Hamas handed over the bodies of Israeli infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, along with their mother Shiri Bibas and hostage Oded Lifschitz, on Thursday under the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Red Cross vehicles carried the four black coffins, each bearing a photo of the hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as "a very difficult day" for Israel. The bodies will undergo DNA testing for identification.
The Bibas family was abducted at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. Hamas initially claimed the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but their deaths were never confirmed, keeping hope alive in their community.
The remains will be taken to Israel's forensic institute for final identification before a formal announcement and funeral. This handover marks the first return of bodies under the current ceasefire agreement, which has held despite both sides accusing each other of breaches.
Negotiations for a second phase of the agreement, involving the return of 60 more hostages and the potential end of the war, are underway. However, disagreements over Gaza’s future governance and U.S. proposals for Palestinian resettlement complicate the situation.
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The year began with cautious optimism as a ceasefire deal, brokered by Egypt and Qatar on January 15th, brought a temporary halt to the 15 months of devastating war in Gaza.
For decades, Iran and Israel waged a shadow war through proxies, covert operations and escalating threats, marked by assassinations, cyber sabotage and regional clashes involving allied militias. In June 2025, that shadow conflict gave way to direct confrontation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is monitoring recent Iranian military exercises and will raise the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington next week.
Iran has ruled out the U.S.-EU demand for a halt in its civilian nuclear program as an “impossible” pre-condition to restart nuclear negotiations.
A majority of Russians expect the war in Ukraine to end in 2026, state pollster VTsIOM said on Wednesday, in a sign that the Kremlin could be testing public reaction to a possible peace settlement as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict intensify.
Military representatives from Cambodia and Thailand met in Chanthaburi province on Wednesday ahead of formal ceasefire talks at the 3rd special GBC meeting scheduled for 27th December.
Thailand and Cambodia both reported fresh clashes on Wednesday, as the two sides prepared to hold military talks aimed at easing tensions along their shared border.
It’s been a year since an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. Relatives and loved ones mourn the victims, as authorities near the final stage of their investigation.
The White House has instructed U.S. military forces to concentrate largely on enforcing a “quarantine” on Venezuelan oil exports for at least the next two months, a U.S. official told Reuters, signalling that Washington is prioritising economic pressure over direct military action against Caracas.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday announced his support for his son Flavio Bolsonaro’s 2026 presidential candidacy while recovering from a planned hernia operation, which doctors said went smoothly.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that he held an approximately one-hour discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on ways to end the war with Russia.
Polish fighter jets on Thursday intercepted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying near Poland’s airspace over the Baltic Sea and escorted it away from their area of responsibility.
On Thursday 25 December, a solemn commemoration ceremony took place in Baku to mark the first anniversary of the tragic Azerbaijan Airlines crash near Aktau, Kazakhstan.
Algeria's parliament has unanimously passed a law declaring France's colonisation of the North African state a crime, and demanding an apology and reparations.
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