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RAFAH, Palestinian Territories — Israel announced on Monday the deaths of four captives held in Gaza amid growing doubts and international pressure over a plan for a ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden.

Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the bloody conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office stressed that the war sparked by the October 7 surprise attack would continue until all of Israel's "goals are achieved", including the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities.

And on Monday, the White House said Biden told the emir of mediator Qatar that he saw Hamas as "the only obstacle to a complete ceasefire" in Gaza, and urged him to press the group to accept it.

The G7 group of developed countries said in a statement its leaders "fully endorse" the deal pushed by Biden, and called on Hamas to accept it.

Israel's military announced the deaths in Gaza of four hostages seized on October 7, naming them as Chaim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell.

All but Popplewell were seen alive in a video released by Hamas in December.

Separately, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: "We assess that the four of them were killed while together in the area of Khan Yunis during our operation there against Hamas."

Earlier on Monday the army said it had located in Israel the body of paramedic Dolev Yehud, who had been thought to be a hostage but was killed on October 7.

Israeli media have questioned to what extent Biden’s ceasefire speech and some crucial details were coordinated with Netanyahu’s team, including how long any truce would hold and how many captives would be freed and when.

Hamas on Friday said it viewed Biden’s outline “positively”, but has since made no official comment on the stalled negotiations, while mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have not announced any new talks.

‘End to suffering’

Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt issued a statement Monday backing the latest diplomatic effort.

They “emphasised the importance of dealing seriously and positively with the US president’s proposal” which could produce “a permanent ceasefire... and an end to the suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip”, the joint statement said.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer quoted Netanyahu as saying that the outline Biden presented was only “partial”, and that under the plan fighting would only stop temporarily “for the purpose of returning the hostages”.

However, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday the White House has “seen again over the weekend from Israel a willingness to step forward and do a deal”.

And State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the proposal was “nearly identical” to one submitted several weeks ago by Hamas and called on its leader, Yahya Sinwar, not to “move the goalposts”.

The fighting showed no sign of easing, with the war that has devastated the coastal territory of 2.4 million people soon to enter its ninth month.

On Monday Israel’s military said its forces had struck “over 50 targets” over the past day, and Gaza hospitals reported at least 19 fatalities in overnight strikes.

Heavy fighting

The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 sudden attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 120 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive have killed at least 36,479 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Some 55 per cent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or “possibly damaged” since the war erupted, according to the United Nations satellite analysis agency.

Heavy fighting has raged especially in Gaza’s far-southern Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where UN agencies say most civilians have now been displaced once more.

Israel’s military said troops were carrying out “targeted operations in the Rafah area”, and witnesses reported air strikes and shelling.

Gaza’s European hospital said 10 people were killed in an air strike on a house near the main southern city of Khan Yunis, and Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital reported six dead in a strike on a home in the central Bureij refugee camp.

UN and other aid agencies have warned for months of the looming risk of famine in the besieged territory amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

Political pressure

Netanyahu, a hawkish veteran leading a fragile hard-right coalition government, is under intense domestic pressure from multiple sides.

Relatives and supporters of hostages have staged mass protests demanding a truce deal — but his far-right coalition allies are threatening to bring down the government if he agrees to that.

In a video message Monday, Netanyahu insisted Israel would achieve “both tasks” in its war: “the elimination of Hamas” and the return of the captives.

According to Biden, Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza and an initial hostage-prisoner exchange.

Both sides would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue as long as talks are ongoing, Biden said.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian government, based in the occupied West Bank, is seeking to join South Africa’s suit before the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, court documents showed.

The Hague-based ICJ ordered Israel in January to do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its military operation in Gaza, and last month demanded an immediate halt to the Rafah offensive.

BEIRUT — At least 12 militants fighters were killed in an overnight Israeli strike that targeted a factory near Aleppo in the north of Syria, an NGO reported early Monday.

"Twelve pro-Iranian fighters of Syrian and foreign nationalities were killed, according to an initial tally, in an Israeli air strike on a position in the town of Hayyan, north of Aleppo, setting off strong explosions in a factory," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Syrian Ministry of Defence said in a statement that "after midnight... the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the southeast of Aleppo, targeting some positions" near the city, adding that "the aggression caused several martyrs and material damage".

According to the observatory — which is based in Britain, but maintains a vast network of sources inside Syria — rescuers and firefighters were deployed to the site to treat the injured and contain blazes caused by the strike.

The NGO said that Hayyan is "controlled by pro-Iranian groups composed of Syrians and foreigners".

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on its northern neighbour since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from the militant group Hizbollah.

While it rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.

The strikes have increased since its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, when the Palestinian resistance group launched an unprecedented attack against Israel.

BEIRUT — Hizbollah said on Sunday its fighters had bombarded two army bases in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights within hours, after deadly Israeli strikes on south Lebanon.

