Dan Rowe was among the volunteers repairing public water systems damaged by Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica in October. A project leader for Veolia North America, Rowe, who helps operate Nassau County‘s water treatment facility in Wantagh, was up for the task, despite the challenges.
Rowe volunteers with Veolia Foundation, whose international mission includes assisting during humanitarian emergencies, providing development aid, strengthening the environment and supporting biodiversity. In Jamaica, Rowe worked with a team that included members of the French Red Cross, as they confronted the threat of disease and dehydration facing the island’s thousands of residents.
Rowe spent three weeks working with improvised equipment, inventing solutions in the field and navigating an international team of people he had never met before.
He said there were many “MacGyver” moments, referring to a TV character who could create a workaround and save the day even during the most dire circumstances.
“I brought along tools that I anticipated would be required but there were field challenges that required a ‘MacGyver’ solution if we were to get the island’s population potable water that would be safe to drink,” he said in a written statement.
“Another challenge was the language barrier,” Rowe said. “Unlike our teams here at Veolia North America where each member knows intuitively what the other person’s skillset is, I was working with people I had never met before, and my French is – to be polite – limited.”
Rowe also had to manage the expectations of his family back on Long Island as he worked to provide access to safe drinking water for Jamaica.
“I was gone far longer than what I expected, essentially working through a solid month with one day off but my family understood the urgency, the mission, and the commitment,” he said.
Screenshot of a video published by Santiago de Cuba Catholic Priest Leandro NaungHung (right) showing the needs of his congregation in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
Leandro NaungHung, You Tube.
After Hurricane Melissa ravaged eastern Cuba last month and left thousands stranded without a home, a number of church groups, private business owners, activists, artists and social media influencers have been traveling to some of the worst-hit areas, recording powerful accounts of the state of abandonment and destitution that make up everyday life in the country’s remote rural areas.
One after another, photos and videos coming out of eastern Cuba show undernourished, men, women and children dressed in rags, often with no shoes and living in makeshift homes. The images reveal not simply the destruction caused by the powerful storm, but the calamitous effects of the economic crisis gripping the country.
“I have nothing to feed my child. He has anemia, he is sick,” Rosa del Carmen Lopez, a resident of Chavaleta, a rural village in Mayarí, in the province of Holguín says in a video shared by Cuban journalist José Luis Tan Estrada. As she complains about what the hurricane did to her home, the camera shows a one-room shack with no bathroom or kitchen, no windows, the sunlight filtering through the gaps in the wooden roof and walls. Clothes are piled on the floor and on a bed she said she had to borrow. As her toddler cries, she said he has scabies because she has no water or soap to wash him with. They will soon need to leave the shack, which is not hers, she said.
“What am I supposed to do?” she asks. “Sleep with this child on the road? I have nothing because they don’t want to help me,” she said, referring to local authorities and a social worker she said she reached out for help with no success.
A video shared by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, a Spain-based non-governmental organization, shows a family with a child with special needs living in similar precarious conditions, in a hut that lost its roof to the storm. The boy’s mother said she receives 2,500 Cuban pesos monthly — about $5 — in government assistance, not enough to cover his medications.
“During the delivery of aid in the provinces affected by the hurricane, we have found families living in truly inhumane conditions,” the Observatory said. “This is not about the effects of the hurricane, but about decades of impoverishment and neglect by the state.”
The organization recently published a survey estimating that 89% of Cuba’s population lives in extreme poverty.
“When we say that 89% of Cuban households live in extreme poverty, it is not just a headline or another statistic; it is the lived reality for millions of Cubans,” the Observatory said.
Long before Melissa hit the island, Cubans across the country have been sharing videos highlighting their deteriorating living conditions.
There are images of residents in the city of Matanzas collecting water from a hole in the street because they said they lack a regular water supply. Many other photos show Havana streets covered in garbage.
There are photos of a group of children sleeping on the street near a luxury hotel in Havana that created such an uproar that authorities responded — not by addressing the levels of homelessness and poverty, as many people on social media suggested, but by charging the parents with neglect.
Bárbara García Jiménez, a Havana resident, says she has not received treatment for her genetic disease in several years. “Here, if you don’t have money, you have nothing,” she told the Miami Herald. Courtesy.
And there’s Barbara García Jiménez showing in a video the tumors covering her body and how she lives with her two children in a decrepit house with the roof on the brink of collapse. In a low voice without looking at the camera, she asks viewers for help “within your means.” Two massive tumors hanging from her buttocks suggest she has not gotten medical attention.
In a video call from Havana, García Jiménez, 36, said she has had no treatment for her genetic condition, neurofibromatosis, in 12 years.
“Here, if you don’t have money, you have nothing,” she said. “Nothing happens if you don’t know someone. At the good hospitals, if you don’t have someone to guide you, you can’t do anything. You go, and they tell you they can’t treat you because they don’t have the resources. “
She lives with her two sons and her grandmother, who all have the same illness. She said she receives 2,600 pesos, about $6, in social assistance.
“That’s not even enough for me to buy a package of chicken, or the medicines I need,” she said. “I made the video because I am in pain. I don’t feel well, and I have no help.”
Alarming poverty levels
The authors of the recent book “The Real Impact of Sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela,” published by Sergio Arboleda University in Colombia, note that policies that began after Fidel Castro handed power to his brother Raúl in 2006, such as the reduction in government assistance and the lack of investment on healthcare and education, have increased inequality, poverty and mortality on the island.
Under the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel, living conditions on the island have sharply worsened. That’s due in part to external factors — including the COVID-19 pandemic, the decrease in subsidies from Venezuela and tightened U.S. sanctions — as well as the chronic inefficiency of a socialist planned economy “that has failed everywhere,” along with poorly designed monetary policies that have fueled skyrocket inflation, prominent Cuban-American economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago wrote in the book.
Central to the crisis is “the inability of the Cuban economy to finance its imports of goods with its own exports due to the fall in domestic production,” he added.
Mesa-Lago, professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, provided an astounding figure in the book: Since the U.S. embargo began in 1961, Cuba has received about $238 billion in Soviet and Venezuelan subsidies, debt forgiveness and money sent from abroad to families in Cuba.
That’s almost 1.8 times the amount of assistance the U.S. provided Western Europe after World War II as part of the massive Marshall Plan, he wrote, and vastly greater than the $20 billion the U.S. gave to Latin America during the two decades the Alliance for Progress launched by President John F. Kennedy was in place.
And still, he added, “Cuba is currently experiencing the worst economic, political and social crisis in its history.”
The Cuban military conglomerate GAESA, which controls large segments of the economy, has played a significant role in the impoverishment of the population, stashing as much as $18 billion in secret bank accounts and directing the country’s foreign currency revenue away from social spending and investments on agriculture and other key areas to build hotels for tourists, reporting by the Miami Herald shows.
As a result, the country’s poorly maintained infrastructure is crumbling all at once, and authorities struggle to provide basic public services. The electrical grid has collapsed several times since last year, and hours-long daily blackout are the new normal.
“We don’t have enough fuel for electricity generation, water supply, hygiene control and proper food distribution,” Díaz-Canel acknowledged in October, blaming “the war without bombs we are facing,” a reference to the U.S. embargo.
He has recently insisted his government’s policies have not made the country a failed state. The proof, he said, is that no one died because of the hurricane thanks to the government’s evacuation orders.
Then, in an unscripted moment during his tour of some of the affected areas, he revealed his government’s inability to provide immediate help to those in need. A woman in the town of Cauto Embarcadero, where many lost their homes and belongings because of the flooding, told him: “We don’t have beds nor mattresses.” A visibly annoyed Díaz-Canel snapped at her: “And I just told you that I don’t have any to give you.”
He then added that she needed to wait for donations.
But the government has been slow delivering donations made by foreign governments and the United Nations, especially to the most remote areas in eastern Cuba, where members of an artists’ group called La Familia Cubana and others have been delivering aid donated by Cubans in Havana and Miami.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2226181714533249
Videos published by those delivering aid from the Catholic Church, the private sector or concerned citizens show some of the poorest people affected by the storm have been sleeping among the rubble inside their destroyed homes, with nowhere to go. Tents usually provided in disaster relief efforts in other countries are conspicuously absent from the images.
