Israel plays down Hamas plan to release hostage, four more bodies

Israel said on Friday that a Hamas plan to release a US-Israeli dual national taken hostage in Gaza along with the bodies of several other dead hostages was waging "psychological warfare" on the families of the abductees.

Four dead hostages, who are said to be dual nationals, would be handed over at the same time, according to the plan announced by the Palestinian Islamist group. Hamas did not specify the additional nationality of the four dead Israelis.

The plan came after a proposal by mediators, the group said.

At the start of the month Hamas and Israel reached the end of the first phase of a ceasefire deal, which involved the release of hostages from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. But it is not clear how the process will move forward in order to avoid a return to all-out conflict in Gaza.

According to the Israeli side, Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip are still holding 24 hostages, as well as 35 bodies of abductees.

The Israeli government described the latest Hamas offer as insufficient and manipulative.

While Jerusalem had accepted a more far-reaching proposal by US special envoy Steven Wittkoff, "Hamas persists in its refusal and continues to wage psychological warfare against hostage families," the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Israeli settlers attack West Bank village

Radical Israeli settlers have caused extensive damage to property in a Palestinian village in the north of the occupied West Bank, media reports said earlier on Friday.

The settlers set fire to three houses and two cars during the night in the village of Duma, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, citing local residents.

Five houses were set alight by settlers from a nearby encampment, which typically consist of caravans, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz cited security sources as saying.

The Israeli army said that the masked settlers had reportedly entered the village and set fire to property there, and that Israeli forces had moved in to disperse those involved. It reported no arrests.

The Israeli police and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service said that the suspected arson attacks were being investigated.

Haaretz reported that the settlers live in a nearby outpost, meaning an improvised smaller settlement. According to the Haaretz report, the residents accused Palestinians of trying to steal sheep from the outpost.

Israel's army and police said they had received reports that several Palestinians had tried to steal a herd of cattle from the settlers. These allegations could not initially be independently verified.

WAFA reported that Israeli soldiers forcibly prevented the villagers from putting out the fires, although there was also no independent verification of this.

The Israeli military is repeatedly accused of not doing enough to prevent attacks on Palestinians and their property, which occur regularly in the West Bank, and of protecting the Israeli settlers.