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents that allow entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wish to enter Gaza will need to apply at the embassy.The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack that sparked the war.___Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.

    TEL AVIV, Israel —

    The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faced its first major test Sunday as an Israeli security official said the transfer of aid into the territory is halted “until further notice” after a Hamas ceasefire violation, and Israeli forces launched a wave of strikes.

    The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement on the halt in aid, which is occurring a little over a week since the start of the U.S.-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war.

    Israel’s military earlier Sunday said its troops came under fire from Hamas militants in southern Gaza. Health officials said at least 19 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza.

    Israel’s military said it had struck dozens of what it called Hamas targets.

    A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said “round-the-clock” contacts were underway to de-escalate the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the military to take “strong action” against any ceasefire violations but didn’t threaten to return to war.

    Israel’s military said militants fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled according to the agreed-upon ceasefire lines. No injuries were reported. The military said Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery.

    Hamas, which continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months and “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.”

    Shortly before sunset, Israel’s military said it had begun a series of airstrikes in southern Gaza against what it called Hamas targets. It also said its forces struck “terrorists” approaching troops in Beit Lahiya in the north.

    Strikes in Gaza

    An Israeli airstrike killed at least six Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials said. The strike hit a makeshift coffeehouse on the coastal side of the town of Zawaida, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.

    Another Israeli strike killed at least two people close to the Al-Ahly soccer club in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the ministry said. The strike hit a tent and wounded eight others, said Awda hospital, which received the casualties.

    A third strike hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis in the south, killing at least one person, according to Nasser hospital.

    An Israeli military official told journalists there had been three incidents Sunday, two in southern Gaza and one in the north, and noted that the update was partial for now.

    More bodies of hostages identified

    Israel identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight.

    Netanyahu’s office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker from Kibbutz Be’eri.

    Both were believed to have been killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Engel’s wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.

    Hamas in the past week has handed over the remains of 12 hostages.

    Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that it had found the body of a hostage and would return it on Sunday “if circumstances in the field” allowed. It warned that any escalation by Israel would hamper search efforts.

    Israel on Saturday said the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed “until further notice” and its reopening would depend on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.

    Hamas says the devastation and Israeli military control of certain areas of Gaza have slowed the handover. Israel believes Hamas has access to more bodies than it has returned.

    Israel has released 150 bodies of Palestinians back to Gaza, including 15 on Sunday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has neither identified the bodies nor said how they died. The ministry has posted photos of bodies on its website to help families attempting to locate loved ones. The bodies were decomposed and blackened. and some were missing limbs and teeth.

    Only 25 bodies have been identified, the Health Ministry said.

    After Israel and Hamas exchanged 20 living hostages for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the handover of remains is a major issue in the first stage of the ceasefire. A major scale-up of humanitarian aid, including the opening of the Rafah crossing, for people entering or leaving Gaza, is the other central issue.

    Ceasefire’s second phase

    Hamas said talks with mediators to start the ceasefire’s second phase have begun.

    The next stages of the ceasefire are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.

    Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesman, said late Saturday that the second phase of negotiations “requires national consensus.” He said Hamas has begun discussions to “solidify its positions,” without giving details.

    According to the U.S. plan, the negotiations will include disarming Hamas and the establishment of an internationally backed authority to run Gaza.

    Kassem reiterated that the group won’t be part of the ruling authority in a postwar Gaza. He called for the prompt establishment of a body of Palestinian technocrats to run day-to-day affairs.

    For now, “government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous, and this will continue until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions,” he said.

    Rafah border crossing

    The Rafah crossing was the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

    On Sunday, the Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For those who want to leave Gaza, Palestinian Embassy staff from Cairo will be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents that allow entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wish to enter Gaza will need to apply at the embassy.

    The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

    Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

    Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack that sparked the war.

    ___

    Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.

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  • Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar says

    Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It follows more than a week of fighting that has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.Related video above: After historic hostage release, experts say lasting peace for Israel, Gaza is far from certainThe two sides agreed to establish mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, as well as hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari statement said.Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan were in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest crisis between them in several years. The talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.Both governments had sent their defense ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other. Afghanistan denies harboring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilize a region where groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, are trying to resurface.A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers. The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticized the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.””The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.___Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

    Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It follows more than a week of fighting that has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.

