Latest Israel-Hamas war news and Gaza conflict updates

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with Israeli officials on Wednesday to discuss a possible deal to release the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in return for an extended pause in fighting. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that Hamas’s response to the proposal had generally been “positive,” although Blinken noted during a joint news conference on Tuesday that there was still “a lot of work to be done.”