Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike in the northern West Bank has killed two Palestinians.

Israel’s military said it struck a militant cell near the town of Al-Aqaba, in the Jordan Valley. It did not immediately give more details.

The Princess of Wales will help kick off the emir of Qatar's trip to Britain on Tuesday as the U.K. government enlists one of the most popular royals to ensure the success of a state visit by the leader of a key ally, even as the princess recovers from cancer treatment.

The event will be just one of a handful of appearances that Prince William's wife, better known as Kate, has made since she was diagnosed with cancer in March, underscoring the importance of the gas-rich gulf state that invests billions in Britain and has played a central role in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.

Islamist-led rebels battled army troops on Tuesday as they advanced towards the city of Hama in central Syria, a war monitor said.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies fought some of the "most violent" clashes with troops in the area since launching a lightning offensive last week, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

The surprise resurgence of Syria's civil war is shaking the table for the United States, which tried to turn the page years ago on a devastating conflict where it saw few good outcomes.

The latest turmoil in a chaotic region comes less than a couple months before the return of President-elect Donald Trump, whose team could see an unexpected opportunity as part of its bid to reshape the Middle East, albeit with plenty of question marks.

Palestinian officials say Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war. It would effectively end Hamas' rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel.

The rival factions have made several failed attempts to reconcile since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. Israel has meanwhile ruled out any postwar role in Gaza for either Hamas or Fatah, which dominates the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

An Israeli air strike hit a car on the Damascus airport road on Tuesday, causing it to explode, Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

"A car exploded after it was targeted in an Israeli aggression on the road to Damascus International Airport," SANA reported, killing one person, without saying who was targeted.

President-elect Donald Trump is demanding the immediate release of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, saying that if they are not freed before he is sworn into office for a second term there will be "HELL TO PAY."

"Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social site.

The recent rapid advance by opposition fighters in Syria shows that Syrian President Bashar Assad must reconcile with his own people and hold dialogue with the opposition, the Turkish foreign minister said Monday.

At a joint news conference in Ankara with his Iranian counterpart, Hakan Fidan said Turkey and Iran, which support opposing sides in Syria's civil war, have agreed to resume diplomatic efforts along with Russia to restore calm days after insurgents launched a lightning offensive and captured almost all of the country's largest city, Aleppo.

Russian and Syrian air strikes in northwestern Syria on Monday killed 11 civilians, five of them children, a Syria war monitor said.

"Joint raids conducted by Russian and Syrian warplanes on several areas including Idlib city and a camp for the displaced to its north" left 11 civilians dead and wounded dozens of others, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A Hamas delegation discussed a ceasefire in Gaza with Egyptian intelligence officials, two officials from the Palestinian Islamist group told AFP on Monday.

The "delegation met with the head of the Egyptian general intelligence, Major General Hassan Rashad, and a number of Egyptian intelligence officials, and discussed ways to stop the war and aggression, bring in aid, and open the Rafah crossing" at Gaza's border with Egypt, said a senior Hamas official who was part of the Cairo meeting on Sunday evening.