Israel's military said Friday that it had launched the "initial stages" of a planned offensive to seize Gaza City, declaring the Palestinian territory's biggest population center a "dangerous combat zone." The Israel Defense Forces said it was suspending daily "humanitarian pauses" in the fighting in Gaza City, which have allowed food and other aid materials to be brought in during the daylight hours.

As Israel pressed ahead with its planned expansion of the war against Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the body of Ilan Weiss — among the 251 people taken hostage during the Hamas-led, Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack that sparked the war in Gaza — had been recovered from the enclave.

Netanyahu said the body of a second hostage had also been returned to Israel

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