Israeli human rights group B’Tselem shared a video on Thursday that it says shows Israeli soldiers executing two Palestinian men who had surrendered during a raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The video, which B’Tselem credits to Palestine TV and which CBS News has not independently verified, appears to show Israeli soldiers surrounding a garage-style door on a building as two men emerge with their hands in the air. The men can be seen lifting their shirts and kneeling on the ground as the soldiers approach.
One of the soldiers kicks one of the men before both men start moving back into the building through the large open door, seemingly at the orders of the soldiers. Gunshots are then heard, and one of the men still visible in the doorway can be seen slumping to the floor.
B’Tselem identified the two men as Yusef ‘Asa’sah, 39, and al-Muntaser bel-lah ‘Abdallah, 26, both of whom the group said were wanted by the Israel Defense Forces.
The IDF says a Nov. 27, 2025 incident in which two Palestinian men were killed during an operation in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, is being investigated.
AP
The IDF acknowledged an operation to apprehend wanted individuals in Jenin on Thursday, saying the men had “carried out terror activities, including hurling explosives and firing at security forces.”
“The forces entered the area, enclosed the structure in which the suspects were located, and initiated a surrender procedure that lasted several hours. Following the use of engineering tools on the structure, the two suspects exited. Following their exit, fire was directed toward the suspects,” the IDF said in a statement shared with CBS News. “The incident is under review by the commanders on the ground, and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies.”
Israeli security forces have been accused on many occasions since the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack of using excessive, often lethal force against Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the national police, praised the Israeli forces after the release of the video showing the Thursday incident, saying they acted “exactly as they are expected to — terrorists must die!”
The executive director of B’Tselem, Yuli Novak, said the killings were the result of “an accelerated process of dehumanization of Palestinians and the complete abandonment of their lives by the Israeli regime.”
Israeli soldiers are seen during an army raid in the West Bank town of Tubas, Nov. 26, 2025.
Majdi Mohammed/AP
In the West Bank’s capital city Ramallah, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas’ office issued a statement accusing Israel of executing the two men “in cold blood,” blasting the shooting as “an outright extrajudicial killing in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
The shooting came amid a larger operation in the northeast of the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel’s military for decades. The operation has seen more than 100 people detained since Tuesday in the town of Tubas alone, according to Abdullah al-Zaghari, a spokesman for the advocacy group Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
The IDF has called the ongoing operation a response to “attempts to establish terrorist strongholds and construction of terror infrastructures in the area.”
On Nov. 19, Palestinian attackers stabbed an Israeli to death and wounded three more at a West Bank intersection before being shot by security forces.
Violence has flared in the West Bank, the much larger of the two Palestinian territories, since the war in Gaza started, and Israeli raids have continued there despite a ceasefire in Gaza.
According to B’Tselem, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023.
“The IDF and Shin Bet will not allow terrorism to take root in the area and are acting proactively to thwart it,” a joint statement affirmed.
The IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Border Police officers began conducting a “broad counterterrorism operation” in the northern West Bank, a joint IDF-Shin Bet statement said on Wednesday morning.
“The IDF and Shin Bet will not allow terrorism to take root in the area and are acting proactively to thwart it,” the agencies stated.
The announcement follows days of heightened Israeli security activity in the West Bank, particularly in the northern area.
Following the IDF and Shin Bet’s announcement, Palestinian Authority-run media outlet Wafa reported Israeli forces operated in Tubas, Aqaba, and Tammun. The outlet claimed Israeli forces raided several homes, damaging and ransacking their contents, while bringing in heavy military reinforcements.
According to Wafa, bulldozers blocked main and secondary roads with mounds of earth, and military procedures were tightened at the Tayasir and Hamra checkpoints, restricting citizens’ movement and creating traffic jams.
IDF soldiers during an operation in the West Bank. (credit: IDF)
The Palestinian source also reported that helicopters fired intermittently during the operation, though no injuries were reported.
Recent Israeli security activity in the northern West Bank
On Tuesday, Israeli forces engaged and killed Sultan al-Ghani, the terrorist responsible for the 2024 murder of Israeli security guard Gideon Perry, in an area near Jenin in the northern West Bank.
Five other suspects were arrested, and the forces seized firearms, explosives, and other ordnance during the operation.
Earlier, on Monday, operating in the northern West Bank City of Nablus, Israeli troops killed Ala Raouf Shetiyya, the terrorist responsible for the 2024 deaths of two IDF Kfir Brigade soldiers. According to the military, St.-Sgt. Eliya Hilel and St.-Sgt. Diego Shvisha Harsaj from Tel Aviv, of the Paratroopers’ 101st Battalion, were killed in a ramming attack perpetrated by Shetiyya.
IDF troops, operating with Shin Bet direction, arrested more than 60 wanted suspects across the West Bank last week, including 18 Hamas operatives
Members of the IDF‘s Paratroopers Brigade killed a terrorist who threw rocks at soldiers in Ofra in the northern West Bank, the military confirmed on Sunday.
The Paratroopers were dispatched to the area following a report about several terrorists throwing rocks at Israeli citizens. After dispersing the crowd, an additional terrorist hurled rocks at the Israeli troops, who responded with “precise fire” and killed them.
No injuries to Israeli forces were reported.
Security forces operate in the West Bank, November 21, 2025. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
IDF arrests over 60 suspects in West Bank, including 18 suspected Hamas affiliates
The arrests took place in multiple sectors, including those of the Etzion, Judea, Binyamin, Menashe, Shomron, and Ephraim Brigades, as troops seized rifles, pistols, magazines, and explosives, and closed two workshops used to manufacture weapons.
“They punished ordinary people. This is collective punishment.”
It’s been more than nine months since 54-year-old Nehaya al-Jundi last saw her home in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nur Shams, in the occupied West Bank, after being forced to evacuate by the Israeli military.
“They punished the infrastructure, the institutions and people of the camp.”
In a café in nearby Tulkarm, Nehaya speaks to the BBC about her family’s panicked flight, as Israeli troops stormed into the camp in early February.
For two days Nehaya watched and listened in terror as military bulldozers razed the area around her house.
“We were besieged inside our house and couldn’t leave,” she recalls, describing how power, water and internet connections were all severed.
Eventually, on 9 February, Nehaya escaped with her 75-year-old husband, Zaydan, and their teenage daughter Salma.
“When we got out, I was shocked by the damage in the area,” she says.
Nehaya al-Jundi was forced out of her house in Nur Shams in February [BBC]
The Israeli military launched “Operation Iron Wall” in late January, sending troops and armour into Nur Shams and two other refugee camps in the northern West Bank, to tackle Palestinian armed groups it said were responsible for attacks on Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers.
The operation followed a largely unsuccessful attempt by the Palestinian Authority to quell the activities of local gunmen, many of them affiliated with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in the parts of the West Bank where it governs and controls security.
By the end of February, the three camps had been all but emptied in the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since Israel occupied the territory in the 1967 Six Day War.
The Israeli military says it needed to demolish buildings in Nur Shams and two other camps to “open new access routes” [EPA]
In Jenin, where the largest of the three camps dominates the western side of the city, we hear similar stories of terrified flight and long months of dislocation.
“We stayed three days in the house without power or water,” says 54-year-old Nidal Abu Nase, a development consultant and freelance book editor.
“The shooting never stopped.”
When the chance to escape finally arrived, Nidal’s family left with little more than their clothes, thinking they would soon be back.
“I never managed to get home to collect my stuff,” he says.
Nidal Abu Nase has been living all his life in the Jenin refugee camp [BBC]
Ten months on, Nidal and at least 32,000 residents of the three camps still don’t know when they will be allowed to return to their homes.
When that moment finally comes, many will find they no longer have homes to go back to.
Human Rights Watch says Israel has demolished 850 homes and other buildings across all three camps.
Other estimates rate the extent of the damage much higher.
In a report published earlier this week, HRW said Israel’s forced, prolonged evacuations and the associated destruction “amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
“The Geneva Conventions prohibit displacement of civilians from occupied territory except temporarily for imperative military reasons or the population’s security,” HRW said.
The group said Israel’s actions “may also be considered ‘ethnic cleansing’”.
In February, Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said he had instructed the army “to prepare form a prolonged stay in the camps that have been cleared for the coming year”.
As the year’s end approaches, there’s still no end in sight.
Israeli forces continue to be deployed inside Nur Shams, Tulkarm and Jenin camps [BBC]
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told the BBC that “in order to locate and uproot the terrorist infrastructure at its source, the IDF has had to operate for an extended period of time.”
But already in August, Katz called the operation a success, saying “there is no terror in the camps and the scope of terror alerts in [the West Bank] has dropped by 80%.”
The IDF says it has dismantled bomb-making and other weapons facilities hidden inside all three camps.
It is not clear why Operation Iron Wall continues, although demolitions are still happening in the camps.
It seems clear from the pattern of destruction and the Israeli military’s own explanations, that the operation has longer term goals.
In a statement to the BBC, the IDF said armed groups had been able to exploit the densely built environment of the camps, making it hard for the army to move freely.
“The IDF is acting to reshape and stabilise the area,” the IDF spokesperson said. “An inseparable part of this effort is the opening of new access routes inside the camps, which requires the demolition of rows of buildings.”
Satellite images from all three camps show the extent of the damage, with narrow, barely visible streets now wide enough for military vehicles, including tanks, to pass through.
The demolitions, the IDF spokesperson said, were “based on operational necessity”, with residents able to submit objections and petitions to Israel’s Supreme Court.
All such petitions – some of which argued that Israel’s actions violated international humanitarian law – have been rejected.
According to HRW, Israel’s military has been given “wide discretion to invoke the grounds of urgent military necessity”.
HRW has called on the Israeli military to halt the forcible displacement of Palestinian civilians throughout occupied Palestinian territory, and allow all the residents of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams to return to their homes.
The UN estimates that around 52% of the total structures in Jenin camp have been damaged [Reuters]
For tens of thousands of displaced people, the future remains uncertain.
Nehaya al-Jundi’s family eventually found refuge in a nearby village. But with their lives turned upside down and most of their possessions now out of reach, back in the camp, it’s been a hard year.
