Pope Francis continues to improve in the hospital, Vatican says
Flowers and candles are laid at the statue of John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized with pneumonia, in Rome on February 27, 2025. (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON and oROME) — Pope Francis’ condition continued to improve on Thursday, with the pontiff alternating between high-flow oxygen therapy and ventimask, according to the Vatican.
“Given the complexity of his clinical condition, further days of clinical stability are needed to clarify the prognosis,” the Vatican said.
The pope dedicated the morning to respiratory physiotherapy and rest. After a session of physiotherapy, in the afternoon, he gathered in prayer in the chapel of the private apartment on the 10th floor, receiving the Eucharist. The pope then dedicated himself to work activities, according to the Vatican.
The Vatican said that the pope “slept well during the night and is now resting” peacefully on Thursday morning as the pontiff begins his 14th day in hospital.
Pope Francis’ condition improved slightly on Wednesday, though officials said they “remain guarded” over his prognosis, according to the Vatican.
The slight renal insufficiency the pope had in recent days has subsided and a Tuesday CAT scan of the chest showed a normal evolution of the pulmonary inflammatory picture.
The blood chemistry and blood cell count tests carried out Wednesday have confirmed the pope’s improvement, but he remains on high-flow oxygen therapy and did not have any asthmatic-like respiratory crises.
The pontiff, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, according to the Vatican.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, hands over Israeli hostage Keith Samuel Siegel in Gaza Port to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday as part of the ongoing prisoner exchange deal in Gaza City, Gaza on February 01, 2025. (Photo by Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — American Keith Siegel has been released from captivity Saturday morning.
His release took place in Gaza City where he was taken onto a stage wearing a cap, flanked by masked and armed Hamas forces with the waters of the Mediterranean and the destroyed port behind them.
A crowd watched calmly from a short distance away while Hamas photographers on stage and drones above filmed the release.
Siegel walked on his own power, and he will now undergo medical checks before being reunited with his family shortly.
“According to information communicated by the Red Cross, one hostage was transferred to them, and they are on their way to IDF and ISA forces in the Gaza Strip,” read a joint statement from the IDF and the ISA.
Earlier on Saturday, two other hostages were turned over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas.
Both walked onto a stage flanked by armed and masked Hamas fighter and then taken into waiting while Red Cross SUVs where they were driven out and handed over to Israeli authorities.
The release on Saturday has looked different from previous releases and was done more orderly with the crowd kept back at a distance.
Keith Siegel, who is originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage along with his wife, Aviva Siegel in 2023. She was released during the brief 2023 ceasefire and has waged a long campaign to free her husband and the other hostages.
“The commanders and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces salute and embrace the returning hostage as he makes his way home to the State of Israel,” a joint statement from the IDF and ISA read. “The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit asks everyone to respect the privacy of the returning hostage and his family.”
“The Israeli government embraces the return of Keith Siegel,” read a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office. “His families have been informed by the designated authorities that he is a member of our forces. The government, together with all security agencies, will accompany him and his families. The Israeli government is committed to the return of all abducted and missing persons.”
Siegel’s family released a statement shortly after he crossed over into Israel, saying they are “filled with indescribable excitement” and thanked President Trump “for bringing our father back to us.”
“At this very moment, our father is setting foot on the soil of the Land of Israel, and we are filled with indescribable excitement. Finally, after 484 long, terrifying days and nights, full of immense worry for our father, we can breathe again,” the statement read.
“Thank you President Trump, for bringing our father back to us. There are now 79 hostages who are also waiting to be reunited with their loved ones. Our hope rests with you. We also wish to thank the governments of Israel and the United States for bringing this blessed deal to fruition—a deal that prioritizes human life and embodies Jewish and Israeli values.”
“We are grateful to the incredible IDF soldiers and security forces who risk their lives and bodies, and we send our condolences to the bereaved families who have lost their most precious loved ones for the sake of us all,” the statement continued. “You will forever be in our hearts. Only together can we bring everyone home!”
