Hamas says its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has left Egypt after holding talks with Egyptian officials about a possible cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and an exchange of hostages held by the militants for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

The statement released early Friday by Hamas did not say whether Haniyeh’s talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel about ways of ending the war, a hostage deal and the flow of aid to Gaza were successful or led to a breakthrough.

Israel will control security in a demilitarized Gaza Strip and play a role in civilian affairs after its war on Hamas ends, according to a plan Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submitted to his Cabinet for approval.

While lacking specifics, the plan marks the first time he has presented a formal postwar vision. Netanyahu’s insistence on an open-ended Israeli role in running Gaza runs counter to key U.S. proposals for a revitalized Palestinian autonomous government eventually governing both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a precursor to statehood.

The Israeli war cabinet on Thursday voted to dispatch a delegation to Paris for high-level talks on a hostage deal and accompanying truce in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The decision comes after reports indicated Hamas has demonstrated a degree of flexibility in contacts on the terms of a framework deal and as the United States presses for an agreement.

The French navy has shot down two drones over the Red Sea where Yemen's Houthi rebels have been attacking ships, the defense ministry said Thursday, in the second such incident this week.

The navy, which has two frigates deployed in the area, detected a threat in the night of Wednesday to Thursday and "destroyed two drones", it said.

From the earliest days of the Israel-Hamas war, the United States and much of the international community have pressed Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. But as the fighting rages on with no end in sight, the humanitarian catastrophe there has only worsened.

United Nations agencies and aid groups say the ongoing hostilities, the Israeli military's refusal to facilitate deliveries and the breakdown of order inside Gaza make it increasingly difficult to bring vital aid to much of the coastal enclave.

Israel intercepted what appeared to be an attack launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels Thursday near the port city of Eilat as the group escalates its assaults over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, authorities said.

Sirens sounded early Thursday morning over Eilat, followed by videos posted online of what appeared to be an interception in the sky overhead.

A shooting attack on Thursday near a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed one person and wounded eight, Israeli police said, updating an earlier toll.

Police had earlier reported eight wounded but no deaths in the "terror attack" near Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem.

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday said there are "promising early signs of progress" on a new hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Israel’s parliament has given overwhelming approval to a declaration expressing opposition to international efforts to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.

Wednesday’s vote, approved by 99 of 120 lawmakers, is not binding but reflects the widespread sentiment in Israel as it battles Hamas militants in Gaza for a fifth month. Only nine lawmakers voted against the measure.

The United States said Wednesday the United Nations' top court should not issue an advisory opinion that says Israel should "immediately and unconditionally withdraw" from territories sought for a Palestinian state.

Acting State Department legal adviser Richard Visek said the 15-judge panel at the International Court of Justice should not seek to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict "through an advisory opinion addressed to questions focusing on the acts of only one party."