Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Middle East Latest: Hamas Says It Is Ready to Negotiate the Next Phase of the Ceasefire
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 1 month ago on
February 27, 2025

Hamas signals readiness for further negotiations as the current Gaza ceasefire nears its end, while tensions persist on multiple fronts. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Share

Hamas said Thursday it was ready to negotiate the next phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, after a swap overnight in which it handed over what it said were the remains of four hostages in exchange for the release of more than 600 Palestinian detainees held by Israel.

It was the final such exchange the two sides agreed to as part of a truce that’s set to end this weekend. Negotiations over a second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for more prisoners and a lasting ceasefire, have not yet begun.

An Israeli official says the military will not withdraw from a strategic corridor along the Gaza Strip’s southern border. The pullout was part of the ceasefire and Israel’s refusal could spark a crisis with Hamas and key mediator Egypt at a sensitive moment for the fragile truce.

Suspected Car Ramming Attack in Israel Wounds at Least Eight

Israeli police are investigating an episode in which a driver rammed his car into people at a highway bus stop, wounding at least eight Thursday in what authorities believed was a militant attack.

Police said they had “neutralized” the suspect, who they described as a 53-year-old Palestinian from the northern West Bank who lived in Israel and was married to an Israeli citizen.

Medical workers said the ramming injured at least eight people, two in serious condition, who they evacuated to the hospital.

Paramedic Avi Cohen described a chaotic aftermath at the scene in Pardes Hanna-Karkur, a town south of the coastal city of Haifa.

“When we arrived, they were lying on the ground. We immediately began providing medical treatment to all the injured, including stopping bleeding and bandaging wounds,” he said in a statement from Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency rescue service.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, violence by militant attackers against Israelis has risen, as deadly Israeli military operations have ramped up and attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have climbed.

Hamas congratulated the attack as “a message of defiance” but did not claim responsibility.

Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich Will Meet With US Treasury Secretary in Washington

It would mark the first in-person talks between Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a fervent settler advocate at the helm of Israel’s settlement planning apparatus, and a Trump administration official — and it could have major implications for U.S. policy toward the settlements, which the international community largely considers illegal.

Smotrich will head to Washington in the coming days to meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and discuss economic and political cooperation, Smotrich’s spokesperson said Thursday.

Smotrich, a key partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, supports rebuilding Jewish settlements in Gaza and what he describes as the voluntary migration of large numbers of Palestinians out of the territory.

He’s coming to the U.S. after President Donald Trump, on his first day in office, canceled sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel Releases 46 Palestinian Teens and Women Back to Their Loved Ones in Gaza

Dozens of Palestinian teenagers, many of them children, as well as women detained by Israel in Gaza were released back to hugs and tears from their loved ones on Thursday, marking the latest release of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

As they disembarked from the Red Cross buses in the southern town of Khan Younis, the teenagers looked gaunt and skinny. Rights groups have alleged widespread mistreatment and abuse in Israeli prisons and military detention facilities.

Many detainees fell into the arms of their relatives, who have spent days waiting for them ever since Israel held up their release last weekend to protest what it called Hamas’ cruel treatment of hostages during the releases.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a group representing current and former prisoners, said that those being released into Gaza on Thursday were 44 male teenagers ages 15-19 and two women.

The scenes came after Israel released 500 prisoners back into Gaza overnight, in exchange for Hamas releasing four hostage bodies.

Israel rounded up hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and has held them without charge on security suspicions.

Israel on Thursday had yet to return 24 Palestinian detainees whose release was supposed to occur overnight, a group that represents prisoners said, after Hamas sent back to Israel the bodies of four hostages killed in captivity.

The 24 Palestinian detainees include 23 teenagers and one woman, all taken into Israeli custody during military raids in Gaza. They were part of a group of over 600 prisoners whose release Israel held back last weekend to protest what it called Hamas’s cruel treatment of hostages during the ceasefire deal. Israel released the bulk of the prisoners overnight except for the woman and minors.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a group that represents current and former prisoners, said that in addition to the 24, Israel was also set to release 22 more Palestinians, including 21 aged 15-19 and one woman. Israeli forces have arrested hundreds of people in Gaza and held them without trial.

As part of the ceasefire, Israel committed to releasing more than 1,000 detainees who hadn’t participated in the Oct. 7 attack.

