Middle East latest: Hamas names the next 4 hostages it plans to release

Hamas announced Friday the names of the next four hostages it plans to release the following day as part of a fragile ceasefire deal with Israel, which has halted fighting in Gaza for at least six weeks. There was no immediate confirmation of the names from Israel.

According to the deal, Israel will next publish a list of which Palestinian prisoners it will release this weekend. The first exchange with the release of three and 90 .

Dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are set to be freed, while more flows into Gaza.

Meanwhile, Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza are facing an agonizing wait before the days-old ceasefire there allows them to go back to of their homes.

has killed more than , according to Gaza health authorities. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. The war was sparked by Hamas' , attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people.

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Here's the latest:

Hamas names the four hostages it plans to release Saturday

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Hamas militant group on Friday published the names of four hostages it said it would release the following day as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

There was no immediate confirmation of the names from Israel. The hostages are to be freed Saturday in exchange for the release of dozens of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.

Relatives of by militants in Gaza had earlier Friday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure that all remaining captives are freed, while also appealing to U.S. President Donald Trump to continue pressing for their release.

Palestinians hold Friday prayers in the ruins of mosques in the Gaza Strip

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Palestinians have gathered for weekly Muslim prayers in the ruins of mosques in the Gaza Strip that were destroyed by Israeli strikes.

The prayers were held on the first Friday since a ceasefire went into effect that is aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war and bringing about the release of dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.

Dozens of worshippers gathered amidst the crumbled walls and drooping ceiling of a mosque in the southern city of Khan Younis, while others prayed outside.

In the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, children climbed on the destroyed minaret of a mosque. Pages of a Quran were scattered among the rubble of a prayer area.

Israel’s 15-month military campaign, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, .

Israel blames the devastation on Hamas because the militants operate in dense, residential areas. Over the course of the war, the military released photos and video showing the placement of tunnels and other militant infrastructure near homes, mosques and schools.

The Palestinian Authority says more than 800 mosques were completely destroyed and more than 150 were damaged.

Saudi Arabia calls for lifting crippling sanctions on Syria

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister stressed on Friday the need to lift sanctions on Syria during a landmark visit to Damascus, the first since Islamist rebels overthrew former President Bashar Assad.

The U.S. and European Union imposed sanctions on Syria over its brutal crackdown during the civil war, crippling the economy and restricting the country’s reconstruction efforts.

Saudi Arabia swiftly engaged with Syria’s new leadership after Assad fell late last year, hosting its foreign minister in early January to discuss rebuilding and political stability. This marked a shift from earlier efforts to normalize ties with Assad, including the reopening of embassies in 2023 and a visit by the Saudi foreign minister to Damascus in April 2023.

“We will continue to work with our brothers in Syria until we reach a final lifting of the sanctions imposed on their country,” Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said in a press conference alongside the interim Syrian foreign minister. Farhan added that Saudi Arabia has been facilitating dialogue with the U.S. and the EU to push for sanctions relief.

Iraq says Kurdish separatist group in Turkey attacked Iraqi border guards, killing 2

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Friday in a statement that two members of the Iraqi border guards were killed and another wounded in an attack that it said was carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in the area of Zakho, in northwestern Iraq near the borders with Turkey and Syria.

Iraq last year officially banned the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s and is considered by Ankara to be a terrorist group.

A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment said the PKK has previously targeted military points of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi border guards.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is set to visit Baghdad on Sunday, where he is expected to discuss regional security issues and Turkish military operations against the PKK and affiliated groups.

The U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have controlled northeast Syria for the past decade, is under attack by the Syrian ��ɫֱ�� Army, an umbrella organization of Turkish-backed armed groups, which regards the SDF as an extension of the PKK.

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By Qassim Abdul-Zahra

Netanyahu suggests Israel might not complete withdrawal from Lebanon by deadline

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Friday that Israel might not withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon by a deadline set in .

Under , Israel is supposed to complete its withdrawal from the country by Sunday. Hezbollah militants are to pull back to the north of the Litani River, and are to patrol the buffer zone in southern Lebanon alongside United Nations peacekeepers.

Netanyahu said in a statement that the ceasefire “is based on the understanding that the withdrawal process could possibly continue beyond the 60 days.” It went on to say that the Lebanese government has not yet “fully enforced” the agreement, an apparent reference to the deployment of Lebanese troops.

Israeli officials have held talks in recent days with the United States, which brokered the agreement. There was no immediate response to Netanyahu’s statement from Lebanon or Hezbollah.

The Lebanese government has said it cannot send its forces into areas until Israeli troops have fully withdrawn. Hezbollah has warned that it could resume its rocket fire on Israel if it does not withdraw from Lebanon in accordance with the ceasefire.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are allies of Iran, and Hezbollah said it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes, and the sides traded fire for more than a year.

UN suspends all trips into Houthi-held areas after more staffers detained

The United Nations on Friday suspended all travel into areas held by after more of their staff were detained by the rebels.

The Houthis have already detained U.N. staffers, as well as individuals associated with the once-open U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, and aid groups.

“Yesterday, the de facto authorities in Sanaa detained additional U.N. personnel working in areas under their control,” the U.N. statement read. “To ensure the security and safety of all its staff, the United Nations has suspended all official movements into and within areas under the de facto authorities’ control.”

Before Friday, the U.N. had a total of 16 Yemeni staff in Houthi detention. Staffers were trying to get a headcount across the U.N. agencies working in the country and had halted their work, which provides food, medicine and other aid to the impoverished nation.

In June, by the Houthis under unclear circumstances as the rebels increasingly cracked down on areas under their control. Several dozen others from aid agencies and other organizations are also held.

Iran says it is conducting a naval drill

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard says it is conducting a naval drill in the waters of the Persian Gulf and in the country’s southern provinces of Bushehr and Khuzestan.

The Guard’s website reported Friday that surface-to-surface missiles, precision-strike drones, and several torpedoes were used in the drill. It added that the military exercise will continue into Saturday and will feature the use of modern military equipment.

The Revolutionary Guard holds such drills each year.

EU says it is ready to ease sanctions on Syria

ANKARA, Turkey — The European Union’s foreign policy chief said the 27-member bloc is ready to ease sanctions on Syria, but added the move would be a gradual one contingent on the transitional Syrian government’s actions.

Speaking during a joint news conference in Ankara with Turkey’s foreign minister on Friday, Kaja Kallas also said the EU was considering introducing a “fallback mechanism” that would allow it to reimpose sanctions if the situation in Syria worsens.

“If we see the steps of the Syrian leadership going to the right direction, then we are also willing to ease next level of sanctions,” she said. “We also want to have a fallback mechanism. If we see that the developments are going to the wrong direction, we are also putting the sanctions back.”

The top EU diplomat said the EU would start by easing sanctions that are necessary to rebuild the country that has been battered by more than a decade of civil war.

The plan to ease sanctions on Syria would be discussed at a EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday, Kallas said.

People displaced from North Gaza face an agonizing wait

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — For Palestinians in central and southern Gaza hoping to return to what remains of their homes in the war-battered north, the terms of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has forced an agonizing wait.

The agreement allows Palestinian civilians in the south to take the coastal Rashid road to northern Gaza starting on Saturday, when Israeli troops are expected to withdraw from the key route and Hamas is set to release four Israeli hostages in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners.

After 15 months of Israel’s invasion and bombardment of the Gaza Strip, residents will enjoy more freedom of movement from the north to the south of the enclave.

As Palestinians in other parts of the strip reunite with scattered family members, pick their way through vast swaths of rubble and try to salvage what remains of their homes and their belongings, people seeking to return to the north have in limbo, their hopes and worries building.

“The first thing I’ll do, I’ll kiss the dirt of the land on which I was born and raised,” said Nadia Al-Debs, one of the many people gathered in makeshift tents in Gaza’s central city of Deir al-Balah preparing to set out for home in Gaza City the next day. “We’ll return so my children can see their father.”

Nafouz al-Rabai, displaced from the urban al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, said the day she gets home will be a “day of joy for us.”

But she acknowledged it would be painful to absorb the scale of damage to the home and the coastal area she knew and loved.

“God knows if I’ll find (my house) standing or not,” she said. “It’s a very bad life.”

UK warns of Iranian attempts to bring ships into its waters

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A warning has gone out to seafarers in the Persian Gulf over what appear to be attempts by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to compel ships to enter Iranian waters.

A notice from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center on Friday said that there had been “several incidents involving VHF radio challenges to vessels.”

“It is assessed that these are most likely part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ large-scale exercise, Great Prophet XVIII,” the UKMTO said.

Iran has been engaged in an extraordinary two-month-long military exercise across the country after being twice hit by Israel in retaliation for attacks against it during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

While Iran has a history of harassing and impounding vessels, it hasn’t directly launched many such attacks recently. Instead, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been attacking ships since November 2023, a campaign that now appears to be winding down after the ceasefire in Gaza.

Iranian media reported a likely Guard exercise in the Persian Gulf coming this weekend as well.

Houthis push back on Trump's ‘foreign terrorist organization’ label

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's order to redesignate their group as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

President Joe Biden lifted the designation during his presidency, in part to aid a de facto ceasefire in Yemen’s decadelong war.

A statement Thursday from the group’s diplomats said the potential reclassification “targets the Yemeni people as a whole and their honorable position supporting the injustice of the Palestinian people and reflects the extent of the bias of the current U.S. administration towards the usurping Zionist entity.

“Those who should be included on international terrorism lists are those whose hands are stained with the blood of civilians in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries,” the statement said.

The Houthis have begun to deescalate their campaign targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor since a ceasefire was reached in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The group said it would limit targeting ships, and finally released the 25-member crew of the Galaxy Leader, a ship the rebels seized back in November 2023.