News Wrap: Many challenges remain in negotiations between Israel and Hamas

In our news wrap Tuesday, Blinken met with negotiators in Egypt and Qatar as efforts continued to bridge a deal between Israel and Hamas, Israel’s military said it recovered the bodies of six hostages during a raid in Gaza, Russia and Ukraine each marked military gains in different areas, and an independent commission found authorities missed opportunities to prevent Maine’s 2023 mass shooting.
William Brangham:
Thanks, Amna and Geoff.
Secretary Blinken is on his ninth trip to the region since fighting began, and he says the U.S. will do everything possible to get Hamas on board with the current cease-fire proposals.
Today, he met with negotiators in Egypt and Qatar a day after announcing that Israel had accepted a proposal that would bridge gaps in negotiations. But many challenges remain. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his military wants lasting control over two strategic corridors inside Gaza, which is a nonstarter for Hamas.
In Doha today, Blinken said that condition is not included in the so-called bridging proposal that Netanyahu agreed to.
Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: That plan, among other things, as I said, includes a very clear schedule and locations for withdrawals. It’s so clearly in the interest of all concern, starting with Israel, to bring this to a close.
William Brangham:
Meantime, Iran says it could be a long time before it retaliates against Israel over the killing in Tehran last month of a Hamas leader. Iran blames Israel for that killing.
Israel’s military says it recovered the dead bodies of six hostages during an overnight raid in Gaza. A group representing hostages’ families say the men were kidnapped alive during the October 7 attack. The army did not say when or how they were killed.
Separately, Gaza health authorities say at least 10 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school that was sheltering some 700 people. Israel says the strike targeted Hamas militants who had set up a command center inside.
Russia and Ukraine are both making military gains in two different geographical areas of their ongoing conflict. Russian forces are advancing on the eastern Ukrainian city Pokrovsk, while Ukraine pushes deeper into Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine’s military chief said that his troops now control nearly 500 square miles of the territory.
And Russian sources say Ukraine has destroyed or damaged all three bridges over the Seym River in Western Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited a hospital today that cares for military personnel. In a recorded message, he warned of the dangers facing the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through interpreter):
Army Chief Syrskyi reported to me regarding the situation at the front. The defense efforts in the Pokrovsk and Toretsk sections, it’s a difficult situation, but the guys are doing everything to destroy the occupier.
William Brangham:
Elsewhere, an oil depot in Russia’s southwestern Rostov, region has been burning for three days now after it was hit by Ukrainian drones. More than 500 firefighters are reportedly working to contain the fire.
Back here in the U.S., in the state of Maine, an independent commission found that the Army Reserves and local police missed several opportunities that could have prevented a mass shooting in Lewiston last fall. Army Reservist Robert Card killed 18 people and himself in the deadliest shooting in that state’s history.
In its final report, the commission found that the local sheriff’s office could have taken Card into custody earlier under the state’s yellow flag law and that the Army Reserves did not provide Card proper mental health care or address his possession of multiple weapons.
Commission Chair Daniel Wathen described a series of missed opportunities.
Daniel Wathen, Commission Chair:
Had members of Card’s Army Reserve unit presented a full and complete accounting of the facts, the sheriff’s office might have acted more assertively in September.
William Brangham:
After that shooting, the Army conducted its own investigation and disciplined three leaders for dereliction of duty. Maine’s legislature also passed new gun laws, including a three-day waiting period for purchasing a gun.
On Wall Street today, stocks snapped a recent winning streak, though, the losses were limited. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped around 60 points. The Nasdaq also lost around 60 after eight consecutive winning sessions. The S&P 500 also ended the day a bit lower.
And we have a unique passing of note. The woman who was believed to be the world’s oldest person has died. Maria Branyas was born in San Francisco in 1907. That’s a decade before the United States entered World War I. Her family moved to Spain when she was young, and she died there at a nursing home in the Catalan town of Olot.
Her social media account called her — quote — “Super Catalan Grandma” with a bio that read: “I am old, very old, but not an idiot.”
She was 117 years old. According to the Gerontology Research Group, her passing leaves Tomiko Itooka of Japan as the new oldest living person. She is 116.