The terror group Hamas has released an additional video showing signs of life from Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot, who remains captive in Gaza.
This is a developing story.
Hamas’s armed wing said on Saturday the fate of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander was unknown after the group found the guard who was holding the hostage killed.
This was after Hamas said on Tuesday it had lost contact with a group of terrorists holding Alexander in Gaza.
The same day that Hamas claimed to lose contact with the terrorist holding Alexander, the terror group reportedly rejected the Israeli proposal for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza, according to the BBC.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi claimed on Saturday during talks with the US that Israel was the main roadblock to achieving a non-nuclear Middle East, according to Israeli media reports.
“Iran rejects weapons of mass destruction. The only obstacle to achieving a Middle East free of nuclear weapons is Israel,” Aragchi said.
Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran‘s nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US was, for now, unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Israeli officials have vowed to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and Netanyahu has insisted that any negotiation with Iran must lead to the complete dismantling of its nuclear program.
US and Iranian negotiators are set for a second round of preliminary nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday.
Iran and the United States will hold a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will negotiate indirectly through mediators from Oman, a week after a first round in Muscat that both sides described as constructive.
Tehran has sought to tamp down expectations of a quick deal, after some Iranian officials speculated that sanctions could be lifted soon. Iran’s utmost authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this week he was “neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic.”
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a video speech on Friday that he strongly opposes the organization’s disarmament.
“Israel is talking about disarming the resistance in order to neutralize it,” Qassem said. “Anyone who thinks that we will be in a position of weakness that will allow Israel to enter all of Lebanon – that will not happen. If anyone thinks that we are weak and that we will accept what they say, then he is very mistaken.”
US Air Force jets struck several areas in the Houthi-controlled capital of Sana’a in northeast Yemen, Houthi state-TV reported on Friday night.
Al Masirah reported that Sana’a had been targeted with four strikes across several areas. Strikes targeted the Al Hafa and Al Sabeen districts, which lie to the south of the city and contain a city power plant and government offices.
The next set of strikes targeted the Bani Hushaysh district, a rural mountainous area to the immediate northeast of Sana’a. Al Arabiya reported that the strikes targeted several Houthi military camps in the area.
Over 1,000 families of fallen soldiers signed a letter on Friday opposing the recent letters from the security establishment calling for a swift end to the war.
The letter was organized by the Gvura Families of the Fallen Forum, which represents the families of fallen soldiers from the current war and previous wars, as well as victims of terror attacks.
The letter was intended to create a public opposition to recent calls from various sectors of the security establishment to refuse service and end the war.
The letter called for the war to end only with the achievement of all war goals laid out at the beginning of the war, which include the return of all hostages, the elimination of Hamas, and a long-term plan that ensures that Gaza cannot pose a threat to the State of Israel.
Hamas launched a massive attack on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border and taking some 240 hostages into Gaza.
Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including over 350 at the Supernova music festival and hundreds of Israeli civilians across Gaza border communities.
59 hostages remain in Gaza.
49 hostages in total have been killed in captivity, IDF says.
The IDF launched a ground invasion of Lebanon on September 30.
The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire came into effect on November 27 at 4 a.m.
Netanyahu confirmed the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on January 17, 2025.
