Middle East latest: Eight hostages are released from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners

Also Thursday, Hamas confirmed for the first time that Israel killed the head of its military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike last year. Deif was one of the alleged masterminds of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

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Here's the latest:

Trump won't say whether he'll pull troops out of Syria

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump is declining to say whether he intends to maintain current U.S. troop levels in Syria.

“We’ll make a determination on that,” Trump told reporters on Thursday when asked if he intends to withdraw U.S. troops deployed to Syria to fight the Islamic State group. “We’re not involved in Syria. Syria’s its own mess. They got enough messes over there. They don’t need us involved with everything.”

The U.S. had said for years that there were about 900 troops in Syria, but the Pentagon acknowledged in December that U.S. troop levels had surged to about 2,000.

There has long been friction between the U.S. and Syria’s neighbors — Turkey and Iraq — about the ongoing presence of American forces in Syria and the need to keep them at a particular level. Israel meanwhile has urged the U.S. to maintain a presence in the country.

Trump said just before rebels ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad in December in that the U.S. military should stay out of Syria.

UN’s Palestinian aid agency is still operating despite Israeli ban

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees is continuing to deliver assistance and services in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem despite an Israeli ban on contact with the agency that went into effect Thursday.

The array of schools and medical clinics run by UNRWA in east Jerusalem were operating Thursday and the agency said there had been no change in its deliveries of aid in the Gaza Strip.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that the UNRWA headquarters in east Jerusalem, which Israel ordered to be evacuated by Thursday, was still flying the U.N. flag although staffers had removed everything inside, including computers and files, and only unarmed local security guards are present.

Some two dozen U.N. international staffers whose visas are no longer valid left for Jordan, he said.

Israel’s government claims claims the agency is deeply infiltrated by Hamas. UNRWA rejects that claim.

Trump keeps pushing his plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump isn't giving up on the idea of Egypt and Jordan taking in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, even as the leaders of both countries have flatly rejected the idea.

“They’re going to do it,” Trump said in exchange with reporters on Thursday, when asked whether he could force Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from the war-torn territory. “We do a lot for them and they’re going to do it.”

Trump does have leverage to wield over Jordan and Egypt, two strategically important U.S. allies that are heavily dependent on U.S. aid.

Trump first floated the idea last week, saying he would urge the leaders of the two Arab countries to take in Gaza's now largely homeless population, so that "we just clean out that whole thing." He added that resettling most of war-torn Gaza's population of 2.3 million could be temporary or long term.

Human rights groups have already accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, which United Nations experts define as a policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove the civilian population of another group from certain areas "by violent and terror-inspiring means."

Syria to form a national dialogue committee as the country weighs its political future

BEIRUT — A Syrian committee that's expected to prompt a national dialogue over the country’s political future will be announced in the “coming days” and will also select an interim legislative council after dissolving parliament, the country's interim president said Thursday.

Ahmad al-Sharaa's address was broadcast Thursday, a day after the former rebel announced himself as the war-torn country's temporary leader. It was unclear who will participate in the national dialogue, which will pave the way for Syria's political future, including a new constitution and elections.

It's been almost two months since al-Sharaa led a lightning insurgency that overthrew President Bashar Assad. Al-Sharaa's interim government consists of ministers and security officials affiliated with the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, which he leads. The group was once affiliated with al-Qaida but has denounced its former ties.

There are concerns from international governments and Syrian civil society that women as well as ethnic and religious minorities might be excluded. Meanwhile, talks between HTS and the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have not made much progress in reaching a political and security settlement.

“We will work on forming a complete transitional government that shows Syria’s diversity between its men, women, and youth,” he added. “It would work on building the new Syria’s institutions until we reach the stage of free and honest elections.”

Al-Sharaa has said that HTS will dissolve as a group during the conference, but admitted that drafting a new constitution and holding elections could take years.

