Live: Trump envoy urges Netanyahu to reach ceasefire deal

Good evening Middle East Eye readers. On Sunday, the momentum around the ongoing ceasefire talks taking place in Doha appeared to swing in a positive direction.

Both the Biden administration and the incoming Donald Trump administration have said they are hopeful that a deal can be reached, while some media reports stated that Israel was "shocked" at Hamas' flexibility.

Still, a ceasefire agreement has yet to be reached, and the Israeli negotiating team is set to stay for another day in Doha.

Here's what else you need to know about Sunday's developments in Israel's war on Gaza:

• US Vice President-elect JD Vance spoke to Fox News, where he said Trump would “enable the Israelis to eliminate the last remnant of Hamas and its leadership” if a ceasefire deal in Gaza is not reached.

• The head of the US military's central command (Centcom), General Michael Kurilla, met with Saudi and Yemeni generals to discuss the ongoing battles against Houthi forces in the Red Sea.

• The head of the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs told Haaretz that the first stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal now taking shape could see at least 1,200 Palestinian prisoners released.

• An Israeli drone killed a young Palestinian man in the Shati refugee camp in the west of Gaza City.

• Israeli forces opened fire near the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, killing one Palestinian.

• Four Israeli air strikes were conducted between Houmin al-Fawqa and Deir al-Zahrati, an area that is above the Litani River in Lebanon.

• The bodies of at least three Palestinians were recovered by civil defence crews after an Israeli air strike hit a residence in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Several reports on Sunday said that the bodies of at least three Palestinians were recovered by civil defence crews after an Israeli air strike hit a residence in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City.

The civil defence crews said there were still several people missing under the rubble.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported on Sunday that four Israeli air strikes were conducted between Houmin al-Fawqa and Deir al-Zahrati, an area that is above the Litani River.

The Litani River was used to demarcate the line from which Hezbollah was supposed to withdraw in the ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese group. Hezbollah was supposed to withdraw to areas above the Litani River.

Lebanon has repeatedly accused Israel of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

Israeli forces on Sunday opened fire near the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, killing one Palestinian.

According to the Wafa news agency, the killing happened north of the Nuseirat camp in the al-Dawa area.

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke over the phone on Sunday, according to several reports.

The reports said the two leaders discussed ongoing efforts to secure a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The head of the US military's central command (Centcom), General Michael Kurilla, met with General Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, the chief of general staff of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces, during a visit to Saudi Arabia.

“The meeting underscored the enduring strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which remains a key partner in maintaining regional security, stability, and peace and prosperity for the region,” Centcom said in a statement on Sunday.

Kurilla also met with Saghir Hamood Bin Aziz, head of the armed forces for the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, which has been fighting the Houthis for more than a decade.

“The leaders discussed efforts to strengthen security cooperation and combat regional threats, such as Iranian-backed Houthis and their attacks against military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Bab Al Mandeb,” the statement said.

The US and the UK are currently fighting the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, after the Yemeni group began targeting Israeli-linked commercial ships in the Red Sea. Ansar Allah has vowed to continue these attacks until a ceasefire in Gaza is achieved.

US Vice President-elect JD Vance spoke to Fox News on Sunday, where he said Donald Trump would "enable the Israelis to eliminate the last remnant of Hamas and its leadership" if a ceasefire deal in Gaza is not reached.

He also suggested that the incoming Trump administration may impose "tough sanctions on those who support terrorist organisations in the Middle East".

Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, spoke with ABC News on Sunday, where he called for a ceasefire deal in Gaza to happen before Trump's inauguration on 20 January.

"Hamas has nowhere else to go but enter some type of agreement. Let's have a ceasefire, let's allow our hostages to be set free. I want to see them walking across a tarmac. At a minimum, some type of agreement before inauguration," he said.

"Any deal will only get worse for Hamas, and there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East if we continue [to] have this kind of hostage diplomacy."

The US has repeatedly blamed Hamas for delaying the progress in achieving a ceasefire. However, in Israel, critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - including relatives of some of the dozens of hostages still in captivity in Gaza - have accused him of stalling a deal for his own political survival.

US President Joe Biden will likely "engage" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday.

Biden "is likely, in the near term, to engage with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside," Sullivan said.

Sullivan told the news channel that Biden is getting daily updates on the progress of the Gaza ceasefire talks taking place in Doha.

"We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done," he said.

Jake Sullivan, the White House's national security adviser, has said reaching a Gaza ceasefire deal before Donald Trump becomes US president on 20 January is possible but not certain.

This comes after Trump warned that "all hell will break out" if a deal is not reached by the time he takes office.

Sullivan said on Sunday: "We are very close to a deal, but at the same time we are still far away because there is no agreement.

"It is possible to get a deal before January 20, but I cannot be sure that we will succeed."

Israel is reportedly refusing to commit to ending its war on Gaza after the proposed ceasefire's second phase, drawing out negotiations in Doha.

Israeli news organisation Haaretz reported, citing a "trusted source", that Hamas has insisted that fighting must end after the second phase, and that there will be a proposed compromise whereby America commits to working with Israel towards ending the war.

The first stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal now taking shape could see at least 1,200 Palestinian prisoners released, the head of the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs has told Haaretz.

Qadura Fares said those prisoners would include women and children, and that 200 would be prisoners serving life sentences.

However, he added, hundreds more prisoners could be freed if Israel demanded the release of more captives in the first stage of an agreement.

An Israeli drone has killed a young Palestinian man in the Shati refugee camp in the west of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

This comes after the Israeli military killed two people collecting firewood in the Mukhabarat area in northern Gaza City.

Israeli settlers have launched an attack on Palestinian vehicles on a road between Nablus and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Settlers ambushed cars near a military checkpoint, spraying Palestinian drivers with pepper spray, according to Wafa news agency.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, two Palestinian teenagers were injured by Israeli fire after Israeli forces stormed Jenin on Sunday morning.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said a 15-year-old boy sustained a gunshot wound and a 13-year-old was injured by shrapnel in his foot.

Israeli artillery shelling is targeting the area surrounding Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

This week the World Health Organization warned that al-Awda, the last remaining operational hospital in the region, is on the brink of collapse.

With an overwhelming influx of patients, the hospital is critically low on both fuel and essential supplies, pushing it to breaking point.

Despite efforts to reach the facility and provide much-needed resupplies, the UN health agency has been unable to navigate the destroyed roads and bureaucratic blockages that make safe access impossible.