Israel says it has launched a major operation in the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages

CAIRO - A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar's Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.

The withering Israeli aerial campaign appeared to presage the ground operation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to launch if no ceasefire and hostage deal were struck by the time Trump returned to the U.

Israel has launched dozens of airstrikes across Gaza in attacks that local health officials say killed 108 people, mostly women and children, and which Israeli officials described as a prelude to a larger campaign to pressure Hamas to release hostages.

The Israeli military intensified operations across Gaza Thursday, killing more than 100 people, and pledged to continue bombings as US President Donald Trump suggested establishing a “freedom zone” in the enclave.

For decades, Israel has leveraged its special relationship with the United States to serve as a gatekeeper to Washington. From the Camp David Treaty with Egypt to the Abraham Accords brokered by Trump in his first term,

As President Donald Trump’s Middle East sojourn drew to a close, a much-vaunted “grand bargain” bringing peace to a restive region was nowhere in sight.