The U.S. military said it killed a senior operative of Al-Qaeda's Syria branch in an air strike on northwestern Syria on Thursday.

The area was the stronghold of interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group before it led the rebel offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad in December.

Hamas confirmed the death of Mohammad Deif, head of its military wing and one of the alleged masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack, six months after Israel announced he was killed in an airstrike in Gaza.

It was Hamas’ first statement on his condition since the Israeli military announced last August that he was killed in southern Gaza the month before. Hamas also confirmed the deaths of four other members.

Crowds of Palestinians — the relatives and friends of released prisoners but also scores of jubilant supporters — mobbed buses carrying the prisoners. As soon as they stepped off the buses, the crowd hoisted the prisoners in the air.

Zakaria Zubeidi — a prominent former militant leader and theater director who took part in a dramatic jailbreak in 2021 before being rearrested days later — wore a grey prison jumpsuit and flashed a victory sign from inside one of the buses.

Hamas's armed wing released the names of three Israeli captives to be freed on Saturday in the fourth hostage-prisoner swap of the Gaza ceasefire.

Palestinian militants have so far freed 15 hostages since the ceasefire took effect on January 19.

Israel on Thursday formally banned the main United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees from operating on its territory despite heavy diplomatic backlash, a move that humanitarian officials warn could have a disastrous impact on aid delivery and jeopardize regional stability in the long term.

The order against the agency, known as UNRWA, went into effect at midnight on Thursday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. But hours later, there was no change on the ground except in the most cosmetic sense — right-wing activists clambered up the high stone walls of UNRWA's headquarters compound in east Jerusalem, yanked down the blue-and-white U.N. flag, hoisting up Israel's blue-and-white instead.

Israel has suspended the release of Palestinian prisoners "until further notice", army radio reported Thursday, right in the middle of the third exchange for hostages of the Gaza ceasefire.

"The political echelon announced the suspension of the operation to release the terrorists until further notice," the radio said citing a security source, after eight hostages released in Gaza were back on Israeli soil.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said discussions with a visiting Qatari delegation on Thursday included a "comprehensive framework" for cooperation on reconstruction in the war-torn country.

"We discussed a comprehensive framework for bilateral cooperation concerning reconstruction," Shaibani said during a press conference with visiting Qatari minister of state at the foreign ministry, Mohammed al-Khulaifi. He said their talks covered "vital sectors including infrastructure... investment, banking services, paving the way for economic recovery, health and education".

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was visiting Qatar on Thursday to meet leaders of Tehran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, a ministry statement said.

It said he would meet senior Hamas officials "to hail the victory of the Palestinian people through 16 months of legendary resistance" in the Gaza Strip.

Militants in the Gaza Strip released eight hostages on Thursday, handing them over to the Red Cross amid chaotic crowds as part of a swap that is set to see 110 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons later in the day.

Agam Berger, a 20-year-old soldier, was handed over first at a site in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, followed hours later by two more Israelis and five Thai farm workers who were handed over amid a chaotic crowd in the city of Khan Younis.

Israel's defense minister indicated Wednesday that the military plans to keep soldiers in the flashpoint city of Jenin for the foreseeable future, as Israeli forces have focused on a major crackdown in the northern West Bank during the ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel Katz pledged that the urban refugee camp in Jenin — long a bastion for Palestinian militancy — “will not return to what it was.”