Israel says a soldier is killed in combat in the West Bank

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says a soldier has been killed during an operation in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli media said Staff Sgt. Liam Hazi was killed in a gunbattle in the Jenin refugee camp.

The urban camp is known as a stronghold of Palestinian militants, and the Israeli military has been carrying out a large-scale operation focused on the area for over a week.

Palestinian officials say at least 28 people have been killed in the Israeli crackdown.

Families of Palestinian prisoners are reunited with loved ones freed by Israel

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Crowds of Palestinians — the relatives and friends of released prisoners but also scores of jubilant supporters — mobbed buses carrying the prisoners. As soon as they stepped off the buses, the crowd hoisted the prisoners in the air.

Zakaria Zubeidi — a prominent former militant leader and theater director who took part in a dramatic jailbreak in 2021 before being rearrested days later — wore a grey prison jumpsuit and flashed a victory sign from inside one of the buses.

Red Crescent medics said they would perform blood tests on the released prisoners. They didn’t know in what condition the prisoners were returning. Rights groups have described increasingly harsh conditions and treatment in Israeli jails since the Israel-Hamas war began.

The Palestinian prisoners released include 30 who were serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis; seven were allowed to return to the occupied West Bank, but the rest were being transferred to Egypt before further deportation.

Hamas confirms Israel killed the head of its military wing last year

JERUSALEM — Hamas confirmed the death of Mohammed Deif, head of its military wing and one of the alleged masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack, six months after Israel announced he was killed in an airstrike in Gaza.

It was Hamas’ first statement on his condition since the Israeli military announced last August that he was killed in southern Gaza the month before. Hamas also confirmed the deaths of four other members.

Arab television networks cut into livestreams of the Palestinian prisoner release to carry a press conference delivered by Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, who confirmed the death of Deif.

For years, Deif topped Israel’s most-wanted list and survived a string of Israeli assassination attempts while not showing his face in public for decades. Deif was considered iconic among Hamas fighters and particularly hard to replace. But Israel has eliminated Hamas’ leadership in the past, only to see the deeply entrenched group continue fighting Israel.

Over the past two weeks of the ceasefire, Hamas has projected dominance as the main Palestinian power in Gaza despite the Israeli military’s stated goal of destroying and dislodging the organization. Dozens of uniformed, gun-toting Hamas militants have welcomed displaced Palestinians back home to their homes in the north, popped back up on the streets as policemen and featured prominently in the chaotic handovers of Israeli hostages to the Red Cross.

The other militant leaders confirmed as dead by Hamas include: Marwan Issa, the second-in-command to Deif, who also helped mastermind the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel; and Rafaa Salameh, the Hamas commander in the southern city of Khan Younis. Israel had announced their deaths in targeted strikes last year.

Hamas says it will keep governing Gaza until a Palestinian alternative is found

CAIRO — A senior Hamas official says the militant group will continue to govern the Gaza Strip until a Palestinian alternative is found, underscoring its survival after 15 months of devastating war.

Speaking to The Associated Press in Cairo on Thursday, Taher Nounou said the 12-day-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas meant that "practically, we can say that the war is over." But, he said, the end must be confirmed by reaching an agreement on the truce's second phase.

Asked if Hamas believes it won the war, Nounou said, “The Palestinian people were not defeated … The enemy did not achieve its goals,” including the elimination of Hamas or the freeing by force of hostages held by Hamas.

Hamas has been in talks with the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority over a potential governing system for Gaza. Nounou said Hamas agreed to an Egyptian proposal that it hand over the running of Gaza to a "community support committee" made up of independent technocrats. Alternatively, it accepts the creation of a national consensus government that would government both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

But he said Fatah, the main faction in the Western-backed PA, has rejected both ideas.

“Until one of the two options is adopted, there will be no vacuum. The current (Hamas-led) administration will bear its responsibility towards our people. And this is what is happening right now,” he said.

Israel says it will not withdraw without ensuring Hamas is finished as a political and military force and cannot rearm — but it has not presented a coherent alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza. It has also rejected any role for the Palestinian Authority in running Gaza.

Hamas says it wants to make sure the ceasefire with Israel doesn't fall apart

CAIRO — A senior Hamas official says the group is determined to make the second phase of its ceasefire with Israel a success, but held out the possibility that Israel could break off talks and resume fighting in Gaza.

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the ceasefire's second phase are due to begin by Monday, but the two sides remain far apart.

After the 42-day first phase, the ceasefire’s second phase is supposed to bring the release of all remaining hostages in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a long-term truce.

“We’re determined — along with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators — to make this stage a success,” said Taher Nounou, a senior Hamas official, in Cairo on Thursday.

Nounou is a member of Hamas’ political bureau and media adviser to the group’s leader in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya. Both men are based in Doha, Qatar.

The 5 Thai hostages are being treated at a hospital in Israel

BEER YAAKOV, Israel — Dozens of doctors, nurses and representatives from Israel and Thailand welcomed the five Thai hostages who were released on Thursday with cheers and waving flags of the two countries as they entered the hospital.

The five Thai farm workers are in “fair” health, although some were held underground and without sunlight for extended periods of time, said Dr. Osnat Levzion-Korach, the general director of Shamir Medical Center.

They will be treated in the hospital for a few days until they can travel home or their families can come to Israel.

Thai Ambassador to Israel Pannabha Chandraramya said she facilitated video calls between the hostages and their families, which was incredibly emotional for everyone involved, with shouts of joy and tears.

She said it was “one of the happiest days of her life” to see the release of the hostages just a week before she ends her five-year term.

Pannabha said there was no immediate information available about the last Thai hostage nor the bodies of two Thai workers who Israel believes were killed in the October 2023 Hamas attacks and their remains taken to Gaza.

Israel identified the Thai hostages released as: Watchara Sriaoun, 33; Pongsak Thaenna, 36; Sathian Suwannakham, 35; Surasak Rumnao, 32; and Bannawat Saethao, 27.

Thai officials said they appeared to be in good health.

A hostage's mother in Thailand describes the joyful moment she watched her son freed from Gaza

BANGKOK — The mother of Thai hostage Surasak Rumnao was overcome with joy as militants released her son from Gaza, watching the scene unfold via a Facebook livestream with her husband and daughter at their home in Udon Thani, Thailand.

Khammee Lamnao had been anxiously waiting for updates from her country's embassy in Israel since Thursday morning. The release didn't take place until well after sundown in Thailand.

“I was so happy that I could not eat anything. His father brought some food to me but I did not want to eat at all,” Khammee said on a video call with The Associated Press after the her son was released. “I recognized him, although his skin looks more fair and he is fatter now.”

She said she wasn't immediately able to talk to him on a video call.

“When he’s back, I’d like to hold the ritual for consoling him and afterwards I want him to be ordained" as a Buddhist monk, Khammee said. "He can be in monkhood as long as he wants.”

Scuffles erupt between Palestinian teens and Israeli soldiers as prisoners are released

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Scuffles erupted around Ofer prison in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as the convoy of freed Palestinian prisoners departed Thursday, with Palestinian teenagers throwing stones outside the complex and Israeli forces firing tear gas as they tried to clear the area.

The families of Palestinian prisoners caught their first glimpse of the Red Cross buses carrying their loved ones. Through the windshield, shattered in the melee of stone-throwing and teargas-firing, Zakaria Zubeidi, wearing a gray prison sweatsuit, flashed a victory sign at the crowds thronging the convoy.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says that three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire in the confrontations outside Ofer prison. It said Israeli forces used gunfire and stun grenades to disperse the crowds. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel begins freeing Palestinian prisoners after Netanyahu held up their release

RAMALLAH, West Bank — A line of white buses carrying Palestinian prisoners who were set to be released Thursday left Ofer prison in the West Bank.

The buses made their way toward Beitunah, near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where relatives and celebrations awaited.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held up the prisoners' release because of a chaotic hostage transfer in Gaza earlier Thursday.

