Written by Mayan Rubel and Nidal Al Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Amid a hostage deal in Gaza and efforts to secure a ceasefire, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday after a visit to Doha. This was announced by an Israeli official.
Another Israeli official said some progress had been made in indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States for a Gaza deal.
Mediators are making renewed efforts to reach an agreement to halt fighting in the enclave and release the remaining Israeli hostages held in the enclave before President Trump takes office on January 20. There is.
Witkov arrived in Doha on Friday and met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to a statement released by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Egyptian security officials said Egyptian and Qatari mediators received reassurance from Witkoff that the United States would continue its efforts to reach a fair agreement to end the war quickly, but he He did not go into details.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said eight people, including two women and two children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a former school sheltering displaced families in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the attack targeted Hamas militants operating at the school and that it had taken steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.
Late Saturday, the Gaza Civil Emergency Authority announced that five people had been killed and several others injured in two Israeli attacks. One of the two attacks left three people dead in a house near Gaza City’s Darazi district.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel launched an offensive into Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across the border in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, leaving much of the enclave in ruins and a humanitarian crisis, with much of the population forced to flee.
