Video aired by Al Jazeera showing the staged release of three Israeli hostages has intensified allegations that the network acts as a platform for Hamas propaganda.

After ceasefire, Hamas leaders are open to talk with ‘anyone’ who can advance their cause – even US President Trump.

A Qatari official has told Newsweek that the country at the center of the recently established ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement will support President Donald Trump in pushing both sides to adhere to the truce.

The talks on where to send the released terrorists are reportedly being conducted in full coordination with Jerusalem.

Israel has prevented thousands of Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the terms of a fragile ceasefire by changing the order of hostages it has released.

North Carolina native Keith Siegel is among three people Hamas is reportedly going to release on Saturday. Siegel, a Chapel Hill native, and wife Adrienne “Aviva” Siegel were captured Oct. 7, 2023, when the militant group attacked Israel.

The next test for Israel and Hamas will come on February 2nd, when talks resume on the next stage of the ceasefire—which includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from all of Gaza and the release of more hostages. Whether the ceasefire can endure will depend on those discussions. ■

Hamas is rushing to reassert control over the territory it has ruled since 2007. Its leaders are exuberant—at least in public. In private, they are arguing bitterly. The war has deepened a longtime struggle between the group’s political and military leaders and has saddled it with enormous challenges.

The cease-fire between Hamas and Israel is expected to go into effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time, Qatar’s foreign ministry announced Saturday.

After the chaotic handover in southern Gaza, Zivan Frieden, a spokesman for Israel’s prisons authority, said in a statement that the release of over 100 Palestinian prisoners had been suspended, without providing further details.

Qatar mediated an agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. The exchange is set for Thursday.View on euronews

Hamas to release three Israeli hostages from Gaza, including an American dual national, amid a 42-day truce and ongoing prisoner exchanges