Gilad Shalit

Yaron Blum, coordinator for negotiating the return of POWs and MIAs, on April 3, 2019 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

April 5, 2019, 10:44 pm

Top negotiator: No true rehabilitation for Gaza until missing Israelis returned

Yaron Blum says Israel ‘leaving no stone unturned and sparing no efforts’ to bring back slain soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, as well as captured civilians

By TOI staff

Illustrative: Hamas members watch as a bus carrying Palestinian prisoners arrives at the Rafah crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on October 18, 2011. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90)

November 17, 2018, 8:16 pm

Israel denies reported progress on prisoner swap with Hamas

Arabic news site says German mediator working to advance potential exchange that would include release of Palestinians rearrested after Shalit deal

By TOI staff

Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, center, chants slogans with protesters during his visit to the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, April 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

November 17, 2018, 12:35 pm

We should all hope the victories of Gaza’s Yahya Sinwar haven’t gone to his head

Hamas leader in the Strip won a ceasefire on his terms, and may well have brought about the end of Netanyahu’s government. But his ‘achievements’ have changed little on the ground

By Avi Issacharoff

A composite photo of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul, left, and Hadar Goldin, right.

October 2, 2018, 1:02 am

Israel denies Norway is mediating deal on return of soldiers’ bodies from Hamas

Senior official says report by Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese daily that Oslo is leading talks on possible exchange is false

By TOI staff

A Palestinian security man closes the gate of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after it was closed by Israel following the discovery of smuggling tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on January 14, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB)

July 5, 2018, 8:53 am

Germany negotiating prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel — report

Arabic newspaper says Israel and Egypt both trust German team working to extract Israeli civilians and remains of soldiers from Gaza in exchange for inmates

By TOI staff

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh speaks to the press at the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on September 19, 2017. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

April 17, 2018, 11:35 pm

Hamas leader says prepared to reach prisoner swap deal

Haniyeh tells Gazans: ‘The day will come when the occupation will pay the price and release our prisoners’

By Khaled Abu Toameh and AFP

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert attends a celebration at Kibbutz Ramat Yochanan in northern Israel on March 31, 2018 (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

April 1, 2018, 12:41 pm

Ehud Olmert takes no prisoners in conspiratorial and unrepentant memoir

Ex-PM rips into rivals, and insists, at remorseless length, he’s the victim of a plot encompassing right-wing ‘extremists,’ the media, US Jewish money, and the entire legal system

By Marissa Newman

March 3, 2018, 10:34 pm

Egypt warns Hamas against escalation of violence with Israel

Cairo delegation in Gaza reportedly tells ruling terror group that provoking another round would be akin to ‘playing with fire’ and that Israel ‘may topple’ its leadership

By TOI staff

Illustrative: Hamas supporters take part in a rally marking the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Islamist terror movement, in Gaza City, on December 14, 2017. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)

March 3, 2018, 11:07 am

Report: Hamas refusing to provide Egypt with details on missing Israelis

Rejection comes weeks after US envoy implies that IDF soldier declared killed in action is still alive and being held by Gaza-based terror group

By TOI staff

Screenshot of previously unseen footage of Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier held in Gaza from 2006 to 2011, released by Hamas November 1, 2017. (Facebook)

November 1, 2017, 1:29 pm

Hamas releases new footage of Shalit in captivity

Israeli soldier seen sitting among uniformed guards during his period of imprisonment in the Gaza Strip

By Dov Lieber

The brother of Avraham Mengistu speaks with the media at their home in Ashkelon, after a gag order was been lifted over Mengistu's disappearance in the Gaza Strip, on July 8, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

October 25, 2017, 12:21 pm

Brother of Israeli held in Gaza says world needs to press Hamas

Ilan Mengistu, whose brother Abera is captive of terror group, welcomes new negotiator, laments country’s apathy

By Judah Ari Gross

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on October 22, 2017. (AFP Photo/Pool/Ronen Zvulun)

October 22, 2017, 2:22 pm

New negotiator for Israelis held in Gaza is right man for job, Netanyahu says

After announcing appointment of Yaron Blum, PM says Israel has a ‘moral and human duty’ to return missing citizens

By TOI staff

Former Shin Bet official Yaron Blum speaks in a Channel 10 interview on September 15, 2015. (screen capture: YouTube)

October 21, 2017, 8:43 pm

PM appoints new chief negotiator for release of Israelis held in Gaza

Shin Bet veteran Yaron Blum to coordinate Israeli efforts to bring back three civilians, remains of two fallen IDF soldiers

By TOI staff

Left to right: Oron Shaul, Hadar Goldin and Avraham Mengistu. (Flash90/The Times of Israel)

August 25, 2017, 12:57 am

Official leading efforts to return captive Israelis in Gaza quits

Retired IDF colonel Lior Lotan steps down from role; family of slain soldier Hadar Goldin says Netanyahu has ‘forsaken’ them

By Raoul Wootliff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (second from right) hosts his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem May 21, 2017. (AFP Photo/Pool/Ronen Zvulun)

May 21, 2017, 1:55 pm

Ministers okay economic package for Palestinians ahead of Trump visit

Netanyahu: Trump a ‘true friend of the State of Israel’; Trump: Israeli-Palestinian peace possible if three major faiths can cooperate; dozens of Palestinian hunger strikers taken to hospital

By TOI staff