Qatar, which has long hosted Hamas’ political office in Doha, has alongside Egypt served as an intermediary for the two sides, which do not officially maintain direct contact.

Except for a brief flurry of activity last month, there have been no real negotiations since six Israeli hostages were executed by Hamas and discovered in a Gaza tunnel at the end of August. During a temporary ceasefire mediated by Qatar and Egypt last November, Hamas released 105 hostages and Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has insisted that any agreement with Israel must lead to a permanent end to the war in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused that demand. In July he effectively spiked a draft hostage and ceasefire deal by introducing a raft of new, 11th-hour demands.

There are 101 hostages still held in Gaza. Israel’s military campaign, launched in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack, has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health; the UN reported that 70% of the fatalities in the first six months of the conflict were women and children.

The Israeli minister of economy, Nir Barkat, appeared to offer the first official Israeli reaction to the move, saying on X that “Qatar was never a mediator, but Hamas’ defender, the one to fund and protect the terrorist organization.” Netanyahu for years backed payments to Hamas through Qatar, in order to divide Palestinian politics and – detractors allege – prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

It is not the first time the Qatari government has expressed frustration. in April, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that Qatar’s efforts were being misused for “narrow political interests” by some involved in the conflict, “which required the state of Qatar to conduct a comprehensive evaluation” of its role.

The Qatari government has now told the Biden administration that it is willing to restart its mediation efforts “when both sides reach an impasse and demonstrate a sincere willingness to return to the negotiating table with the objective of putting an end to the war and the suffering of civilians.”

Family members of a 31-year-old American tourist who was killed while on vacation in Hungary’s capital mourned their loss while a 37-year-old suspect was in custody Saturday.

The victim, Mackenzie Michalski from Portland, Oregon, was reported missing on Nov. 5 after she was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest.

Police launched a missing person investigation and reviewed security footage from local nightclubs where they observed Michalski with a man later identified as the suspect in several of the clubs the night of her disappearance.

The man was detained on Nov. 7 and questioned by police, and later allegedly confessed to the killing.

After Michalski’s disappearance, her family and friends had launched an effort to find her, starting a Facebook group to gather tips on her whereabouts. Her parents traveled to Hungary to assist in the search, but while en route learned that she had been killed.

At a candlelight vigil in Budapest on Saturday night, the victim’s father, Bill Michalski, told The Associated Press that he was “still overcome with emotion” at the death of his daughter.

“There was no reason for this to happen,” he said. “I’m still trying to wrap my arms around what happened … I don’t know that I ever will.”

Police detained the suspect, an Irish citizen, on the evening of Nov. 7. Investigators said that Michalski and the suspect had met at a nightclub and danced before leaving for the man’s rented apartment. Police alleged the man killed Michalski while they were engaged in an “intimate encounter.”

Police alleged the suspect confessed to the killing, but said it had been an accident. Police said that he had attempted to cover up his crime by cleaning the apartment and hiding Michalski’s body in a wardrobe before purchasing a suitcase and placing her body inside.

Allegedly, he then rented a car and drove to Lake Balaton, around 90 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Budapest, where he disposed of the body in a wooden area outside the town of Szigliget.

Video released by police showed the suspect guiding authorities to the location of the body. Police said the suspect had made internet searches before being apprehended on how to dispose of a body, police procedures in missing person cases, whether pigs really eat dead bodies, and the presence of wild boars in the Lake Balaton area.

They said he had also made an internet search inquiring on the competence of Budapest police.

Crime scene photographs released by police showed a rolling suitcase, several articles of clothing including a pair of fleece-lined boots, and a small handbag next to a credit card bearing Michalski’s name.

According to a post by an administrator of a Facebook group called “Find Mackenzie Michalski,” which was created on Nov. 7, Michalski, who went by “Kenzie,” was a nurse practitioner who “will forever be remembered as a beautiful and compassionate young woman.”

At the candlelight vigil in Budapest on Saturday, Michalski’s father gave brief comments to those who had gathered, and was wearing a baseball cap he said he had received as a gift from his daughter.

Michalski had visited Budapest before, and called it her “happy place,” her father told the AP.

“The history, she just loved it and she was just so relaxed here,” he said. “This was her city.”

Catherine, Princess of Wales, joined other members of Britain’s royal family at a Remembrance Day event in London on Saturday – the latest public appearance by the princess since she underwent preventive treatment for cancer earlier this year.

Catherine, also known as Kate, was shown in a photograph attending the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, along with King Charles and her husband, Prince William.

The festival is an annual commemorative concert which honors all those who have lost their lives in conflict.

Queen Camilla was originally set to attend but pulled out due to a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday.

Kate, 42, announced that she had completed chemotherapy in September but cautioned that the road to recovery was still long. She said she would undertake more public engagements when possible as she continues to recover.

In October, she made her first public appearance since her cancer treatment to meet the bereaved families of three children killed in a knife attack in Southport, northwest England.

Kate is also set to attend a Remembrance Day service on Sunday, Buckingham Palace said.

Protesters and police clashed in the streets of Valencia in eastern Spain on Saturday, as tens of thousands of people marched to demand the regional president resign over his response to floods that killed more than 220 people.

Near Valencia’s City Hall Square, police used batons and shields to push back an angry crowd who at times threw chairs and other objects at the officers, video footage showed. Elsewhere in the city several buildings were vandalized, according to the Valencia mayor, though there have been no reports of serious injuries.

Local media – citing government information – reported an estimated 130,000 people took part in the protest.

The demonstrations started around 6 p.m. local time, when thousands of people – many of them carrying placards and chanting “killers!” – took to the streets to demand the resignation of Valencia’s regional president Carlos Mazón over what critics say was too slow a response to what was the worst natural disaster the region has seen in decades.

The floods, which began in late October, saw a year’s worth of rain dumped on the region in less than 8 hours, which came rushing down the rivers and tributaries toward the Mediterranean sea, picking up cars and destroying bridges along the way.

“The regional government didn’t warn on time for the flooding, didn’t respond on time,” a protester told Reuters.

“So we want them to quit and to let the new government take over the responsibility to clean up the mess that they left.”

Another protester said, “The only thing I want to say is that this abandonment and institutional negligence must be held accountable.”

Mazón has claimed he wasn’t warned early enough about the severity of the rain by central authorities, while the Spanish government says it tried calling Mazón at least four times before being able to reach him.

The regional president, who according to some Spanish media reports was at a restaurant hours into the floods, has denied missing any calls prior to the floods turning catastrophic.

Meanwhile, the Spanish government and local agencies continue to search for over 70 people who remain missing.

More than 8,400 soldiers are taking part in the efforts, according to the Spanish government, along with divers searching near Valencia’s shore.

Valencia’s mayor María José Catalá took to X following Saturday’s protests to urge calm.

“With absolute respect to everyone, I consider that confrontation and vandalism will never be the solution,” she wrote.

Ukraine has launched its largest attack on Moscow since the start of the war, disrupting flights at two airports in the Russian capital.

A total of 34 drones were launched in the direction of Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. Russia’s air defenses shot down all of the drones over the Moscow region between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, according to the Russian MOD.

The UAVs were shot down over the Moscow regions of Ramenskoye, Kolomna and Domodedovo, Andrey Vorobyov, governor of Moscow region, said.

Shrapnel from the falling drones caused two houses in Ramenskoye to catch fire. A woman, 52, was injured by the shrapnel and taken to hospital with “burns to her face, neck and hands,” Vorobyov said, adding that the woman is in intensive care.

Sunday’s attack forced the “temporary restrictions” of flights on Domodedovo and Zhukovsky, two airports serving the Moscow region, from just after 8 a.m. local time, Russian state media agency TASS reported, citing Russia’s federal air transport agency. Restrictions were lifted at just after 10 a.m. local time.

The previous largest drone attack on Moscow was in September, when Russia said it destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones. In that attack, at least one person was killed near Moscow, Russian authorities said. Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for more than six hours and almost 50 flights were diverted.