By Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday after his visit to Doha, an Israeli official said, as part of efforts aimed at reaching a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza.
A second Israeli official said progress had been made in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach an agreement in Gaza.
Mediators are making new efforts to reach a deal to end fighting in the enclave and free remaining Israeli hostages held there before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Witkoff 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 Foreign Ministry.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators were reassured by Witkoff that the United States would continue to work toward a fair deal to end the war as soon as possible, Egyptian security sources said, but gave no details. details.
On Saturday, Palestinian civil emergency services said eight people were killed, including two women and two children, in an Israeli airstrike on a former school housing displaced families in Jabalia, in the northern Strip. Gaza.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted Hamas militants operating in the school and that it had taken measures to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.
Later Saturday, Gaza’s civil emergency service said five people were killed and several others injured in two Israeli strikes. One of the two strikes killed three people in a house near the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant “in this area” at that time.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli counts.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave devastated and in the grip of a humanitarian crisis with most of its population displaced.
