Live: Gaza ceasefire deal hostage-prisoner swap under way as Trump lands in Israel

Donald Trump arrives in Israel as hostages return

President Donald Trump arrived in Israel on Monday to celebrate the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, an agreement that he declared had effectively ended the war and opened the door to building a durable peace in the Middle East. The US leader was whisked off to the...

Hamas releases all 20 surviving Israeli hostages under Gaza ceasefire deal

Hamas on Monday released the 20 surviving Israeli hostages under a ceasefire agreement, pausing two years of war that reduced much of the Gaza Strip to rubble and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. The releases came as US President Donald Trump arrived in Israel for a lightning visit ahead...

Venezuela's Maduro calls Nobel Peace laureate Machado a 'demonic witch'

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday called opposition leader Maria Corina Machado a “demonic witch", two days after she won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democracy. The Nobel Committee praised Machado’s “tireless work” for human rights in Venezuela, long at odds with Washing...

Floods trap motorists as torrential rain batters Spain’s Catalonia region

Floods trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region on Sunday as torrential rain battered the area, local media said. Videos showed muddy torrents sweeping through streets. Weather agency AEMET issued a red alert for Tarragona, warning of up to 180 millimetres of...

Russia attacks Ukraine power grid, Moscow expresses 'extreme concern' over US Tomahawk missiles

Russia attacked energy infrastructure in the regions of Donetsk, Odesa and Chernihiv overnight into Sunday in an ongoing campaign to cripple Ukraine's power grid before winter as Russian officials also expressed “extreme concern” over the US potentially providing Kyiv with Tomahawk cruise miss...

‘No guarantees’ that Israel will uphold Gaza ceasefire, specialist warns

There are “no guarantees” that Israel will uphold the current ceasefire in Gaza, which was brokered with help from the United States and other mediators, said Anne Irfan, a lecturer in interdisciplinary race, gender, and postcolonial studies at UCL. “As for whether the Trump plan can — and...

Trump staking ‘political capital’ on Gaza ceasefire success, expert says

US President Donald Trump is staking his “political capital” on the success of the Gaza ceasefire, said Harmonie Toros, a professor of politics and international relations at the University of Reading, in an interview with FRANCE 24. Toros noted that Trump was “front and centre” in the peac...

Families of hostages seek to recover loved ones’ bodies in Gaza deal

Thousands rallied on Saturday night outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem calling on him to make a deal that will end the war and bring the hostages home. "I accuse the prime minister of leading us for two years down a dead-end path, toward endless war and aban...

Madagascar leader warns of coup attempt after soldiers refuse orders to shoot protesters

Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina said in a statement on Sunday that "an attempt to seize power illegally and by force" was underway in the Indian Ocean island state, a day after some soldiers joined a vast protest movement that started last month. The mutinied army unit said it was taking con...

Gaza live: Netanyahu says Israel ready for 'immediate' return of hostages

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for an "immediate" return of all hostages held in Gaza, ahead of their planned release on Monday under a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Trucks were seen crossing into the Palestinian enclave at the Rafah border earlier on Sunday as humani...

FRANCE 24 wins Bayeux War Correspondents’ Award for report on Assad’s brutal Syrian prisons

FRANCE 24 wins Bayeux War Correspondents’ Award for report on Assad’s brutal Syrian prisons

A report by FRANCE 24's Julie Dungelhoeff, James André and Sofia Amara won the 2025 Bayeux War Correspondents’ Award in the short format television category. Broadcast on France 24 in December, the film focusses on those who survived of the hell of Syria's prisons under Assad, and depicts the...

‘Pawns in Putin’s war game’: African women lured into drone factories

Russia has been accused of making false promises to recruit young women from across Africa to work in drone-assembling factories. The women were coerced into assembling Shahed-136 kamikaze drones in a dangerous area that has been repeatedly bombed by Ukraine....

RSF drone strike kills at least 60 in Sudan displacement camp

A drone and military attack killed at least 60 people at the Dar al-Arqam displacement camp in Sudan's El-Fasher on Saturday as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensifies its assault on the besieged western city. The RSF has been at war with the regular army since April 2023....

Russian attack on Ukraine's energy facilities plunges thousands into darkness

Large parts of Kyiv were plunged into darkness in the early hours of Friday after Russian drones and missiles struck Ukrainian energy facilities, cuttingpower and water to homes and halting a key metro link across the Dnipro river....

Reappointed French PM Lecornu says new cabinet 'must not be hostage to partisan interests'

France's reappointed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu warned on Saturday that his next cabinet must not be "held hostage" by political parties as he vowed to tackle a deepening political crisis. Lecornu, who was reinstated just days after resigning, now faces a race against the clock to deliver a...

Thousands of Gazans return home as ceasefire takes effect

Tens of thousands of Palestinians headed back to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza Strip on Friday as a U.S.-brokered ceasefire came into effect in a deal that raised hopes for ending the Israel-Hamas war. All the remaining hostages were set to be released within days. ...

Trump announces additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese imports

US President Donald Trump announced an additional 100 percent tariff on China Friday and threatened to cancel a summit with Xi Jinping, reigniting his trade war with Beijing in a row over export curbs on rare earth minerals. FRANCE 24's Fraser Jackson reports....

Hamas official says hostages' release to begin on Monday morning

A top Hamas official says the release of the 48 remaining Israeli hostages – living and dead – will begin on Monday morning, in exchange for 250 prisoners detained by Israel. Meanwhile, Egypt announced it will host international summit on the Gaza war agreement, which will be attended by more...

Venezuela is not Eastern Europe: Maduro regime a 'thoroughly corrupted and hollowed out government'

Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado might serve as a watershed moment for Venezuela’s long slide toward authoritarianism and force a reckoning within elite circles. Christopher Sabatini, Senior Research Fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, joins us for a sobering analysi...

End to the war in Gaza? Revolving door of French PMs, Nobel Peace Prize

In the week that marked the second anniversary of the Gaza war and saw a breakthrough in peace talks. A ceasefire was agreed on Thursday, which should mean the  imminent releasing of the 48 hostages who are still held by Hamas, in exchange for almost 2000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli troops are...

'All of us carry heavy hearts,' Gaza journalist Shrouq Al-Aila says

Israel declared a ceasefire and started pulling back troops in Gaza on Friday, as thousands of displaced Palestinians began to make their way back to their wrecked homes. "Today is a historic day," Shrouq Al-Aila, an independent journalist in Deir al-Balah, told FRANCE 24. "But all of us are carryi...

Deadly Russian strikes in Zaporizhzhia as power outages hit Ukraine

A deadly Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia killed a 7-year-old boy and injured others after striking a recently occupied family home. Overnight, Russian missile and drone strikes targeted residential areas and energy infrastructure, causing widespread power outages across Kyiv and nine Ukrainian regio...

Populists win Czech election: Is the EU fractured as Russia asserts itself?

Elections in Europe are a rollercoaster these days. EU elites were relieved when the pro-EU camp won the parliamentary vote in Moldova, but the Czech legislative election turned out quite differently. Andrej Babiš, a populist and self-proclaimed Trumpist, won the ballot, staging a comeback similar...

'Destruction is everywhere': Wary Gazans start their journey home as ceasefire begins

After two years of brutal war in Gaza, a ceasefire came into effect on Friday. Israel started pulling back its troops as thousands of displaced Palestinians began to trek back to their wrecked homes. While many felt a sense of relief, others erred on the side of caution as the future of the truce p...

How Assad used rape as a weapon of war against Syrian women

In Syria, a group of brave women speak to FRANCE 24 about sexual violence during 13 years of war in a powerful new documentary. Also, in the US, the gender pay gap widens again for the second year in a row. Annette Young asks financial journalist, Josie Cox, why is there a U-turn after decades of...

Israeli military says ceasefire takes effect in Gaza, raising hopes for the hostages families

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in Gaza on Friday, following Cabinet approval of a deal to pause fighting and exchange the remaining hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The first hostage releases are expected soon. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained vague...

The architecture of ambiguity: Is the Gaza plan a peace deal or a roadmap to nowhere?

Alison Sargent welcomes Simon Mabon, Professor of International Politics and Middle East Studies at Lancaster University. Professor Simon Mabon expresses both relief and caution in assessing the recent ceasefire deal for Gaza. In the short term, he sees a vital humanitarian breakthrough: hostages r...

Despite ceasefire, Gaza faces severe hunger and aid coordination issues

Despite celebrations over a ceasefire, Gaza remains devastated, with most residents displaced and tens of thousands, including 55,000 malnourished children, facing severe hunger. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says aid groups are ready to deliver food, water, and medical supplies, but un...

Rape: Assad's weapon against Syrian women

In 2011, the Syrian people rose up against Bashar al-Assad's regime. It was the start of a deadly civil war. Across the country, thousands of men, women and children were arbitrarily arrested. Throughout the 13 years of conflict, rape and sexual violence were systematically used as weapons of war...