Hamas sources said that the group has expressed willingness to halt arms smuggling and production, leave the weapons in warehouses, stop digging tunnels and dissolve its military apparatus throughout the Gaza Strip, amid U.S.-led cease-fire talks with Israel.
Arms and deportation were not discussed in recent negotiations between Israel and Hamas, the sources said.
The sources estimated that the organization may agree to a symbolic and temporary deportation of a small number of officials, if it leads to an end to the war.
Hezbollah-affiliated news channel Al Mayadeen reported an uptick in IDF activity in Syria on Friday, including near Damascus and outside Yarmouk.
These operations are taking place against a backdrop of increasing tensions in Syria. Syrian officials and Israeli sources have not commented.
Three IDF helicopters struck a former military site belonging to Syria’s Republican Guard in Yafour, locals told Al Mayadeen. Israeli special forces allegedly searched the area for around five hours before withdrawing.
At the same time, an Israeli armored force, including three armored personnel carriers, entered the western Damascus suburb of Rakhlah for the first time, near the Lebanese border.
Additionally, six Israeli military vehicles reportedly entered the village of Sison, outside Yarmouk in Syria’s southwestern Daraa area. Subsequently, Al Mayadeen said three military vehicles were at a former Syrian military site nearby, in Ayn Zakar.
Israel has seen a sharp rise in post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses among adults, with the number of cases nearly doubling over the past two years, according to data from the Maccabi, Leumit and Meuhedet health maintenance organizations. As these HMOs insure more than five million Israelis, their findings offer a reliable snapshot of the national mental health situation.
Clalit Health Services, the country’s largest public health provider, has not yet released official figures. However, the HMO’s officials told Haaretz that the number of new PTSD diagnoses among its members has increased by an estimated 70 to 80 percent.
PTSD diagnoses among mental health patients in Israel have risen by 112 percent since 2023, according to data from Maccabi Healthcare Services. Between 2016 and 2022, an average of 3,400 patients were diagnosed annually. That number jumped to 6,245 in 2023, and climbed to 8,234 in 2024. The spike has continued into 2025, with roughly 2,000 additional diagnoses recorded in the first quarter of the year.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours how Palestinian militant group Hamas would respond to a proposal for a cease-fire with Israel in Gaza.
After rocket sirens sounded in Netiv Ha’asara near the Gaza border, the IDF said that they were “determined to be a false identification”
Here are the latest updates on day 637 of the war:
■ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Kibbutz Nir Oz on Thursday, 636 days after the October 7 massacre.
■ 94 Palestinians were killed in Gaza late Wednesday and Thursday, according to local hospitals and the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
■ Hamas says it is discussing a U.S.-backed Gaza cease-fire proposal with other Palestinian groups.
■ The members of a terrorist cell that launched rockets at Israel on Wednesday from the northern Gaza Strip were killed in an air force attack, the IDF reported.
Israeli airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza late Wednesday and Thursday, including 45 who were attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Hamas-run Health Ministry said Thursday.
Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with U.S. President Donald Trump and other officials at the White House on Thursday to discuss de-escalation efforts with Iran, Fox News reported on Thursday, citing multiple sources.
According to Axios, after that meeting, bin Salman called the Iranian army chief.
Hamas said early on Friday that it is discussing a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal with other Palestinian groups, and it will submit its response to mediators once the talks conclude.
The comments come after Turkish news site Anadolu reported that Hamas is inclined to accept the new cease-fire proposal, and is expected to respond to it officially within two days. On Thursday, Hamas continued to consult its factions in the Gaza Strip regarding the proposal put forward by the United States, Palestinian sources told Haaretz.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran wants to speak to the U.S., and that he would meet with representatives of the country “if necessary.”
“Iran does want to speak, and I think they’d like to speak to me, and it’s time that they do,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews while on his way to a rally in Iowa. “We’re not looking to hurt them. We’re looking to let them be a country again.”
Earlier, Trump was asked if he still wants the U.S. to take over Gaza. “I want the Gaza to be safe, more importantly. They’ve gone through hell,” he replied.
