Ran Gvili, a police officer and Israeli hostage who was kidnapped in the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, is pictured in this undated handout photo. Courtesy of Bring Them Home Now via Reuters.

Hamas said Sunday (January 11, 2026) it will dissolve its existing government in Gaza once a Palestinian technocratic leadership committee takes over the territory, as mandated under the U.S.-brokered peace plan. But the group gave no specifics on when the change will occur.

Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians’ internationally recognized representative, have not announced the names of the technocrats, who are not supposed to be politically affiliated, and it remains unclear if they will be cleared by Israel and the U.S.

The “Board of Peace,” an international body led by Mr. Trump, is supposed to oversee the government and other aspects of the ceasefire that took effect on October 10, including disarming Hamas and deploying an international security force. The board’s members have not been announced.

Meanwhile, the post-ceasefire death toll continued to rise in Gaza, with Israeli gunfire killing three Palestinians, according to Palestinian hospital officials.

The ceasefire began with a halt in fighting and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for thousands of Palestinians held by Israel. The deal is still in its first phase as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage left in Gaza.

An Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door information, said Hamas was sending a delegation to talks with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish officials about moving to the second phase.

In comments posted on his Telegram channel Sunday (January 11, 2026), Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesperson, called for speeding up the establishment of the technocratic committee.

The Egyptian official said Hamas will meet with other Palestinian factions this week to finalise the committee’s formation. The Hamas delegation will be chaired by top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, the official said.

Mr. Trump has said the “Board of Peace” will monitor the committee and handle the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and Gaza’s reconstruction. The U.S. has reported little progress on any of these fronts, though the members of the board are expected to be announced this week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday (January 8, 2026) that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov has been selected as the board’s director-general. Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and Foreign Minister who served as U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the U.N. Mideast peace envoy from 2015 to 2020. During that time, he had good working relations with Israel and frequently worked to ease Israel-Hamas tensions.

Also Sunday (January 11, 2026), Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar met in Jerusalem with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Mr. Saar said Israel was committed to enforcing Mr. Trump’s plan, while Mr. Motegi expressed Japan’s willingness to play an active role in the ceasefire.

According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Mr. Motegi visited the Civil-Military Coordination Center, where the ceasefire is being monitored. He was also set to meet Mr. Netanyahu and Palestinian officials in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In Gaza, two men were shot dead in the southern town of Bani Suhaila, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Earlier Sunday (January 11, 2026), a man was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, according to Al-Ahly hospital, which received the body.

In response to questions about the Tuffah incident, Israel’s military said it had fired at and hit a “terrorist” in northern Gaza who had approached troops. In a later statement, the military said it had killed a “terrorist” in southern Gaza who approached troops.

Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Continued Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 400 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

The Israeli military says any actions since the ceasefire began have been in response to violations of the agreement.

Israeli police said Sunday (January 11, 2026) they were questioning a top official from Mr. Netanyahu’s office over possible obstruction of an investigation into last year’s leak of classified military information to a German tabloid.

Israeli media identified the official as Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff, who is expected to start as the next ambassador to the United Kingdom in the coming months.

He’s the latest official to be caught up in the scandal, in which Mr. Netanyahu’s inner circle is accused of leaking confidential information to German tabloid Bild to improve public perception of the prime minister following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in 2024.

It comes after an explosive interview by Kan News with former Mr. Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein, who described a clandestine meeting with Braverman in an underground parking lot in the middle of the night in connection with the leak. Mr. Feldstein, who has been indicted, said Mr. Braverman offered to “shut down” the probe into the leaked information.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid immediately called for the suspension of Braverman as ambassador. “It is unacceptable that a person suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of Europe’s most important countries,” Mr. Lapid wrote on X.

In response, Mr. Saar defended Braverman’s appointment and said he would not be removed from it until formally charged or tried.

Published – January 12, 2026 06:43 am IST

A drone view shows an installation representing U.S. President Donald Trump thinking about a depiction of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the word “liability”, on the beach near the U.S Consulate in Tel Aviv on October 24, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A U.S.-sponsored ceasefire proposal for Gaza on Tuesday (September 30, 2025) was hanging on Hamas’s response to the 20-point plan which President Donald Trump has said was “beyond very close” to ending the two-year-old conflict in the enclave.

Mediators Qatar and Egypt shared the document with Hamas late on Monday (September 29, 2025) after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood alongside Trump at the White House and pledged his support for the proposal because he said it met Israel’s war aims.

Hamas was not involved in the negotiations that led to Mr. Trump’s plan, which calls on the Islamist militant group to disarm, a demand it has previously rejected.

A source close to Hamas told Reuters the plan was “completely biased to Israel” and imposed “impossible conditions” that aimed to eliminate the group.

However, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters early on Tuesday (September 30, 2025) that Hamas negotiators “would review it in good faith and provide a response”.

Hamas faces pressure from Muslim nations

Mr. Trump warned Hamas that if it rejected his offer, Israel would have full U.S. support to take whatever action it deemed necessary.

The plan specifies an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body.

Many elements of the 20 points have been included in numerous ceasefire deals proposed over the last two years, including those accepted and then subsequently rejected at various stages by both Israel and Hamas.

One of Hamas’s main conditions since the outset of the war has been a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in return for the release of the remaining hostages. And while the group has indicated its readiness to relinquish administrative authority, it has consistently ruled out disarming.

“What Trump has proposed is the full adoption of all Israeli conditions, which do not grant the Palestinian people or the residents of the Gaza Strip any legitimate rights,” a Palestinian official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

However, Hamas faces considerable pressure to accept the plan, with the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt all welcoming the initiative.

Turkey’s head of intelligence will join Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha to discuss the peace proposal later on Tuesday (September 30, 2025), a spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said. Turkey has not previously been involved as a key mediator during efforts over the last two years to bring peace to Gaza.

It was unclear if Hamas officials would join Tuesday’s (September 30, 2025) meeting. The last time Hamas leaders gathered to discuss a U.S. peace plan in Qatar, Israel tried, and failed, to kill them with a missile strike.

Mr. Netanyahu apologised on Monday (September 29, 2025)) to his Qatari counterpart for the September 9 attack, the White House said.

Although he initially backed the Trump plan, Mr. Netanyahu later expressed doubts about elements of the proposal, including the prospects for eventual Palestinian Statehood — something he has repeatedly ruled out.

Mr. Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from a war-weary Israeli public to end the conflict. But he also risks the collapse of his governing coalition if far-right Ministers believe he has made too many concessions for a peace deal.

Israeli forces push further into Gaza city

In Gaza itself, some Palestinians hailed Mr. Trump’s peace plan, saying it could end the bombardment and deaths, but they wondered whether it would end Israel’s control of the enclave.

“We want the war to end, but we want the occupation army that killed tens of thousands of us to get out and leave us alone,” said Salah Abu Amr, 60, a father of six from Gaza City.

“We hope the plan will end the war, but we are not sure it will. Neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Netanyahu can be trusted,” he told Reuters via a chat app.

Israel began its Gaza offensive after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages back to Gaza. The offensive has killed over 66,000 people in Gaza, Gaza health authorities say.

Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza City on Tuesday (September 30, 2025), reaching the centre of the territory, which Mr. Netanyahu has described as the last Hamas bastion.

Israeli planes also dropped new leaflets over the city ordering Palestinians to immediately leave and head south.

“The battle against Hamas is decisive and will not end until it is defeated,” the leaflet said in red writing.

Published – October 01, 2025 11:04 am IST

Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar. File
| Photo Credit: Israeli Army via Reuters

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Relatives and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for their release as they stand at the site where revelers were killed on Oct. 7, 2023, at the Nova music festival, near the Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Sweden and the Netherlands have urged the EU to adopt sanctions on Israel and Hamas over the war in Gaza, including suspending the EU-Israel trade deal, according to a document seen by AFP on Thursday (August 28, 2025).

In a letter to European Union Foreign Affairs chief Kaja Kallas, the Swedish and Dutch Foreign Ministers called for targeted sanctions on Israeli government Ministers and Jewish settlers on Israeli-occupied Palestinian land, and new sanctions on the political leadership of Hamas.

They also demanded the suspension of the commercial section of an association accord between the EU and Israel that allows for free trade in several sectors, notably industry and agriculture.

The topic is to be discussed at a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Copenhagen on Saturday.

The letter, dated August 27, “recalls the need to speedily … introduce targeted sanctions against extremist Israeli ministers who promote illegal settlement activities, and actively work against a negotiated two-state solution, and the need for additional sanctions against violent settlers”.

Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard has been calling since May for sanctions against far-right Ministers in the Israeli Cabinet who have pushed for the annexation of the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

She told Swedish public radio SR on Thursday the aim should be to create “difficulties” for the ministers who have led the campaign to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

Caspar Veldkamp resigned as the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister last week after the Dutch Cabinet failed to agree on new national sanctions against Israel over its tactics in the Gaza war.

He has been replaced by Ruben Brekelmans.

In their letter, Stenergard and Brekelmans asked the EU foreign service to “present additional proposals on ways to increase pressure on Hamas”, which is in power in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is already banned as a “terrorist” organisation by the EU and many western nations.

On Friday, the United Nations officially declared there was famine in Gaza, blaming what it called systematic obstruction of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.

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Palestinians pray over the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City’s Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Jehad Alshrafi/AP

Hundreds watched on Thursday as four black coffins, which Hamas said held the remains of Israel’s Bibas family and an elderly hostage, were carried off stage by Palestinian militants in southern Gaza.

The ceremony, held on a sandy area that was once a cemetery before its destruction by Israeli forces, marked the first handover of deceased captives under a fragile Israel-Hamas truce.

It began with a militant, his face wrapped in a red and white keffiyeh scarf, seated on the stage to complete paperwork with a Red Cross official. The stage featured a banner with an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a bloodied vampire over photos of the four returned Israelis.

“War Criminal Netanyahu and his army killed them with missiles and Zionist warplanes”, read the sign.

The coffins — which bore photos of the deceased as well as of Netanyahu — were placed one by one into separate Red Cross vehicles after being covered in a white shroud as a cold drizzle fell.

Photographers and videographers wearing Hamas headbands walked around, cameras in hand, to capture the moment. 

Hamas said it was returning the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her sons Ariel and Kfir — who at only nine months old was the youngest hostage taken during Hamas’ unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023. 

The fourth hostage was Oded Lifshitz, 83 at the time of his capture.

Destroyed cemetery

“We preserved the lives of the occupation prisoners (hostages), provided them with what we could, and treated them humanely, but their army killed them along with their captors,” the Islamist movement said in a statement.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, in a statement released after Hamas handed over the bodies to the Red Cross, “our hearts — the hearts of the entire nation — lie in tatters”.

Armed men in military fatigues and wearing Hamas green headbands were ubiquitous on the lot which was cleared for the transfer. They stood around the stage and lined up on both sides of the road where the Red Cross vehicles passed.

“The dead were respected despite the occupation’s humiliation of prisoners and martyrs,” Said Ubade, 32, told AFP, after the Red Cross called for the “dignified and private” transfer of hostages and prisoners after a swap last weekend. 

“I thank the resistance for fulfilling its promise and safeguarding the captives and bodies until our prisoners are freed,” Ubade said.

Hamas set up its stage in the Bani Suheila cemetery, east of Khan Yunis, where dozens of members of its armed Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, and the Mujahideen Brigade had gathered.

A Hamas source said the site was chosen in part because the Israeli army destroyed the cemetery during the war, exhuming hundreds of graves and transferring dozens of bodies for examination inside Israel before returning most of them.

Abu Bilal, spokesman for the Mujahideen Brigade told AFP that his group “completed all arrangements for the handover of the remains of three bodies from the Bibas family”, suggesting the lesser-known militants had held the three relatives.

Before and after the transfer, Hamas fighters paraded, holding their weapons aloft, while the crowd looked on, surrounded by the remnants of buildings bombed during more than 15 months of war. 

Below the stage, the slogan “We never forgave nor forgot, Al-Aqsa Flood was our promise” could be read.

The message was a response to a message Israel’s Prison Service printed on the uniforms of the Palestinian prisoners it freed last Saturday.

“We don’t forgive and we don’t forget,” the Israeli message had said. 

Among the weapons Hamas fighters displayed to suggest their brigades remained intact were dozens of Kalashnikovs, M-16 rifles and a few hand-held grenade launchers.

Large speakers blasted chants, as children and youth pressed themselves around a table where fighters displayed a large automatic rifle and its long ammunition belt, as well as anti-tank mines.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Each casket was shown with a photo of a body Hamas said it would hand over.