Trump’s Mideast envoy will meet with Netanyahu on Saturday, an Israeli official told Reuters.

(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, an Israeli official said, in an effort to broker a ceasefire and a Gaza ceasefire.

A second Israeli official said some progress has been made in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a Gaza accord.

Before Trump takes office on Jan. 20, mediators are making new efforts to end the fighting in the region and secure the release of Israeli hostages held there.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said eight people, including two women and two children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on displaced families at a former school in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army said the attack was aimed at Hamas militants operating in the school and took steps to minimize the risk of harm to civilians.

In the year In October 2023, Israel attacked Gaza after Hamas fighters breached its border, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, and much of the area has been destroyed and is engulfed in a humanitarian crisis, with most of its population displaced.