Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending the director of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency to ceasefire negotiations in Qatar, his office said Saturday, in a sign of progress in talks on the war in Gaza. It was not immediately clear when David Barnea would travel to Qatar’s capital, Doha, for the latest round of indirect talks between Israel and the Hamas militant group, but there is U.S. pressure for a deal before the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20. Barnea's presence means high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are now involved. 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 signaling he is committed only to the first phase, a partial hostage release in exchange for a weekslong 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. 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. Also being sent to Qatar are the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency and military and political advisers. Netanyahu’s office said the decision followed a meeting with his defense minister, security chiefs and negotiators “on behalf of the outgoing and incoming U.S. administrations.” The office also released a photo showing Netanyahu with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who was in Qatar this week. Read: Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 5, including 2 infants Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza after being seized in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war 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. “We join together in the hope that the talks in Doha succeed,” outgoing U.S. Ambassador Jack Lew said at the rally. “We’re encouraged by the news today, but we know we can’t stop.” 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. Read more: Gaza death toll surpasses 46,000 “Return with an agreement that ensures the return of all hostages, down to the last one — the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial in their homeland,” said a statement by a group representing some hostages' families. U.S. 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 U.S. officials have expressed similar optimism on several occasions over the past year. Issues in the talks have included which hostages would be released in the first part of a phased ceasefire deal, which Palestinian prisoners would be released and the extent of any Israeli troop withdrawal from population centers in Gaza. The toll 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. Israel's military announced the deaths of four soldiers in northern Gaza on Saturday, without details. At least 400 soldiers have been killed in the war. Six others were killed this week in largely isolated northern Gaza, where Israel has been pressing an offensive against regrouping Hamas militants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants during the war, without providing evidence. Inside Gaza On Saturday, an 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. Read more: Lebanese elects army commander Joseph Aoun as president The girl’s body, in a pink sweater, was wrapped in foil and placed on the floor of the morgue. Her father knelt and pressed his face to hers. “God!” he cried. 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 Defense, 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 center at a former school in Jabaliya, without giving evidence. And a strike killed four people on a street in Gaza City, said Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal. 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 on Friday in the southern city of Khan Younis as children and others jostled for food aid, while hunger grows.

Lebanon's parliament elected army commander Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday, ending a presidential void that had lasted over two years, reports AP. This marked the 13th attempt by the legislature to choose a successor to former President Michel Aoun — who is unrelated to the army commander — following the end of his term in October 2022. Prioritise reconstruction of Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon: Prof Yunus The vote took place just weeks after a fragile ceasefire agreement brought a 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to a halt. It also came at a time when Lebanon's leaders are seeking international aid for reconstruction efforts. Migrant workers in Lebanon struggle to return home amid alleged abuse and war Aoun was widely considered the preferred choice of both the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose support Lebanon will require to ensure Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, as outlined in the agreement, and to secure funding for rebuilding after the war. 105 stranded Bangladeshis return from war-torn Lebanon

The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 46,000 as the Israel-Hamas war continues with no resolution in sight, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, reports AP. The ministry reported on Thursday that 46,006 Palestinians have been killed, and 109,378 have been injured since the conflict began. It also noted that more than half of the fatalities are women and children, though it did not specify how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 5, including 2 infants The Israeli military claims to have killed over 17,000 militants, though it has not provided evidence to support this figure. Israel maintains that it aims to avoid civilian casualties and holds Hamas responsible for civilian deaths, alleging that militants operate within residential areas. Israeli strikes have frequently targeted what it describes as militant positions in shelters and hospitals, resulting in the deaths of women and children. Hostages in Gaza endure another winter as their families plead for a ceasefire The conflict started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched an attack on southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting around 250. Of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza, about a third are believed to have died.

