Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said "we are closer to a deal than we ever have been," according to Yaron Avraham on 103FM on Thursday. This is a statement he has not heard from an Israeli official up to this point, Avraham stated.Avraham argued that this indicates the mindset of some officials who believe a deal is possible with Hamas and, at the very least, bring about the first phase of the outline.

Norway condemns Israel's decision to "legalize" five settlement outposts in occupied Palestinian territory, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Thursday.He added that Norway found it "totally unacceptable" that Israel had also decided to advance the approval of 6,016 housing units for settlements in the West Bank.Norway, which recognized Palestine as a state in May, has been a vocal supporter of a two-state solution to end the generations-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Interim peace accords were brokered in Norway in the 1990s.

The United States had no involvement in a failed coup attempt in Bolivia last week, the White House said on Wednesday."The US had no involvement in that," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in a press briefing, adding Washington had condemned the deployment of army units in Bolivia.The failed coup attempt was led by the country's former top military commander, Juan Jose Zuniga, who alleged the nation's president had asked him to do something to boost his popularity. Bolivian President Luis Arce has denied any involvement and Zuniga was arrested.