Israel, Palestinians explore Gaza truce with US envoy

Israelis and Palestinians are signalling new efforts to forge a ceasefire deal, even a limited one, for the first time in a year that would pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel some of the hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Wednesday there was now a chance for a new deal that would allow the return of all the hostages, including US citizens, Katz's office said.

A Western diplomat in the region, however, said a deal was taking shape but it would likely be limited in scope, involving the release of only a handful of hostages and a short pause in hostilities.

Such a truce and release would be only the second since the start of the war in October 2023.

The guarded optimism emerges as US President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan heads to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and then to Egypt and Qatar, co-mediators with the US on a deal.

Separately, President-elect Donald Trump has demanded that Hamas group release the hostages held in Gaza before he takes over from Biden on January 20.

Trump's designated hostage envoy Adam Boehler has said he too is involved, having spoken already to Biden and to Netanyahu. Israel says 100 hostages remain captive in Gaza. Seven are believed to be US citizens.

Boehler told Israel's Channel 13 news last week: "I would appeal to those people that have taken hostages: Make your best deal now. Make it now because every day that passes, it is going to get harder and harder and more Hamas lives will be lost."

Although Biden and Trump are working separately, their efforts overlap and both stand to gain from a deal. A US official said Trump's public statements about the need for a swift ceasefire “have not been harmful".

The official said the priority is to get the hostages home, whether it is at the end of the Biden term or the start of the Trump term.

Steve Witkoff, Trump's designated Middle East envoy, met separately in late November with Netanyahu and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said a source briefed on the talks.

At least 35 Palestinians were killed early on Thursday in Israeli bombings of various areas in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

In the occupied West Bank overnight, a suspected Palestinian shooting attack on an Israeli bus killed a child around the age of 12, Israeli emergency services said.