The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has instructed the military to present him with "a plan for the complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza" as soon as possible. His office said on Friday that Katz believes Hamas must be completely crushed if the hostages it abducted from Israel are not released by the time US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Benjamin Netanyahu's office said representatives of the Mossad intelligence agency and military would attend the talks but gave no further details. There has been no immediate comment from Hamas. View

While Witkoff says progress made in Doha, Hamas stands by demand for permanent end to war, which Israel rejects; president-elect: 'It won't be good for anyone' if no deal by Jan. 20 The post Trump’s Mideast envoy to visit Qatar,

An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in Qatar on Friday to continue negotiations on a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source with knowledge of the talks told CNN on Friday.

A total of 46,006 Palestinians — mostly women and children — have been killed and 109,378 wounded in the Israel-Hamas war, Palestinian officials say.

The post has sparked outrage among Palestinians and Arab countries, who have called on the international community to curb Israel’s expansionist ambitions and prevent further attempts to occupy Palestinian and Arab territories.

U.S. and Arab mediators have made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, Palestinian sources close to the talks said on Thursday.

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