In a series of videos posted by Santiago de Cuba priest Leandro Naung Hung, chronicling his visits to small rural villages to distribute aid after the hurricane, there is also little sign of any help other than what he is able to provide: spaghetti, canned food, a few nails to a resident whose shack was hit by a tree during the storm.
Indeed, his videos show few signs of the government’s presence, or of modern life, for that matter, as residents of small communities in Santiago de Cuba provice – El Desierto, San José, Gran Piedra – live without running water, kitchens or toilets in makeshift homes and huts that have not changed much from those Fidel Castro denounced in the 1950s as one of the reasons for his revolution.
A bony old woman living in a hovel that lost its tin roof in the San José community told the priest the hurricane caught her “sleeping.”
“We ate early and went to bed to wait for it,” she said. She told him the government gave her some tiles in 2008 for the roof, then Hurricane Sandy in 2012 destroyed everything.
“From then on, we haven’t been able to rebuild,” she said.
Cuba is ‘bankrupt’
Just days before Hurricane Melissa wrecked eastern Cuba, damaging over 90,000 homes, destroying roads and bringing down the electrical grid and telecommunications, a group of economists gathering in Miami had warned that the island’s economy had hit rock bottom.
Experts gathered at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy at Florida International University presented figures based on official data that illustrate the economic collapse: between 2019 and 2024, the island’s gross domestic product decreased by 11%, agriculture declined by 57% and trade by almost 30%.
“The Cuban economy is bankrupt… and the Cuban authorities are taking measures that do not favor a change in these trends,” said Omar Everleny Pérez, an economist based in Cuba.
The island’s economic collapse is best illustrated by sugar production figures. Cuba, once known for being the main sugar producer in the world, is now forced to import it.
The latest sugar harvest, which began in 2024, produced less than 150,000 tons — the worst in more than 100 years, even smaller than when Cubans fighting the Spanish were burning sugarcane fields during the war for independence in the 19th century. Since 2019, sugar production has collapsed 87%, according to figures based on official data compiled by Pérez.
Crops of Cuban cuisine staples like rice are at a minimum. In 2023, the last figure available, Cuba produced just 57,766 tons of rice, down from over 700,000 in 2003. State companies produced only 42,000 tons of milk in 2023, less than during the “Special Period,” the economic crisis during the 1990s caused by the downfall of the Soviet empire.
The collapse of agricultural production has led to the end of one of the symbols of Castro’s revolution: Food ration cards. “The cards still exist, but you can’t get any products,” Pérez said.
The end of food subsidies have hit pensioners and those dependent on the country’s welfare system the hardest. The government recently raised state monthly pensions to a maximum of 4,000 pesos, about $8.60, at a time when a carton of eggs sells for as much as 3,000 pesos in Havana, according to the National Statistics Office of Cuba.
In 2021 the price of a carton of eggs was 400 pesos, one of the signs that inflation has skyrocketed.
The consumer price index, a measure of inflation, has grown 487% over its 2010 value. That means, for example, that a family of two would need 51,798 pesos monthly, equivalent to $105, to cover food, transportation, clothing, personal care and internet expenses, according to a very conservative estimate presented by Pérez. The average monthly salary of a state worker is 6,685 pesos — about $14 — Cuba’s National Statistics Office said last week.
The crisis has been brewing for years, but the government has resisted any significant reforms out of fear of losing political control.
There was consensus among the economists gathered at FIU that the government needs to urgently enact much needed and overly delayed market-oriented reforms, even if they disagree on how far to go in a transition to capitalism.
And yet, the words “reform” or “change” do not appear in the 92 pages of the “Government program to correct distortions and reboot the economy,” a voluminous plan with more than 700 goals that Cuban authorities published ahead of Hurricane Melissa.
The words “to propose” — more plans, more new measures, more updated policies —appear 55 times in the document that reads at times as a rushed to-do-list written by a government bureaucrat. And yet, there is little actually new in the proposals, many of which have been already floated by the country’s prime minister, Manuel Marrero, including more austerity measures and cutting back the welfare system. Absent in the document is any revamp of the country’s laws to expand the private sector and attract foreign investment, or a sense of urgency to meet some of the population’s most pressing needs.
As is customary, the plan will now undergo several rounds of discussions.
Those affected by Melissa, however, need help immediately.
While delivering aid sent by his followers to those in need in Holguín, Norge Ernesto Díaz Blak, an influencer known as Noly Blak who has long documented extreme poverty in that eastern province, stopped to speak to a distressed, emaciated young mother with four children he found on the street in Cacocún. Her home was destroyed by the hurricane, she told him.
“What do you need?” he is heard asking in a video he posted on his social media account.
“I don’t want anything for me,” she replied. “What I need is food for my children.”
Nora Gámez Torres is the Cuba/U.S.-Latin American policy reporter for el Nuevo Herald and the Miami Herald. She studied journalism and media and communications in Havana and London. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from City, University of London. Her work has won awards by the Florida Society of News Editors and the Society for Professional Journalists.//Nora Gámez Torres estudió periodismo y comunicación en La Habana y Londres. Tiene un doctorado en sociología y desde el 2014 cubre temas cubanos para el Nuevo Herald y el Miami Herald. También reporta sobre la política de Estados Unidos hacia América Latina. Su trabajo ha sido reconocido con premios de Florida Society of News Editors y Society for Profesional Journalists.
If politics makes strange bedfellows, war sometimes makes strange career paths. In her 20s, Iryna Terekh was a “very artsy” architect who viewed the arms industry as “something destructive.” Now Ms. Terekh, 33, is chief technical officer and the public face of Fire Point, a Ukrainian defense company. She and her team developed the Flamingo, a long-range cruise missile that President Volodymyr Zelensky has called “our most successful missile.”
SALEM — The city of Salem’s Food Policy Council and the Salem Children’s Alliance have partnered with the Salem YMCA to make donated grocery store gift cards available for residents who lost their SNAP benefits.
“Thanks to the many generous Salem residents who have already stepped up to donate grocery gift cards to support our neighbors in need during this difficult time,” Mayor Dominick Pangallo said.
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Germany will provide another €52.6 million ($60.8 million) in humanitarian aid to Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on a surprise visit to Damascus on Thursday.
Wadephul was visiting the north-eastern suburb of Harasta, which was largely destroyed during Syria’s civil war that broke out as the regime of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad violently suppressed pro-democracy protests in 2011.
The new funds, €39.4 million of which has been earmarked for Syria, are to go to international humanitarian groups as well as non-governmental organizations working on food security, civil protection, accommodation and health issues, according to the Foreign Office.
Minister urges inclusive rehabilitation
Earlier, Germany’s top diplomat met Syria’s new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led a rebel alliance that ousted al-Assad in December.
Ahead of the meeting, Wadephul called on the country’s new government to guarantee citizens “a life in dignity and security.”
“This is the prerequisite for laying the foundations for a free, secure and stable Syria,” the minister said in the Jordanian capital Amman, the first stop on his latest Middle East tour.
Wadephul called on the Syrian government to include all citizens in the country’s rehabilitation, regardless of gender, religious, ethnic or social affiliation.
Germany is committed to helping lay new foundations by supporting efforts to clear mines and explosive ordnance, providing humanitarian aid and investing in the Syrian economy, the minister said.
Events in Syria, which lies in the immediate vicinity of the European Union, also have “a direct and indirect impact” on Germany, Wadephul noted.
As the first anniversary of al-Assad’s ouster nears, the situation in Syria remains fragile.
While the new transitional government says it is striving to stabilize the country and create a “Syria for all,” those efforts have been marred by repeated fatal clashes, including between government troops and minorities.
Syria held its first parliamentary elections since the fall of the regime in September, though the vote garnered international criticism because representation of women and minorities was low.
Fallout from civil war
In Harasta, which had a pre-war population of 30,000, including 2,500 Christians, Wadephul visited a humanitarian project supported by Germany.
Since 2012, the suburb was repeatedly targeted by airstrikes and shelling, pushing out the civilian population and destroying crucial infrastructure.
Ahead of his talks with al-Sharaa, Wadephul said he also planned to discuss the many Syrians who fled the civil war and sought refuge in Germany.
Berlin is counting on many of those former refugees to return to their homeland and help with reconstruction.
However, due to the uncertain situation in the country, only a few Syrians have decided to return so far.
According to official figures, around 951,400 Syrian nationals were based in Germany at the end of August, down from 974,395 at the end of November 2024.
Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians who lack shelter or a home to return to after Israel destroyed their residences across Gaza are pitching tents in graveyards as a last resort, as the humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave remains acute despite a fragile ceasefire deal.
“This graveyard wasn’t meant for the living,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said, reporting from the southern city of Khan Younis. “But today, it’s home to dozens of families who have nowhere else to go.”
Khoudary said Palestinians were camping at the site “not because they want to, but because it’s the last free space available.”
“Graveyards have become shelters not out of choice, but out of desperation,” she added.
Rami Musleh, a father of 12 who was displaced from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoon could not find any viable option other than the graveyard.
“For parents, the emotional toll is heavy. The psychological trauma of war is made worse by having to raise children among tombstones,” Musleh told Al Jazeera.
With no safe shelter left and no land to return to, many families in Gaza are now pitching tents inside graveyards [Screen grab/Al Jazeera]
Another resident, Sabah Muhammed, said the cemeteries have now lost all their sacredness.
“Graveyards, once sacred spaces for the dead, are now silent witnesses to a living crisis. No water, no electricity, and no privacy … only the bare minimum to survive,” she told Al Jazeera.
“In Gaza, even the land for the dead is now the only refuge for the living.”
According to the United Nations, at least 1.9 million people – or about 90 per cent of the population – across the Gaza Strip have been displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more.
Palestinians in southern Gaza are squeezed into overcrowded shelters as Israel issued forced orders for residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to evacuate and then bombarded many as they fled south.
The price of renting even a square meter of land to pitch a tent is prohibitive for many displaced Palestinians, who lack a stable income and are dependent on scarce humanitarian assistance.
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinians, said 61 million tons of debris now cover Gaza and entire neighbourhoods have been erased. It said families were searching the ruins for shelter and water.
While a fragile ceasefire has been in effect since October 10, Israel is continuing to heavily restrict humanitarian aid into Gaza. The International Court of Justice on Wednesday ruled Israel must allow aid into Gaza, stating it cannot use starvation “as a method of warfare”.
Aid is mainly being channelled into the central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, while none of the crossings in the north have been opened.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said Israel has a legal obligation to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by the UN and its entities to ensure the basic needs of Palestinian civilians there are met.
An advisory opinion from the UN’s top court also said Israel had not substantiated its allegations that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) lacked neutrality or that a significant number of its staff were members of Hamas or other armed groups.
The UN’s chief said he hoped Israel would abide by the “very important decision”.
But Israel rejected the ICJ’s opinion as “political” and insisted it would not co-operate with Unrwa, which it has banned.
The opinion is non-binding, but it carries significant moral and diplomatic weight.
In December, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ for an opinion on Israel’s obligations, as an occupying power and a member of the UN, towards UN agencies and other international organisations operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
It came after the Israeli parliament passed laws banning any activity by Unrwa on Israeli territory and contact with Israeli officials.
The ICJ was asked to also cover in its opinion Israel’s duty to allow the unhindered delivery of essential supplies to Palestinian civilians.
Israel tightened its blockade on Gaza after the start of its war with Hamas two years ago and has since restricted – and at times completely stopped – the entry of food and other aid for the 2.1 million population.
Before this month’s ceasefire deal took effect, UN-backed global experts had warned that more than 640,000 people were facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity and that there was an “entirely man-made” famine in Gaza City.
Israel rejected the famine declaration, insisting it was allowing in sufficient food.
The ICJ’s President Yuji Iwasawa read out its advisory opinion at The Hague on Wednesday.
He said the panel of 11 international judges agreed that Israel, as an occupying power, was required to fulfil its obligations under international humanitarian law.
The first obligation was to “ensure that the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory has the essential supplies of daily life, including food, water, clothing, bedding, shelter, fuel, medical supplies and services”, according to the judge.
The second was to “agree to and facilitate by all means at its disposal relief schemes on behalf of the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory so long as that population is inadequately supplied, as has been the case in the Gaza Strip”.
The other obligations listed included respecting the prohibitions on forcible transfer from an occupied territory and on the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.
Judge Iwasawa said the panel were also of the opinion that Israel had “an obligation to co-operate in good faith with the United Nations by providing every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, including [Unrwa]”.
Israel was also obliged to ensure “full respect for the privileges and immunities accorded to the United Nations” and its officials, as well as for the “inviolability of the premises of the United Nations… and for the immunity of the property and assets of the organisation from any form of interference”, he added.
Yuji Iwasawa, the president of the International Court of Justice, read out the advisory opinion [Reuters]
When asked about the advisory opinion in Geneva, UN Secretary General António Guterres said: “This is a very important decision. And I hope that Israel will abide by it.”
He added that the advisory opinion came at a moment in which the UN was doing everything it could to boost aid deliveries to Gaza and deal with the “tragic situation” there.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the advisory opinion, describing it as “entirely predictable from the outset regarding Unrwa”.
“This is yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of ‘international law’,” it added.
The ministry also said Israel was fully upholding its obligations under international law and that it would “not co-operate with an organisation that is infested with terror activities”.
Unrwa – the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza, with 12,000 Palestinian staff based there – has repeatedly denied Israel’s allegation that it is deeply infiltrated by Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, UK and other countries.
Israel has said that Unrwa staff took part in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken to Gaza as hostages, and claimed that the agency still employs more than 1,400 “Hamas operatives”.
The UN said last year that it had fired nine of Unrwa’s staff in Gaza after investigators found evidence that they might have been involved in the 7 October attack. Another 10 staff were cleared because of insufficient evidence.
Judge Iwasawa said the information the ICJ received was “not sufficient to establish Unrwa’s lack of neutrality”, and that Israel had “not substantiated its allegations that a significant part of Unrwa employees ‘are members of Hamas… or other terrorist factions’”.
The UN’s World Food Programme said on Tuesday that around 750 tonnes of supplies a day were crossing into Gaza under the ceasefire deal [Reuters]
Since the Israeli laws banning Unrwa took effect in January, the agency says its Palestinian staff have continued providing assistance and education, health and other services to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
However, the agency says Israel has banned it from bringing aid into Gaza and stopped issuing visas to Unrwa’s international staff.
Unrwa says at least 309 of its staff and 72 people supporting the agency’s activities have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza. The territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says Israeli attacks during the conflict have killed at least 68,229 people in total.
Unrwa’s acting Gaza director, Sam Rose, told the BBC that the agency welcomed the advisory opinion because it “underscores the obligations of Israel under international law”.
“The ruling of today says that Israel’s laws against Unrwa have gone against those obligations, as have its actions on the ground,” he said.
The Palestinian foreign ministry said the advisory opinion made “very clear that Israel must cease these illegal policies and that states have an obligation to bring Israel into compliance with its obligations in this regard”.
“Israel must immediately lift the unlawful ban on Unrwa and allow all other international organisations invited by Palestine to operate freely and safely,” it added.
Israel must allow the United Nations’ aid agency to deliver humanitarian aid in Gaza, the International Court of Justice said Wednesday, labeling the country as an occupying power.
The nonbinding opinion by the top U.N. court, requested by the U.N. General Assembly last year to clarify the protections member states must provide their staff, carries little practical weight. A bigger issue is the stability of the fragile cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that took effect Oct. 10. It was tested earlier this week after the Israeli military launched a series of airstrikes, saying Hamas militants had killed Israeli soldiers.
TEL AVIV—Israel conducted dozens of airstrikes across Gaza on Sunday and halted humanitarian aid into the enclave after it accused Hamas of killing troops inside Israeli-controlled areas in what is shaping up to be the biggest test yet of
the fragile cease-fire.
The Israeli military said two soldiers were killed in southern Gaza, where militants targeted troops inside Israeli-controlled areas with an antitank missile and gunfire. Another soldier was severely injured, the military said.
Hamas made two other attempts to attack Israeli soldiers on Sunday, the military said.
Israel decided to halt humanitarian aid, which Israeli officials confirmed, following calls from Israeli politicians across the political spectrum for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to respond forcefully to the attack against troops.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has displaced millions, scattering families across the country and abroad. For many, heavy fighting in the east means crowded shelters, borrowed beds and fading hope.Related video above: President Trump signals he’s holding back on long-range missiles for UkraineAbout 400 miles west of the front line, however, a privately built settlement near Kyiv offers a rare reprieve: stable housing, personal space and the dignity of a locked door.This is Hansen Village. Its rows of modular homes provide housing for 2,000 people who are mostly displaced from occupied territories. Children ride bikes along paved lanes, passing amenities like a swimming pool, basketball court, health clinic and school.The village is the creation of Dell Loy Hansen, a Utah real estate developer who has spent over $140 million building and repairing homes across Ukraine since 2022.At 72, he’s eager to do more.A new missionHansen’s arrival in Ukraine followed a public reckoning. In 2020, he sold his Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake, after reports that he made racist comments. He denied the allegations in an interview with The Associated Press but said the experience ultimately gave him a new mission.“I went through something painful, but it gave me humility,” he said. “That humility led me to Ukraine.”Seeing people lose everything, Hansen said he felt compelled to act. “This isn’t charity to me, it’s responsibility,” he said. “If you can build, then build. Don’t just watch.”Hansen now oversees more than a dozen projects in Ukraine: expanding Hansen Village, providing cash and other assistance to elderly people and families, and supporting a prosthetics clinic.He’s planning a cemetery to honor displaced people, and a not-for-profit affordable housing program designed to be scaled up nationally.Ukraine’s housing crisis is staggering. Nearly one in three citizens have fled their homes, including 4.5 million registered as internally displaced.Around the eastern city of Dnipro, volunteers convert old buildings into shelters as evacuees arrive daily from the war-torn Donbas region. One site — a crumbling Soviet-era dorm — now houses 149 elderly residents, mostly in their seventies and eighties.Funding comes from a patchwork of donations: foreign aid, local charities and individual contributions including cash, volunteer labor or old appliances and boxes of food, all put together to meet urgent needs.“I call it begging: knocking on every door, and explaining why each small thing is necessary,” said Veronika Chumak, who runs the center. “But we keep going. Our mission is to restore people’s sense of life.”Valentina Khusak, 86, was evacuated by charity volunteers from Myrnohrad, a coal-mining town, after Russian shelling cut off water and power. She lost her husband and son before the war.“Maybe we’ll return home, maybe not,” she said. “What matters is that places like this exist — where the old and lonely are treated with warmth and respect.”A nation under strainUkraine’s government is struggling to fund shelters and repairs as its relief budget buckles under relentless missile and drone attacks on infrastructure.By late 2024, 13% of Ukrainian homes were damaged or destroyed, according to a U.N.-led assessment. The cost of national reconstruction is estimated to be $524 billion, nearly triple the country’s annual economic output.Since June, Ukraine has evacuated over 100,000 more people from the east, expanding shelters and transit hubs. New evacuees are handed an emergency government subsidy payment of $260.Yevhen Tuzov, who helped thousands find shelter during the 2022 siege of Mariupol, said many feel forgotten.“Sometimes six strangers must live together in one small room,” Tuzov said. “For elderly people, this is humiliating.“What Hansen is doing is great — to build villages — but why can’t we do that too?”’People here don’t need miracles’Hansen began his work after visiting Ukraine in early 2022. He started by wiring cash aid to families, then used his decades of experience to build modular housing.Mykyta Bogomol, 16, lives in foster care apartments at Hansen Village with seven other children and two dogs. He fled the southern Kherson region after Russian occupation and flooding.“Life here is good,” he said. “During the occupation, it was terrifying. Soldiers forced kids into Russian schools. Here, I finally feel safe.”Hansen visits Ukraine several times a year. From Salt Lake City, he spends hours daily on video calls, tracking war updates, coordinating aid, and lobbying U.S. lawmakers.“I’ve built homes all my life, but nothing has meant more to me than this,” he said. “People here don’t need miracles — just a roof, safety, and someone who doesn’t give up on them.”A fraction of what’s neededLast year, Hansen sold part of his businesses for $14 million — all of it, he said, went to Ukraine.Still, his contribution is a fraction of what’s needed. With entire towns uninhabitable, private aid remains vital but insufficient.Hansen has met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who thanked him for supporting vulnerable communities. Later this year, Hansen will receive one of Ukraine’s highest civilian honors — an award he says is not for himself.“I don’t need recognition,” he said. “If this award makes the elderly and displaced more visible, then it means something. Otherwise, it’s just a medal.” Associated Press journalists Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Vasilisa Stepanenko and Dmytro Zhyhinas in Pavlohrad, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
TARASIVKA, Ukraine —
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has displaced millions, scattering families across the country and abroad. For many, heavy fighting in the east means crowded shelters, borrowed beds and fading hope.
Related video above: President Trump signals he’s holding back on long-range missiles for Ukraine
About 400 miles west of the front line, however, a privately built settlement near Kyiv offers a rare reprieve: stable housing, personal space and the dignity of a locked door.
This is Hansen Village. Its rows of modular homes provide housing for 2,000 people who are mostly displaced from occupied territories. Children ride bikes along paved lanes, passing amenities like a swimming pool, basketball court, health clinic and school.
The village is the creation of Dell Loy Hansen, a Utah real estate developer who has spent over $140 million building and repairing homes across Ukraine since 2022.
At 72, he’s eager to do more.
A new mission
Hansen’s arrival in Ukraine followed a public reckoning. In 2020, he sold his Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake, after reports that he made racist comments. He denied the allegations in an interview with The Associated Press but said the experience ultimately gave him a new mission.
“I went through something painful, but it gave me humility,” he said. “That humility led me to Ukraine.”
Seeing people lose everything, Hansen said he felt compelled to act. “This isn’t charity to me, it’s responsibility,” he said. “If you can build, then build. Don’t just watch.”
Hansen now oversees more than a dozen projects in Ukraine: expanding Hansen Village, providing cash and other assistance to elderly people and families, and supporting a prosthetics clinic.
He’s planning a cemetery to honor displaced people, and a not-for-profit affordable housing program designed to be scaled up nationally.
Ukraine’s housing crisis is staggering. Nearly one in three citizens have fled their homes, including 4.5 million registered as internally displaced.
Around the eastern city of Dnipro, volunteers convert old buildings into shelters as evacuees arrive daily from the war-torn Donbas region. One site — a crumbling Soviet-era dorm — now houses 149 elderly residents, mostly in their seventies and eighties.
Funding comes from a patchwork of donations: foreign aid, local charities and individual contributions including cash, volunteer labor or old appliances and boxes of food, all put together to meet urgent needs.
“I call it begging: knocking on every door, and explaining why each small thing is necessary,” said Veronika Chumak, who runs the center. “But we keep going. Our mission is to restore people’s sense of life.”
Valentina Khusak, 86, was evacuated by charity volunteers from Myrnohrad, a coal-mining town, after Russian shelling cut off water and power. She lost her husband and son before the war.
“Maybe we’ll return home, maybe not,” she said. “What matters is that places like this exist — where the old and lonely are treated with warmth and respect.”
A nation under strain
Ukraine’s government is struggling to fund shelters and repairs as its relief budget buckles under relentless missile and drone attacks on infrastructure.
By late 2024, 13% of Ukrainian homes were damaged or destroyed, according to a U.N.-led assessment. The cost of national reconstruction is estimated to be $524 billion, nearly triple the country’s annual economic output.
Since June, Ukraine has evacuated over 100,000 more people from the east, expanding shelters and transit hubs. New evacuees are handed an emergency government subsidy payment of $260.
Yevhen Tuzov, who helped thousands find shelter during the 2022 siege of Mariupol, said many feel forgotten.
“Sometimes six strangers must live together in one small room,” Tuzov said. “For elderly people, this is humiliating.
“What Hansen is doing is great — to build villages — but why can’t we do that too?”
‘People here don’t need miracles’
Hansen began his work after visiting Ukraine in early 2022. He started by wiring cash aid to families, then used his decades of experience to build modular housing.
Mykyta Bogomol, 16, lives in foster care apartments at Hansen Village with seven other children and two dogs. He fled the southern Kherson region after Russian occupation and flooding.
“Life here is good,” he said. “During the occupation, it was terrifying. Soldiers forced kids into Russian schools. Here, I finally feel safe.”
Hansen visits Ukraine several times a year. From Salt Lake City, he spends hours daily on video calls, tracking war updates, coordinating aid, and lobbying U.S. lawmakers.
