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Israel, Hamas cease-fire deal with hostage release is in final stages as Netanyahu meets officials
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a potential cease-fire and hostage release are in their final stages, Fox News has learned, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with top officials. President Biden has said Tuesday that hostage releases are "very close" to happening.
An Air Force Special Forces AC-130 gunship is pictured in an undated photo. (US Air Force/Getty Images)
The U.S. carried out airstrikes last night directly responding to an attack at the al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, killing several militants, two U.S. defense officials tell Fox News.
The multi-rocket attack from Iran-proxy forces on the base happened Monday and caused minor injuries and minor damage to infrastructure, according to the officials.
A U.S. defense official tells Fox News that an AC-130 gunship carried out an airstrike on a vehicle in the proximity of the base, killing an estimated five to eight militants.
There have been dozens of attacks launched on American forces in the Middle East since Hamas launched its war against Israel. This is the 65th confirmed attack on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17.
The military response is the 4th time the U.S. has carried out an airstrike since the attacks ramped up in October.
The other counterattacks happened on Oct. 26, Nov. 8 and Nov. 12, all in Syria.
Fox News' Liz Friden contributed to this report.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks in New York City on Tuesday. (Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images)
Social media platform X hit United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with a community note that countered a claim he made about the deaths in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas.
The official U.N. News account on X posted several quotes from Guterres’s press conference on Monday, when he insisted, "We are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since I have been Secretary-General."
The post received a community note, which allows users to provide additional context for "posts that might be misleading," pointing to at least two conflicts with significant death tolls either equal to or above the death toll in the Gaza Strip -- the Syrian civil war and the Yemen War, which have seen hundreds of thousands killed.
An Israeli official told Fox News Digital, "The Secretary-General has lost any moral standing. He willfully ignores the thousands of civilians killed in conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere, as he pursues vilification of Israel. Shame on him."
A spokesperson for the secretary-general told Fox News Digital that Guterres stood by his comments, initially noting that Guterres was responding to the "large number of civilian casualties reported so far in Gaza" and argued that the numbers cited in the community note "are still below the 11,000+ deaths counted so far in Gaza" and the Yemeni casualties "preceded the secretary-general’s term."
An Israeli warplane flies over Rmeish, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon on Tuesday, Nov. 21. (AP/Hussein Malla)
The Israeli Air Force said Tuesday that "following a warning about the infiltration of hostile aircraft in the north of the country a short time ago, interceptors were launched at a number of suspicious aerial targets that crossed the territory of Lebanon towards the territory of the Western Galilee."
The development comes after the IDF alerted that sirens were going off in northern Israel.
"IDF forces attacked an anti-tank launcher earlier today in the Lebanese border area," the Air Force added. "Also, the IDF is now attacking targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently in meetings with top officials over a possible hostage swap and cease-fire deal with Hamas.
“We are currently focusing on a very strong and very proactive defense in the north in order to achieve a crushing victory in the south,” Netanyahu said earlier today while visiting soldiers who recently returned from a deployment along the Israel-Lebanon border, where skirmishes with Hezbollah have been ongoing.
This photo released by the Houthi Media Center shows Houthi forces boarding the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. Yemen's Houthis seized the ship in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen after threatening to seize all vessels owned by Israeli companies. (Houthi Media Center via AP)
Yemen rebels who hijacked an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Red Sea were backed, supported and potentially trained by Iranian authorities, according to a U.S. official.
New photos of the helicopter-borne Houthi attack on the Galaxy Leader, a cargo vessel linked to Israeli billionaire Abraham "Rami" Ungar, shows "all the signs" that Iran was behind the operation, an American defense official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
"This has all the signs these people were trained by a professional military, which could clearly be Iran," the defense official said. "This looks like something we haven’t seen before."
On Sunday, the Yemen rebel group seized the ship as it was traveling from Turkey to India. The rebels, carrying rifles and dressed in commando-style bulletproof vests, covered each other and moved in military formation before they quickly seized control of the bridge of the Galaxy Leader. The Israel Defense Forces described the hijacking as "a very grave incident of global consequence."
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Biden said Tuesday at the White House that "we're now very close" to hostages being released from Gaza. (Fox News)
President Biden said Tuesday that "we're now very close" to hostages being released from Hamas' captivity in Gaza.
"We can bring some of these hostages home very soon," Biden said at the White House. "But I don't want to get into the details of things because nothing is done until it's done. And we have more to say. We will. But things are looking good at the moment."
Biden made the remarks as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with top officials to discuss the hostage situation in Gaza.
There are reports Tuesday that Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a deal brokered by Qatar, which also would include a cease-fire.
Fox News Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst reports that Israel's military is "continuing their air campaign against northern Gaza" on Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with top officials over a possible cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas.
Yingst said there is "a lot of activity" along the Israel-Gaza border.
The Israel Defense Forces recently posted on X that sirens are sounding off in northern Israel, warning of the risk of possible airstrikes.
The IDF also tweeted that "40 children are held hostage in Gaza."
"Some lost their parents, their siblings, their friends -- but they all lost their innocence," it said in a video featuring the names of children ranging in age from 10-months-old to 18 years.
"We will do everything in our power to bring them home," the IDF added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that “I hope there will be good news soon” when it comes to the possible release of hostages being held by Hamas.
Netanyahu made the remark while visiting soldiers who recently returned from a deployment along the Israel-Lebanon border, where skirmishes with Hezbollah have been ongoing.
“We are currently focusing on a very strong and very proactive defense in the north in order to achieve a crushing victory in the south,” he said. “The first goal -- elimination of Hamas. We will not stop until it is done.
“Second goal, the return of the hostages -- we are making progress. I don't think it's worth saying too much, not even at this moment, but I hope there will be good news soon,” Netanyahu added. “A third goal is to ensure that what happened in Gaza does not happen again.”
Netanyahu is expected to meet with top officials in an hour to discuss the possible release of hostages as reports are emerging that Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a deal today.
Fox News’ Dana Karni contributed to this report.
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