The families of Israeli hostages still held by the Hamas militant group have released the names of three hostages expected to be freed on Saturday.

Hamas militants have named the next three Israeli male hostages to be released as part of a fragile ceasefire deal that had teetered in recent days amid a major dispute that raised the specter of figh

Hamas says it will release three more Israeli hostages as planned, paving the way toward resolving a dispute over the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military says it struck two people in the southern Gaza Strip who were flying a drone. It said Wednesday that the drone was observed entering Gaza from Israel after past attempts to use drones to smuggle in weapons.

The 42-day ceasefire has appeared close to failure since Hamas on Monday unexpectedly announced it would stop releasing hostages, leading Israel to respond with a threat to return to war.