President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas. During the call, the two leaders discussed the deal based on the arrangement outlined by Mr. Biden last year, the White House said. “The President discussed the fundamentally changed regional circumstances … Read more
Israeli security and policy chiefs were expected to arrive in Qatar on Sunday for high-level talks about a proposed cease-fire deal in Gaza that would see hostages released in the final days of President Biden’s term and before Donald J. Trump takes office. Biden administration officials have been pressing for a deal that would become … Read more
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved sending the director of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency to ceasefire negotiations in Qatar in a sign of progress in talks on the war in Gaza. Netanyahu’s office announced the decision Saturday evening, local time. It was not immediately clear when David Barnea would travel to Qatar’s capital, Doha, … Read more
Israeli soldiers have raided Syrian border villages, prompting nervous residents to huddle in their homes. They have captured the country’s highest peak, have set up roadblocks between Syrian towns and now overlook local villages from former Syrian military outposts. The stunning downfall of Syria’s longtime leader, Bashar al-Assad, closed a chapter in the country’s decade-long … Read more
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it had discovered the body of a hostage taken from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 in an underground tunnel in the area of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, along with evidence that raises questions about the state of another, related captive. The deceased hostage was identified as Youssef … Read more
President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Tuesday that “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if the hostages being held by Hamas are not released by Inauguration Day, repeating the threat four times during a wide-ranging news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “If they’re not back by the time I get … Read more
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it has been conducting “operational raids” in recent weeks on Mount Hermon in Syria, continuing a military campaign on Syrian soil that is drawing increasing international condemnation. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based Syrian war monitor, on Sunday also reported airstrikes around the Syrian capital, Damascus, … Read more