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the strip. A latest round of peace talks to end the 15-month-old war has resumed in Qatar, with high-level delegations traveling to Doha.
Meanwhile, the November ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group. Israeli forces also remain active inside the Syrian border region as victorious rebels there build a transitional government.
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.
‘Real chance’ of ceasefire success, source says
A source close to the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar told ABC News that Israel is waiting for Hamas to approve moving into a final “closing round of negotiations,” adding there is a “real chance” for a “breakthrough” after a diplomatic blitz in Doha this weekend.
“We still have ahead of us a closing round of negotiations,” the source added
Reuters reported Monday that mediators in Qatar handed both Israel and Hamas a final draft of the ceasefire proposal, citing an official briefed on the negotiations.
Reuters reported that the official said a breakthrough was reached after talks between Steve Witkoff — President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy — the Qatari prime minister and Israeli spy chiefs.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, meanwhile, said Monday “there is progress,” and that the situation “looks much better than previously.”
“I don’t want to say more than that because I realize there are families and they are sensitive to every word, and every sentence,” Saar added. “I hope that within a short time we will see things happening, but it is still to be proved.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
Far-right minister says potential Gaza ceasefire deal represents ‘catastrophe’
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he will not support the potential Gaza ceasefire deal currently being negotiated in Qatar, describing it as “a catastrophe for the national security of Israel.”
“We will not be part of a surrender deal that would include releasing arch terrorists, stopping the war and destroying its achievements that were bought with much blood and abandoning many hostages,” Smotrich wrote in a post to X on Monday.
“Now is the time to continue with all our might, to occupy and cleanse the entire strip, to finally take control of humanitarian aid from Hamas and to open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all the hostages are returned.”
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
Netanyahu spoke with Biden on ceasefire and hostage deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with President Joe Biden on Sunday about progress in negotiating a ceasefire and hostage deal.
A senior White House administration official confirmed the call to ABC News.
“The Prime Minister discussed with the US President the progress in negotiations for the release of our hostages, and updated him on the mandate he gave to the negotiating delegation to Doha, in order to promote the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office wrote in a release about the call.
According to the White House, Biden and Netanyahu “discussed the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region.”
The call comes as Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, is in the Middle East for negotiations. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that McGurk is there to hammer out the “final details” of an agreement.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Michelle Stoddart
100 days of Israel’s north Gaza assault
Sunday marked 100 days since the Israel Defense Forces launched its military operation in northern Gaza, with the toll of dead and missing Palestinians now at 5,000 people, according to a report published by the Gaza media office in the Hamas-run territory.
Some 9,500 more people have been injured and 2,600 have been detained including women and children, the report said.
Israel continues striking targets across the strip. Over the last 24 hours, IDF attacks killed 24 Palestinians, according to data published by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The report added that 46,565 Palestinians have been killed by Israel throughout Gaza since the war began in October 2023, with another 109,660 people injured.
Israeli attacks in the north of Gaza have targeted civilian infrastructures and hospitals, which combined with a siege of the area have worsened a humanitarian crisis there.
Calling for an end to the war, the Gaza media office report urged the international community — including the UN — to take immediate action to stop the assault and address the humanitarian crisis in the strip.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched senior negotiators to Qatar for ceasefire, prisoner and hostage release talks attended by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser, Steven Witkoff, and President Joe Biden’s outgoing adviser, Brett McGurk.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Jordana Miller
High-level delegations gather in Doha for Gaza talks
For the first time in months, Israeli sources are expressing cautious optimism that a Gaza ceasefire may be within reach before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Officials close to the matter told ABC News on Sunday that a high-level Israeli delegation led by the head of the Mossad — David Barnea — arrived in Doha, Qatar, for a critical round of talks.
Others participating are Egyptian and U.S. officials including President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser, Steven Witkoff, and President Joe Biden’s outgoing adviser, Brett McGurk.
