Israeli and Hamas officials launched indirect talks on a U.S.-drafted peace plan to end the war in Gaza. The talks are set to resume Tuesday in Egypt on the second anniversary of the war, after several hours of discussion on Monday. The negotiations focus on a ceasefire's first stage. That includes the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Many questions remain about the plan, including the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of Gaza. Israel continued with airstrikes despite President Trump's order to stop.

Health officials in the Gaza Strip say that more than 64,000 have been killed in the nearly two-year war. Hamas and Israel meanwhile reiterated their incompatible demands for ending the fighting sparked by the militant group's attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Local hospitals said Thursday that Israeli strikes killed 28 people overnight. Israel is pressing ahead with its planned offensive in famine-stricken Gaza City. In the occupied West Bank, Israelis established a new settlement in a Palestinian city, according to an anti-settlement monitoring group.

Local health officials say at least 38 Palestinians were killed overnight and during the day in the Gaza Strip while seeking aid from United Nations convoys and sites run by an Israeli-backed American contractor. The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had fired warning shots when crowds approached its forces. Another 25 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes. That's according to local hospitals in Gaza. The latest deaths came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to announce further military action — and possibly plans for Israel to fully reoccupy Gaza. Experts say Israel's ongoing military offensive and blockade are already pushing the territory of some 2 million Palestinians into famine.

Hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes killed at least 40 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including 10 from the same family who were sheltering in a tent. Wednesday's strikes came as U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for a ceasefire that might end the war and free dozens of Israeli hostages. Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in two days at the White House on Tuesday evening, but there was no sign of a breakthrough. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the 21-month war until Hamas is destroyed, while the militant group has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The Israeli military says five soldiers have been killed in an attack in northern Gaza. Health officials in the Palestinian territory say Israeli strikes killed 51 people. The bloodshed came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting the White House on Tuesday for talks with President Donald Trump about a ceasefire plan. There was no announcement of a breakthrough from that meeting. But there were signs of progress toward a deal. The soldiers' deaths could add to pressure on Netanyahu to strike a deal in Israel where polls have shown widespread support for ending the 21-month war.

Israel says it will authorize 22 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. They would include new settlements and the legalization of outposts already built without government authorization. Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 34 people overnight, with one strike on a home in central Gaza killing 22 people. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians want it to be the main part of their future state. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the settlement decision was "a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel."

Palestinian health officials say that Israeli strikes have killed 38 people in southern Gaza, including at least 15 members of the same extended family, 13 of them children. In northern Gaza, health officials said Friday that Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the area, where the military has renewed its offensive against Hamas and aid groups are sounding the alarm over dire humanitarian conditions. In Lebanon, rare Israeli strikes on the country's southeast killed three journalists working for news outlets that are considered to be aligned with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and its patron, Iran.