 Israeli soldiers recovered the body of a 53-year-old hostage in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday, and the army was determining if another set of remains belongs to the man's son. The discovery of Yosef AlZayadni's body comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages and halt the fighting in Gaza. Israel says about a third of the remaining 100 hostages have died, but believes as many as half could be dead. Yosef and his son Hamzah AlZayadni were thought to still be alive before Wednesday’s announcement, and news about their fate could ramp up pressure on Israel to move forward with a deal. The military said it found evidence in the tunnel that raised “serious concerns” for the life of Hamzah AlZayadni, 23, suggesting he may have died in captivity. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said the circumstances behind Yosef AlZayadni's death were being investigated. AlZayadni and three of his children were among 250 hostages taken captive after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people. AlZayadni had a total of 19 children and had worked for 17 years at the dairy farm of a kibbutz that was among the communities attacked, said the Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the relatives of captives. AlZayadni’s teenage children, Bilal and Aisha, were released along with about 100 hostages in a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. The bodies of around three dozen hostages have been recovered in Gaza and eight hostages have been rescued by the army. Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 5, including 2 infants The Hostages Families Forum said the ceasefire deal being negotiated “comes far too late for Yosef — who was taken alive and should have returned the same way.” “Every day in captivity poses an immediate mortal danger to the hostages,” the group said in a statement. The deaths of previous high-profile hostages have sparked large protests in Israel calling for a deal. Yosef AlZayadni's name appeared on a list of 34 hostages shared by a Hamas official with The Associated Press earlier this week, who the militant group said were slated for release. Israel said this was a list it had submitted to mediators last July, and that it has received nothing from Hamas. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is “very close” and he hopes “we can get it over the line” before handing over U.S. diplomacy to President-elect Donald Trump’s administration later this month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed sorrow at the news of AlZayadni's death, and said in a statement he had “hoped and worked to bring back the four members of the family from Hamas captivity.” Defense Minister Israel Katz initially said the bodies of both Yosef and Hamzah AlZayadni had been recovered, but the military said the some of the remains were not yet identified. The AlZayadni family are members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel’s Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship. The traditionally nomadic community is particularly impoverished in Israel and has suffered from neglect and marginalization. Palestinians make up some 20% of Israel’s 10 million population, and millions more live in Gaza and under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank. Eight members of Israel’s Bedouin minority were abducted in the October 2023 attacks. “We expected to bring them back alive,” said Talal Alkernawi, mayor of the city of Rahat where the men were from. “Instead of returning them alive to their families, to raise their children, we receive them dead.” Hostages in Gaza endure another winter as their families plead for a ceasefire Many families fear their loved ones' fate is at risk as long as the war in Gaza rages on. Israeli forces are pressing their air and ground war against Hamas, and Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including three infants — among them a 1-week-old — and two women. Israel’s military says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians. The war has killed over 45,800 Palestinians, according to the territory's Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up over half the fatalities. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. Israel has destroyed vast areas of the impoverished territory and displaced some 90% of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. The fighting has also spilled over into the broader Middle East, including a war between Israel and Hezbollah now contained by a fragile ceasefire, and direct conflict between Israel and Iran. Iran-backed rebels in Yemen have targeted shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year and recently ramped up missile attacks on Israel, saying they seek end to the war in Gaza. And on Wednesday, the U.S. military said it carried out a wave of strikes against underground arms facilities of the Houthi rebels.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed at least five people, including two infants and a woman, according to Palestinian medics, reports AP. In the central city of Deir al-Balah, a strike targeted a home, killing two men and a woman, as reported by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the victims. The hospital also reported the death of a 4-month-old boy in a strike on his family’s home in the Bureij refugee camp nearby. An Associated Press journalist confirmed seeing four bodies in the hospital morgue. In Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, another airstrike hit a home, killing a 3-week-old baby, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service. The Israeli military asserts it targets only militants, whom it accuses of hiding among civilians. The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting around 250. At least 100 hostages remain in Gaza, with a third believed to be deceased. Hostages in Gaza endure another winter as their families plead for a ceasefire Israel’s ongoing air and ground offensive has resulted in over 45,800 Palestinian deaths, as reported by the Gaza Health Ministry. While the ministry does not specify how many were combatants, it states that women and children comprise over half the fatalities. The Israeli military claims to have killed over 17,000 militants but has not provided evidence to support this figure. At least 30 people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza on Friday

