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.

Iran condemned on Tuesday the "reception and protection" of Israeli athletes at the Olympic games in Paris, demanding their exclusion over Israel's handling of the Gaza war.

Israel's delegation, which headed to France on Monday ahead of Friday's opening ceremony, is being tightly protected in the French capital amid growing international outrage over the the high civilian casualty toll and unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Israel slammed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas' Fatah party on Monday for signing an agreement with Hamas to rule Gaza together once the war ends.

"Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in China for joint control of Gaza after the war. Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X.

The Israeli government has budgeted millions of dollars to protect small, unauthorized Jewish farms in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, underwriting tiny outposts meant to grow into full-fledged settlements, according to an anti-settlement monitoring group.

Documents uncovered by Peace Now illustrate how Israel's pro-settler government has quietly poured money into the unauthorized outposts, which are separate from its more than 100 officially recognized settlements. Some of those outposts have been linked to settler violence against Palestinians and are sanctioned by the U.S.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week is looming as a fraught one between the two allies, coming at a moment of extreme political flux in the United States, and wariness among American leaders about Netanyahu's history of interjecting himself into U.S. domestic politics.

The main purpose of Netanyahu's visit is a speech to a joint meeting of Congress. But at stake, in meetings with administration officials, are hopes for progress in U.S.-led efforts to mediate an end to the nine-month Israel-Hamas war. The visit comes as the toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza nears 40,000. It's also in a week when new deaths were reported among the surviving hostages — who include Israelis, Americans and other nationalities — held by Hamas and other militants since the first hours of the war.