Middle East

‘My mother arrived on the brink of death.’ Families of former captives reveal experiences of seven weeks in captivity

Isaac Herzog invites Leo Varadkar to country but is incredulous that Taoiseach had not mentioned either Israel or Hamas in tweet

Israel says it is unwilling to expand pause in fighting beyond next Sunday and remains determined to renew conflict at end of the truce

The Irish-Israeli girl is "coming out little by little" and told her father Tom Hand that she thought he too had been taken captive and how her own experience felt as if it had lasted a year

Pause in military conflict allows Lebanese who have fled villages near the border with Israel to return and check on their properties

US warns Israel about planned offensive ahead of Middle East visit by US secretary of state Antony Blinken

The announcement, made by Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al Ansary in a post on X, came on the final day of the original four-day truce between the warring side

Truce holds after intense diplomatic efforts, but Israel signals intention to return to war after end of cessation

Meeting of European and Middle Eastern countries agrees that fighting should stop

Military campaigns cause heavy death tolls, but experts say Israel’s assault on Gaza is on a different scale

Taoiseach has been pilloried in the Israeli media for the wording of his statement on Emily Hand’s release

Entrepreneur meets country’s leaders amid controversy over alleged antisemitism on his social platform X

Truce is first halt in fighting in seven weeks since Hamas killed 1,200 people and took hostages to Gaza

‘She’s lost a lot of weight from her face and body’, says girl’s Dublin-born father Tom Hand

Emily Hand's father, Thomas, has given an update on her condition, saying the nine-year-old is doing "better than expected" since being released from Gaza.

‘Emily Hand was not “lost”, she was kidnapped by a terror organisation worse than Isis,’ Israeli foreign minister writes on X

A timeline of events looks at the case of Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand, who has been reunited with her father after being released from Gaza.

‘Jerusalem would not be Jerusalem without a vibrant Armenian community,’ an Israeli lawyer says

The four-day truce between Israel and Hamas has allowed Gaza residents to visit their damaged neighbourhoods

Nine-year-old girl freed after being held captive by Hamas in Gaza for 50 days

Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand (9) has been reunited with her father Thomas after being held captive in Gaza for 50 days by Hamas militants.

Nine-year-old daughter of Dublin-born Thomas Hand was among 240 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants in Israel on October 7th

Hamas was expected to release 14 hostages in exchange for Israel freeing 42 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday

Tensions remain high on Israeli-Lebanon border as Hizbullah observe ceasefire to coincide with one in Gaza

An Israeli children's hospital has released footage of children being reunited with their parents after they were released from Gaza by Hamas.

Comments from leaders Pedro Sánchez and Alexander De Croo at Rafah condemned by foreign minister Eli Cohen

Samah Qeshta is one of about 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza relying on a health system that has been crippled by the ongoing siege. Video: The New York Times

Unclear if Irish-Israeli national Emily Hand (9) is among hostages due to be released on Saturday

A quarter of Nir Oz’s original population of 427 had been killed or taken hostage – 40 were murdered and a further 79 kidnapped, including 16 of the 32 children

Mr Gou withdrew his own candidacy for the presidency, weeks after China opened a tax investigation into Foxconn

Hizbullah respond to Israeli-Hamas Gaza truce by unilaterally pausing missile firings into Israel

Freed Israeli hostages ‘on way to the Egyptian border’, 12 Thai hostages released earlier by Hamas

Israel and Hamas to start four-day truce on Friday morning, says Qatar

Negative view of Hamas held by two-thirds of respondants while almost 80% still committed to goal of Palestinian state, researchers say

The four-day pause is ‘not guaranteeing the end of the military operations in the Gaza Strip’

Analysis: Cost of the war has been devastating for Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants

Israel-Hamas war: Taoiseach says European Union policy towards Israel-Palestine had been ‘very passive’

Emily Hand’s family do not know if Israeli-Irish national (9) will be among initial group of hostages who are due for release

Analysis: Qatar’s vast Al-Udaid air base has earned it US protection, while connections with Hamas parent movement the Muslim Brotherhood have also paid off

Foreign minister Antonio Tajani urges Israelis to talk to allies about who will rule strip after military operation ends