Israel and Hamas Finalize Deal to Free All Hostages, End War LIVE BLOG 9 OCT 2025
LIVE BLOG courtesy of The Times of Israel, LATEST UPDATE 1:50 pm ET / 8:50 pm Jerusalem
UPDATES from Live Blog on The Times of Israel
Timestamps are Jerusalem… for the latest updates click here, we will update this post periodically throughout the event
THURSDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2025
The Times of Israel is live blogging Thursday’s events as they happen
The following are presented in latest first order up since 8:28 am Jerusalem time, after which the items are displayed in chronological order
The Times of Israel is live blogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
Ceasefire draft includes release of 20 living hostages, implying 28 considered dead
People look at photos of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, in Jerusalem, October 4, 2025. The Hebrew sign reads, “don’t forget us.” (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A draft of the ceasefire and hostage-release agreement under review by Israel’s security cabinet includes the return of 20 living hostages and the bodies of 28 others, Channel 12 reports.
The inclusion of 28 deceased hostages implies the deaths of two hostages over whose fates Israel had previously expressed “grave concern,” but had not pronounced dead, the network notes.
In May, Israel publicly questioned whether three hostages were still alive, reportedly referring to Israeli hostage Tamir Nimrodi, Nepali hostage Bipin Joshi and Thai hostage Pinta Nattapong. Nattapong’s body was later recovered from Gaza.
Yesterday, Joshi’s family released a video showing him shortly after his abduction on October 7, 2023, which remains the time of his last known sign of life.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum and the office of Gal Hirsch, the Israeli government’s pointman on hostages, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
Trump indicates much unresolved in deal’s later stages, says dead hostages will be ‘a little bit hard to find’
By Jacob Magid
US President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House on October 9, 2025, in Washington, DC. (AP/Evan Vucci)
US President Donald Trump, asked what guarantees the US has provided in negotiations to ensure that Hamas disarms and that Israel doesn’t resume the war, says that the first priority was securing the release of the hostages.
“That’s what people wanted more than anything else… After that, we’ll see,” Trump tells reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House, highlighting that a lot remains left to be negotiated.
“But they’ve agreed to things, and I think it’s going to move along pretty well,” he adds.
Trump declines to get into specifics regarding the second phase of the agreement, after the hostages are released, but says Hamas will disarm and the IDF will pull back its troops. He highlights his “22 different things that will take place,” apparently referring to his 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war.
“I think it will take place, and I think you can end up with peace in the Middle East,” Trump says.
He acknowledges that the roughly 28 bodies of dead hostages held in Gaza will be “a little bit hard to find.”
“But we have the hostages for the most part, and I don’t think it’s going to be an overly big situation with the bodies… We’re going to do the best we can,” Trump says.
Trump quips that while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have been unpopular in Israel before this Gaza deal was reached, that is no longer the case. He reiterates that he is open to speaking at the Knesset, while indicating that no such address has been finalized, even though Netanyahu extended an invitation and Israel’s government is preparing for a visit.
Pressed on his view regarding a two-state solution, Trump responds, “I don’t have a view. I’m going to go with what they agree to.”
However, the 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war that he presented last week creates a pathway for the potential creation of a Palestinian state.
Asked whether Palestinians will be allowed to remain in Gaza — which his plan explicitly encourages — Trump says the US will work to make the Strip more livable with the help of wealthy Arab and Muslim states.
Belgium says it thwarted ‘jihadist-inspired’ terror cell aiming to target politicians
By Reuters
Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever speaks during a high-profile meeting at the United Nations aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, September 22, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
The Belgium federal public prosecutor’s office says that it thwarted a terror cell that was aiming to target the country’s politicians, and Belgian newspapers said Prime Minister Bart de Wever was among the intended targets.
“There are indications that the intention was to carry out a jihadist-inspired terrorist attack targeting politicians,” it said in a statement.
Hamas takes responsibility for failed attack on IDF in south Gaza, hoped to kidnap soldier
Hamas takes responsibility for a failed attack on an IDF post on the southern outskirts of Gaza City yesterday, while claiming it attempted to kidnap a soldier.
In a statement, Hamas claims that its fighters managed to raid an Israeli army encampment and open fire on troops from close range, “causing a number of them to be killed or injured.” The terror group also says it launched RPGs at Israeli tanks in the area.
“Our fighters attempted to capture one of the enemy soldiers, but the field conditions did not allow it,” the terror group’s military wing claims.
Yesterday, the IDF said that the attempted attack was carried out by at least five Hamas gunmen who had emerged from a tunnel. An Israeli Air Force drone struck and killed three of them as they were approaching the post, according to the military. The other two fled.
The IDF said no soldiers were injured in the incident, and the operatives did not manage to breach the military post.
Knesset building lit up in colors of US flag in honor of expected Trump visit
The Knesset building in Jerusalem, lit up in the colors of the United States flag. (Knesset Spokesperson’s Office)
The Knesset building in Jerusalem is lit in red, white and blue in honor of the expected visit of US President Donald Trump, following today’s announcement of an American-backed ceasefire deal in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, whose first phase would secure the release of all 48 hostages held in Gaza.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, Trump is slated to land in Israel at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Trump has not confirmed the visit.
The Knesset will remain lit in the colors of the American flag until the conclusion of the president’s visit, a Knesset spokesperson says.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly invited Trump to address the Knesset during a phone call with him earlier today. It remains unclear if he has accepted, though he has expressed a willingness to address the body.
Ceasefire to see release of 250 Palestinian prisoners on life sentences, 1,700 others — report
By Lazar Berman
Freed Palestinian prisoners flash V-signs as they arrive in the Gaza Strip after being released from an Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip on February 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Israel will let Palestinian prisoners go free only after a 72-hour period during which Hamas is meant to release all Israeli hostages, according to a draft of today’s ceasefire and hostage-release deal viewed by Channel 12.
But as long as dead hostages remain in Gaza, then a different, classified response — which will be presented to Israel’s cabinet — will take effect, according to the report. Israel anticipates that Hamas may not be able to locate all of the dead hostages.
The cabinet is due to meet shortly to ratify the deal.
If the Palestinian prisoner release moves ahead, 250 security prisoners serving life sentences will be released, along with 1,700 Gazans who were arrested since the October 7, 2023, attack but were not involved in it. They will be exiled abroad or sent to Gaza. Some 22 minors who also did not participate in the October 7 attack will be set free.
In addition, some 360 bodies of terrorists will be handed over to Hamas.
The hostage release is due to take place after IDF forces withdraw to new lines in Gaza, within 24 hours of Israel ratifying the deal.
Netanyahu pauses security cabinet meeting on Gaza deal to talk with India’s Modi
File: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, gestures and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to the media as they arrive for a meeting in New Delhi, India, Jan.15, 2018. (AP Photo, File)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pauses the security cabinet meeting discussing the ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza to speak over the phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a statement from his office.
“Prime Minister Modi congratulated Prime Minister Netanyahu on the agreement reached for the release of all the hostages,” reads the statement.
Modi “noted that Netanyahu has always been a close friend and that their friendship will remain strong.” Netanyahu thanked his Indian counterpart “for his support of Israel, and the two agreed to continue working in close cooperation,” the readout concludes.
Four IDF soldiers wounded, one seriously, in Gaza border car crash; army investigating
A Humvee is seen after having crashed into an IDF M-109 artillery system on the border with the Gaza Strip, October 9, 2025. (Courtesy; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Four IDF soldiers were wounded, one seriously and three lightly, in a military-related car crash on the border with the Gaza Strip earlier today, the army announces.
The troops, from the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion, were taken to hospitals, and their families were notified, the IDF adds.
The Golani troops were inside a Humvee that crashed into a self-propelled M-109 howitzer on a road near the Strip’s border. The circumstances of the crash are under investigation by the army, but according to the IDF’s preliminary findings, low visibility due to dust in the air likely caused the accident.
Report: Parties finish talks on which Palestinian prisoners will be released in deal
Qatari outlet Al-Araby reports that discussions in Sharm el-Sheikh have concluded regarding which Palestinian security prisoners will be released as part of the ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza.
The matter is now pending approval by the Israeli government, which is expected to arrive in the coming hours.
Trump says Hamas ‘probably lost 70,000 people,’ Gaza ‘going to be slowly redone’
By Jacob Magid
President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, October 9, 2025, in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
US President Donald Trump says Hamas has lost “70,000 people” since the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack, apparently rounding up the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry’s death toll, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
“From the Hamas standpoint, they probably lost 70,000 people. That’s big retribution,” Trump says near the beginning of a cabinet meeting at the White House.
Israel says it has killed some 22,000 combatants in the war as of August.
“But at some point that whole, that whole thing has to stop, and we’re going to see to it,” Trump says.
“Gaza is going to be slowly redone,” he continues, highlighting the various Arab and Muslim countries that have committed to assisting in the rebuilding effort.
The president asserts that his decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June was “very important” in helping bring about this morning’s Gaza deal.
“Let’s say that didn’t happen, [Iran] probably by now would have… numerous nuclear weapons, and therefore, even if we signed a deal, there’d be a big dark cloud over it,” Trump says.
“We have major sanctions on Iran… [but] we’d like to see them be able to rebuild their country too,” he says.
Trump thanks the leaders of Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Indonesia for their help in securing the Gaza deal.
Hostages to be released on Monday or Tuesday, Trump says in cabinet meeting
By Jacob Magid
President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, October 9, 2025, in Washington, DC, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, look on. (AP/Evan Vucci)
US President Donald Trump says the hostages will be released on either Monday or Tuesday.
“They should be released on Monday or Tuesday. Getting them is a complicated process. I’d rather not tell you what they have to do to get them,” Trump says at the beginning of a cabinet meeting at the White House.
“Last night, we reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East,” he says. “We ended the war in Gaza, and really, on a much bigger basis, created peace… hopefully an everlasting peace in the Middle East.”
Trump says he’s going to try and travel to the Middle East next week, but clarifies that the timing hasn’t been finalized.
He says he’ll go to Egypt to participate in a signing ceremony.
He doesn’t mention a stop in Israel, even though Israeli officials have said they’re planning for such a visit on Sunday.
Sirens on Gaza border were false alarm, IDF says
The sirens that sounded in the Gaza border community of Nirim a short while ago were false alarms, the IDF updates.
IDF chief: Ceasefire deal is ‘ray of light,’ army ‘created the conditions’ for it
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (center) speaks with officers in the Gaza Strip, October 9, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
During a visit to the Gaza Strip earlier today, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir tells troops that the ceasefire deal with Hamas to free all the hostages, announced today, is thanks to the “achievements of the ground maneuver” in the Gaza Strip.
“The signing of the agreement to return the hostages this morning is a ray of light for all of us and further evidence of the achievements of the ground maneuver. Thanks to significant military pressure and a powerful, high-quality ground maneuver, you, the troops, created the conditions for the hostages to be returned home,” he says in remarks provided by the IDF.
“The military action brought about a political achievement; the achievement is first and foremost yours,” Zamir adds.
Zamir was joined by the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor; chief of the Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder; and chief of the Technological and Logistics Directorate, Maj. Gen. Rami Abudraham.
The IDF says Zamir was briefed on the IDF’s preparations for the deal, which includes pulling back troops to new deployment lines and handling the release of the hostages.
Zamir also stressed that “alongside the agreement, the IDF is committed to maintaining a high level of readiness in all arenas, both in defense and in offense,” the army adds.
Sirens sound in Gaza border community of Nirim
Rocket sirens sound in the Gaza border community of Nirim.
The cause of the alert is under investigation by the IDF.
Sa’ar: Israel committed to ceasefire deal, has no plan to renew war
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks at the Muni Expo 2025 conference in Tel Aviv, on July 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Israel is committed to US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the fighting in Gaza and has no intention to “renew the war,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says in an interview with Fox News ahead of the cabinet’s vote to ratify the first phase of the deal.
Sa’ar does not refer to the current developments as “the end of the war,” but stresses that Israel hopes to see the full plan carried out and that “we don’t have any intention to renew the war.”
Regarding the implementation of the first phase of the agreement, Sa’ar tells the network: “We will first have a ceasefire immediately after the decision is approved by the government, and then the commitment of Hamas within 72 hours to release the hostages.”
Asked if Israel will fully withdraw from Gaza following the hostage releases, Sa’ar reiterates that Israel is committed to first completing the hostage-release phase, which includes only a partial withdrawal, saying: “We are committed to Trump’s plan. The first redeployment will happen immediately in order to make the first phase happen. We will do that immediately after the decision of the government, within 24 hours.”
He stresses “other parts” of the plan, including a full withdrawal, “are conditional…. Israel must do things, but there are parts Hamas must do. Hamas must disarm, we should implement all parts of the plan.”
Asked by the network whether Israel would accept a Palestinian state and whether the Trump plan is a “step toward statehood,” Sa’ar replies: “No,” expressing the government’s long-held skepticism that the Palestinian Authority could implement the sweeping reforms outlined in the plan, which could ultimately lead to it taking a governance role in Gaza.
“The PA might be relevant only if it passes the reforms that were mentioned in the plan. Let’s see if that will happen,” Sa’ar says.
Responding to a question about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement today that Turkey will take part in the implementation of the first phase of the deal and in the reconstruction of Gaza, Sa’ar says: “I didn’t know about Turkey’s announcement, let’s approve the first part of the plan in the government, and then we will move to negotiate on the second phase.”
WATCH: Trump holds cabinet meeting after announcement of Gaza ceasefire deal
US President Donald Trump’s cabinet is meeting in Washington, DC, hours after the announcement of a US-backed ceasefire and hostage-release agreement in Gaza.
A livestream of the meeting is available here:
The meeting was scheduled for 11 a.m. local time (6 p.m. Israel time) and is beginning with a delay. It comes as Israel’s cabinet is preparing to meet to ratify the deal. The deal is expected to be approved, after which a ceasefire would take effect.