“Everything has been difficult since we left,” she says.
Nur Shams’ tight-knit community has been scattered across the Tulkarm area. Some are living with relatives, others in rented accommodation.
Many are out of work, dependent on modest handouts from the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority and various NGOs.
With schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) also out of action in the camps, education has also been severely impacted.
“My kids were enrolled in UNRWA schools,” says Nidal Abu Nase, whose family has been living with relatives since January.
“They went for months without school.”
Despite recent protests, such as this one near Nur Shams, very few residents have been allowed back into the camps [BBC]
Crucially, the camps’ strong communal bonds have been fractured.
The residents of West Bank refugee camps are mostly descended from Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948-49.
“For me, the camp is identity and culture,” Nidal says.
“There was love and affection in the camp,” Nehaya says, “but not anymore because we are far from each other.”
Nehaya has not seen her house since February. Despite recent protests, very few residents have been allowed back into the camps.
The community centre where she ran rehabilitation services for the disabled has been turned into an Israeli military barracks.
And reports from young men who have managed to sneak into Nur Shams suggest that Nehaya’s house is no longer habitable.
“They told me the house is wide open – and fully destroyed.”
South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.Palestinians being ‘exploited’The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.Shadowy operationThe secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.“They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.Jerusalem-based organizationAn organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site. Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.
South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.
The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.
It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.
The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.
“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.
Palestinians being ‘exploited’
The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”
It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.
The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.
South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.
“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.
Shadowy operation
The secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.
Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.
Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.
Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.
Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.
South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.
They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.
Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.
“They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.
South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.
The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.
Jerusalem-based organization
An organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.
The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.
Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site.
Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.
South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.Palestinians being ‘exploited’The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.Shadowy operationThe secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.“They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.Jerusalem-based organizationAn organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site. Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.
South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.
The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.
It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.
The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.
“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.
Palestinians being ‘exploited’
The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”
It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.
The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.
South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.
“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.
Shadowy operation
The secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.
Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.
Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.
Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.
Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.
South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.
They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.
Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.
“They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.
South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.
The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.
Jerusalem-based organization
An organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.
The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.
Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site.
Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.
Israeli settlers extended a wave of attacks in the West Bank, drawing rare condemnation from authorities and concern from the U.S. over the escalating violence.
TAYBEH, West Bank — “Come visit Taybeh,” begins the brochure touting the touristic attractions here, the last entirely Palestinian Christian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Though it counts Jesus among its many visitors over the years, said Khaldoon Hanna, Taybeh’s avuncular deputy mayor, these days “no one is coming.”
He sighed as he looked around the restaurant he owns on the village’s Main Street. It felt abandoned, with little trace of activity in the kitchen and a layer of dust coating most tables. Only one faucet worked in the bathroom, but it didn’t feel worth it to repair the rest.
“In the last two years, I haven’t had more than 20 tourists come in here,” Hanna said.
How could they, Hanna said, when you have to negotiate a growing gantlet of Israeli roadblocks just to get here? Or face off emboldened settlers who make increasing forays into the village to burn cars or destroy property? In July, they even tried to set fire to the ruins of the Church of St. George, a 4th century Byzantine structure on Taybeh’s hilltop, Hanna and religious leaders said; the Israeli government says it’s unclear what started the blaze.
“There’s a vicious attack on us at this point, and we as Christians, we can do nothing,” Hanna said. “If we don’t get support, be it social, political, economic, we’ll be extinct soon.”
A man walks up the main road in Taybeh, a West Bank village of 1,200 residents that is proud of its heritage.
(Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)
Life as a Palestinian near the settlements has long been difficult in this bucolic portion of the West Bank, where the olive groves covering the hills are the sites of regular confrontations between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers. The confrontations have become increasingly lethal, with more than 1,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and armed settlers since the Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the United Nations.
But although the war in Gaza is abating, extremist settler groups such as the so-called Hilltop Youth have doubled down on their unprecedented — and increasingly effective — campaign of harassment and land-grabbing that has hit all Palestinians, regardless of religion or political affiliation.
This year, the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, tallied more than 1,000 attacks in the West Bank through August, putting it on track to be the most violent on record.
And the scope of the intimidation campaign is increasing: The olive harvest in October saw 126 attacks on Palestinians and their property in 70 West Bank towns and villages; it was almost three times the number of attacks and double the communities targeted during 2023’s harvest. More than 4,000 olive trees and saplings were vandalized, the highest number in six years, OCHA says.
Almost half of those attacks have been in Ramallah governorate, which encompasses Taybeh and a slew of communities contending with intensifying violence from settlement outposts — that is, encampments set up by settlers in rural parts of the West Bank that are illegal under Israeli law but often protected by the authorities.
Worshipers walk on the grounds of Christ the Redeemer Latin Church in Taybeh.
(Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)
Taybeh, which means “delicious” in Arabic and which relies on tourism along with olive and other harvests, has been particularly affected, if only because of sheer demographics: Christians account for roughly 1% to 2% of the 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, down from about 10% when Israel was founded in 1948.
