Israel-Palestine live: Israel and Palestinians agree to truce, hostage deal

Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel's far-right national security minister, has said that he will bring for initial approval a bill on Monday mandating the use of the death penalty on "terrorists". 

"I expect all members of Knesset to support this important bill," he wrote on X. 

Israel has only used the death penalty twice in 75 years, one of which was to execute Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

A Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Sunday morning in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to local media. 

Wafa news agency identified the man as Omar Ali al-Laham, who was shot in the head after an overnight Israeli raid on the camp. 

Medics were denied by Israeli forces from approaching Laham, according to Wafa, before he succumbed to his wounds.

Earlier on Sunday, a Palestinian disabled man was killed during an Israeli raid in Jenin.

Palestinian detainee Tha'er Sameeh Abu Asab, 38, has died suddenly in a prison in the Negev region, according to the Palestinian Committee for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs. 

Qadura Fares, head of the committee, confirmed the death in a phone call to Wafa news agency. 

Abu Asab, who is from the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, had been detained by Israeli authorities since May 2005. 

The prisoners' committee said in a statement on Saturday night that Israel was carrying out "targeted assassinations against detainees with premeditation". 

The latest death brings the number of Palestinian detainees killed in Israeli prisons since 7 October to six.

Good morning MEE readers. The past several hours have been filled with questions surrounding reports that a deal between Israel and Hamas over the release of captives is close to being achieved.

The Washington Post reported late on Saturday that a tentative deal had been reached, and the White House moved quickly to deny the report, saying they are still working on an agreement. The newspaper then updated its story to say that a deal was close.

The reported deal would see the release of at least 50 captives held by Hamas in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting. Israel, Hamas, and the US have spent the last few weeks discussing the potential of an agreement over the captives in the Qatari capital Doha.

In case you're just tuning into our coverage now, here's an overview of the latest developments:

• Arab foreign ministers are going to be travelling to a number of countries over the next week, and the first stop on their list is China, where they will put forward their demands for a ceasefire.

• At least 15 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombardment in the Nuseirat and Khan Younis refugee camps. Israel had already forced one million Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee south, and is now calling on Palestinians in the south to flee as well.

• In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in a raid on Jenin, including a 46-year-old disabled man.

• Biden has stated that he could impose visa bans on Israeli settlers engaged in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

• The World Health Organisation is preparing to evacuate the remaining patients and staff from al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.

• Some US lawmakers are discussing the possibility of conditioning future military aid to Israel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that some of the families of Israeli captives held by Hamas have requested Ankara's intervention in the matter.

"They have requested us to intervene in the release of their relatives ... Since the Israeli families reached us through this method, they have given up hope in their own government," Erdogan told the media on Saturday.

He added that he asked Turkish intelligence to look into the issue.

Hours after Erdogan's remarks, the Washington Post reported that a deal between Israel and Hamas over the release of dozens of captives was close to being reached.

At least 15 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardment in the Khan Younis and Nuseirat refugee camps, according to Wafa.

Thirteen people were killed in an attack on a home in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, while a woman and her child were killed in southern Khan Younis, the news agency reported.

The number of Palestinians killed during an Israeli raid on the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin has risen to two, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli forces killed a disabled Palestinian man during a raid on the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin early on Sunday, several Palestinian news outlets have reported.

The news agencies reported that Issam al-Fayed, a 46-year-old Palestinian man, was shot dead by Israeli forces, citing the director of the Jenin Government Hospital.

Israel and Hamas have not yet reached a deal on a temporary ceasefire, a White House spokesperson said on Saturday night.

This comes after the Washington Post reported that a tentative deal between the two parties was reached, in which at least 50 captives held by Hamas would be released for a five-day ceasefire.

"No deal yet but we continue to work hard to get a deal," Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House's National Security Council, said in a statement.

A group of demonstrators staged a sit-in protest at the California Democratic Convention on Saturday, where they chanted demands for a ceasefire.

The protesters also disrupted a speech by Congressman Adam Schiff with the same demands. More members of Congress are joining a growing list of lawmakers who are in support of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel and Hamas have reached a tentative deal to free dozens of women and children being held captive in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in the war, the Washington Post has reported.

The newspaper reported that the release of the captives could begin in several days barring any last-minute obstacles, citing people familiar with the discussions.

The reported agreement is the result of weeks of discussions between Hamas, Israel, and the US under Qatari mediation in Doha.

Under the terms of the tentative deal, all parties to the conflict would freeze combat operations for at least five days, in exchange for the release of at least 50 hostages in "smaller batches every 24 hours".

MEE could not immediately confirm the reported agreement.

US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that Washington is prepared to impose visa bans on Israeli settlers involved in attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, marking the first time that the Biden administration has publicly considered such a move.

"I have been emphatic with Israel's leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those committing the violence must be held accountable," Biden said in an op-ed in the Washington Post.

"The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank."

Since 7 October, the number of settler attacks against Palestinians has doubled, according to the UN humanitarian office (Ocha), from incidents ranging from from livestock theft to direct physical violence.

Ocha said on Friday that more than "one-third of these incidents included threats with firearms, including shootings".

"In nearly half of all incidents, Israeli forces were either accompanying or actively supporting the attackers," Ocha said.

In the West Bank, which has been militarily occupied by Israel since 1967, nearly 500,000 settlers live among a population of three million Palestinians.

Israeli forces have launched an overnight raid on the Balata refugee camp for the second day in a row, bringing bulldozers and stationing snipers on the roofs of houses, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

This raid, which began early on Sunday morning, comes a day after Israel's military attacked the headquarters of the Fatah movement in a raid on the camp, located just east of Nablus.

That attack killed at least five Palestinians and injured several others.