Israel war cabinet reportedly approves sending negotiators to Qatar for truce talks
More now on Israel’s war cabinet approving to send negotiators to Qatar for more truce talks.
Negotiators held secretive talks over the weekend in Paris, where the head of Israel’s overseas intelligence service Mossad and his counterpart at the domestic Shin Bet security service met with mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar.
Agence France-Presse reports that national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a televised interview Saturday evening that the “delegation has returned from Paris – there is probably room to move towards an agreement”.
The negotiators had asked to speak to the cabinet “to bring us up to speed on the results of the Paris summit”, he added shortly before the meeting.
Israeli media later reported that the meeting had concluded, with the cabinet agreeing to send a delegation to Qatar in the coming days to continue negotiations on a weeks-long truce involving the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
In his interview on Saturday, Hanegbi said Israel wanted the release of all hostages seized in the 7 October attacks, starting with the women, but added: “Such an agreement does not mean the end of the war.”
He also indicated that Israel would not accept any deal between the US and Saudi Arabia for a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu said in a statement that Saturday’s cabinet meeting would discuss “next steps in the negotiations”.
He also reaffirmed his aim for troops to go into Rafah in southern Gaza, despite widespread concern about the impact on hundreds of thousands of civilians who have fled there to avoid bombardments.
Pressure has steadily mounted on Netanyahu’s government to strike a deal to free the hostages, with thousands gathering in Tel Aviv Saturday at what has come to be known as “Hostages Square” to demand swifter action.
“We think about them (the hostages) all the time and want them back alive as soon as possible,” said Orna Tal, whose close friend Tsachi Idan was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz kibbutz.
“We’ll protest again and again until they’re back,” she told AFP.
Key events
A two-month-old Palestinian boy has died from starvation in northern Gaza, according to media reports.
The Shehab news agency reported that Mahmoud Fattouh died at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Friday, with paramedics reportedly saying he died from acute malnutrition.
Israel’s war in Gaza has displaced the vast majority of the population from their homes and left civilians facing acute shortages of food, water and medicine.
Medics in Gaza hospitals describe babies born sick to malnourished mothers, infants losing weight, mothers unable to produce breast milk and injured patients too weak from hunger to fight off infection.
More than half of UK export businesses have been affected by disruption to shipping in critical trade routes along the Red Sea, according to a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
The Iran-backed Houthis who control much of north-western Yemen have been attacking merchant vessels in the region since November.
The Houthis say they are undertaking the attacks as solidarity with the people of Gaza, and claim the targets are confined to Israeli-owned ships, or ships connected with the US and UK.
The attacks have forced many vessels to reroute over safety concerns, lengthening delivery times and pushing up shipping costs.
Some 53% of manufacturers and business-to-consumer service firms, which includes retailers and wholesalers, said they have been affected by turmoil in the Red Sea.
The figure rises to 55% of UK exporters, meaning firms who send goods and services overseas, according to the research by the BCC’s Insights Unit.
The survey of more than 1,000 businesses, most of whom have fewer than 250 staff, revealed that about 37% of firms across different sectors have felt an impact.
Negotiators have met to discuss a pause in fighting along with the release of the remaining 136 hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas and other groups.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to fight until “total victory”, but is under intense pressure at home to reach a deal with Hamas to free the hostages.
Police used a water cannon to disperse anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, according to the Associated Press, and 18 people were arrested. Others protested in Jerusalem.
In an update on X, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) wrote that Israeli soldiers are engaged in combat in western Khan Younis, and that over the past day “fighters arrested a number of terrorists who tried to escape under the protection of the population”.
The Israeli military also said that it killed a number of “terrorists” and located weapons in the area.
According to the IDF, soldiers in the Givati Brigade found weapons, including sniper weapons, a Kalashnikov type rifle, grenades and cartridges, during raids.
“The forces of the Gaza Division identified a terrorist cell that operated a drone in the Shati area, an air force aircraft attacked and eliminated the cell,” the IDF wrote.
“During the last day, the air force carried out several attacks in the Gaza Strip and hit the Hamas air force. Among the targets that were attacked, a number of launch positions were designated for rocket fire towards Israeli territory.”
Israel war cabinet reportedly approves sending negotiators to Qatar for truce talks
More now on Israel’s war cabinet approving to send negotiators to Qatar for more truce talks.
Negotiators held secretive talks over the weekend in Paris, where the head of Israel’s overseas intelligence service Mossad and his counterpart at the domestic Shin Bet security service met with mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar.
Agence France-Presse reports that national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a televised interview Saturday evening that the “delegation has returned from Paris – there is probably room to move towards an agreement”.
The negotiators had asked to speak to the cabinet “to bring us up to speed on the results of the Paris summit”, he added shortly before the meeting.
Israeli media later reported that the meeting had concluded, with the cabinet agreeing to send a delegation to Qatar in the coming days to continue negotiations on a weeks-long truce involving the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
In his interview on Saturday, Hanegbi said Israel wanted the release of all hostages seized in the 7 October attacks, starting with the women, but added: “Such an agreement does not mean the end of the war.”
He also indicated that Israel would not accept any deal between the US and Saudi Arabia for a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu said in a statement that Saturday’s cabinet meeting would discuss “next steps in the negotiations”.
He also reaffirmed his aim for troops to go into Rafah in southern Gaza, despite widespread concern about the impact on hundreds of thousands of civilians who have fled there to avoid bombardments.
Pressure has steadily mounted on Netanyahu’s government to strike a deal to free the hostages, with thousands gathering in Tel Aviv Saturday at what has come to be known as “Hostages Square” to demand swifter action.
“We think about them (the hostages) all the time and want them back alive as soon as possible,” said Orna Tal, whose close friend Tsachi Idan was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz kibbutz.
“We’ll protest again and again until they’re back,” she told AFP.
Opening summary
We are restarting our live coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza and the wider Middle East crisis.
Israel’s war cabinet approved on Saturday to send negotiators to Qatar to continue talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war and the return of hostages being held in Gaza, officials and local media said, according to Agence France-Presse.
An Israeli delegation had briefed the cabinet after meeting mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar in Paris.
National security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a televised interview that the “delegation has returned from Paris – there is probably room to move towards an agreement”.
Israeli media later reported that the cabinet agreed to send a delegation to Qatar in the coming days to continue negotiations on a weeks-long truce.
More on that story shortly. Here is a recap of some of the other latest developments:
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Israel’s spy chief was in Paris earlier for talks seeking to “unblock” progress towards a truce and the return of hostages held by Palestinian militants. The Israeli delegation, which includes the heads of its internal and external intelligence services, met the director of the CIA, Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s most senior intelligence official for talks over the weekend in what appeared to be the most serious push for weeks to halt the fighting. According to the Times of Israel, an “outline of an agreement” has been reached in talks in Paris this weekend but no official confirmation or further details have yet been shared.
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The negotiations came after a plan for a postwar Gaza unveiled by the Israeli prime minister drew criticism from key ally the US and was rejected by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on Friday.
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More than 100 people were reported killed in overnight strikes across Gaza. The Gaza health ministry also said dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had been killed in the latest Israeli strikes on Saturday.
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Hamas said on Saturday that Israeli forces had launched more than 70 strikes on civilian homes in cities including Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah over the previous 24 hours. Hamas said fighting was raging in the northern Gaza district of Zeitun.
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Israel’s military said it was “intensifying the operations” in western Khan Younis using tanks, close-range fire and aircraft. “The soldiers raided the residence of a senior military intelligence operative” in the area and destroyed a tunnel shaft, a military statement said.
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The US and UK carried out strikes against 18 Houthi targets including underground weapons and missile storage facilities in Yemen on Saturday in the latest round of military action against the Iran-linked group that continues to attack shipping in the region.
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Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said on Saturday that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, doubling down after stirring controversy a week earlier by comparing Israel’s military offensive in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust. Lula wrote on X that he would not give up his “dignity for falsehood”, an apparent reference to calls for him to retract his comments. In response to Lula’s initial comments last week, Israel declared him a persona non grata, summoned Brazil’s ambassador and demanded an apology.
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Fears for civilians in Gaza are deepening, with the UN warning of the growing risk of famine. Its main aid body for Palestinians, UNWRA, said early on Saturday that Palestinians were “in extreme peril while the world watches on”. AFP footage showed distraught Palestinians queueing for food in the territory’s devastated north on Friday and staging a protest decrying their living conditions.
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The UN agency in charge of Palestinian affairs (UNRWA) said it has been forced to pause aid deliveries to northern Gaza – where it is not “possible to conduct proper humanitarian operations” – amid increasing reports of famine among people in the area. “The desperate behaviour of hungry and exhausted people is preventing the safe and regular passage of our trucks,” said Tamara Alrifai, director of external relations for UNRWA. She added that she was “very wary of how to explain this so as not to make it sound like we are blaming people or describing these things as criminal acts”.
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The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Saturday that its ambulance teams had, for the fourth time, carried out an evacuation mission from Nasser hospital after it went out of service, in coordination with Ocha. The PRCS said four ambulance vehicles evacuated 18 injured people, including two newborns who had lost their mothers.