Hizbollah, a Hamas ally, has traded regular cross-border fire with Israel since the Palestinian fighter group's October 7 surprise attack on southern Israel which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

The border clashes have intensified, and on Sunday Hizbollah "bombarded... the headquarters of the 210th Golan Division in the Nafah barracks with dozens of Katyusha rockets", the powerful Iran-backed group said in a statement.

It said the attack was in retaliation for Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. A source close to Hizbollah said two fighters were wounded.

The Israeli military said “approximately 15 projectiles” had been fired from Lebanon at the Golan Heights and “fell in open areas”, causing no injuries but starting fires.

The Hizbollah announcement came several hours afer Israeli forces struck the group’s positions in eastern and southern Lebanon.

The state-run National News agency reported that “two civilians were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted their home in the village of Hula”, near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.

Israeli jets had “struck a Hizbollah military structure in the area of Hula, from which projectiles were fired” at an Israeli village across the border, the military said.

A local official told AFP that the fatalities were “two brothers, shepherds whose house was destroyed”.

Earlier on Sunday Hizbollah said it had launched several attack drones towards an army base in the Golan Heights, hours after Israel targeted the group’s fighters in a remote area of Bekaa Valley, far from the border.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that in response to Hizbollah firing a missile at one of its drones “operating in Lebanese airspace” the day before, its “fighter jets struck a military compound used by the Hizbollah terrorist organisation in the area of Bekaa in Lebanon”.

Since Friday, Israel has been intensely shelling a series of villages in southern Lebanon, where a woman, a Hizbollah-affiliated rescuer and two fighters from the group were killed.

In response, Hizbollah said it launched several attacks on Israeli military targets and shot down an Israeli Hermes 900 drone.

Nearly eight months of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border has left at least 451 people dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including more than 80 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to the army.

BEIRUT — Lebanese militant group Hizbollah said it launched a series of attacks on Israeli military positions on Saturday after state media reported Israel had stepped up its own strikes the night before.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, the Iran-backed Hizbollah has exchanged almost daily fire with the Israeli army in support of its Palestinian ally.

On Saturday morning, the Lebanese Islamist group said it had carried out "an air assault using explosive drones against... the Yiftah barracks, targeting the positions of enemy officers and soldiers".

It said the attack was in retaliation for a drone strike on a motorcycle in Majdal Selm earlier in the day.

The Hizbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said two people were wounded in the drone strike.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “two Hizbollah terrorists operating in the region of Majdal Selm were struck by an aircraft”.

Later on Saturday, the Lebanese Shiite movement said it had “shot down a Hermes 900 drone which was attacking our people and villages”.

Hizbollah, which has increased its use of drones in recent weeks, has also claimed responsibility for several attacks against Israeli military positions “in response to Israeli aggression against southern localities and civilian homes”.

“The enemy [Israel] intensified its attacks last night,” Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

They included “a series of drone strikes... which resulted in deaths, injuries and extensive damage” in multiple locations near the border, NNA said.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that its fighter jets had struck “significant Hizbollah assets” in several areas of southern Lebanon, including Adloun, 30 kilometres from the border, in response to launches aimed at northern Israel.

On Friday evening, a woman was killed and multiple people wounded in an Israeli drone strike on the outskirts of Adloun that “completely destroyed” a house, NNA reported.

The nearly eight months of violence have left almost 450 people dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including at least 80 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Among them are 20 rescuers, including 10 members of the Islamic Health Committee.

On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the violence, according to Israeli authorities.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — At the request of Baghdad, the UN Security Council unanimously decided on Friday that the United Nations political mission in Iraq would leave the country at the end of 2025 after more than 20 years.

Earlier this month, in a letter to the council, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al Sudani called for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) to be closed.

Sudani said UNAMI had overcome "great and varied challenges" and that "the grounds for having a political mission in Iraq" no longer exist.

The UNSC resolution adopted on Friday extended the mission's mandate for "a final 19-month period until 31 December 2025 after which UNAMI will cease all work and operations".

The mission was established by a UN Security Council resolution in 2003 at the request of the Iraqi government after the US-led invasion and fall of Saddam Hussein.

It advises the government on political dialogue and reconciliation, as well as helping with elections and security sector reform.

During the mission's previous renewal in May 2023, the Council asked the secretary-general to launch a strategic review, which was overseen by German diplomat Volker Perthes.

In a report issued in March, Perthes signalled that an end to the mandate could be appropriate, concluding that "the two-year period identified by the government for the mission's drawdown can be a sufficient time frame to make further progress."

He also said that the period would provide time to reassure reluctant Iraqis that the transition "will not lead to a reversal of democratic gains or threaten peace and security".

Given that UN missions can only operate with the host nation’s consent, Russia, China, Britain and France this month all voiced support for a transition in the partnership between Iraq and the United Nations.

The United States was more vague, with UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield saying UNAMI still had “important work to do”, and making no mention of Baghdad’s request.

She emphasised the mission’s role in organizing elections and promoting human rights, even though Iraq asked that the mission focus more on economic issues.