10 more hostages to be released from Gaza 'shortly'
Mr Trump made the comment during a dinner with politicians at the White House, lauding the efforts of his special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been taking part in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha since 6 July, discussing a US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.
"We got most of the hostages back. We're going to haveanother 10 coming very shortly, and we hope to have thatfinished quickly," Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump has been predicting for weeks that a ceasefire and hostage-release deal was imminent, but agreement has proven elusive.
A spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, yesterday said the group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, but could revert to insisting on a full package deal if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations.
The truce proposal calls for 10 hostages held in Gaza to be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days.
In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 58,600 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza health authorities.
Gaza's civil defence agency said today that Israeli attacks killed 26 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 near two aid centres in the south of the Palestinian territory.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP that 22 were killed near a site southwest of Khan Yunis and four near a centre northwest of Rafah, blaming "Israeli gunfire" for both.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killedas a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel says missile launched by Yemen's Houthis was intercepted
Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi militant group said it had attacked Israel's Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile, while the Israeli military said the projectile was intercepted after air raid sirens were triggered in several parts of the country.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones the Houthis have launched at Israel have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The Iran-aligned Houthis have been firing at Israel and attacking shipping lanes. Traffic through the Red Sea, a critical waterway for the world's oil and commodities, has dropped since the militia began targeting ships in November 2023 in what the group said was solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Gaza war.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the 21-month war that has laid waste to the Palestinian enclave.
Earlier yesterday, Hamas said that while the group favours reaching an interim truce, if such an agreement is not reachedin current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a fullpackage deal to end the conflict.
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