Keith Siegel has been handed back to the Red Cross and is leaving Gaza City. The crowds in Gaza City are chanting and waving flags

Hamas fighters have handed an Israeli captive over to the ICRC in northern Gaza. Red Cross officials have signed papers presented by Hamas after taking two Israeli captives under their care in northern Gaza.

Syria's government says it's committed to engaging women in social, cultural and political institutions. President Ahmed al-Sharaa made that promise in his address to the nation on Thursday, in which he outlined a road map for the country's future. Qualified women will be recruited in healthcare and education sectors.

Israel's war has devastated Gaza's health system with repeated and deliberate attacks targeting hospitals, staff, and patients. Most facilities have been damaged beyond use, and the need for medical evacuations is greater than ever. More than 111,000 Palestinians are injured across Gaza, and 12,500 of them need to travel for urgent treatment. At least 25 thousand children have been wounded, some with irreversible conditions. More than 12,000 cancer patients are facing the risk of death because of acute shortages of supplies. And at least one million children require immediate mental health and psychological support.

Ahmed Al Sharaa is Syria's new President and we're getting hints of what his government might look like. He's promised a temporary legislative council will pass laws for the time being - and that it will be inclusive of Syria's various groups and factions. The international community is applying pressure to make sure he keeps his promises. But can president Sharaa bring his country together? And will his government be able to improve the lives of the Syrian people - who've been battered by more than a decade of war?

Despite the rhetoric, US President Donald Trump will not be able to ethnically cleanse Gaza nor resolve the Ukraine war, argues University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer. Mearsheimer tells host Steve Clemons that Arab governments fear “the risk of being overthrown by their populations” should they bend to Trump’s desire to “clean out” the Palestinian people in Gaza. On Ukraine, Mearsheimer predicts a “frozen conflict” without a peace treaty, and warns that Trump should stop “slapping around” US allies if he wants their cooperation in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

A new AI rival from China is shaking up Silicon Valley. DeepSeek matches ChatGPT’s power but says it was built faster and for a fraction of the cost. How did they do it, and what comes next?

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, many are raising concerns about the possible decline of liberal democracy. What then would a second Trump term mean for the next four years for the United States? And what impact will the president's foreign policy have on the Middle East?

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara highlights how Israeli prisons have served as both places of education and sites of immense suffering for Palestinians. He emphasizes that while many detainees pursued higher education and even learned Hebrew through distance learning, they also endured torture, which profoundly affected their lives and their families. Bishara suggests that these prisons are not just physical confinement spaces but part of a broader metaphorical prison that has encompassed Palestine for the past 75 years. Whether locked inside Gaza and the West Bank or locked out as refugees forbidden from returning home, Palestinians live in a state of perpetual confinement. He underscores that, for all Palestinians—whether imprisoned or under occupation—their ultimate aspiration remains freedom.

Hamas has released three Israeli and five Thai captives in Gaza and Israel began releasing 110 Palestinian prisoners after delaying the process after crowds swarmed one of the captive handover points. Agam Berger, a 20-year-old Israeli soldier, was the first to be released on Thursday as she emerged from under rubble at the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, which has repeatedly been targeted by Israeli forces throughout more than 15 months of war.