Israel was releasing the 110 Palestinian prisoners Thursday in exchange for three Israeli and five Thai hostages freed hours earlier.

All 5 Thai hostages are in good health, official says

BANGKOK — All five of the released Thai hostages appear to be in good health but will receive more thorough medical check-ups in light of their 15 months in captivity, a spokesperson for Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nikorndej Balankura, said.

The men, who range in age from 27 to 36, are expected to return to Thailand within 10 days depending on their physical condition and completion of the necessary paperwork, the spokesperson said at a news conference in Bangkok.

He said the total number of Thai nationals affected include 46 fatalities, 28 released hostages and one remaining hostage. Israel says three Thais remain in captivity, two of whom are believed to be dead.

A number of foreign workers were taken hostage along with dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers during Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Twenty-three Thais were among more than 100 hostages released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.

Israel's Netanyahu says mediators have assured a safe exit for hostages in Gaza for future exchanges

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says mediators have assured the safe exit for hostages in Gaza going forward, paving the way for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

He did not confirm the release, but Israeli media reported that it would happen later Thursday.

The chaotic handover Thursday of some of the Israeli captives in Gaza, who were shuttled through a rowdy crowd of thousands by masked militants, drew an angry protest from Israel. Netanyahu had said the release of Palestinian prisoners was put on hold until the “safe release” of hostages can be assured and called on mediators to intervene.

Israeli president thanks Thai government for support

JERUSALEM — Israel’s president thanked the Thai government for its support as he met with the Thai ambassador Thursday, ahead of the release of five Thai hostages from captivity in Gaza.

The Thai government confirmed Thursday that five Thai hostages were released from Gaza. The hostages, who were pulled from the farming communities in southern Israel where they worked as agricultural laborers on Oct. 7, 2023, were among 31 Thais taken by Hamas.

President Isaac Herzog said in a statement posted to X that he told Pannabha Chandraramya, the ambassador of Thailand to Israel, that “the people of Israel are very moved by the release of our Thai brothers from the hell of captivity.”

He thanked the Thai government for its support and vowed to continue trying to secure the release of Thai hostages who remain in Gaza.

Twenty-three others were already released. Another two have been confirmed dead, and the status of one remaining person is not clear.

Netanyahu puts Palestinian prisoners’ release on hold

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put the release of Palestinian prisoners on hold until the “safe release” of hostages is assured after a chaotic handover in Gaza.

Netanyahu demanded that mediators intervene after some hostages released Thursday were led through a rowdy crowd of thousands by masked militants.

Israel was supposed to release 110 Palestinian prisoners later Thursday, including around 30 serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis.

Agam Berger reunites with family at military base

TEL AVIV, Israel — “We’re here and we’re never leaving you,” Agam Berger’s mother, Merav, told her daughter in the moments of their initial reunion on Israeli soil after Agam’s release on Thursday from Hamas captivity.

Berger, 20, was among five young female soldiers abducted when militants overran the Nahal Oz military base in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 60 soldiers there. The other four were released Saturday.

The family was reunited at a specially prepared reception area in a military base near the Gaza border. A pale looking Berger wiped away tears as she sat on her mother’s lap and held her father’s hand, as seen in footage released by the Israeli army.

From the military base, Berger was flown to a hospital in central Israel, where she will meet her fellow released soldiers.

Netanyahu condemns chaos during the release of hostages

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the chaotic scenes at the site of a second hostage release in Gaza on Thursday.

Seven hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis and were then transferred to Israeli forces, the Israeli military said. Their release was delayed after armed militants struggled to contain the large Palestinian crowds that gathered around the Red Cross cars. The hostages were eventually led through the crowd surrounded by a ring of gunmen.

“I view with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office shortly after the handover was completed. He said he “demands that the mediators make certain that such terrible scenes do not recur and guarantee the safety of our hostages.”