Trump, who unveiled the ceasefire deal last week, has made no secret of his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize, whose laureate will be announced tomorrow. At a previous US cabinet meeting, his Middle East envoy, said he wished the Nobel Committee would “get its act together” and award Trump the prize, garnering applause from the other cabinet members in the room.
Security cabinet begins meeting on hostage-release, Gaza ceasefire deal following 90-minute delay
By Lazar Berman
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pictured next to a placard showing the 48 hostages held in Gaza, prior to a cabinet meeting on October 9, 2025, to approve a deal formulated by US President Donald Trump for their release, the freeing of large numbers of Palestinian security prisoners, a partial IDF withdrawal and a Gaza ceasefire (Maayan Toaf / GPO)
The security cabinet meeting originally scheduled for 5 p.m. begins, following an unexplained delay of an hour and a half, says the Prime Minister’s Office.
One of the reasons for the delay, Channel 12 reports, was ongoing intensive discussions regarding the list of Palestinian security prisoners to be released.
The full cabinet meeting to vote on a deal to begin a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages in Gaza will take place afterward, scheduled for 8 p.m. A solid majority in favor is expected.
Indonesia to block Israeli team from gymnastics world championships in Jakarta
By AP
Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat reacts after competing in the artistic gymnastics men’s floor exercise final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on August 3, 2024. (Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Indonesia will block Israeli athletes from competing at the upcoming gymnastics world championships in Jakarta, a government official says.
The decision to deny visas to the Israeli athletes comes after their planned participation had sparked intense opposition in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, which has long been a staunch supporter of Palestinians but whose president recently defended Israel at the United Nations.
Israel is among 86 countries registered to compete at the tournament that starts in Jakarta on October 19, with a team highlighted by 2020 Olympic gold medalist and defending world champion Artem Dolgopyat in the men’s floor exercise.
Now its participation is in doubt, even though the Israeli Gymnastics Federation said in July that it had been assured by Indonesian officials that it would be welcome at the worlds. That would have gone against Indonesia’s long-standing policy of refusing to host Israeli sports delegations for major events.
Today, Indonesia’s senior minister of law, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, makes it clear the Israeli team will not be allowed into the country, despite Israel and Hamas having agreed to a ceasefire.
“The government will not grant visas to Israeli gymnasts who intend to attend the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta,” Mahendra said.
He adds in a video statement that the decision is in line with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s previous directives on various occasions. But in his UN speech last month, Subianto also called for respecting Israel’s security and ended his speech with “Shalom.”
“We must also recognize, we must also respect, and we must also guarantee the safety and security of Israel. Only then we can have real peace,” Subianto said.
Mahendra acknowledged that the Indonesian Gymnastics Federation had previously submitted a sponsorship letter for six Israeli athletes to obtain visas, but that “the federation has withdrawn the sponsorship letter.”
In recent days, Indonesian politicians and moderate Muslim groups had increased calls for the Israeli team to be barred from the worlds. They have been joined by a flood of outraged comments on social media by users objecting to the arrival of athletes from a country they say is committing genocide, an accusation Israel adamantly rejects.
The Israeli Gymnastic Federation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The gymnastics spat is the latest example of how the global backlash against Israel over the war in Gaza has spread into the arenas of sports and culture.
Full cabinet meeting to ratify ceasefire deal postponed to 8 p.m.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, third from left, convenes a cabinet meeting on September 21, 2025. (Maayan Taof/GPO)
The cabinet meeting to vote on a deal to secure the release of hostages in Gaza has been pushed to 8 p.m., two hours later than originally scheduled, according to Hebrew media reports.
The session had been set for 6 p.m., following a 5 p.m. security cabinet meeting that has yet to begin, delaying the approval of the deal to release the remaining 48 hostages held by terror organizations in Gaza, some 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Witkoff, Kushner arrive in Tel Aviv after helping broker ceasefire deal
By Jacob Magid
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Tel Aviv after helping broker a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal in Egypt, flight tracking data indicates.
Palestinian-American mediator praises Trump for ‘demonstrating the power of diplomacy’
By Jacob Magid
Bishara Bahbah gives an interview on Al Ghad TV on June 24, 2025. (Screenshot/ Facebook)
Palestinian-American mediator Bishara Bahbah hails US President Donald Trump’s efforts in brokering a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas.
“We commend President Trump for his unwavering commitment to peace and for demonstrating the power of diplomacy in the face of decades of entrenched conflict,” Bahbah says in a statement.
“This agreement is not just a diplomatic achievement, it is a lifeline for thousands of families who have lived under the shadow of war for far too long,” he adds.
Bahbah has served as an unofficial mediator between the US and Hamas, playing a critical role in the release of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander earlier this year.
He also heads an organization called Arab Americans for Peace (AAFP), which helped campaign for Trump during the 2024 election. It later rebranded after the president unveiled a controversial plan in February to take over Gaza and permanently relocate its entire population. Trump has since abandoned the plan, and the one he successfully brokered to end the war envisioned encouraging Palestinians to remain in Gaza, rather than urging them to leave as envisioned by the Israeli far-right.
“AAFP emphasized that while this agreement is only the beginning, it is a meaningful and courageous first step that could reshape the trajectory of Israeli-Palestinian relations and offer hope to a region long plagued by violence and mistrust,” Bahbah’s group says in a statement.
Netanyahu spokeswoman: All of PM’s goals ‘have now been achieved’ in Gaza war
By Lazar Berman
Prime Minister’s Office spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian gives a briefing on October 9, 2025. (Screenshot)
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the three core goals he established for the war in Gaza have been accomplished.
The statement by Prime Minister’s Office spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian in a televised briefing comes as Israel prepares to ratify the hostage release and ceasefire agreement announced earlier today.
“We have hit a critical point in this war,” Bedrosian says. “From day one in this war, the prime minister laid out three objectives — the return of all of our hostages, the defeat and dismantling of Hamas and ensuring Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.”
In a statement suggesting a declaration of victory, she says, “All of the prime minister’s objectives have now been achieved.”
US slaps sanctions on dozens over links to Iran oil exports
By AFP
The US Treasury announces sanctions on more than 50 people, companies and ships tied to Iran’s oil sector, stepping up its campaign against a key revenue source for Tehran.
The actions are aimed at people who help to facilitate Iran’s shipments of liquified petroleum gas, and include a Chinese port and a China-based “teapot” oil refinery, the Treasury Department announces.
The announcement comes a few weeks after the UN announced so-called snapback sanctions against Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, deepening Tehran’s isolation on the world stage.
“The Treasury Department is degrading Iran’s cash flow by dismantling key elements of Iran’s energy export machine,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says in a statement.
Among those targeted is Shandong Jincheng Petrochemical Group Co., a China-based refinery that the Treasury Department said had purchased millions of barrels of Iranian oil since 2023.
The Treasury also hits the company which operates the Rizhao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal at Lanshan Port, accusing it of accepting more than a dozen shadow fleet vessels shipping millions of barrels of Iranian oil.
Today’s actions are the Treasury’s fourth set of sanctions targeting China-based refineries since US President Donald Trump’s return to office in January, according to the statement.
The move adds to the hundreds of people, firms, and ships punished for their links to Iran as part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign.
The Treasury’s designation means that any “property and interests in property” held by the sanctions targets in the United States, or controlled by a US citizen, permanent resident or company, are now blocked and must be reported to the sanctions division.
Any companies owned directly or indirectly by one of the sanctioned individuals are also blocked, the Treasury says.
On eve of ceasefire, Katz says he told IDF to ‘respond with great force’ against Hamas attacks
Defense Minister Israel Katz (center) meets with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (right) and other generals, October 9, 2025. (Elad Malka/ Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed the IDF to “respond with great force” against any attempt by Hamas to harm Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, as the government is set to approve a ceasefire in the territory.
Katz had held an assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other top officers, ahead of the security cabinet and full cabinet meetings this evening that are expected to approve the ceasefire deal.
“The defense minister instructed the IDF to respond with great force to any threat and any attack by the Hamas terror organization against our forces during the interim stage before the government’s decision and until the implementation of the agreement,” Katz’s office says.
Katz is quoted by his office as saying: “Safeguarding the security of IDF soldiers is our foremost obligation in the current situation.”
White House assesses that hostage releases will begin on Monday, official says
By Jacob Magid
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip hold posters with portraits of their loved ones during a protest demanding their immediate release and calling for a ceasefire, in Jerusalem, October 7, 2025, on the second anniversary of Hamas’ cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A senior White House official says the Trump administration’s most up-to-date assessment is that the hostages held in Gaza will begin being released on Monday.
In a statement sent to querying reporters, the White House official says that once the Israeli cabinet approves the hostage deal later today, Israel will withdraw to the agreed upon line inside Gaza, in a process that should take less than 24 hours.
“Then the 72 hour clock begins, and Hamas will try to go earlier if possible. Our assessment is that hostages will begin getting released on Monday,” the statement says, with the “go” apparently referring to retrieving and releasing the hostages.
‘He deserves it’: Netanyahu shares AI photo of Trump winning Nobel Peace Prize
By Lazar Berman
On social media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shares an AI-generated photo of US President Donald Trump with a Nobel Prize medal around his neck, as he is lauded by the prime minister and others.
“Give Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize – he deserves it!” writes Netanyahu on X following the announcement of a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza this morning. He has previously nominated the president for the prize, which the US leader has made no secret of wanting to win.
Security cabinet convening to discuss ceasefire deal, ahead of full cabinet vote
By Lazar Berman
The ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet gather at the premier’s office in Jerusalem to discuss the deal agreed to overnight in Sharm el-Sheikh to free the hostages and begin a ceasefire in Gaza.
The meeting has not yet started, the office of one of the ministers tells The Times of Israel.
The full cabinet will then meet to vote on the deal. A clear majority is expected to ratify the agreement, which would officially begin the ceasefire.
Herzog nixes Sukkot event, citing ‘upcoming visit’ of Trump, in apparent confirmation
President Isaac Herzog speaks at the state memorial in Jerusalem for Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl, on July 16, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)
In an apparent confirmation of US President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to Israel following the approval of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal, President Isaac Herzog’s office announces that the president has canceled a planned Sukkot event on Sunday, citing the American leader’s trip and the return of the captives.
“In light of the expected release of the hostages, and following the upcoming visit of United States President Donald Trump to Israel, the President’s Residence has decided to cancel this year’s Open Sukkah event, which had been scheduled for Sunday, October 12,” the statement reads.
“The decision was made due to anticipated security closures in Jerusalem surrounding the visit and the historic developments unfolding in the coming days,” the statement adds.
Trump himself has said he will visit Israel and likely speak at the Knesset, though no official date has been announced.
UN chief welcomes Gaza ceasefire deal as pathway to Palestinian state
By Reuters
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomes the agreement to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza and says it represents a path toward self-determination of the Palestinian people.
“I urge all to seize this momentous opportunity to establish a credible political path forward,” Guterres says at the United Nations. “A path towards ending the occupation, recognizing the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and achieving a two-state solution.”
The UN chief presses for full and sustained access for humanitarian workers in Gaza, where there is a humanitarian crisis amid the Israeli military campaign that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.
“The United Nations stands ready to provide its full support,” Guterres says. “We and our partners are prepared to move – now.”
He adds, “We have the expertise, the distribution networks, and community relationships in place to act. Supplies are in place, and our teams are on standby.”
Guterres praises the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey for their role in this “desperately needed breakthrough” and calls for a permanent ceasefire to be secured.
Talks over Palestinian prisoners to be freed are still ongoing, sources say
By Jacob Magid and Nurit Yohanan
Negotiations over the list of Palestinian security prisoners to be released in exchange for the remaining 48 hostages are continuing, an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel, downplaying a statement issued moments ago by an Israeli government spokesperson who said that Marwan Barghouti would not be freed in the trade.
In addition, a senior Hamas official, whose name was not disclosed, tells the terror group’s Al-Aqsa TV that “negotiations regarding the lists of prisoners to be released are still ongoing,” apparently referring to Palestinian prisoners.
The official adds that the organization delivered its final response this morning to the mediators regarding the timeline of the agreement. He denies that Hamas had met directly with the Israeli delegation in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, amid footage broadcast last night on Egyptian channels that fueled Israeli claims of a first direct meeting between the two sides.
Name of Israeli operation to bring back hostages is ‘Return to Their Border,’ PM says
Israel’s impending mission to return the remaining 48 hostages in Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal announced today will be called Operation “Return to Their Border,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announces in a statement.
The name of the operation comes from a frequently quoted verse in the biblical book of Jeremiah, traditionally read in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, where God promises that the nation of Israel’s children “shall return to their border” after being exiled. The passage has been used often in Israeli politics and culture to signify the end of war.
The premier “decided that the operation to rescue the hostages will be called ‘Return to Their Border,’” the statement reads, ahead of a security cabinet and government meeting to approve the hostage-release phase of the
Israeli peace activists hold meeting with PA leader Abbas in Ramallah
Dozens of Israeli peace activists, both Jews and Arabs, representing organizations including Peace Now, Women Wage Peace, the Parents Circle – Families Forum, and others, met this afternoon with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
The meeting was relatively unusual. During the two years of war in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, Israeli peace organizations have rarely met with Abbas. The meeting had been planned before this morning’s announcement of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Also present at the meeting was Arab-Israeli Knesset Member Ayman Odeh, chair of the Hadash-Ta’al party.
According to participants in the meeting, Abbas praised the ceasefire deal, saying, “I welcome the agreement signed today, the end of the war, and the release of the hostages.”
He reportedly added: “I have been waiting for this meeting, and the presence of your delegation here strengthens the hope for peace. Hope begins today, and now we must ensure that we continue and realize peace. Every Israeli who believes in peace is our brother.”
The group of peace organizations that participated in the meeting – the “It’s Time” coalition – called the meeting the beginning of a “new era.”
“The era of managing the conflict is over,” the coalition told The Times of Israel. “Today begins a new era – an era of hope. The deal to release the hostages and establish a ceasefire is a moment of grace and a historic opportunity to end the cycle of wars and open a political process that will bring security, equality, freedom, and peace to both peoples.”
IDF to retain control over 53% of Gaza after deal is ratified, officials say
IDF troops seen operating in the Gaza Strip in an image published October 6, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Once the Israeli government officially ratifies the Gaza ceasefire agreement later this evening, the IDF will begin to pull back troops in the Strip, according to officials.
Within 24 hours, the IDF is expected to retreat to agreed-upon deployment lines, which will see the army remain in control of just over half of the Strip’s territory, or 53 percent — most of which is outside of urban areas.
After the retreat, the IDF will be in control of a buffer zone along the entire Gaza border, including the Philadelphi Corridor — the Egypt-Gaza border area — along with Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the Strip’s far north, a ridge on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, and large portions of Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Within 72 hours of the IDF’s retreat, Hamas is set to release the 48 hostages it is holding, beginning with the 20 believed to be alive. The terror group has, in the past, told mediators it does not know where some of the bodies of slain hostages are located, which may delay the release of the bodies.
The living hostages will be handed over to Red Cross representatives by Hamas without a release ceremony. The Red Cross will then bring them to IDF troops waiting inside Gaza.
The hostages will then be escorted outside of Gaza to the military’s Re’im base near the border for an initial physical and mental health checkup. Some family members of the hostages are expected to wait at the Re’im facility for their loved ones.
The IDF says it is prepared to handle the simultaneous release of all 20 living hostages if Hamas chooses to free them all together.
Later, the hostages and their families will be taken to hospitals in central Israel for additional treatment and to meet other family members.
Hostages requiring immediate medical attention will be airlifted to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba without going through the Re’im facility.
The bodies of slain hostages are set to be received by troops in Gaza, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held in their honor. The caskets are also to be examined by sappers “for security purposes,” according to the IDF.
The caskets with civilian hostages will then be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute for identification, which may take up to two days. The bodies of slain soldiers will be taken to the IDF’s Shura Camp for identification.
Israel won’t free Marwan Barghouti in deal with Hamas for now, gov’t spokesperson says
By Reuters
Protesters lift flags and placards depicting leading member of the Fatah party Marwan Barghouti, the most high-profile Palestinian terrorist jailed by Israel, during a march supporting him in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 19, 2025. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Israel does not intend to release prominent Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti as part of an agreement reached with Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli government spokesperson says.
“I can tell you at this point in time that he will not be part of this release,” spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian tells reporters.
Barghouti is serving five life sentences for his part in planning terror attacks that killed five Israelis during the Second Intifada.
Earlier, Israel and Hamas agreed in indirect talks that the 48 hostages held by terrorists in Gaza would be released in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including security prisoners.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Apparent Hamas operatives attempt to raid IDF post in southern Gaza, army says
An Israeli military armored vehicle drives along the Israel-Gaza border on October 9, 2025 (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
Operatives appearing to belong to Hamas attempted to raid an IDF post in the southern Gaza Strip a few hours ago, after a deal was reached to end the war but before a ceasefire has officially taken effect, according to the military.
The cell of three suspected gunmen approached an army encampment in the southern Khan Younis area. According to the IDF, troops at the post initially fired warning shots at the three suspects before the attackers were killed.
No soldiers were wounded in the incident, according to the military.
The IDF is preparing to pull back forces in Gaza once the ceasefire takes effect, likely this evening, after the government officially ratifies the agreement.
US anti-Israel activists vow to keep up ‘the struggle’ after news of ceasefire deal
By Luke Tress
Anti-Israel protest groups in the US herald the ceasefire deal announced earlier today with calls to keep up pressure on Israel.
The Palestinian Youth Movement announces protests in New York City and other locations for tonight, saying, “Gaza will rise, the struggle never dies.”
The group vows to “recommit to the long fight ahead for a global arms embargo, the release of all our prisoners, and full liberation and return.”
The anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace appears to support a ceasefire but says the plan that was approved “seeks to create a new Middle East in which Israeli apartheid and genocide are normalized.”
“Justice can only begin once Israeli impunity is challenged,” the group says.
Other statements are more ambiguous and some groups have not commented.
“Freedom is only born in the womb of suffering,” National Students for Justice in Palestine says.
The hardline activist group Within Our Lifetime says, “Every free person must feel a debt upon their shoulders toward Gaza and its people, a debt that can only be discharged by the complete removal and dissolution of this occupation.”
The news of the ceasefire comes after the activist groups held widespread rallies this week celebrating the second anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel.
Hamas will not hold ceremonies when handing over hostages, sources say
By Jacob Magid
Eliya Cohen (left), Omer Shem Tov (center) and Omer Wenkert, flanked by armed fighters, on stage at a Hamas propaganda ceremony for their release in Gaza on February 22, 2025 (Eyad BABA / AFP)
Hamas has agreed during talks in Egypt that it will not hold ceremonies during the handover of hostages to Israel, an Arab diplomat and a second source familiar tell The Times of Israel.
The ceremonies during the previous hostage deal at the beginning of the year, which saw emaciated hostages paraded before a crowd alongside anti-Israel slogans, infuriated both Israel and the US.
Witkoff, Kushner to visit Hostages Square this week — report
By Lazar Berman
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner will fly to Israel this week, Channel 12 reports, though the exact timing of their trip has yet to be announced.
While here, the two will visit Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, according to the report.
Witkoff visited the square in August, meeting with families to discuss prospects for a hostage release deal.
The pair are currently in Egypt helping shepherd the US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and are expected to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sissi before leaving for Israel.
Turkey to monitor Gaza deal implementation, Erdogan says
By Reuters
Turkey will take part in efforts to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza agreed by Israel and Hamas, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says.
“God willing, we as Turkey will take part in the mission force that will monitor the agreement’s implementation in the field,” he says in a speech in Ankara.
He adds that Turkey will contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza.
Israel has in the past expressed concerns over Turkish support for Hamas, the terror group that is to be disarmed and shunted from power under the deal.
Israel said to reject returning body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar or his brother
An Israeli source quoted by Hebrew language media says that the bodies of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his brother Mohammed Sinwar will not be returned as part of a hostage for prisoners exchange being hammered out.
Yahya Sinwar is widely considered to be the architect of the October 7 massacre. His brother briefly helmed the terror group. Both were killed by Israel.
Hamas spokesperson says all bodies may be released at same time as living hostages
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem tells Al Jazeera that all living and deceased hostages could be released at the same time if conditions on the ground allow it, without specifying what those conditions may be.
Qassem adds that Hamas has informed the mediators of the difficulties related to handing over the bodies of hostages, citing the extensive destruction in Gaza during the war.
During the interview, Qassem does not verify if a commitment to release all hostages within 72 hours also includes the transfer of bodies of hostages who were killed.
Trump may only be here for hours, hotel reportedly asked to boot lodgers for him anyway
By Lazar Berman
US President Donald Trump greeting Israeli ministers during his welcome ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport, May 22, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
An Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that “discussions are ongoing” regarding planning for US President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel.
According to reports, the visit will be lightning fast, with the Kan public broadcaster reporting that he may only be on the ground for 8 hours total.
According to the station, Trump is currently slated to land at 3 p.m. on Sunday, where he will take part in a ceremony at Ben Gurion airport. There will also be ceremonies at the Knesset and at the Western Wall.
He is tentatively scheduled to take off at 11 p.m. Sunday night, the outlet reports.
Despite the fact that he will not be here overnight, space is reportedly being made for him and his entourage at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
According to Maariv, the US embassy has asked the hotel to clear two floors for Trump and his team starting Saturday night, forcing the pricey lodging to evict guests staying there for the Sukkot holiday, when Jerusalem typically swells with Jewish visitors.
Sa’ar praises Netanyahu, Trump for Gaza deal, says Israel passed ‘moral, ethical test’
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar addresses a joint press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart at the Foreign Ministry in Vilnius on July 1, 2025. (Petras Malukas / AFP)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hails the Gaza ceasefire deal, praising Israel for passing “a moral and ethical test” through its commitment to freeing the hostages and saying he looks forward to voting in favor of the agreement later today.
Along with its military achievements throughout the past two years of war, “Israel also passed the moral and ethical test of its commitment to the release of its hostages,” writes Sa’ar in a Hebrew-language post on X.
“I do not think there is any other nation that would have similarly stood such a test. This commitment has been expressed in the persistent striving to free the hostages and also in the way the war itself has been conducted,” Sa’ar claims.
“Today, in the government meeting, I will have the privilege of voting for the third time (after November 2023 and January 2025) in favor of a framework for the release of hostages,” he says. He adds he will “do so with pride,” while not “minimizing the costs involved in the release of abhorrent terrorists” included among the Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for the hostages.
The foreign minister praises the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then US President Donald Trump for their work to reach the deal, but warns that “Israel’s challenges are not over.”
“Israel did not give up on any of the war’s objectives, as set by the security cabinet. They are all, in practice, included in the Trump plan,” he insists, adding, “We have not given up on ending Hamas’s rule in Gaza, nor on removing the threat it poses to Israel and its citizens.”
Industry captain hopes for economic revival after years of war losses
Israel Manufacturers’ Association President Ron Tomer welcomes the agreement for the release of all hostages held by Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip and calls on the government to take action to stabilize the economy and help drive growth in local industry after several years of war-related pains.
“We are happy and excited for the return home of all hostages,” says Tomer. “We are now faced with stabilizing the economy for the day after, following enormous difficulties over the past two years.”
Tomer says the economy and local industry displayed “exceptional resilience” during the years of war since the October 7, 2023 attack.
“In the recent period, Israeli industry has also had to deal with a worrisome wave of international boycotts that are unprecedented in scope, as well as the decline in the dollar exchange rate, which poses another challenge to Israeli exports,” says Tomer. “We will work together with the Economy and Industry Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry to renew economic ties abroad, lift the boycotts on the Israeli economy, stabilize the exchange rate, and support local production and exports, to push the Israeli industry and economic growth forward.”
Paris meet to focus on Gaza peacekeepers, defanging Hamas — Germany
By Reuters
Peacekeeping troops, a legal framework and ensuring Hamas can no longer pose a danger will be discussed among international partners in Paris, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says.
All three are necessary in the future as part of a plan for the Gaza Strip, he says.
“Humanitarian and medical aid must now reach Gaza quickly; the people need prospects for reconstruction,” he adds on social media platform X.
Paris meet to focus on Gaza peacekeepers, defanging Hamas — Germany
By Reuters
Peacekeeping troops, a legal framework and ensuring Hamas can no longer pose a danger will be discussed among international partners in Paris, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says.
All three are necessary in the future as part of a plan for the Gaza Strip, he says.
“Humanitarian and medical aid must now reach Gaza quickly; the people need prospects for reconstruction,” he adds on social media platform X.
Red Cross convoy seen in Gaza not involved with hostages
Red Cross vehicles move towards the northern Gaza Strip from Al-Zawayda city, near Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza on October 9, 2025. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Red Cross vehicles filmed traveling from the southern part of the Strip to the north are unrelated to the group’s expected involvement in transferring hostages from Hamas’s hands to Israel, the Times of Israel has learned.
Despite reports citing the movement as evidence of the upcoming release, information obtained by ToI shows that the trip was part of a pre-planned Red Cross mission intended to deliver medicines and medical equipment.
Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai, whose father hid Jewish roots, awarded Nobel prize
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, considered by many as Hungary’s most important living author, whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.
The Swedish Academy honors him “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
Krasznahorkai, 71, is “a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterized by absurdism and grotesque excess,” the jury says in a statement. “But there are more strings to his bow, and he also looks to the East in adopting a more contemplative, finely calibrated tone.”
Krasznahorkai has spoken in interviews about learning as a child about his father’s secret Jewish past. In 1931, he said, his grandfather changed the family name from Korin to Krasznahorkai, the name of a castle on formerly Hungarian land.
“My father had Jewish roots. But he only told us this secret when I was about eleven. Before that, I had no idea,” he told a Greek publication in 2018. “In the socialist era, it was forbidden to mention it. Well, I am half Jewish, but if things carry on in Hungary as they seem likely to do, I’ll soon be entirely Jewish.”
Haredi political leader Gafni welcomes Gaza deal
By Sam Sokol
Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni welcomes the hostage deal, stating that his party, one of two factions comprising the larger ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, has consistently supported doing “everything possible to bring back the hostages, to end the war, and to do so in coordination with the United States, a kingdom of beneficence that constantly assists Israel.”
Using language with heavy religious overtones, Gafni thanks both US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their efforts and “dedication in achieving this agreement.”
Hamas official says differences over prisoners could torpedo deal
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi writes on his X account that disagreements over what prisoners Israel will release as part of a deal to free hostages in Gaza are threatening to derail the deal.
“It seems Netanyahu is trying to sabotage the ceasefire agreement before its implementation, by reneging on prisoner release lists in an attempt to derail the understandings,” he writes.
Mardawi alleges that the lack of agreement on the prisoners exposes Israel’s unreliability regarding troop withdrawals, reconstruction and the reopening of crossings in and out of the Strip.
Israel and talks mediators to search jointly for hostages’ bodies in Gaza — Turkey
By Reuters
A joint task force made up of Israel, the United States, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt will be established to locate the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza whose locations are unknown, a senior Turkish official says.
Turkish officials took part in negotiations in Egypt that resulted in a ceasefire and hostage deal earlier on Thursday, joining the US, Egypt and Qatar as mediators.