Even within that tiny minority, Taybeh’s 1,200 residents are fiercely proud of their community and see it as unique. Tourists have long come here, whether to day-trip through hiking trails where prophets once trod or visit the village’s different churches. In years past, it was the site of an Oktoberfest celebration that would draw 16,000 people.
Just as Christians in other parts of the Middle East have left because of war and instability, the constant lack of security, not to mention the economic strangulation that has accompanied it, have pushed 10 families to emigrate from the village in the last two years. It may sound like a small number, but it is a loss the village can ill afford, said Father Jack-Nobel Abed of Taybeh’s Greek Melkite Catholic Church.
Abed, who sports an impressive beard and a baritone voice, passionately advocates for Christians to stay in the Holy Land. When U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee — an ardent supporter of the settler movement — visited Taybeh after the torching near the church, Abed asked him to not issue U.S. immigrant visas to Christians from the area.
“I told him, ‘We have something to do in this land. This is our land, and our roots are deep enough to reach hell,’” Abed said. But he said he also understood if people leave for a time and return later.
“If the circumstances and the situation is forcing someone [to leave] because they’re afraid their kids will be killed, imprisoned, or to have no proper future, then you can’t hold a stick and stop them from what they need to do,” Abed said.
He has little patience for Christian Zionists such as Huckabee, who he said claim to care for Christians in the region while turning a blind eye to the persecution driving them away.
“Who are you to speak in my name as a Christian? How would you have learned of Christianity if it weren’t for someone like me in this land?” Abed asked.
Khaldoon Hanna, in the restaurant he owns in Taybeh, says few tourists visit the village anymore because of violence committed by Israeli settlers and increased security measures imposed by Israel in the West Bank.
(Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)
The Israeli military says it works to prevent settler attacks, and Palestinians must coordinate with Israeli authorities in advance to visit their lands if they’re near settlements or outposts. But even when Palestinians do that, settlers often come out to block them anyway, and they’ve commandeered areas that never required coordination in the past.
When Palestinians fight back, the army prosecutes them under military law, while settlers, if they’re prosecuted at all, are subject to civil law. A report last year from the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said more than 93% of investigations of settlers between 2005 and 2023 closed without an indictment. Only 3% led to a conviction.
A butcher shop sits empty in Taybeh, a village in the central West Bank about 20 miles east of Jerusalem.
(Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)
In any case, Hanna and others say, the line between settlers and army has been blurred since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
“It’s all the same,” Hanna said. “The entire aim is to make me forget anything called Palestine — to reach a point of desperation where I have nothing here. I have no future here.”
On that point, Hanna and hard-line settlers agree.
“Look at how much territory we’ve conquered in the last two years, in how many places the wheel has turned and despair has seeped into the enemy,” wrote settler leader Elisha Yered on X in a post exhorting Jews to deny Palestinians employment opportunities.
Madees Khoury, general manager of the Taybeh Brewing Co., at the family-run brewery in Taybeh.
(Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)
But some Palestinians refuse to give up. Madees Khoury, the general manager of Taybeh Brewing Co., is one of those who choose to stay in town, though she knows at least one family gearing up to emigrate in the coming weeks.
“Khalas, you can’t blame them,” she said, using the Arabic word for “enough.” “It’s sad. These are the good people, the ones you want to stay, to build, to educate their kids, to resist.”
That was the ethos driving her family, which opened the microbrewery in the optimistic days after the 1993 Oslo Accords, when peace and a Palestinian state seemed within reach. Instead of starting a brewery in Boston, Khoury’s father, Nadeem Khoury, and his brother gave up their business in Brookline, Mass., and moved back with their kids to Taybeh.
Khoury started hanging out in the brewery when she was 7, folding cartons “and generally staying in other people’s way.” She remembers her childhood during the second intifada, or uprising, when she couldn’t attend birthday parties because of Israeli checkpoint closures, and driving through mountain passes permeated by the smell of tear gas.
“It’s not normal. But I’m a stronger Palestinian for having gone through it. I’m not afraid of a settler in the checkpoint with an M-16; he’s more terrified of me,” she said. She added that pressure from the U.S. is the only way to reduce the wave of violence engulfing her village.
“If Americans want peace, if they really care about the Christians in Palestine, they wouldn’t allow settlers to stay on Taybeh land and causing problems.”
Iconography is displayed inside the ruins of the 4th century Church of St. George in Taybeh.
(Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)
Although Israel portrays itself as a model of religious freedom, there has been a rise in anti-Christian behavior in recent years. A 2024 report by the Jerusalem-based Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue counted 111 reported cases of attacks against Christians in Israel and the West Bank, including 46 physical assaults, 35 attacks against church properties and 13 cases of harassment.
“We think that as Christians, nothing will happen to us. But this is empty talk. As long as you’re Palestinian, they’ll attack you,” Khoury said.
After earning a college degree in Boston, she came back in 2007 and has been working at the brewery since. She acknowledges that the last two years have been the most difficult yet, with business down 70% and Israeli security procedures turning a 90-minute drive to the port of Haifa into a three-day odyssey. Still, the company used the lull to build a new brewery — an expression of faith despite the almost daily settler attacks.
“My brother jokes around and says we’re building this for the settlers to take,” she said, walking through the new brewery wing.
