Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers in a second round of releases under a ceasefire deal that also saw Israel accusing Hamas of failing to fulfil its obligations to release civilians first.

Following their release, Israel has released 200 Palestinian prisoners from detention centers.

The four hostages freed Saturday – Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, all 20 years old, and Liri Albag, 19 – had been held in Gaza since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.

Hamas militants took the women, dressed in makeshift military uniforms, on stage in Palestine Square in Gaza City before handing them to the Red Cross. They appeared elated as they waved to the crowds, with Israelis visibly emotional as they watched the live pictures in Hostages Square, Tel Aviv.

Hamas put on show of force during the handover, waving green flags and displaying a poster of current and former Israeli leaders alongside the word “failure,” in what seemed to be a message to Israeli that it remained powerful despite being battered by the Gaza offensive.

Soon after the releases, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that civilians in Gaza would not be allowed to move to their homes in northern Gaza as planned – because an Israeli female civilian due to be released Saturday was not among those freed.

Israel has been pushing for the release of Arbel Yehud, 29, who was kidnapped from her home in kibbutz Nir Oz. Israel says she is a civilian and should have been released Saturday.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the four hostages released Saturday had been reunited with their families. The family of Daniella Gilboa expressed their joy at her release from Gaza.

The Israeli prison service confirmed that 200 Palestinian prisoners had been released from detention facilities as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Prisoners from Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank were being taken elsewhere in the West Bank, the prison service said. Meanwhile, prisoners from Ktzi’ot prison, a detention facility in the Negev, will be taken to the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south. Hamas previously said it expected Israel to release around 200 Palestinian prisoners, including 120 prisoners serving life sentences and 80 others with high sentences.

Hamas said it expected Israel to release around 200 Palestinian prisoners Saturday as part of the deal, including 120 prisoners serving life sentences and 80 others with high sentences.

Fighting with M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo left six United Nations peacekeepers dead, UN officials said Saturday.

Two South African peacekeepers were killed Friday, while a Uruguayan Blue Helmet was killed Saturday, a UN official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on the matter publicly.

Additionally, three Malawian peacekeepers were killed in eastern Congo, the United Nations in Malawi said in a statement Saturday.

The UN Security Council moved up an emergency meeting on the escalating violence to Sunday morning (10 a.m. ET). Congo requested the meeting, which had originally been scheduled for Monday.

M23 has made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling the eastern city of Goma, which has around 2 million people and is a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts.

The United Nations said it would temporarily relocate nonessential staff from Goma, such as administrative staff.

“Essential personnel remain on the ground, sustaining critical operations such as food distribution, medical assistance, shelter, and protection for vulnerable communities,” the U.N. statement read.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, along the border with Rwanda, in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

On Thursday, M23 took control of the town of Sake, which is only 27 kilometers (16 miles) west of Goma and one of the last main routes into the provincial capital still under government control, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

South Africa’s department of defense confirmed the deaths of the two South African peacekeepers in a statement Saturday. It said seven South African soldiers from the Southern African Development Community Mission, also known as SAMIDRC, were also killed during clashes with M23 over the last two days.

“After two days of fierce fighting with the M23 rebel group in the eastern DRC, the South African contingent, alongside its counterparts, was able to halt the advancement of the rebel group towards Goma,” South Africa’s department of defense added.

Since 2021, Congo’s government and allied forces, including SAMIDRC and U.N. troops, have been keeping M23 away from Goma.

The UN peacekeeping force, also known as MONUSCO, entered Congo more than two decades ago and has around 14,000 peacekeepers on the ground.

South Africa’s second-biggest party, the Democratic Alliance, said Saturday an additional 18 South African soldiers were injured in the clashes with M23. The rebel offensive “coincided with the inauguration of US President Donald Trump,” the party’s statement read.

The United States has previously played a key role in attempting to protect civilians in eastern Congo, making several high-level statements and visits, said Kate Hixon, advocacy director for Africa at Amnesty International USA.

“The Rwandan-backed M23 is clearly exploiting the presidential transition in the US to advance on Goma — putting thousands more civilians at risk,” Hixon told The Associated Press.

Uruguay’s military in a statement issued Saturday identified its member killed in Congo as Rodolfo Álvarez, who was part of the Uruguay IV Battalion. The unit, according to the statement, is working “uninterruptedly to comply with the United Nations mandate, as well as to guarantee the evacuation of non-essential civilian and military personnel from the city of Goma.”

“Various measures have been taken to improve the security of our troops, who are operating in adverse conditions,” the military said. It added that four Uruguayan peacekeepers were also injured. Three of them remained in Goma while a fourth one was evacuated to Uganda for treatment.

South Africa’s defense minister, Angie Motshekga, was visiting the country’s troops stationed in Congo as part of the UN peacekeeping mission the day the soldiers were killed.

Congo, the United States and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which is mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army more than a decade ago.

Rwanda’s government denies the claim, but last year acknowledged that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border. UN experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.

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.

The ceasefire deal was already a brittle agreement, with Israeli statements often calling it a “framework” as opposed to a deal.

Tensions escalated this week when 29-year-old Arbel Yehud, a civilian who Israel says should have been freed Saturday, was not among the four women released. Israel, in turn, did not allow Gazan civilians to return north past the Netzarim Corridor, which was meant to take place Saturday under the ceasefire and hostage deal.

Both Hamas and Israel have accused the other of failing to stick to their end of the bargain, raising questions about how well the ceasefire that took more than 15 months to reach would hold.

Baskin explained that Hamas “will not give anything for free,” in reference to Yehud’s captivity. He added that “Israel’s threat not to allow the displaced to move north” does little to convince Hamas to help push for her release.

The former negotiator warned that “carrying out the threat” of not allowing displaced Palestinians to move north “could lead to a halt in the release of the hostages” and advised Israel to try to keep the deal alive.

“It is better for Israel to talk less and let the mediators do more,” Baskin added, urging Israel to “convey to Qatar and Egypt that it is ready to adopt the three-week deal that Hamas agreed to in September.

‘How will the US respond?’

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Saturday that “Hamas didn’t fulfil the agreement in terms of its obligation to return civilians first,” adding that “we will insist that Arbel Yehud return” along with the rest of the hostages.

Hamas said that Israel “continues to procrastinate in implementing the terms of the ceasefire agreement and the prisoner exchange by maintaining the closure of al-Rasheed Street and preventing the return of displaced persons walking from the south to the north.”

The Palestinian militant group added that it holds Israel “responsible for any delays in the implementation of the agreement and the repercussions that may arise on the remaining phases.”

There are questions as to how the United States under President Donald Trump would respond to the violations alleged by both sides.

“The question is now, after clear violations by the Israelis, how will the US respond? Will they use pressure to ensure adherence, or are we seeing the breakdown of this pause in hostilities so soon after the signing?” Hellyer said.

A choreographed show of force

Tensions simmered as the second exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners took place. The militant group used it to choreograph a poignant show of force despite Israel’s warnings.

In the nearly three-minute video, the four women are seen seated inside a van, smiling and posing. The women were seen thanking Hamas’ military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, “for the good treatment,” including for providing food and water. They also thanked them for “protecting” them from shelling.

None of the four women are native Arabic speakers. In the video, they can be heard speaking in Hebrew accents.

Hamas’ propaganda videos have left a sour note over the years. Previous Hamas’ videos of the four soldiers’ kidnapping by Hamas on October 7, 2023 had gone viral. The women were dressed in civilian clothes at the time of their taking, including pajamas when they were pulled from their bedrooms. Videos showed them covered in blood.

Experts say that deals like this are bound to be filled with complications, especially as Hamas tries to use what leverage it has over Israel, and as Israel tries to retrieve hostages while destroying the group.

Yohanan Tzoreff, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, said concerns about violations, delays, or crises come with “any deal with an organization like Hamas.”

Such concerns “are rooted in the many past grievances between the two sides, numerous bloody conflicts, and, of course, the heinous attack carried out by Hamas on October 7,” Tzoreff said.

“The issue of hostage release became a test for both sides,” he said, adding that Israel “finds itself facing a dilemma: how to secure the hostages’ release while fully achieving the second goal of dismantling Hamas.”

Fighting around Sudan‘s largest oil refinery set the sprawling complex ablaze, satellite data analyzed by The Associated Press on Saturday shows, sending thick, black smoke over the country’s capital.

Forces loyal to Sudan’s military under army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan later claimed they captured the refinery, owned by Sudan’s government and the state-run China National Petroleum Corp. The facility represents a long-sought prize for the military in its civil war with the rebel Rapid Support Force.

International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including a U.S. assessment that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide, have not halted the fighting.

The al-Jaili refinery sits some 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Khartoum, the capital. The refinery has been subject to previous attacks as the RSF has claimed control of the facility since April 2023 and their forces had been guarding it. Local Sudanese media report the RSF also surrounded the refinery with fields of landmines to slow any advance.

But the facility, capable of handling 100,000 barrels of oil a day, remained broadly intact until Thursday. On that day, an attack at the refinery set fires across the complex, according to satellite data from NASA satellites that track wildfires worldwide.

Satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC on Friday for the AP showed vast areas of the refinery ablaze. The images, shot just after 1200 GMT, showed flames shooting up into the sky in several spots. Oil tanks at the facility stood burned, covered in soot.

Thick plumes of black smoke towered over the site, carried south toward Khartoum by the wind. Exposure to that smoke can exacerbate respiratory problems and raise cancer risks.

In a statement released Thursday, the Sudanese military alleged the RSF was responsible for the fire at the refinery.

The RSF “deliberately set fire to the Khartoum refinery in al-Jaili this morning in a desperate attempt to destroy the infrastructures of this country,” the statement read.

“This hateful behavior reveals the extent of the criminality and decadence of this militia … (and) increases our determination to pursue it everywhere until we liberate every inch from their filth.”

The RSF for its part alleged Thursday night that Sudanese military aircraft dropped “barrel bombs” on the facility, “completely destroying it.” The RSF has claimed the Sudanese military uses old commercial cargo aircraft to drop barrel bombs, such as one that crashed under mysterious circumstances in October.

Neither the Sudanese military nor the RSF offered evidence to support their dueling allegations. But on Saturday, multiple videos emerged of Burhan’s forces claiming to have entered the refinery’s compound, the sound of heavy gunfire heard in the background.

Sudan’s military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdallah, also told the AP they had taken control of the refinery. The RSF did not immediately address the claim, nor another by Sudan’s military they had broken a monthslong siege on the Signal Corps headquarters in northern Khartoum.

China, Sudan’s largest trading partner before the war, has not acknowledged the blaze at the refinery. The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

China moved into Sudan’s oil industry after Chevron Corp. left in 1992 amid violence targeting oil workers in another civil war. South Sudan broke away to become its own country in 2011, taking 75% of what had been Sudan’s oil reserves with it.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres “is following with great concern the recent escalation of fighting in Sudan” a statement from his office Friday said, specifically mentioning the oil refinery attack.

“The secretary-general urges the parties to refrain from all actions that could have dangerous consequences for Sudan and the region, including serious economic and environmental implications,” the statement said.

Losing the refinery would have a major effect on the economies of both Sudan and South Sudan.

“The destruction of the refinery would force the Sudanese people to rely on more expensive fuel imports,” warned Timothy Liptrot in an analysis for the Small Arms Survey in May 2024. “As the conflict progresses, a norm that exists among the RSF and (the Sudanese military) against damaging Sudan’s accumulated capital is breaking down, with permanent damage to Sudan’s refining infrastructure becoming increasingly possible.”

Sudan has been unstable since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. A short-lived transition to democracy was derailed when Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the RSF joined forces to lead a military coup in October 2021.

Al-Bashir faces charges at the International Criminal Court over carrying out a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s in the western Darfur region with the Janjaweed, the precursor to the RSF. Rights groups and the U.N. say the RSF and allied Arab militias are again attacking ethnic African groups in this war.

The Biden administration also sanctioned Burhan in its last days over his forces’ “lethal attacks on civilians, including airstrikes against protected infrastructure including schools, markets and hospitals.” It also said Burhan’s troops were “responsible for the routine and intentional denial of humanitarian access, using food deprivation as a war tactic.”

The RSF and Sudan’s military began fighting each other in April 2023. Their conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.

Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll in the civil war.

Among 34,000 people in the town of Oświęcim is just one Jew – a young Israeli named Hila Weisz-Gut. It’s an interesting choice of residence, given the most famous feature of the town is its proximity to the Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz – where at least 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, died between 1940 and 1945.

Nearly every member of Weisz-Gut’s grandmother’s family was lethally gassed there upon arrival in a cargo transport from Hungary. Today, Weisz-Gut can see Auschwitz III-Monowitz, where her grandmother survived, from her bedroom window.

She moved from Israel to join her Polish husband in Oświęcim, his hometown, in 2023, fully aware of her own family’s tragic history.

For Weisz-Gut, maintaining a Jewish presence in the town – even if tiny – is vital. As the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp nears, on January 27, a disturbing trend is emerging across Europe, monitoring groups say – the rise of antisemitism.

Factors in this may be anger over the war in Gaza and a growing far-right presence in some countries, where electoral successes have lent far-right politicians and their supporters a louder voice. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights said some organizations had reported a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents since the October 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel.

The story of Oświęcim, whose population was nearly 60% Jewish in 1939 before the Nazis arrived, serves as a stark reminder of what unbridled antisemitism can unleash.

