Middle East latest: 1 killed and 4 wounded in stabbing attack in Haifa, Israeli officials say

A man in his 60s was killed and four other people were wounded in a stabbing attack Monday in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, police said. Israeli authorities said the assailant was killed.

Police said they were treating the stabbing, which took place in a central transit hub, as a militant attack. A security guard and a civilian killed the attacker, who police said was an Arab citizen of Israel who had recently returned to Israel after some time abroad.

The attack took place as regional tensions are high surrounding the fate of the ceasefire in Gaza. The militant group Hamas praised the attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility for it.

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Here's the latest:

3-phase ceasefire is the only way of getting hostages back, Hamas warns Israel

A senior Hamas official said Monday the three-phase ceasefire deal is Israel’s sole way to get its hostages back from the militant group in Gaza.

Ossama Hamdan said that Israel “is pushing to return things to square one and overturn the agreement through the alternatives it is proposing.”

He said that implementation of the deal, including by engaging immediately in the second phase, is the sole way to return the hostages.

The first phase expired over the weekend. Israel said that a new U.S. proposal calls for extending the ceasefire through Ramadan — the Muslim holy month that began over the weekend — and the Jewish Passover holiday, which ends April 20.

Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the second phase during which Hamas is set to release living hostages, while Israel ends the war and withdraws its forces from Gaza.

Israel holds last of the funerals for 8 hostages killed in Gaza

Mourners in Israel attended the last of the funerals for eight of the hostages whose bodies were returned from Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire.

Crowds lined the long route of the funeral procession for Itzhak Elgarat, who was 68 when he was abducted by Hamas militants from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Israel has said that Elgarat was killed in captivity but the circumstances surrounding his death are not known. His brother, Danny Elgarat, told mourners at the funeral that in their last phone conversation, on Oct. 7, 2023, his brother had said to him, “Danny, this is the end.”

“Unfortunately you were right,” Danny Elgarat said in the eulogy for his brother. “We fought with all our might to prove you wrong. We failed. We didn’t do enough.”

A prominent and outspoken figure in the public struggle for the release of the hostages, Danny Elgarat also railed against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to bring back his brother alive.

“The enemy who caused your death was not the one who abducted you but the one who abandoned you,” he said. “You managed to survive the kidnapping, the kidnappers, and the injury for many months, and in the end, did not survive your own prime minister’s torpedoing (of the hostage deal) and abandonment. “

Israeli forces strike boat off Gaza, killing 2 Palestinian men

Hospital officials in Gaza said Monday that two Palestinian men were killed in an Israeli strike. The Israeli military said the men posed a threat to troops, who opened fire.

Naser hospital in Khan Younis received the two bodies. The deaths come as the fate of the ceasefire that paused the war in Gaza is unclear.

The Israeli military also said Monday forces struck a “suspicious motorized boat” off the coast of Khan Younis which it said was violating security restrictions.

Arab foreign ministers discuss Gaza plan to counter Trump's proposal

Arab foreign ministers are meeting in Cairo Monday for talks focusing on an Egyptian plan to rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip that is meant to counter President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer Palestinians out of the coastal enclave and take it over.

The ministers’ meeting comes ahead of an Arab summit Tuesday in Cairo which is meant to adopt the Egyptian plan, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said.

The Egyptian plan would not remove the population from Gaza. It designates three zones within Gaza to relocate Palestinians during an initial six-month period. The zones will be equipped with mobile houses and shelters, with humanitarian aid streaming in.

The proposal also includes the establishment of an interim Palestinian administration that is not aligned with either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, to run the strip and oversee the reconstruction efforts until a revamped PA, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, takes over.

Netanyahu apologizes to freed Israeli hostage for taking so long to secure his release

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to a freed Israeli hostage for taking so long to secure his release, his office said Monday.

According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli leader told Eli Sharabi, who was released last month as part of a ceasefire with Hamas: “I am sorry that it took us so long. We fought hard to get you out.” They spoke Sunday.

A gaunt looking Sharabi was released after 16 months in captivity to discover that his wife and two teenage daughters were killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack.

Sharabi, who has spoken of the tough conditions in captivity, is set to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday. Netanyahu said the meeting was important and Sharabi responded, according to the statement, that perhaps “with joint efforts, we will bring this whole saga to an end.”