Hamas releases names of latest Israeli hostages set to be freed on Saturday

Published

4 months ago

January 24, 2025

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Hamas has released the names of four female soldiers expected to be freed on Saturday as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel.

Hostages Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, all aged 20, and 19-year-old Liri Albag, who were all serving with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), are set to return from the war-ravaged coastal territory to Israel in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The four Israeli troops were taken captive from the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 when Hamas carried out its cross-border attack.

The hostages are expected to be freed as part of an exchange that will see 200 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails – 50 for each IDF soldier released by Hamas as per the ceasefire agreement.

It is understood that 120 of the Palestinian prisoners are serving life sentences.

All four Israeli captives are alive, Sky’s US partner network NBC News reported, citing a senior Hamas official.

The latest developments follow the release of three Israeli hostages, including dual British citizen Emily Damari, last Sunday and comes as the ceasefire approaches its second week.

Israel has yet to confirm the latest names. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “A list of kidnapped women has been received by the mediators. Israel’s response will be provided later.”

Israel had reportedly demanded that Arbel Yehoud, an Israeli civilian, be on the list of four to be released on Saturday. However, she has not been named by Hamas.

It is thought she might be held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hames, 33 hostages are to be freed over the course of six weeks in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees.

The Gaza-based Prisoners’ Media Office said in a statement: “After the Palestinian resistance factions announced the names of the occupation prisoners who are to be released tomorrow, which included the names of four female soldiers; we are waiting for the list of Palestinian prisoners who are to be released tomorrow, which will include 120 prisoners with life sentences, and 80 prisoners with high sentences, according to what was stipulated in the ceasefire agreement in the deal.”

If the process runs smoothly, the four Israeli hostages should be released late on Saturday afternoon. They will first be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then driven to one of three border crossings to be transferred to the IDF.

From there, and after initial medical checks, they will be flown to hospital.

The Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released from Ofer Prison in the West Bank late on Saturday or in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Released hostages ‘adjusting to freedom’

The first three hostages to be released last Sunday, Romi Gonen, Doren Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, are all still recovering in a hospital just outside Tel Aviv.

Michal Mayo, Doron’s cousin, told Sky News her condition is still fragile, but she is doing well.

“Those three young women were held mostly underground tunnels under terrible circumstances, and you know, you can only imagine after 471 days there that both mentally and physically they would then need a lot of time to recover and heal,” said Michal.

“She’s adjusting to freedom.”

Romi Gonen’s best friend, Gaya Khalifa, was shot and killed next to her on October 7 at the Nova music festival.

Gaya’s mother Sigal has visited Romi in hospital and said it brought back memories of her daughter.

“I knew from the beginning that Gaya was not going to come back but when I saw Romi it reminded me what happened on October 7 and it made me the same feeling: Why? Why has it happened to us?

“But in the same moment you feel that Romi is the last memory from Gaya and she knows everything and when I hug her, I feel like I hug Gaya.”

Saturday is also expected to see the start of an IDF withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor that bisects Gaza.

Once complete, Gazans will be able to return home to the north of the strip, although they will be subject to checks for weapons before being allowed to pass.

It has been reported that an independent security company, possibly American, could be tasked with carrying out those checks.

Among the roughly 250 people abducted in Israel on 7 October 2023, some have died in captivity in Gaza, while others have been released or rescued.

Including the four hostages expected to be released on Saturday, 91 of those taken captive on 7 October 2023 are still yet to return home.

The ceasefire, brokered with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the US, has brought a pause to 15 months of brutal fighting in Gaza that has razed much of the enclave to the ground.

More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

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At least 100 people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza – ‘complete families wiped out’ says health ministry

Published

3 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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At least 100 people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza - 'complete families wiped out' says health ministry

At least 100 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight and into Sunday, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Local medics also report that women and children were among the dead – as Israel launches an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

“Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment,” Khalil Al-Deqran, Gaza health ministry spokesperson, told the Reuters news agency.

Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in strikes that hit houses and tents in the Muwasi area. Hamas described that as a “new brutal crime”.

In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed in two separate strikes, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al Balah.

Meanwhile, first responders from the health ministry and the civil defence reported at least 36 people were killed in multiple strikes in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the latest strikes.

Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March. It is attempting to pressurise Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the whole of Gaza and controlling aid.

It comes as peace talks between Israel and Hamas take place in Qatar this weekend, although sources told Reuters there had been no breakthrough.

Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

A Palestinian official close to the talks said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”

Earlier on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry issued a statement accusing Israel of “intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals”.

“After putting the European Gaza Hospital out of service a few days ago, the Israeli occupation has intensified its targeting and siege of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip since dawn today,” it added.

Israel has previously denied deliberately targeting civilians and accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes.

This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.

Separately, the Israeli military said on Sunday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward Israel.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they had targeted Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with two ballistic missiles.

The Houthis have fired at Israel because of the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, while Israel has carried out airstrikes in response, including one on 6 May that damaged Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.

The conflict began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s military response has seen the deaths of more than 53,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

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Donald Trump says he has call with Putin planned – as Ukraine condemns Russia over bus attack

Published

12 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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Donald Trump says he has call with Putin planned - as Ukraine condemns Russia over bus attack

Donald Trump has said he will speak to Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately on Monday in a bid to secure a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The US president made the announcement on Truth Social – shortly after the Ukrainian president condemned Russia for the “deliberate killing of civilians” after a drone hit a bus in north-eastern Ukraine.

Mr Trump said he will speak to Mr Putin over the phone. He will then talk with Mr Zelenskyy and “various members of NATO”, he wrote.

In an all-caps post, he said: “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END. GOD BLESS US ALL!!!”

The Ukrainian town of Bilopillia today declared a period of mourning lasting until Monday after nine people were killed in a Russian drone attack – which occurred just hours after Kyiv and Moscow held peace talks.

Seven others were injured, Ukrainian authorities said. The bus was evacuating civilians from a frontline area when the drone hit, the country’s national police said.

A “father, mother and daughter” were among the dead, Mr Zelenskyy said, writing on Telegram: “All the deceased were civilians. And the Russians could not have failed to understand what kind of vehicle they were targeting.”

The attack has also been condemned by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said he was “appalled”.

“If Putin is serious about peace, Russia must agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, as Ukraine has done,” he wrote on X.

Representatives for Kyiv and Moscow met for direct peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, just hours before the drone attack.

While the discussions – which were not attended by the Mr Putin or Mr Zelenskyy – did not result in a truce, both countries agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners in their biggest swap yet.

Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said on national television the exchange could happen as early as next week.

Russia ‘threatened eternal war’ at peace talks

After a Ukrainian official yesterday said Russia made “unacceptable” demands during the discussions, a source from the Kyiv delegation has now told Sky News that Moscow threatened “eternal war”.

Separately, a senior Kyiv official said Russia’s proposed ceasefire terms included the full withdrawal of troops from four regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk.

Moscow also called for international recognition that those regions and Crimea – annexed in 2014 – are Russian and for Ukraine to become a neutral state, with no allied troops stationed there, they said.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the matter.

Ukraine has rallied support from its allies following the talks, and a number have spoken out.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “Today, what do we have? Nothing. And so I tell you, faced with President Putin’s cynicism, I am sure that President Trump, mindful of the credibility of the United States, will react.”

The EU is working on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

World

Israel and Hamas resume ceasefire talks after ‘extensive strikes’ on Gaza

Published

15 hours ago

May 17, 2025

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Israel and Hamas resume ceasefire talks after 'extensive strikes' on Gaza

Israel and Hamas said ceasefire talks have resumed in Qatar – even as Israeli forces ramped up a bombing campaign and mobilised for a massive new ground assault.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it had been “conducting extensive strikes and mobilising troops” as part of preparations to expand operations in Gaza.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said Hamas had “refused to discuss negotiations without a cessation of the war”, but after the airstrikes and the mobilisation of forces the militant group’s representatives “have agreed to sit in a room and seriously discuss the deal”.

“Israel emphasises that if the talks do not progress, the [military] operation will continue,” he added.

A Hamas source told Sky News that ceasefire talks began in Doha on Saturday morning.

Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters news agency that the two sides were involved in discussions without “pre-conditions”.

He added Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success.

More than 150 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

This week has been one of the deadliest phases of bombardment since a truce collapsed in March and marked a significant escalation in Israel’s offensive.

The Israeli military’s preparations to expand operations in Gaza have included the build-up of tanks and troops along the border.

It is part of “Operation Gideon Chariot”, which Israel says is aimed at defeating Hamas and getting its hostages back.

An Israeli defence official said earlier this month that the operation would not be launched before Donald Trump concluded his visit to the Middle East.

The US president ended his trip on Friday, with no apparent progress towards a new peace deal.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, leaders at the annual summit of the Arab League in Baghdad said they were trying to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

They also promised to contribute to the reconstruction of the territory once the war stops.

The meeting comes two months after Israel ended a ceasefire reached with the Hamas militant group.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on 5 May that Israel was planning an expanded, intensive offensive against Hamas as his security cabinet approved plans that could involve seizing Gaza and controlling aid.

This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.

Israel’s goal is the elimination of Hamas, which attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and seizing about 250 hostages.

Its military response has killed more than 53,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.