Trump’s envoy to the Mideast will meet with Netanyahu on Saturday, an Israeli official said
(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, an Israeli official said, amid efforts to reach a deal on hostages and an end to fighting in Gaza.
A second Israeli official said progress has been made in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach an agreement in Gaza.
Mediators are making renewed efforts to reach an agreement to end hostilities in the area and release remaining Israeli hostages held there before Trump took office on Jan. 20.
On Saturday, emergency services in Palestine said that eight people, including two women and two children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike that attacked families who were going to school in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at Hamas terrorists who were working at the school and said they had taken steps to reduce the risk of casualties.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting more than 250 people, according to Israeli figures.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, and most of the enclave has been destroyed and is gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its people displaced.
