Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has "activated" some clans of Palestinians in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas, though it was not immediately clear what role they would play.

His comments on social media were the first public acknowledgment of Israel's backing of armed Palestinian groups within Gaza, based around powerful clans or extended families.

Hamas' lead negotiator said Thursday the militant movement was ready for a new round of negotiations with a view to achieving a permanent ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

"We reaffirm that we are ready for a new, serious round of negotiations aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire agreement," lead Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a televised speech marking the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festivities.

Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday that recognizing a Palestinian state at the moment would send "the wrong signal".

Speaking at a Berlin press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar, he said that "negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians must be concluded" first, before the recognition of a Palestinian state.

A Frenchman accused of murdering his Tunisian neighbor in the south of France will appear before an anti-terrorism judge on Thursday, the national anti-terror prosecutor's office said.

Christophe B. is accused of killing Hichem Miraoui in an attack Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau described as both "racist" and "anti-Muslim". Anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the case, the first time a far-right racist attack has been treated as a "terrorist" offence since the unit was created in 2019.

Syrian fighter pilot Ragheed Tatari was 26 when he was arrested. Now 70, the country's longest-serving political prisoner is finally free after Bashar al-Assad's fall, seeking justice and accountability.

Tatari, arrested in 1981 and sentenced to life behind bars, was among scores of prisoners who walked free when longtime ruler Assad was overthrown on December 8 in an Islamist-led offensive.

Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab said Wednesday that authorities had seized all production facilities of illicit stimulant captagon, which became Syria's largest export under ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad.

In an interview with state television, Khattab said that "we were able to stop the production of this drug and seize all the materials and factories that were producing" captagon.

President Donald Trump is nominating Vice Adm. Brad Cooper to take over as the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, the Pentagon said Wednesday. If he is confirmed, it would mark just the second time that a Navy admiral has held the job.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement that Trump also is nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson to head U.S. Africa Command. Anderson would be the first Air Force general to lead the command, which was created in 2007.

Syria's new government has agreed to give inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog access to suspected former nuclear sites immediately, the agency's head told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, spoke in an exclusive interview in Damascus, where he met with President Ahmad al-Sharaa and other officials.

Germany's foreign minister said on Wednesday that the country would continue arms deliveries to Israel despite earlier suggesting that these were under review.

Johann Wadephul told a heated session in parliament that Israel, amid its military campaign in Gaza, was under threat from Yemen's Houthi rebels, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran, and that "Germany will continue to support Israel, including with weapons deliveries".

Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip, officials said Thursday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered and returned to Israel in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency.