Hamas said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "misleading" the international community after he addressed the U.S. Congress and called for expedited military aid to his country.

"Netanyahu's talk about intensified efforts to return the hostages is a complete lie and misleading Israeli, American and international public opinion, while he is the one who thwarted all efforts aimed at ending the war and concluding a deal to release the prisoners, despite the continuous efforts of mediators from our brothers in Egypt and Qatar," the Palestinian militant group said in a statement Wednesday.

Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of five people taken hostage into the Gaza Strip during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, the military said Thursday.

The army said in a statement that the bodies of hostage Maya Goren as well as soldiers Ravid Aryeh Katz, Oren Goldin, Tomer Ahimas and Kiril Brodski had been returned to Israel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met President Bashar Assad of Syria in the Kremlin, video distributed by the Kremlin press service on Thursday showed.

Putin told Assad he was concerned that tensions are rising in the Middle East, but neither leader provided further details on their talks. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad's government to fight armed opposition groups and reclaim control over most of the country. While Russia now concentrates the bulk of its military resources in Ukraine, it has maintained a military foothold in Syria and keeps troops at its bases there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded U.S.-Israeli unity and praised President Joe Biden in a fiery speech to Congress Wednesday that sparked boycotts by some top Democrats and drew thousands of protesters to the Capitol to condemn the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it has created.

Nine months into the war in Gaza, Netanyahu sought to bolster U.S. support for Israel's fight against Hamas and other Iran-backed groups.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement has agreed with Hamas to form a "national unity government" in post-war Gaza, but analysts are skeptical about the significance of the Beijing-brokered deal.

The agreement, signed by more than a dozen Palestinian factions on Tuesday, aims to find common ground for future Palestinian political institutions, which are currently divided between the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli delegation will head to Cairo on Wednesday for negations with Egyptian officials, according to Lebanon’s daily al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to Hezbollah. According to Egyptian sources, the negotiations will focus on the Rafah border crossing and Philadelphi corridor.

On Thursday, officials from Egypt, Israel, the United States and Qatar will meet in Doha with the aim of resuming talks for a proposed three-phase cease-fire to end the war between Israel and Hamas, al-Akhbar said. It added that Egyptian and Qatari mediators see that the first phase of the deal is close but they are concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might destroy a possible deal in the final hours.

Israel’s far-right national security minister said Wednesday that Jews are allowed to pray at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, threatening to stoke tensions that are already soaring over the war in Gaza.

Itamar Ben-Gvir has said before it's his policy that Jews should be able to pray at the hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. But his statement on Wednesday comes at a politically sensitive time, hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress in Washington.

The arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has touched off a flurry of protests in the nation's capital, including a sit-in at a congressional office building that ended with multiple arrests. Some of the demonstrations have condemned Israel but others have expressed support while pressuring Netanyahu to strike a cease-fire deal and bring home the hostages still being held by Hamas.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington Monday for a visit that includes meetings with President Joe Biden and a Wednesday speech before a joint session of Congress. Dozens of protesters rallied outside his hotel Monday evening, and on Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators staged a flashmob-style protest in the Cannon Building, which houses offices of House of Representatives members.

The U.N. envoy for Yemen has warned that recent developments in the Red Sea, Israel and inside the country "show the real danger of a devastating region-wide escalation" — but he also pointed to a glimmer of hope.

Hans Grundberg said that Yemen's warring parties — the internationally recognized government and Houthi rebels – informed him Monday night "that they have agreed on a path to de-escalate a cycle of measures and countermeasures which had sought to tighten their grip on the banking and transport sectors."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before Congress Wednesday in hopes of bolstering U.S. support for continuing Israel's fight against Hamas and other adversaries, even as the Biden administration is urging him to focus on closing a deal ending the devastating nine-month war in Gaza.

Netanyahu is assured a warm welcome from Republican lawmakers who arranged his speech in the House chamber, an appearance making him the first foreign leader to address a joint meeting of Congress four times, surpassing Winston Churchill.