Israel supplied Iran with centrifuge platforms containing explosives for its nuclear enrichment program, a top Iranian official has acknowledged for the first time, underscoring the sophistication of sabotage programs targeting the Islamic Republic.

The comments by Mohammad Javad Zarif, a former foreign minister who serves as vice president for strategic affairs for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, appear aimed at explaining to the country's disaffected public the challenges Iran's government faces under crushing Western sanctions over the program. The comments also acknowledged details previously reported in Israel about a 2021 attack on Iran's underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

Hamas has approved a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, Palestinian sources close to negotiations said Wednesday, after mediator Qatar expressed hope an agreement to end the war could be reached very soon.

After months of failed bids to end the deadliest war in Gaza's history, negotiators were making a final push in Qatar to seal a ceasefire.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a last-minute case Tuesday for a plan for the post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears tantalizingly close to completion.

Blinken touted the proposal, which has been in the works for a year, and discussed the importance of ensuring its success after the Biden administration leaves office in a speech to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.

Israeli airstrikes on two homes in central Gaza killed at least 17 Palestinians late Tuesday and wounded seven more, hospital officials said.

In the occupied West Bank, the Health Ministry said at least six people were killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Jenin refugee camp late Tuesday. The Israeli military confirmed a drone strike in the area but gave no further details. Israel has carried out months of raids in the camp in what it calls a crackdown against militants.

Mediators were making a final push Wednesday to seal a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, after a Qatari official involved in the talks expressed hope an agreement could be reached "very soon".

Qatar, Egypt and the United States have intensified efforts to broker a ceasefire to enable the release of hostages taken during Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to make a last-minute case Tuesday for a plan for the post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears tantalizingly close to completion.

Blinken will tout the proposal, which has been in the works for a year, and discuss the importance of ensuring its success after the Biden administration leaves office in a speech to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the speech.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Tuesday that it hopes for "clear and comprehensive agreement" at the conclusion of an ongoing round of indirect negotiations in the Qatari capital for a truce in Gaza.

Hamas said in a statement it had held consultations with leaders of other Palestinian factions "where it informed them of the progress made in the negotiations underway in Doha," adding that the completion of the agreement "has reached its final stages" and the movement "hoped that this round of negotiations will end with a clear and comprehensive agreement".

Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks said Tuesday. Mediator Qatar said the negotiations were at the "closest point" yet to sealing a deal.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity. An Israeli official said progress has been made, but the details are being finalized. The plan would need to be submitted to the Israeli Cabinet for final approval.

The first phase of a Gaza truce deal being negotiated in Qatar would see 33 Israeli hostages released, sources close to the talks and Israeli media said on Tuesday.

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have intensified efforts to clinch a deal in recent days, with a source briefed on the negotiations telling AFP earlier on Tuesday that a "final round of talks" was due to begin in Doha.

An Israeli rights group says Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of a north Gaza hospital who had disappeared since he was taken by Israeli troops during a raid two weeks ago, is being held in a notorious Israeli military prison in the occupied West Bank.

The group, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, said the Israeli military confirmed in an email that Abu Safiya is at Ofer Prison. A lawyer for Abu Safiya’s family was told that he will not be allowed to see him until Jan. 29, said a spokesman for PHRI, Ran Yaron, told The Associated Press. The military had previously refused to comment when asked by the AP about Abu Safiya’s location.