Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that there is “some progress” in efforts to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza. Of the roughly 250 people who were taken hostage in the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel last October, in which about 1,200 people were killed, around 100 are still inside the Gaza Strip, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Speaking in the Knesset,Israel’s parliament,  Netanyahu said: “We are taking significant actions through all channels to return our loved ones. I would like to tell you cautiously that there is some progress.”

Netanyahu said he could not reveal details of what was being done to secure the return of hostages. He claimed the main reasons for the progress were the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israel’s military actions against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants who had been firing rockets into Israel from neighboring Lebanon in support of Hamas. “Hamas hoped that Iran and Hezbollah would come to its aid but they are busy licking the wounds from the blows we inflicted on them,” he said, adding: “There is progress. I don’t know how long it will take.”

One of the major sticking points that torpedoed previous rounds of ceasefire talks, including the presence of Israel troops in the so-called Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors inside Gaza. These appear to have been sidelined for now, although a continuing issue is understood to be the ability of Palestinians in Gaza to return to their homes in the strip’s north.

Hospitals attacked

Despite the talks, Israeli forces have been attacking health facilities in northern Gaza, as it besieges and “directly targets” the Indonesian hospital, Kamal Adwan hospital, and al-Awda hospital in north Gaza over the past hours, according to the territory’s health ministry. A Reuters  report quoting health authorities said Israeli troops forced the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital and many patients, some of them on foot, arrived at another hospital miles away in Gaza City. Israel says its operation around the three northern Gaza communities surrounding the hospital - Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia - is to target Hamas militants.

Haniyeh assassination

Meanwhile, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has confirmed that the IDF assassinated former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, and warned that the military would also “decapitate” the leadership of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.