Steven Witkoff, who played an important role in brokering the truce between Israel and Hamas, also met with Israel’s prime minister and visited Saudi Arabia.

A small U.S. security firm is hiring about 100 U.S. Special Forces veterans to help guard a Gaza crossing during a truce between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, according to a company spokesman and a hiring email seen by Reuters.

Even before the first phase is completed, the fragile cease-fire agreement that has paused 15 months of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas faces increasingly long odds of lasting or even reaching phase two.

Steve Witkoff visited the enclave to oversee the implementation of a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

A professional fact-checker has debunked claims from the Trump administration accusing the Biden administration of spending $50 million to send condoms to Gaza.

Hamas is set to free three more Israeli hostages as well as five Thai captives on Thursday, and Israel is to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners, in the third such exchange since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier this month.

The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel sparked the fighting.

Militants in the Gaza Strip released eight hostages on Thursday, handing them over to the Red Cross amid chaotic crowds as part of a swap that is set to see

Hamas is set to free three more Israeli hostages as well as five Thai captives on Thursday, and Israel is to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners, in the third such exchange since a ceasefire

• Eight hostages – three Israeli and five Thai – are set to be released from Gaza on Thursday. The three Israelis are Arbel Yehoud, Agam Berger and Gadi Moses, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. The names of the five Thai citizens have not been made public.