Qatar PM Says First Step To Gaza Hostage Deal Blocked Only By Minor Obstacles.

Qatar’s Prime Minister says only “very minor” obstacles to hostage release deal remain and these are mainly practical and logistical issues, however Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says nothing has yet been agreed and ruled out a full ceasefire.

Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani added that his confidence was growing that a deal between Israel and Hamas could be reached.

The Washington Post reported, based on same kind of insider knowledge that: “Israel and Hamas are close to agreement on a US-brokered deal that would free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting” The Post said the information came from “people familiar with the emerging terms”.

The US: White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson posted on X: “We have not reached a deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get to a deal”, which at least reveals that the White House is in some way involved in negotiations.

The World Health Organization says 291 critically ill patients including 32 babies are still at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after many Palestinians evacuated on foot on Saturday.

Hundreds of people evacuated al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City yesterday. There was confusion over where the evacuation order came from – the hospital director said the Israeli military had ordered it, but the IDF denied this, saying it helped people leave after a request from the director.

The World Health Organization described Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital as a “death zone,” after a U.N. team visited the largest medical complex in the Palestinian enclave on Saturday.

“The team saw a hospital no longer able to function: no water, no food, no electricity, no fuel, medical supplies depleted,” WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on social media.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa says 13 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and two others in a strike on Khan Younis

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 12,300 people have been killed in the territory since Israel began its campaign against Hamas. The ministry does not say how many of that number were Hamas military.

Source: BBC