Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the opening ceremony of the Knesset Museum in the old building of the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, Aug.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the opening ceremony of the Knesset Museum in the old building of the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, Aug.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool)

In the summer heat, a Palestinian boy carries jerrycans after collecting water from a distribution point in Gaza City, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Einav Zangauker, center, mother of Matan Zangauker who is held hostage by Hamas, sits beside an installation resembling a coffin during a protest demanding an end to the war and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

JERUSALEM | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday hinted that ceasefire efforts in Gaza are now focused on a comprehensive deal that would release the remaining hostages all at once, rather than in phases.

Arab officials told The Associated Press last week that mediators Egypt and Qatar were preparing a new framework for a deal that would include the release of all remaining hostages in one go in return for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The long-running indirect talks appeared to break down last month. But a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for ceasefire talks on Tuesday, Egypt’s state-run Qahera news channel reported, a sign that efforts have not been abandoned after 22 months of war.

Israel has threatened to widen its military offensive against Hamas to the areas of Gaza that it does not yet control, and where most of the territory’s 2 million residents have sought refuge.

Those plans have sparked international condemnation and criticism within Israel, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive.

‘I want all of them’

In an interview with Israel’s i24 News network broadcast Tuesday, Netanyahu was asked if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal. Egyptian Foreign Ministry Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Cairo is still trying to advance an earlier proposal for an initial 60-day ceasefire, the release of some hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid before further talks on a lasting truce.

“I think it’s behind us,” Netanyahu replied. “We tried, we made all kinds of attempts, we went through a lot, but it turned out that they were just misleading us.”

“I want all of them,” he said of the hostages. “The release of all the hostages, both alive and dead — that’s the stage we’re at.”

He added, however, that Israel’s demands haven’t changed, and that the war will end only when all hostages are returned and Hamas has surrendered. He has said that even then, Israel will maintain open-ended security control over the territory.

Hamas has long called for a comprehensive deal but says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The militant group has refused to lay down its arms, as Israel has demanded.

UN warns about starvation, malnutrition

The United Nations on Tuesday warned that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric reported the warning from the World Food Program and said Gaza’s Health Ministry told U.N. staff in Gaza that five people died over the last 24 hours from malnutrition and starvation.

The ministry says 121 adults and 101 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war.

“Against this backdrop, humanitarian supplies entering Gaza remain far below the minimum required to meet people’s immense needs,” Dujarric said.

The U.N. and its humanitarian partners are doing everything possible to bring aid into Gaza, he said, but still face significant delays and impediments from Israeli authorities that prevent the delivery of food and other essentials at the scale needed.

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in that 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has since displaced most of Gaza’s population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. It has killed more than 61,400 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

Israel says it struck militants disguised as aid workers

In a separate development, the Israeli military said it recently struck a group of militants in Gaza who were disguised as aid workers and using a car with the logo of international charity World Central Kitchen.

The army said it carried out an airstrike on the men after confirming with the charity that they were not affiliated with it and that the car did not belong to it.

World Central Kitchen confirmed that the men and the vehicle were not affiliated with it. “We strongly condemn anyone posing as World Central Kitchen or other humanitarians, as this endangers civilians and aid workers,” it said in a statement.

The military shared video footage showing several men in yellow vests standing around a vehicle with the charity’s logo on its roof. The military said five of the men were armed.

The charity, founded in 2010, dispatches teams that can quickly provide meals on a mass scale in conflict zones and after natural disasters.

In April, an Israeli strike killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza. Israel quickly admitted it had mistakenly killed the aid workers and launched an investigation.

In November, an Israeli strike killed five people, including a World Central Kitchen worker who Israel said was part of the Hamas attack that sparked the war. The charity said at the time that it was unaware the employee had any connection to the attack.

Associated Press reporters Samy Magdy and Fay Abuelgasim in Cairo and Edith M. Lederer in New York contributed.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

The Israeli military has approved a renewed operational framework for its Gaza campaign, with Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir signing off on the “main concept” for the operation. The plan focuses on retaking Gaza City — a key Hamas stronghold that Israel briefly seized in late 2023 before withdrawing.

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The approval followed a high-level meeting involving senior military commanders, intelligence officials and Shin Bet representatives. Current operations are already intensifying in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, where Israeli ground forces have begun advancing.

The development comes amid heightened military pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has maintained that the war will not end until all remaining hostages—whether alive or dead—are brought back, as per a report on Times of India. Israel estimates that Hamas is still holding roughly 50 hostages from the October 7, 2023 attack, which claimed 1,219 lives in Israel, with only about 20 believed to be alive.

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Israel May Dispatch Negotiators To Doha

Israeli media reported that negotiators may travel to Doha this week to discuss a comprehensive deal for the release of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire in Gaza. The talks, backed by the United States and several Arab nations, aim to end the 22-month-long war.

Negotiation efforts have been ongoing despite a collapse in discussions last month over a temporary ceasefire. Following that breakdown, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved plans to launch a major offensive on Gaza City starting in October, with the operation expected to last several months.

(More details awaited)

In Photos: Netanyahu hints that Gaza ceasefire talks now focus on release of all hostages at once

In Photos: Netanyahu hints that Gaza ceasefire talks now focus on release of all hostages at once

In Photos: Netanyahu hints that Gaza ceasefire talks now focus on release of all hostages at once

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Pic/AFP

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Arab officials told The Associated Press last week that mediators Egypt and Qatar were preparing a new framework for a deal that would include the release of all remaining hostages in one go in return for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces

Share:

The long-running indirect talks appeared to break down last month. But a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for ceasefire talks on Tuesday, Egypt’s state-run Qahera news channel reported, a sign that efforts have not been abandoned after 22 months of war

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Israel has threatened to widen its military offensive against Hamas to the areas of Gaza that it does not yet control, and where most of the territory’s 2 million residents have sought refuge

Share:

Those plans have sparked international condemnation and criticism within Israel, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive

1.12pm BST

AFP carries some more quotes from Turkish foreign minister, who earlier said Israel was interfering in Syria for its own ends.

“Certain actors are bothered by the positive developments in Syria,” Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said after talks with Syria’s Asaad al-Shaibani in Ankara, referring to Israel and Kurdish YPG fighters operational in northeastern Syria.

“Israel is currently one of the biggest actors in this dark picture,” he said of its ongoing military incursions since the overthrow of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad late last year.

“The emergence of chaos in Syria … appears to have become a priority for Israel’s own national security,” he said.

Standing next to him, Shaibani also warned against efforts to foster chaos in Syria.

“We’re facing new challenges that are no less dangerous than those we encountered during the years of war, foremost among them are repeated Israeli threats … through airstrikes,” he said.

Fidan said efforts to destabilise Syria could be clearly seen in the March bloodshed in the coastal Alawite heartland of Latakia and in the recent deadly violence that gripped the southwestern Druze-majority province of Sweida as well as in the Kurdish-dominated northeast.

Shaibani said foreign actors were exacerbating the unrest within Syria.

“We are also confronting multiple foreign interventions, both direct and indirect… (that) push the country toward sectarian and regional strife,” he said without giving details but warning against “any reckless attempts to exploit events here”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that ceasefire efforts in Gaza are now focused on a comprehensive deal that would release the remaining hostages all at once, rather than in phases.

In an interview with Israel’s i24 News network broadcast Tuesday, Netanyahu was asked if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal.

“I think it’s behind us,” Netanyahu replied. “We tried, we made all kinds of attempts, we went through a lot, but it turned out that they were just misleading us.”

“I want all of them,” he said of the hostages. “The release of all the hostages, both alive and dead — that’s the stage we’re at.”

Hamas militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the 7 October 2023 attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive.

Netanyahu’s latest comments on the ceasefire in Gaza come amid the news of a plan by Israel to possibly resettle Palestinians from Gaza to South Sudan, and as global criticism mounts over Gaza’s hunger crisis.

Israel has threatened to widen its military offensive against Hamas to the areas of Gaza that it does not yet control and where most of the territory’s 2 million residents have sought refuge.

Those plans have sparked international condemnation and criticism within Israel and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire.

Netanyahu: Israel’s demands haven’t changed

According to reports, Arab officials last week said that mediators Egypt and Qatar were preparing a new framework for a deal that would include the release of all remaining hostages in one go in return for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The long-running indirect talks appeared to break down last month, but a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for ceasefire talks on Tuesday, Egypt’s state media reported, a sign that efforts have not been abandoned after 22 months of war.

Silvia Cunio mother of the hostages Ariel Cunio, left, and David Cunio, right, holds pictures of her sons, during a press conference (Silvia Cunio mother of the hostages Ariel Cunio, left, and David Cunio, right, holds pictures of her sons, during a press conference)

Netanyahu in Tuesday’s interview reiterated that Israel’s demands haven’t changed and that the war will end only when all hostages are returned and Hamas has surrendered.

He has said that even then, Israel will maintain open-ended security control over the territory.

Hamas has long called for a comprehensive deal but says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

UN warns about starvation, malnutrition

Meanwhile, the United Nations on Tuesday warned that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric reported the warning from the World Food Program and said Gaza’s Health Ministry told UN staff in Gaza that five people died over the last 24 hours from malnutrition and starvation.

According to the UN ministry, around 121 adults and 101 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war.

“Against this backdrop, humanitarian supplies entering Gaza remain far below the minimum required to meet people’s immense needs,” Dujarric said.