Hamas officials say hostage agreement could be reached soon

Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel

Senior Hamas officials said yesterday that an agreement could be reached soon in which the militant group would release hostages and Israel would free Palestinian prisoners.

Israel, the United States and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, have been negotiating for weeks over a hostage release that would be paired with a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and the entry of more humanitarian aid. Similar predictions of a hostage agreement in recent weeks have proven premature.

Israel’s army is widening its operations across northern Gaza, where they battled Palestinian militants yesterday in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp, the territory’s largest.

The military said forces are “preparing the battlefield” in the Jabaliya area, just north of Gaza City, and have killed dozens of militants in recent days. Troops discovered three tunnel shafts where fighters were hiding and destroyed rocket launchers, it said.

It wasn’t possible to independently confirm details of the fighting. A strike on a nearby hospital killed 12 people on Monday as Israeli troops and tanks battled militants outside its gates.

Israel says Hamas uses civilians and hospitals as shields, while critics say Israel’s siege and relentless aerial bombardment amount to collective punishment of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians after Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has announced meetings of three key decision-making bodies late yesterday to discuss “the issue of the release of hostages.”

A statement released by Netanyahu’s office said the special war Cabinet will convene at 6 p.m. (early today, Macau time), followed by meetings of the broader Security Cabinet and then the full Cabinet.

It gave no further details, but the various bodies are required to approve important government decisions.

The meetings come as Hamas officials say a deal could be reached soon on a cease-fire and swap of Palestinian prisoners for hostages held by the Islamic militant group in Gaza.

“On the return of the hostages, we are making progress,” Netanyahu said in a meeting with Israeli soldiers. “I don’t think it’s worth saying too much, not even at this moment, but I hope there will be good news soon.”

Meanwhile, an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon has killed four members of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, a Palestinian official and a Lebanese security official said.

The strike yesterday occurred in the village of Chaatiyeh near the Mediterranean coast, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal military information.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency confirmed that four people were killed in a vehicle but did not give any further details.

The Palestinian official said the four were members of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing. The Lebanese security official said the four were members of Hamas, without saying if they were from the military wing.

The Israeli military did not comment on the strike.

Hamas has a large presence in Lebanon, which is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps.

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed two journalists for Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV who were reporting on violence along the tense Lebanon-Israel border, Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary and the station said yesterday.

The Pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV identified the journalists as correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari.

The station, which is politically allied with the militant Hezbollah group, said the journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

Last week, the Israeli government blocked Al-Mayadeen TV from broadcasting in Israel.

The state-run National News Agency said Israel’s military struck the outskirts of Teir Harfa and the nearby village of Majdal Zoun.

More than 12,700 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors — have been killed since the war began, according to Palestinian health authorities, who do not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 4,000 people are reported missing.

Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the Oct. 7 attack, and around 240 were taken captive by militants. MDT/AP