A Syria war monitor said Wednesday that four civilians had been killed in a security operation in a former pro-government bastion this week, while clashes in the south had left at least seven security personnel and gunmen dead.

Landmines and unexploded ordnance in Syria have killed or injured at least 188 children since president Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in December, the Save the Children charity said Thursday.

Hamas officials said the group has held direct talks with a U.S. envoy on freeing hostages held in Gaza, after the White House said it was engaged in talks with the Palestinian militants.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened further destruction of Gaza if all remaining hostages are not released, and issued an ultimatum to Hamas leaders to flee.

The United States meanwhile confirmed unprecedented indirect talks with Hamas, which it proscribes as a "terrorist" group, focused on American hostages in Gaza.

Qatar on Wednesday rebuffed what it said were "false accusations" by Israel's domestic security agency attributing funds from the Gulf state to an increase in Hamas's military strength before its unprecedented October 7 2023 attack.

"False accusations made by the Shin Bet security agency linking Qatari aid to the October 7 attack are yet another example of deflection driven by self-interest and self-preservation in Israeli politics," Qatar's International Media Office said in a statement.

The Israeli military said it demolished two homes on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron belonging to Palestinians accused of carrying out a deadly attack in Tel Aviv in October of 2024.

In a statement, the military said its forces "destroyed in Hebron the homes of the two terrorists who carried out the attack at the Jaffa light rail station in which seven Israelis and foreign residents were murdered and 15 additional civilians were injured".

Ir Amim, an Israeli rights group, said Israel demolished a record number of Palestinian homes — 181 — in annexed east Jerusalem last year.

It said that more recently, Israel appears to have dropped a longstanding policy against demolishing homes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last weekend. It said a residential building and three apartments have been destroyed over the past week.

Arab leaders on Tuesday endorsed Egypt's postwar plan for the Gaza Strip that would allow its roughly 2 million Palestinians to remain, in a counterproposal to U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to depopulate the territory and redevelop it as a beach destination.

The $53 billion plan's endorsement by Arab leaders at a summit in Cairo amounted to a rejection of Trump's proposal. The summit conclusions were welcomed by Hamas, rejected by Israel and given a lukewarm response by the Trump administration.

Israel's cutoff of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza's 2 million people has sent prices soaring and humanitarian groups into overdrive trying to distribute dwindling stocks to the most vulnerable.

The aid freeze has imperiled the progress aid workers say they have made to stave off famine over the past six weeks during Phase 1 of the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to in January.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told new military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir Wednesday that Israel is "determined" to achieve victory in the multi-front war that began with Hamas' October 2023 attack.

"A very heavy responsibility rests on your shoulders, the results of the war will have significance for generations, we are determined to achieve... victory" Netanyahu told Zamir during his inauguration at the military's headquarters in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv.