Israel and Hamas accused each other of complicating ceasefire efforts on Wednesday, as the two sides inch closer to a deal that could wind down the 14-month war in Gaza.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least eight people were killed by Israeli military operations in and around the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank on Tuesday. The ministry reported three of the dead were killed by airstrikes.

The Israeli military said it opened fire after militants attacked soldiers, and it was aware of some uninvolved civilians who were harmed in the raid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there is “some progress” in efforts to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza, although he added he could not give a time frame for a possible agreement.

Of the roughly 250 people who were taken hostage in the Hamas-led raid on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that sparked the war, around 100 are still inside the Gaza Strip, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

US group Hostage Aid Worldwide said Tuesday that it believes journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, is still alive, though it did not offer concrete information on his whereabouts.

"We have data that Austin is alive till January 2024, but the president of the US said in August that he is alive, and we are sure that he is alive today," Hostage Aid Worldwide's Nizar Zakka said.

Defense Minister Israel Katz has acknowledged that Israel killed former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, as he warned the military would "decapitate" the leadership of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

"We will strike hard at the Houthis... and decapitate their leadership -- just as we did with Haniyeh, (Yahya) Sinwar, and (Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon, we will do so in Hodeida and Sanaa," Katz said, in the first public acknowledgement that Israel was behind the killing of Haniyeh in July in the Iranian capital.

On the walls of the palatial mausoleum built to house the remains of former Syrian President Hafez Assad, vandals have sprayed variations of the phrase, "Damn your soul, Hafez."

Nearly two weeks after the ouster of his son, Bashar Assad, people streamed in to take photos next to the burned-out hollow where the elder Assad's grave used to be. It was torched by rebel fighters after a lightning offensive overthrew Assad's government, bringing more than a half-century rule by the Assad dynasty to an end.

The Nativity Store in Manger Square has sold handmade olive wood carvings and religious items to people visiting the traditional birthplace of Jesus since 1927. But as Bethlehem prepares to mark its second Christmas under the shadow of the war in Gaza, there are almost no tourists, leaving the Nativity Store and other businesses unsure of how much longer they can hold on.

For the second straight year, Bethlehem's Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted, in deference to ongoing war in Gaza. There will be no giant Christmas tree in Manger Square, no raucous scout marching bands, no public lights twinkling and very few public decorations or displays.

In the towns and villages of southern Syria that Israel has occupied since the overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad, soldiers and residents size each other up from a distance.

The main street of the village of Jabata al-Khashab is largely deserted as a foot patrol of Israeli troops passes through it.

Iran's supreme leader denied Sunday that militant groups around the region functioned as Tehran's proxies, warning that if his country chose to "take action", it would not need them anyway.

The remarks came after a year in which Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza suffered heavy losses in wars with Israel, and two weeks after the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who had been a key link in Tehran's so-called axis of resistance.

Iran's supreme leader asserted that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after Assad's ouster, as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Hezbollah.