The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has instructed the military to present him with "a plan for the complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza" as soon as possible. His office said on Friday that Katz believes Hamas must be completely crushed if the hostages it abducted from Israel are not released by the time US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

While Witkoff says progress made in Doha, Hamas stands by demand for permanent end to war, which Israel rejects; president-elect: 'It won't be good for anyone' if no deal by Jan. 20 The post Trump’s Mideast envoy to visit Qatar,

An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in Qatar on Friday to continue negotiations on a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source with knowledge of the talks told CNN on Friday.

A total of 46,006 Palestinians — mostly women and children — have been killed and 109,378 wounded in the Israel-Hamas war, Palestinian officials say.

The post has sparked outrage among Palestinians and Arab countries, who have called on the international community to curb Israel’s expansionist ambitions and prevent further attempts to occupy Palestinian and Arab territories.

Benjamin Netanyahu's office said representatives of the Mossad intelligence agency and military would attend the talks but gave no further details. There has been no immediate comment from Hamas. View

Israel said Monday that Hamas had not yet provided the status of 34 hostages the group declared it was ready to release in the first phase of a potential exchange deal.Late on Sunday, a senior Hamas official told AFP the group had "agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list presented by Israel as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal".

Israel confirmed on Friday that a hostage found killed in Gaza was Hamza Ziyadne, the son of deceased hostage Youssef Ziyadne, whose body was found alongside him in an