Based on a statement provided to Reuters by the source, the draft proposal for the first stage of the deal would last 40 days and the prisoner-hostage exchange would be at an overall ratio of 10 to one.

Also included in the proposal:

* Both parties stop their military operations completely.

* Aerial reconnaissance operations over Gaza will stop for eight hours a day.

* All Israeli detainees, including women, children under 19 years of age, the elderly aged 50 years and above, and the sick, must be released in exchange for a specific number of Palestinian prisoners according to the numbers listed below.

* In exchange for the 40 detainees listed under the humanitarian category, approximately 400 Palestinian prisoners will be released, according to the ratio of 10 prisoners to one hostage.

* Gradual return of all displaced civilians – except men of military service age – to the northern Gaza Strip.

* After commencing the first phase, Israel will reposition its forces away from densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.

* Commitment to bring in 500 trucks per day of humanitarian aid.

* Commitment to providing 200,000 tents and 60,000 caravans.

* Allowing the rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries in Gaza, including immediately allowing the entry of necessary equipment and providing shipments of fuel for these purposes, according to quantities to be agreed upon.

* Israel agrees to the entry of heavy machinery and equipment to remove rubble and assist with other humanitarian purposes, with the provision of fuel shipments necessary for these purposes, according to quantities to be agreed upon, provided that they increase over time. Hamas pledges not to use these machines and equipment to threaten Israel.

* It is understood that the arrangements agreed in the first phase will not apply to the second phase, which will be subject to subsequent separate negotiations.

Reporting by Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Edmund Blair and Michael Perry

The motives behind the attack by the detained man were unclear, police add. The 8:00 am (0700 GMT) attack left one person with serious injuries while two others were lightly wounded.

The massive barrage of strikes hit more than 85 targets at seven locations, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC’s Quds Force, the Guard’s expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship with and arming of regional militias. And President Joe Biden made it clear in a statement that there will be more to come.

The U.S. strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders, as the U.S. tries to prevent the conflict from escalating even further. Iran has denied it was behind the Jordan attack.

It was unclear what the impact will be of the strikes. Days of U.S. warnings may have sent militia members scattering into hiding. With multiple groups operating at various locations in several countries, a knockout blow is unlikely.

Though one of the main Iran-backed militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said it was suspending attacks on American troops, others have vowed to continue fighting, casting themselves as champions of the Palestinian cause while the war in Gaza shows no sign of ending.

“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” Biden warned, adding, “let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.” He and other top U.S. leaders had been saying for days that any American response wouldn’t be just one hit but a “tiered response” over time.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the targets “were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties and based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on U.S. personnel in the region.” He declined to detail what that evidence was.

The strikes took place over about 30 minutes, and three of the sites struck were in Iraq and four were in Syria, said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director of the Joint Staff.

U.S. Central Command said the assault involved more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States. Sims said weather was a factor as the U.S. planned the strikes in order to allow the U.S. to confirm it was hitting the right targets and avoiding civilian casualties.

It’s not clear, however, whether militia members were killed.

“We know that there are militants that use these locations, IRGC as well as Iranian-aligned militia group personnel,” Sims said. “We made these strikes tonight with an idea that there there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities.”

Syrian state media reported that there were casualties but did not give a number. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 18 militants were killed in the Syria strikes.

Iraqi army spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement that the city of al-Qaim and areas along the country’s border with Syria had been hit by U.S. airstrikes. The strikes, he said, “constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, posing a threat that will pull Iraq and the region to undesirable consequences.”

Kirby said that the U.S. alerted the Iraqi government prior to carrying out the strikes.

The assault came came just hours after Biden and top defense leaders joined grieving families to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Just Friday morning, Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to potentially retaliate for any U.S. strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” Raisi said.

In a statement this week, Kataib Hezbollah announced “the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government.” But that assertion clearly had no impact on U.S. strike plans. Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the other major Iran-backed groups, vowed Friday to continue military operations against U.S. troops.

The U.S. has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the attack in Jordan, but hasn’t narrowed it down to a specific group. Kataib Hezbollah is, however, a top suspect.

Some of the militias have been a threat to U.S. bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war has led to the deaths of more than 27,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and has inflamed the Middle East.

Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used the conflict to justify striking Israeli or U.S. interests, including threatening civilian commercial ships and U.S. warships in the Red Sea region with drones or missiles in almost daily exchanges.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East.” He said the U.S. will take all necessary actions to defend its interests and people, and warned, “At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past.”

As of Tuesday, Iran-backed militia groups had launched 166 attacks on U.S. military installations since Oct. 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, according to a U.S. military official. The last attack was Jan. 29 at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, and there were no injuries or damage.

