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After delays, Hamas releases another 13 Israeli hostages and 4 foreign nationals
(JTA) — Hamas released another 13 hostages on Saturday after delays resulting from Israel and Hamas accusing each other of bad faith.
The total number of Israeli hostages released since Friday is now 26, more than half of the 50 women, children and elderly captives Hamas pledged to free. Hamas released the hostages in exchange a ceasefire that began on Friday and is slated to last at least four days. As part of the deal, Israel has also pledged to release a total of 150 Palestinian women and minors held in Israeli prison on security offenses.
In addition to the freed Israeli captives, Hamas has now released a total of 15 foreign hostages under a separate agreement brokered by the Thai government via Iran.
Hamas took approximately 240 people captive in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which the terror group also killed 1,200 and wounded thousands. Hamas can extend the ceasefire by one day for every 10 additional hostages it releases, and may release a total of 80 under the current deal. Three Palestinian prisoners will be released for every Israeli hostage freed.
Israel has vowed to resume the war after the ceasefire, with the goal of eliminating Hamas. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 12,000 people have been killed in the fighting, a number that includes combatants and civilians and doesn’t specify casualties from misfired Palestinian rockets.
The hostages released on Saturday night included eight children and five women. Israel was set to release 39 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas scheduled the release for the afternoon and then delayed it, accusing Israel of delaying the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which was part of the deal, and of failing to release the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials said the aid trucks had reached the Gaza Strip, but were delayed by roads devastated by weeks of Israeli strikes. Israel said there was no formal agreement to release the longest-serving prisoners first.
Last-minute interventions by the governments of Egypt, the United States and Qatar, which has acted as an intermediary for Hamas, salvaged the transfer. President Joe Biden made calls to Egyptian and Qatari leaders to ensure that the release occurred.
The Red Cross picked up the hostages around 11 p.m. on Saturday and crossed the border into Egypt just before a midnight deadline that would have triggered the end of the ceasefire. Israeli media and the families of the hostages identified some of those released as they watched video of them get out of ambulances in Egypt. They were transferred to Israeli territory within 30 minutes.
The 13 hostages, identified by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, included some whose families have advocated in international media for their release. May are from Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities hardest hit by Hamas’ massacre. They are:
–Hila Rotem Shoshani, 12, and her friend, Emily Hand, 9, who were abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri. Hand is a dual Irish-Israeli citizen whose father, Tom, has written about her plight and called for her release on TV. Her mother died of breast cancer when she was a baby. Hila’s mother, Raya, remains in captivity.
–Shira Weiss, 53, and her daughter, Noga, 18, abducted from Be’eri. Ilan Weiss, Noga’s father and Shira’s husband, remains missing.
–Alma Or, 13, and her brother, Noam Or, 17, also abducted from Be’eri, where their mother, Yonat, was killed during the raid. Their father, Dror, remains in captivity.
–Maya Regev Jirbi, 21, who was injured in a Hamas raid on an outdoor party in which hundreds of young people were killed. Regev’s medical status was classified as “complicated” and Israeli TV reported that she would likely be transferred to a hospital by helicopter. Regev’s 19-year-old brother remains in captivity. She is the first abductee from the outdoor party to be released.
–Sharon Avigdor, 53, and her daughter, Noam, 12, who were visiting friends at Kibbutz Be’eri to celebrate the Simchat Torah holiday when the attack occurred.
–Adi Shoham, 38, and her children, Neve, 8, and Yael, 3, who were visiting family in Kibbutz Be’eri. Adi’s mother, Shoshan Haran, 67, a resident of the kibbutz, was also released. Adi and her daughters are dual German-Israeli citizens. Tal Shoham, their father and husband, remains in captivity.
Survivors of the attack on Be’eri crowded around TVs at a Dead Sea hotel where the Israeli government has housed them since Oct. 7. cheering when they recognized friends on the live feed from Egypt.
Upon the delivery of the hostages, Be’eri officials also accused Hamas of bad faith, noting that it had promised to keep families united and noting that Hila Rotem Shoshani’s mother remains captive.
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The post After delays, Hamas releases another 13 Israeli hostages and 4 foreign nationals appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Germany Not Planning to Recognize Palestinian State in Short Term, UK Will Only Do So as Part of Peace Deal
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister in Turku, Finland, on May 27, 2025. Photo: Lehtikuva/Roni Rekomaa via REUTERS
Germany is not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make “long-overdue progress” towards a two-state solution, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.
“Israel’s security is of paramount importance to the German government,” said the spokesperson. “The German government therefore has no plans to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday the British government would recognize a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking swifter action.
France’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September drew condemnation from Israel and the United States, amid the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the decision late Thursday, shortly before Starmer said he would hold an emergency call with France and Germany on the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Friday.
Britain’s immediate priority is alleviating suffering in Gaza and securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a cabinet minister said on Friday, even as Starmer came under growing pressure to recognize a Palestinian state.
Starmer said he was focused on the “practical solutions” that he thought would make a real difference to ending the war.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that,” he said. “But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.”
Over 220 members of parliament – about a third of lawmakers in the House of Commons and mostly Labour members – wrote to Starmer on Friday urging him to recognize a Palestinian state.
Italy’s foreign minister said on Friday that recognition of a Palestinian state must occur simultaneously with the recognition of Israel by the new entity.
“A Palestinian state that does not recognize Israel means that the problem will not be resolved,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told a meeting of his conservative Forza Italia party.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a statement welcoming the French move, credited the leadership of Saudi Arabia with playing “a key role in encouraging France’s decision to recognize the State of Palestine”, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
“President Abbas urged all countries, especially European nations that have not yet recognized the State of Palestine, to do so based on the internationally endorsed two-state solution,” it cited Abbas as saying.
Saudi Arabia has been pushing France to recognize a Palestinian state over the past year with efforts led by Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan, said a source close to the royal court.
The post Germany Not Planning to Recognize Palestinian State in Short Term, UK Will Only Do So as Part of Peace Deal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran and Europeans Hold ‘Frank’ Nuclear Talks With UN Sanctions Looming
General view of the Iranian Consulate where Iran holds nuclear talks with so-called E3 group of France, Britain, and Germany, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dilara Senkaya
Iran said it would continue nuclear talks with European powers after “serious, frank, and detailed” conversations on Friday, the first such face-to-face meeting since Israel and the US bombed Iran last month.
Before the meeting in Istanbul, Iran also pushed back on suggestions of extending the United Nations resolution that ratifies a 2015 deal, nearing expiration, that was designed to curb its nuclear program.
Delegations from the European Union and so-called E3 group of France, Britain, and Germany met Iranian counterparts for about four hours at Iran‘s consulate for talks that the UN nuclear watchdog said could provide an opening to resume inspections in Iran.
IRAN AND EUROPEANS PRESENT IDEAS
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said afterward that both sides had presented specific ideas on sanctions relief and the nuclear issue.
“While seriously criticizing their stances regarding the recent war of aggression against our people, we explained our principled positions, including on the so-called snapback mechanism,” he said.
“It was agreed that consultations on this matter will continue.”
The European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to the 2015 deal – from which the US withdrew in 2018 – which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.
A deadline of Oct. 18 is fast approaching when the resolution governing that deal expires.
At that point, all UN sanctions on Iran will be lifted unless the “snapback” mechanism is triggered at least 30 days before. This would automatically reimpose those sanctions, which target sectors from hydrocarbons to banking and defense.
To give time for this to happen, the E3 have set a deadline of the end of August to revive diplomacy. Diplomats say they want Iran to take concrete steps to convince them to extend the deadline by up to six months.
EUROPEANS WANT NUCLEAR COMMITMENTS FROM IRAN
Iran would need to make commitments on key issues including eventual talks with Washington, full cooperation with the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and accounting for 400 kg (880 pounds) of near-weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, whose whereabouts are unknown since last month’s strikes.
Before the talks, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson had said Tehran considered talk of extending UN Security Council Resolution 2231 to be “meaningless and baseless.”
IAEA head Rafael Grossi said he was optimistic that nuclear inspection visits might be able to restart this year and that it was important to discuss the technical details now.
“We need to agree on where to go, how to do it. We need to listen to Iran in terms of what they consider should be the precautions to be taken,” he told reporters in Singapore.
The United States held five rounds of talks with Iran prior to its airstrikes in June, which US President Donald Trump said had “obliterated” a program that Washington and its ally Israel say is aimed at acquiring a nuclear bomb.
However, NBC News has cited current and former US officials as saying a subsequent US assessment found that while the strikes destroyed most of one of three targeted nuclear sites, the other two were not as badly damaged.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear program is meant solely for civilian purposes.
The post Iran and Europeans Hold ‘Frank’ Nuclear Talks With UN Sanctions Looming first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Will Let Foreign Countries Drop Aid Into Gaza, Israeli Army Radio Says
Parcels of humanitarian aid await transfer into Gaza, at the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing in the Gaza Strip, July 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel will allow foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza starting on Friday, Israeli army radio quoted a military official as saying.
An Israeli military spokesperson did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment on the report.
The Gaza health ministry, which is controlled by the ruling Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, claims that more than 100 people have died from starvation in the enclave.
Israel, which has been at war with Hamas in Gaza since the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of the Jewish state, has restrictions in place on aid that it says are needed to prevent supplies from being diverted to Hamas.
In the first two weeks of July, the UN children’s agency UNICEF treated 5,000 children facing acute malnutrition in Gaza.
Israel has rejected claims that its military policies have triggered starvation in Gaza, describing such accusations as inaccurate, politically driven, and detached from reality.
The Israeli government has facilitated the entry of hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza, officials said this week, condemning the UN and international aid agencies for their alleged failure to distribute supplies.
The post Israel Will Let Foreign Countries Drop Aid Into Gaza, Israeli Army Radio Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.