    Related video above: After historic hostage release, experts say lasting peace for Israel, Gaza is far from certain

    The two sides agreed to establish mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, as well as hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari statement said.

    Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan were in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest crisis between them in several years. The talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.

    Both governments had sent their defense ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”

    Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other. Afghanistan denies harboring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.

    Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilize a region where groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, are trying to resurface.

    A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.

    Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.

    The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.

    The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.

    But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers. The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.

    On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.

    Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticized the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”

    Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.

    The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.

    Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.

    Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.”

    “The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

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  • As Gaza ceasefire hinges on returning remains, Waltz says U.S. to help find the missing, including Americans

    The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was still holding Thursday despite strains over missing hostages’ remains — including two U.S. nationals — and sporadic violence in the Palestinian enclave since the U.S. peace agreement came into effect almost a week ago.

    Mike Waltz, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday that American personnel would be part of the effort to recover the remains of the 19 hostages that have yet to be turned over.

    Hamas returned the bodies of two more deceased Israeli hostages Wednesday night, bringing the total number returned to nine. But as video continued to emerge showing the staggering scale of destruction in Gaza, the group said it couldn’t hand over any more remains without specialized equipment to find and retrieve the bodies.

    Israeli soldier Capt. Daniel Peretz was among the former hostages laid to rest in solemn ceremonies on Wednesday after his family finally received his body, which was held in Gaza for over two years. Peretz was killed fighting Hamas during the attack on Oct. 7, 2023. For his family, the day brought fresh pain.

    Rabbi Doron Peretz and Shelley Peretz hug next to their daughters during the funeral for Daniel Peretz, an Israeli soldier who was captured on Oct. 7, 2023 and whose remains were returned to Israel this week, at Mount Herzl National Cemetery, Oct. 15, 2025, in Jerusalem.

    Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty/ALEXI ROSENFELN


    “It’s a new truth I have to face,” said his sister Adina Peretz. “It’s proof, proof, that you are really gone.”

    The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents Israeli hostage families, said this week that the peace process should not move forward until all the bodies are returned.

    Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, in a social media post on Monday, called Hamas’ initial handover of only four bodies “a violation of the agreement,” adding that “any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a gross violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly.”

    But senior U.S. advisers speaking to reporters on Wednesday in Washington urged patience, citing the difficulties in retrieving the remains. They said U.S. officials were not at a point where they believed the peace agreement had been violated by either side.

    “Many of the Hamas commanders who are responsible for burying these Israeli hostages are no longer alive,” Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin told CBS News on Wednesday. “They were killed by the Israelis.”

    Given that fact, and the perilous conditions inside the Palestinian territory, where there are unexploded bombs amid the piles of debris, Baskin said “some of the deceased hostages may never be found, and that’s part of the reality, but we have to make sure that Hamas is doing everything possible to do it.”

    A Palestinian woman, Hayam Meqdad, 49, walks on the rubble of her destroyed home, in Gaza City

    Hayam Meqdad, 49, walks on the rubble of her destroyed home amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, Oct. 15, 2025.

    EBRAHIM HAJJAJ/REUTERS


    President Trump weighed in on the matter himself on Wednesday, telling reporters the recovery efforts — which international search and rescue experts are expected to join at some point — were “a gruesome process.”

    “I almost hate to talk about it,” said Mr. Trump. “But they’re digging. They’re actually digging, areas where they’re digging, and they’re finding a lot of bodies. Then they have to separate the bodies.”

    Waltz, President Trump’s former National Security Advisor and the current U.N. ambassador, noted Thursday on Fox News that there were still two American nationals among the deceased hostages in Gaza.

    “We will do everything to get them out,” Walz said, adding that there was “an entire task force” including senior American officials, along with 200 U.S. troops, in the region “to help with this and with the aid facilitation, and the Israelis are absolutely focused on it. So, they need heavy equipment. They need specialized gear. But we have to also understand that if this ceasefire falls apart, the fighting starts, that’s going to make it that much harder to find these loved ones and get them out.”

    The remains of American-Israeli nationals Itay Chen and Omer Neutra, both of whom were members of the Israel Defense Forces, have yet to be returned from Gaza.

    Turkey has offered its assistance in locating and retrieving the remains of the hostages still in Gaza, given the country’s extensive expertise after recent catastrophic earthquakes. No firm plans for such a deployment, from Turkey or any other nation, have been confirmed, but Turkish media said 81 personnel from that country alone could be sent to the region, including ten-person specialist search and rescue units.

    Israel said it would return the bodies of 15 Palestinians in exchange for the remains of every hostage handed back by Hamas as part of the peace deal, and the Red Cross has been transferring remains of Palestinians back to Gaza in recent days. But those returns, too, have been mired in controversy.

    Bodies of Palestinians Returned To Gaza by Israel

    Morgue workers unload the bodies of Palestinians handed over from Israeli custody after they were transported by Red Crescent vehicles to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Oct. 15, 2025. 

    Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty


    “We saw with our own eyes clear signs of torture and execution,” Sameh Hamad, a member of a commission tasked with receiving the bodies at a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told The Associated Press. “Their hands and feet were cuffed, their eyes blindfolded.”

    Hamas said in a statement on Thursday that “horrifying scenes seen on the bodies” handed over by Israel included “signs of torture, mutilation, and field executions.”

    The group called on human rights organizations and the United Nations “to document these atrocious crimes, to open an urgent and comprehensive investigation, and to bring the leaders of the occupation to trial before the competent international courts.”

    Former Israeli hostages have also spoken of torture at the hands of their Hamas captors in Gaza, including Keith Siegel, who was held for over a year.

    He told CBS’ 60 Minutes in March that he witnessed the sexual assault of other hostages by Hamas militants, and that he was personally beaten, psychologically tortured and humiliated by his captors.

    The Israeli military responded Friday to a CBS News request for comment on the allegations that Palestinian prisoners were tortured, saying that it “operates strictly in accordance with international law, in stark contrast to the murderous terror organization Hamas, which slaughtered civilians, desecrated bodies, and even glorified their actions by publishing their atrocities online.”

    The statement added that all of the bodies returned to Gaza thus far were those of “combatants within the Gaza Strip, and not of detainees taken alive to Israel and executed, as mentioned in the article. The IDF did not tie any bodies prior to their release to the Strip.”

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  • Israel-Hamas peace deal may hinge on return of all Israeli hostage remains, but is that possible?

    Israel appeared on Wednesday to be restricting the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza in response to what it says is Hamas’ delay in handing over the remains of 21 other hostages still believed to be in the Palestinian territory. Some people fear that may not be possible.

    An Israeli security official told CBS News on Wednesday that, “contrary to reports, the Rafah Crossing did not open today,” referring to the key portal to Gaza from Egypt, where tons of aid has been stockpiled ready for delivery for weeks. 

    The official said preparations were ongoing for the crossing to open “for the exit and entry of Gazans only,” but not for aid materials. However, the official said an unspecified amount of aid was still being transported into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, “and other crossings after Israeli security inspection.”

    Calls have mounted since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect on Friday for Israel to allow “full aid” into Gaza, as specified under the terms of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

    Israeli officials had said that 600 aid trucks per day would be permitted to enter the territory once the U.S.-brokered peace plan took effect. The Israeli government has not given details on the level of aid traffic it has allowed through since then, but there are reports that only half as many trucks have passed into Gaza each day.

    Both the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the group which represents the hostage families, and Israel’s defense minister have said the entire peace deal should be shelved until all of the hostages’ remains are returned by Hamas.

    A man mourns as he leans on a casket covered with an Israeli flag during a funeral ceremony for Guy Illouz, whose remains were returned to Israel this week, Oct. 15, 2025, in Rishon LeZion, Israel.

    Amir Levy/Getty


    The Israel Defense Forces, in multiple statements about the return of hostages since Friday, has said only that “Hamas is required to make all necessary efforts to return the deceased hostages.”

