Negotiators working to strike a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages made progress over the weekend, according to a senior US official familiar with the talks in Cairo, where mediators discussed “final details” of a potential agreement including the names of prisoners that would be exchanged as part of the pact.

United Nations officials are hailing limited pauses in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow children’s polio vaccinations as rare moments of hope in the war in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel will only agree to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that guarantees the border area between southern Gaza and Egypt could never be used as a lifeline for the Islamist movement Hamas.

Mr Netanyahu argued that Israeli troops must remain in this buffer zone to prevent weapons and possibly Israeli hostages being smuggled across the border. Hamas said in a statement cited by Reuters news agency that Mr Netanyahu's decision not to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor is an attempt to thwart the ceasefire agreement,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel must keep open-ended control of Gaza’s border with Egypt, digging in on his stance on an issue that has threatened to derail cease-fire efforts