#hostage-release

#hostage-release

"After 738 days in captivity, on October 13, all 20 surviving hostages were freed from the hands of the terrorist organization Hamas, with four German citizens among them," Merz said. "They're home. They're with their families. And that fills us, and me personally, with great joy and relief."

His response to ending the conflict has been far too slow, albeit a welcome intervention at this point. But his blunt approach and desire to have his ego preened have contributed towards the peace deal after two years of savage conflict, death and destruction. The October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas killed 1,200 people and resulted in retaliation so fierce that large tracts of Gaza were levelled and more than 67,000 people died.

You're finally back home, read the banner Korin Cohen Ben Yakar held on her lap in her wheelchair on Monday in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square. In that place that has witnessed so many tears in the two years since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, those tears on Monday, however, were of joy, of happiness, said the 57-year-old woman, and those at her side could not contain their tears either.

Scott Johnson was found dead at the base of North Head, a sandstone promontory in Manly, Australia, that looms two hundred feet above the craggy shore of the Tasman Sea. A pair of spear fishermen were walking along the water on a humid morning in December, 1988, when they came upon his body, which was naked and badly disfigured. A storm had swept the coast the night before, washing away most of the blood, but seagulls were picking at bits of innards strewn across the rocks.

I think everyone should be able to celebrate it. And listen, whether you like Trump or not, I think he, Steve Witkoff, and I think Jared Kushner do deserve credit for this deal. They personally met with Hamas. I used to be of the mind we don't negotiate with terrorists but sometimes the only way to get peace is to sit down with some of the most evil people and try to come up with what we can do to end the bloodshed.

Alon Ohel is reunited with his family after more than two years in captivity. Photograph: IDF Eitan Mor is reunited with his family in the Re'im kibbutz as part of the hostage-prisoner swap and ceasefire deal agreed by Israel and Hamas Photograph: Israel Defense Forces/Reuters The mother and other relatives of Bar Kupershtein speak to him via video call before his return to Holon, Israel Photograph: Itai Ron/Reuters

US President Donald Trump has told the Israeli parliament that Monday was "a day of profound joy" and a day to give praise to the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." "The hostages are back; it feels so good to say it," he said. "This is the end of an age of terror and death" and the beginning of turning the Middle East into "a truly magnificent region, Trump went on.

My friends, this is only a partial list, but it's enough to affirm what I've said time and again. Donald Trump is the greatest friend that the state of Israel has ever had in the White House.

US President Donald Trump aboard the presidential aircraft Air Force One has flown over Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, where tens of thousands have been celebrating the release of a first group of seven hostages, before landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Trump was met by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog on arrival. Trump is to meet with families of hostages and address the Israeli parliament before travelling on to Egypt for a peace summit he will chair

This development represents a hopeful step toward resolving the conflict, securing the release of all hostages, and establishing the conditions for lasting peace and security in the region,