    Hamas did return several four more sets of remains on Tuesday evening, but the Israeli military said Wednesday that one of them was not one of the missing hostages. 

    That would mean the remains of 21 hostages still lie buried somewhere amid the ruins of Gaza, along with more than 11,000 Gazans who remain missing, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Part of the problem is that many of those who oversaw the burial of the deceased hostages are now dead themselves.

    “Many of the Hamas commanders who are responsible for burying these Israeli hostages are no longer alive,” Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin told CBS News on Wednesday. “They were killed by the Israelis.”

    He said there were still “thousands of Gazans who are unaccounted for, who are believed to be buried underneath the rubble of the buildings Israel bombed,” too.

    During negotiations to seal the Middle East peace deal, Hamas representatives said they did not know the location of all the remains of deceased hostages, according to Israeli media.

    Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Khan Younis

    A truck carrying fuel enters Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, through the Karem Shalom crossing as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Oct. 15, 2025.

    Abed Rahim Khatib/picture alliance/Getty


    On the ground in Gaza, first responders who spent the past two years rushing in to save lives are now searching for the dead. It’s a gargantuan task as the Hamas-run territory’s government estimates that at least 90% of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed — and most of the search teams only have rudimentary tools.

    “They are just digging with their hands,” one man searching for lost loved ones told CBS News’ team Gaza. “We are exhausted from this and don’t have the energy anymore.”

    He is just one of thousands of Gazans trying to find missing relatives.

    “It’s very likely that there might be Israeli bodies underneath the rubble as well,” Baskin told CBS News. “Some of the deceased hostages may never be found, and that’s part of the reality, but we have to make sure that Hamas is doing everything possible to do it.”

    “When I brought this to the attention of [U.S. senior envoy] Mr. Witkoff last night, I told him this is gonna be an issue. The Israelis are already screaming that Hamas is breaching the agreement,” Baskin said. “Witkoff said to me, ‘we will not allow that to happen.’ I know that the Egyptians have taken this very seriously. I understand that there are some Egyptians who entered Gaza today to work with Hamas to try and find the bodies. This has to be resolved, and it has to be resolved quickly.”

    Trump says “we will disarm” Hamas, as group reasserts power 

    The U.S. plan also calls for an interim governing body, headed by President Trump, to administer Gaza for an undefined period before handing over to Palestinian control. But this interim body has yet to be established, and Hamas has already begun to fill the resulting power vacuum.

    CBS News has seen armed members of the group back on the streets of Gaza.

    Red Cross receives bodies of hostages from Hamas as part of Gaza ceasefire swap

    An armed Hamas militant stands guard as a Red Cross vehicle arrives to receive the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, in Gaza City, Oct. 14, 2025.

    Dawoud Abu Alkas/REUTERS


    Videos have emerged, which CBS News has been unable to verify independently, apparently showing Hamas members executing blindfolded Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel, in front of crowds of people. There have also been reports of Hamas attacking rival armed groups and gangs.

    “Hamas is killing them because it can,” Baskin told CBS News. “Israel has empowered, with weapons and money, gangs of Palestinians who were involved in mostly illegal activities in the past … and they’ve empowered them as an alternative to Hamas.”

    President Trump reacted to the videos on Tuesday, saying recently that Hamas “did take out a couple of gangs, that were very bad gangs, very, very bad … and that didn’t bother me much to be honest with you.”

    “But we have told them we want to disarm and they will disarm,” Mr. Trump said. “And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently.”

    Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command, urged Hamas on Wednesday to “immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza — in both Hamas-held parts of Gaza and those secured by the IDF [Israeli military] behind the Yellow Line.”

    “This is an historic opportunity for peace. Hamas should seize it by fully standing down, strictly adhering to President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, and disarming without delay,” Cooper said in a statement shared on social media. “We have conveyed our concerns to the mediators who agreed to work with us to enforce the peace and protect innocent Gaza civilians. We remain highly optimistic for the future of peace in the region.” 

