Evening recap

Good evening Middle East Eye readers. On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that he approved a delegation of top security officials to travel to Doha and attend the ongoing talks around a possible ceasefire in Gaza.

The delegation includes Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and comes after Netanyahu met with Donald Trump's incoming envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

Trump has repeatedly said that he wants a ceasefire deal in Gaza achieved before he enters office, and the last few weeks have seen a renewed sense of urgency to get a deal done.

At the same time, Israel stepped up its attacks on Gaza on Saturday, with several strikes causing Palestinian casualties.

Here's what else you need to know about Saturday's developments in Israel's war on Gaza:

Anti-government demonstrations were held in Israel calling for the government to bring home the captives still being held in Gaza.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that four of its soldiers were killed while fighting in northern Gaza. Another two were wounded.
Haaretz reported that Israel's military has approved a plan that would "swiftly withdraw" troops from large parts of the Gaza Strip, including from the Netzarim Corridor.
The Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said on Saturday that it attacked an Israeli military engineering unit at the Netzarim Corridor.
Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said the Yemeni group launched several projectiles at a US warship, the USS Harry Truman.
An Israeli bombardment targeting a school sheltering displaced families in Jabalia, northern Gaza, killed at least eight people.
US envoy Amos Hochstein reportedly assured Lebanese officials that the US guarantees a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon by the end of January.