Tel Aviv witnessed another day of hope filled with emotions on Saturday as four Israeli hostages who were held captive by Hamas reunited with their families in the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal. The four women – Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy, all aged 20, and Liri Albag (19) – waved, smiled, and gave a thumbs up as they arrived at the border.

“Welcome home Liri, Daniella, Karina and Naama,” the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said on X.

This is the moment

Welcome home Liri, Daniella, Karina and Naama. pic.twitter.com/1DAbWX9Ix4

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 25, 2025

They were held captive by Hamas during its attack on October 7, 2023, which killed at least 1200 people. The Lebanon-backed group released them after 477 days of captivity – in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners.

IDF also shared multiple videos and pictures of the women reuniting with their families.

Visuals showed the women running towards their family members and hugging them with tears of joy.

They’re in our hands now and we are not letting go

Welcome home, Daniella, Liri, Karina and Naama. pic.twitter.com/A1V9FcbQY6

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 25, 2025

Another video shows the moment when the released hostages’ families saw their loved ones finally coming back home.

The moment when tears of sadness turned into tears of joy as the released hostages’ families saw their loved ones finally coming back home pic.twitter.com/AvvByt9chZ

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 25, 2025

Also Read | Gaza’s Youngest Hostage: Hamas Says He’s Dead, Family Hoping Against Hope

According to Daniella’s 15-year-old sister, the family never lost hope. “We remained optimistic and we did everything to see her back here, for her return…Wow, I imagined her totally different. It brought back all the emotions I’ve had this past year,” she said.

Upon their release, Liri, in a video, thanked the Israeli forces for bringing them back.

“I love you all the people of Israel who supported our families and embraced them, and to the IDF soldiers who did everything for us. We are very grateful. I love you,” she said.

The touching message of Liri to the citizens of israel “I love you, thank you!” pic.twitter.com/DOZzmtMmRs

— Am Yisrael Chai (@kyg_best) January 25, 2025

Apart from the families of the released hostages, thousands of people gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv cheering as a giant screen broadcasted the first glimpse of the women. On the other hand, massive celebrations took place in Gaza as buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah on the West Bank.

Ending more than 15 months of war that killed over 47,000 people, Israel began a six-week ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza on January 19. In the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, the Hamas release three women in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.

The Hamas had taken 251 Israeli hostages – 87 of whom remain in Gaza out of which 34 are dead.

During a six-week ceasefire, 33 hostages are being freed in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Washington, United States:

US President Donald Trump said Monday he was not confident a ceasefire deal in Gaza would hold, despite trumpeting his diplomacy to secure it ahead of his inauguration.

Asked by a reporter as he returned to the White House whether the two sides would maintain the truce and move on in the agreement, Trump said, “I’m not confident.”

“That’s not our war; it’s their war. But I’m not confident,” Trump said.

Trump, however, said that he believed Hamas had been “weakened” in the war that began with its unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. “I looked at a picture of Gaza. Gaza is like a massive demolition site,” Trump said.

The property tycoon turned populist politician said that Gaza could see a “fantastic” reconstruction if the plan moves ahead.

“It’s a phenomenal location on the sea — best weather. You know, everything’s good. It’s like, some beautiful things could be done with it,” he said.

Israel and Hamas on Sunday began implementing a ceasefire deal that included the exchange of hostages and prisoners.

The plan was originally outlined by then president Joe Biden in May and was pushed through after unusual joint diplomacy by Biden and Trump envoys.

Trump, while pushing for the deal, has also made clear he will steadfastly support Israel.

In one of his first acts, he revoked sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank imposed by the Biden administration over attacks against Palestinians.

Trump’s airing of doubt marks a shift in tone from Biden, who had attempted for months to put the deal together. 

“I’m confident,” Biden told reporters on Sunday about the prospects for the accord after implementation began.

Biden also downplayed prospects that Hamas would regroup.

Trump in his inaugural address on Monday pointed to the ceasefire as he described himself as a “peacemaker.” At a rally afterward in an indoor stadium, Trump invited family members of hostages still in Gaza.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

Israel’s justice ministry has said 737 prisoners and detainees will be freed as part of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal approved Saturday. It said in a statement on its website that “the government approves” the “release (of) 737 prisoners and detainees” currently in the custody of the prison service.

Israel’s cabinet voted to approve the ceasefire deal early Saturday, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, ending days of uncertainty about whether the truce would go into effect this weekend.  

Those named by the ministry include men, women and children who it said will not be released before Sunday at 4:00 pm local time (1400 GMT).

It had previously published a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners, the majority women, to be freed in exchange for Israeli captives in Gaza.

Among those on the expanded list was Zakaria Zubeidi, a chief of the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party. Zubeidi escaped from Israel’s Gilboa prison with five other Palestinians in 2021, sparking a days-long manhunt, and is lauded by Palestinians as a hero. Also to be freed is Khalida Jarar, a leftist Palestinian lawmaker whom Israel arrested and imprisoned on several occasions.

Jarar is a prominent member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated a “terrorist organisation” by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

Detained in late December in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, the 60-year-old has been held since then without charge.

Two sources close to Hamas told AFP that the first group of hostages to be released consists of three Israeli women soldiers.

However, since the Palestinian Islamist movement considers any Israeli of military age who has completed mandatory service a soldier, the reference could also apply to civilians abducted during the attack that triggered the war.

The first three names on a list obtained by AFP of the 33 hostages set to be released in the first phase are women under 30 who were not in military service on the day of the Hamas attack. Justice ministry spokeswoman Noga Katz has said the final number of prisoners to be released in the first swap would depend on the number of live hostages released by Hamas.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

Israeli far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened on Tuesday to quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if he agrees to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal being negotiated at talks in Qatar.

Ben-Gvir, whose departure would not bring down Netanyahu’s government, urged Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in a last-ditch attempt to prevent a ceasefire deal, which he described as a dangerous capitulation to Hamas.

“This move is our only chance to prevent (the deal’s) execution, and prevent Israel’s surrender to Hamas, after more than a year of bloody war, in which more than 400 IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers fell in the Gaza Strip, and to ensure that their deaths are not in vain,” Ben-Gvir said on X.

Smotrich said on Monday that he objects to the deal but did not threaten to bolt Netanyahu’s coalition. A majority of ministers are expected to back the phased ceasefire deal, which details a halt to fighting and the release of hostages.

Ben-Gvir echoed remarks by Smotrich, who said on Monday Israel should keep up its military campaign in Gaza until the complete surrender of Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose Oct. 7 2023 attack caused the war.

About 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ 2023 assault on Israel and more than 250 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and most its population displaced.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been mediating a ceasefire deal and agreements could be imminent, officials have said.

Some hostage families oppose the deal because they fear that the phased deal taking shape will see only some of the remaining 98 hostages freed and others left behind.

Successive surveys have shown broad support among the Israeli public for such a deal.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday to thank them for helping to secure a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza, his office said.

LIVE: Qatar PM confirms Israel-Hamas ceasefire, hostage deal

“The prime minister thanked President-elect Trump for his help in advancing the release of the hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said in a first acknowledgement of a deal, adding that the two agreed to meet “soon” in Washington. The statement said Netanyahu then spoke with Biden to thank him too.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said a Gaza truce and hostage release deal is close and could be finalized in the final week of U.S. President Joe Biden’s term. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A Gaza truce and hostage release deal is close and could be finalized in the final week of U.S. President Joe Biden’s term, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday.

“We are close to a deal, and it can get done this week. I’m not making a promise or prediction, but it is there for the taking, and we are going to work to make it happen,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters.

Mr. Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and called the ruler of mediator Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on Monday as negotiations intensified.

The U.S. leader has been pushing to get a deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas before he leaves office on January 20 and hands over to Donald Trump.

Mr. Sullivan said he was more hopeful of a deal now than he was on previous occasions since the Gaza war broke out following Hamas’s October 6, 2023 attack on Israel.

“It’s because the gaps have fundamentally narrowed down,” said Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s top national security official.

Progress had been made on issues including the formula for the exchange of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and on how Israel’s forces would be “postured” in Gaza, he said.

Mr. Sullivan credited the fact that Israel had achieved its military objectives in Gaza, while Hamas has suffered “catastrophic losses”.

“When you put those two factors together, we believe that the time is right to get a deal and to have to close,” Mr. Sullivan said.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said there’s a “distinct possibility” that Israel and Hamas will be able to reach a ceasefire deal before President Joe Biden leaves office in a week.

“The pressure is building for Hamas to come to yes,” Sullivan said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Washington bureau on Monday. “It’s there for the taking so the question is now can we all collectively seize the moment and make this happen.”

Sullivan said Biden’s Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, had been in the region for more than a week working out the details of an agreement. He said he’d spoken with Qatar’s prime minister as well as Israeli officials and “there is a general sense that this is moving in the right direction.”

The Biden administration has tried to work closely with President-elect Donald Trump’s team on the issue. Sullivan suggested that Trump’s demand for a deal before he takes office hasn’t hurt the talks.

“The pressure building here toward the end of President Biden’s term has been considerable,” Sullivan said. “That will help contribute to a positive outcome if we can generate that final yes from both sides.

Sullivan said he wasn’t ready to make any promises to get a deal that would end the fighting that began with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

“We’ve been here before, we’ve been close before and haven’t gotten across the finish line,” Sullivan said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israeli Police officers detain a protester during clashes following an anti-government rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants in Gaza since October, in Tel Aviv on September 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A rare general strike in Israel to protest the failure to return hostages held in Gaza led to disruptions around the country on Monday, while U.S. President Joe Biden added to the pressure by saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t doing enough to reach a deal for a cease-fire and hostage release.

The strike was ignored in some areas, reflecting deep political divisions in Israel over a cease-fire deal after nearly 11 months of fighting.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis had poured into the streets late Sunday (September 1, 2024) in grief and anger after six more hostages were found dead in Gaza. It appeared to be the largest protest since the start of the war. The families and much of the public blamed Netanyahu, saying they could have been returned alive in a deal with Hamas.

But others support Netanyahu’s strategy of maintaining military pressure on Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack into Israel triggered the war. They say it will force the militants to give in to Israeli demands, potentially facilitate rescue operations and ultimately annihilate the group.

Mr. Biden spoke to reporters as he arrived at the White House for a Situation Room meeting with advisers involved in negotiating a deal. Asked if Netanyahu was doing enough, Biden responded, “No.”

He insisted that negotiators remain “very close” to a deal, adding, “Hope springs eternal.”

Hamas has accused Israel of dragging out months of negotiations over a cease-fire by issuing new demands, including for lasting Israeli control over two strategic corridors in Gaza. Hamas has offered to release all hostages in return for an end to the war, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.