Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending the director of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency to ceasefire negotiations in Qatar, in a possible sign of progress in talks on the war in Gaza.
The presence of David Barnea at the latest round of indirect talks between Israel and the Hamas militant group, means high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are now involved.
There is US pressure for a deal before the presidential inauguration on January 20.
Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved in 15 months of war, and that was in the earliest weeks of fighting. The talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly stalled since then.
Under discussion is a phased ceasefire, with Netanyahu signalling he is committed only to the first phase, a partial hostage release in exchange for a weeks-long halt in fighting.
Hamas has insisted on a full Israeli troop withdrawal from the largely devastated territory, but Netanyahu has insisted on destroying Hamas’ ability to fight in Gaza.
Netanyahu's office has released a photo showing the Israeli leader with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who was in Qatar this week.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week a deal is “very close” and he hoped to complete it before handing over diplomacy to the incoming Trump administration. But US officials have expressed similar optimism on several occasions over the past year.
On Thursday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, the majority women and children, though it doesn't say how many were fighters or civilians.
Hamas and other groups killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages into Gaza in the October 7 attack that started the war.
Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza are pressing Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home.
Israelis rallied again on Saturday night in the city of Tel Aviv, with photos of hostages on display.
The recovery of two hostages’ bodies in the past week renewed fears that time is running out. Hamas has said that after months of heavy fighting, it isn’t sure who is alive or dead.
Hamas and other groups killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages into Gaza in the attack that started the war.
A truce in November 2023 freed more than 100 hostages, while others have been rescued or their remains have been recovered over the past year.
On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed a 5-year-old girl and two male relatives in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where an AP team saw them.
Another Israeli airstrike killed at least eight Palestinians — including two children and two women — in a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza, according to the Civil Defence, first responders affiliated with the Hamas-run government. It said the strike on the Halawa school that shelters displaced people in the Jabaliya area also wounded 30 others, including 19 children.
Israel’s military said it struck a Hamas command centre at a former school in Jabaliya, without giving evidence.
A strike killed four people on a street in Gaza City, said a Civil Defence spokesman. Overall, Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 32 bodies had arrived at hospitals in the past 24 hours.
“I ask the world, do you hear us? Do we exist?” said Hamza Saleh, one of the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents who have been displaced. He spoke in the southern city of Khan Younis as children and others jostled for food aid, while hunger grows.
Israel's military announced the deaths of four soldiers in northern Gaza on Saturday. At least 400 soldiers have been killed in the war. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants during the war, without providing evidence.
