Palestinian officials say more than 650,000 displaced people were blocked from entering the northern Gaza Strip, according to Reuters. Israel blocked access to the region after it accused Hamas of failing to release 29-year-old Arbel Yehud during an agreed upon hostage-prisoner exchange.

Even before the first phase is completed, the fragile cease-fire agreement that has paused 15 months of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas faces increasingly long odds of lasting or even reaching phase two.

President Trump indicated Sunday that the way to help the situation in Gaza is to “clean out the whole thing.” Aboard Air Force One, Trump said Gaza is a “real mess,” after the Palestinian

With a ceasefire agreement pausing the war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza city centers. For the first time in eight months, NPR got a glimpse of Rafah this week.

EXCLUSIVE: Experts painted a bleak picture of the near-total destruction of Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war and detailed how its reconstruction could play out.

Israeli army fire killed 22 people in south Lebanon on Sunday including a soldier, health officials said, as residents tried to return home on the day Israel was meant to withdraw under a truce deal.

Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad, as well as Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas reacted defiantly on Sunday to US President Donald Trump's idea of a forced displacement of Gazans to Egypt and Jordan to clean out Gaza, stressing that the Palestinian people would never abandon their homeland.

Hamas will release Israeli hostages, including Arbel Yehud, before Friday, as declared by mediator Qatar. In exchange, Israel will allow residents of northern Gaza to return home starting Monday. This deal comes after a 15-month Israeli offensive that displaced over 650,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that civilian Arbel Yehud, soldier Agam Berger and another hostage will be released by Hamas. He also said in a post on X that Israel will allow displaced Gaza families to return home north of the Palestinian enclave starting Monday morning.

Israel accused Hamas of violating a fragile ceasefire by changing the order of hostages it has released, stopping thousands of Palestinians from returning to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday.