Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to send a team of negotiators to discuss a hostage release deal with Hamas. The head of Israel's Mossad spy agency will lead the delegation to Doha, Qatar, for talks aimed at reaching a long-stalled ceasefire agreement.
The move comes as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 38,000 on Thursday and its inhabitants facing dire conditions. Both Israel and Hamas are facing increased international pressure to reach a truce.
According to an Israeli official, Prime Minister Netanyahu has authorised the team to continue talks, which have previously stalled over Hamas' insistence that Israel agree to an end to the war and full withdrawal of its troops from Gaza.
The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, told news agency AP that Netanyahu has reiterated his position that Israel will not end the war until it reaches its goals of destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities and returning all hostages held in Gaza.
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West Bank Settlements | Israel Approves Plans For Nearly 5,300 New Homes
An Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group says the government has approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank.
It is the latest move by Israel's hard-line government to beef up the settlements as part of a strategy to cement Israel's control over the West Bank and prevent the establishment of a future Palestinian state.
Peace Now says the government's Higher Planning Council approved or advanced plans for 5,295 homes in dozens of settlements.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is dominated by settlers and their supporters. He has placed a former settler leader, Bezalel Smotrich, in charge of settlement policy.
COGAT, the Israeli defence body that oversees the planning council, referred questions to Netanyahu's office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hezbollah Fires Over 200 Rockets Into Israel
Fighting, meanwhile, intensified between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, with the militant group saying it fired more than 200 rockets and exploding drones into northern Israel to avenge the killing of a senior commander in an Israeli airstrike the day before.
The relatively low-level conflict has literally set the border ablaze and raised fears of a potentially even more devastating war in the Middle East. Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire between Hamas — a fellow Iran-backed ally — and Israel.
(With AP Inputs)