“I’ve built homes all my life, but nothing has meant more to me than this,” he said. “People here don’t need miracles — just a roof, safety, and someone who doesn’t give up on them.”
A fraction of what’s needed
Last year, Hansen sold part of his businesses for $14 million — all of it, he said, went to Ukraine.
Still, his contribution is a fraction of what’s needed. With entire towns uninhabitable, private aid remains vital but insufficient.
Hansen has met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who thanked him for supporting vulnerable communities. Later this year, Hansen will receive one of Ukraine’s highest civilian honors — an award he says is not for himself.
“I don’t need recognition,” he said. “If this award makes the elderly and displaced more visible, then it means something. Otherwise, it’s just a medal.”
Associated Press journalists Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Vasilisa Stepanenko and Dmytro Zhyhinas in Pavlohrad, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
TEL AVIV—Israel and Hamas on Tuesday accused each other of violating the cease-fire that was part of the deal that
released all 20 living hostages from Gaza, with Israel reducing the humanitarian aid promised under the agreement to increase pressure on Hamas to return more bodies of deceased hostages.
Israelis celebrated the return of the living hostages on Monday, in what for many marked an end to the two-year Gaza war. But the families of the deceased hostages who are supposed to be returned to Israel as part of President Trump’s 20-point plan for peace said they were angered that only four of 28 bodies had been returned.
Hamas released all 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza on Monday, as part of a ceasefire pausing two years of war that pummeled the territory, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and had left scores of captives in militant hands.The hostages, all men, returned to Israel, where they will be reunited with their families and undergo medical checks. The bodies of the remaining 28 dead hostages are also expected to be handed over as part of the deal, although the exact timing remained unclear.Meanwhile, a convoy of Israeli vehicles, Red Cross jeeps and buses left Ofer Prison for the occupied West Bank on Monday afternoon, carrying some of the 250 long-term prisoners set to be released in the exachange. The buses are headed to the center of Beitunia, the nearest Palestinian town, where friends and families await their arrival.In Tel Aviv, families and friends of the hostages who gathered in a square broke into wild cheers as Israeli television channels announced that the first group of hostages was in the hands of the Red Cross. Tens of thousands of Israelis watched the transfers at public screenings across the country.Israel released the first photos of hostages arriving home, including one showing 28-year-old twins Gali and Ziv Berman embracing as they were reunited. Hostages previously released had said the twins from Kfar Aza were held separately.The photos of the first seven hostages released Monday showed them looking pale but less gaunt than some of the hostages freed in January.Earlier, while Palestinians awaited the release of hundreds of prisoners held by Israel, an armored vehicle flying an Israeli flag fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a crowd. As drones buzzed overhead, the group scattered.The tear gas followed the circulation of a flier warning that anyone supporting what it called “terrorist organizations” risked arrest. Israel’s military did not respond to questions about the flier, which The Associated Press obtained on site.While major questions remain about the future of Hamas and Gaza, the exchange of hostages and prisoners raised hopes for ending the deadliest war ever between Israel and the militant group.The ceasefire is also expected to be accompanied by a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, parts of which are experiencing famine.U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in the region, where he plans to discuss the U.S.-proposed deal and postwar plans with other leaders.The war began when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage.In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the dead were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.The toll is expected to grow as bodies are pulled from rubble previously made inaccessible by fighting.The war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its some 2 million residents. It has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.”Much of Gaza is a wasteland,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the AP on Sunday. Living hostages being released firstThe hostages’ return caps a painful chapter for Israel. Since they were captured in the attack that ignited the war, newscasts have marked their days in captivity and Israelis have worn yellow pins and ribbons in solidarity. Tens of thousands have joined their families in weekly demonstrations calling for their release.As the war dragged on, demonstrators accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging his feet for political purposes, even as he accused Hamas of intransigence. Last week, under heavy international pressure and increasing isolation for Israel, the bitter enemies agreed to the ceasefire.With the hostages’ release, the sense of urgency around the war for many Israelis will be effectively over.It remains unclear when the remains of 28 dead hostages will be returned. An international task force will work to locate deceased hostages who are not returned within 72 hours, said Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the hostages and the missing.Meanwhile, buses lined up in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Monday morning in anticipation of the release of prisoners.The exact timing has not been announced for the release of Palestinian prisoners. They include 250 people serving life sentences for convictions in attacks on Israelis, in addition to 1,700 seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge. They will be returned to the West Bank or Gaza or sent into exile.Trump is traveling to Israel and EgyptTrump arrived Monday in Israel, where the White House said he will meet with families of the hostages and speak at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Vice President JD Vance said Trump was likely to meet with newly freed hostages.”The war is over,” Trump told to reporters as he departed — even though his ceasefire deal leaves many unanswered questions about the future of Hamas and Gaza.Among the most thorny is Israel’s insistence that a weakened Hamas disarm. Hamas refuses to do that and wants to ensure Israel pulls its troops completely out of Gaza.So far, the Israeli military has withdrawn from much of Gaza City, the southern city of Khan Younis and other areas. Troops remain in most of the southern city of Rafah, towns of Gaza’s far north, and the wide strip along the length of Gaza’s border with Israel.The future governance of Gaza also remains unclear. Under the U.S. plan, an international body will govern the territory, overseeing Palestinian technocrats running day-to-day affairs. Hamas has said Gaza’s government should be worked out among Palestinians.Later Monday, Trump will head to Egypt, where he and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi will lead a summit with leaders from more than 20 countries on the future of Gaza and the broader Middle East.Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, will attend, according to a judge and adviser to Abbas, Mahmoud al-Habbash. The plan envisions an eventual role for the Palestinian Authority — something Netanyahu has long opposed. But it requires the authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform program that could take years.The plan also calls for an Arab-led international security force in Gaza, along with Palestinian police trained by Egypt and Jordan. It said Israeli forces would leave areas as those forces deploy. About 200 U.S. troops are now in Israel to monitor the ceasefire.The plan also mentions the possibility of a future Palestinian state, another nonstarter for Netanyahu.___Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Truro, Massachusetts; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Jalal Bwaitel in Ramallah, West Bank, and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.
Hamas released all 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza on Monday, as part of a ceasefire pausing two years of war that pummeled the territory, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and had left scores of captives in militant hands.
Seven of the hostages were released early Monday, while the remaining 13 were freed a few hours later.
The 20, all men, were being reunited with their families and expected to undergo medical checks.
The bodies of the remaining 28 dead hostages are also expected to be handed over as part of the deal, although the exact timing remained unclear.
Families and friends of the hostages who gathered in a square in Tel Aviv broke into wild cheers as Israeli television channels announced that the first group of hostages was in the hands of the Red Cross. Tens of thousands of Israelis watched the transfers at public screenings across the country.
Israel released the first photos of hostages arriving home, including one showing 28-year-old twins Gali and Ziv Berman embracing as they were reunited. Hostages previously released had said the twins from Kfar Aza were held separately.
The photos of the first seven hostages released Monday showed them looking pale but less gaunt than some of the hostages freed in January.
Palestinians, meanwhile, awaited the release of hundreds of prisoners held by Israel. In the West Bank, an armored vehicle flying an Israeli flag fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a crowd waiting near Ofer Prison. As drones buzzed overhead, the group scattered.
The tear gas followed the circulation of a flier warning that anyone supporting what it called “terrorist organizations” risked arrest. Israel’s military did not respond to questions about the flier, which The Associated Press obtained on site.
While major questions remain about the future of Hamas and Gaza, the exchange of hostages and prisoners raised hopes for ending the deadliest war ever between Israel and the militant group.
The ceasefire is also expected to be accompanied by a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, parts of which are experiencing famine.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in the region, where he plans to discuss the U.S.-proposed deal and postwar plans with other leaders.
The war began when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage.
In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the dead were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
The toll is expected to grow as bodies are pulled from rubble previously made inaccessible by fighting.
The war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its some 2 million residents. It has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.
“Much of Gaza is a wasteland,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the AP on Sunday.
Living hostages being released first
The hostages’ return caps a painful chapter for Israel. Since they were captured in the attack that ignited the war, newscasts have marked their days in captivity and Israelis have worn yellow pins and ribbons in solidarity. Tens of thousands have joined their families in weekly demonstrations calling for their release.
