Good morning. On Friday night, a line of white 4x4s carrying the Red Cross flag drove through the Rafah crossing out of Gaza, with 13 hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October inside. As the convoy arrived in Egypt, 39 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons were being prepared for release in Ramallah. By this morning, and despite a period of uncertainty on Saturday when it appeared that the deal might collapse, AFP reported that 63 hostages and 117 Palestinian prisoners had been freed so far – and the suspension of hostilities in Gaza had held.
Today is the last day of the scheduled “pause” in Israeli operations, and after days of scepticism about whether it might be extended, hopes of progress grew last night after Hamas signalled it would be open to a continuation, and Benjamin Netanyahu said he would welcome further releases. Today’s newsletter takes you through how the ceasefire unfolded, and explains what might happen next. Here are the headlines.
