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“To those who want to leave this entanglement I say: Whoever brings us a hostage will find a safe way out for himself and his family. We will also give $5 million for every hostage,” Netanyahu said.

Follow for live news updates on Israel’s tensions with Iran, the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and other developments in the Middle East.

Pope Francis has said that allegations of a genocide in Gaza should be “carefully investigated” marking some of his strongest criticism yet of Israel’s war with Hamas.

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have leaked classified information to foreign press in the hopes of influencing public opinion on hostage negotiations, according to a court release published Sunday.

Israeli troops are understood to have made their deepest incursion into southern Lebanese territory since the recent offensive began on October 1, as the militant group Hezbollah considered its response to a fresh ceasefire proposal.

Hezbollah is considering a US-Israeli ceasefire proposal, sources told CNN, as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group intensify.

Fifteen people were killed and 16 others injured in Israeli strikes on Damascus in Syria, state media SANA said, citing a military source and marking one of the deadliest strikes in months to hit the Sryian capital.

The United Nations has accused Israel of “severe violations” of a 50-year-old agreement with Syria, saying it has engaged in “engineering groundwork activities” that encroach on a key buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on a winning streak. His victories have been achieved at least partially by a long-standing tactic: delay.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

More than 80 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon and northern Gaza since late Saturday, according to reports.

Several United Nations agencies are again sounding the alarm on the rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions in much of Gaza and the civilian toll of more than a year of Israeli military operations.

France condemned the brief detention of two consulate members after it said Israeli police forced their way into a French-owned holy site in Jerusalem, in what is the latest diplomatic spat in a series of events that have sent relations between the two plummeting.

An Israeli airstrike on a multi-story building in northern Gaza killed at least 27 people, relief officials said, as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the area – where it is mounting a major offensive.

If his first term in the White House is any indication, President-elect Donald Trump is likely to keep the Middle East high on his agenda.

Rights groups say journalist Reza Valizadeh has been detained, amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.

A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran in what some student and rights groups say was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

Israel is at a “high level of readiness” for a response from Iran, an Israeli military source told CNN, as US officials visited the Middle East for a renewed push to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Follow live updates.