Israeli Red Cross says it has received 7 more hostages

JERUSALEM — The Israeli army said the Red Cross has reported receiving seven more hostages, including two Israelis and five Thais, hours after an Israeli soldier was handed over at another location.

Israel protests chaotic scenes surrounded hostage release

JERUSALEM — Israeli officials have filed an angry complaint to international mediators over chaotic scenes surrounding the release of hostages.

An Israeli official confirmed the protest, speaking on condition of anonymity because the release was still taking place.

Militants lead second hostage through crowd ahead of release

Militants led Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud through a chaotic crowd in Gaza ahead of her release, hours after Hamas handed a captive Israeli soldier over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip. Yehoud was at the center of the dispute about the sequence of releases that briefly rocked the ceasefire over the weekend. Israel says she was supposed to have been freed Saturday and delayed the opening of crossings to northern Gaza when she was not.

Israelis watch anxiously as friend nears departure from Gaza

CARMEI GAT, Israel — A group of friends of Arbel Yehoud, a hostage set to be released Thursday, watched in tears and worried silence as the Israeli hostage appeared to be freed, surrounded by a large crowd of Palestinians.

The friends sat in anxious silence at a private home in southern Israel as they watched a TV showing the large crowd of Palestinians gathered at the release point in Gaza. Some cried, others had their hands over their eyes or mouths.

When a news anchor said the situation appeared dangerous, one yelled at her to “shut up.”

People began crying when Yehoud was seen walking through the crowd, escorted by gunmen, followed by reports that she had been turned over to the Red Cross.

Most of the 20 or so people were survivors of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, including three former hostages released in a November 2023 ceasefire.

The Associated Press was granted access to the event.

Thai ambassador says she's ‘holding her breath’

BEER YAAKOV, Israel — Thailand’s ambassador to Israel said she was “holding her breath” along with the entire country of Israel for the release of five Thai agricultural workers who were kidnapped on Oct. 7.

“We have nothing to do with this conflict, they just happened to be there, and they are working tirelessly on the farms and kibbutzes,” said Ambassador Pannabha Chandraramya as she watched footage from Gaza at the Israeli hospital where the Thai workers will be brought upon their return to Israel.

She added that despite the war, Thai agricultural workers are continuing to come to Israel. Prior to the attack, less than 30,000 Thai workers were in Israel, mostly in the agricultural sector, and that number has grown to 38,000.

Chandraramya said the Thai government had notified the families of all six surviving Thai hostages, because they are not sure which five will be released. The bodies of another two Thai hostages who were killed on Oct. 7, 2023 are also being held in Gaza.

The Shamir Medical Center, outside of Tel Aviv, has a number of Thai-speaking social workers and psychologists to assist the hostages being released.

Emir of Qatar meets with Syria's new interim leader

DAMASCUS — The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, visited Syria on Thursday and met with newly installed interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa. He was the first head of state to visit Syria since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lighting rebel offensive last month.

Qatari Minister of State Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Khulaifi told journalists that the wealthy Gulf country “will continue to provide the required support at all economic and service levels, as well as in terms of infrastructure and electricity” to Syria.

Qatar had cut off relations with Damascus and backed rebel groups seeking to overthrow Assad in Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war.

On Wednesday, the Syrian factions that toppled Assad named al-Sharaa, an Islamist former rebel leader who headed the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, as the country‘s interim president. Qatar was among the first countries to welcome al-Sharaa’s appointment.

Israel says it intercepted Hezbollah surveillance drone

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has intercepted a surveillance drone launched toward Israeli airspace by the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire in late November that ended some 14 months of fighting. Under the deal, both sides were to withdraw forces from southern Lebanon within 60 days.

The deadline passed this week with Israeli troops still in Lebanon. But the U.S. said the sides had agreed to extend the ceasefire through Feb. 18 while Israel continues its withdrawal.

Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly accused each other of violating the deal.

Red Cross arrives at site of second hostage handover

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Red Cross vehicles arrived at a location in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis where hostages are set to be released.