When Luis Har was kidnapped by Hamas-led militants on the warm morning of Oct. 7, 2023, he was forced into Gaza wearing shorts and a T-shirt. As his captivity stretched into weeks and then months, the cold, wet winter set in, bringing along with it a dread he had never endured before. “I felt a penetrating cold in my bones,” said Har, 71, who was rescued in mid-February in an Israeli military raid. With no heating in the apartment where he was held, the cold from the floor permeated his thin mattress at night. Fighting outside shattered the apartment windows, sending in rain and wind. While Har is spending this winter warm and free, dozens of hostages still in captivity are not. Their families and supporters are desperate for a ceasefire deal to bring an end to their 15-month-long nightmare. “Winter makes it much harder, much more complicated,” said Har. “They must return as quickly as possible.” The hostages often experience the same dire circumstances as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, whether it be food scarcity, the dangers from Israeli bombardments or the winter. The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack, has displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, many of whom are weathering a second winter in tents that are barely holding up against the wind, rain and temperatures that can drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night. Israel and Hamas are considering a deal that would free some hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and a halt to the fighting in Gaza. But despite reports of progress, the families of hostages have been shattered by previous rounds of promising talks that have suddenly collapsed. They fear the same could happen now. “It is a dagger in our hearts,” said Ofri Bibas Levy, about the rollercoaster of hope and despair the families have lived throughout the war. Bibas Levy’s brother, Yarden Bibas, along with his wife Shiri and sons Ariel, 5, and Kfir, 1, are being held in Gaza. “Either it happens now or it doesn’t happen at all,” she told Israeli Army Radio. During its attack on southern Israel, Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250, more than 100 of whom were freed in a brief ceasefire in the early weeks of the war. Since then, Israel has killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its count. Of the roughly 100 hostages who remain in Gaza, one third are said to be dead, some killed during Hamas’ initial attack and others killed or having died in captivity. Israel has rescued eight hostages and has recovered the bodies of dozens. Read: Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed last year inside the war operations room, aide says The hostages range in age from 1 to 86, and are believed to be scattered throughout the Gaza Strip. They have been held in apartments or in Hamas’ web of underground tunnels, which are cramped, damp and stifling, according to testimony from freed hostages. Many families have no idea what conditions their loved ones face, uncertainty that heightens their concern. “You see a rainy day, or a cold day or whatever is going on outside, a storm, and it kills you,” said Michael Levy, whose brother Or, 34, was captured from an outdoor music festival after his wife was killed by militants, leaving their now 3-year-old son, Almog, without his parents. Yehonatan Sabban, a spokesperson for the Hostages Families Forum, said the hostages are undernourished, with low fat reserves and weakened immune systems, making them more vulnerable to complications from illness in winter. “Everyone is in a life-threatening situation that demands their immediate release,” Sabban said. Har said the conditions of his captivity worsened during winter. For weeks, he had been held with four members of his family who had also been kidnapped — along with a Shih Tzu smuggled in by one of them. Three of them and the dog were freed in the first and only ceasefire agreement in late November. That left Har and his relative Fernando Marman alone with their captors in a second-floor apartment in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Har pled with his captors, who wore heavy coats, to bring them warmer clothes. They did — although they were ridden with holes. Every 10 days or so, they washed themselves with water from a bucket. A shattered window was sealed with a tarp. In the first few weeks of captivity, there was food. Ingredients were delivered and Har took on the role of chef. When there were tomatoes, he made tomato soup with some rice. With canned peas, he made pea soup. But as the war dragged on and the temperature dropped, food became scarce. They were delighted when a captor brought one egg for them to share. For weeks, he and Marman split a single pita a day. Read more: At least 30 people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza on Friday When he was rescued in a nighttime operation in mid-February, he ran shoeless out of the apartment and into a nearby greenhouse. Soldiers gave him a pair of shoes and a coat and spirited him home. The raid killed about 70 Palestinians, according to local authorities. The families of the remaining hostages are pinning their hopes on the latest round of ceasefire talks. “All I have is to pray that he’s somehow OK,” Levy said of his brother’s fate, “and know that the human spirit is stronger than anything.”

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while inside the militant group's war operations room, according to new details Sunday disclosed by a senior Hezbollah official. A series of Israeli airstrikes flattened several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2023, killing Nasrallah. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people died. According to news reports, Nasrallah and other senior officials were meeting underground. The assassination of Nasrallah, who had led Hezbollah for 32 years, turned months of low-level strikes between Israel and the militants into all-out war that battered much of southern and eastern Lebanon for two months until a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect Nov. 27. Israel says it struck Hezbollah weapons smuggling sites in Syria, testing a fragile ceasefire “His Eminence (Hassan Nasrallah) used to lead the battle and war from this location,” top Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa told a news conference Sunday near near the site where Nasrallah was killed. He said Nasrallah died in the war operations room. He did not offer other details. Lebanese media had reported that Safa was a target of Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut before the ceasefire but appeared unscathed. During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to move its fighters, weapons and infrastructure away from southern Lebanon north of the Litani River, while Israeli troops that invaded southern Lebanon need to withdraw all within 60 days. Lebanese army soldiers are to deploy in large numbers and alongside United Nations peacekeepers be the sole armed presence in southern Lebanon. Lebanon and Hezbollah have been critical of ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights across the country and for only withdrawing from two of dozens of Lebanese villages it controls. Israel says that the Lebanese military has not done its share in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure. Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah start a ceasefire after nearly 14 months of fighting Hezbollah’s current leader Naim Kassem in a televised address Saturday warned that its fighters could strike Israel if its troops don’t leave the south by the end of the month. Safa said that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated the ceasefire deal with Washington, told Hezbollah that the government will meet with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein soon. “And in light of what happens, then there will be a position,” said Safa. Hochstein had led the shuttle diplomacy efforts to reach the fragile truce.

At least 30 people, including children, were killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes overnight and into Friday morning, hospital staff said, as sirens also sounded across Israel and stalled ceasefire talks were set to resume. Staff at the Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital said more than a dozen women and children were killed in strikes that hit various places in Central Gaza, including Nuseirat, Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah. Dozens of people were also killed across the enclave the previous day, bringing the total of people killed in the past 24 hours to 56. The Israeli army did not comment on the latest strikes. However, in a statement Friday, it said during the past day it had struck dozens of Hamas gathering points and command and control centers throughout Gaza, areas where Hamas had planned and executed attacks. The army said measures were taken to mitigate civilian harm, such as using precise munitions and aerial surveillance. Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 40, including several kids Strikes Thursday hit Hamas security officers and an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone. Among those killed early Friday was Omar al-Derawi, a freelance journalist. Associated Press reporters saw friends and colleagues mourning over his body at the hospital, with a press vest laid on top of his shroud. Israelis also woke up to attacks early Friday morning. Israel said missiles were fired into the country from Yemen, which set off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and central Israel and sent people scrambling to shelters. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, though a faint explosion, likely either from the missile or from interceptors, could be heard in Jerusalem. Israel's army said a missile was intercepted. As the attacks were underway, efforts at ceasefire negotiations were expected to resume Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had authorized a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar. The delegation is leaving for Qatar on Friday. The U.S.-led talks have repeatedly stalled during 15 months of war, which was sparked by Hamas-led militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel. The militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Syrians demand justice for disappeared activists, accountability from all factions Israel’s offensive in retaliation has killed over 45,500 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which says women and children make up more than half the dead. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. Israel's military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in dense residential areas. The army says it has killed 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 40 people on Thursday across central and southern Gaza, including an attack on a sprawling tent camp that Israel has repeatedly bombed despite designating it a humanitarian safe zone. Israel said the strike targeted a righ-ranking police officer, and blames Hamas for civilian deaths. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday he authorized a delegation from the country's intelligence services and military to continue negotiations in Qatar toward a ceasefire deal in Gaza. There was no immediate comment from Hamas. American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have spent nearly a year trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release, but their efforts have repeatedly stalled. The Israeli military also claimed responsibility Thursday for a commando raid in western Syria last September that destroyed what it said was an Iranian-led missile factory. Israel’s war in Gaza has killed over 45,500 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who say women and children make up more than half the fatalities. The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally. The war was sparked by Hamas-led militants' Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel. They killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 that day. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. The Israeli military says a missile fired from Yemen has set off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and central Israel. The attack, at 4:30 a.m. Friday, woke millions of people and sent people scrambling to air raid shelters. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, though a faint explosion, likely either from the missile or from interceptors, could be heard in Jerusalem. The military said interceptors were launched toward the target and the results are under review. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been launching missiles and drones at Israel nearly every day in recent weeks. Israel has carried out a number of long-range airstrikes in Yemen, some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away. But the strikes have failed to stop the attacks. The Houthis have pledged to continue striking Israel until the war in Gaza ends. Israeli strikes in the Maghazi and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza killed at least 14 people late Thursday, including four women and five children. They were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where an Associated Press journalist counted the bodies, bringing the death toll on Thursday to at least 40 people. The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the strikes, but says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths. Earlier Israeli strikes killed dozens more people throughout central and southern Gaza, including inside a sprawling tent camp that Israel designated a humanitarian safe zone but has repeatedly targeted. Israel's military said that strike killed a high-ranking police officer who was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas’ armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces. The head of the U.N. World Health Organization says Israel is still allowing only a trickle of sick and wounded people in the Gaza Strip to travel abroad for life-saving medical treatment. At least 5,383 patients have been evacuated with the WHO's help since the war broke out in October 2023, leaving more than 12,000 Palestinians still waiting to leave Gaza, said WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement Thursday. The rate of evacuations plunged when the Rafah border crossing shut down in May after Israeli troops took it over — since then, only 436 patients have left Gaza, Tedros said. “At this rate, it would take 5-10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients, including thousands of children,” Tedros said. “In the meantime, their conditions get worse and some die.” He urged Israel to increase the approval rate for medical evacuations, including no denials of child patients, and to allow all possible corridors and border crossings to be used. Israel controls all the entry and exit points for Gaza. COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of humanitarian affairs for Palestinians, has said it does everything it can to approve medical evacuations, which are contingent upon a security check. It did not respond when asked for comment on the latest WHO figures. Israel's military said Thursday it struck rocket launchers used by Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, a rare attack outside the border areas where Israeli forces conduct near-daily operations since a ceasefire went into effect last November, according to Lebanese state media. Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel has until Jan. 25 to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, while Hezbollah militants must relocate north of the Litani River. Read: Last functional hospital in Gaza torched Israel says it has the right to attack Hezbollah anywhere for alleged ceasefire violations, and that Thursday's strikes were in Nabatiyeh province, which straddles both sides of the Litani. Video circulated on social media of a strike in Jbaa, in the Iqlim al-Tuffah region, showing large flames and secondary explosions. No casualties were reported by Lebanon’s National News Agency. Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the attack. Israeli operations in Lebanon since the ceasefire have included gunfire, house demolitions, excavations, tank shelling and airstrikes. These actions have killed at least 27 people, wounded more than 30 and destroyed residential buildings. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says he has authorized a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar toward a ceasefire deal in Gaza. The statement had no further details, but Israeli media said the delegation would depart Friday. There was no immediate comment from the Hamas militant group. The U.S.-led talks have repeatedly stalled, and at one point last year Qatar suspended its mediation efforts, expressing frustration. Egypt also is a mediator. Israeli airstrikes killed at least 26 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday as the 15-month war with Hamas dragged on. A strike killed five policemen in the southern city of Khan Younis and their bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital, medical officials there said. Three Palestinians were killed in a separate Israeli strike in central Gaza that hit a group of people walking in the street in the built-up Maghazi refugee camp, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. An earlier strike in nearby Deir al-Balah killed eight people who were helping secure humanitarian aid convoys, the hospital said. At least 10 people were also killed Thursday morning by an airstrike in southern Gaza's Muwasi area, inside an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone. The dead included three children and two senior police officers. Israel said that strike targeted a senior member of Hamas’ internal security apparatus. Israel has repeatedly targeted Gaza's police force, which was part of the Hamas-run government, contributing to a breakdown of law and order that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid. Israel accuses Hamas of hijacking aid for its own purposes. The Israeli military has claimed responsibility for a nighttime raid in Syria last September in which it says dozens of commandos destroyed a top-secret Iranian-led missile factory. Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Thursday that Iran, working with its Syrian and the Hezbollah allies, planned to build hundreds of precision guided missiles per year at the factory that could be transferred to Lebanon. He said the facility was located in western Syria around the town of Masyaf near the Lebanese border. Read more: A new year dawns on a Middle East torn by conflict and change He said Israel had been monitoring the underground facility for several years, but decided to strike at a time when Israel was at war with Hezbollah and the factory was becoming operational. “This facility posed a clear threat to the state of Israel and this is why we had to take action,” he said. Shoshani said over 100 special force soldiers took part in the Sept. 8 raid, backed by dozens of aircraft. Calling it one of Israel’s most complex operations in years, he said soldiers arrived by helicopter and entered the facility, which he said was dug deep into the side of a mountain. In bodycam footage released by the Israeli military, special forces are seen moving through wide underground hallways and seizing documents, before a large explosion destroys the site. The video, which could not be independently verified, also showed images of what the army said was missile-manufacturing equipment. At the time, Syrian state media reported 18 deaths from a series of Israeli airstrikes in the area. Shoshani said there were no Israeli casualties, and that Israel also damaged another missile-production facility in Lebanon during the war. Israel and Hezbollah reached a cease-fire in late November, halting nearly 14 months of fighting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was released from the hospital Thursday after recovering from prostate surgery Sunday. Doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital said Netanyahu was recuperating satisfactorily, although he still has a period of recovery ahead. Medical follow-ups will continue as usual, according to a hospital statement. Despite doctor’s orders to remain hospitalized, the 75-year-old leader had briefly left the facility to participate in a vote in Israel’s parliament on Tuesday. Ukraine’s president says his country is poised to reestablish diplomatic ties with Syria after the fall of President Bashar Assad and sharply increase agricultural exports to Lebanon despite being engaged in an almost three-year war with Russia. The developments came after a recent visit to those countries by Ukraine’s top diplomat and its government minister for farming, according to a statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. Ukraine is aiming to build up its security and trade relations in the Middle East, he said. Ukraine and Syria are assessing cooperation within international organizations, and Syria could this year become a “reliable partner” for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian officials met with Syria’s new de facto authorities led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The insurgents had ousted Assad, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in early December. Ukrainian agricultural exports to Lebanon are around $400 million a year but Zelenskyy said he hopes to at least double that. Ukraine is a leading world producer of wheat, corn, barley, sunflower oil and other food products. The Israeli military says it targeted a senior member of Hamas’ internal security apparatus in a strike in the Gaza Strip that Palestinian officials say killed nine other people, including three children. The strike early Thursday hit a tent in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone known as Muwasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents during the cold and rainy winter. The military said Hossam Shahwan, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police force in Gaza, was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas’ armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces. Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Salah, another senior police official, was also killed in the strike. The military says Hamas militants hide among civilians and blames the group for their deaths in the nearly 15-month war, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel. The Hamas-run government had a police force numbering in the tens of thousands that maintained a high degree of public security before the war while also violently suppressing dissent. The police have largely vanished from the streets in many areas after being targeted by Israel, contributing to the breakdown of law and order that has hindered the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid. Read  more: Women and children among 12 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza The forces together with armed vehicles were deployed in the city of Homs Thursday to look for the militants affiliated with ousted President Bashar Assad, state media reported. SANA, citing a military official, said that the new de facto authorities led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had set up centers in Syria’s third-largest city for former soldiers and militants to hand over their weapons, similar to other parts of Syria. In early December, a lightning insurgency took out the decades-long rule of Assad in less than two weeks. HTS has since run much of war-torn Syria under the authority of its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa. Officials who were part of Assad's notorious web of intelligence and security apparatus have been arrested over the past few weeks. An Israeli strike has killed at least eight Palestinian men in the central Gaza Strip. The dead were members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital confirmed the toll. Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior officers in the Hamas-run police. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes. Israel has repeatedly targeted the police, contributing to a breakdown of law and order in the territory that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid. Israel accuses Hamas of hijacking aid for its own purposes. Al Jazeera has condemned the Palestinian Authority’s decision to bar it from operating in the occupied West Bank, saying the decision was “in line” with similar actions taken by Israel. In a statement Thursday, the Qatar-based broadcaster accused the Western-backed authority of seeking to “hide the truth about events in the occupied territories, especially what is happening in Jenin and its camps.” The Palestinian Authority, which cooperates with Israel on security matters, launched a rare crackdown on anti-Israel militants in the urban Jenin refugee camp last month. The authority has international support but is unpopular among many Palestinians, with critics portraying it as a subcontractor of the Israeli occupation. The Palestinian Authority announced the suspension of Al Jazeera’s activities on Wednesday, accusing it of incitement and interfering in Palestinian internal affairs. The Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel banned Al Jazeera last year, accusing it of being a mouthpiece of Hamas. Israeli strikes have killed or wounded several Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza, and Israel has accused some of them of being militants. Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera’s West Bank headquarters last year, but the broadcaster has continued to operate in the territory. Al Jazeera denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its coverage. Its 24-hour reporting from Gaza has focused on the deaths of Palestinian civilians. It has also broadcast Hamas and other militant videos in their entirety, showing attacks on Israeli forces and hostages speaking under duress.

At least 12 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza as the war, now in its 15th month, persists into the new year, officials reported Wednesday. A strike in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, heavily damaged by earlier military operations, killed seven people, including four children and a woman, and injured over a dozen others, Gaza’s Health Ministry stated. Another airstrike overnight hit the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing a woman and a child, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. A new year dawns on a Middle East torn by conflict and change In Khan Younis, a southern city, three more people died following another Israeli attack, reports from Nasser and European Hospitals confirmed. The Israeli military said the Bureij strike targeted militants launching rockets at Israel. They also issued evacuation orders for the area. The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. Israel’s military offensive has since killed over 45,000 Palestinians, including women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel claims 17,000 of those killed were militants, though evidence has not been provided. The war has displaced nearly 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, many forced to relocate multiple times. Thousands now live in tents along the coast, facing harsh winter conditions. At least seven people, including six infants, have reportedly died from hypothermia. With food aid limited and prices soaring, many rely on charity kitchens for survival. AP footage captured long lines of children waiting for meals, often just rice, at one such kitchen in Deir al-Balah. Last functional hospital in Gaza torched Efforts by American and Arab mediators to negotiate a ceasefire and hostage release have repeatedly failed. Hamas demands a permanent truce, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until achieving “total victory.” Meanwhile, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reported that 82,000 Israelis emigrated in 2024, while 33,000 immigrated and another 23,000 returned after long stays abroad. This marks a second consecutive year of net emigration, raising fears of a “brain drain” in sectors like medicine and technology. In a separate incident, Israel’s military acknowledged “operational burnout” and disciplinary lapses in the November deaths of a 70-year-old archaeologist and a soldier in southern Lebanon. Zeev Erlich, a prominent West Bank settler and Jewish history researcher, was killed while exploring an archaeological site in a combat zone. An investigation is underway into how he entered the area. Despite military restrictions, reports have surfaced of Israeli civilians entering Gaza and Lebanon in support of a permanent Israeli presence, adding further complexity to the situation.