Report claims Israel will free Barghouti, other top terror convicts
A banner with a picture of jailed Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti and some fellow inmates, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 1, 2017. (Nasser Nasser/ AP/ File)
Sources involved in the negotiations tell the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Israel has agreed to free senior Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti, Popular Front leader Ahmad Sa’adat, and senior Hamas members Ibrahim Hamed and Hassan Salameh as part of a deal for the release of hostages in Gaza.
All four are serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prison for their roles planning terror attacks in which dozens of Israelis were killed, most of them during the Second Intifada.
Reports have indicated that 250 senior terror convicts are among the prisoners Israel will release, but there is less clarity regarding who is being sought and who Israel has agreed to let go.
Barghouti is thought to be a possible challenger to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s control of Ramallah.
Channel 12 news reports that Barghouti and Hamed will not be released.
Nobel winner decided days before Gaza deal, likely putting Trump out of running
By AFP
A man wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump celebrates news of a hostage deal in Gaza, Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, October 9, 2025. (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prestigious peace prize, held its final meeting on Monday, the Nobel Institute says, sinking most hopes that US President Donald Trump could be named when the winner is announced tomorrow.
This means a decision was made about the laureate or laureates before the conclusion of an agreement between Israel and Hamas under pressure from Trump, who has made no secret of the fact that he believes he is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
“The last meeting of the Nobel Committee took place on Monday,” Erik Aasheim, spokesman for the Norwegian Nobel Institute, tells AFP.
Comprised of five members, the Nobel Committee typically makes its decision several days or even weeks before and meets one last time in the run-up to the official announcement.
“The final touches were made on Monday, but we never disclose when the Nobel Committee makes its decision,” Aasheim adds.
“There will be a laureate this year,” he says. Some experts have speculated that the Nobel Committee — due to the deteriorated geopolitical situation — might refrain from awarding the prize.
Trump recently said that it would be “a big insult” to the United States if he was not given the prize.
The agreement between Israel and Hamas “has absolutely no impact” on the choice of the 2025 laureate because “the Nobel Committee has already made its decision”, historian Asle Sveen, a specialist in the Nobel Prize, tells AFP.
“Trump will not win the prize this year. I’m 100 percent certain,” he says.
Talks on second stage to start once hostages freed — report
Sources tell Qatari channel Al-Araby that talks for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement will begin one day after the hostages are released.
It’s unclear if this refers to the release of all hostages, including the dead, or only the living captives.
The channel also reports that Egypt informed American diplomats that it will not allow Israel to maintain a permanent presence along the Egyptian border with Gaza. Israel has insisted on keeping troops in the area, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, to thwart what it describes as heavy smuggling activity.
Two soldiers hurt in overnight Gaza attack
Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured after their vehicle was hit by an explosive device during operations in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, the military says.
The troops were taken to a hospital and their families were notified, the army adds.
The incident took place as a deal to end the war in Gaza was announced.
IDF seen firing on Palestinians trying to head back to Gaza City
Palestinian media reports that the IDF has deployed tanks to the Rashid coastal road to prevent Palestinians from returning to Gaza City and the Strip’s north, with a ceasefire yet to take effect.
Footage shows the tanks firing shells near a crowd of Palestinians gathering in the area.
Earlier, the IDF warned Palestinians that returning to Gaza City is still “extremely dangerous,” despite Israel and Hamas reaching a deal for troops to pull out of Gazan cities and for fighting to halt.
The IDF is preparing to pull back forces in Gaza once the ceasefire takes effect, likely this evening after the government officially ratifies the agreement.
Russia welcomes Gaza deal, hopes it will be followed by ‘actions’
People react as they celebrate following the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan to pause the fighting, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Russia welcomes the announcement of the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage-release deal reached between Israel and Hamas, expressing hope that “actions” will follow the accord to end the two-year war and secure the freedom of the captives.
“The fact that a ceasefire in Gaza has essentially been established cannot but be a source of general satisfaction. All these efforts are welcome,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
“We hope that signatures will be signed today, and that actions to implement the agreements will follow,” Peskov says.
Maersk shares sink as Gaza deal threatens to end lucrative shipping crunch
By Reuters
While much of the world welcomes a deal to end fighting in Gaza and release hostages, there is one group perhaps less sanguine on the news: investors in shipping giant Maersk, which is seeing stock prices plummet as the prospect of an end to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping stands to bring freight charges down.
Shares have fallen 2 percent today to their lowest level since July, as investors anticipate a Gaza ceasefire deal that could eventually restore container shipping routes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, easing a capacity crunch that has supported freight rates.
“Maersk is falling due to the expectation of further drops in the freight rates in connection with a higher probability of safe passage through the Red Sea,” Sydbank analyst Mikkel Emil Jensen says.
Analysts warn that even if the ceasefire holds, shipping companies are likely to wait months for assurances that attacks will not resume.
The Houthis have yet to comment on the ceasefire deal or signal any policy change. The group claimed responsibility for attacking a Dutch-operated vessel last week.
Shark spotted off the coast of Bat Yam, authorities close beaches
After reports of a shark sighting, authorities closed the Bat Yam beaches in central Israel, Hebrew media reports.
Today’s sighting is the third in two weeks, with reports of a shark spotted off the coast of Ashkelon yesterday and in Ashdod, south of Bat Yam, on September 26. It is unclear if the sightings are of the same shark.
In April, a man was killed in a shark attack off the coast of Hadera, the third recorded shark attack in Israel to date.
Following that attack, the Nature and Parks Authority said it “repeats its warning… against interacting with sharks. We again call on the public not to approach the sharks as they are protected animals.”
Hamas official says Israel to withdraw from all Gaza cities tomorrow, paving way for hostage release
Hamas official Osama Hamdan tells the Qatari Al-Araby TV channel that Israel will pull out militarily from all populated areas in Gaza — including Khan Younis, Rafah, and Gaza City. He says the withdrawal will take place tomorrow, since the release of hostages requires arrangements on the ground and freer movement for Hamas operatives, meaning Israel must retreat first.
Hamdan, who is in Qatar and did not attend talks in Egypt, confirms reports that under the ceasefire agreement, 250 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Gazan prisoners detained during the war will be released.
The interview appears to be the first public appearance by a senior Hamas official since the deal was reached overnight.
He refuses to say whether senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Popular Front leader Ahmad Sa’adat will be among those released, noting only that Hamas submitted the list to the Israeli side according to the seniority and prominence of the prisoners.
He stresses that the agreement will only come into effect once it is approved by the Israeli government. He also says that starting Sunday, 400 aid trucks will enter Gaza every day.
Lebanese report Israeli attack on house in south
Lebanese media reports that Israeli troops blew up a house in the southern town of Mays al-Jabal at dawn.
The IDF has not commented.
The Israeli military has conducted hundreds of ground operations in southern Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire, mostly within the areas near the army’s five posts inside Lebanese territory.
Keep praying until they are all home, chief rabbi says at Western Wall
Jewish worshipers pray at the Western Wall on October 9, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef says Israelis should keep praying for the hostages until they are all actually back home, as tens of thousands of Israelis flock to the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem to attend the priestly blessing ceremony organized for the festival of Sukkot.
The ceremony is attended by some captivity survivors and family members, including Sasha Trufanov and Yulia Trufanova. Also there are Julie Kuperstein, the mother of Bar Kuperstein, who is still held in Gaza, and family members of Omer Neutra, who was killed on October 7, 2023, and whose body is still held by Hamas.
“We all heard the news,” says Yosef of the deal to free the hostages. “I ask all the people who are here, let us continue praying for the hostages until the last one comes home. They are still in danger in the hands of the enemy.”
Gaza ceasefire will begin tonight once government approves deal, PMO says
By Lazar Berman
The Gaza ceasefire will begin this evening after the government officially ratifies the agreement, the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.
This comes after several Hebrew-language news outlets reported that the ceasefire had gone into effect with the signing of the agreement, which was slated to have taken place in Egypt at noon, citing a Reuters report sourced to Egyptian state media .
The government is scheduled to vote on the measure at 6 p.m.
Saudi Arabia welcomes Gaza deal, hopes for ‘just and comprehensive peace based on 2-state solution’
Saudi Arabia welcomes the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas and says it hopes it will lead to peace after two years of devastating war, sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, massacre.
Saudi Arabia hopes “this important step will lead to urgent action to alleviate the humanitarian suffering… achieve a full Israeli withdrawal, restore security and stability, and initiate practical steps to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution,” a foreign ministry statement says.
Russia welcomes Gaza deal, hopes it will be followed by ‘actions’
People react as they celebrate following the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan to pause the fighting, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Russia welcomes the announcement of the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage-release deal reached between Israel and Hamas, expressing hope that “actions” will follow the accord to end the two-year war and secure the freedom of the captives.
“The fact that a ceasefire in Gaza has essentially been established cannot but be a source of general satisfaction. All these efforts are welcome,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
“We hope that signatures will be signed today, and that actions to implement the agreements will follow,” Peskov says.
Maersk shares sink as Gaza deal threatens to end lucrative shipping crunch
By Reuters
While much of the world welcomes a deal to end fighting in Gaza and release hostages, there is one group perhaps less sanguine on the news: investors in shipping giant Maersk, which is seeing stock prices plummet as the prospect of an end to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping stands to bring freight charges down.
Shares have fallen 2 percent today to their lowest level since July, as investors anticipate a Gaza ceasefire deal that could eventually restore container shipping routes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, easing a capacity crunch that has supported freight rates.
“Maersk is falling due to the expectation of further drops in the freight rates in connection with a higher probability of safe passage through the Red Sea,” Sydbank analyst Mikkel Emil Jensen says.
Analysts warn that even if the ceasefire holds, shipping companies are likely to wait months for assurances that attacks will not resume.
The Houthis have yet to comment on the ceasefire deal or signal any policy change. The group claimed responsibility for attacking a Dutch-operated vessel last week.
Shark spotted off the coast of Bat Yam, authorities close beaches
After reports of a shark sighting, authorities closed the Bat Yam beaches in central Israel, Hebrew media reports.
Today’s sighting is the third in two weeks, with reports of a shark spotted off the coast of Ashkelon yesterday and in Ashdod, south of Bat Yam, on September 26. It is unclear if the sightings are of the same shark.
In April, a man was killed in a shark attack off the coast of Hadera, the third recorded shark attack in Israel to date.
Following that attack, the Nature and Parks Authority said it “repeats its warning… against interacting with sharks. We again call on the public not to approach the sharks as they are protected animals.”
Hamas official says Israel to withdraw from all Gaza cities tomorrow, paving way for hostage release
Hamas official Osama Hamdan tells the Qatari Al-Araby TV channel that Israel will pull out militarily from all populated areas in Gaza — including Khan Younis, Rafah, and Gaza City. He says the withdrawal will take place tomorrow, since the release of hostages requires arrangements on the ground and freer movement for Hamas operatives, meaning Israel must retreat first.
Hamdan, who is in Qatar and did not attend talks in Egypt, confirms reports that under the ceasefire agreement, 250 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Gazan prisoners detained during the war will be released.
The interview appears to be the first public appearance by a senior Hamas official since the deal was reached overnight.
He refuses to say whether senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Popular Front leader Ahmad Sa’adat will be among those released, noting only that Hamas submitted the list to the Israeli side according to the seniority and prominence of the prisoners.
He stresses that the agreement will only come into effect once it is approved by the Israeli government. He also says that starting Sunday, 400 aid trucks will enter Gaza every day.
Lebanese report Israeli attack on house in south
Lebanese media reports that Israeli troops blew up a house in the southern town of Mays al-Jabal at dawn.
The IDF has not commented.
The Israeli military has conducted hundreds of ground operations in southern Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire, mostly within the areas near the army’s five posts inside Lebanese territory.
Keep praying until they are all home, chief rabbi says at Western Wall
Jewish worshipers pray at the Western Wall on October 9, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef says Israelis should keep praying for the hostages until they are all actually back home, as tens of thousands of Israelis flock to the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem to attend the priestly blessing ceremony organized for the festival of Sukkot.
The ceremony is attended by some captivity survivors and family members, including Sasha Trufanov and Yulia Trufanova. Also there are Julie Kuperstein, the mother of Bar Kuperstein, who is still held in Gaza, and family members of Omer Neutra, who was killed on October 7, 2023, and whose body is still held by Hamas.
“We all heard the news,” says Yosef of the deal to free the hostages. “I ask all the people who are here, let us continue praying for the hostages until the last one comes home. They are still in danger in the hands of the enemy.”
Gaza ceasefire will begin tonight once government approves deal, PMO says
By Lazar Berman
The Gaza ceasefire will begin this evening after the government officially ratifies the agreement, the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.
This comes after several Hebrew-language news outlets reported that the ceasefire had gone into effect with the signing of the agreement, which was slated to have taken place in Egypt at noon, citing a Reuters report sourced to Egyptian state media .
The government is scheduled to vote on the measure at 6 p.m.
Saudi Arabia welcomes Gaza deal, hopes for ‘just and comprehensive peace based on 2-state solution’
Saudi Arabia welcomes the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas and says it hopes it will lead to peace after two years of devastating war, sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, massacre.
Saudi Arabia hopes “this important step will lead to urgent action to alleviate the humanitarian suffering… achieve a full Israeli withdrawal, restore security and stability, and initiate practical steps to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution,” a foreign ministry statement says.
Egypt’s Sissi touts ‘historic moment’ over Gaza
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi says “the world is witnessing a historic moment” as Israel and Hamas move to implement an agreement reached in Sharm el-Sheikh ending fighting in Gaza.
“This agreement does not only close the chapter of war; it also opens the door of hope for the peoples of the region for a future defined by justice and stability,” he says of Palestinian aspirations.
Egypt’s foreign ministry on Thursday also hails the “recent positive developments in Sharm El-Sheikh, which represent a pivotal moment of the war in Gaza,” hours after a deal was announced between Hamas and Israel.
A statement says Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty will travel to Paris on Thursday for a ministerial meeting to “discuss arrangements for the situation in the Gaza Strip.”
Son of murdered hostage Amiram Cooper: ‘Too horrible to think of possibility his body won’t come home’
By Ben Sales
Rotem Cooper, son of murdered hostage Amiram, speaks at Hostages Square on October 9, 0225 (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
Rotem Cooper, son of slain hostage Amiram Cooper, who was 84 when taken captive, tells reporters that he has “distorted” feelings but hopes for a measure of “closure” following the announcement of a deal to return the 48 hostages held in Gaza, including those who have been confirmed dead by Israel.
“You don’t make any preparations, you take it one day at a time,” he says at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. “We want to get some closure. We’re not trying to forget… but we want some small closure and to focus more on building.”
His father, according to the IDF, was murdered in captivity after being taken hostage by Hamas terrorists in the group’s October 7, 2023, attack. Rotem’s mother, Nurit, was also taken captive but released weeks after the attack in a humanitarian gesture. Amiram Cooper was one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Israel expects that a number of the slain hostages’ bodies may not be found or returned. Rotem says he hasn’t made any concrete preparations and is focusing on supporting the living hostages to be released, including those from Nir Oz.
“My only preparations are to cancel everything on my calendar and to be here for the families, first of all for the living hostages,” he says. “First thing, let’s receive them.”
If the terror group does not return his father’s body, he says, “It’s too horrible to think about.”
He also has harsh words for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We failed as a society, certainly the leadership,” he says. “The prime minister doesn’t get points because he’s bringing my father back in a body bag. He’s a person who established the state, established the kibbutz. He should not have met his end like this.”
Amiram Cooper was taken captive by Hamas terrorists to Gaza from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)
Cabinet to vote on Gaza deal at 6 p.m.; hostage release timeline still unclear
By Agencies
The cabinet will meet at 6 p.m. to discuss a plan to secure the release of all hostages held in Gaza, a government statement says.
“Agenda – Plan for the release of all Israeli hostages,” an announcement posted on the government website reads.
A security Cabinet meeting to discuss the agreement has been scheduled for an hour beforehand.
An Israeli source quoted by Reuters says all 20 living hostages will be freed on Sunday or Monday, amid ongoing fog over when the actual release will take place.
Reports indicate that the deal being signed between Israel and Hamas calls for them to be freed within 72 hours of the agreement kicking into effect, expected to happen once the cabinet votes.
Kibbutz Be’eri: ‘We are excited, but also vigilant. We will not let up until the last hostage is home’
By Sue Surkes
A place in Be’eri’s cemetery for slain hostage Manny Godard (Kibbutz Be’eri spokeswoman)
Ofer Gitai, community manager at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest hit communities on October 7, cautiously welcomes the announcement of a deal.
“We are extremely excited, but also vigilant, and will not let up until the last hostage has returned to Israel,” he says.
Hamas terrorists murdered 102 kibbutz residents on October 7, 2023, and abducted 30. The organization is still holding the bodies of Yossi Sharabi, Manny Godard, Sahar Baruch, and Dror Or.
“It’s a day of mixed emotions,” Gitai says. “Alongside the huge joy and anticipation of the return of the kidnapped to the bosom of their families, there is deep sadness for the loved ones whose lives were cruelly cut short.”
He adds that the “very possibility of mourning together, on our land, is comforting and provides an opening for the first step on the long road to rehabilitation after two unbearably difficult years.”
Godard’s family issues a statement thanking US President Donald Trump.
“After two years of hell, an entire country has awakened to a morning of hope.
“We pray that all the living hostages return to us on their feet, and that the deceased hostages, including our father, Manny Godard, will soon be reunited with us for a proper burial on the soil of this country,” the statement goes on.
It adds, “We want to thank each of the families of the fallen, who lost the one they loved the most. Your sons gave their lives at this very moment. We want to hug you and remind you what heroes they are. We will be forever grateful.”
Manny Godard (Courtesy)
“The prayers of an entire country are on the way to fulfilment, and the wound that has been bleeding for more than two years will finally begin a long process of healing,” says Aviad Friedman, head of the Tekuma Directorate, tasked with rehabilitating the Gaza border communities.
“We embrace the families warmly and promise to continue working for the restoration of life in the Tekuma region, with faith, commitment, and love,” he goes on.
He adds, “Since the first day of the Tekuma Directorate’s operation, the absence of the hostages has accompanied us on every step we have taken. When they are home, we will be able to see a true process of rebirth. The return home of the living to life, and of our fallen to be buried on our land, strengthens us all and reminds us what we are fighting for — the right to live here in security and hope. We will continue to work shoulder to shoulder with the authorities and communities of the region to realize our shared vision of rebirth and doubling the number of its residents.”
Aid entering Gaza nearly doubled Wednesday, army says
Displaced Palestinians start their day in a makeshift camp by the beach in Al-Zawayda city, near Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on October 9, 2025, following an overnight announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel to be signed in Egypt. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Nearly 510 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza yesterday through Israel’s crossings with the Strip, almost twice the daily average, the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities (COGAT) says.
According to COGAT, over 300 trucks’ worth of aid were also collected by the United Nations and other international organizations from the Gaza side of the crossings yesterday to be distributed.
“This high volume of aid that entered followed the holidays in which the crossings were closed from the Israeli side,” COGAT says.
The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day in order to properly feed the Strip’s roughly two million people amid the war.
Give Trump the Nobel, Lapid declares
By Sam Sokol
Congratulating US President Donald Trump on the hostage deal, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says that “there is no person who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more and, more than that, the eternal gratitude of the people of Israel.”
“I congratulate his team, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Marco Rubio, and Tony Blair. I congratulate Prime Minister Netanyahu, the commanders and soldiers of the IDF, and above all, the families of the hostages, lions and lionesses who did not allow the world to forget, even for a moment,” Lapid says in a video statement.
Trump has on several occasions expressed a desire to win the prize, which is expected to be announced tomorrow, and some have speculated that the goal has animated his various peacemaking efforts around the world.
Following this morning’s announcement that the deal was going ahead, President Isaac Herzog declared that “there is no doubt that [Trump] deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for this.”
Kiryat Bialik, home to hostage Matan Angrest, announces plan to name new soccer field after Trump
The new soccer field in Kiryat Bialik set to be named after US President DOnald Trump, in an undated image (Yaniv Azulay/Kiryat Bialik municipality)
Eli Dukorski, the mayor of Kiryat Bialik, near Haifa, announces plans to name the city’s new soccer field after US President Donald Trump, in recognition of his “significant contribution to the release of our hostages.”
Matan Angrest, an IDF soldier and resident of Kiryat Bialik, was kidnapped by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023, and has remained in captivity.
“We are profoundly grateful to President Trump for his actions to free Israeli civilians and soldiers who were abducted on October 7, 2023,” says Dukorski. “We thank President Trump for putting his full weight behind the effort to release the hostages and dedicating extensive efforts that ultimately succeeded.”
“As an expression of our deep appreciation and respect, the new stadium being built in Kiryat Bialik will be named after President Trump,” he adds.
The decision still needs to be brought for approval at the next City Council meeting. The stadium will be part of a sports complex that will host the city’s cultural events and include training fields and classrooms for sports associations.
Israel’s security cabinet is set to meet this afternoon to vote on a ceasefire agreement that will see hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and put an end to fighting in Gaza.
Matan Angrest was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, from his tank unit at the Nahal Oz army base. (Courtesy)
Hostages Square volunteers celebrate deal announcement: ‘I hope we can close up and go home’
By Ben Sales
Dana Felz-Russo, left, and other volunteers selling merchandise at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square celebrate an agreement to bring back the 48 remaining captives on October 9, 2025 (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
One group preparing for the end of an era is the self-identified “Shirt Team,” a group of volunteers who have been staffing merchandise tables at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square for nearly two years. Today, as a crowd in the square awaits further news of a deal to bring home the 48 remaining hostages, a group of women behind a table selling T-shirts, pins, and other apparel is celebrating.
“Friends, Shirt Team! Two years in the fire and water!” one of the volunteers shouts. “We’ll keep doing what we need to do because the nation’s heart is really in the right place.”
Dana Felz-Russo, the lead organizer, says the apparel stations first went up in late October 2023, soon after the massacre. Volunteers set up one table with 200 shirts that someone had printed.
Now, the team has grown to 110 volunteers who staff tables that are open 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Felz-Russo is here 10 hours a week on average, she says. She also has three children and a full-time job at the telecommunications company Partner.
“I hope we can close up and go home,” she says to applause.
She doesn’t know what will happen to the stacks of merchandise after the last hostage comes home.
“We’ll wait and see,” she says, adding, “I think we’ll change the symbols to, ‘We returned them and now we’re living.’”
Tel Aviv area hospitals prepare to treat malnourished hostages
The Health Ministry says the health system is ready to receive the approximately 20 hostages returning from Hamas captivity.
The preparations, led by Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, Head of the Medical Division, are based on “lessons learned from previous releases and rescue operations,” the Ministry says.
Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center in Tel Aviv, and Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva have been designated to receive the returnees. If urgent medical care is required, freed hostages may be taken to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba or Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, which are closer to Gaza.
The National Center of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) is completing preparations to receive the bodies of those who are dead, as done in previous cases, where they will confirm their identities.
Hospitals have received detailed guidelines adapted to the hostages’ expected medical condition. Each returnee will be treated in a private room within a separate, secure area of the hospital, accompanied by family members. The ministry emphasizes that the long period of captivity heightens the risk of severe malnutrition, requiring precise medical and nutritional supervision.
The ministry says that it contacted the Red Cross several weeks ago, requesting that hostages, who are thought to have been starved during their captivity, not be overfed before their return, as Hamas may do to try and hide their previously emaciated state.
According to the ministry, after prolonged starvation, a sudden increase in food intake can lead to what is known as refeeding syndrome, which may cause neurological, respiratory, and cardiac complications.
“These are deeply sensitive moments for the returnees and their families,” the ministry says. “Respecting their privacy is essential to ensure their recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration into life after captivity.”
A Sheba Medical Center spokesperson says the hospital “is in the midst of final preparations to receive the hostages.”
“Ichilov Medical Center is ready at any given moment to receive the returnees and provide them with medical care and a human environment at the best level,” a hospital spokesperson says.
Arab party lawmakers praise deal to end war in Gaza
By Sam Sokol
Lawmakers from the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party celebrate the hostage-ceasefire deal announced overnight as the end to an alleged “genocide” in Gaza and argue that there is “no military solution” to the conflict.
“I’m happy that both sides have reached an agreement on the first stage of the deal to end the war. I’m deeply happy for the mothers who will hug their sons tight, and for the children who will finally hug their parents again,” tweets party chairman Ayman Odeh, without specifying if he is referring to hostages or Palestinian prisoners.
Odeh came under fire during the last hostage release deal earlier this year, when he said he was “happy for the release of the hostages and prisoners.”
“No war has proven more than this one that there is no military solution. From here, both peoples must be freed from the yoke of occupation. Because all of us, every single one of us, were born free,” he writes.
In a statement, the party’s Hadash faction welcomes the agreement to end the “criminal… war of extermination against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and to release the hostages and prisoners.”
“The cessation of the war was made possible thanks to the heroic and steadfast stand of the Palestinian people in Gaza, which thwarted the expulsion and extermination plan initiated by the Israeli government,” the party states, praising “conscientious objectors” in the IDF.
Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi declares that the war in Gaza “must be the last one” and that both Israelis and Palestinians must be freed “from the burden of occupation and blockade.” In addition, “we must prevent the extremists in this government, in their frustration over the outcome of the deal, from igniting the West Bank to satisfy their messianic delusions,” he says.
MK Aida Touma-Sliman insists that the end of the war is coming to an end “despite, and not because of, the bloodthirsty government,” which her party will work to bring down alongside efforts to bring about “the liberation of the Palestinian people, and for a future of peace and equality for both peoples.”
Ofer Cassif, the party’s only Jewish lawmaker, says that the “great excitement and joy over the signing of the first stage of the agreement to end the genocide and release the hostages” is “mixed with terrible pain and rage over the loss of tens of thousands of innocent people.”
Cassif pledges that “we will not cease the struggle to end the occupation and defeat fascism in Israel.”
Stocks shoot skyward as Gaza deal amps Tel Aviv markets
A man wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump celebrates news of a hostage deal in Gaza, Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, October 9, 2025. (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
Shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s main indexes spike to new record highs as trading opens, driven by investor optimism over an agreement between Israel and the Hamas terror group to end fighting in Gaza and release all remaining hostages.
The benchmark TA-125 index gains 2.1 percent, marking the 38th time this year it hit a new record high, according to Tel Aviv bourse data. The index has soared almost 35% from the start of the year, hitting record highs over the past weeks over hopes the war may be coming to an end.
The TA-35 index of blue-chip companies rises 1.8%. The TA-90 index, which tracks the shares with the highest capitalization not included in the TA-35 index, increases 2.8%. The TA-Real Estate index leaps 4.2%, the TA-Insurance index is up 3.7%, and TA-Construction index gains 5.3%.
“These increases reflect a wave of optimism sweeping investors,” says Sarit Berman, head of research at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. “There are notable gains in the shares of real estate companies, amid expectations for prolonged security and economic stability.”
The shekel is also continuing to strengthen, appreciating some 0.8% against the greenback and trading at NIS 3.254 to $1, its strongest level since August 2022, according to Tel Aviv bourse data.
“Beyond the immediate improvement in market sentiment, the agreement has long-term economic implications, such as expanding and bringing closer the Abraham Accords and maximizing Israel’s economic benefits,” says Mizrahi Tefahot Bank chief markets economist Ronen Menahem. “Overall, this represents a further decline in the economy’s risk premium, which is of enormous importance to foreign investors.”
