U.S. President Donald Trump's stunning proposal to forcibly transfer hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and develop it as a tourist destination faces major obstacles.

The Palestinians and many others view such plans as ethnic cleansing, an attempt to drive them from their homeland after Israel's 15-month offensive against Hamas rendered much of it uninhabitable. It was also seen as an attempt to liquidate their decades-long struggle for a state, which has wide international support.

They walked for hours loaded with whatever clothes, food and blankets they could carry. Many smiled, some hugged loved ones they hadn't seen for months. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians filled Gaza's main coastal road as they streamed back to homes in the north.

The mood was joyous, even though many knew their homes had been destroyed in Israeli offensives against Hamas that leveled large parts of Gaza City and the surrounding north.

U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion that Egypt and Jordan take in Palestinians from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip was met with a hard "no" Sunday from the two U.S. allies along with the Palestinians themselves, who fear Israel would never allow them to return.

Trump floated the idea on Saturday, saying he would urge the leaders of the two Arab countries to take in Gaza's now largely homeless population, so that "we just clean out that whole thing." He added that resettling most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million could be temporary or long term.

When Dania Hanatsheh was released from an Israeli jail this week and dropped off by bus into a sea of jubilant Palestinians in Ramallah, it was an uncomfortable déjà vu.

After nearly five months of detention, it was the second time the 22-year-old woman had been freed as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas to pause the war in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be flying high.

Israel's enemies across the region have been badly weakened during 15 months of war. Israeli hostages have begun to come home from captivity in Gaza, and Netanyahu's good friend, Donald Trump, is back in the White House.

Inside a lavish clubhouse on Doha's waterfront, tensions strained by months of fruitless back-and-forth weighed on negotiators as the hour neared 3 a.m.

On the first floor, a Hamas delegation whose leader had once evaded an Israeli airstrike that killed seven family members combed through the details of yet another proposal to halt the war in Gaza. On the second floor, advisers to Israel's intelligence chief, who had vowed to hunt down those responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, did the same.

Palestinians in Gaza are confronting an apocalyptic landscape of devastation after a ceasefire paused more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Across the tiny coastal enclave, where built-up refugee camps are interspersed between cities, drone footage captured by The Associated Press shows mounds of rubble stretching as far as the eye can see — remnants of the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Hamas in their blood-ridden history.

Ronald Reagan probably didn't realize he was starting a tradition when he wrote a note congratulating his successor and left it in the Oval Office desk drawer after two terms as president.

He did that for George H.W. Bush, his successor and vice president of eight years. Bush did the same for Bill Clinton, who left a note for Bush's son, George W. The younger Bush left behind written words for Barack Obama, who later put pen to paper for Donald Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting his Iranian counterpart Friday for the signing of a broad pact between Moscow and Tehran.

The Kremlin says the "comprehensive strategic partnership" agreement between Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will take their cooperation to a new level.

Nawaf Salam, Lebanon's new prime minister, is a leading international judge who won support for staying out of the political infighting that has paralyzed the crisis-hit country in recent years.

The 71-year-old, who until now was presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, hails from a prominent Beirut political family.