Gaza (National Times) A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, has said there has been no progress in ceasefire talks with Israel over the Gaza offensive, Reuters reports.

The Palestinian group is still ready to “deal positively” with any ceasefire proposal that ends the fighting, Hamdan told a news conference in Beirut.

EU slams Israeli plans to legalise settlement outposts

The European Union has condemned the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to legalise five outposts in the occupied West Bank as “another deliberate attempt at undermining peace efforts”, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement, an EU spokesperson noted that bloc’s leaders at a meeting this week had condemned the Israeli government’s decisions to further expand illegal settlements and urged it to reverse them.

“In line with its longstanding common position and UN Security Council Resolutions, the EU will not recognise changes to the 1967 borders unless agreed by the parties,” it said.