She paused for a moment, her face turning serious.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’re building. We’re growing. We’re investing. And we’re staying,” she said.
Pope Leo XIV called for “deep reflection” in the United States about the treatment of migrants held in detention, saying that “many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now.”Related video above: Pope intervenes in US abortion debate by raising what it really means to be ‘pro-life’The Chicago-born pope was responding Tuesday to a range of geopolitical questions from reporters outside the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, including what kind of spiritual rights migrants in U.S. custody should have, U.S. military attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East. Leo underlined that scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world: “How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening.” He said, “The spiritual rights of people who have been detained should also be considered,” and he called on authorities to allow pastoral workers access to the detained migrants. “Many times they’ve been separated from their families. No one knows what’s happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to,” Leo said.Leo last month urged labor union leaders visiting from Chicago to advocate for immigrants and welcome minorities into their ranks.Asked about the lethal attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela, the pontiff said the military action was “increasing tension,” noting that they were coming even closer to the coastline.”The thing is to seek dialogue,” the pope said.On the Middle East, Leo acknowledged that the first phase of the peace accord between Israel and Hamas remains “very fragile,” and said that the parties need to find a way forward on future governance “and how you can guarantee the rights of all peoples.”Asked about Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, the pope described the settlement issue as “complex,” adding: “Israel has said one thing, then it’s done another sometimes. We need to try to work together for justice for all peoples.”Pope Leo will receive Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican on Thursday. At the end of November, he will make his first trip as Pope to Turkey and Lebanon.
Pope Leo XIV called for “deep reflection” in the United States about the treatment of migrants held in detention, saying that “many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now.”
Related video above: Pope intervenes in US abortion debate by raising what it really means to be ‘pro-life’
The Chicago-born pope was responding Tuesday to a range of geopolitical questions from reporters outside the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, including what kind of spiritual rights migrants in U.S. custody should have, U.S. military attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East.
Leo underlined that scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world: “How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening.”
He said, “The spiritual rights of people who have been detained should also be considered,” and he called on authorities to allow pastoral workers access to the detained migrants. “Many times they’ve been separated from their families. No one knows what’s happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to,” Leo said.
Leo last month urged labor union leaders visiting from Chicago to advocate for immigrants and welcome minorities into their ranks.
Asked about the lethal attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela, the pontiff said the military action was “increasing tension,” noting that they were coming even closer to the coastline.
“The thing is to seek dialogue,” the pope said.
On the Middle East, Leo acknowledged that the first phase of the peace accord between Israel and Hamas remains “very fragile,” and said that the parties need to find a way forward on future governance “and how you can guarantee the rights of all peoples.”
Asked about Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, the pope described the settlement issue as “complex,” adding: “Israel has said one thing, then it’s done another sometimes. We need to try to work together for justice for all peoples.”
Pope Leo will receive Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican on Thursday. At the end of November, he will make his first trip as Pope to Turkey and Lebanon.
The news media that has misread the Donald Trump–Benjamin Netanyahu relationship every step of the way is doing it again. The latest fixation is on the President’s comments against West Bank annexation, while his analysis on Iran and Qatar go ignored.
President Trump told Time magazine that he won’t let Israel annex the West Bank, and Vice President JD Vance said in Israel that he was personally insulted by two preliminary votes of the Israeli Knesset in the policy’s favor on Wednesday. Both U.S. statements are being taken as a rebuke of Prime Minister Netanyahu, when they are really an assist.
EZARIYA, West Bank — Hanging by the desk of the mayor of Bethany — Ezariya, in Arabic — is a blown-up aerial photo from 1938 showing this Palestinian town on Jerusalem’s edge how it once was:
Before the Israeli separation wall severed its access to Jerusalem to the west, before the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim settlement took root nearby, and before a new wall that will soon block it from the east and effectively rend the occupied West Bank in two.
Mayor Khalil Abu Al-Rish stared at the photo one recent morning, a cigarette in one hand and a glum look on his face, then pointed with his other hand out his office window at Ezariya’s bustling main thoroughfare, the primary artery connecting north West Bank cities like Ramallah to Bethlehem and Hebron in the south.
“There are 55,000 living in this town. This road alone has 60 cars passing through it every minute, according to our research. The [Israeli] plan now is to shut it down,” he said.
“Do that, and there’s no Palestinian state.”
“The plan” Abu Al-Rish was referring to is East One or E1, the long-deferred Israeli project that aims to build 3,400 new settlement homes over a 3,000-acre area in the mountains stretching out from East Jerusalem to Maale Adumim.
A billboard announcing new Israeli settlement housing units availability in the West Bank as Israel presses ahead with its expansion plans for the E1 area.
It’s another in a series of moves Israel has taken over the last two years to further the possible annexation of the West Bank, which Palestinians consider a part of their future state and which Israel snatched from Jordan in 1967; its occupation is considered illegal by international law. President Trump said annexation is a red line he will not allow Israel to cross, but he also has not discouraged Israel from expanding settlements in the region.
E1 would cut any Palestinian link to East Jerusalem — where Palestinians hope to make their capital — and torpedo any chance of a contiguous Palestinian state.
The Palestinian Bedouin community of Jabal Al-Baba, or Pope Hill, is under threat of forced displacement by Israeli settlement expansion plans for the E1 area. Seen in the background is the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.
This week, ultranationalist ministers in the Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval to a bill granting Israel authority to annex the West Bank — a largely symbolic move that appears to have been an attempt to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has long called for the annexation of the West Bank, but has demurred from doing so for fear of angering Israel’s main patron in the U.S.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance kneels over the Unction Stone, believed to be the place where Christ’s body was laid down after being removed from the crucifix and prepared for burial, as he tours the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem on Thursday.
(Nathan Howard, Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Vice President JD Vance, who visited Israel this week, on Thursday said of the vote that if it is “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.”
“I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”
But Israel has taken plenty of steps aimed at making annexation a de facto scenario that may soon turn irreversible. It has restricted movement by erecting 288 gates on entrances and exits of Palestinians towns and villages, adding to what the U.N. says are 849 “movement obstacles,” even as settlements have increased in number and size, further penning Palestinians into islands of territory they have little chance of leaving.
One such gate, a yellow metal barrier on the road that Israeli soldiers lock and then leave, appeared this month at Ezariya’s eastern entrance, said Abu Al-Rish.
“We watched them install it one night. It’s not like they talk to us or ask us for permission,” he said, a wan smile on his face.
Businesses and homes near the gate were issued demolition orders to make way for a separation barrier, the Israeli-built barricade composed of 26-foot-high cement walls resembling rows of piano keys slicing through so many parts of the West Bank.
One of the affected owners, 50-year-old Omar Abu Saho, who runs a toy store, said he received a legal notification Oct. 4. The deadline for leaving the area had passed, he said, but no one has come to enforce it for now. But the order certainly hasn’t helped business.
“Look around you, the place is empty. And I’m not getting more inventory. If I sell anything, that’s it,” he said.
A Palestinian carries eggs at the entrance to the West Bank town Ezariya, where Israel has placed a security gate.
Abu Saho had already been forced to move here with his two sons and five daughters from the West Bank city of Jenin. Though Jenin is about 100 miles from the Gaza Strip, when Israel launched its campaign on the enclave after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, the city was nevertheless the focus of sustained Israeli military operations, forcing many merchants like Abu Saho to close up shop.
“We couldn’t continue there, so I came here. Now it seems I’ll have to move again. You follow your business,” he said. “The Israelis destroyed me for three or four times. But every time I continue. And besides, I like to work. If I despair, I won’t live.”
Omar Hassan Abu Ghali, 51, who co-owns a car wash on Ezariya’s main road with his family, was less sanguine. The night he saw the gate installed, he said, felt like his “life was ending.”
“You put a wall here, this area goes bye-bye. There’s nothing any more,” he said, staring at cars making their way through the gate, which at that moment was open.
“The Israelis want to shut down my livelihood, for me and my kids. What am I supposed to do?” he asked. “Where am I supposed to go?”
Tourism to the area has all but withered away, said Hussein Hamad, the caretaker of the archaeological pilgrimage site in Ezariya thought to be the site of Lazarus’ tomb.
Palestinians gather in a marketplace for used goods in the West Bank town of Ezariya.
“October is supposed to our best month. I’d get 20 to 25 groups a week. How many do you see around you now?” he said, waving his hand around the seemingly abandoned area. A nearby shop owner looked expectantly at two people visiting the tomb, but turned back and locked up the shop when she discovered they were reporters, then walked away.
As part of the E1 project, Israel intends to build a Palestinian-only bypass — euphemistically called the “Fabric of Life Road” or “Sovereignty Road” — through parts of Ezariya that it says would solve the problem of movement between parts of the West Bank, without allowing Palestinian traffic near Maale Adumim.
But critics, including Peace Now, an Israeli advocacy group that promotes a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, dismissed the bypass in a statement when the project was first approved in March as an “apartheid road” that “serves no purpose in improving Palestinian transportation.”
“Instead, it is solely aimed at facilitating the annexation of a vast area,” Peace Now said. The group noted the irony that the road wouldn’t be funded by Israeli taxpayers, but would use customs revenues Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority but which it frequently withholds.
The Palestinian Bedouin community, foreground, of Jabal Al-Baba, or Pope Hill.
The bypass road would also chomp off more of Ezariya’s territory, a significant portion of which has already been expropriated by Israel, said Abu Al-Rish. That would prevent the town from the expansion it desperately needs to house the growing population. He added that if the roadworks go ahead, Ezariya’s role as a top Palestinian commercial hub would end.
“We have more than 1,000 businesses here. What you see in front of you is the longest commercial street in all the West Bank,” he said.
“It’s just inconceivable to me that this will go away.”
It’s not the first time Israel has tried to bring E1 into being. First proposed in 1994 under Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (a year after he signed the Oslo Accords that were to bring about a Palestinian state), E1 stalled before concerted international opposition, including from traditional allies of Israel, which feared the project’s impact on the West Bank.
As recently as two years ago, Abu Al-Rish said, U.S. officials would reassure him the plan wasn’t going through. Even now, European nations have remained against E1 and condemned the Israeli government when it approved the plan in August. The Trump administration took a different tack.
