By Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Center East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday following his go to to Doha, an Israeli official mentioned, amid efforts to safe a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza.
A second Israeli official mentioned some progress had been made within the oblique talks between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and america, to achieve a deal in Gaza.
The mediators are making new efforts to achieve a deal to halt the combating within the enclave and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there earlier than Trump takes workplace on Jan. 20.
Witkoff arrived in Doha on Friday and met the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in accordance with an announcement launched by Qatar’s overseas ministry.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators acquired reassurances from Witkoff that the U.S. would proceed to work in the direction of a good deal to finish the warfare quickly, Egyptian safety sources mentioned, although he didn’t give any particulars.
On Saturday, the Palestinian civil emergency service mentioned eight individuals had been killed, together with two ladies and two youngsters, in an Israeli airstrike on a former college sheltering displaced households in Jabalia, within the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army mentioned the strike had focused Hamas militants who had been working on the college and that it had taken measures to scale back the chance of hurt to civilians.
Afterward Saturday, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service mentioned 5 individuals had been killed and several other others had been wounded in two Israeli strikes. One of many two strikes killed three individuals in a home close to the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza Metropolis.
There was no fast remark from the Israeli army.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed throughout its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 individuals and taking greater than 250 hostages, in accordance with Israeli tallies.
Since then, greater than 46,000 individuals have been killed in Gaza, in accordance with Palestinian well being officers, with a lot of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian disaster, with most of its inhabitants displaced.
