Pope Leo inaugurates Vatican-run ecological training centre
Pope Leo on Friday (September 5) inaugurated a new Vatican-run ecological training centre in the Italian countryside, an initiative Catholic officials...
The Qassam Brigades announced that the remains of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mantzur were handed over.
An Israeli security official has confirmed that Hamas has transferred four bodies to the Red Cross.
Israel is now expected to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in the coming hours as part of the final phase of hostage and prisoner exchanges under the first stage of the ceasefire deal agreed upon last month.
The official truce is set to end on Saturday, but it remains unclear if discussions to extend the ceasefire have begun.
The identities of the bodies handed over by Hamas early Thursday local time have not yet been confirmed. Israel has announced that a team of forensic experts from the National Center for Forensic Medicine will be dispatched to the Kerem Shalom border crossing to assist with identification.
An Israeli official previously said that no Palestinian prisoners would be released until the hostages’ bodies were positively identified. This follows a previous incident in which Hamas mistakenly handed over the body of an unidentified Gazan woman instead of hostage Shiri Bibas. Hamas later acknowledged the error and returned Bibas' body.
If confirmed to be the bodies belonging to hostages, the latest release would mean that Hamas and its allies are now holding 59 captives, according to Israeli figures. The Israeli government believes more than half of those remaining are deceased. One of the hostages, Hadar Goldin, has been held dead since before October 7, 2023.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, announced that the remains of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mantzur would be handed over.
The Israeli military previously stated that Shlomo Mantzur, who at 85 was the oldest hostage taken on October 7, 2023, was killed during the Hamas-led attack, and his body had been held in Gaza. However, the military had not confirmed the deaths of the other three hostages.
The latest transfer took place privately after the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced that an agreement had been reached for the four bodies to be returned “through an agreed-upon procedure and without Hamas ceremonies.”
Doubts over the handover emerged on Saturday when Israel refused to release 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, citing what it described as “humiliating ceremonies” conducted by Hamas during previous releases.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas had released six Israeli hostages from Gaza in two public ceremonies and one private transfer. This marked the final return of living hostages under the first phase of the ceasefire deal that began last month.
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
The UK is gearing up for Exercise Pegasus 2025, its largest pandemic readiness test since COVID-19. Running from September to November, this full-scale simulation will challenge the country's response to a fast-moving respiratory outbreak.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At the Prague Defence Summit, Defence Industries Secretary Haluk Görgün met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, highlighting the sector’s rapid growth.
Azerbaijan has rejected Russia’s recent statement on insurance payments related to the downing of an AZAL plane, calling it misleading and an attempt to distort facts.
Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence has warned that the terrorist group Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)’s inability to integrate into the Syrian army poses a serious threat to the country’s political and territorial integrity.
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan on Thursday at a depth of 10 kilometres, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said.
The third Uzbekistan–Belarus Women Entrepreneurs’ Business Forum has opened in Vitebsk as part of an official visit by a delegation led by Chairperson of the Senate of Uzbekistan, Tanzila Narbayeva.
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