Hamas has released the first seven of the 20 living Israeli hostages as part of a peace deal in Gaza, the Israeli military confirmed on Oct. 13.
The Palestinian militant group handed over the hostages to the Red Cross, and the Israeli forces are now escorting the group to Israel.
The move is part of a U.S.-brokered peace deal to end the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, which has been ongoing since October 2023.
Speaking to journalists during his flight to Israel on Oct. 12, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the war in Gaza had ended and the situation in the Middle East would now "normalize."
"The war is over, you understand that," Trump told journalists.
Israel is expected to release close to 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners in return as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
Ending the war in Gaza has been one of the key peace initiatives pushed by Trump since he returned to office in January.
The U.S. president has also vowed to broker a swift peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, but he later admitted ending the conflict would be more difficult than achieving peace in the Middle East.
“Tok Tok, Chi è?”: il progetto che porta l’educazione affettiva nelle scuole