European officials have been told that President Donald Trump wants to link the proposed US-Ukraine minerals deal to demands for Kyiv to commit to a quick ceasefire with Russia, according to people familiar with the matter.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says U.S. officials have had “ongoing talks and discussions” with Hamas officials.

Israel swore in a new commander of its military as a standoff over the fragile ceasefire in Gaza increased the risk of a resumption of fighting without an agreement to bring home the rest of the hostages still held by Hamas.

Iraqi Kurdish villagers, displaced by fighting between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants that has played out for years in northern Iraq, are finally allowing themselves to hope they will soon be able to go home.

Militant group Hamas said on Thursday it was ready to begin talks on the second phase of a ceasefire in Gaza after several hundred Palestinians were released from Israeli jails overnight in return for the bodies of four Israeli hostages.

The first phase of the ceasefire that paused 15 months of brutal warfare between Israel and Hamas is set to end on Saturday.

Arab leaders on Tuesday endorsed Egypt’s postwar plan for the Gaza Strip that would allow its roughly 2 million Palestinians to remain, in a counterproposal to US President Donald Trump’s plan to depopulate the territory and redevelop it as a beach destination.

A momentous ceasefire declaration on Saturday stirred a mix of emotions in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, where people bore the brunt of the 40-year conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish state.

Mourners in Israel on Friday were burying the remains of one of the last hostages released in the first phase of the ceasefire between Hamas militants and Israel, as negotiators discussed a second phase of the deal that could end the war in Gaza and see the remaining live hostages returning home.

Israel will not withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor — the border separating Egypt and Gaza — as stipulated by the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, an Israeli official confirmed