Israeli senior delegation to travel to Qatar for hostage deal with Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday instructed a senior delegation to depart to the Qatari capital Doha to continue advancing a deal with Hamas to release the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

A statement from the Prime Minister's Office said the directive followed a situation assessment Netanyahu held Saturday evening with Defense Minister Israel Katz and U.S. negotiators from "both the outgoing and incoming administrations."

The Israeli delegation includes David Barnea, head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency, and Ronen Bar, chief of the Shin Bet internal security service.

Indirect peace talks between Israel and Hamas have been on and off in the past months, with Qatar, Egypt, and the United States as the main mediators for a truce and a hostage-prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, with the goal of achieving a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

The latest round of negotiations has gained momentum since the resumption on Jan 3.

Hamas and Israel have narrowed their differences on hostage-prisoner swap and issues including Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Gaza.

Hamas agreed to release 34 hostages for phase one of the ceasefire agreement, a key demand by Israel. It also agreed to postpone discussions on the Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor for phase two of the deal, which is a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Israeli senior delegation to travel to Qatar for hostage deal with Hamas

Israeli senior delegation to travel to Qatar for hostage deal with Hamas

Israeli senior delegation to travel to Qatar for hostage deal with Hamas

Israeli senior delegation to travel to Qatar for hostage deal with Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli ground forces are intensifying their campaign in Lebanon, seizing what he called "dominating areas" as air and drone strikes hit large parts of the southern region.

Intensive airstrikes were launched on areas in southern Lebanon and the Western Bekaa, with children among the fatalities in the town of Mashghara. Drone strikes also hit the area around the Qaraoun Dam.

Several areas, including the city of Tyre and its densely populated public housing neighborhood which is home to many displaced people received forced evacuation orders.

"This is the public housing area in Tyre. They are striking the elderly, children, and innocent people. There is nothing here [worth targeting militarily], only the homes of innocent people. They issued a warning, ambulances came to evacuate the elderly, and shortly after, the homes were bombed," said a resident of Tyre.

"We received an evacuation warning, and the people left, all of them children and families. Among them were displaced people from villages who had fled the south, and this strike came on top of their tragedy," said another resident.

Hezbollah announced that it had carried out several operations targeting Israeli forces and vehicles in southern Lebanon and northern Israel near the border with Lebanon.

"The enemy is trying to achieve several goals through bombing, destruction and killing. First, it is criminal in its nature. Second, it is trying to drive a wedge between the people and the resistance. Third, it is seeking to portray itself as victorious. Finally, it is doing everything to claim that it has defeated Hezbollah," said Hussein Jishi, member of Lebanese Parliament for Hezbollah.

Despite the questionable U.S.-brokered truce in place, Lebanon and Israel are set to hold a fourth round of talks next week in Washington, preceded by military meetings there at the end of this week.

Hezbollah has denounced the existing truce as "meaningless" without its direct involvement, and insists disarmament of the group remains off the table.

Israeli PM orders "deepening" of military operation in Lebanon