Israel-Gaza newest: Hamas to launch three hostages together with US-Israeli citizen this weekend

The Israeli military said a rocket was fired from Gaza on Thursday evening, but landed inside the territory, as the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to hold.

This appeared to be the first rocket fired from Gaza since the ceasefire began January 19. Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group did not immediately comment on the Israeli military report.

The military didn’t say where the rocket was fired from inside Gaza. Although Hamas militants were once firing volleys of rockets each day out of Gaza, that dwindled to nearly zero over the course of the 15-month war.

Since the ceasefire went into effect, Israeli fire has killed at least 92 Palestinians and wounded more than 800 others, said Munir al-Bursh, director general of the Health Ministry, on Tuesday.

The Israeli military says it has fired on people who approach its forces or enter certain areas in violation of the truce.

As we’ve been reporting, Hamas has now said a hostage release will go ahead on Saturday.

It is part of the first stage of the fragile truce. The second stage is aimed at seeing all hostages released.

Ilay David, brother of Evyatar David, said: “The second stage of this deal cannot wait. The lives and honour of 76 people are hanging in the balance, and we must ensure that we keep moving forward.

“Every day that passes makes their suffering worse, and our determination to bring them home must only grow stronger.”

Gal Gilboa-Dalal, survivor of the NOVA music festival, brother of Guy Gilboa-Dalal, said: “While Guy is subjected to physical and sexual abuse, we are also psychologically tortured by Hamas’ sick game.

“Our hearts break at the sight of the recently released hostages. The horror they endured is evident, and no words can convey the urgency of freeing all hostages more powerfully than the images themselves.”

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday Tehran’s enemies may be able to strike the country’s nuclear centres but cannot deprive it or its ability to build new ones.

He made his comments after the Washington Post reported that US intelligence believes Israel is likely to launch a pre-emptive attack on Iran’s nuclear program by mid-year.

In a rare rebuke of the US president, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke out against what he called Donald Trump’s “challenges” to the world – including a proposal to expel Palestinians from Gaza – saying his actions pose a threat to global peace.

Erdogan and Trump had formed a close personal relationship during Trump’s first term and referred to each other as friends, despite the often-strained ties between the two NATO countries.

“To btell the truth, I do not find Mr. Trump’s behaviour in the past period and his current statements and challenges to many countries in the world to be right, and I do not see these as a positive development,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish president was in Jakarta on Wednesday and was interviewed by Indonesian television anchor Najwa Shihab, which aired on YouTube on Thursday.

Israeli military says more than 90 militants arrested over the past week in the West Bank

As we’ve been reporting, the Hamas militant group said Thursday it would release the next three Israeli hostages as planned this weekend in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on Hamas’ announcement. Israel had threatened to renew its offensive if hostages were not freed on Saturday as scheduled.

The sides have carried out five swaps since January 19, freeing 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners so far during the first phase of the ceasefire.

Yemen’s Houthis will immediately take military action if the US and Israel try to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, the Iran-backed group’s leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech on Thursday.

An Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza’s devastating 15-month-old war took effect on January 19 but has appeared close to collapse his week amid mutual accusations of violations.

US President Donald Trump has infuriated the Arab world in presenting a plan to permanently displace Palestinians from Gaza and take over the enclave to turn it into a beach resort.

Houthi said his group would intervene with missiles and drones and attack vessels in the Red Sea if the United States and Israel tried to remove Palestinians from Gaza by force.

“I call on all the armed forces to be ready for military intervention if the criminal Trump carries out his threat,” Houthi said.

The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships off the shores of Yemen since November 2023 in support of Gaza Palestinian militants fighting Israel, disrupting global shipping trade and causing route changes and losses.

The truce faces a much bigger challenge in the coming weeks.

The first phase is set to conclude at the beginning of March, and there have not yet been substantive negotiations over the second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens of remaining hostages in return for an end to the war.

Trump’s proposal to remove some 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and settle them in other countries has thrown the truce’s future into further doubt. The plan has been welcomed by Israel but vehemently rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, which have refused to accept any influx of refugees. Human rights groups say it could amount to a war crime under international law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies are already calling for a resumption of the war after the first phase with the goal of implementing Trump’s plan and annihilating Hamas, which remains in control of the territory after surviving one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history.

After the announcement earlier that Hamas would release hostages on Saturday, questions were initially asked on how many.

US president Donald Trump had demanded all remaining hostages to be released. 73 have not yet been freed, around half of whom are believed to be dead.

Shortly after the announcement, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou confirmed to The Associated Press by phone that three hostages will be released on Saturday.

As we’ve been reporting, Hamas has now said a hostage release will go ahead on Saturday.

Mediators had scrambled to salvage the floundering truce ahead of the deadline this weekend when the next round of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees were slated to be released.

On Thursday Hamas said Egyptian and Qatari mediators affirmed that they would work to “remove all hurdles”, and that the group would implement the ceasefire deal.

The statement indicated three more Israeli hostages would be freed on Saturday, adding “the talks were characterised by a positive spirit”.

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Earlier, we reported that Israel was considering strikes on Iranian nuclear sites this year, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing US intelligence agencies.

The Washington Post has reported that this attack could take place by the middle of this year.

It would set back Iran’s nuclear programme by weeks or months but would risk a wider conflict, US intelligence reports found.

The White House, Israeli government, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence all declined to comment.