As the war dragged on, demonstrators accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging his feet for political purposes, even as he accused Hamas of intransigence. Last week, under heavy international pressure and increasing isolation for Israel, the bitter enemies agreed to the ceasefire.
With the hostages’ release, the sense of urgency around the war for many Israelis will be effectively over.
It remains unclear when the remains of 28 dead hostages will be returned. An international task force will work to locate deceased hostages who are not returned within 72 hours, said Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the hostages and the missing.
Meanwhile, buses lined up in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Monday morning in anticipation of the release of prisoners.
The exact timing has not been announced for the release of Palestinian prisoners. They include 250 people serving life sentences for convictions in attacks on Israelis, in addition to 1,700 seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge. They will be returned to the West Bank or Gaza or sent into exile.
Trump is traveling to Israel and Egypt
Trump arrived Monday in Israel, where the White House said he will meet with families of the hostages and speak at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Vice President JD Vance said Trump was likely to meet with newly freed hostages.
“The war is over,” Trump told to reporters as he departed — even though his ceasefire deal leaves many unanswered questions about the future of Hamas and Gaza.
Among the most thorny is Israel’s insistence that a weakened Hamas disarm. Hamas refuses to do that and wants to ensure Israel pulls its troops completely out of Gaza.
So far, the Israeli military has withdrawn from much of Gaza City, the southern city of Khan Younis and other areas. Troops remain in most of the southern city of Rafah, towns of Gaza’s far north, and the wide strip along the length of Gaza’s border with Israel.
The future governance of Gaza also remains unclear. Under the U.S. plan, an international body will govern the territory, overseeing Palestinian technocrats running day-to-day affairs. Hamas has said Gaza’s government should be worked out among Palestinians.
Later Monday, Trump will head to Egypt, where he and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi will lead a summit with leaders from more than 20 countries on the future of Gaza and the broader Middle East.
Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, will attend, according to a judge and adviser to Abbas, Mahmoud al-Habbash. The plan envisions an eventual role for the Palestinian Authority — something Netanyahu has long opposed. But it requires the authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform program that could take years.
The plan also calls for an Arab-led international security force in Gaza, along with Palestinian police trained by Egypt and Jordan. It said Israeli forces would leave areas as those forces deploy. About 200 U.S. troops are now in Israel to monitor the ceasefire.
The plan also mentions the possibility of a future Palestinian state, another nonstarter for Netanyahu.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Truro, Massachusetts; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Jalal Bwaitel in Ramallah, West Bank, and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.
Hamas released seven hostages into the custody of the Red Cross on Monday, the first to be released as part of a breakthrough ceasefire after two years of war between Israel and Hamas in the devastated Gaza Strip.There was no immediate information on their condition. Hamas has said 20 living hostages will be exchanged for over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.Video above: Israel prepares to welcome the last living hostages from Gaza as a ceasefire holdsFamilies and friends of hostages broke out into wild cheers as Israeli television channels announced that the hostages were in the hands of the Red Cross. Tens of thousands of Israelis were watching the transfers at public screenings across the country, with a major event being held in Tel Aviv.Palestinians awaited the release of hundreds of prisoners held by Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump was arriving in the region along with other leaders to discuss the U.S.-proposed deal and postwar plans. A surge of humanitarian aid was expected into famine-stricken Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless.While major questions remain about the future of Hamas and Gaza, the exchange of hostages and prisoners marked a key step toward ending the deadliest war ever between Israel and the militant group.The ceasefire, which began noon Friday (0900 GMT), is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Hamas militant group.The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war in Gaza has killed over 67,000 Palestinians, local health officials there say.Israelis on Monday prepared to welcome home the last 20 living hostages from devastated Gaza and mourn the return of the dead, in the key exchange of the breakthrough ceasefire after two years of war.Palestinians awaited the release of hundreds of prisoners held by Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump was arriving in the region along with other leaders to discuss the U.S.-proposed deal and postwar plans. A surge of humanitarian aid was expected into famine-stricken Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless.While major questions remain about the future of Hamas and Gaza, the exchange of hostages and prisoners marked a key step toward ending the deadliest war ever between Israel and the militant group.Living hostages expected firstHamas released a list early Monday morning of the 20 living hostages it will free as part of the ceasefire.Major Israeli TV stations were airing special overnight broadcasts ahead of the hostages’ release as anticipation grew. People began to gather near a large screen in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv before dawn.“It’s very exciting,” said Meir Kaller, who spent a sleepless night there.Video below: President Trump to visit Middle East amid U.S.-mediated ceasefireThe hostages’ return caps a painful chapter for Israel. Since they were captured in the October 2023 Hamas attack that ignited the war, newscasts have marked their days in captivity and Israelis have worn yellow pins and ribbons in solidarity. Tens of thousands have joined their families in weekly demonstrations calling for their release.As the war dragged on, demonstrators accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging his feet for political purposes, even as he accused Hamas of intransigence. Last week, under heavy international pressure and increasing isolation for Israel, the bitter enemies agreed to the ceasefire.With the hostages’ release, the sense of urgency around the war for many Israelis will be effectively over.Israel expects the living hostages to be released together Monday. They will be handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then to the Israeli military, which will take them to the Reim military base to be reunited with families.It is unlikely that the remains of up to 28 other hostages will be returned at the same time. An international task force will work to locate deceased hostages who are not returned within 72 hours, said Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the hostages and the missing.The timing has not been announced for the release of Palestinian prisoners. They include 250 people serving life sentences for convictions in attacks on Israelis, in addition to 1,700 seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge. They will be returned to the West Bank or Gaza or sent into exile.While Israel considers the prisoners to be terrorists, Palestinians view them as freedom fighters against Israeli occupation. Israel has warned Palestinians in the West Bank against celebrating after people are released, according to a prisoner’s family and a Palestinian official familiar with the plans. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.Red Cross vehicles were seen driving in both Gaza and Israel early Monday.Trump in Israel and EgyptTrump was first visiting Israel, where a White House schedule said he will meet with families of the hostages and speak at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Vice President JD Vance said Trump was likely to meet with newly freed hostages.“The war is over,” Trump asserted to reporters as he departed, adding he thought the ceasefire would hold.Trump will continue to Egypt, where President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s office said he will co-chair a “peace summit” Monday with regional and international leaders.Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, will attend, a judge and adviser to Abbas, Mahmoud al-Habbash, told The Associated Press. Netanyahu has rejected any role in postwar Gaza for Abbas, though the U.S. plan leaves the possibility open if his Palestinian Authority undergoes reforms. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.Other key questions in the ceasefire deal have yet to be resolved, including the future governance of Gaza and who will pay for a billion-dollar reconstruction process. Israel wants to ensure that the weakened Hamas disarms, and Netanyahu has warned Israel could do it “the hard way.” Hamas refuses to disarm and wants to ensure Israel pulls its troops completely out of Gaza.The Israeli military has withdrawn from much of Gaza City, the southern city of Khan Younis and other areas. Troops remain in most of the southern city of Rafah, towns of Gaza’s far north and the wide strip along Gaza’s border with Israel.Under the U.S. plan, an international body will govern Gaza, overseeing Palestinian technocrats running day-to-day affairs. Hamas has said Gaza’s government should be worked out among Palestinians.The plan calls for an Arab-led international security force in Gaza, along with Palestinian police trained by Egypt and Jordan. It said Israeli forces would leave areas as those forces deploy. About 200 U.S. troops are now in Israel to monitor the ceasefire.The plan also mentions the possibility of a future Palestinian state, another nonstarter for Netanyahu.‘Much of Gaza is a wasteland’The United Nations has said Israel so far has approved 190,000 metric tons of aid to enter Gaza, which was besieged after Israel ended the previous ceasefire in March.The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid in Gaza said the amount of aid entering was expected to increase Sunday to around 600 trucks per day, as stipulated in the agreement.“Much of Gaza is a wasteland,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the AP on Sunday. He said the U.N. has a plan for the next two months to restore basic medical and other services, bring in thousands of tons of food and fuel and remove rubble.Two years of warThe war began when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.Video below: Vigil held for Israeli hostages in Northwest BaltimoreIn Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.The toll will grow as bodies are pulled from rubble previously made inaccessible by fighting.The war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its 2 million residents. It has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.Federman reported from Truro, Massachusetts. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Jalal Bwaitel in Ramallah, West Bank, and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
CAIRO, Cairo Governorate —
Hamas released seven hostages into the custody of the Red Cross on Monday, the first to be released as part of a breakthrough ceasefire after two years of war between Israel and Hamas in the devastated Gaza Strip.
