Palestinian terrorist group Hamas wants Russia to push Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to begin negotiations on a national unity government for post-war Gaza, a senior Hamas official told the RIA state news agency after talks in Moscow.Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas politburo member, met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow."We discussed issues related to Palestinian national unity and the creation of a government that should govern the Gaza Strip after the war," Marzouk was quoted as saying by RIA.Marzouk said that Hamas had asked Russia to encourage Abbas, who is attending the BRICS summit in Kazan, to start negotiations about a unity government, RIA reported.Abbas is head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the governing body of the Palestinian territories.

French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his call for a ceasefire in Lebanon on Thursday, adding he regretted that Iran had engaged Hezbollah against Israel but also criticizing Israel's operations in the south of the country.International support will be needed to shore up and expand Lebanon's army and rebuild the country's destroyed infrastructure, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati told a Paris conference convened amid Israel's assault on Hezbollah.Mikati said the Lebanese government had decided to recruit more troops and could deploy 8,000 soldiers as part of a plan to implement a ceasefire and UN Security Council resolution, which calls for the army to be deployed in southern Lebanon.

Three Lebanese soldiers were killed, including an officer, in an Israeli strike during the evacuation of wounded people on the outskirts of the village of Yater in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army claimed in a statement on Thursday.

The Netherlands will join next year's Eurovision despite the disqualification of this year's Dutch candidate and fan-favourite Joost Klein, who has declined an offer to take part in 2025, Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS said late on Wednesday."Joost Klein was offered the chance to participate again. But in the end, he chose to decline this offer," the broadcaster said.AVROTROS had previously expressed doubts about participating in next year’s Eurovision after Klein was disqualified from the event, which was held in Sweden, following a complaint from a female crew member.Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation in August, citing differing perceptions of Klein's hand movement.The Netherlands has decided to compete next year, as the organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), have guaranteed they will make structural changes, AVROTROS said.

An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in Doha in the coming days to resume negotiations regarding a possible hostage deal. Additionally, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani noted that he met with representatives of the Hamas terrorist organization, stating that their position has not changed.Blinken added that during his conversation with the Qatari prime minister, they discussed how to capitalize on the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to push negotiations forward. "The time has come for this painful period in the region to come to an end," Al Thani said, as reported by Ynet. He also noted that he and Blinken discussed a "sustainable solution and the day after the war."