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A senior official from Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu’s office told Reuters that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza will take effect once the Israeli government formally ratifies the deal later this evening.

Following the cabinet’s endorsement of the plan, a 24-hour window will open during which the decision may be contested in Israel’s High Court of Justice. After that period expires, Hamas will have 72 hours to meet its obligations under the agreement, which include releasing all hostages — both those alive and those who were killed in captivity.

As a result, Hamas is now expected to complete the release of the hostages by Monday instead of Sunday, as had been initially anticipated.

Originally, the truce was scheduled to start at noon, though that timeline has shifted slightly. The arrangement is based on an informal understanding between the parties rather than a signed, binding document.

Under the terms of the agreement, Israel, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt will form a joint task force dedicated to locating and recovering the bodies of hostages whose whereabouts remain unknown.

According to information obtained by The Jerusalem Post, the task force will have access to heavy machinery and equipment to carry out complex operations such as excavation or demolition when necessary to retrieve remains.

The initiative’s ultimate objective is to bring back to Israel as many of the kidnapped individuals’ bodies as possible — alongside the living captives — within the 72-hour window set by the agreement.

{Matzav.com Israel}

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Hamas has lost “70,000 people” since the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack, apparently rounding up the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry’s death toll, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. “From the Hamas standpoint, they probably lost 70,000 people. That’s big retribution,” Trump said near the beginning of a cabinet meeting at the White House. Israel says it has killed some 22,000 combatants in the war as of August. “But at some point that whole, that whole thing has to stop, and we’re going to see to it,” Trump said. “Gaza is going to be slowly redone,” he continued, highlighting the various Arab and Muslim countries that have committed to assisting in the rebuilding effort. The president asserted that his decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June was “very important” in helping bring about this morning’s Gaza deal. “Let’s say that didn’t happen, [Iran] probably by now would have… numerous nuclear weapons, and therefore, even if we signed a deal, there’d be a big dark cloud over it,” Trump said. “We have major sanctions on Iran… \[but] we’d like to see them be able to rebuild their country too,” he said. Trump thanked the leaders of Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Indonesia for their help in securing the Gaza deal. Turning to the ongoing hostage situation, the president said the captives will be freed within the next few days. “They should be released on Monday or Tuesday. Getting them is a complicated process. I’d rather not tell you what they have to do to get them,” Trump said at the beginning of the cabinet meeting. “Last night, we reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East,” he said. “We ended the war in Gaza, and really, on a much bigger basis, created peace… hopefully an everlasting peace in the Middle East.” Trump said he is planning to travel to the Middle East next week, though the exact timing has not yet been finalized. He said he will go to Egypt to participate in a signing ceremony. He did not mention a stop in Israel, even though Israeli officials have said they are planning for such a visit on Sunday. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Four IDF soldiers from the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion were injured—one seriously and three lightly—in a military-related car crash on the Gaza border earlier today; they were taken to hospitals and their families notified, the army said.

TRUMP: “Last night, we reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East — something that people said was never going to be done. We ended the war in Gaza… We secured the released of all of the remaining hostages, and they should be released on Monday or Tuesday.”

President Trump names Monday, October 13, 2025, as Columbus Day.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s Israel-Hamas peace deal, the return of hostages and broader realignment in the Middle East.

WATCH:

Hamas has released photos of its negotiating team in Sharm El-Sheikh reviewing Israeli withdrawal maps for the initial stage of Trump’s Gaza plan.

BDE: Boro Park Scoop regrets to inform you of the petira of Harav Moshe Yitzchok Babad zt”l, son of the Tartikov Rav, whose beis medrash is located on 19th Avenue and 52nd Street. He was 55 years old. The levaya will take place on the first day of Chol Hamoed (Thursday) 1:30 PM at the Tartikover Beis HaMedrash, 19th Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets. Kevura will follow in Kiryas Joel. Besuros Tovos!

Chuck Schumer reaffirms his stance that each day his shutdown prolongs, with our troops and federal agents going unpaid, “gets better” for the Democrats as they aim to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegals.

Arab affairs analyst Zvi Yehezkeli cautioned that despite the deep sense of relief surrounding the hostages’ return, the initial phase of the current agreement delivers sweeping benefits to Hamas at Israel’s expense, Arutz Sheva reports.

“This morning we were informed that the hostages are returning and there is no greater joy,” Yehezkeli said. “Now we need to view the agreement from the enemies’ perspective. What are its implications? The first stage is clear: the release of all our hostages and the bodies of the fallen, two years after they were abducted — and, on the other hand, a massive exchange: 250 prisoners serving life sentences and another 1,700 detainees. That is a critical boost to terrorism.”

He argued that the terms of the arrangement reveal how poorly Israel continues to handle negotiations within the Middle East — a weakness that has lingered even since October 7. The current exchange ratio, he said, is worse than in previous agreements and demonstrates that Hamas has succeeded in strengthening its infrastructure both in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria. “I hope Israel insisted that they return to the Gaza Strip and not to Judea and Samaria,” he added.

From Yehezkeli’s perspective, Hamas can now boast that it “took the maximum number of prisoners, stopped the war, remains armed and remains the authority in Gaza,” achieving every one of its key objectives. He noted that the organization never surrendered or disarmed, and that even if international or Arab peacekeeping forces are brought in, Hamas will continue to dominate Gaza. “Those poor people who said there was starvation now receive Egyptian trucks and are happy and coming out of all the tunnels,” he said.

Yehezkeli emphasized that Israel must already be planning for renewed military action once the hostages are home. He expressed concern that President Donald Trump’s involvement in advancing the deal placed excessive emphasis on concessions and reflected misplaced optimism about the nature of peace in the region. “On October 7 they murdered and butchered our women, our children, and our soldiers,” he said. “The Palestinian Authority sees a state and Hamas sees ongoing war and continued rule.”

He advised that Israel approach the next stage with calculated precision, imposing its own conditions while targeting high-ranking terrorists who gain freedom through the deal and ensuring Hamas is stripped of its weaponry. Otherwise, he warned, a new generation will grow up convinced that violence pays. “If Israel acts according to Trump’s agreement and every time it fires a shot he asks ‘why are you doing this,’ we will not have achieved our objectives in Gaza,” he said.

Yehezkeli concluded that Hamas’s ideology, influence, and military capacity remain intact, and that the impending prisoner releases will put dangerous operatives back into circulation. “The war is not over. There is immense joy, but this is not peace nor the end of the war — rather a pause to receive our hostages, and we must continue because Hamas cannot remain in Gaza,” he said.

{Matzav.com Israel}

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced that Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu has chosen the name Shavim L’gvulam (“Returning to their Border”) for the operation to free the hostages. The title draws from a posuk in Yirmiyahu 31:16, which foretells the return of the Jewish people from exile.

According to the current timetable, both the Security Cabinet and the full government are slated to meet today to give their approval for the initial stage of the hostage deal. This phase involves the release of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for the hostages. The Cabinet will gather in the afternoon, followed by a broader government session later in the day. At this stage, only this portion of the agreement will be brought for authorization.

Once the government grants its approval, the IDF will begin pulling back its forces to a designated line established in coordination with Hamas under the agreement. Israel has pledged to finalize this redeployment within 24 hours. While the precise boundary has not been made public, an Israeli official indicated that it closely resembles the “yellow line” unveiled by President Trump over the weekend, though some modifications were made after consultations with Israeli security officials.

As part of this redeployment, Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza City, which they recently re-entered during Operation Gideon’s Chariot 2. Israel will still maintain control over approximately 53 percent of the Gaza Strip following the maneuver.

After the pullback is complete, a 72-hour period will begin during which Hamas must release the hostages quietly, without any formal public events. Estimates suggest that the surviving captives will be freed on Sunday, while the remains of those who were killed will be returned on Monday.

President Trump is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday, where he will deliver an address at the Knesset in Jerusalem.

Under the terms of the agreement, Israel will free 250 security prisoners, along with about 1,700 Gazans who were arrested after October 7 but had no direct involvement in the attacks, as well as 22 minors under the age of 18. Additionally, the bodies of 360 terrorists will be returned to Gaza.

The decision specifies that prisoners convicted of murder, manufacturing weapons used in fatal attacks, or directly involved in dispatching terrorists who carried out deadly assaults will be transferred to Gaza or to foreign countries. They will be permanently banned from entering Israel or the areas of Yehuda and Shomron.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Authorities in Beersheba have begun demolishing an apartment building that was directly struck by an Iranian ballistic missile during the final hours of June’s 12-day war. The devastating attack on June 24 claimed the lives of four people — Cpl. Eitan Zacks, 18, his mother, Michal Zacks, 50, his girlfriend, Noa Boguslavsky, 18, and a neighbor, Naomi Shaanan, 73. The building, a relatively new complex equipped with reinforced rooms, suffered catastrophic damage when the missile made a direct hit on two safe rooms on the sixth floor.

UPDATE: An Israeli government spokesperson confirmed that Marwan Barghouti, a senior Fatah leader serving five life sentences for orchestrating deadly attacks during the Second Intifada, will not be included in the reported Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange.

Preparations are underway at the Knesset for President Trump to visit early next week.