Israel/Hamas Hostage talks….
President Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is taking part in the talks in Qatar’s capital, Doha. They are the most serious Israel-Hamas talks since Trump took office in January. But the Israeli negotiating team taking part is a working-level, not senior-level, group with a limited mandate, the official said.
Mediators are trying to reach confidence-building steps between the sides, but there is no significant progress yet, according to the official who had no authorization to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity about the negotiations.
Mediators in Qatar are making efforts to negotiate the release of more than half the remaining hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza, according to an official familiar with the new round of talks aimed at reaching a new ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to start negotiations on disputes over the land border between them, officials said on Tuesday, offering a possible opportunity to resolve disagreements that have contributed to decades of tensions and conflict.
In a statement, Morgan Ortagus, President Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy, said that the United States was bringing Israel and Lebanon together to discuss the demarcation of the border. She said discussions would also focus on the future of five Israeli military outposts in Lebanon and of Lebanese prisoners still held in Israel after a cease-fire deal last year largely halted more than a year of cross-border warfare.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said there was an agreement to establish working groups to discuss the three topics. A Lebanese official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about sensitive diplomacy, confirmed that Israel and Lebanon agreed to engage in negotiations about demarcating the border.
It was not clear under what format officials planned to hold the talks or indeed, if they would actually go ahead. Israel and Lebanon don’t have direct formal diplomatic relations….
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Israeli troops in Syrian territory….
Israel’s defence minister has reaffirmed the country’s intention to occupy a swath of Syrian territory beyond Israel’s contested northern borders for an “unlimited amount of time” during a visit to the strategic Mount Hermon.
“The IDF is prepared to stay in Syria for an unlimited amount of time. We will hold the security area in Hermon and make sure that all the security zone in southern Syria is demilitarised and clear of weapons and threats,” Israel Katz said on a visit to the peak on Wednesday.
After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, Israeli forces moved to control a 400 sq km demilitarised buffer zone in Syrian territory. The zone, which lies between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, was created by the UN after the 1973 Yom Kippur war, or Ramadan war as it is known in Arabic. A UN force of about 1,100 troops has patrolled the area since then….
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