The body was found as international mediators kept up a push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal The Israeli military said Wednesday that its troops recovered the body of a hostage in Gaza and brought it back to Israel following a "complex and difficult operation".
Israel presented a new proposal through mediators in Doha, demanding the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners, a Hamas official told EFE on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expresses confidence in a near-term Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised Israeli negotiators to continue talks in Doha on a hostage release, his office said Thursday, after Israel and Hamas traded blame for their slow progress.
The prime minister’s office announced on Thursday the approval of a new Israeli delegation to continue hostage negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
Serious differences on key issues including the release of hostages on humanitarian grounds and control over the Philadelphi Corridor remain, i24NEWS understands
Israel said Monday that Hamas had not yet provided the status of 34 hostages the group declared it was ready to release in the first phase of a potential exchange deal.
The second Qatar-Iran joint security committee meeting took place in Tehran on the same day as the foreign ministers of both countries held talks. Qatar’s Minister of State at
The Israeli Defense Forces and the Shin Bet "located and returned the kidnapped body" of hostage Yosef Al-Zaydani on Tuesday "from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area," the army said in a release Wednesday. Israel said it has also recovered another body and are working to determine whether it is Al-Zaydani's son, Hamza.
Steve Witkoff, President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, said on Tuesday that he was “really hopeful” that they were “on the verge of a deal” to announce the return of the hostages by Inauguration Day.