WASHINGTON: Israel is hopeful that a significant number of hostages could be released by Hamas “in coming days,” Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

“I’m hopeful we can have a deal in the coming days,” Herzog said.

Hamas took about 240 hostages during its cross-border rampage into Israeli communities on Oct. 7, which prompted Israel to lay siege to Gaza and invade the Palestinian territory.

CAIRO: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is embarking on a tour of the capitals of several permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The foreign ministers of a committee set up during the recent Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit will join him on the trip.

Ahmed Abu Zeid, spokesperson for Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Shoukry’s tour sought to advance the process of stopping the war in the Gaza Strip and to deal with the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in besieged Palestinian territory.

KHAROUM: The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces blamed each other on Saturday for a strike that damaged a bridge over the Jebel Awlia dam south of Khartoum, the latest piece of key infrastructure to suffer in a seven-moth war.
The extent of the damage to the dam was unclear, but severe damage to the dam threatened major flooding of the White Nile.
In recent weeks, a bridge in the capital Khartoum and a crucial oil depot were damaged in strikes, for which the two forces also blamed each other.

BEIRUT: An Israeli drone fired two missiles at an aluminum plant outside the southern Lebanese market town of Nabatieh on Saturday, causing a fire and widespread damage.

The Israeli strike near the village of Toul is the first to hit the area since the 34-day war in 2006 between Israel and the Hezbollah.

The drone targeted the factory on the Toul-Kfour road at 4 a.m. It was the first time an industrial facility had been targeted during the recent violence, a resident told Arab News.

JERUSALEM: Clutching photos of their missing loved ones, hundreds of relatives of hostages snatched into Gaza on October 7 marched into Jerusalem on Saturday to demand answers from the Israeli government.
The families, their faces etched with exhaustion and stress, were joined by thousands of supporters on the march which set out Tuesday from the coastal city of Tel Aviv, urging action to bring to the release of captives.