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Palestinian officials say at least 29 people were killed, including four medical staff, when Israeli strikes pummeled the area around one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza.Related video above: Biden admin brokers ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon-based militants, Hezbollah (11/27/24)Elsewhere in the region, Lebanon said it is closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital, Damascus. Jordan also closed a border crossing with Syria because of the security situation on the Syrian side.Syrian insurgents have entered the central towns of Rastan and Talbiseh, just north of the central city of Homs, bringing them closer to Syria’s third largest city. A day earlier, jihadi-led opposition fighters captured the central city of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest.Israel’s war against Hamas has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.Israel’s blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,600 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.Here’s the latest:Qatari prime minister sees movement in Gaza cease-fire negotiationsDOHA, Qatar The prime minister of Qatar says he has seen new momentum in Gaza cease-fire efforts since the U.S. presidential election, with the incoming Trump administration seeking an end to the conflict before it takes office.Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a key mediator in the cease-fire efforts, declined to give specifics of the negotiations but told an international conference in Doha that the gaps between the sides are not large.Qatar, which has served as a mediator throughout the 14-month war, suspended its efforts last month in frustration over the lack of progress. But Sheikh Mohammed said his government has re-engaged in recent days after determining a new willingness by both parties to reach a deal.”We have sensed after the election that the momentum is coming back,” he told the Doha Forum on Saturday.He said has been in touch with both the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration and found that while there are some differences in approach, both are committed to the same goal of ending the war.”We have seen a lot of encouragement from the incoming administration in order to achieve a deal, even before the president comes to the office,” Sheikh Mohammed said.He declined to discuss details, saying he wanted to “protect the process,” but expressed hope for a deal “as soon as possible.””If you look at the gaps and the disagreements, they are not something substantial that really affects the agreement,” he said.Israeli strikes kill at least 29 at hard-hit Gaza hospitalCAIRO At least 29 people were killed, including four medical staff, when Israeli strikes pummeled the area around one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza, Palestinian officials said.The situation in and around the Kamal Adwan Hospital is “catastrophic,” according to Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the hospital. The dead included five children and five women, according to the hospital casualty list, which was obtained by The Associated Press.Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya is one of the few hospitals still partially operating in Gaza’s northernmost province, where Israeli forces are pressing an offensive that has almost completely sealed off the area from humanitarian aid for two months.Israel’s military denied that its forces had struck the hospital or operated inside it. The army said that in the past few weeks, “coordinated efforts with international organizations have been underway in order to transfer patients, companions, and medical staff to other hospitals.”An Indonesian medical team which had been assisting in Kamal Adwan for the past week was forced to evacuate on foot after the area was surrounded by Israeli soldiers, according to a statement from the team. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the medical team’s expulsion.Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization representative in the Palestinian territories, said an Israeli tank approached the hospital at around 4 a.m. Friday. Although no official Israeli evacuation order was issued, “people started to climb the wall to escape, and this panic attracted IDF (Israeli) fire,” he said. He spoke by video from Gaza to journalists in Geneva.Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation in northern Gaza against Hamas militants. In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim.Saudi Arabia calls for an end to Gaza war and attacks Israel’s actionsMANAMA, Bahrain Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has reiterated the kingdom’s call for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip.Prince Faisal bin Farhan described Israel as acting with “impunity and is getting away without punishment” in its war on Hamas there. The prince said that any permanent solution requires a two-state solution, with the Palestinians having east Jerusalem as their capital.After the speech, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a prominent royal in the kingdom who led Saudi intelligence for more than two decades and served as ambassador to the U.S. and Britain, took the stage. He harshly criticized Israel’s conduct in the wars.”Israel has become an apartheid, colonial and genocidal state,” Prince Turki said. “It is about time for the world to address that issue and take the necessary steps to bring those who are thus charged by the International Criminal Court to justice.”Israeli officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Prince Turki’s remarks. The Saudis spoke at the International Institute for Security Studies’ Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.After 15 months of abandonment, hostage homes are empty memorials KIBBUTZ NIR OZ, Israel After 15 months of war, the homes of Israeli hostages are like time capsules of a war zone. There’s a small blue bicycle flung to the ground outside the house of the Bibas family all of whom, including two young boys, Kfir and Ariel, are still in captivity. Nearby, the walls of Oded Lifshitz’s home are singed, the ceilings have partially collapsed, scars of the initial Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which the elderly man and his wife, Yocheved, were abducted.Portraits of the hostages have been affixed to the doors of their homes. Someone has laid a sunflower next to a photo of David Cunio, who remains in Gaza after his wife and twin girls were released in a hostage exchange a year ago.Many are marked by graffiti left by Israeli forces during the days or sometimes weeks of fighting that followed the militants’ attack, to show houses cleared of fighters. Some are marked for eventual demolition because they are extensively damaged.One hundred hostages remain in Gaza, at least a third of whom Israeli officials say are dead. There’s a glimmer of hope that negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire, restarted this week after months of failed efforts, might be able to bring them home. A new video released last weekend by Hamas showed Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, still alive.But there’s also deep fear. This week, troops brought back to Israel the body of Itay Svirsky, who was killed in the initial Hamas attack and whose body was taken to Gaza.The abandoned homes stand as a testament to growing grief among families who still don’t have their loved ones home after more than a year and wonder if they ever will.