The U.S., meanwhile, has bolstered defenses at Tower 22, the base in Jordan that was attacked by Iran-backed militants on Sunday, according to a U.S. official. While previous U.S. responses in Iraq and Syria have been more limited, the deaths of the three service members in Jordan crossed a line, the official said.

That attack, which also injured more than 40 service members — largely Army National Guard — was the first to result in U.S. combat deaths from the Iran-backed militias since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. Tower 22 houses about 350 U.S. troops and sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is only 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.

Also Friday, the Israeli military said its Arrow defense system intercepted a missile that approached the country from the Red Sea, raising suspicion it was launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.

And a U.S. official said the military had taken additional self-defense strikes inside Yemen Friday against Houthi military targets deemed an imminent threat. Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he had already decided how to respond to a drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan on Saturday, but gave no further details about his plan.

Washington has blamed the attack, the first to kill U.S. troops in the Middle East since an escalation in regional violence accompanying the war between Israel and Hamas, on Ketaib Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian militia based in Iraq. The group said on Tuesday it was suspending military actions against the United States to avoid embarrassing the Baghdad government.

“We hear threats coming from American officials, we tell them that they have already tested us and we now know one another, no threat will be left unanswered,” Iran’s Salami said, according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.

State media quoted Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, as telling a cabinet meeting: “The U.S. has to stop its threats and focus on a political solution.”

Washington “has to accept the resistance as a fact”, he said, referring to Iran’s name for its alliance of armed groups across the Middle East.

U.S. forces based in Syria, Iraq and at sea have been engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with pro-Iranian armed groups since Israel launched its retaliatory war against Hamas after the Palestinian group attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

DeSantis’ sentiments are the most severe of the backlash that ensued over the weekend, with Rep. Marjorie Taylore Greene calling her a ‘terrorist sympathizer’ and Donald Trump Jr. lamenting that the U.S. is not even in the ‘top three’ of her priorities.

Video emerged of Omar’s speech in Minneapolis on Saturday where she declared she is ‘Somalia first’.

‘Expel from Congress, denaturalize and deport!’ DeSantis, who dropped out of the 2024 presidential race earlier this month, posted to X on Tuesday.

Rep. Omar is a member of the progressive squad of lawmakers in the House who emigrated from Somalia in 1995. She said in Somalian that her home country is her top priority when legislating in Congress.

Her second priority, according to a translation of the remarks, is Islam.

‘You know, Ilhan Omar says stuff like, ‘Oh, well, I’m Somali first, Muslim next. We’re going to make sure that Somali is heard.’ Like, you now, you are in the United States Congress,’ Trump Jr. lamented in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday evening.

‘Like we don’t even get a mention anymore in America,’ he added. ‘Like, we’re not even top three or we just get forgot about entirely.’

‘And yet, that feels like it’s coming from so much of Congress. By the way, including from our own side,’ he added.

Don Jr. then slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for also being out of touch with average Americans by claiming that funding the war in Ukraine is a top priority of U.S. citizens.

Rather, the former president’s eldest son said that going around the country and meeting with people working the venues teaches him that his father’s messaging is working.

‘I’ve said this now numerous times – we talked about the war in Ukraine. You know, I hear Mitch McConnell, he’s out there: ‘It’s the number one priority of Americans.’ I’m like, it’s not for me,’ Don Jr. said.

‘And I can assure you just by speaking to this room alone today,’ he added, ‘I have been in front of more real Americans than Mitch McConnell has probably in his entire 279-year career.’

Rep. Omar is being accused of ‘treason’ and calls to be removed from Congress as she faces fierce opposition for the speech where she unapologetically declared she is ‘Somalia first.’

Somaliland Ambassador Rhoda Elmi reposted video of Omar’s speech on X and called it ‘regrettably unbecoming’ and ‘lacking in common decency.’

‘We hope the house leadership and her caucus will take note of her public conduct, unbecoming a United States Congresswoman nor representative of the august house she serves in,’ Elmi wrote in her lengthy statement posted to X.

The leaked video of Omar’s speech on January 27 quickly went viral and garnered widespread criticism, including from far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who accused her colleague of using her position to protect people who ‘hate America’ and also said she’s clearly admitting to putting another country ahead of American interests.

House Majority Whip Tim Emmer, who also represents a district in Minnesota , called for his colleague’s resignation.

‘Ilhan Omar’s appalling, Somalia-first comments are a slap in the face to the Minnesotans she was elected to serve and a direct violation of her oath of office,’ Rep. Emmer said in a statement, according to Alpha News . ‘She should resign in disgrace.’

Omar decried the criticism as ‘completely off,’ claiming she is saying that her top priority as a U.S. member of Congress is to represent the best interests of Somali people in America.