There was no immediate information on their condition. Hamas has said 20 living hostages will be exchanged for over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Video above: Israel prepares to welcome the last living hostages from Gaza as a ceasefire holds
Families and friends of hostages broke out into wild cheers as Israeli television channels announced that the hostages were in the hands of the Red Cross. Tens of thousands of Israelis were watching the transfers at public screenings across the country, with a major event being held in Tel Aviv.
Palestinians awaited the release of hundreds of prisoners held by Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump was arriving in the region along with other leaders to discuss the U.S.-proposed deal and postwar plans. A surge of humanitarian aid was expected into famine-stricken Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless.
While major questions remain about the future of Hamas and Gaza, the exchange of hostages and prisoners marked a key step toward ending the deadliest war ever between Israel and the militant group.
The ceasefire, which began noon Friday (0900 GMT), is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war in Gaza has killed over 67,000 Palestinians, local health officials there say.
Israelis on Monday prepared to welcome home the last 20 living hostages from devastated Gaza and mourn the return of the dead, in the key exchange of the breakthrough ceasefire after two years of war.
Palestinians awaited the release of hundreds of prisoners held by Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump was arriving in the region along with other leaders to discuss the U.S.-proposed deal and postwar plans. A surge of humanitarian aid was expected into famine-stricken Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless.
While major questions remain about the future of Hamas and Gaza, the exchange of hostages and prisoners marked a key step toward ending the deadliest war ever between Israel and the militant group.
Living hostages expected first
Hamas released a list early Monday morning of the 20 living hostages it will free as part of the ceasefire.
Major Israeli TV stations were airing special overnight broadcasts ahead of the hostages’ release as anticipation grew. People began to gather near a large screen in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv before dawn.
“It’s very exciting,” said Meir Kaller, who spent a sleepless night there.
Video below: President Trump to visit Middle East amid U.S.-mediated ceasefire
The hostages’ return caps a painful chapter for Israel. Since they were captured in the October 2023 Hamas attack that ignited the war, newscasts have marked their days in captivity and Israelis have worn yellow pins and ribbons in solidarity. Tens of thousands have joined their families in weekly demonstrations calling for their release.
As the war dragged on, demonstrators accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging his feet for political purposes, even as he accused Hamas of intransigence. Last week, under heavy international pressure and increasing isolation for Israel, the bitter enemies agreed to the ceasefire.
With the hostages’ release, the sense of urgency around the war for many Israelis will be effectively over.
Israel expects the living hostages to be released together Monday. They will be handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then to the Israeli military, which will take them to the Reim military base to be reunited with families.
Emilio Morenatti
People gather prior to the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, at a plaza known as the hostages square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025.
It is unlikely that the remains of up to 28 other hostages will be returned at the same time. An international task force will work to locate deceased hostages who are not returned within 72 hours, said Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the hostages and the missing.
The timing has not been announced for the release of Palestinian prisoners. They include 250 people serving life sentences for convictions in attacks on Israelis, in addition to 1,700 seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge. They will be returned to the West Bank or Gaza or sent into exile.
While Israel considers the prisoners to be terrorists, Palestinians view them as freedom fighters against Israeli occupation. Israel has warned Palestinians in the West Bank against celebrating after people are released, according to a prisoner’s family and a Palestinian official familiar with the plans. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.
Red Cross vehicles were seen driving in both Gaza and Israel early Monday.
Trump in Israel and Egypt
Trump was first visiting Israel, where a White House schedule said he will meet with families of the hostages and speak at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Vice President JD Vance said Trump was likely to meet with newly freed hostages.
“The war is over,” Trump asserted to reporters as he departed, adding he thought the ceasefire would hold.
Trump will continue to Egypt, where President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s office said he will co-chair a “peace summit” Monday with regional and international leaders.
Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, will attend, a judge and adviser to Abbas, Mahmoud al-Habbash, told The Associated Press. Netanyahu has rejected any role in postwar Gaza for Abbas, though the U.S. plan leaves the possibility open if his Palestinian Authority undergoes reforms. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.
Other key questions in the ceasefire deal have yet to be resolved, including the future governance of Gaza and who will pay for a billion-dollar reconstruction process. Israel wants to ensure that the weakened Hamas disarms, and Netanyahu has warned Israel could do it “the hard way.” Hamas refuses to disarm and wants to ensure Israel pulls its troops completely out of Gaza.
The Israeli military has withdrawn from much of Gaza City, the southern city of Khan Younis and other areas. Troops remain in most of the southern city of Rafah, towns of Gaza’s far north and the wide strip along Gaza’s border with Israel.
Under the U.S. plan, an international body will govern Gaza, overseeing Palestinian technocrats running day-to-day affairs. Hamas has said Gaza’s government should be worked out among Palestinians.
The plan calls for an Arab-led international security force in Gaza, along with Palestinian police trained by Egypt and Jordan. It said Israeli forces would leave areas as those forces deploy. About 200 U.S. troops are now in Israel to monitor the ceasefire.
The plan also mentions the possibility of a future Palestinian state, another nonstarter for Netanyahu.
‘Much of Gaza is a wasteland’
The United Nations has said Israel so far has approved 190,000 metric tons of aid to enter Gaza, which was besieged after Israel ended the previous ceasefire in March.
The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid in Gaza said the amount of aid entering was expected to increase Sunday to around 600 trucks per day, as stipulated in the agreement.
“Much of Gaza is a wasteland,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the AP on Sunday. He said the U.N. has a plan for the next two months to restore basic medical and other services, bring in thousands of tons of food and fuel and remove rubble.
Video below: Vigil held for Israeli hostages in Northwest Baltimore
In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
The toll will grow as bodies are pulled from rubble previously made inaccessible by fighting.
The war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its 2 million residents. It has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.
Federman reported from Truro, Massachusetts. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Jalal Bwaitel in Ramallah, West Bank, and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
Hamas police are re-emerging on the streets of Gaza, and tens of thousands of Palestinians are returning to their homes following the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the implementation of a cease-fire that is bringing about an end to two years of war.
Palestinians are awaiting a surge of humanitarian aid as Israel prepared for a handover of about 20 living hostages held by Hamas. Both are expected in the coming days as part of a
deal orchestrated by President Trump and Arab and Muslim countries.
The Israeli Navy has intercepted another flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists attempting to deliver aid to Gaza, according to the organizers.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Thousand Madleens to Gaza said on social media that nine vessels carrying around 150 activists from about 30 countries were stopped early Wednesday about 220 kilometres off the Gaza coast. The group said in a post on X that Israeli naval forces “attacked and illegally intercepted” the ships.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the interception, calling it “another futile attempt to breach the legal naval blockade and enter a combat zone.”
The statement on X said the vessels were being escorted to an Israeli port and that all crew members were “safe and in good health.” The activists were expected to be deported shortly.
Last week, the Israeli Navy detained more than 40 boats from a similar aid flotilla carrying some 400 participants from various countries, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Most have since been released and deported.
Organizers of that earlier mission, known as the Global Sumud Flotilla, accused Israeli forces of physical and psychological mistreatment and of violating detainees’ rights — allegations the Israeli government dismissed as lies, saying all rights had been fully respected.
Critics argue that the amount of aid carried by such flotillas is too small to meaningfully assist Gaza’s population. The missions are mainly symbolic acts aimed to show solidarity with the Palestinians and draw attention to the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, which attempted to sail to the Gaza Strip carrying humanitarian aid, said on Friday that the Israeli Navy had intercepted the last of its boats shortly before it reached the blockaded coastal territory.
“Marinette, the last remaining boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was intercepted at 10:29 am local time, approximately 42.5 nautical miles from Gaza,” the flotilla’s organizers said in a statement.
A video released by the pro-Palestinian group shows the Israeli boat approaching the activists’ vessel, before the footage ends as soldiers climb on board.
According to reports, the boat had experienced technical problems and was trailing behind the fleet.
The navy had already stopped the rest of the flotilla’s 42 boats in the Mediterranean.
