News & Events

Israel delivered to the U.S. on Saturday its updated proposal for the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, according to an Israeli senior official and two other sources with knowledge of the issue.

Israel is seeking changes to a plan for a Gaza truce and the release of hostages, complicating a final deal to halt its bombing campaign that has devastated the enclave, according to a Western official, a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources.

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu told US lawmakers “our enemies are your enemies” in a landmark speech to Congress intended to rally support for the war against Hamas in Gaza, but marked by pro-Palestinian protests inside and outside the Capitol.

The U.S., Israel and the United Arab Emirates held a meeting in Abu Dhabi last Thursday to discuss plans for Gaza after the war ends, two Israeli officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages held in Gaza that a deal that would secure their release could be near, his office said on Tuesday, as fighting raged in the battered Palestinian enclave.

Palestinian factions have signed a “national unity” agreement aimed at maintaining Palestinian control over Gaza once Israel’s war on the enclave concludes.

The UN’s top court has said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is against international law, in a landmark opinion.

The UAE has backed deploying an international force to provide “law and order” in the besieged Gaza Strip under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority, the clearest sign yet that Gulf powers are inching closer to an agreement for a post-war force in Gaza that the US has been lobbying for.