Yet according to multiple testimonies from Gaza, Hamas is on its last legs. Its military and political leadership has been almost entirely eliminated. Its government no longer governs. Gangs and looters are filling the vacuum.

Welcome to the news world from West Asia, your live source for real-time updates and analysis from one of the world’s most strategically vital regions. From shifting alliances and diplomatic breakthroughs to economic reforms and civil movements,

Trump's meetings with the Israeli leader have brought no apparent breakthrough for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the bloodshed continues unabated.

The deal comes more than 20 months into the conflict -- and more than three months after a previous deal ended.

A new round of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel started on Sunday after the mediators—Qatar, Egypt and the U.S.—submitted a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would send its negotiating team to Qatar, this after Hamas said it had issued a "positive response" to a U.S.-mediated ceasefire proposal.

In March, United Nations experts said in a report that Israel had used sexual violence as a war strategy in Gaza, allegations Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu rejected as biased and anti-Semitic. The authors of the Bar-Ilan University document presented the report to Israel’s first lady Michal Herzog on Tuesday.

Hospital officials in Gaza say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 38 Palestinians, while Israel has sent a ceasefire negotiating team to Qatar ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit.