Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed 15 months ago that Israel would achieve “total victory” in the war in Gaza — by eradicating Hamas and freeing all the hostages.

An Israeli air strike killed 10 Palestinians in the north of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday night, the Palestinian health ministry says. Video footage reportedly from the town of Tamun showed chaotic scenes, badly damaged buildings and bloodstained streets.

They returned under a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, walking for hours to reach the bombed-out landscape.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a delay of the release on Thursday of Palestinian detainees under the Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas until the safe exit of Israeli hostages was guaranteed in the next few days,

Israel is letting thousands of Palestinians return to northern Gaza for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas​, as a fragile ceasefire endures​.

Crowds of Palestinians fill Gaza’s main coastal road as they stream north. With their belongings on their backs, they smile, hug and sing, overjoyed at the prospect of returning home after more than a year of war.

After a ceasefire deal paused 15 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to the rubble of their homes.

Eight hostages held by Hamas militants are returned to Israel as Palestinian prisoner releases proceed — but can the Gaza cease-fire hold?

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas freed eight hostages on Thursday as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, but the chaotic handover of some of the captives, who were shuttled through a rowdy crowd of thousands by masked militants, drew an angry protest from Israel.

Israel cannot afford to leave Gaza in a vacuum.