US-Brokered Ceasefire Frees Last Israeli Hostages

A US-brokered ceasefire led to the release of the last surviving Israeli hostages after up to 738 days in captivity, prompting relief and public celebrations even as some families received devastating news, including the return of Nepalese worker Bipin Joshi’s body. Relatives and freed captives described harrowing conditions in Gaza — confinement in cages, pits and tunnels, severe malnutrition, physical abuse, psychological torture and forced feeding with lasting medical and mental-health consequences. Separately, reports and circulating videos depict Hamas forces moving across Gaza to root out alleged collaborators and rival gangs, using ambushes, informal “field courts,” executions and brutal public beatings, including kneecapping and leg-breaking. Those actions have drawn international concern and renewed calls for demilitarisation. The fragile truce has also highlighted continuing humanitarian tensions, from intercepted aid flotillas and detained activists to disputes over reconstruction and the rule of law in a postwar Gaza.