Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu pulls negotiators from Qatar

UK to undertake surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza

The United Kingdom announced it will conduct surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza as part of hostage rescue efforts.

The surveillance aircraft "will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages," the Ministry of Defense said.

It said only information relevant to hostage rescue will be shared.

It did not give any additional details about the flights. 

Netanyahu reportedly sees no role for Palestinian Authority in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he does not see a role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in post-war Gaza.

That is according to Israeli media reports on remarks Netanyahu made at a news conference in Tel Aviv, in which he condemned the PA, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank but not Gaza, which has been under the control of the militant, Islamist Hamas group since 2007. 

Netanyahu said the Palestinian Authority "pays murderers. They educate their children to hate Israel and, to my sorrow, to murder Jews, and ultimately for the disappearance of the State of Israel."

"I'm not prepared to delude myself and say that this defective thing, established under the Oslo Accords in a terrible mistake," should be allowed to govern Gaza, The Times of Israel quoted him as saying. 

"We would be putting the same element — utterly unreformed, utterly unchanged — into Gaza, and that's what even the best of our friends suggest. I think differently. I oppose it," he said. 

Netanyahu said Israel should take charge of Gaza's security and would have to do so for years to come.

Earlier in the day, US Vice President Kamala Harris said, "We want to see a unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian voices and aspirations must be at the center of this work."

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party and has ruled the enclave ever since.

Released Israeli hostages call for others to be freed

Israelis released in the past week by Hamas in Gaza called for the immediate release of the hostages still in captivity.

Yelena Trupanov, 50, joined a rally in Tel Aviv just two days after being freed, telling the crowd:

"I came to thank you because without you, I wouldn't be here. Now we must bring back my [son] Sasha  and everyone. Now."

The Times of Israel newspaper cited another former hostage, Hadas Calderon, who told the thousands of people gathered about the uncertainty and terror of being held hostage, adding that her husband, Ofer, is still in Gaza.

Similar messages from other released hostages were shown on video.

In one, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar called on "the decisionmakers, get the children and everyone out. ... I am a voice for many mothers and grandmothers asking, 'Release the children now.' I want to see them now. Not when I'm in a coffin."

A seven-day truce, during which Hamas had released 110 hostages, ended on Friday. The Israeli military said Saturday that Hamas continues to hold 137 people hostage. 

More than 240 people — Israelis and foreign nationals — were abducted to Gaza on October 7 by Hamas militants who burst through the border with Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to local authorities.

Israel responded with a bombing campaign and ground offensive against Hamas — a group designated as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and several other governments.

Israel's retaliation has destroyed large areas of Gaza and killed more than 15,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.

US defense secretary says protecting civilians a 'strategic imperative'

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday urged Israel to protect civilians during its military operation in Gaza, saying it was "a moral responsibility and strategic imperative."

"In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. If you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat," the former four-star general said.

He was speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, saying he had "learned a thing or two about urban warfare" while fighting the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).

"Like Hamas, ISIS was deeply embedded in urban areas. And the international coalition against ISIS worked hard to protect civilians and create humanitarian corridors, even during the toughest battles," Austin said.

"The lesson is not that you can win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. The lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians," he added.

Austin also called the US commitment to Israel's security "ironclad."