JERUSALEM, May 12 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli delegation will travel to Qatar's Doha on Tuesday for talks on a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced Monday.

In a statement, Netanyahu said the negotiations will take place "only under fire," reiterating his government's policy of continuing military pressure during talks.

The announcement followed a meeting in Jerusalem between Netanyahu, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

According to Netanyahu's office, the meeting focused on advancing a hostage release agreement before Israel launches a planned expanded military operation in Gaza, which will involve intensifying raids, seizing and occupying areas in Gaza, and displacing the enclave's population to a narrow area in the south.

After the meeting, Netanyahu spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump and thanked him for helping secure the release of Edan Alexander, an Israeli-U.S. hostage who Hamas said would be freed on Monday.

The United States informed Israel on Sunday that Hamas would release Alexander, a U.S. born soldier in the Israeli army, who was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, in a Hamas-led raid on southern Israel that resulted in the kidnapping of 251 people and the killing of about 1,200 others.

Alexander is the last surviving hostage with U.S. citizenship, out of the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza, of whom Israel believes at least 21 are still alive.

According to Gaza's health authorities, Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 52,862 people since October 2023.