Spotlight
At least seven civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed on Thursday when unexploded munitions ignited at a house in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the deadly blast a day after another organization said two-thirds of Syrians risked being killed or wounded by unexploded ordnance.

Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two young children, in the first time the remains of hostages have been released since a fragile ceasefire began in January.
The remains sent to Israel on Thursday were said to be of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. Kfir, who was 9 months old when he was taken, was the youngest captive. Hamas has said all four were killed along with their guards in Israeli airstrikes.

Arab leaders will gather in Saudi Arabia on Friday to counter President Donald Trump's plan for US control of Gaza and the expulsion of its inhabitants, diplomatic and government sources said.

Hamas on Thursday released the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to embody Israel's agony following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
The remains were said to be of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. Kfir, who was 9 months old when he was taken, was the youngest captive. Hamas has said all four were killed along with their guards in Israeli airstrikes.

Hamas signaled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of the ongoing ceasefire agreement.

The World Bank, United Nations and the European Union are pointing to a formidable international reconstruction effort ahead for Gaza, which they estimate will cost $53.2 billion.
“Funding will require a broad coalition of donors, diverse financing instruments, private sector resources and significant improvements in the delivery of reconstruction materials to Gaza,” said the report released Tuesday.

Egypt’s leader has reiterated his opposition to any transfer of the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, as suggested by U.S. President Donald Trump.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday called on the international community to support a reconstruction plan that would allow Palestinians to stay in their homeland. He said the reconstruction of Gaza must be implemented “without the transfer of the Palestinian people from their land to which they cling.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Wednesday with the leader of the United Arab Emirates, wrapping up an overseas trip that saw the highest-level outreach between the United States and Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Rubio's talk with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also the ruler of Abu Dhabi, comes as the U.S. also tries to continue a shaky ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the militant Hamas group.

By car and on foot, through muddy olive groves and snipers' sight lines, tens of thousands of Palestinians in recent weeks have fled Israeli military operations across the northern West Bank — the largest displacement in the occupied territory since the 1967 Mideast war.
After announcing a widespread crackdown against West Bank militants on Jan. 21 — just two days after its ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza — Israeli forces descended on the restive city of Jenin, as they have dozens of times since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

An Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a close confidant to lead negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire with Hamas.
The official says that Cabinet Minister Ron Dermer will head the Israeli team. Previous talks have been led by the heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet security agencies.