The second handover site is in front of the destroyed home of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Hundreds of militants from Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group arrived earlier with a convoy in a show of force, and thousands of people gathered to watch, some from the tilted rooftops of bombed-out buildings.

Israeli soldier Agam Berger released in Gaza Strip

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas handed captive Israeli soldier Agam Berger over to the Red Cross at a ceremony in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza.

Berger, 20, was abducted alongside four other female soldiers, who were freed on Saturday.

At a gathering in Tel Aviv, people cheered, clapped and whistled as they saw images of Berger being released on a TV screen, next to a large clock that’s counted the days the hostages have been in captivity.

Some held signs saying “Agam we’re waiting for you at home.”

A short time later, Israel confirmed that Berger was with its military.

Red Cross arrives at site of hostage release

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Red Cross vehicles arrived at the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya, where hundreds of masked militants and onlookers had gathered ahead of a planned release of hostages held in Gaza.

Hamas set up two locations for the release, one in Jabaliya and the other in the southern city of Khan Younis in front of the destroyed home of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Video shows hostages set to be released

JERUSALEM — The Islamic Jihad militant group has released a brief video of two hostages set to be released Thursday as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The video, without sound, shows Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Moses, 80, smiling and embracing one another. They were among scores of people abducted in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme militant group allied with Hamas. It took part in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.

Mother of Thai hostage hears he's about to be freed

BANGKOK — Khammee Lamnao, the mother of Thai hostage Surasak Rumnao, said the Thai embassy in Israel had called her Wednesday to let her know her son was one of the five who were to be released.

“I cannot wait to see my son,” the 53-year-old said. “I’ve been waiting for him.”

Surasak had been working in the agricultural sector in Israel for 15 months when he was taken hostage during the October 2023 attack.

Thirty-one Thai nationals are believed to have been taken hostage when Hamas attacked Israel in October, 2023. Of those, 23 have been released, and two of the remaining hostages have been confirmed dead.

Five surviving hostages are due to be released, and it is not clear at the moment what the status of the sixth person is.

There were about 30,000 Thai workers — mostly laborers in the agricultural sector — in Israel prior to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, when militants stormed through a border fence and killed hundreds of Israelis and foreign nationals, including 41 Thai workers.

At least 7,000 Thai workers are known to have returned home on government evacuation flights, but many others decided to stay for the opportunity to earn wages far higher than at home.

Who's set to be released today?

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israelis set to be released are Agam Berger, 20, a female soldier; Arbel Yehoud, a 29-year-old civilian woman; and Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man. The names of the Thai hostages who were set to be freed were not released.

Yehoud was at the center of the dispute about the sequence of releases that briefly rocked the ceasefire over the weekend. Israel says she was supposed to have been freed Saturday and delayed the opening of crossings to northern Gaza when she was not. Berger was abducted alongside four other female soldiers, who were freed on Saturday.

Of the 110 people set to be released from prisons in Israel, 30 are serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. Zakaria Zubeidi, a prominent former militant leader and theater director who took part in a dramatic jailbreak in 2021 before being rearrested days later, is also among those set to be released.

Ceasefire holds for now but next phase will be harder

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Thursday's exchange is part of a deal that paused fighting in Gaza on Jan. 19. Israeli forces have pulled back from most of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to what remains of their homes and humanitarian groups to surge assistance.

It calls for Hamas to release a total of 33 hostages, including women, children, older adults and sick or wounded men, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the hostages to be released in this phase are dead.

The initial Phase One ceasefire paused fighting for six weeks, calling for the sides to use that time to negotiate a second phase in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages and the ceasefire would continue indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.

Negotiating a phase two deal could be difficult. Hamas says it won't release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, after reasserting its rule over Gaza within hours of the truce.

Meanwhile, Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, and a key far-right partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is already calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire’s first phase.

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Corrects that 41, not 38, Thai workers were killed during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and its aftermath.

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