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Second Hostage-for-Prisoners Release Looms, Egypt Sees ‘Positive Signals’ on Gaza Truce Extension

Aviv Asher, 2,5-year-old, her sister Raz Asher, 4,5-year-old, and mother Doron, react as they meet with Yoni, Raz and Aviv’s father and Doron’s husband, after they returned to Israel to the designated complex at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Petah Tikva, Israel, in this handout picture released on November 25, 2023. Photo: Schneider Children’s Medical Center Spokesperson/Handout via REUTERS.

Hamas was expected to release a second group of Israelis on Saturday under a deal to allow an exchange of 50 hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and Egypt indicated the four-day truce could be extended by one or two days.

An Israeli military spokesman told French TV BFM that, barring last minute changes, 13 Israeli hostages were expected to be freed Saturday, while 39 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return.

Earlier, Egyptian security sources had said they had received the names of 14 Israeli women and children from Hamas and were waiting for more details.

Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing through which vital aid has resumed passing into the Gaza Strip under the truce accord, also said it had received “positive signals” from all parties over a possible extension of that deal.

Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), said in a statement Cairo was holding extensive talks with all parties to reach an agreement which would mean “the release of more detainees in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.”

Under the existing deal, a total of 50 hostages are to be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners, some of them convicted on weapon charges and violent offenses, over four days. The first exchange took place on Friday.

Among the Israelis freed on Friday after almost 50 days in captivity in Gaza was nine-year-old Ohad Munder, who ran down a hospital corridor in Israel into his father’s open arms, footage released by the hospital showed.

He and three other children released at the same time were in relatively good condition, Gilat Livni, the center’s Director of Pediatrics told reporters.

“I dreamt we came home,” another hostage, four-year-old Raz Asher, said sitting in her father’s arms on a hospital bed after she and her mother and younger sister were freed. “Now the dream came true,” her father, Yoni, replied.

Hamas fighters freed a total of 24 hostages on Friday – 13 Israelis, 10 Thai farm workers and a Filipino – and Israel later released 39 Palestinian women and teenagers from detention.

AID TRUCKS

Both sides have said hostilities would resume as soon as the truce ends, though U.S. President Joe Biden said there was a real chance of extending the truce.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its fighters killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages after they broke through security barriers around the Gaza Strip and rampaged through Israeli communities around the blockaded enclave.

For many of the 2.3 million people who live in the tiny Gaza Strip, the pause in the near-constant air and artillery strikes has offered a first chance to safely move around, take stock of the devastation, and seek access to aid imports.

“We hope the truce will continue and be permanent, not just four or five days. People cannot pay the cost of this war,” said Ayman Nofal, in a street market in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

Fifty trucks carrying food, water, shelter equipment, and medical supplies, have been deployed to the northern Gaza Strip and to shelters in non-evacuated areas of the Palestinian enclave, Israel said.

This was the first time since the start of the war that a significant amount of aid was deployed to northern Gaza, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry agency that coordinates with the Palestinians.

‘BREATHE A LITTLE’

A U.N. convoy delivered aid to two shelters for displaced people in northern Gaza for the first time in over a month, the U.N. humanitarian office said.

“We are happy with the truce, it gave the people the opportunity to breathe a little bit,” Palestinian resident Haitham Ahmed said.

Four fuel trucks and four more carrying cooking gas passed through the Rafah crossing into Gaza early on Saturday. Palestinians, suffering acute fuel shortages due to Israel’s blockade of the enclave, stood in long queues to fill their gas cylinders.

But Mohammed Ghandour who waited five hours to fill his cylindrical metal canister, left empty-handed. “I’m now going home without gas,” he said.

Aid groups have also used the temporary truce to evacuate patients and health workers from some northern hospitals that have all but collapsed due to attacks and lack of fuel.

‘STILL AFRAID’

Thailand welcomed the release of 10 of its nationals from Gaza on Friday under a separate track mediated by Egypt and Qatar, and said a further 20 were still behind held. Iran said it helped facilitate that release.

Among those freed was Thai farm worker Vetoon Phoome, whose family thought he had been killed in the Hamas attack seven weeks ago, according to his sister, Roongarun Wichagern.

In Palestinian homes, the joy of being reunited with loved ones was tinged with bitterness. In at least three cases, prior to the prisoners’ release, Israeli police raided their families’ homes in Jerusalem, witnesses said. Police declined to comment.

“There is no real joy, even this little joy we feel as we wait,” said Sawsan Bkeer, the mother of 24-year-old Palestinian Marah Bkeer, jailed for eight years on knife and assault charges in 2015.

Israeli police were seen raiding her Jerusalem home before her daughter’s release.

“We are still afraid to feel happy,” she added.

In Khan Younis, Tahani al-Najjar, a Palestinian woman returning home to find it in ruins, said a pause in the fighting was not enough.

“Tell me what we got out of this truce?” she asked. “What we got out of this truce? You only made our hearts hurt. Do you want to find a solution for us? You should make a permanent truce for us.”

The post Second Hostage-for-Prisoners Release Looms, Egypt Sees ‘Positive Signals’ on Gaza Truce Extension first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool

US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.

Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.

“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.

“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”

Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.

After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.

Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.

On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.

The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.

On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.

Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.

Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.

ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.

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Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 NewsIn a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.

The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.

“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”

Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.

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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.

Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.

Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.

The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.

The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.

Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.

Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.

Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.

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