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  • NYC Mayor’s Race: Mamdani offers statement after hours of silence on Israeli hostages’ return while Cuomo, Sliwa applaud their release | amNewYork

    Republican Mayor nominee Curtis Sliwa (left), former Gov. and independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, and Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.

    Photos by Lloyd Mitchell

    Democratic mayoral nominee and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani waited more than 12 hours to address the release of the last remaining living Israeli hostages early on Monday morning — drawing criticism from rival Andrew Cuomo that he remained silent for too long.

    Cuomo, the former governor who is running as an independent, and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa applauded in Monday morning statements the last hostages’ release from Hamas’ custody, which occurred during the early hours of Oct. 13, New York time. Mamdani’s statement came in at 4:21 p.m. Monday; by then, Cuomo had blasted the Democratic candidate in a social media post a short time earlier, charging, “His silence speaks volumes.”

    Mamdani, who is a staunch Israel critic and pro-Palestinian advocate, applauded both the return of the hostages and the end to Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza — which he again referred to as “a genocide” — that the overarching ceasefire deal brought.

    “Today’s scenes of Israelis and Palestinians are profoundly moving: Israeli hostages being freed and families reunited after years of fear, uncertainty, and torture; the first days in Gaza without relentless Israeli bombardment of Palestinians as families return to rubble and loved ones freed from detention,” Mamdani said in a statement. “There is finally a glimmer of hope that this ceasefire will hold and the long, difficult work of reconstruction can begin.”

    Much of Mamdani’s statement focused on holding the Israeli government accountable for the massive toll of death and destruction in Gaza.

    “We have watched as our tax dollars have funded a genocide,” he said. “The moral and human cost will be a lasting stain and requires accountability and real examination of our collective conscience and our government’s policies. The responsibility now lies with those of us who believe in peace to make sure it endures, and that it is just. Once aid is delivered, the wounded are cared for, and a lasting agreement secured, we cannot look away. We must work towards a future built upon justice, one without occupation and apartheid, and for a world where every person can live with safety and dignity.”

    amNewYork asked the Mamdani campaign about the reasons for the delayed statement, and is awaiting a response.

    On Monday, Hamas returned the 20 living hostages and the remains of at least four deceased hostages as part of a ceasefire deal between itself and Israel to bring the 24-month war in Gaza to an end.

    The conflict began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, in which the group killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostages. Israel’s military offensive has since claimed the lives of over 68,000 Palestinians, displaced most of Gaza’s population from their homes, and left most of the coastal enclave in ruins.

    Also, as part of the deal, Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held inside its jails.

    ‘A moral moment’

    While Mamdani focused mostly on the end of the war in Gaza, Cuomo and Sliwa barely mentioned it, instead focusing mostly on the return of the hostages.

    Cuomo cast the event as “a moral moment, a reminder of our shared humanity and the sacred value of every life.”

    “For two long years, families have lived through unimaginable pain, sleepless nights, and endless heartache,” Cuomo said. “Today, their prayers have been answered, as the remaining hostages are finally home in the arms of their loved ones, where they belong.”

    The former governor also urged people not to forget the Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught where Hamas took the hostages, quoting Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor who documented his ordeal in the autobiography “Night” and won the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize for his life’s work advocating against violence, racism, and repression. 

    “Elie Wiesel once said, ‘The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference,’” Cuomo said. “Today, we reject indifference & choose remembrance. And we choose hope: hope that peace is possible.”

    Sliwa expressed similar sentiments in his own statement, in which he also credited President Trump with brokering the ceasefire deal. His praise came despite his rocky relationship with Trump.

    “After two long years, all the living hostages are now safely home! A massive weight has been lifted from their families’ shoulders,” Sliwa said. “The 20 surviving hostages are reunited with families and loved ones after 738 agonizing days in captivity. 7+3+8 = 18, which means Chai, which means “life” in Judaism. A number that embodies life, hope, and blessing. We pray that these hostages coming home can recover and live peacefully again.”

    Ethan Stark-Miller

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  • Key moments from a momentous day for Israelis and Palestinians

    (CNN) — The last 20 living hostages held in Gaza were released on Monday, reuniting with their families in jubilant scenes as world leaders gathered in Egypt to discuss the future of Gaza and the next phases of the US-brokered ceasefire deal.