Weisz-Gut currently works at the town’s Oshpitzin Jewish Museum, educating Israeli visitors about the region’s once-vibrant Jewish community. The museum has said she is the only Jewish person living in Oświęcim.

This past year, living so close to Auschwitz has taken on greater significance for Weisz-Gut. On October 7, 2023 she sat horrorstruck as she watched social media videos of Israelis running for their lives at the Nova music festival after Hamas militants attacked. Her mother, who lives 10 minutes from the Lebanese border in northern Israel, has had to take refuge in an underground shelter amid strikes launched by Hezbollah.

Since the attack, Weisz-Gut has felt forced to take account of the specter of increasing prejudice in Europe on a personal level. While on a trip to London, she said, her mother and husband urged caution, suggesting she remove her Jewish star necklace. She also wore long sleeves to cover a tattoo in Hebrew. “Since the war with Gaza, people don’t separate between Jewish people and Israeli people,” she said. “There are no clear boundaries.”

The Community Security Trust, a Jewish security charity, recorded 1,978 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2024, a record high. A sharp uptick in anti-Muslim hate has also been reported in the UK since the October 7 attacks.

France, which has the largest Jewish population in Europe, recently reported a sharp rise in antisemitism since October 7, with reported incidents increasing by 284%. In Germany, there has also been a steep increase in reported antisemitic crime, according to a government report, with greater incidence of violence.

Much of the problem occurs online and via social media. “The digital world is the Wild West. There are no rules, there is no law. There are almost no consequences,” explained Derviş Hızarcı, the head of the board at KIgA, a Berlin-based organization whose international network, ENCATE, fights hatred and antisemitism. “I think online hate is the biggest challenge after October 7.”

Still, Weisz-Gut remains committed to living a Jewish life in Europe, specifically in the town co-opted by the Nazis to create the largest death machine in modern history.

“For me, it’s a statement that they tried to break us and exterminate us, but they failed,” she said of her presence in a place so associated with the Nazi regime. “We are the generation that is here to say ‘you didn’t succeed. No more. Not again.’”

American tech billionaire Elon Musk made a surprise address at the campaign launch for Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as thousands of people gathered across the country to protest the rise of the far-right party.

Musk, who spoke to the crowd in a live video, was met with huge cheers by the roughly 4,500 AfD supporters gathered inside a hall in the eastern German city of Halle on Saturday.

While speaking with party leader Alice Weidel, AfD’s candidate for chancellor, Musk reiterated his belief that AfD is Germany’s “best hope” in the upcoming general election on February 23.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, is heading to snap elections in February after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence and his governing coalition collapsed after months of instability.

AfD has seen an upswell in support, recently becoming the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since the Nazi era and performing well in opinion polls for the upcoming election. At the same time, the party has been criticized for its staunch anti-immigrant stance. All of Germany’s mainstream political parties have said they will not work with the AfD.

Musk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, stressed the importance “that people take pride in Germany and being German,” a sentiment that was met with rapturous cheers at the AfD rally.

The billionaire also addressed the issue of immigration — a key issue in the election — urging Wiedel and her supporters not to lose their national pride in “some kind of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.”

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Germans protested in Berlin and other cities on Saturday against the far-right party.

In the western German city of Cologne, police estimated a crowd of 40,000 people were demonstrating, according to the Associated Press. About 35,000 protestors gathered at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, according to police estimates, where they sang anti-fascist songs, carried banners denouncing AfD, and displayed illuminated letters spelling “hope and resistance,” AP reported.

“Those who fuel racism and attack climate protection are not just campaigning, they are endangering lives,” climate activist Luisa Neubauer told the crowd reported AP.

Musk has become increasingly engaged in the European political landscape. In recent weeks, he has kindled an alliance with AfD party leader Wiedel. Earlier in January, the two discussed Germany’s election, economic, and political issues.

But the involvement of Musk — the world’s richest man and the owner of the social media platform X — has also been met with apprehension among government leaders in Europe.

In the United Kingdom, the prime minister accused Musk of spreading “lies” after the billionaire provoked a social media backlash against the British government. Musk has also pushed for the release of jailed far-right political activist Tommy Robinson and amplified a social media uproar that fueled anti-immigration riots.

The German government has even accused Musk of trying to influence its election over his endorsement of the AfD.

Despite the scrutiny, Musk has continued to voice his support for the populist political movements that have galvanized numerous European elections. He has also drawn parallels between the political climate in Germany and the United States while emphasizing the global impact the approaching election could have.

“I think it could decide the entire fate of Europe, maybe the fate of the world.” he told AfD supporters on Saturday, “that is the significance of this election.”