News & Events

Israel and Hamas appear to be on the brink of a framework agreement for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, an Israeli source familiar with the negotiations said.

Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon, said on Saturday the Palestinian group is still ready to discuss any truce proposal that ends the nearly nine-month conflict.

The European Union is working with Arab states to push forward a peace plan between Israel and Palestine once the Gaza war is over, and perhaps even sooner, a senior EU diplomat has told The National.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is open to a “partial deal” with Hamas that allows him to continue the war on Gaza after some of the captives are released. A deal that permanently ends the war was not an option until Hamas is “eliminated,” he told Channel 14 on Sunday.

The US has indicated it is open to backing an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, amid mounting frustration that the group continues to link a truce with Israel to an elusive broader ceasefire in Gaza.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut on Tuesday after visiting Israel a day earlier, as part of US efforts to de-escalate the situation along the Lebanon-Israel border where intense fire exchanges between Hezbollah and the Israeli army are threatening to spill into a wider war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told Hamas that it is “time for the haggling to stop”, after its leaders proposed “numerous changes” to a plan for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Interview of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken by Jalal Chahda of Al Jazeera.