    For the first time in more than two years, Hamas and its allies are not holding any living hostages in Gaza.

    Meanwhile, 1,718 Palestinian detainees who were being held in Israel without charge were released on Monday and returned to Gaza. Israel also released 250 Palestinians serving long-term sentences.

    Addressing the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on Monday during his trip to the Middle East, US President Donald Trump said the “long and painful nightmare is finally over.”

    “This is a historic dawn of a new Middle East,” Trump told Israeli lawmakers, having earlier projected confidence that the ceasefire deal would hold and that the war in Gaza was over.

    But a number of issues related to the 20-point plan brokered by Trump, alongside Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, remain unresolved.

    Here are some key moments from Monday and where the peace process may go next:

    Hostages freed

    The remaining 20 living hostages were released in two groups on Monday, prompting elation and relief throughout Israel.

    In Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, large crowds cheered, waved flags and chanted “thank you, Trump!” as news of the hostages’ freedom was announced.

    Emotional scenes unfolded at the Re’im military facility in southern Israel, where the released hostages were reunited with their immediate families after more than two years in captivity.

    In footage shared by the Israeli military, 24-year-old Guy Gilboa-Dalal, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, was met by his parents and siblings. His family cried and embraced him in a large hug.

    Omri Miran embraces his father Dani in Re’im, Israel, after his release from captivity on October 13. Credit: Israel Defense Forces / Reuters via CNN Newsource

    Omri Miran, 48, who was kidnapped when Hamas gunmen broke into his family’s home in kibbutz Nahal Oz, was met by his wife Lishay Miran-Lavi and his father Dani Miran. Photos showed him playing with his children for the first time in more than two years.

    “We are at the beginning of a complex and challenging, yet moving, journey of recovery,” Miran’s family said in a statement.

    Under the agreement brokered by the US, Hamas and its allies were meant to release all of the remaining hostages, including 28 dead ones, within 72 hours of the ceasefire being announced.

    Israeli authorities said that Hamas had handed over four coffins said to contain the remains of four deceased hostages to the Red Cross on Monday.

    Later in the day, Israeli police said the coffins had been released into Israel, before being escorted to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for formal identification. Israel has not yet confirmed the identities of the remains being returned.

    Palestinian prisoners released

    Israel released 1,718 Palestinian detainees – detained by its forces in Gaza over the past two years and held without charge – on Monday. The detainees were brought back to Gaza on buses, where they were met by large crowds at Nasser hospital in the southern part of the enclave.

    A freed Palestinian is hugged by a relative in Ramallah, West Bank, after he was released from an Israeli jail on October 13. Credit: Ammar Awad / Reuters via CNN Newsource

    Israel also released 250 Palestinians serving life or long-term prison sentences.

    Some of those released prisoners were taken to the occupied West Bank, where they were hugged by family and friends as they emerged from buses in Ramallah. CNN also witnessed a substantial presence of Palestinian security forces and medics at the scene.

    A further 154 Palestinian prisoners who had been serving long sentences in Israeli jails were deported to Egypt, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society. Israeli authorities had demanded that prisoners convicted of “violent offenses” be deported to third countries rather than be allowed to return to the West Bank or Gaza.

    Trump’s pointed address to Israel

    Trump spoke for more than an hour in the Israeli parliament, taking a victory lap for the ceasefire deal and repeatedly, pointedly telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not restart the war.

    “Israel, with our help, has won all that they can by force of arms. You’ve won. I mean, you’ve won,” Trump said. “Now it’s time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East. It’s about time you were able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

    The US president also warned that more war would diminish Netanyahu’s legacy, adding that he will be remembered for the truce “far more than if you kept this thing going.”

    Netanyahu has previously been accused of prolonging the war in Gaza in order to delay and distract from his corruption cases and domestic political troubles, an accusation he’s rejected.

    World leaders meet in Egypt

    Trump traveled on to Egypt to meet with other world leaders, including the leaders of Qatar, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. They converged on the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where Egypt and the US are co-hosting a summit on the end of the Gaza war and the next phases of a peace plan.

    World leaders took part in a signing ceremony for the Gaza ceasefire deal during the summit.

    Netanyahu said he was invited but did not attend.

    The 20-point ceasefire plan brokered by the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey still has several unresolved issues and details that must be hammered out.

    Those sticking points include how the largely destroyed Gaza Strip will be governed after the war, as well as how Hamas’ disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza will be carried out.

    Next steps of ceasefire plan

    The full withdrawal of the Israeli military is contingent on Hamas’ disarmament, according to the agreement, leaving some wiggle room for Netanyahu to say Israel still has the freedom to resume fighting.

    Hamas’ chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said last week that the group has received guarantees from the US and international mediators confirming that this deal means “the war has ended permanently,” rather than representing a temporary ceasefire. It’s not clear in what form those guarantees came.

    The key unanswered question is what will happen to Hamas, according to Burcu Ozcelik, senior research fellow for Middle East security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British think tank.

    “You have what looks like a pathway to Palestinian statehood … but this, ultimately, is a Palestinian state that does not seem to have any place for Hamas. To what extent Hamas will agree to this and comply with this in the weeks and months to come – I think that is a big question,” Ozcelik told CNN.

    “I think Israel will retain what it sees as its national security imperative to operate in Gaza if it believes that there is a credible threat to its security and its border communities,” Ozcelik said. “But at the same time, there needs to be a governing body in Gaza. There needs to be security and law enforcement. There needs to be basic service delivery and distribution of vital humanitarian aid.”

    She added that other regional actors will be expected to play an important role in the transition, particularly Egypt and Turkey. “I think for the time being, all sides are going to want to be seen as doing all that they can to make Trump’s plan work.”

    CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Ivana Kottasova, Kara Fox, Tim Lister, Abeer Salman and Eyad Kourdi contributed to this report.

    Lauren Kent and CNN

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  • Amid relief of Gaza ceasefire, US Muslim, Jewish groups agree on difficulty of achieving lasting peace – WTOP News

    U.S.-based Jewish and Muslim advocacy groups agree a lot of work remains to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

    All 20 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel are free as part of a ceasefire in Gaza. But halfway around the world, U.S.-based Jewish and Muslim advocacy groups agree a lot of work remains to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.

    Alan Ronkin, regional director of the American Jewish Committee in D.C., said this is a long-awaited relief for the hostages held since Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

    “It’s going to take some time to get them back to be themselves, back to their families, and God willing, achieve some sort of a normal life after being through this absolute hell for the past two years,” Ronkin said.

    Haris Tarin, vice president of policy and programming with the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said “that the Palestinian people will hopefully be able to breathe again, and that the suffering will stop.”

    “The fact that Palestinians in Gaza can actually go back to their homes — even if it’s just rubble — to be able to go back to that rubble,” Tarin said. “So, there is relief, and some room for celebration.”

    Yet with Israel’s insistence that Hamas disarm, the likelihood of a permanent peace in the near future is slim.

    “We don’t have trust in the Netanyahu government to move forward and stick to its side of the deal,” Tarin said. “So, we just hope the Trump administration and the international community will hold the Netanyahu government accountable, to do what it’s supposed to do.”

    Ronkin called recent developments “a potentially historic and pivotal moment in the Middle East — one that could move us toward a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.”

    However, “There are unprecedented challenges in the region, but today is a day of hope and a day to focus on the necessity for the work to come.”

    Tarin said he believes the road to peace is more straightforward.

    “If the occupation leaves, and life is made a little bit more sustainable for the Palestinian people to live side by side with the Israelis, then I think there’s room for lasting peace,” Tarin said. “But, if this peace deal’s just another way to continue the occupation, there’s no road.”

    Ronkin was asked whether each side would have to make sacrifices to reach a lasting peace.

    “Look, peace is always a matter of compromise, and we’re not there yet.”

    “Palestinians also have the right to self-determination and sovereignty, in some way,” Ronkin said. “The idea is, we’ve got to figure out how to do it.”

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    Neal Augenstein

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