Hamas could release a significant number of Israeli hostages “in coming days”, Israel’s ambassador to the US has said.
Around 240 hostages were taken during Hamas’s deadly cross-border assault into Israel on 7 October, which prompted Israel to invade Gaza in an attempt to wipe out the militant group.
Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, said Israel was hopeful a significant number of hostages could be released by Hamas “in coming days”.
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Israel ‘hopeful’ hostages may be freed
His comments came after Qatar’s prime minister said only “very minor” details remained in a deal between Israel and Hamas.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al Thani said mainly “practical and logistical” issues remained, while a White House official said the “very complicated, very sensitive” negotiations were making progress.
Last week Reuters reported Qatari moderators had been seeking a deal between Israel and Hamas to exchange 50 hostages in exchange for a three-day ceasefire which would help boost emergency aid shipments to civilians in Gaza.
Hamas has released four hostages, Israel has rescued one and the bodies of two have been found near al Shifa hospital, where there had been heavy fighting.
On Saturday a senior White House official suggested a hostage release would need to be completed before large amounts of desperately needed aid could enter Gaza.
“A release of a large number of hostages would result in a significant pause in fighting … and a massive surge of humanitarian relief,” Brett McGurk, the White House’s National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East, said.
Image: IDF troops continue operations in Gaza. Pic: Israel Defence Forces
Winter worsens Palestinians’ plight
More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, struggling to provide basic services to hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in and around schools and other facilities.
Their plight has worsened in recent days with the arrival of winter.
Over the weekend Israel allowed UNRWA to import enough fuel to continue humanitarian operations for another couple of days and to keep internet and telephone systems running.
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Gaza ‘on precipice of major disease outbreak’
Israel prepares to expand offensive
The talks come as Israel prepares to expand its offensive against Hamas to Gaza’s southern half, with increasing airstrikes hitting targets Israel sees as lairs of armed militants.
However, the US has cautioned Israel not to embark on combat operations in the south until military planners have taken into account the safety of Palestinian civilians.
Civilian death toll ‘staggering and unacceptable’
Gaza’s Hamas-run government said at least 11,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardments, with another 2,700 reported missing and believed to have been buried under the rubble. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants – Israel says it has killed thousands of militants.
Around 1,200 Israelis have been killed, mainly civilians murdered during Hamas’s 7 October attack. The military says 52 Israeli soldiers have been killed.
The civilian death toll in Gaza was “staggering and unacceptable”, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, appealing again on Sunday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
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IDF: ‘Hamas residences raided’ in Gaza
Labour shadow foreign secretary visits Israel
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy is making Labour’s first visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the war erupted and stressed “diplomacy is how we can secure the release of hostages” while protecting Palestinians.
“Hard diplomacy is required with all governments in the region to deliver a longer pause immediately to respond to the shocking humanitarian emergency in Gaza, secure the release of hostages so cruelly taken by Hamas and as a necessary step to an enduring cessation of violence,” he said.
The Syrian presidency has announced it’s assembling a special taskforce to try to stop nearly a week of sectarian clashes in the southern Druze city of Sweida.
The presidency called for restraint on all sides and said it is making strenuous efforts to “stop the fighting and curb the violations that threaten the security of the citizens and the safety of society”.
By early Saturday morning, a ceasefire had been confirmed by the US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, who posted on X that Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to a ceasefire supported by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
The post went on to state that this agreement had the support of “Turkey, Jordan and its neighbours” and called upon the Druze, Bedouins, and Sunni factions to put down their arms.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford reports from the road leading to Sweida, the city that has become the epicentre of Syria’s sectarian violence.
For the past 24 hours, we’ve watched as Syria‘s multiple Arab tribes began mobilising in the Sweida province to help defend their Bedouin brethren.
Thousands travelled from multiple different Syrian areas and had reached the edge of Sweida city by Friday nightfall after a day of almost non-stop violent clashes and killings.
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“We have come to protect the [Arab] Bedouin women and children who are being terrorised by the Druze,” they told us.
Image: Arab fighters said they had come to protect the Bedouin women and children
Image: Fighters at a petrol station
Every shop and every home in the streets leading up to Sweida city has been burned or ransacked, the contents destroyed or looted.
We saw tribal fighters loading the back of pickup trucks and driving away from the city with vehicles packed with looted goods from Druze homes.
Image: Shops and homes leading up to Sweida city have been burned or ransacked
Several videos posted online showed violence against the Druze, including one where tribal fighters force three men to throw themselves off a high-rise balcony and are seen being shot as they do so.
Doctors at the nearby community hospital in Buser al Harir said there had been a constant stream of casualties being brought in. As we watched, another dead fighter was carried out of an ambulance.
The medics estimated there had been more than 600 dead in their area alone. “The youngest child who was killed was a one-and-a-half-year-old baby,” one doctor told us.
Image: Doctors said there had been a constant stream of casualties due to violence
The violence is the most dangerous outbreak of sectarian clashes since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime last December – and the most serious challenge for the new leader to navigate.
The newly brokered deal is aimed at ending the sectarian killings and restoring some sort of stability in a country which is emerging from more than a decade of civil war.
Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.
Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.
“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Mr Barrack said in a post on X.
The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.
The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a “troubling and horrifying situation”.
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He then claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.
It comes after the United Nations’ migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.
It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.
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At least three people have been killed after a “horrific incident” at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility, officials have said.
A spokesperson for the department said there was an explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in east LA.
The incident was reported at around 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).
Aerial footage from local channel KABC-TV suggests the blast happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks.
Image: The training centre in east LA. Pic: NBC Los Angeles
Attorney general Pam Bondi wrote on X: “I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.
“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more.”
Californiacongressman Jimmy Sanchez said the explosion had “claimed the lives of at least three deputies”.
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“My condolences to the families and everyone impacted by this loss,” he said.
Image: Media and law enforcement officials near the explosion site. Pic: AP
The attorney general said in a follow-up post that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are “on the ground to support”.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said the LAPD bomb squad has also responded to the scene.
“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his press office said in a post on X.
“The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation, and has offered full state assistance,” it added.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.