“We will not tell Israel what to do. We will not interfere,” said U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, an avid supporter of Israel and settlements, in an interview with Galatz radio in August.
Israel has so far constructed approximately 160 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, housing some 700,000 Jews alongside 3.3 million Palestinians.
Israel argues E1 is a necessity to link Maale Adumim to Jerusalem both for the purposes of urban planning and security. But for their part, Israeli politicians are clear on E1’s effect.
Children from the Palestinian Bedouin community of Jabal Al-Baba gather in a circle with their teacher.
“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not by slogans but by deeds,” said Bezalel Smotrich, the ultranationalist finance minister in Netanyahu’s government, after the August approval. He framed the decision as a response to a raft of countries recognizing the state of Palestine.
“Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea,” he said.
Ever since the E1 project was on the books, Atallah Mazaraa, a Bedouin who lives near Ezariya in an area called Pope Hill — or Jabal Al-Baba, so named because it was gifted to the pope when the area was under Jordanian control — has kept up a grinding legal fight to keep his community in place.
Sitting in a pre-fabricated hut that doubles as an office from where he runs his legal campaign, Mazaraa reminisced about the time when his flock of sheep and goats could roam and graze where Maale Adumim now stands. Then the spring from where they drank was commandeered for the settlement’s use, even as the thousands of square miles open to his livestock shrank with every passing year.
“Every day they try to take more and more. You just don’t have stability,” he said.
For Mazaraa, international recognition means nothing.
“We Palestinians know if you go from Nablus to Jericho, there’s no state. What, I want a passport, a piece of paper that says I have a state, when every 200 yards there’s a checkpoint?” he said.
“All we want the Israelis to do is leave us alone,” he said. “But they’ve taken away so much of the West Bank.”
Israel is accusing Hamas of violating their ceasefire agreement and attacking Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, prompting the IDF to carry out strikes in retaliation. Debora Patta is in East Jerusalem with the latest.
Summoned last minute by the president of the United States, the world’s most powerful leaders dropped their schedules to fly to Egypt on Monday, where they idled on a stage awaiting Donald Trump’s grand entrance.
They were there to celebrate a significant U.S. diplomatic achievement that has ended hostilities in Gaza after two brutal years of war. But really, they were there for Trump, who took a victory lap for brokering what he called the “greatest deal of them all.”
“Together we’ve achieved what everyone said was impossible, but at long last, we have peace in the Middle East,” Trump told gathered presidents, sheikhs, prime ministers and emirs, arriving in Egypt after addressing the Knesset in Israel. “Nobody thought it could ever get there, and now we’re there.
“Now, the rebuilding begins — the rebuilding is maybe going to be the easiest part,” Trump said. “I think we’ve done a lot of the hardest part, because the rest comes together. We all know how to rebuild, and we know how to build better than anybody in the world.”
The achievement of a ceasefire in Gaza has earned Trump praise from across the political aisle and from U.S. friends and foes around the world, securing an elusive peace that officials hope will endure long enough to provide space for a wider settlement of Mideast tensions.
Trump’s negotiation of the Abraham Accords in his first term, which saw his administration secure diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, were a nonpartisan success embraced by the succeeding Biden administration. But it was the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and the overwhelming response from Israel that followed, that interrupted efforts by President Biden and his team to build on their success.
The Trump administration now hopes to get talks of expanding the Abraham Accords back on track, eyeing new deals between Israel and Lebanon, Syria, and most of all, Saudi Arabia, effectively ending Israel’s isolation from the Arab world.
Yet, while the current Gaza war appears to be over, the greater Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains.
Trump’s diplomatic success halted the deadliest and most destructive war between Israelis and Palestinians in history, making the achievement all the more notable. Yet the record of the conflict shows a pattern of cyclical violence that flares when similar ceasefires are followed by periods of global neglect.
The first phase of Trump’s peace plan saw Israeli defense forces withdraw from half of Gazan territory, followed by the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas since Oct. 7 in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli custody.
The next phase — Hamas’ disarmament and Gaza’s reconstruction — may not in fact be “the easiest part,” experts say.
“Phase two depends on Trump keeping everyone’s feet to the fire,” said Dennis Ross, a veteran diplomat on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who served in the George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations.
“Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction are tied together,” he added. “The Saudis and Emiratis won’t invest the big sums Trump talked about without it. Otherwise they know this will happen again.”
While the Israeli government voted to approve the conditions of the hostage release, neither side has agreed to later stages of Trump’s plan, which would see Hamas militants granted amnesty for disarming and vowing to remain outside of Palestinian governance going forward.
An apolitical, technocratic council would assume governing responsibilities for an interim period, with an international body, chaired by Trump, overseeing reconstruction of a territory that has seen 90% of its structures destroyed.
President Trump speaks during a summit of world leaders Monday in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
(Amr Nabil / Associated Press)
The document, in other words, is not just a concession of defeat by Hamas, but a full and complete surrender that few in the Middle East believe the group will ultimately accept. While Hamas could technically cease to exist, the Muslim Brotherhood — a sprawling political movement throughout the region from which Hamas was born — could end up reviving the group in another form.
In Israel, the success of the next stage — as well as a long-delayed internal investigation into the government failures that led to Oct. 7 — will likely dominate the next election, which could be called for any time next year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s domestic polling fluctuated dramatically over the course of the war, and both flanks of Israeli society, from the moderate left to the far right, are expected to exploit the country’s growing war fatigue under his leadership for their own political gain.
Netanyahu’s instinct has been to run to the right in every Israeli election this last decade. But catering to a voting bloc fueling Israel’s settler enterprise in the West Bank — long the more peaceful Palestinian territory, governed by a historically weak Palestinian Authority — runs the risk of spawning another crisis that could quickly upend Trump’s peace effort.
And crises in the West Bank have prompted the resumption of war in Gaza before.
“Israelis will fear Hamas would dominate a Palestinian state, and that is why disarmament of Hamas and reform of the [Palestinian Authority] are so important. Having Saudi leaders reach out to the Israeli public would help,” Ross said.
“The creeping annexation in the West Bank must stop,” Ross added. “The expansion of settlements must stop, and the violence of extremist settlers must stop.”
In the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, Netanyahu faced broad criticism for a yearslong strategy of disempowering the Palestinian Authority to Hamas’ benefit, preferring a conflict he knew Israel could win over a peace Israel could not control.
So the true fate of Trump’s peace plan may ultimately come down to the type of peace Netanyahu chooses to pursue in the heat of an election year.
“You are committed to this peace,” Netanyahu said Monday, standing alongside Trump in the Knesset. The Israeli prime minister added: “I am committed to this peace.”
(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.
After two years of the Israel-Hamas war, all 20 living hostages have been freed and are in Israel as part of a ceasefire agreement. Video above: People celebrate at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv after hostages releasedThousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, singing and cheering as the initial hostages were released. Guy Gilboa-Dalal was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7. Evyatar David, Gilboa-Dalal’s childhood best friend, was also abducted from the festival and reunited with his family Monday.Watch below: Guy Gilboa-Dalal reunites with his family after being freedAlon Ohel was taken from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7.Watch below: Former hostage Alon Ohel meets with his familyEvyatar David was reunited with his family after being kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival along with his childhood best friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, who also returned to his family Monday.Watch below: Former hostage Evyatar David reunites with his familyBar Kupershtein was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7.Watch below: Released Israeli hostage Bar Kupershtein reunites with familyZiv and Gali Berman were kidnapped from their home in kibbutz Kfar-Aza on Oct. 7. Their mother, Liran Berman, told CNN in February that other hostages who had been released had informed the family that the twin brothers were alive but separated from each other.Watch below: Former hostages Gali and Ziv Berman on their way to hospital in Israeli Air Force helicopterMore than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners were also freed as part of the ceasefire.Watch below: People celebrate in West Bank as released Palestinians reunite with their familiesSenior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences was included in the ceasefire deal.Watch below: Released prisoner says prison conditions are terrible, celebrates releaseAll the hostages freed Monday are men, as women, children and men older than 50 were released under previous ceasefire deals.Watch below: The 13 remaining living hostages have been released by Hamas
After two years of the Israel-Hamas war, all 20 living hostages have been freed and are in Israel as part of a ceasefire agreement.
Video above: People celebrate at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv after hostages released
Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, singing and cheering as the initial hostages were released.
Guy Gilboa-Dalal was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7. Evyatar David, Gilboa-Dalal’s childhood best friend, was also abducted from the festival and reunited with his family Monday.
Watch below: Guy Gilboa-Dalal reunites with his family after being freed
Alon Ohel was taken from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7.
Watch below: Former hostage Alon Ohel meets with his family
Evyatar David was reunited with his family after being kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival along with his childhood best friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, who also returned to his family Monday.
Watch below: Former hostage Evyatar David reunites with his family
Ziv and Gali Berman were kidnapped from their home in kibbutz Kfar-Aza on Oct. 7. Their mother, Liran Berman, told CNN in February that other hostages who had been released had informed the family that the twin brothers were alive but separated from each other.
Watch below: Former hostages Gali and Ziv Berman on their way to hospital in Israeli Air Force helicopter
More than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners were also freed as part of the ceasefire.
Watch below: People celebrate in West Bank as released Palestinians reunite with their families
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences was included in the ceasefire deal.
Watch below: Released prisoner says prison conditions are terrible, celebrates release
All the hostages freed Monday are men, as women, children and men older than 50 were released under previous ceasefire deals.
Watch below: The 13 remaining living hostages have been released by Hamas
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 releases first group of 7 hostages to Red Cross in Gaza, Israel says | Special Report – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Hamas has handed over a first group of living Israeli hostages to the Red Cross as part of President Trump’s peace plan. Kelly O’Grady anchored CBS News’ special report.
Reflecting on Oct. 7 and 2 years of Gaza war with Israeli hostages set to come home – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Kelly O’Grady looks back at the Oct. 7 attack, the war in Gaza and the U.S. reaction to the conflict as Hamas prepares to release the remaining Israeli hostages.
