Four soldiers killed in combat in the north of Gaza Strip: Israeli military

JERUSALEM, Jan 12 (SABAH): The Israeli military said that four soldiers have been killed in combat in the north of Gaza Strip.

The deaths brought to 403 the total number of soldiers killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel launched its ground offensive in retaliation for Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023, raids in Israel.

An officer and a reservist soldier were seriously wounded during the same incident and were taken to hospital, the military said in a statement.

Netanyahu sends delegation to Qatar for talks on truce and prisoner release The Israeli military said it had martyred three Hamas fighters in a ground operation near Jabalia, in northern Gaza.

Netanyahu sent a delegation of senior officials to Qatar for negotiations on a prisoner release and Gaza ceasefire deal, his office said.

Netanyahu held a meeting in Jerusalem with US president-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, a representative of current US President Joe Biden and senior Israeli officials.

Following the meeting, Netanyahu instructed the heads of the Mossad spy agency and Shin Bet security agency as well as General Nitzan Alon and foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk “to depart for Doha in order to continue advancing a deal to release our hostages”, the statement said.

The United States has for more than a year been mediating talks alongside Qatar and Egypt for an end to the Gaza fighting. Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas resumed last weekend in Qatar.