“A calmer security situation will make it easier for the Bank of Israel to consider lowering interest rates sooner than expected,” Menahem adds.
Group dances, sings songs of hope and peace at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv
By Ben Sales
Israelis celebrate the announcement of a deal to free all hostages, end the war in Gaza at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on October 9, 2025 (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
While most of the growing crowd in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square projects cautious optimism after the overnight announcement of a deal to release the 48 remaining hostages, a small group in the middle of the plaza has broken out in celebratory song and dance.
The impromptu group sings a collection of Israeli and Jewish folk songs and standards, from “Hava Nagila” to songs professing a hope for peace and a brighter future, like “Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu,” or “Peace will still come to us,” and “Bashana Haba’a,” or “Next year.”
They also sing “Shir L’Shalom,” or “A song for peace,” which former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin famously sang at a Tel Aviv rally shortly before he was assassinated in 1995.
The group dances in place and occasionally in a circle, a staple of Israeli dance.
“This is the most exciting day we have, that we could have expected,” says Rachel Shani Stopper, one of the leaders of the group. “We left our offices and came as is.”
When the hostages are released, she says, “It’s impossible to imagine what it will be like when we bring them to the country, walking on the soil of the land of Israel.”
Shani Stopper, from the central city of Kfar Saba, comes to Hostages Square for the rallies every Saturday but says she has never sung here like this. She says that for her, singing was more a natural reflex than an active choice.
“For two years we’ve held the sadness, pain and frustration, and now it’s just coming out, you can’t control it,” she says. “Yes, we’re waiting to see them here, but the happiness that it’s signed that there’s an agreement, that brings it all out.”
Agreement expected to be signed at noon
By Reuters
The signing of an agreement on the first stage of US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza is expected to take place in the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh at 12 p.m. Israel time, a source briefed on the details of the agreement tells Reuters.
The ceasefire is expected to come into effect on the ground in Gaza once the deal is signed, the source adds.
Israel’s Security Cabinet will meet at 5 p.m. to discuss the deal before it goes before the full cabinet for a vote, where it is expected to be approved, an Israeli source said earlier.
Europeans optimistic on Gaza deal, will keep pushing for peace
By Reuters
French leader Emmanuel Macron says France will continue to hold talks with international partners on ending fighting in Gaza and establishing a Palestinian state.
“This agreement must mark the end of the war and the beginning of a political solution based on the two-state solution,” Macron says in posts on social media platform X.
“France stands ready to contribute to this goal. We will discuss it this afternoon in Paris with our international partners,” he adds.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says “the agreement must now be implemented in full, without delay, and accompanied by the immediate lifting of all restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
He says it would be a moment of profound relief, especially for the hostages, their families, and the civilian population of Gaza, and thanked the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey for their “tireless” diplomatic efforts.
“We call on all parties to meet the commitments they have made, to end the war, and to build the foundations for a just and lasting end to the conflict and a sustainable path to a long-term peace,” Starmer says.
In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz says Berlin is still watching the situation regarding US President Donald Trump’s Gaza deal but is confident a solution will be found this week.
“We are encouraged by the developments in Israel. There is obviously a great chance of reaching an agreement with Hamas in the next few hours,” Merz says after a meeting with senior members of his governing coalition in Berlin.
Man shot to death in Shfaram
Police are investigating the death of a 33-year-old man in the northern city of Shfaram, after he was shot and killed while in his truck this morning.
Paramedics found the victim, named by Arab outlets as Nazareth resident Wiam Fakhuri, unconscious and suffering from bullet wounds. They pronounced him dead at the scene.
Officers are searching for suspects and have not yet reported any arrests.
Near the scene of the shooting, authorities found a burning car that they suspect was used by Fakhuri’s assailants, Ynet reports.
Smotrich says he will vote against deal, wants war to continue
By Sam Sokol
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Finance Committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on August 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says his far-right Religious Zionism party will not vote in support of a Gaza ceasefire deal that will see hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a halt to fighting in Gaza.
Smotrich expresses “mixed emotions,” saying that while he feels “immense joy” at the pending return of the hostages, he feels “tremendous fear of the consequences of emptying the prisons and releasing the next generation of terrorist leaders, who will do everything to continue spilling rivers of Jewish blood, God forbid.”
As such, he says “we cannot join in the short-sighted celebrations or vote in favor of the deal.”
The security cabinet is set to meet this afternoon to be briefed on the Gaza ceasefire deal, with the full government meeting afterward to vote on the agreement. A substantial majority in favor of the deal is expected.
Smotrich argues that Israel should continue fighting after the hostages are released.
“It is a huge responsibility to ensure that this is not, God forbid, a deal of ‘hostages in exchange for stopping the war,’ as Hamas thinks and brags about,” Smotrich declares, arguing that immediately after the return of the hostages, Israel should “continue to strive with all its might for the real eradication of Hamas and the real demilitarization of Gaza so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel.”
He speaks out against a political process aiming at Palestinian statehood or the use of an international force to secure Gaza, both key tenets of the 20-point US plan for Gaza.
“It is a huge obligation to ensure that we do not return to the Oslo path, God forbid, and that we do not abandon our security to the hands of foreigners,” he says, boasting that his opposition to previous deals “led to progress in the occupation of Gaza and the application of military pressure that brought Hamas to its knees.”
Speaking with the Ynet news site, Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, a member of Smotrich’s party, praises some of the deal’s achievements but adds that the party could bolt the government over the issue. “[I don’t] know how it’s morally possible to remain in a government that does Oslo III, sends soldiers to fight and says — we gave up on these goals,” she says.
Tel Aviv mayor hopes for return to normalcy once hostages back
By Ben Sales
Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai, right, talks with a woman near Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on October 9, 2025. (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai appears at Hostages Square to show support for the families of hostages following the clinching of a deal overnight for their loved ones’ release.
He says once they are home, he would like to see Tel Aviv return to routine, including the square in front of the Museum of Art, which was largely taken over by the movement for the hostages’ release over the last two years.
“I would like to come back to regular life,” he says. “This is it. This is a public square, and life changes.”
The mayor expresses cautious optimism regarding the hostage release deal.
“I hope it will be a reality. I am a doer, I am not a philosopher,” he says. “I’m still waiting.”
He adds, “I still have the pin because I would like to see them here… This is the first time I am really optimistic. My feeling is that we are going to see them soon.”
Huldai says he believes peace in the Middle East is possible.
“I believe peace is achievable,” he says. “The time of peace is just relative. It takes 100 years, it takes 20 years. He says there needs to be a choice “to live together.” He adds, “If we do it, I believe it’s possible.”
Opposition leaders hail Trump, families and troops; Gantz praises Netanyahu as well
By Sam Sokol
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid endorses the Hostages and Missing Families Forum’s call for US President Donald Trump to deliver a public address in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.
“There is nothing more fitting, more symbolic, more moving than a speech by President Trump in Hostages Square with the return home of our hostages. It would be a historic moment. I congratulate the families on the initiative,” tweets Lapid.
Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition Blue and White party, thanks both Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the impending release of the hostages, praising the premier for “the important and correct decision to adopt the President’s plan,” while at the same time noting that “the task is not yet complete.”
“Alongside the excitement and the great expectation for the return of all the hostages,” Israel must prepare itself militarily to protect itself and to “ensure the implementation of the framework in full, including the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.”
Naftali Bennett, who allied with Lapid and Gantz and is now plotting a political comeback, thanks Trump for his “unprecedented involvement and dedication,” declaring in a statement that “the hearts of the entire people of Israel are with the families who will finally be reunited with their loved ones, living and dead.” He also pays homage to troops and their families.
Yair Golan, who leads The Democrats opposition party, thanks Trump, the troops, the hostage families and “the masses of Israelis who took to the streets,” without mentioning Netanyahu.
Instead, he says that after the hostages return, Israelis can begin the work of “rebuilding a strong, democratic, and just Israel.”
Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman also thanks Trump and “all those involved” in the agreement for what he calls a “morning of hope and great joy.”
In a statement, Yoaz Hendel’s new party HaMiluimnikim (“The Reservists”) thanks the troops for the deal but notes that “their work is not over, now they are required to save the country and get it out of the political mud.”
Israeli source says year-old ceasefire plan led to current success
By Lazar Berman
While many are praising US President Donald Trump and his administration for the deal, a senior member of Israel’s hostage team says the key to the success of talks in Sharm el-Sheikh was a “brilliant diplomatic plan prepared by Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and [Strategic Affairs Minister Ron] Dermer in cooperation with the US.”
The source adds that the plan “included the Arab and Muslim countries.”
According to the official, during a September 2024 trip to Washington, DC, by senior members of the team, negotiators and members of Netanyahu’s office began working with the US — initially under the Joe Biden Administration — on a plan offering safe passage to exile for Hamas leaders and an end to the war in exchange for the release of all the hostage, demilitarization, and the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip.
“This is more than a year’s work,” says the official.
“This, along with the military pressure, turned the screws on Hamas,” says the official.
Turkey says it will monitor Gaza ceasefire closely, thanks Trump for pulling Israel toward deal
US President Donald Trump, right, shakes the hand of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, September 25, 2025, in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara will closely monitor the strict implementation of the Gaza ceasefire deal and continue to contribute to the process, while maintaining efforts to push for a Palestinian state.
In a statement on X, Erdogan says he thanked US President Donald Trump, “who demonstrated the necessary political will to encourage the Israeli government toward the ceasefire,” as well as Qatar and Egypt. Israel’s role in the process is not mentioned.
Shekel gains more muscle after deal announced
Israel’s shekel sees sharp gains after the announcement of an agreement between Israel and the Hamas terror group ending fighting in Gaza and releasing all remaining hostages in exchange for prisoners.
The shekel appreciates 0.6 percent against the US dollar, trading around NIS 3.247, in early morning trading. The local currency has gained about 1.7% against the dollar this month.
“The main momentum will be driven by a sharp decline in the level of uncertainty and risk aversion,” says Mizrahi Tefahot Bank chief markets economist Ronen Menahem. “There is a lot of money looking for investments in the world and Israel has been a focus for these investments.”
“In the immediate term, we will see an improvement in sentiment across stock and bond markets, and we will probably see another appreciation of the shekel,” Menahem adds.
US envoy Huckabee fetes ‘peacemaker’ Trump
By Lazar Berman
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee watches as President Donald Trump, in foreground at left, meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Blue Room of the White House, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee says he is “so very proud to serve” US President Donald Trump, calling him “truly a PEACEMAKER!”
“Many are those who LOVE peace & even march for it,” he writes on X in Trumpian fashion. “Few are those who MAKE it.”
“Forget Nobel Prize,” he says of Trump’s desire for the elite award, set to be announced tomorrow. “Trump’s prize is from ABOVE!”
Right-wing politicians praise deal but note ‘costs’; far-right leaders mum
By Sam Sokol
Left: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, January 16, 2025; Right: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, January 13, 2025. (Both photos by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have yet to react to the news of the deal in Gaza, with the far-right party heads seen as possible opponents to the agreement, but lacking sufficient votes to prevent it from being ratified.
Others in Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party have come out with cautious support, including MK Simcha Rothman, who says that while “now is the time to laugh and to dance with the hope for the swift release of all the hostages,” there is also “much to weep over.”
This is “primarily” regarding “the delay in applying military pressure due to various partial deal negotiations,” he states, in addition to offering regret regarding Israel’s failure to legislate a death penalty for terrorists and the use of Qatar as a mediator in the talks with Hamas.
“If, God willing, the deal is carried out and is fulfilled exactly as written, and if Israel’s freedom of action to eliminate any threat to its security is preserved, our situation will be better than it was before the deal,” he continues — warning that “there is still much work to be done” and that “we must not become addicted to illusions. The agreement has costs and dangers.”
Religious Zionism MK Ohad Tal, whose party has expressed reservations with the deal, thanks God and the troops for the release of the hostages, but insists that “we must not turn a blind eye to the serious problems in the agreement.”
“It is our duty to ensure that Hamas is indeed dismantled, that Gaza no longer poses a threat to the State of Israel, and so we shall do,” he tweets.
Smotrich previously slammed the Trump plan as a “resounding diplomatic failure” and has set out his party’s “red lines” on the deal — although he has stopped short of saying outright that he would try to torpedo it.
Ben Gvir recently threatened to bolt the government if Hamas “continues to exist” after the hostages are freed.
The opposition on Wednesday promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a political “safety net” if needed to ensure the deal is approved.
In Netanyahu’s Likud party, Justice Minister Yariv Levin comes out in favor of the Gaza deal, but notes that it includes “harsh costs.”
“Releasing terrorists is a very high price. We will continue to act to ensure that Hamas never again possesses weapons or rules the Gaza Strip. There will no longer be a forward terrorist base right up against our borders,” he says, adding that “the entire people of Israel woke up to a morning of great triumph” because “the dear hostages are returning home.”
Similarly, Tourism and Housing Minister Haim Katz declares that “now we must ensure that Gaza terrorists will not pose a threat to Israeli citizens in the future.”
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi appears to frame the deal with Hamas as a complete victory.
“I congratulate our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump on the agreement to bring all our loved ones home, while firmly and persistently insisting on achieving all the war’s objectives for Israel’s victory,” Karhi tweets.
Security Cabinet to meet on deal this afternoon ahead of vote
By Lazar Berman
The security cabinet will meet at 5 p.m. to be briefed on the Gaza ceasefire deal, an Israeli official says.
The full government will meet afterward to vote on the agreement.
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Palestinian Authority head Abbas welcomes Gaza agreement
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomes the reaching of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. In a statement, he says that “the president expresses hope that these efforts will serve as a prelude to achieving a sustainable political solution that will end the Israeli occupation and lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967 borders.”
He thanks US President Donald Trump and all the mediators, offering his help to ensure the success of the agreement. He emphasizes the importance of all parties committing quickly to signing off on the agreement and releasing all hostages and prisoners.
Unsourced report claims hostages being moved ahead of expected release
The head of Saudi channel Al Arabiya’s Cairo bureau, Randa Abu Al-Azm, reports that Hamas has started moving the hostages to secure locations in preparation for them being handed over in the coming days as part of the deal announced overnight.
The approximately 20 living hostages are expected to all be released at the same time, but are thought to be held in various locations around northern and central Gaza.
Randa Abu Al-Azm’s claim is not attributed to any source.
As rain clears, Hostages Square fills with praise for US, Trump
By Ben Sales
Miki Ziv waves US and Israeli flags in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on October 9, 2025. (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
Crowds are again filling Hostages Square in Tel Aviv as the rain clears out.
Standing in the center of the square, waving large Israeli and American flags, protest regular Miki Ziv says she has been in the square since 5 a.m.
The American flag, she says, belongs to a friend traveling in Thailand who asked her to take care of it for him.
Ziv is among the many expressing gratitude to the United States and President Donald Trump for achieving the hostage deal, while remaining critical of how Jerusalem handled the crisis.
“We understood that Trump would bring back the hostages and that’s what happened, unfortunately,” she says. “We trusted our own government, but God wanted this and Trump gave it a big push for things to happen here.”
Ziv sports a pink visor reading “TRUMP LAS VEGAS” in capital letters, a souvenir relatives brought back from the US for her.
“Whoever steps out of line a bit, they succeed, so hats off to him,” she says of Trump. “Without America, we wouldn’t be worth anything.”
She says the time has come for American Jews to immigrate en masse to Israel. “Now they’ll understand what Israel is,” she says. “There’s nowhere like Israel.”
Avi Loenstein (left) and Ofra Zion attend a rally in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on October 9, 2025. (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
Avi Loenstein, who, with his wife Ofra Zion, borrows the US flag from Ziv, says, “I’m here every Saturday night. This is the first time I’m coming here with a smile.” He says he feels “ascendant happiness” and skipped work to be here today.
“The US flag is the one that gave the push,” Zion says.
Israeli negotiators in Egypt still working to finalize list of prisoners for release
By Lazar Berman
Israeli negotiators are still in Sharm el-Sheikh, “working on completing the details of the agreement, with an emphasis on the list of terrorists to be released,” a senior member of the team tells The Times of Israel.
Preparing the list is urgent for the security cabinet and government meeting later today, says the official.
IDF readying to pull back troops in Gaza
The IDF announces that it has begun to prepare to partially pull back troops in the Gaza Strip as part of the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.
In a statement, the military says that “per the directives of the political echelon and in accordance with a situation assessment, the IDF has begun operational preparations for the implementation of the agreement.”
As part of the preparations, the army says it is readying to move troops to “adjusted deployment lines in the near future.”
“The IDF continues to be deployed in the area and is preparing for any operational development,” the military adds.
Islamic Jihad says Palestinians earned Gaza deal, tips hat to mediators
The Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, second only to Hamas in Gaza, appears to welcome a deal ending the war in the Strip, going so far as to acknowledge US and Arab mediation.
“What was achieved in the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal is not a gift from anyone, yet we do not deny the Arab and international efforts,” the group says in a statement.
The statement emphasizes “the tremendous sacrifices made by the Palestinian people” and rejects the idea that the agreement involves any capitulation.
“In such historic moments, we will not forget the great martyrs who played the most important role in preserving the steadfastness of the resistance,” it says.
The following are presented in Chronological order up until 8:28 am Jerusalem time
Report: Hamas has agreed to Gaza deal, which will be signed Thursday in Egypt
Sources in “the Palestinian resistance” tell the Hezbollah-affiliated outlet al-Mayadeen that Hamas has agreed to a Gaza ceasefire deal, adding that it will be signed Thursday in Egypt.
Families of hostages anxiously await Trump’s expected announcement of Gaza deal
The families of hostages held in Gaza anxiously await US President Donald Trump’s expected social media post declaring a deal to free their loved ones from captivity and end the Israel-Hamas war.
“It’s impossible to breathe,” tweets Yotam Cohen, the brother of hostage soldier Nimrod Cohen.
Ditza Or, the mother of captive Avinatan Or, shares a quote from the Book of Isaiah about “announcing peace, heralding good tidings, announcing salvation.”
Announcement of Gaza deal imminent after biggest hurdles resolved — sources
By Jacob Magid
The biggest issues in the Gaza talks have been resolved and what remains to be finalized is merely procedural, two sources briefed on the negotiations in Egypt tell The Times of Israel.
An announcement of the deal is imminent, the sources say.
Hamas will release all the living hostages as soon as Saturday after Gaza deal signed — sources
By Jacob Magid
Hamas negotiators including Khalil al-Hayya (second from left) seen in a photo indicating success in the mediated Israel-Hamas negotiations on a Gaza hostage-ceasefire agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the early hours of October 9, 2025. (Telegram / used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
Hamas will release all the remaining living hostages as early as Saturday, two sources familiar with the negotiations tell The Times of Israel.
The deal will be signed Thursday in Egypt, the sources say.
‘With God’s help we will bring them all home,’ says Netanyahu as Trump announces Gaza deal
By Jacob Magid
Israeli negotiators including Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer (second left) and Gal Hirsch (left) are seen in a photo indicating success in the mediated Israel-Hamas negotiations on a Gaza hostage-ceasefire agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the early hours of October 9, 2025. (Screenshot, via Telegram / used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu puts out a statement saying, “With God’s help we will bring them all home,” at the same time as US President Donald Trump announces a hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal on his Truth Social media platform.
Trump announces Israel and Hamas have reached deal, says all the hostages will be freed ‘very soon’
By Jacob Magid
A sign urging US President Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza is hoisted during a rally demanding a ceasefire-hostage deal, outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 30, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
US President Donald Trump announces that Israel and Hamas have signed off on the “first phase” of his plan to end the Gaza war.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump posts on Truth Social.
“All Parties will be treated fairly!” He reiterates, in a message widely understood to be directed at Hamas, which has sought guarantees from Trump that he won’t allow Israel to resume the war once the hostages are released
“This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America; and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen,” Trump continues.
“BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” he adds.
Qatar says details of Gaza deal to be announced later
By Jacob Magid
Israeli negotiator Nitzan Alon (far left) shakes hands with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in a photo indicating success in the mediated Israel-Hamas negotiations on a Gaza hostage-ceasefire agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the early hours of October 9, 2025. Second from right with back to camera is US special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. (Telegram / used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al—Ansari tweets, “The mediators announce that tonight an agreement was reached on all the provisions and implementation mechanisms of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid.”
“The details will be announced later,” he adds.
Hostage Families Forum hails announcement of deal, says struggle not over ‘until the last captive returns’
Hostages and Missing Families Forum greets US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a deal to free their loved ones from Hamas captivity and end the war in Gaza with “excitement, hope and concern.”
“This is important and significant progress toward returning everyone, but our struggle has not ended and will not end until the last hostage returns,” the group says in a statement.
The forum calls on the government to immediately hold a meeting to approve the agreement, warning that any delay could pose a risk to the captives and Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
The families also express “their deep thanks” to Trump and his administration, hailing his “leadership and determination which led to a historic breakthrough.”
“There are still 48 hostages in Hamas captivity. We are obliged morally and as a nation to return everyone home, the living and dead together,” the statement adds.
Einav Zangauker hails the imminent return of her son Matan from Hamas captivity
Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, one of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian terrorists, speaks during a demonstration calling for the release of all hostages in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on January 25, 2025 (Jack Guez / AFP)
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, posts her response to news that he is set to be freed with the rest of the hostages in the near future.
“Matan is coming home to me, to [his sisters] Natalie and Shani, and to [his partner] Ilana, the love of his life,” writes Zangauker, who has been among the most vociferous critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the hostage crisis and war.
“To all of you, to the state, I prayed for these tears,” she concludes.
Netanyahu says government will meet Thursday to okay deal to ‘bring all our dear hostages home’
After Hamas agrees to the first phase of the US plan to end the Gaza war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hails “a great day for Israel” and says he will convene the government tomorrow to authorize the agreement.
“A great day for Israel. Tomorrow I will convene the government to approve the agreement and bring all our dear hostages home,” Netanyahu says in a statement from his office.
“I thank the brave IDF soldiers and all the security forces — it is thanks to their courage and sacrifice that we have reached this day,” he adds.
The premier extends his “heartfelt thanks” to US President Donald Trump and his team “for their dedication to this sacred mission of freeing our hostages.”
“With God’s help, together we will continue to achieve all our goals and expand peace with our neighbors,” Netanyahu concludes.
Hamas demands mediators ‘compel the occupation government to fully implement’ Gaza deal
Hamas issues a statement confirming the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Israel, which the terror group says “provides for an end to the war in Gaza, the withdrawal of the occupation forces, the entry of humanitarian aid, and a prisoner exchange.”
The Palestinian terrorist organization thanks the mediators and US President Donald Trump for brokering an end to the war triggered by its October 7, 2023, onslaught against Israel, while urging them “to compel the occupation government to fully implement the obligations of the agreement and to prevent it from evading or delaying the implementation of what has been agreed upon.”
“We salute our great people in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem and the West Bank, inside our homeland and abroad, who have demonstrated unmatched honor, courage, and steadfastness, confronting the occupation’s fascist schemes that targeted them and their national rights,” the statement adds.
“We affirm that our people’s sacrifices will not be in vain, and we pledge to remain faithful to our cause and never abandon our national rights until freedom, independence, and self-determination are achieved.”
Hailing deal, Herzog says ‘all of Israel stands with the hostages’
President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, appear in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv as part of a nationwide protest, August 17, 2025. (President’s Office)
President Isaac Herzog says “all of Israel stands with the hostages” in a social media post celebrating Hamas’s agreement to freeing the hostages as part of the US plan for ending the Gaza war.
“At this hour, all of Israel stands with the hostages. All of Israel stands with their families,” Herzog writes in a Hebrew-language post on X.
“They shall return from the land of the enemy… and children shall return to their own borders,” he adds, quoting a verse from the biblical book of Jeremiah.
‘There is no happiness like this,’ says aunt of hostage twins Gali and Ziv Berman
Ziv and Gali Berman were taken captive by Hamas terrorists from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)
Liran Berman, whose twin brothers Gali and Ziv are held hostage in Gaza, posts a brief item expressing delight that they are to be released in the very near future.
“My Gali and Zivi, I love you so much. You’re coming back home,” he writes.
Their aunt, Maccabit Meir, tells Channel 12 that “there is no happiness like this.”
Maccabit Meirr, aunt of twin hostages Gali and Ziv Berman, speaks in Hostages Square, September 13, 2025 (Lior Rotshtein / Hostages Families forum)
She says, “So many people are so happy” to hear the news that the hostages are to be released. “I can’t tell you how many messages I’m getting,” she says.
“It’s happening, it’s happening,” she repeats. “We were so afraid, and now I’m crying tears of happiness, not tears of fear,” she says.
Hamas-held hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal speaks in a video released by the terror group on September 5, 2025.
Merav Gilboa-Dalal, mother of hostage Guy, says, “The main thing is that my son should come back healthy and on his own two feet.”
“That’s what I wish for all of us,” she says.
“And the experiences that they will have afterward will be amazing. Because we got him back again, a gift — one of the most amazing children in the world. A dream. A gift.”
Merav Gilboa-Dalal, left, shows a photo of her son Guy, one of the hostages being held by Hamas, as she’s flanked by Guy’s brother Gal, during a press conference in Rome, April 8, 2024. (Alessandra Tarantino/AP)
“Finally, this saga, of the war, the injured, the dead, this pain of our heroic soldiers who gave their souls for us [is coming to an end], and the hostages, the victory, that they are all coming home,” she continues. “And I hope the slain hostages will all return at the same time, and that we can close this circle.”
Trump shares video of several hostage families thanking him for helping secure their loved ones’ freedom
By Jacob Magid
US President Donald Trump shares a video of several relatives of hostages in Gaza thanking him for securing their loved ones’ freedom from Hamas captivity.
video here:
Netanyahu hails ‘historic’ hostage release deal in call with Trump, invites him to address Knesset
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shakes hands with US President Donald Trump after a news conference in the State Dining Room of the White House, Washington, DC, September 29, 2025. (AP Photo/ Alex Brandon)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just held an “emotional and warm” phone call with US President Donald Trump after Hamas agreed to the hostage-release phase of Trump’s deal for ending the war in Gaza, according to the premier’s office, which says Netanyahu invited the American leader to address the Knesset.
“The two held a very emotional and warm conversation, congratulating one another on the historic achievement of signing the agreement for the release of all the hostages,” Netanyahu’s office says in a statement.
Netanyahu “thanked President Trump for his efforts and for his global leadership, and President Trump praised the prime minister for his resolute leadership and the actions he has taken,” the readout continues.
Netanyahu invited Trump to address the Knesset in Israel, and the two leaders “agreed to continue their close cooperation,” the statement adds.
In a separate statement, Netanyahu declares: “With the approval of the first phase of the plan, all our hostages will be brought home. This is a diplomatic success and a national and moral victory for the State of Israel.”
“From the beginning, I made it clear: we will not rest until all our hostages return and all our goals are achieved,” he continues.
“Through steadfast resolve, powerful military action, and the great efforts of our great friend and ally President Trump, we have reached this critical turning point…God Bless Israel. God Bless America. God Bless our great alliance,” Netanyahu says.
Trump cheers Gaza deal as ‘a great day for the world’
By Reuters
US President Donald Trump tells Reuters that a Gaza hostages-for-ceasefire deal hammered out in Egypt represented “a great day for the world.”
“The whole world has come together on this one, Israel, every country has come together. This has been a fantastic day,” Trump tells Reuters in a brief telephone interview.
“This is a great day for the world. This is a wonderful day, a wonderful day for everybody,” he says.
Lapid: Israel ‘waiting with bated breath’ for hostages’ return; Katz praises troops for ‘bringing us to this great moment’
Israeli politicians hail the agreement announced by US President Donald Trump for the release of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire in Gaza.
“We are waiting for our children with bated breath,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid writes on X, while thanking Trump.
Blue and White-National Unity chief Benny Gantz says “all our hearts are with the 48 families, hoping and praying for the release of everyone — the living to the bosoms of their loved ones, and the dead for a proper burial in the soil of Israel.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz praises Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “for the leadership that led to the deal,” as well as “the heroic IDF soldiers whose courage, determination and incredible sacrifice brought us to this great moment.”
Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which has opposed previous ceasefire deals that didn’t include the return of all the captives, also praises the agreement, saying “everyone will return home… without anyone remaining behind.”
‘A great day for Israel and the world’: Trump indicates he will speak at Knesset in coming days, says Netanyahu ‘is so happy’
A man wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump holds a heart-shaped balloon during a rally organized by families of hostages held by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, in the plaza outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art known as the “Hostages’ Square,” on October 4, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)
United States President Donald Trump tells Channel 12 news over the phone that he is likely to visit Israel in the coming days and deliver a speech at the Knesset following the agreement on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire.
A senior official in the Trump administration tells The Times of Israel that the decision is not yet finalized, though the trip appears increasingly likely.
The White House National Security Council has communicated that chances for the visit are “gearing up, but not one hundred percent,” the official says.
After Netanyahu invited the American leader to address the Israeli parliament in a phone call this evening, Trump tells Channel 12: “They want me to give a speech at the Knesset and I will definitely do that if they want me to.”
“It is a great day for Israel and for the world,” Trump says, adding that his call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the agreement “was great.”
“He is so happy. He should be. It is a great achievement. The whole world has come together to reach this deal, including countries that were enemies,” he says.
Zamir tells troops to be ‘ready for any scenario’ as IDF readies for return of hostages
By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (center) is seen on Gaza’s coast in the Netzarim Corridor area south of Gaza City, October 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it welcomes the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas that will bring the hostages home in the coming days.
Following an overnight assessment, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir issued an order for troops “to be ready for any scenario,” as the military takes preparations for the return of the hostages and a partial pullback of forces in the Gaza Strip as part of the deal.
A statement says soldiers will operate “in accordance with the orders of the political echelon and the stages of the deal, and with responsibility while safeguarding our soldiers.”
The IDF also stresses “it will continue to act to realize the goals of the war and to safeguard citizens of the State of Israel on all fronts.”
Trump: All the hostages will be released Monday, ‘including the bodies of the dead’
US President Donald Trump tells Fox News’ “Hannity” program that hostages held by Hamas-led terrorists in Gaza will probably be released on Monday, after earlier announcing an agreement between Israel and Hamas over the first phase of a ceasefire.
“They [the hostages] are in a terrible situation there. They are deep, deep in the earth,” Trump says, referring to the Hamas tunnels under Gaza. “As we speak, so much is happening to get the hostages freed.”
“We think they will all be coming back on Monday… and that will include the bodies of the dead,” he adds.
Trump: Netanyahu told me everyone likes him now. I said, ‘More importantly, they are loving Israel again’
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shake hands at the end of a press conference at which Trump set out a plan to end the war in Gaza, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 29, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
In an interview with “Hannity” on Fox News, US President Donald Trump recounts his phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after announcing a hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal.
“I spoke to Bibi Netanyahu just a little while ago,” Trump says. “He called. He said, ‘I can’t believe it. Everybody is liking me now,’ meaning him. I said, ‘More importantly, they are loving Israel again,’ and they really are. I said, ‘Israel cannot fight the world Bibi, they cannot fight the world.’ And he understands that very well. So it’s amazing the way it’s all come together.”
Trump continues: “It was just a set of circumstances, like, for instance, taking out the nuclear potential, nuclear power of Iran. So many different things happened that were so amazing.It’s a lot of talent involved, I’ll tell you. But there was a certain degree of luck too. You know, you need luck also. There is such a thing as luck.”
The American leader touts the “tremendous help” from members of his administration in getting the deal over the finish line, “with everybody from Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Marco [Rubio], and we had everybody. JD [Vance], the whole, the whole group was just amazing. And the military was, as you know, very instrumental in getting this done. We have a great military with great leadership.”
“The whole world came together, to be honest, so many countries that you wouldn’t have even thought of it, and they came together. The world has come together around this deal, and that’s something I would say that without that wouldn’t happen,” he adds. “So many countries that you wouldn’t have thought of have wired their best wishes and their commitment to do whatever is necessary. The countries surrounding have all signed, I mean, they’re all signed up, and it’s been, it’s been really an amazing period of time.”
Trump also claims “this is more than Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East, an incredible thing.”
Hostage families thank Trump over speakerphone: ‘Trust you will fulfill the mission until every hostage is home’
The families of hostages meeting in Washington with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speak by phone with President Donald Trump, thanking him for his efforts to secure their loved ones’ return from Gaza.
“Mr. President, we believe in you, we know you’ve done so much for us… and we trust you will fulfill the mission until every hostage, every 48 of the hostages, are home,” one of the relatives says over speakerphone.
Another adds: “God bless you Mr. President, God bless America.”
Trump responds by saying all the hostages are coming back on Monday, which is met with applause from the families.
Families of hostages held in Gaza speak with US President Donald Trump by speakerphone as they meet Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, October 8, 2025. (Hostage Families Forum)
Israeli envoy to US: End of Gaza war depends on implementation of deal’s first stage
By AP
Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter talks with reporters on May 22, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter told CNN that living hostages held by Hamas would be released on Sunday or Monday — with a 72-hour clock for Hamas to make the release beginning once the cabinet meets, Thursday afternoon or evening, to approve the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released in the agreement.
Leiter says that Israel hopes the deal will lead to an end to the war, but that will depend on how well it is implemented.
“We hope it leads to a complete cessation of hostilities and a rebuilding of Gaza for the sake of the Gazans and for the sake of Israel,” he says.
“But it’s the first stage, and we’ve got to see the first stage implemented completely in the next few days.”
Leiter, whose eldest son was killed in the war while serving in the IDF, credited Israeli military pressure with bringing Hamas to the negotiating table after two years of conflict.
Gazans cheer news of ceasefire deal: ‘Finally feel like we’re getting a moment of respite’
By Nurit Yohanan and AFP
Video filmed overnight shows dozens of Palestinians in the streets of Khan Younis and central Gaza as they dance and sing to celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire agreement.
At one celebration, a reveler is seen holding Palestinian flags.
“Honestly, when I heard the news, I couldn’t hold back. Tears of joy flowed. Two years of bombing, terror, destruction, loss, humiliation, and the constant feeling that we could die at any moment,” displaced Gazan Samer Joudeh tells AFP.
“Now, we finally feel like we’re getting a moment of respite,” he adds.
video:
IDF says northern Gaza still an active combat zone, warns residents against returning
The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee, addresses residents of Gaza, announcing that the area north of Wadi Gaza — the northern part of the Strip — is still defined as a combat zone.
“IDF troops are still encircling Gaza City, and returning there is extremely dangerous. For your safety, avoid going back north or approaching areas where the army is operating, until official instructions are issued,” Adraee says on X.
Herzog says Gaza deal ‘offers a chance to mend, heal and open a new horizon of hope’
By Lazar Berman
President Isaac Herzog calls it “a morning of historic and momentous news.”
He offers his thanks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the negotiating team and the mediators.
He also extends his “deepest thanks” to US President Donald Trump for his “incredible leadership toward securing the release of the hostages, bringing an end to the war, and creating hope for a new reality in the Middle East. There is no doubt that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for this.”
Herzog says that if Trump visits Israel in the coming days, “he will be received with immense respect, affection, and gratitude by the people of Israel.”
“This agreement will bring moments of indescribable relief to the dear families who have not slept for 733 days,” says Herzog.
“This agreement offers a chance to mend, to heal, and to open a new horizon of hope for our region.”
Hostage families ask Trump for meeting to thank him personally
Celebrating a deal to bring their loved ones home after two years of captivity, families of hostages release an open letter thanking US President Donald Trump for pushing the agreement and requesting a meeting during his likely upcoming trip to the region.
“You have given us back what we thought we had lost forever,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum writes. “You kept your promise, and for that our families will be forever grateful.”
The families suggest Trump could deliver a public address in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, the locus of their activist movement, or could meet them privately “or any gathering that fits your schedule.”
“We would be deeply honored if you would meet with us during your upcoming visit to Israel. The wives, children, parents, and siblings whose lives you changed wish to thank you in person,” they write. “We simply need the opportunity to look you in the eye and express what words alone cannot fully convey: that you gave us back our families, and with them, our hope.”
Trump earlier told Channel 12 news he was looking to visit Israel in the coming days and would likely address the Knesset, though his plans have not yet been officially confirmed.
Relatives, supporters and Trump impersonator celebrate deal at Hostages Square
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip celebrate after the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a plan releasing the hostages and ending war in Gaza, in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP/Emilio Morenatti)
Families of hostages and supporters are gathering in Hostages’ Square in Tel Aviv to celebrate the finalization of a deal expected to bring all captives home within days.
Relatives from varying backgrounds, bonded together over the last two years as they waged a coordinated campaign for the release of their loved ones, embrace as they revel in the overnight developments.
Einav Zangauker, among the leading protester voices within the movement, stands in front of a giant clock showing the number of days the hostages have been gone holding a sign reading “The clock is still ticking,” even as she celebrates that her son Matan “is coming home.”
In the center of the square, a man dressed as a caricature of US President Donald Trump sits on a stack of yellow chairs — symbols of the missing hostages — holding Israeli and American flags and taking pictures with smiling passersby.
Source denies Israel and Hamas were in room together, says footage misleading
By Jacob Magid
Egyptian media publishes video appearing to show Israeli and Hamas negotiators in the same room as they finalized a deal ending the war in Gaza, which would represent the breaking of a major taboo.
However, a source present at the talks tells The Times of Israel that the footage is misleading and Israeli and Hamas delegations were not in the same room during the finalization of negotiations in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh.
According to the source, footage showing the delegations on opposite sides of a large square of tables in a conference center ballroom is actually from two separate shots taken at different times.
Representatives from Israel and the Hamas terror group — mutually sworn to the others’ destruction — have assiduously avoided meeting in person publicly, only negotiating via mediators in a proximity talks format.
Reports cite Palestinians saying living hostages to be exchanged for 1,950 prisoners 72 hours after troops pull back
By Nurit Yohanan and AFP
A top official within Hamas tells AFP that Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 20 living hostages: The figure includes 250 serving life sentences and 1,700 others detained since the start of the war.
The exchange should take place within 72 hours of the implementation of the deal, which was also “agreed with Palestinian factions,” another source within Hamas says.
A Palestinian source tells the Saudi channel Al-Sharq that the release of hostages and of prisoners held by Israel will begin “within 72 hours of the agreement’s implementation.” The outlet cites well-informed sources saying that will take place next week.
Another Saudi channel, Al-Hadath, reports that the 72-hour countdown for the release of hostages will begin after Israeli troops withdraw to agreed-upon lines in Gaza, which will take place once the deal is ratified by Israel.
Earlier, a senior Palestinian source told Qatar’s Al Jazeera that the mediators had accepted Palestinian maps showing an Israeli withdrawal from deep inside Gaza’s cities before the start of the release.
The deal stipulates “scheduled withdrawals” of Israeli troops, the top Hamas official tells AFP, and includes “guarantees from President Trump and the mediators.”
The Palestinian source cited by a-Sharq says that under the agreement, Israeli forces will withdraw from the Rafah crossing and its vicinity, and the deal also includes the transfer of Palestinian patients and wounded to Egypt for treatment and Rafah crossing will be opened in both directions once the agreement goes into effect.
A daily minimum of 400 trucks of aid will enter the Gaza Strip for the first five days of the ceasefire, to be increased in following days, according to the second Hamas source speaking to AFP.
It also provides for the “return of displaced persons from the south of the Gaza Strip to Gaza (City) and the north immediately,” they add.
Turkish involvement, Doha apology convinced Hamas to trust US will hold Israel back — official
By Jacob Magid
Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey used the final hours of negotiations before a deal on Gaza was announced to convince Hamas to buy into assurances from the US that it will prevent Israel from resuming the war once the hostages are released, an Arab diplomat says.
The Arab diplomat says that Qatar and Egypt had long been working to convince Hamas to take the US assurance seriously, but the addition of Turkey into the talks proved decisive, the diplomat adds.
Moreover, Qatar’s ability in pushing the US to extract an apology from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over an attempted strike on the terror group’s leaders in Doha last month also went a long way in boosting Qatar’s stature in Hamas eyes, as it weighed whether to place its trust in Trump that he could hold Jerusalem to the terms of the deal, according to the Arab diplomat.
Another issue finalized over the last 24 hours was the exact parameters of Israel’s initial withdrawal from Gaza, including from the Rafah Crossing, the diplomat says.
Hostages Square celebration dampened by downpour
By Ben Sales
People shelter from the rain in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on October 9, 2025. (Ben Sales/Times of Israel)
A small crowd is clustering under tents and awnings as a downpour drenches Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, sending hostage relatives and supporters scrambling for shelter.
Much of the square is empty as those gathered wait out the rain, one of the first showers of the season.
Some hold large yellow umbrellas reading “Now!” in reference to returning the hostages. A woman staffing a table with merchandise, where dozens are taking shelter, says there are no more umbrellas for sale.
“I feel it’s washing away the badness,” Rachel Sinai, who came here from Holon, says of the rain. “Everything will be clean here.”
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