Israeli forces recover slain Gaza hostage, Egypt to host new truce talks

Israel said on Saturday its special forces had recovered the body of a hostage killed while being held captive in Gaza, as the Palestinian enclave's dominant Islamist movement Hamas said it would take part in a new round of ceasefire talks in Cairo.

The body of Elad Katzir, a 47-year-old Israeli farmer, was unearthed by commandos in southern Khan Younis overnight, the military said. He had been killed by his Palestinian Islamic Jihad captors and buried there in mid-January, it said, citing intelligence information about which it declined to elaborate.

Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, had no immediate comment.

Katzir's father, Avraham, was killed in their kibbutz, Nir Oz, and his mother, Hanna, was also taken hostage but freed in November under a truce.

Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been trying to secure another deal that might return some of the 129 remaining hostages in a longer ceasefire in Gaza.

Hamas on Saturday said its fighters targeted three Israeli tanks in Khan Younis with missiles, inflicting casualties. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, though it said earlier that troops had engaged with gunmen in the area.

The World Health Organization said its team had managed to reach Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where Israeli special forces conducted a two-week raid against suspected militants, leaving a wasteland of destroyed buildings.

The team saw at least five dead bodies at the complex, most of which had suffered extensive destruction. "Even restoring minimal functionality in the short term seems implausible," said a statement from WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid told N12's Meet the Press on Saturday that he was traveling to Washington, where he will meet US officials next week. The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether senior officials will meet Lapid.

Hamas said it would send a delegation to Cairo on Sunday for a new round of mediated talks. Israel was undecided on whether to attend, an Israeli official said, citing concern that the event would be "more political theatre than actual progress."

Reuters