Witkoff made a surprise visit to Israel Saturday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, progress on some issues has been made — including the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released and the details of the Israel Defense Forces’ redeployment.
But some outstanding issues remain, including whether Hamas can provide Israel with a list of hostages who are alive. A Hamas official told Saudi media on Saturday that the group is ready to show flexibility.
The first phase of the deal is expected to last six to eight weeks, as the report suggests. A leaked hostage list by Hamas shows the names of two Americans to be released in the first phase. Seven Americans are among the 94 hostages, three of whom are presumed to still be alive.
President Donald Trump’s freeze of U.S. foreign humanitarian aid and shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development is having devastating consequences globally, several humanitarian nongovernmental organization leaders told ABC News.
“The United States Government provides about 70% of all funding for HIV and AIDS globally, and so pausing any of that is a big shock to the system,” said Christine Stegling, a deputy executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and an assistant secretary-general of the United Nations.
While Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week the State Department can offer waivers for some of the most critical aid efforts to continue, Stegling said there is confusion over how to implement the waivers and what programs qualify.
“Community clinics are closed because communities are not sure what the guidance is, and they’re not sure what costs can be covered, and they’re afraid that they will be asked to repay services that they have charged to U.S. government contracts,” Stegling told ABC News.
Stegling warned that if the Trump administration halts all funding to HIV and AIDS programs, more than six million people could die of AIDS-related causes by 2029.
“These are people’s lives that are really at risk here that we need to consider as we’re thinking about the future,” Stegling said.
Since the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine has been the top recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, according to USAID. Yuriy Boyechko, the founder and president of Hope for Ukraine, works with U.S.-funded organizations to provide firewood to Ukrainian civilians living on the front lines.
“Firewood is a lifeline right now for the people in Ukraine,” Boyechko told ABC News. “They don’t have electricity, they don’t have gas. They rely on firewood to keep them warm in freezing temperature[s], and they rely on their firewood to cook their meals.”
Boyechko said that unless other organizations can step in and distribute that wood, Ukrainians will be left in the freezing cold.
“It’s created a lot of distrust inside of the population inside of Ukraine because we [have] always been relying on [the] United States,” Boyechko said. “[The] United States got our back in the darkest period of time, and now, since USAID is pulling away, a lot of people [are] losing hope.”
Search for Common Ground, a global peace-building organization, receives about 40 percent of its funding from the U.S. CEO Shamil Idriss said the aid freeze has hurt their work in eastern Congo, where a war has reemerged.
“We had to freeze the mobilization in the east of the country that was intended to prevent recruitment into the rebel movement that is gaining ground there,” Idriss told ABC News. “Critically, we had to stop broadcasting on a network of radio stations in the east of the country that provide a lifeline for people. So literally, today, people are running in the wrong direction. They’re fleeing towards violence, rather than away from it.”
Idriss said his organization is making the case that its work aligns with the foreign policy priorities of the Trump administration and hopes to work with them, but the way in which the aid was immediately cut has caused concern.
“The stop work orders that we received across more than 30 programs and projects, no two were alike. Some of the information was inconsistent, ambiguous or even contradictory,” Idriss said. “Chaos has really ensued. We’re hopeful that, you know, cooler heads will prevail within the administration shortly.”
Noah Gottschalk, senior director for international advocacy at HIAS, said the Jewish refugee and immigrant aid organization has also experienced “total and complete chaos.”
“We’ve had to stop programs, for example, with survivors of violence against women in Latin America, in countries like Colombia, in countries like Ecuador, women who fled abusive partners, and the support that we provide them is often the difference between them being forced to maybe return to those abusive former partners, or becoming vulnerable to human trafficking,” Gottschalk told ABC News.
Gottschalk said he’s worried the freeze in humanitarian aid could have foreign policy implications.
“The U.S. abandoning some of the most desperate people in the world right now absolutely will create a vacuum, and I’m deeply concerned about who is going to fill that vacuum, whether it’s armed groups, whether it’s cartels, human traffickers,” Gottschalk said.
