Evening recap

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day’s key developments:

– Health officials in Gaza said eight people have been killed in Israeli air strikes since dawn, local time, on Wednesday. 

– US President Donald Trump said he is considering flying to Egypt and elsewhere in the region on Saturday, citing a potentially imminent announcement about a Gaza ceasefire deal. Earlier on Wednesday Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also suggested a ceasefire deal could be announced within hours. 

– DropSite News reported late on Wednesday that Hamas and other Palestinian factions have agreed to a framework for a Gaza ceasefire after three days of talks in Egypt. Hamas officials told the news outlet that only a few points remain that need to be finalised.

– Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Wednesday stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for the second time in a day, declaring an Israeli “victory” there, AFP reported. Hamas condemned his visit as a “deliberate provocation”. 

– A Spanish arms embargo was voted into law on Wednesday that bans all weapons sales and fuel transits to Israel, and also the adveritising of products that come from the occupied Palestinian territories, Al Jazeera reported. 

– The latest research reports from the Costs of War project at Brown University in the US now show that more than 10 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population has been killed or maimed during Israel’s genocide in the enclave since 7 October 2023.