Tens of thousands of Palestinians streamed along the main roads leading north in Gaza yesterday after Hamas agreed to hand over three Israeli hostages later this week and Israeli forces began to withdraw from a main corridor across the enclave.

US President Donald Trump floated a plan to “just clean out” Gaza, and said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians from the territory, as a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas aimed at permanently ending the war entered its second week yesterday.

Israeli forces killed 15 people in south Lebanon yesterday as a deadline for their withdrawal passed and thousands of people tried to return to their homes in defiance of Israeli military orders, Lebanese authorities said.

The Israel-Hamas war has put back development in Gaza by 60 years and mobilising the tens of billions of dollars needed for reconstruction will be an uphill task, the United Nations said.

Palestinian militants and Israel carried out a hostage-prisoner swap yesterday under a Gaza ceasefire deal, but a last-minute dispute blocked the expected return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to devastated northern Gaza.

Israeli operations in the West Bank have killed at least 12 Palestinians since Tuesday and could threaten the newly agreed ceasefire in Gaza, United Nations Human Rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said yesterday.

A Palestinian official said hundreds of residents of the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp were leaving their homes yesterday, days into a large-scale Israeli raid in the area.

A Palestinian official reported shooting and explosions in the flashpoint West Bank town of Jenin yesterday as Israeli forces pressed on with a raid that the military described as a “counterterrorism” operation.

Guns may have fallen silent in Gaza, but for Mahmoud Abu Dalfa, the agony is not over. He is desperately searching for the bodies of his wife and five children trapped under the rubble of his house since the early months of the war.

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire entered a third day yesterday, while US President Donald Trump said he doubted the fragile deal would hold.

A fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was holding yesterday, following the dramatic exchange of three hostages for 90 Palestinian prisoners in an agreement aimed at ending more than 15 months of offensive in Gaza.

Thousands of displaced, war-weary Gazans set off across the devastated Palestinian territory to return to their home areas yesterday after a long-awaited truce between Israel and Hamas took effect following an initial delay.

A ceasefire in the Gaza war will begin today morning, mediator Qatar said after Israel’s cabinet voted to approve the truce and hostage-prisoner release deal.

Two judges were killed in a shooting attack yesterday at the Supreme Court building in Tehran, state media reported.

With a pending Gaza ceasefire and Donald Trump returning as US president, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader must now decide whether to recognise Israel before a Palestinian state is created.

Two judges were killed in a shooting attack on Saturday outside the Supreme Court building in Tehran, state media reported

The Israeli security cabinet has ratified the Gaza ceasefire and hostage return deal, ahead of a full cabinet meeting expected later yesterday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

The release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel is expected to begin on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday

Israel airstrikes killed 77 people in Gaza yesterday, residents and authorities in the enclave said, hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of offensive.

Qatar’s prime minister announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed yesterday to a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza, adding he hoped the deal would pave the way for a permanent end to the fighting.