The war in Gaza began after Hamas led an attack on Israel in October 2023, killing nearly 1,200 Israelis. Another 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza has devastated the enclave, and its forces have killed more than 50,000 people, according to the Palestinian health authorities.

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel’s military said, as Israel and Hamas held indirect talks in Qatar on an elusive ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Hamas’s requests for changes to truce proposal ‘unacceptable’.