In what was set to be the largest swap under January’s ceasefire agreement, six hostages were freed, but the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners was delayed. It comes after Shiri Bibas’s body was returned by Hamas.

Among the six hostages freed by Hamas on Saturday in return for Palestinian prisoners were an Israeli Bedouin and an Ethiopian-born man who had been in Gaza for years before the October 7, 2023 attack,

Arab leaders met in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on Friday for the first time to formulate a response to President Donald Trump’s plan for the US to take ownership of Gaza, expel its Palestinian population and turn it into a Middle Eastern “Riviera.

The emerging Arab plan is likely to call for Palestinian technocrats to govern Gaza and billions to be spent on reconstruction, without removing Gazan residents.