Israel's foreign minister said today that a planned incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah could be halted if an agreement is reached to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, reports Reuters.
The comments came as international mediators seek an agreement to reach a ceasefire during six months of devastating fighting in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages taken during the October 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war.
"Releasing the hostages is a top priority for us," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said during an interview with local Channel 12 television.
Asked if that included postponing the planned operation to eliminate Hamas battalions in Rafah, Katz replied: "Yes."
He went on to say, "If there is an agreement, we will suspend the operation."
Although Katz is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, he is not a member of the close-knit war cabinet overseeing the Gaza offensive, according to Reuters.
Israel, which launched its war to destroy Hamas after the Islamist group attacked Israeli cities on October 7, says Rafah is home to four Hamas combat battalions reinforced by thousands of retreating fighters and must defeat them to claim victory.
But Rafah, along the Egyptian border, shelters more than a million Palestinians who have fled the Israeli offensive through the rest of Gaza and say the prospect of fleeing again is terrifying.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas said it had received Israel's official response to its latest ceasefire proposal in talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar and would study it before submitting its response.
On Thursday, the United States and 17 other countries called on Hamas to release all hostages as a way to end the crisis. Hamas wants to turn any deal into a permanent cessation of fighting - short of a formal peace, as the Islamist group has vowed to destroy Israel.
Israel plans to continue the war until Hamas's governing and military capabilities are dismantled. More than 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, including women and children.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas released a video today showing two Israeli hostages kidnapped during an October 7 attack in southern Israel and then taken to Gaza.
The Hostage Families Forum identified the two hostages as Kit Segal and Omri Miran.
An American warship anchored off the coast of the Gaza Strip, reports Anadolia.
A US Navy ship anchored a few nautical miles off the coast of the Gaza Strip, in the central Gaza Strip.
The ship is expected to participate in the construction of a floating naval dock that the US administration announced in March.
The floating dock would serve to provide humanitarian aid by sea in Gaza, according to earlier announcements by the US authorities.
The Central Command of the United States of America (CENTCOM) announced on March 10 the dispatch of the first ship to the Eastern Mediterranean, to provide humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by sea.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden said that his country would build a temporary dock on the coast of the Gaza Strip to deliver more humanitarian aid.
(MINE)
Students protesting the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip at universities across the United States of America (USA), some of whom have clashed with police, "digging in" their decision and today vowed to continue their demonstrations, while several colleges condemned the university presidents for calling the police to evict the protesters.
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahyan said that the crew of the seized ship "MSC Aries", which sailed under the Portuguese flag and is connected to Israel, will be released, Iranian media reported.
According to reports, Amir Abdolahyan said in a telephone conversation with the head of Portuguese diplomacy, Paulo Rangel, that Iran wants to release the crew of the seized ship because it considers it a humanitarian issue.
Abdolahyan stated that the crew will be handed over to the ambassadors of their countries in Tehran, without specifying the exact date when this will happen.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard seized the cargo ship "MSC Aries" with 25 crew members in the Strait of Hormuz on April 13, a day after Tehran announced it would retaliate against an attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, which it blamed on Israel.
Iran's foreign ministry said the ship was seized because it allegedly "violated maritime laws" and that there was no doubt it was linked to Israel.
MSC charters Aries from Gortal Shipping, a subsidiary of Zodiac Maritime, which is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
(Reuters/RTS)
Hamas said it had received Israel's official response to its latest ceasefire proposal and would study it before submitting its response, according to a statement from the Palestinian paramilitary group's deputy head in Gaza.
"We received the official response of the Zionist occupation to the proposal that was presented to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13," Khalil Al Haja, who is currently in Qatar, said in a statement released by the group.
After more than six months of war with Israel in Gaza, negotiations remain deadlocked, and Hamas stands by its demands that any deal must end the war.
An Egyptian delegation visited Israel on Friday for talks with Israeli officials, seeking a way to restart talks to end the conflict and return the remaining hostages taken when Hamas fighters stormed Israeli cities on Oct. 7, an official familiar with the talks said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel had no new proposals, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which Hamas would release 33 hostages, instead of the 40 previously discussed.
On Thursday, the United States and 17 other countries called on Hamas to release all its hostages as a way to end the crisis.
Hamas has vowed not to give in to international pressure, but said in a statement on Friday that it was "open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the needs and rights of the Palestinians."
However, Hamas stuck to its key demands that Israel rejected and criticized a joint statement by the US and others not to call for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that he sees new momentum in talks to end the war and return the remaining hostages.
According to two unnamed officials, Israel told Egyptian mediators on Friday that it was prepared to give hostage talks a "last chance" to reach a deal with Hamas before launching an invasion of Rafah, the last refuge for about a million Palestinians who were previously war fled from the north and central parts of the enclave from Israeli forces.
(Reuters/RTS)
The Health Ministry of Hamas announced today that in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is waging war against the Palestinian movement, 24 people were killed in the previous 32 hours.
The total number of dead thus rose to 34.388 in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of that war on October 7.
The ministry reported that 200 people were wounded in more than 77.437 days of war.
(BETA)
Israeli soldiers killed two young Palestinians last night at the military base at the entrance to Jenin, a city in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army announced today, stating that the soldiers returned fire.
The Palestinian Authority announced that 21-year-old Mustafa Sultan Abed and 20-year-old Ahmad Muhammad Shavahneh were killed in Jenin last night, "under the bullets of the occupiers."
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the two were killed near the Salem military base west of Jenin, adding that two other men were wounded.
The Israeli army announced that soldiers identified "several terrorists" moving in a car towards the Salem military base and firing in the direction of the soldiers who returned fire and eliminated them. As it was announced, the soldiers were ready because there have been several similar incidents recently.
Jenin is home to one of the most populated and poorest refugee camps in the Palestinian territories, and is a stronghold of armed groups fighting Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.
In recent months, the Israeli army has carried out several operations in and around Jenin to dismantle what it says are "terrorist cells".
In the last two years, violence has increased in the West Bank, and it was further intensified after the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza. The war in Gaza began after the bloody incursion of Hamas into Israeli territory on October 7 last year.
Since October 7, at least 490 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
(BETA)
Conflict between Israel and Hamas - 204th day.
Yemen's Houthi rebels fired ballistic missiles at a tanker sailing in the Red Sea, and the attack caused minor damage to the vessel, authorities said.
Houthi rebels fired three rockets yesterday in an attack that damaged the tanker "Andromeda Star" sailing under the flag of Panama, the US military Central Command announced.
The Houthis have stepped up attacks on ships in the Red Sea in recent days after a relative lull in a campaign aimed at supporting the Palestinians in Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Because of their campaign, the number of ships passing through that waterway important for world trade has decreased
The private security firm Ambrej said the tanker was involved in trade related to Russia, and that it was sailing from Primorsk, Russia, to Vadinar, India.
Military spokesman General Jahja Sari claimed the Houthis' responsibility for the attack early this morning in a recorded statement released by the rebels. He said the tanker was "directly hit".
Another ship flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda, operated by Liberia, was also nearby at the time of the attack, the US command said.
The attack took place near the town of Moka in Yemen, near the Bab el Mandeb strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis have carried out more than 50 attacks on ships since last November, seizing one and sinking one, according to the US Maritime Administration.
The number of Houthi attacks has decreased in recent weeks since the US air campaign targeted Yemen.
US officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of airstrikes against them and regular drone and rocket fire in recent months. However, there have been at least two more attacks claimed by the Houthis since Wednesday.
The Houthis have said they will continue their attacks until Israel ends the war in Gaza. The war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7 after Hamas attacked Israeli territory.
(BETA)
Bonus video:
