Hamas expresses willingness to 'stop fighting' as ceasefire talks resume in Doha
Militant group Hamas said it was ready to stop fighting in Gaza if Israel agreed to a ceasefire.
In short:
Three Lebanese media staff affiliated with pro-Iranian and Hezbollah outlets were killed after an Israeli strike targeted a guesthouse they were staying in.
Militant group Hamas has signalled it is ready to negotiate again over ceasefire terms if Israel agrees to halt its invasion of Gaza. Netanyahu said he backed talks in Doha aimed at releasing the remaining Israeli hostages.
What's next?
Qatar will host Israeli and Hamas officials from Sunday to negotiate a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, Israel said.
A senior Hamas official says the group has told Egyptian officials it was ready to stop fighting in Gaza if Israel committed to a ceasefire deal.
The official said on Thursday a Hamas delegation discussed "ideas and proposals" related to a Gaza truce with Egyptian officials in Cairo.
"Hamas has expressed readiness to stop the fighting, but Israel must commit to a ceasefire, withdraw from the Gaza Strip, allow the return of displaced people, agree to a serious prisoner exchange deal and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza," the official said.
The talks in Cairo were part of Egypt's ongoing efforts to resume ceasefire negotiations, he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he welcomed Egypt's readiness to reach a deal in Gaza "for the release of the hostages".
"Pursuant to the meetings that were held in Cairo, the prime minister has directed the director of the Mossad to leave for Doha and advance a series of initiatives that are on the agenda, with the backing of the members of the security cabinet," said a statement from Mr Netanyahu's office.
Mossad chief David Barnea was due in Qatar on Sunday for meetings to restart the negotiations towards a Gaza hostage release deal, Israel said.
Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, 97 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Lebanese journalists killed
Three media staff have been killed in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon, its official National News Agency (NNA) reported on Friday.
Among the victims were a cameraman and engineer working for the pro-Iranian outlet Al-Mayadeen, and one cameraman working for Hezbollah's Al-Manar.
The NNA said the property targeted was a guesthouse in Hasbaya, about 50km south of the capital Beirut, where several reporters and media staff had been staying, Reuters reported.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Renewed strikes on Beirut
Lebanon state media said an Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, shortly after Israel issued evacuation warnings for the Hezbollah bastion.
Residents in the Choueifat area had been told to leave immediately as the military prepared to target Hezbollah positions there.
"You are located near facilities and sites belonging to Hezbollah, which the Israel Defense Forces will be targeting in the near future," the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map of the targeted area.
Rescue workers 'targeted' in northern Gaza
Gaza's civil defence agency said on Thursday it could no longer provide first responder services in the north of the territory, accusing Israeli forces of threatening to "bomb and kill" its crews.
Since October 6, the Israeli military has mounted a sweeping air and land assault on northern Gaza, initially focused on the Jabalia area, describing it as an operation aimed at preventing Hamas militants from regrouping.
"We are unable to provide humanitarian services to citizens in the northern governorate of the Gaza Strip due to threats from Israeli occupation forces, who have threatened to kill and bomb our teams if they remain inside Jabalia camp," said Mahmud Bassal, the agency's spokesperson.
First responders had been "targeted" on several occasions, leaving "several members injured, and others are left bleeding on the streets with no-one able to rescue them", he told AFP.
Mr Bassal published a photograph of a burnt truck on social media, saying it was "the only civil defence vehicle in the northern Gaza Strip governorate", which includes Gaza City.
The truck, he said, was "targeted by the Israeli army" in the northern city of Beit Lahia, just north of Jabalia and near Gaza's northern border with Israel.
The Israeli army said it was conducting operations in the Jabalia area and had "eliminated dozens of terrorists".
Palestinian residents were ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate the northern part of Gaza en masse.
The military has steadily expanded its offensive to other parts in northern Gaza over the past three weeks, and Mr Bassal said on Thursday that more than 770 people had been killed in the assault.
He said the toll was expected to rise as the military operation continued in the area and there were "people still buried in the rubble".
Children among Lebanese killed in Israeli air strike
Lebanon's health ministry said three children were among 12 people killed in Israeli strikes on Thursday on two villages in the country's east.
"The Israeli enemy strike on Al-Khodr in the Baalbek-Hermel region killed seven people including three children," the ministry said, adding that another Israeli attack in the same area "killed five people".
Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon
The death toll among Israeli troops fighting in southern Lebanon since ground operations began has risen to 32, according to an AFP tally based on official military figures.
In the latest update, the Israeli army said five of its soldiers had been killed fighting in southern Lebanon on Thursday, local time, where the military has been battling Hezbollah forces for weeks.
Those casualties were in addition to the deaths of six soldiers that it announced the day before.
The violence in Lebanon escalated to a war last month, nearly a year after the start of cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
In a statement, the Israeli army said five soldiers "fell during combat in southern Lebanon" on Thursday, while two others were seriously wounded.
Five Israeli soldiers were reported killed in southern Lebanon during hostilities with Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel from October 8, 2023, in support of Hamas after the Palestinian militant group launched its unprecedented attack on Israel the previous day.
AFP
By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-25/ceasefire-talks-in-doha-hamas-israel-gaza/104515680(责任编辑：admin)
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