‘Sleep in comfort knowing I am here to protect the interest of Somalia from inside the U.S. system,’ Omar said while speaking in Somalian at a Minneapolis event on Saturday when the moment was captured on camera and circulated online.

She also uplifted Somalia’s ‘unity’ against Ethiopia and Somaliland, which is an unrecognized state considered part of Somalia, and supported Somalia forcibly retaking land around their country.

ACT for America founder and Chairwoman Brigitte Gabriel wrote on X: ‘Ilhan Omar puts Somalia first, Islam second, and America last.’

Rep. Greene wrote: ‘Terrorist sympathizer Ilhan Omar in her own words: Somalian first. Muslim second. She never mentions America.’

‘She flaunts using her position as congresswoman to protect Somalia’s border while our border is invaded by MILLIONS of illegals who are a danger to America,’ she added. ‘These people hate America and they’re so emboldened by the Democrats’ disdain for our country, they’re not even trying to hide it anymore.’

Oamr said in her speech that ‘the US government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else.’

‘They must follow our orders and that is how we will safeguard the interest of Somalia,’ she adds. ‘We Somalians must have the confidence in ourselves that we call the shots in the U.S.’

‘Together we will protect the interests of Somalia.’

Americans for Prosperity Tennessee Ambassador Robby Starbuck accused Omar of ‘openly admitting allegiance to a foreign nation and to using her position in government to put that foreign nation first.’

‘This is treason,’ he declared. ‘Ilhan Omar is an agent for Somalia. It’s all out in the open. She should be removed from Congress at the very least. Absolutely insane.’

This isn’t the first time calls have ensued to remove Omar from her position in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Omar’s previous anti-Semitic remarks as well as her demanding Israel stop defending itself against Hamas terrorists in Gaza have led to calls from Republicans that she be removed from Congress and sparked censure resolutions from colleagues.

She is part of the progressive ‘squad’ of lawmakers, which includes the likes of Reps. Alexandria Ocasi-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rsahida Tlaib, who is Palestinian-American.

The SEALs were reported missing after boarding the vessel in a Jan. 11 operation near the coast of Somali, the U.S. Central Command said on X.

“We mourn the loss of our two Naval Special Warfare warriors, and we will forever honor their sacrifice and example. Our prayers are with the SEALs’ families, friends, the U.S. Navy, and the entire Special Operations community during this time,” CENTCOM Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement.

A joint operation carried out by the United States, Spain and Japan searched more than 21,000 square miles of ocean for the missing SEALs, CENTCOM said in the statement.

That mission had now become a recovery operation, CENTCOM said.

The U.S. has carried out a string of strikes against Houthi targets in response to Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks.

U.S. Central Command forces on Saturday struck a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Gulf of Aden and prepared to launch, the U.S. military said.

The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have claimed their attacks on commercial ships are aimed at supporting the Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza.

The Houthi movement has vowed to keep up attacks despite the strikes last week against radar and missile capabilities.

(This story has been corrected to clarify that the boat was in Gulf of Aden in headline, not an Iranian ship, and to say it was carrying Iranian weapons in paragraph 1)

Reporting by Rami Ayyub in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler

Other local media in Syria reported explosions heard across the capital.

Reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus, Nayera Abdallah in Dubai and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; editing by Mark Heinrich

The back-and-forth clash was the latest demonstration of how the Israel-Hamas war is rippling across the Middle East, creating turmoil that has turned U.S. troops at bases in Iraq and Syria into targets.

Iran-aligned groups in Iraq and Syria oppose Israel’s campaign in Gaza and hold the United States partly responsible.

At President Joe Biden’s direction, the U.S. military carried out the strikes in Iraq at 1:45 GMT, likely killing “a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants” and destroying multiple facilities used by the group, the U.S. military said.

“These strikes are intended to hold accountable those elements directly responsible for attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Syria and degrade their ability to continue attacks. We will always protect our forces,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, in a statement.

A U.S. base in Iraq’s Erbil that houses U.S. forces came under attack from a one-way drone earlier on Monday, leading to the latest U.S. casualties.

The base has been repeatedly targeted. Reuters reported on another significant drone attack in October on the barracks at the Erbil base on Oct. 26, which penetrated U.S. air defenses but failed to detonate.

The Pentagon did not disclose details about the identity of the service member who was critically wounded or offer more details on the injuries sustained in the attack. It also did not offer details on how this drone appeared to penetrate the base’s air defenses.

“My prayers are with the brave Americans who were injured,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

The White House National Security Council said Biden was briefed on the attack on Monday and ordered the Pentagon to prepare response options against those responsible.

“The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way. The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

Still, it is unclear if the latest U.S. retaliation will deter future action against U.S. forces, who are deployed in Iraq and Syria to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State militants.

The U.S. military has already come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones.

The U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad also came under mortar fire earlier in December, the first time it had been attacked in more than a year, in a major escalation.

The latest unrest came less than a week after Austin returned from a trip to the Middle East focused on containing efforts by Iran-aligned groups to broaden of the Israel-Hamas war.

That includes setting up a U.S.-led maritime coalition to safeguard Red Sea commerce following a series of drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that more than 20 countries have agreed to participate in the new U.S.-led coalition, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian.

Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Michael Perry

Weeks after Israel sent ground forces into northern Gaza, the army has been air-dropping leaflets in parts of the besieged territory’s south, telling Palestinians to flee to other areas.

Tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers were seen Monday near the city of Khan Yunis, which is crowded with internally displaced Palestinians, witnesses told AFP.

Amin Abu Hawli, 59, said the Israeli vehicles were two kilometres (1.2 miles) inside Gaza in the village of al-Qarara, while Moaz Mohammed, 34, said Israeli tanks were moving down the strip’s main north-south highway, the Salah al-Din road.

The military was trying to cut the road between Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Yunis, “firing bullets and tank shells at cars and people trying to move through the area,” Mohammed said.

Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said Sunday that the army “continues to expand its ground operation against main Hamas fronts in the Gaza Strip”.

“Wherever there is a Hamas stronghold, the IDF operates,” he added.

Full-scale fighting resumed Friday after the collapse of a week-long truce brokered by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, during which Israel and Hamas had exchanged scores of hostages and prisoners.

Air strikes have since intensified in Gaza’s south, said James Elder, a spokesman for the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF.

“Despite what has been assured, attacks in the south of Gaza are every bit as vicious as what the north endured,” he posted Monday on X, formerly Twitter.

“Somehow, it’s getting worse for children and mothers.”

– Trapped under rubble –

Sheltering at the Al-Aqsa hospital, Walaa Abu Libda said her four-year-old daughter was trapped under rubble.

“I don’t know if she dead or alive,” she said, one of an estimated 1.8 million people displaced in Gaza — roughly three-quarters of the population.

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas in retaliation for the Islamist militant group’s October 7 attacks that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 240 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel’s military said Sunday it had carried out around 10,000 air strikes in total, while Gaza militants had resumed rocket salvos into Israel, most of which had been intercepted.

The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 15,500 people have been killed in Gaza, about 70 percent of them women and children — a death toll that has sparked global alarm and mass demonstrations.

The Israeli army said Monday three more soldiers had been killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, raising the number of troop deaths there to 75.

The fatalities brought to 401 the number of Israeli defence personnel killed since October 7, among them those killed in the Hamas attacks themselves and including soldiers, reservists, kibbutz guards and others.

Under the temporary truce that expired Friday, 80 Israeli hostages were freed, in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. More than two dozen Thai and other captives were also released from Gaza.

With at least 137 hostages still held in Gaza, according to the Israeli military, Hamas has ruled out more releases until a permanent ceasefire is agreed.

National security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi indicated the phased release of at least 50 hostages in return for 150 Palestinian prisoners would still go ahead but not on Thursday as expected.

“The contacts on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly,” he said in a statement about the agreed deal to free mostly women and people aged 18 and under on both sides.

“The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday.”

A second Israeli official said that a temporary halt in fighting would also not begin on Thursday as bombardment and combat again raged in northern Gaza.

The delay is another blow to families desperate to see their loved ones return home, and to two million-plus Gazans praying for an end to 47 days of war and deprivation.

The complex and carefully choreographed deal saw Israel and Hamas agree a four-day truce, during which at least 50 hostages taken in the Palestinian militant group’s attacks would be released in phases.

A Palestinian official with knowledge of the negotiation process who asked not to be named told AFP on Friday that the delay stemmed from “last minute” details over which hostages would be released and how.

Hamas and other Palestinian gunmen seized around 240 hostages during unprecedented raids into Israel on October 7 which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.

The attack prompted a relentless Israeli campaign of bombing and a ground offensive in Hamas-run Gaza, whose authorities say it has killed more than 14,000 people, thousands of them children.

An Israeli government document said that, in a second phase, for every 10 additional hostages released, there would be an extra day’s “pause” in fighting.

Three Americans, including three-year-old Abigail Mor Idan, were among those earmarked for release.

In turn, Israel would free at least 150 Palestinian women and young detainees and allow more humanitarian aid into the besieged coastal territory.

The holdup came after weeks of talks involving Israel, Palestinian militant groups, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said Thursday that implementation of the accord “continues and is going positively.”