Hamas freed all 20 remaining living Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip on Monday morning, following a US-led deal reached late last week. The Palestinian militant group released them to the International Committee of the Red Cross in two batches. Israel received the first seven hostages around 8:45 a.m. local time and the final 13 were handed to the ICRC roughly two hours later. The release of the first group came just before US President Donald Trump arrived in Israel for a Middle East trip to celebrate the ceasefire deal clinched last week, also with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediation. Trump has said the agreement should end the devastating two-year conflict in Gaza.
Today’s guests: Kallum Pickering, Peel Hunt Chief Economist, Julien Barnes-Dacey, European Council on Foreign Relations Director, Middle East and North Africa Programme (Source: Bloomberg)