The changes that Hamas have requested to a ceasefire proposal presented by the United States are "not significant" and include the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, a senior leader in the group says.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Hamas had proposed numerous changes, some unworkable, to the US-backed proposal, but that mediators were determined to close the gaps.
Hamas demands it select a list of 100 Palestinians with long-term sentences to be released from Israeli jails, said the senior Hamas leader.
Hamas objected to the Israeli document's exclusion of 100 Palestinian prisoners with high sentences, whom Hamas would identify, as well as the restriction on the time period for the release of prisoners with high sentences to no more than 15 years remaining of their sentences, said the Hamas official.
"There are no significant amendments that, according to Hamas leadership, warrant objection," said the Hamas leader.
Britain is working with allies on a range of options to support commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in the face of Iranian threats, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said on Tuesday as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran roils oil prices.
Australia on Tuesday granted humanitarian visas to five Iranian women soccer players after they sought asylum, fearing persecution on their return home for their refusal to sing the national anthem at an Asia Cup match.
The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon has deepened amid the wider Middle East war, with 84 children killed and more than 667,000 people displaced, two UN agencies said on Tuesday.
Iran is fighting back but is not tougher than the U.S. military expected before the war, the top U.S. general told reporters on Tuesday, as the Pentagon promised its most intense day of strikes in the 10-day-old conflict.