Israel, Palestinians explore Gaza truce

JERUSALEM, Dec 12 (Reuters/AFP): Israelis and Palestinians are signalling new efforts to forge a ceasefire deal, even a limited one, for the first time in a year that would pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel some of the hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Wednesday there was now a chance for a new deal that would allow the return of all the hostages, including US citizens, Katz's office said.
A Western diplomat in the region, however, said a deal was taking shape, but it would likely be limited in scope, involving the release of only a handful of hostages and a short pause in hostilities.
Such a truce and release would be only the second since the start of the war in October 2023.
The guarded optimism emerges as US President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan heads to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and then to Egypt and Qatar, co-mediators with the US on a deal.
Separately, President-elect Donald Trump has demanded that militants of the Palestinian Hamas group release the hostages held in Gaza before he takes over from Biden on Jan. 20. Otherwise, Trump has said, there will be "hell to pay."
UN General Assembly calls for
'unconditional' Gaza truce
The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, a symbolic gesture rejected by the United States and Israel.
The resolution -- adopted by a vote of 158-9, with 13 abstentions -- urges "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire," and "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages" -- wording similar to a text vetoed by Washington in the Security Council last month.
At that time, Washington used its veto power on the Council -- as it has before -- to protect its ally Israel, which has been at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023 attack.
Israel strikes kill 12 guards
securing aid trucks
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Thursday morning killed 12 Palestinian guards securing aid trucks in southern parts of the territory.
Seven guards were killed in a strike in Rafah, while another attack left five guards dead in Khan Yunis, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP. The military did not give an immediate response when asked about the two strikes.