An Israeli official says the army will not withdraw from a corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border as required in the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

The official spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The official said Israel needed to maintain a presence in the so-called Philadelphi corridor to prevent weapons smuggling.

Israel’s refusal to withdraw from the corridor could spark a crisis with Hamas and Egypt, a key mediator that has repeatedly called for Israel to pull out.

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire is set to expire this weekend and negotiations over the next phase have not yet begun.

An Israeli group representing families of hostages held by Hamas says the remains of three of four bodies returned early Thursday have been identified. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Thursday that the bodies of Ohad Yahalomi, Itzhak Elgarat and Shlomo Mantzur have been returned to Israel.

Mantzur, 85, was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and his body was taken into Gaza. The other two were kidnapped alive and the circumstances surrounding their deaths were not known.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Merced Police Chief: Local Sexual Assault Exams ‘Worth’ Higher Cost

DON'T MISS

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes to Headline Chukchansi’s Summer Series with ‘Family Reunion Tour’

DON'T MISS

Sue or Hold Back? The University of California Does Both as It Faces Trump’s Wrath

DON'T MISS

Central Unified Takes Additional Steps To Protect Undocumented Students

DON'T MISS

Americans Trade Michelin Stars for Mac and Cheese

DON'T MISS

Dueling Protests Clash at Fresno Tesla Dealership

DON'T MISS

Hamas Says It Accepts New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal but Israel Makes Counter-Offer

DON'T MISS

Andrew Tate’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses Him of Sexual Assault and Battery in New Lawsuit

DON'T MISS

Protesters Rebelling Against Elon Musk’s Purge of US Government Swarm Tesla Showrooms

DON'T MISS

Plastics Are Seeping Into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies

UP NEXT

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes to Headline Chukchansi’s Summer Series with ‘Family Reunion Tour’

UP NEXT

Sue or Hold Back? The University of California Does Both as It Faces Trump’s Wrath

UP NEXT

Central Unified Takes Additional Steps To Protect Undocumented Students

UP NEXT

Americans Trade Michelin Stars for Mac and Cheese

UP NEXT

Dueling Protests Clash at Fresno Tesla Dealership

UP NEXT

Hamas Says It Accepts New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal but Israel Makes Counter-Offer

UP NEXT

Andrew Tate’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses Him of Sexual Assault and Battery in New Lawsuit

UP NEXT

Protesters Rebelling Against Elon Musk’s Purge of US Government Swarm Tesla Showrooms

UP NEXT

Plastics Are Seeping Into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies

UP NEXT

Myanmar’s Earthquake Death Toll Jumps to 1,644 as More Bodies Are Recovered From the Rubble

Central Unified Takes Additional Steps To Protect Undocumented Students

21 hours ago

Americans Trade Michelin Stars for Mac and Cheese

22 hours ago

Dueling Protests Clash at Fresno Tesla Dealership

1 day ago

Hamas Says It Accepts New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal but Israel Makes Counter-Offer

2 days ago

Andrew Tate’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses Him of Sexual Assault and Battery in New Lawsuit

2 days ago

Protesters Rebelling Against Elon Musk’s Purge of US Government Swarm Tesla Showrooms

2 days ago

Plastics Are Seeping Into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies

2 days ago

Myanmar’s Earthquake Death Toll Jumps to 1,644 as More Bodies Are Recovered From the Rubble

2 days ago

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

2 days ago

If You Want to Ski Affordably Next Season, Buy Now

2 days ago

Merced Police Chief: Local Sexual Assault Exams ‘Worth’ Higher Cost

Last year, The Merced FOCUS reported that for the first time in over a decade, a crucial service for survivors of sexual assault would be of...

20 hours ago

20 hours ago

Merced Police Chief: Local Sexual Assault Exams ‘Worth’ Higher Cost

20 hours ago

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes to Headline Chukchansi’s Summer Series with ‘Family Reunion Tour’

21 hours ago

Sue or Hold Back? The University of California Does Both as It Faces Trump’s Wrath

21 hours ago

Central Unified Takes Additional Steps To Protect Undocumented Students

22 hours ago

Americans Trade Michelin Stars for Mac and Cheese

1 day ago

Dueling Protests Clash at Fresno Tesla Dealership

2 days ago

Hamas Says It Accepts New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal but Israel Makes Counter-Offer

2 days ago

Andrew Tate’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses Him of Sexual Assault and Battery in New Lawsuit

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend