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Lebanon Optimistic on Reaching Maritime Border Deal with Israel

A base for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
A base for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
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Lebanon Optimistic on Reaching Maritime Border Deal with Israel

A base for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
A base for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Friday there is more optimism than ever on reaching a deal to delineate the country's maritime border with Israel via US mediation, according to a tweet from the ministry's account.

"There has never been optimism to the extent that there is today," Bou Habib said, noting that the US official mediating the dispute, Amos Hochstein, would arrive in Beirut over the weekend for talks with Lebanese officials.

Lebanon and Israel are locked in US-mediated negotiations to delineate a shared maritime border that would help determine which oil and gas resources belong to which country and pave the way for more exploration.

Hochstein met Israeli negotiators in June and updated them on the results of a visit to Lebanon earlier that month, the Israeli energy ministry said at the time.

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Sources to Asharq Al-Awsat: Israel Nearly Killed 2 of its Hostages in Gaza

Smoke rises after an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, ahead of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Smoke rises after an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, ahead of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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Sources to Asharq Al-Awsat: Israel Nearly Killed 2 of its Hostages in Gaza

Smoke rises after an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, ahead of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Smoke rises after an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, ahead of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israel nearly killed two of its captives held by Hamas in an airstrike on Gaza City, Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday.

The sources, which are from resistance factions, said that the two captives were injured as a result of the Israeli bombardment targeting a house in one of Gaza City's neighborhoods. The sources refused to disclose the conditions of the captives, the severity of their injuries, or their identities.

However, the sources indicated that the hostages received the necessary treatment and were moved to a safe location after the Israeli airstrike.

A truce in the Gaza Strip, announced by mediators Qatar and the United States on Wednesday, would take effect on Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be finalized.

Hamas confirmed on Thursday that Israel targeted a site where a hostage was located. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that an Israeli airstrike targeted a location where a female hostage was present after the ceasefire agreement was announced.

The spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades did not reveal details about the fate of the captive after the airstrike.

"The enemy’s military targeted a place where one of the female captives included in the first stage of the upcoming deal was located," he said.

"Any aggression or bombing at this stage by the enemy can turn a prisoner’s freedom into a tragedy," the spokesperson added.