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hostage deal

US President Donald Trump, right, listens during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the State Dining Room of the White House, September 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Jacob Magid
Book review
Jacob Magid
‘You want to call Trump, Bibi?’: How incoming president’s wrath was leveraged to close hostage deal
Top Biden aide's new book reveals dramatic 11th-hour talks before January 2025 agreement as well as outgoing president's desire to give final speech rebuking his party's anti-Israel direction
FILE; Nitzan Alon attends the Herzliya Conference at the Reichman University in Herzliya, July 1, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
October 3, 2026, 8:20 am
Ex-hostage point man says Israel could have returned all Oct. 7 captives a year earlier
Nitzan Alon says ‘political and personal considerations’ prevented signing of hostage deal, says Israel ‘could and should have shortened the war,’ prevented deaths on both sides
By ToI Staff
Cash seized by Israeli forces during a a raid on East Jerusalem homes of Palestinian prisoners who were released in exchange for Hamas-held hostages, and who allegedly continued receiving so-called 'pay-to-slay' stipends from the Palestinian Authority, in a photo released August 26, 2026. (Israel Police)
August 26, 2026, 3:10 pm
Israel raids homes of Palestinians freed in Gaza deals, says they got ‘pay-to-slay’ stipends
Forces confiscate five cars and hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash and jewelry from homes in East Jerusalem, police and Defense Ministry say
By Noam Lehmann
An Israeli soldier reads a newspaper with a picture of Gilad Shalit as a tank prepares to deploy near the Gaza border on June 26, 2006. (AFP/MENAHEM KAHANA)
June 25, 2026, 6:11 am
20 years on, newly released military logs detail confusion during Shalit abduction
Records trace initial moments after attack, with soldier only identified as kidnapped hours after being dragged into Gaza, setting off 5-year national crisis and exchange deal seen as precursor to October 7
By Stav Levaton
Zakaria Zubeidi, a former commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, poses with a supporter in Ramallah on May 18, 2026, as initial results emerged from the Palestinian movement's first congress in a decade. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
June 1, 2026, 8:05 am
In shift, Fatah opens leadership vote to terror convicts freed in hostage deals
May conference confirms influence of hundreds released in deals for Gaza hostages — including many who were serving life sentences for deadly attacks — allowing them to cast ballots and win seats on bodies that guide the PA
By Nurit Yohanan
Surviving hostage Alon Ohel speaks with Channel 12 in an interview aired on December 1, 2025. (Screenshot/Channel 12)
December 2, 2025, 9:41 am
‘No matter what, I choose life’: Alon Ohel shares how he survived 2 years in Gaza captivity
Intentionally starved, chained and sexually harassed, former hostage says he didn’t allow himself to lose hope, knowing that people were fighting for him back home
By ToI Staff
US President Donald Trump hosts a delegation of hostage families at the White House on November 20, 2025. (White House/X)
November 21, 2025, 3:25 am
Trump hosts captives he helped free from Gaza: ‘You’re not hostages anymore, you’re heroes’
26-strong group includes 17 of the 20 hostages released last month; thanking US president, they urge him to continue pressuring Hamas to return remaining three bodies held in Strip
By Jacob Magid
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling with President Donald Trump from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Tokyo, Japan, October 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
October 27, 2025, 12:11 pm
Rubio says Saturday IDF strike targeting PIJ operative in Gaza did not violate truce
Top US diplomat: ‘They have the right if there’s an imminent threat’; 2 said killed in fresh Khan Younis strike, IDF says terror operatives crossed ceasefire line, threatened troops
By Reuters, Emanuel Fabian, Nurit Yohanan and ToI Staff
Palestinians watch machinery and some workers from Egypt searching for the bodies of hostages at Hamad City, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, October 26, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)
October 27, 2025, 4:57 am
Israel reported to know location of 9 out of 13 deceased hostages still held in Gaza
Amid stalled handover of bodies, top Hamas negotiator suggests that, despite terms of US-brokered deal, the terror group won’t give up its weapons
By ToI Staff and Agencies
Screengrab of Al-Araby TV footage reportedly showing Hamas members and Red Cross vehicles in Rafah, southern Gaza, October 25, 2025. (Screenshot/Al-Araby)
October 26, 2025, 3:14 pm
Israel permits Hamas to enter IDF-held areas of Gaza to search for dead hostages
Government spokesperson says Israel allowed Red Cross and Egyptian teams to cross ‘Yellow Line’; PMO official says Hamas representative joined as well
By Nurit Yohanan, Emanuel Fabian, Agencies and ToI Staff
Crowds in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv rally to urge the release of the bodies of the last 13 deceased hostages held in Gaza, October 25, 2025. (Gilad Furst / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
October 25, 2025, 11:48 pm
Hostage families urge ‘every possible sanction’ on Hamas to secure captives’ return
At rally, father of slain hostage accuses terror group of violating deal by withholding bodies; parents of soldier who was held captive demand state inquiry into Oct. 7 failures
By Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff
Ela Haimi, right, and her eldest son at the October 22, 2025, funeral of her husband, Tal Haimi, whose body was returned from Gaza days earlier, in Kinnutz Nir Yitzhak. (Dana Reany/Hostages Forum)
October 22, 2025, 7:49 pm
Slain hostage Tal Haimi laid to rest, some 2 years after wife symbolically buried his helmet
At funeral in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, where Haimi was killed battling Hamas on Oct. 7, widow Ela says she planned this day ‘so many times,’ tells about raising a child born after Tal’s death
By Jessica Steinberg and ToI Staff
Illustrative: Travelers at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, June 25, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
October 21, 2025, 2:04 pm
As foreign airlines return to Israel, sky-high airfares show signs of descent
Amid the ceasefire with Hamas, Israeli carriers see return of competition, though some low-cost airlines aren’t coming back anytime soon
By Sharon Wrobel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a plenary session of the opening day of the winter session at the Knesset, on October 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
October 20, 2025, 9:58 pm
PM: Israelis would’ve died ‘in nuclear smoke’ if I’d heeded opposition demands to end war
Netanyahu, Lapid spar in fiery opening to Knesset’s winter session; PM says opposition wanted Israel ‘to surrender,’ Lapid snaps back: ‘Who was prime minister on October 7?’
By Lazar Berman and Sam Sokol
Einav Zangauker, mother of released hostage Matan Zangauker, speaks at a protest at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv calling for the release of captives' bodies held by Hamas, October 18, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 19, 2025, 2:12 am
Ex-hostage’s mom at rally: Israel can only heal when all bodies return, PM faces justice
Government ‘will never evade responsibility’ for Oct. 7, says Einav Zangauker after her son returned in deal; Labor MK Kariv urges further anti-government struggle, full end to war
By Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff
US President Donald Trump speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)
October 15, 2025, 12:14 am
Trump: If Hamas doesn’t uphold vow to disarm, ‘we will disarm them, perhaps violently’
US president notes ‘job is not done’ on ceasefire deal, as ‘the dead have not been returned, as promised,’ says terror group misrepresented the number of bodies it would hand over
By Jacob Magid
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