Welcome to the news world from West Asia, your live source for real-time updates and analysis from one of the world’s most strategically vital regions. From shifting alliances and diplomatic breakthroughs to economic reforms and civil movements,

Yet according to multiple testimonies from Gaza, Hamas is on its last legs. Its military and political leadership has been almost entirely eliminated. Its government no longer governs. Gangs and looters are filling the vacuum.

Hamas said on Wednesday it would release 10 hostages as part of ceasefire talks on the Gaza Strip after Israel struck an upbeat note about the prospects for a deal to stop the fighting in the embattled Palestinian territory.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would send its negotiating team to Qatar, this after Hamas said it had issued a "positive response" to a U.S.-mediated ceasefire proposal.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial U.S.-backed aid distribution initiative supported by Israel, is currently the primary method for Palestinians in devastated Gaza to access supplies in designated spots after Israel lifted its aid blockade in mid-May.

The deal comes more than 20 months into the conflict -- and more than three months after a previous deal ended.

Trump's meetings with the Israeli leader have brought no apparent breakthrough for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the bloodshed continues unabated.

Qatar is engaging with Israel and Hamas over the ‘framework for talks’, Dr Majed al-Ansari, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of