According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, informed sources report that the ongoing negotiations for a truce and prisoner exchange with Hamas remain at an impasse. However, efforts by mediators to revive the talks are underway.
Officials familiar with the negotiations, speaking on Saturday, stressed the necessity of tightening the noose around Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, as the only way to make progress in the anticipated deal.
The National Security Advisor of the United States, Jake Sullivan, is scheduled to arrive in Israel tomorrow (Sunday) to discuss reaching a deal for the release of detainees in meetings with Israeli officials.
Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that their fighters had killed 15 Israeli soldiers who were barricaded in a house in Palestinian Rafah.
In a statement, the group detailed how their fighters targeted a house fortified by Israeli soldiers with an anti-personnel explosive before engaging them with light machine guns and hand grenades in the Tanur neighborhood east of Rafah city.
The Israeli army confirmed that its forces had killed a prominent member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who they described as responsible for preparing to confront Israeli forces in Rafah.
In a separate development, the White House announced that a group of American medical professionals had left the Gaza Strip after being trapped in the hospital where they were providing services.
Among them were 10 members of the Palestinian American Medical Association based in the United States, who had planned to depart after a two-week mission at the European Hospital near Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told Reuters that some of the stranded doctors made their way to safety with the assistance of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
