The Israeli and German presidents hailed the enduring friendship between their countries on Monday, 60 years after the launch of bilateral relations, but also acknowledged differences over the war in Gaza.
Israel's president, Issac Herzog, was visiting Berlin before he and the German head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, were due to tour Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday along with their wives.
Donald Trump on Sunday defended plans to receive a new Air Force One as a gift, after reports he will accept a luxury Boeing jet from Qatar despite strict rules on presents for US presidents.
Calling the plane a "flying palace," ABC News, which first reported the story, said the Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet gifted from the Qatari royal family would possibly be the most expensive gift ever received by the American government.
The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas handed over a US-Israeli hostage held in Gaza since October 2023 on Monday, ahead of a regional visit by US President Donald Trump.
"The (Ezzedine) Al-Qassam Brigades have just released the Zionist soldier and American citizen Edan Alexander, following contacts with the US administration, as part of the efforts undertaken by mediators to achieve a ceasefire," Hamas said in a statement.
Israel's military said he was back inside Israel to be "reunited with his family".
Donald Trump plans to accept a luxury Boeing jet from the Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One and then continue flying in it after his tenure, despite strict rules on US presidential gifts, media reported Sunday.
Calling the plane a "flying palace," ABC News, which first reported the story, said the Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet would possibly be the most expensive gift ever received by the American government.
Qatar swiftly sought to downplay the uproar, saying reports describing the jet as a gift "are inaccurate."
The Eurovision Song Contest burst into Basel on Sunday, but a parade launching a week of build-up to the grand final was marked by protests over Israel's participation.
The Swiss city is hosting the 69th edition of the world's biggest annual live televised music event, reaching around 160 million viewers.
Organisers said tens of thousands of spectators took to the streets to welcome the 37 artists representing the competing countries.
Shahd Tahrawi was wounded in an Israeli strike on Gaza, Hossam Abd al-Rahman suffered burns in an explosion in Iraq and bombardment in Yemen has left Mohammed Zakaria in need of multiple surgeries.
They all met at the charitable Al-Mowasah hospital in the Jordanian capital Amman, which treats some of the many civilians wounded in conflicts across the Middle East.
"I feel sad when I look around me in this place" seeing "people like me, innocent, simple civilians" whose lives have been blighted by the horrors of war, said Abd al-Rahman, a 21-year-old Iraqi patient.
Ahead of US President Donald Trump's Gulf visit next week, his son Eric was promoting his crypto firm in Dubai, while Don Jr prepared to talk about "Monetising MAGA" in Doha.
Last month, the Trump Organization struck its first luxury real estate deal in Qatar, and released details of a billion-dollar skyscraper in Dubai whose apartments can be bought in cryptocurrency.
In a monarchical region awash with petrodollars, the list of Trump-related ventures is long and growing. However, the presidential entourage is not the only party cashing in, analysts say.
Iran and the United States wrapped up nuclear talks in Oman on Sunday with no apparent breakthrough in a public standoff over enrichment, but with both sides confirming plans for future negotiations.
This was the fourth round of talks that began nearly a month ago, marking the highest-level contact between the two foes since Washington withdrew in 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal, during President Donald Trump's first term.
A new documentary purports to name the Israeli soldier who killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was gunned down in the West Bank while reporting in 2022.
Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist known for her coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, was shot dead in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank while she worked, wearing a bulletproof vest marked "press."
Al Jazeera and witnesses immediately blamed the Israeli army. Then Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said it was probable the shots had come from Palestinian militants.
Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.
The pair were identified by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
The undated three-minute video footage released by Hamas's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.
