Hamas agrees to free 10 hostages

Hamas said on Wednesday it has agreed to release 10 hostages, while noting that current peace talks with Israel still face "difficulty" because of stiff Israeli demands.

The group said it "has shown the necessary flexibility" and agreed to release 10 hostages in a bid to ensure success of current truce efforts.

Key points remain under negotiation, including flow of aid, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, and the provision of real guarantees for a permanent ceasefire.

However, Hamas underscored "the difficulty of negotiations so far due to the intransigence of the occupation (Israel)" despite what United States President Donald Trump described as "a very good chance of a deal in Gaza this week or the next".

Also on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Trump were in "lockstep" with their efforts to secure a hostage deal.

"President Trump and I have a common goal. I want to achieve the release of our hostages. We want to end Hamas rule in Gaza. We want to make sure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel anymore," he told reporters in Washington before a meeting with US Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

Netanyahu said Trump "wants a deal, but not at any price", and reiterated that Israel has security requirements and other requisites, and "we're working together to try to achieve it".

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that Israel would negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Hamas if an agreement is reached on a temporary truce.

Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, told China Daily that the recent developments in Gaza ceasefire talks highlight the entrenched imbalance shaping the negotiations.

Hamas' announcement that it will release 10 hostages shows its willingness to engage, Siddiqa said, but core disputes (as mentioned above) remain unresolved.

"Israel, backed by the US, shows little urgency to compromise beyond short-term pauses," she said. "Meanwhile, Saar's statement that Israel is open to negotiating a permanent ceasefire only after a temporary one serves as a delaying tactic — buying more time for military goals while projecting diplomatic flexibility."

Despite negotiations in Doha, Qatar, Israeli air attacks on Gaza continued. Gaza's civil defense agency said on Thursday that at least 52 people, including eight children, were killed by Israeli forces.

Civil defense official Mohammad al-Mughair told Agence France-Presse that 17 people were killed in a strike in front of a medical center in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

The Israeli military told AFP that it had struck a Hamas militant in Deir al-Balah who had infiltrated Israel during the group's Oct 7, 2023, attack.

The military "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible", it said, adding the incident was under review.

Sanctions on UN official

In a related development, the US has imposed sanctions on United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese over her documentation of Israeli abuses against Palestinians during the Gaza conflict.

Albanese's "campaign of political and economic warfare" against the US and Israel "will no longer be tolerated", US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X.

UN rights chief Volker Turk called on Thursday for the "prompt reversal" of US sanctions against Albanese.

Siddiqa said the sanctions have exposed Washington's clear bias. "Rather than pressuring Israel to concede on critical humanitarian issues, the US silences a key advocate for Palestinian rights, showing it remains committed to shielding Israeli impunity. These moves hollow out the US' credibility as an honest broker," she said.

In addition, Trump's hosting of Netanyahu during the latter's Washington trip this week further reveals "the performative nature of American diplomacy", she said.

"These meetings offer Netanyahu political cover and strengthen Israel's leverage at the Doha talks but lack serious demands for Israeli concessions.

"In reality, Washington's gestures risk further entrenching Israel's hard-line stance, leaving Palestinian civilians to suffer through another fragile, superficial truce shaped by foreign political theater, not justice," she said.

Israel has become "an unstoppable bully in the region" with US backing, she said, adding that Israel "has evolved into a rogue state".

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.