Hamas said it would release a US-Israeli hostage held in Gaza as the group revealed it was engaged in direct talks with the United States towards a ceasefire in the war-battered territory.

The detained Indonesians had tried to enter Saudi Arabia for haj using a non-pilgrimage visit visa, for which they had paid around $9,000, according to the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday an expanded offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas would be "intensive" after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing the Gaza Strip and controlling aid.

It comes as the United Nations and aid organisations have repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming after more than two months of a total Israeli blockade.

Rwanda has in recent years positioned itself as a destination country for migrants that Western countries would like to remove.

The President said the Saudi leader had responded well to a plan to establish a speical village in Mecca for Indonesian pilgrims.

Foreign Minister Sugiono has said Israel must adhere to the obligations reserved for an occupying power as its siege of Gaza continues, asserting at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Geneva that Israeli blockages of humanitarian aid have unfolded one of “the biggest humanitarian catastrophes” in recent history.

WFP, one of the main providers of food assistance in the Palestinian territory, said it had "delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza Strip" on Friday.

The offered package comes after the administration of former President Joe Biden unsuccessfully tried to finalize a defense pact with Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisioned Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel. 

This is the Robdozer, a fortified engineering vehicle manned remotely, and in this case operated from a military expo halfway across the globe in Alabama.

Tehran has sought to tamp down expectations of a quick deal, after some Iranian officials speculated that sanctions could be lifted soon.

President Prabowo Subianto’s initiative to evacuate vulnerable persons from war-torn Gaza and transport them to Indonesia has continued to draw criticism following his return from a five-country Middle Eastern tour, even as his administration hinted this week that the President might go ahead with the plan.

During his latest Middle-Eastern tour, analysts saw President Prabowo Subianto as too focused on his domestic agenda, rather than the latest geopolitical and geo-economic issues, such as the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China, as well as Trump’s trade tariffs.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) is calling on President Prabowo Subianto to reassess his plan to evacuate 1,000 Gaza residents to Indonesia for temporary recovery.

President Prabowo Subianto received a warm "homecoming" welcome in Jordan on Sunday, following a stopover in Qatar where he claimed to have secured a US$2 billion investment commitment for the country’s new sovereign wealth fund, Danantara. 

President Prabowo Subianto has called out Western powers for their silence and inaction regarding the situation in Gaza, as Middle Eastern counties put up a united front to resist any plans to remove Palestinians from their homeland.

The President emphasized that diplomacy was still the "best option" for keeping the world on track in upholding a rules-based order and highlighted his commitment to democratic principles, while warning about the double standards of certain countries with regard to championing human rights.

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have become internally displaced by the war, with many making daily trips on foot to fill plastic containers with water from the few wells still functioning in remoter areas, and even these do not guarantee clean supplies.

Speaking before Turkish lawmakers in Ankara on Thursday, President Prabowo Subianto reaffirmed Indonesia’s solidarity with Turkey on the issue of Palestine, calling for both nations to adopt a “firm” stance and position themselves as a constructive and “important force” within the Islamic world and the Global South. 

Indonesia’s top diplomat on Thursday played down concerns that President Prabowo Subianto’s plan to evacuate 1,000 injured Palestinians from Gaza was a permanent relocation, as the President flew off to meet key regional players amid the latest escalation of the Middle East conflict.

Before departing for Abu Dhabi as part of his Middle East tour, President Prabowo Subianto said that Indonesia is ready to temporarily evacuate a total of 1,000 injured Palestinians and orphaned children.

Prabowo said he has instructed his foreign minister to quickly discuss with the Palestinian side and other parties about how to evacuate impacted Palestinians to Indonesia.

Low-cost airlines have opened routes linking Madrid and Paris to Dakhla in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony largely controlled by Morocco but claimed for decades by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the military would bolster its presence inside Gaza to fight militants and "destroy [...] terrorist infrastructure", with unspecified "large areas" to be "incorporated into Israeli security zones".

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Wednesday a major expansion of a military operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, saying the army would seize "large areas" of the Palestinian territory.

The IFRC said it was the single most deadly attack on its colleagues anywhere in the world since 2017.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday announced a new transitional government dominated by close allies and including one woman, replacing caretaker authorities in place since the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Hamas has agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal it received two days ago from mediators Egypt and Qatar, the Palestinian militant group's chief said on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf Arab states are to celebrate the Idul Fitri holiday from Sunday but other Middle Eastern countries will not do so until Monday.

Just over a week since its military resumed operations following a January truce, Israel said two projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip, with one intercepted and the other landing near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.