With a ceasefire agreement pausing the war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza city centers. For the first time in eight months, NPR got a glimpse of Rafah this week.

Israeli troops fired on people trying to return home to southern Lebanon and delayed a return home for northern Gaza residents. Israel blamed Hezbollah and Hamas.

President Trump said he had spoken to Jordan’s leader and planned to call Egypt’s. Mr. Trump’s suggestion echoes proposals from far-right Israelis. A Hamas official rejected the idea.

Hundreds of truckloads of food, fuel and other supplies have arrived in Gaza each day since the cease-fire took effect. But the need is vast after 15 months of war.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate.

Hamas released four Israeli female soldiers to the Red Cross in Gaza City, parading them publicly before their transfer, as part of a ceasefire agreement.

The Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 others hostage. More than 100 were freed in a weeklong truce the following month. Israel believes at least a third of the over 90 captives still in Gaza are dead.

Israeli female soldier hostages wave and react at a Palestinian crowd before being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar) Relatives and friends of Israeli people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza,

A suggestion by President Donald Trump to "clean out" the Gaza Strip and ask Egypt and Jordan to take in more Palestinians raised new questions Sunday about United States policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and two of its most important allies in the Middle East.

Qatar announced early Monday that an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, easing the first major crisis of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Four Israeli hostages released by Hamas Saturday were determined not to let themselves be humiliated during the transfer, they said.