It’s shaping up to be a defining week both abroad and at home. In the Middle East, the highly anticipated hostage-prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas is finally underway — a fragile moment of hope after years of devastating conflict. President Donald Trump is also set to visit Israel and Egypt for high-stakes peace talks with world leaders.
Back in Washington, Trump is moving to ease the impact of the government shutdown on military families as the political standoff shows no signs of breaking. And in a deeply personal development, former President Joe Biden has entered a new phase of his cancer treatment.
Here’s a closer look at the moments and storylines that could define the week ahead.
Israel and Hamas prepare for hostage exchange
The final 20 living hostages in Gaza have been released by Hamas into Israeli custody, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal. The first seven arrived at the Re’im field hospital in Israel earlier this morning, where they’ll receive a medical screening and be welcomed by close loved ones, before being taken to other hospitals for further checks.
In return, Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners — including 250 serving life sentences and 1,700 who’d been held since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. In Beitunia in the West Bank and Khan Younis in Gaza, large crowds gathered to welcome them home, flashing V-for-victory signs as the buses rolled in. Israel has also opened the enclave to full humanitarian aid, where food has become so scarce that some areas are already on the brink of famine.
The exchange marks the most significant breakthrough since the war began in 2023. In Tel Aviv, an estimated 400,000 Israelis flooded the streets to celebrate the impending swap. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning to northern Gaza, many to find their homes reduced to rubble.
Trump also visited Israel on Monday to address the country’s parliament, known as the Knesset, before traveling to Egypt for a summit with leaders from more than 20 countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, to map out Gaza’s future. The talks are expected to focus on postwar governance, reconstruction, and security.
While Israelis and Palestinians alike have welcomed the ceasefire and the planned prisoner releases, the longer-term outlook is far less certain. Key questions about the future of Gaza — such as who will govern the territory and what will happen to Hamas, particularly around its potential disarmament — remain unresolved.
Trump authorizes military pay amid shutdown
After videos of service members standing in line at food banks went viral, President Trump announced Saturday that his administration has found a way to pay troops during the ongoing government shutdown.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had authorized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “use all available funds” to ensure service members are paid on October 15, their next scheduled payday. Troops were last paid on October 1, and many families have since faced mounting financial strain on top of the everyday sacrifices that come with serving. Roughly 1.3 million active-duty personnel, along with hundreds of thousands of National Guard members and civilian Defense Department employees, would otherwise go without pay if the shutdown continues.
The move comes as the broader standoff in Washington shows no signs of easing. The Senate is set to return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, but Democrats and Republicans remain at an impasse over how to end the funding fight. Lawmakers failed to advance dueling stopgap funding bills last week, and on Friday, the government began firing federal workers. Trump has vowed to cut what he calls “Democrat programs” if the shutdown continues.
Biden begins new round of cancer treatment
Former President Joe Biden has entered a new phase in his cancer treatment. On Saturday, his spokesperson announced that he started radiation and hormone therapy.
Biden’s office first revealed his diagnosis in May, when doctors found an aggressive form of prostate cancer after the 82-year-old reported urinary symptoms. The disease had spread to his bones, but his team said it appears to be hormone-sensitive — meaning it can be effectively managed with treatment.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second-leading cause of cancer death among men in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health. An estimated 313,780 new cases are expected to be diagnosed this year, accounting for more than 15 percent of all new cancer cases. The good news: The five-year survival rate is roughly 98 percent, the agency says.
This isn’t Biden’s first cancer battle: He was treated twice for skin cancer in 2023 and 2025. The issue has long been personal for him — he lost his eldest son, Beau, to brain cancer in 2015 — and he’s been a vocal advocate for research ever since. In 2022, he and Jill Biden relaunched the “cancer moonshot” initiative, with the goal of preventing more than four million cancer deaths by 2047.