Israeli authorities took more than 400 crew members from dozens of countries into custody, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, and said they will be sent back to their home countries.
The activists wanted to deliver aid supplies directly to the population of the Gaza Strip and protest against Israel’s military campaign in the sealed-off territory.
They rejected Israel’s offer to channel the supplies to Gaza via Israeli ports, saying Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip is illegal.
Another pro-Palestinian flotilla has reportedly already left Europe and is travelling towards the Gaza Strip. The nine boats were said to be off the coast of Crete on Friday morning.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it had prevented the Global Sumud Flotilla from breaking through the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, despite contradictory claims from the activists on board.
The organizers of the aid flotilla, which set sail from Barcelona in late August and aimed to deliver humanitarian aid directly to Gaza’s population, said Israel intercepted around 40 boats in the Mediterranean Sea.
However, the activists said one boat, the Mikeno, reached within a few kilometres of Gaza’s coast, as shown on their online ship tracking service.
They described the mission as a success, saying it was the first time a civilian vessel had managed to break through the Israeli naval blockade and enter the territorial waters off the Gaza Strip.
The Times of Israel newspaper reported, citing military sources, that none of the flotilla’s ships had managed to reach the Israeli-controlled waters off the coast of Gaza, saying the activists’ claim was based on incorrect tracking data.
The fate of the Mikeno remained unclear due to interrupted communications. There were no reports that the boat had reached dry land and been able to unload any aid supplies.
The Israeli military and the Foreign Ministry did not initially respond to enquiries about the Mikeno.
The Israeli navy intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla on Wednesday evening around 80 kilometres off the coast in international waters.
Activists said the interception was illegal and accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip – accusations which Israel has rejected in the past.
The flotilla members reported that at least one boat was rammed and others blasted with water cannons. Live footage from some of the vessels showed masked, heavily armed soldiers boarding and ordering crews to raise their hands. There were no reports of injuries during the operation.
According to the organizers, around 500 participants from more than 40 countries, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were to be brought to Israel and then deported.
“The passengers are safe and in good health,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote on X, alongside a photo of some of the activists, including Thunberg.
Two other boats turned north towards Cyprus and escaped military action. One final boat remained at sea, but far from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Foreign Ministry warned that if it continued to approach, it would also be stopped.
It was initially unclear what would happen to the intercepted boats and their cargo. The activists had previously rejected offers from Israel to have the flotilla’s supplies brought to the Gaza Strip via an Israeli port.
“The flotilla refused because they are not interested in aid, but in provocation,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote on X.
The flotilla issued a statement on Thursday saying: “Our commitment remains clear: to break Israel’s illegal siege and end the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. Every act of repression against our flotilla, every escalation of violence in Gaza, and every attempt to suppress solidarity actions only strengthen our resolve.”
Organizers of the pro-Palestinian flotilla hoping to carry aid to Gaza said that Israel attacked them with “flash bombs, explosive flares, and suspected chemicals” as it approached the war-torn Palestinian territory.
“The Israeli occupation forces have launched at least 11 attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla as it is 600 nautical miles [1,100 kilometres] from Gaza,” the CODEPINK organization said in a social media post early on Wednesday.
“Israel is threatening and terrorizing humanitarians carrying aid in international waters. Demand safe passage for the flotilla. Break the siege on Gaza now,” the group said, in comments also shared by the flotilla.
Global Sumud Flotilla published a video on its social media channels early on Wednesday showing what it said were “flashbangs… a non-lethal explosive device used mainly by police or military forces. It is designed to incapacitate people temporarily without causing permanent injury, making it useful in crowd control or hostage rescue operations.”
The activists said that “explosive flares” and “suspected chemicals” were deployed against the boats as well as “unidentified drones and communications jamming.”
“We are witnessing these psychological operations firsthand, right now, but we will not be intimidated,” the flotilla said in a Telegram post.
Earlier, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, reposted one of the flotilla’s videos on her X page.
“9th attack reported on humanitarian boats in int’l waters (southwest of Crete) – in the middle of the night! Et voilà: genocidaire on land, maritime outlaw at sea,” she wrote in the social media thread.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which set off from Barcelona in late August with hundreds of activists on board, is aiming to breach the Israeli sea blockade of the Gaza coast to deliver humanitarian aid to the population of the war-torn territory. “Sumud” means steadfastness in Arabic.
Israel has in the past thwarted a number of attempts to breach its sea blockade. Most recently, activists said two Global Sumud Flotilla vessels were attacked while in Tunisian waters over about 24 hours earlier in September.
The UN vehicles were reportedly stolen, and terrorists placed sandbags on the route to prevent new attempts to deliver aid.
Hamas prevented the opening of anew humanitarian route to deliver aid across the southern Gaza Strip by firing at UN vehicles, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said on Saturday.
The UN vehicles were reportedly stolen, and terrorists placed sandbags on the route to prevent new attempts to deliver aid.
In response, Head of COGAT Major-General Ghassan Alian said, “Hamas proves time and again that it has no interest in the well-being of the residents of the Gaza Strip, but only in its terrorist motives.
COGAT shows a UN vehicle shot by Hamas terrorists while trying to enter a new aid route. (credit: COGAT)
“Even as the State of Israel works together with the UN and international organizations to expand the scope of humanitarian aid, Hamas is desperate to thwart this, thereby once again abandoning the residents it claims to represent and enslaving them to ensure its survival. I strongly condemn the attack on UN workers by Hamas. We will not allow Hamas to once again create false narratives of a crisis in the Gaza Strip, and we will continue to expose its cruelty.”
Hamas sabotaging aid in Gaza
Sharing images of the damaged vehicles, COGAT condemned Hamas for “deliberately trying to thwart the adaptation of humanitarian infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip, while directly harming the efforts of international aid organizations and their staff, in order to create a crisis that will exert international pressure on Israel to stop the operation in Gaza City.”
The announcement comes a day after UNICEF admitted that “armed individuals,” named by COGAT as members of Hamas, stole humanitarian aid trucks filled with baby formula in Gaza City.
A video of fishing vessels setting sail in northern China has been falsely shared in posts claiming it shows a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza. An analysis found the footage does not correspond to pictures of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
“Global Sumud Flotilla is not a terrorist movement. It is a HUMANITARIAN MISSION!” reads part of the caption of a Facebook video shared on September 10, 2025.
The video, which has been viewed more than 3,300 times, shows clips of what appear to be hundreds of boats heading out to sea.
The caption adds the flotilla is not carrying any weapons, only food and aid.
It was shared after organisers of the Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists said one of their boats had been struck in a suspected drone attack off Tunisia’s coast on September 9, the second in 24 hours (archived link).
Tunisia’s interior ministry said it was launching an investigation into the “premeditated aggression” attack.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on September 12, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The video was also shared hundreds of times in similar Facebook, Instagram and TikTok posts.
The war erupted in October 2023, triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers to be reliable.
In August, as a result of the conflict, the UN officially declared famine in and around Gaza City, home to around a million people. Israel, however, denies the existence of famine in the coastal territory.
“On September 1 at noon, the summer fishing ban in Bohai and the Yellow Sea ended, fishing boats along the coast of Shandong province began setting sail at the same time,” reads the video’s simplified Chinese text.
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the Global Times video (right)
Further reverse image searches led to similar clips published by Chinese state broadcaster CGTN’s affiliated Facebook account, China Plus Culture, in a September 3 post about the end of the four-month summer fishing ban (archived link).
“More than 30,000 fishing vessels departed from ports along the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, north of 35 degrees latitude, as the four-month summer fishing ban officially ended at noon on September 1, marking the start of a new season for thousands of coastal communities.” the post reads.
A closer inspection of the clips shows the boats are flying solid red-coloured flags resembling China’s national flag — not the black, white, and green Palestinian flag.
Screenshot of the falsely shared video with the flags on the boat magnified by AFP
Photos of the Global Sumud Flotilla taken by AFP while it was docked in Tunisia show the boats are adorned with Palestinian flags, unlike the vessels seen in the falsely shared video.
Boats, part of the Global Sumud Flotilla gather at the Tunisian port of Bizerte, ahead of the scheduled departure to the Gaza Strip to break Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian territory on September 13, 2025.
FETHI BELAIDAFP
FETHI BELAID / AFP
AFP has also debunked other false claims related to the war in Gaza.
