Updates: Israel declares ‘victory’ over Hamas; captives exchange imminent

Want the details on the Israel-Hamas captive release ahead of the Egypt summit? Go here.

How did Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi die? Read about the Gaza City clashes here.

And for all of our coverage of the ceasefire after two years of Israel’s war on Gaza, click here.

This live page will be closing soon. Here are the latest developments:

• Palestinian Authority (PA) Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh met former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss post-war plans for Gaza and the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s plan.
• Vice President JD Vance said the US won’t be paying for Gaza reconstruction after Israel’s devastating two-year war, and that Gulf nations will mostly pick up the tab.
• Israel has warned Palestinians in the occupied West Bank against celebrating after prisoners are released on Monday.
• Unidentified gunmen killed Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi in the south of Gaza City.
• “The war is over. OK? You understand that?” Trump told reporters shortly before he boarded Air Force One for Egypt.
• The US president also said that Qatar should take credit for its efforts for peace and that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did “a very good job” in the process of reaching a deal with Hamas.

The third day of the ceasefire saw some aid trucks cross into Gaza, but residents in Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip, said that some shipments were being ransacked by starving residents in chaotic scenes, which have seen food parcels being trampled.

For Mahmud al-Muzain, a bystander, the scuffle showed that Palestinians in Gaza did not trust that the US-led negotiations would lead to a long-term peace.

“Everyone fears the war will return. We stockpile food out of fear and worry that the war will come back,” al-Muzain said.

Going forward, mediators still have the tricky task of securing a longer-term solution. Under the Trump plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multinational force coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has refuted reports that its representatives have already met captives held in Gaza.

“We are in continuous contact with all parties ahead of the hostage return operation,” a statement said. “Contrary to reports, we have not received or transmitted information regarding their medical condition.”

Twenty captives are believed still alive and held in Gaza after more than two years of war. They are expected to be released on Monday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as part of the Gaza truce deal.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that fuel needed for cooking food has entered the Gaza Strip for the first time in more than six months.

“More tents for displaced families, frozen meat, fresh fruit, flour and medicines also crossed into the Gaza Strip today,” OCHA said in its latest update.

The humanitarian agency said that it is also able to “assess key roads for explosive hazards” and to “support displaced families in flood-prone areas prepare for the winter season”.

An Israeli military official says that not all dead abductees held by Palestinian fighters in Gaza are expected to be returned to Israel on Monday.

“Unfortunately, this is something we anticipate – that not all fallen hostages will be returned tomorrow,” the unnamed official told reporters during a briefing late on Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, Shosh Bedrosian, the spokeswoman for the prime minister’s office, said an “international body” would be established to locate the remains of captives not returned as part of Monday’s prisoner exchange.

Hamas and other armed groups are believed to be holding 28 bodies of Israelis captured and taken to Gaza.

Two unnamed officials have told The Associated Press that food distribution sites run by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) are being shut down, although the group’s spokesperson said the changes are only temporary.

The GHF spokesperson, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, said there will be “tactical changes” to its operations and “temporary closures” during implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

“There is no change to our long-term plan.”

Hoda Goda, a Palestinian woman, said that a GHF site she often went to in Rafah, in southern Gaza, was already abandoned, and Palestinians had salvaged wood and metal from the fences set up at the site.

As we reported earlier, Palestinians found remnants of Israeli military munitions used to attack Palestinian aid seekers at a GHF site near the Netzarim Corridor, in central Gaza, that has also been abandoned.

Neither Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian nor Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will attend the Gaza summit in Egypt after confirming an invitation from the host country.

Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Egypt invited Iran to take part in Monday’s summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

But early on Monday, Araghchi posted: “Neither President Pezeshkian nor I can engage with counterparts who have attacked the Iranian People and continue to threaten and sanction us,” in reference to the United States.

The US joined Israel’s attack that targeted Iran’s nuclear sites during a 12-day war in June.

The foreign minister said that Tehran still supported any initiative “to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza” and to defend Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

Iran is grateful for President El-Sisi’s invitation to attend the Sharm El-Sheikh Summit. While favoring diplomatic engagement, neither President Pezeshkian nor I can engage with counterparts who have attacked the Iranian People and continue to threaten and sanction us.

Having…

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) October 12, 2025

Tens of thousands joined a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney, one of dozens of demonstrations across Australia, with some protesters expressing scepticism that a ceasefire in Israel’s two-year-old assault of Gaza would hold.

The organiser, the Palestine Action Group, estimated a crowd of 30,000 in Sydney, the nation’s most populous city, one of about 27 nationwide that would hold protests.

“Even if the ceasefire holds, Israel is still conducting a military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank,” Amal Naser, an organiser of the Sydney rally, said in a statement. “The occupation as well as systemic discrimination against Palestinians living in Israel constitute an apartheid system.”

Protester Abbi Jordan said she was at the rally because “this so-called ceasefire will not hold”.

“Israel always breaks every ceasefire they’ve ever done. For 78 years, they’ve been conducting an illegal occupation in Palestinian territories, and we demand the Australian government sanction Israel,” Jordan said.

German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has signalled his government will lift restrictions on supplying weapons to Israel that were announced in August.

Klingbeil’s remarks to German broadcaster ARD suggested a policy shift following the Gaza truce deal, with a ceasefire holding between Israel and Hamas for a third day.

“We will reassess the situation,” Klingbeil said about the weapons exports.

Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally due to historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust.

In August, however, Germany suspended exports of weaponry that could be used in the Gaza Strip because of Israel’s plan to expand its assault.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to travel to Egypt to participate in the signing ceremony for US President Trump’s peace plan.

The UK will provide a 20 million pound ($27m) aid package to deliver water, sanitation and hygiene services in Gaza.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer made the announcement as he arrived in Egypt for the summit on ending the war.

The UK government said the funding would be delivered through UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the Norwegian Refugee Council, and is designed to reach those facing famine, malnutrition and disease.

The UK said it would also host a three-day summit on the reconstruction of Gaza, which will include international government officials, the private sector and development finance representatives.

Prime Minister Mark Carney will visit Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt for a world leaders’ summit on ending Israel’s war on Gaza, according to his office.

US President Donald Trump and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, are expected to co-chair the “peace summit” on Monday.

Heads of government and state will be represented from across the Middle East as well as France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Canada joined several Western countries in announcing in September its intention to recognise a Palestinian state.

A source at Nasser Hospital says the bodies were recovered in various areas of the war-battered city, Gaza’s second largest, located in the Strip’s south.

Since the ceasefire entered into force on Friday, dozens of bodies have been pulled from under the vast rubble of buildings levelled by Israel’s army.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 67,806 people and wounded 170,066 since October 2023.

Earlier, we reported that unidentified gunmen had killed Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi south of Gaza City.

Social media posts show people bidding farewell to the 28-year-old who had been bringing news about the war over the last two years through his widely watched videos.

Several people accused of attacking returnees to Gaza City by colluding with Israeli forces were killed during clashes in the area where Aljafarawi was shot dead, sources told Al Jazeera.

Read more here.

The United Nations humanitarian chief says the Gaza summit at a Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh shows the international community’s commitment to the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

“There are so many things that could go wrong in the coming days and weeks,” Tom Fletcher told The Associated Press in Cairo. “But all of us working on this want to get the hostages home and want to get masses and masses of aid … into Gaza to save as many lives as possible.”

Fletcher said trucks of aid have begun going into Gaza, including cooking gas for the first time in months, but not yet at the scale needed.

“Much of Gaza is a wasteland. We are looking to the world to respond with real generosity. We will deliver outside of that plan, but we need the funding, and we need the access. And of course, we need this peace agreement, this ceasefire, to hold.”

Hamas senior official Ghazi Hamad tells Al Jazeera that Israel is not playing fair with the list of Palestinian prisoners it agreed to free in exchange for captives held in Gaza.

“The occupation is manipulating the lists of prisoners and even evading the Americans,” Hamad said.

About 250 prisoners serving life sentences are expected to be released on Monday along with 1,500 others detained in Gaza since the war began.

Hamas has demanded the release of prominent Palestinian Marwan Barghouti, but it’s unclear if Israel will free him.