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Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas signaled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of an ongoing ceasefire.  

Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile truce, which has held since taking effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations on both sides.  

Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks would begin "this week" on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

"We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held by Hamas or other armed groups.  

Nunu said this step was meant "to confirm our seriousness and complete readiness to move forward in resolving this issue, as well as to continue steps towards cementing the ceasefire and achieving a sustainable truce".  

Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.  

Wednesday's offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.  

Hamas also agreed on Tuesday to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next.  

After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.  

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.  

- 'Room to pressure Hamas' -  

Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that after more than a year of devastating Israeli assault in Gaza, "Hamas wants to prevent the war resuming at any cost", albeit with some "red lines".  

"And one of those red lines is that they should continue to exist, basically, whereas (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's position is that they should dismantle themselves," he said.  

Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas's capacity to fight or govern, something the group has rejected.  

But the appearance that Washington is now in complete alignment with Netanyahu's government, as displayed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit this week, strengthened the Israeli premier's hand in negotiations, according to Michael Horowitz, an expert at the risk management consultancy Le Beck International.  

It gives Netanyahu "more room to pressure Hamas", Horowitz said, adding that US President Donald Trump "prefers that the agreement moves forward, but he's leaving the field open to Netanyahu... as long as the ceasefire is maintained".  

- 'Held onto hope' -

Among the bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday are those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who have become national symbols in Israel of the hostages' ordeal.  

The boys' father Yarden Bibas was taken hostage separately on October 7, 2023, and was released alive during an earlier hostage-prisoner swap.  

While Hamas said Shiri Bibas and her boys were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed this, and many supporters remain unconvinced of their deaths, including members of the Bibas family.  

"I ask that no one eulogize my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now," the boys' aunt, Ofri Bibas, wrote on Facebook late Tuesday following Hamas's announcement.  

Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned on Thursday, although they have not officially named them.  

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has acted as go-between in the exchanges, called for a respectful handover of the hostages' remains.  

"We once again call for all releases to be conducted in a private and dignified manner, including when they tragically involve the deceased," it said.  

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.  

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.  

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.  

Since the war began, Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Gazans, some of whom have been released in previous rounds of hostage-prisoner exchanges. 

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Arab World

Palestinians in the West Bank Struggle to Get by as Israel Severely Limits Work Permits

Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Palestinians in the West Bank Struggle to Get by as Israel Severely Limits Work Permits

Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Palestinians protest after Israeli soldiers blocked the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on February 9, 2026, demanding to be allowed to return to their homes from where they were expelled last year during an ongoing Israeli army operation. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Hanadi Abu Zant hasn’t been able to pay rent on her apartment in the occupied West Bank for nearly a year after losing her permit to work inside Israel. When her landlord calls the police on her, she hides in a mosque.

“My biggest fear is being kicked out of my home. Where will we sleep, on the street?” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks.

She is among some 100,000 Palestinians whose work permits were revoked after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Confined to the occupied territory, where jobs are scarce and wages far lower, they face dwindling and dangerous options as the economic crisis deepens, The Associated Press said.

Some have sold their belongings or gone into debt as they try to pay for food, electricity and school expenses for their children. Others have paid steep fees for black-market permits or tried to sneak into Israel, risking arrest or worse if they are mistaken for militants.

Israel, which has controlled the West Bank for nearly six decades, says it is under no obligation to allow Palestinians to enter for work and makes such decisions based on security considerations. Thousands of Palestinians are still allowed to work in scores of Jewish settlements across the West Bank, built on land they want for a future state.

Risk of collapse

The World Bank has warned that the West Bank economy is at risk of collapse because of Israel’s restrictions. By the end of last year, unemployment had surged to nearly 30% compared with around 12% before the war, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Before the war, tens of thousands of Palestinians worked inside Israel, mainly in construction and service jobs. Wages can be more than double those in the landlocked West Bank, where decades of Israeli checkpoints, land seizures and other restrictions have weighed heavily on the economy. Palestinians also blame the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the territory, for not doing enough to create jobs.

About 100,000 Palestinians had work permits that were revoked after the outbreak of the war. Israel has since reinstated fewer than 10,000, according to Gisha, an Israeli group advocating for Palestinian freedom of movement.

Wages earned in Israel injected some $4 billion into the Palestinian economy in 2022, according to the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank. That’s equivalent to about two-thirds of the Palestinian Authority's budget that year.

An Israeli official said Palestinians do not have an inherent right to enter Israel, and that permits are subject to security considerations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, along with over 500,000 Israeli settlers who can come and go freely.

The war in Gaza has brought a spike in Palestinian attacks on Israelis as well as settler violence. Military operations that Israel says are aimed at dismantling militant groups have caused heavy damage in the West Bank and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.

‘My refrigerator, it’s empty’

After her husband left her five years ago, Abu Zant secured a job at a food-packing plant in Israel that paid around $1,400 a month, enough to support her four children. When the war erupted, she thought the ban would only last a few months. She baked pastries for friends to scrape by.

Hasan Joma, who ran a business in Tulkarem before the war helping people find work in Israel, said Palestinian brokers are charging more than triple the price for a permit.

While there are no definite figures, tens of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be working illegally in Israel, according to Esteban Klor, professor of economics at Israel's Hebrew University and a senior researcher at the INSS. Some risk their lives trying to cross Israel’s separation barrier, which consists of 9-meter high (30-foot) concrete walls, fences and closed military roads.

Shuhrat Barghouthi’s husband has spent five months in prison for trying to climb the barrier to enter Israel for work, she said. Before the war, the couple worked in Israel earning a combined $5,700 a month. Now they are both unemployed and around $14,000 in debt.

“Come and see my refrigerator, it’s empty, there’s nothing to feed my children,” she said. She can’t afford to heat her apartment, where she hasn’t paid rent in two years. She says her children are often sick and frequently go to bed hungry.

Sometimes she returns home to see her belongings strewn in the street by the landlord, who has been trying to evict them.

Forced to work in settlements

Of the roughly 48,000 Palestinians who worked in Israeli settlements before the war, more than 65% have kept their permits, according to Gisha. The Palestinians and most of the international community view the settlements, which have rapidly expanded in recent years, as illegal.

Israeli officials did not respond to questions about why more Palestinians are permitted to work in the settlements.

Palestinians employed in the settlements, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, say their employers have beefed up security since the start of the war and are far more willing to fire anyone stepping out of line, knowing there are plenty more desperate for work.

Two Palestinians working in the Mishor Adumim settlement said security guards look through workers’ phones and revoke their permits arbitrarily.

Israelis have turned to foreign workers to fill jobs held by Palestinians, but some say it’s a poor substitute because they cost more and do not know the language. Palestinians speak Arabic, but those who work in Israel are often fluent in Hebrew.

Raphael Dadush, an Israeli developer, said the permit crackdown has resulted in costly delays.

Before the war, Palestinians made up more than half his workforce. He’s tried to replace them with Chinese workers but says it’s not exactly the same. He understands the government’s decision, but says it’s time to find a way for Palestinians to return that ensures Israel’s security.

Assaf Adiv, the executive director of an Israeli group advocating for Palestinian labor rights, says there has to be some economic integration or there will be “chaos.”

“The alternative to work in Israel is starvation and desperation,” he said.

Arab World

Damascus Govt Takes Over Control of Rmeilan Field, Says Syria's Oil Belongs to All

A man walks next to pumpjacks on the day a Syrian government delegation visits the oil-rich city of Rmeilan to inspect oil fields and finalize agreements signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Rmeilan, Syria, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
A man walks next to pumpjacks on the day a Syrian government delegation visits the oil-rich city of Rmeilan to inspect oil fields and finalize agreements signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Rmeilan, Syria, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
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Damascus Govt Takes Over Control of Rmeilan Field, Says Syria's Oil Belongs to All

A man walks next to pumpjacks on the day a Syrian government delegation visits the oil-rich city of Rmeilan to inspect oil fields and finalize agreements signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Rmeilan, Syria, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
A man walks next to pumpjacks on the day a Syrian government delegation visits the oil-rich city of Rmeilan to inspect oil fields and finalize agreements signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Rmeilan, Syria, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)

The Damascus government kicked off on Monday measures to assume control of the Rmeilan oil field, Syria's second largest, in the northeastern Hasakah province.

The move took place after it took over Qamishli airport in line with an agreement with the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that was reached on January 29.

A Syrian Petroleum Company delegation visited Hasakah oil fields on Monday as part of the process to bring the Rmeilan and Sweidiyeh fields back under state administration, reported the official news agency SANA.

The delegation, accompanied by Hasakah’s Internal Security chief Marwan al‑Ali, met field managers and held a brief press conference addressing questions on future operations, fuel prices once production resumes, and whether part of the revenues could support the local area.

The Company vowed that Syria's oil "belongs to everyone" and that workers at the Rmeilan field will keep their jobs. Security at the field will be handled by guards from the region.

The team toured al‑Awda field in rural Qamishli to assess conditions and hear from workers. Deputy CEO Walid al‑Youssef said several agreements are already in place to support the oil and gas sector and improve infrastructure in Rmeilan. He noted that the current staff will remain in their positions with salary increases, reported SANA.

The Company officials said the visit aims to establish direct communication with technical teams as preparations begin for the handover.

Hasakah Fields Director Dhiab Khalif described the visit as successful, noting that while most fields are in good condition, some require maintenance. Upcoming steps include agreeing on production levels and boosting output to improve energy supply.

The Syrian Petroleum Company recently began pumping raw gas from the Jibseh fields in Hasakah to the Furqlus gas plant in Homs, part of efforts to increase national production and support electricity generation.

Arab World

Trump Opposes Israeli Annexation of West Bank

President Donald Trump waves to the media as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump waves to the media as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Trump Opposes Israeli Annexation of West Bank

President Donald Trump waves to the media as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump waves to the media as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

A White House official on Monday reiterated US President Donald Trump's opposition toward Israel annexing the West Bank.

"A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region," the official said.

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

Saudi Arabia and seven other Muslim countries on Monday condemned new Israeli measures to tighten control of the West Bank and pave the way for more settlements on the occupied Palestinian territory.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Palestinian Authority (PA).