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  • Hope Rises for New Talks on Gaza Cease-fire as Israel Scales Back Demands

    Israeli negotiators, offering a hint of hope for negotiations over a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, have reduced the number of hostages they want Hamas to release during the first phase of a truce, three Israeli officials said on Monday. For weeks, cease-fire talks have been at a standstill. Now, with the new proposal in hand, a mid-ranking delegation from Israel was planning to fly to Cairo on Tuesday to resume them — but only if Hamas agrees to attend, according to two of the officials. They...
  • U.S. pushes for Gaza cease-fire, seeing narrow window for a deal before Israel's attack on Rafah

    RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — U.S. and Arab leaders are expressing concerns that newly revived talks could be the last chance for a cease-fire and hostage release before the war could explode with a threatened Israeli attack on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, on Monday, there were urgent calls for a deal between Israel and Hamas that would head off an assault on Rafah, where more than 1 million people are...
  • Hope for new Israel-Hamas cease-fire piles pressure on Netanyahu as Gaza war nears 7-month mark

    Tel Aviv — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was under rising pressure Monday from all sides over his country's ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Far-right members of Netanyahu's own cabinet have threatened to drop their support for his coalition government if he accepts a cease-fire deal with Hamas, but the U.S. and many Israelis are pushing him to strike an agreement to bring the remaining hostages home from Gaza and wind down the devastating war in the Palestinian...