Smotrich said he has received assurances that Israel will resume the war after the first phase, during which 33 hostages held in Gaza are to return home and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are to be freed. The second phase, which must still be negotiated, is to work out an end to the war and return of all remaining hostages.

Biden had put the hold on the delivery of the bombs due to concern over the impact they could have on the civilian population, during Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave.

In the 15 months covering the war in Gaza from my office in Cairo, the Rafah crossing is the farthest point I can go since the Israeli authorities do

Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, opening the way to a possible end to a devastating 15-month conflict.

Israeli government approves ceasefire agreement. Ceasefire to begin in Gaza Sunday morning, hostages to be released in the afternoon.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations have publicly claimed credit for pushing the agreement over the line.

President Donald Trump has instructed the US military to release a hold imposed by former President Joe Biden on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, a White House source told Reuters.

Hezbollah had warned it could resume rocket ... through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, on Wednesday (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Meanwhile, the UN’s migration agency ...

The Biden administration's particular concern was over the use of such large bombs in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians in Gaza had taken refuge.

Hamas commander Rafa Salama and around a 100 Palestinian civilians were killed by an MK-84 bomb in Rafah's Al-Mawasi on July 13, 2024

Israeli police say four people were wounded in a stabbing attack in central Tel Aviv and the suspect was killed