#hostage-negotiations

#hostage-negotiations

Before departing for Israel, Rubio told reporters that while Trump was not happy about the strike, it was not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis. But he added that the US and Israel would discuss its impact on efforts for a truce in Israel's war on Gaza. The president wants this to be finished with.

Witkoff sent a new U.S. proposal last week to Hamas for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal through an Israeli peace activist. The new proposal includes the release of all 48 remaining hostages - 20 of whom are believed to be alive - in exchange for a ceasefire, the end of Israel's Gaza City operation and negotiations on the conditions for ending the war and a full Israeli withdrawal.

The Israeli army announced Thursday that it has informed Gazan medical authorities and humanitarian organizations that they should prepare to leave Gaza City and move south. The notice anticipates that an evacuation order will be issued later for the entire municipality, where the Strip's health authorities and NGOs estimate there are currently one million people. Israel issued the warning publicly the day after army spokesmen with the approval of Benjamin Netanyahu's government