Hamas…Israel 10/13/2025…Israeli Hostages Released…Palestinian’s POWS Released…

Under the cease-fire deal, Hamas released 20 hostages from Gaza early Monday morning as Mr. Trump arrived in Israel. Hours later, the Israeli authorities said that they had finished freeing all 1,968 Palestinian prisoners slated for release as part of the hostage exchange deal.

Mr. Trump said the agreement marked “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.” He was expected to head next to a summit on the cease-fire deal in Egypt along with many other world leaders. The Egyptian government said that Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, would participate in the summit, but Mr. Netanyahu’s office said he would not, citing a Jewish religious holiday.

Among both Israelis and Palestinians, the cease-fire and the start of the exchange brought relief and hope.

“You are coming home!” Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, 25, said on a video call with her son in Gaza for the first time since he was abducted two years ago, according to footage broadcast on Israeli television.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, crowds of Palestinians gathered in Ramallah, where video footage showed Palestinian prisoners stepping off the bus that brought them from Israel’s Ofer Prison . Some of the men wore keffiyehs and flashed victory signs as they were greeted by crowds of people.

But for some Gazans, the relief was clouded by sadness over a war that has reduced much of the territory to rubble. “There’s nothing to be happy about,” Saed Abu Aita, 44, said. “My two daughters were killed, my home was destroyed and my health has deteriorated.”

Hamas militants attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting about 250. In response, Israel invaded Gaza, killing about 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health authorities.

Here’s what else to know:

• Trump’s speech: Mr. Trump, the first U.S. president to address the Knesset since George W. Bush in 2008, went into lengthy digressions as if delivering a campaign speech, praising Israel and touting his own accomplishments while denigrating his Democratic predecessors, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Barack Obama. He also shattered diplomatic taboos, at one point urging Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, to pardon Mr. Netanyahu, who is the defendant in a long-running criminal trial on charges including bribery.

• The logistics: Under the deal reached last week in talks brokered by U.S., Arab and Turkish mediators, Israeli forces withdrew to a new defensive line inside Gaza by noon on Friday, opening a 72-hour window for the hostages to be released. Read more ›

• Hostages: Hamas is required under the cease-fire to turn over the remains of deceased hostages, but it is unclear how quickly that will happen. Israel believes at least 26 people taken hostage have died, while the condition of two other captives has not been confirmed. Officials have said that Hamas will have to search for some remains, which may take time. Here’s more on the freed hostages ›

• Aid deliveries: Hours before the first Israeli hostages were released, the United Nations said that “real progress” was being made in delivering aid to Gaza, where a United Nations-backed panel of food experts has said that some areas are officially under famine. Read more ›

• Red Cross: The International Committee of the Red Cross plays a central role in exchanges of hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails. The group has come under sharp criticism from both Israelis and Palestinians.

 Read more ›

image…Israelis react as they watch the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas during a live broadcast from hostages square in Tel Aviv. Photo: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty