A senior Hamas official says the group has told Egyptian officials it was ready to stop fighting in Gaza if Israel committed to a ceasefire deal.
The official said on Thursday a Hamas delegation discussed “ideas and proposals” related to a Gaza truce with Egyptian officials in Cairo.
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“Hamas has expressed readiness to stop the fighting, but Israel must commit to a ceasefire, withdraw from the Gaza Strip, allow the return of displaced people, agree to a serious prisoner exchange deal and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the official said.
The talks in Cairo were part of Egypt’s ongoing efforts to resume ceasefire negotiations, he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he welcomed Egypt’s readiness to reach a deal in Gaza “for the release of the hostages”.
“Pursuant to the meetings that were held in Cairo, the prime minister has directed the director of the Mossad to leave for Doha and advance a series of initiatives that are on the agenda, with the backing of the members of the security cabinet,” said a statement from Mr Netanyahu’s office.
Mossad chief David Barnea was due in Qatar on Sunday for meetings to restart the negotiations towards a Gaza hostage release deal, Israel said.
Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, 97 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Renewed strikes on Beirut
Lebanon state media said an Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday, shortly after Israel issued evacuation warnings for the Hezbollah bastion.
Residents in the Choueifat area had been told to leave immediately as the military prepared to target Hezbollah positions there.
“You are located near facilities and sites belonging to Hezbollah, which the Israel Defense Forces will be targeting in the near future,” the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map of the targeted area.
Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon
The Israeli army said on Thursday that five of its soldiers were killed fighting in southern Lebanon, where the military has been battling Hezbollah forces for weeks.
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The Israeli army provided the names of four soldiers in a statement, saying the troops “fell during combat in southern Lebanon” on Wednesday.
A separate statement issued later said another soldier was killed in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
The death toll among Israeli troops fighting in southern Lebanon has risen to 27 since the military launched a ground operation in late September, according to an AFP tally based on official military figures.
The violence in Lebanon escalated to a war last month, nearly a year after the start of cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
Five Israeli soldiers were reported killed in southern Lebanon during hostilities with Hezbollah. (Reuters: Gonzalo Fuentes)
Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel from October 8, 2023, in support of Hamas after the Palestinian militant group launched its unprecedented attack on Israel the previous day.
Children among Lebanese killed in Israeli air strike
Lebanon’s health ministry said three children were among 12 people killed in Israeli strikes on Thursday on two villages in the country’s east.
“The Israeli enemy strike on Al-Khodr in the Baalbek-Hermel region killed seven people including three children,” the ministry said, adding that another Israeli attack in the same area “killed five people”.
AFP