President Biden said he has been “deeply involved” in the ongoing hostage negotiations to release the foreign and Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and is “mildly hopeful” that an agreement can be reached. Hamas has agreed in principle to a tentative deal to free some hostages, with Israel weighing its response, The Washington Post reported. The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers were still continuing operations inside al-Shifa hospital on Thursday after troops entered the Gaza City hospital on Tuesday night. Posten could not independently verify the situation on the ground, where calls to doctors at the hospital went straight to voicemail. The hospital complex housed about 700 patients and 3,000 displaced people when the raid began, according to UN figures.
