News that three high-profile hostages are expected to be released has brought excitement and trepidation to Israel on Friday.

The cease-fire is also a beacon of hope for Palestinians who have suffered immensely during Israel’s 15-month campaign to eradicate Hamas. The Palestinian civilian death toll is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, with more than 80 percent of the population internally displaced.

The Palestinian group Hamas has released a list of 16 senior leaders from its political bureau who were killed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, including Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, and Saleh Al-Arouri.

Hamas released eight more hostages in Gaza Thursday as part of an ongoing ceasefire agreement with Israel in exchange for releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Eight of the remaining hostages set to be released by Hamas in the first phase of a ceasefire agreement with Israel are dead, according to an Israeli government spokesperson.

The fragility of the truce between Israel and Hamas was laid bare on Saturday, after Israel accused Hamas of withholding a hostage, prompting a halt in the movement of Gazan civilians back to their homes in the north.

Hamas has survived Israel’s 15-month war in the Gaza Strip. Now, the militant group is replenishing its ranks, although restocking its weapons supplies will be more difficult.

Eight more hostages were freed by Hamas-led militants on Thursday in a sometimes chaotic process that briefly delayed the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners by Israel and underscored the fragility of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that began earlier this month.

The Israeli military is expected to publish an update on more than 1,000 ongoing war crime cases related to the war in the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks

Hamas announced on Friday that among the three Israeli hostages to be released from Gaza on Saturday are an American dual national and the father of the youngest hostages taken from Israel on October 7,

Support from Americans has surged for the U.S. nonprofit that raises money for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that serves Palestinian refugees