UK foreign secretary David Lammy is due to speak shortly about the situation in the Middle East.

US president Joe Biden has said they are “very close “ to presenting a final hostage deal this week after the bodies of six Israeli captives were found in Gaza.

The US, Egypt and Qatar have been working on a hostage deal for months which would involve swapping Israeli captives with Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

With the death of the six hostages bringing renewed urgency to a potential deal, Biden and US officials are hoping that a final proposal will be accepted soon.

Hamas has published a video showing the six hostages whose bodies were found in Gaza last week, vowing to publish their “last messages”.

The video shows the six hostages one by one speaking to the camera. Hamas captioned the video, which was posted to the Telegram messenger app: “In a few hours we will show you their last messages.”

The Independent has decided not to republish this video.

The move led to closures in parts of the country as protesters demanded Benjamin Netanyahu agree to a ceasefire deal that would bring remaining hostages home.

Organised by Histadrut, the country’s largest trade union, the strike came after tens of thousands of people rallied in Israel on 1 September, outraged by the killings of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Protesters say the prime minister has failed to negotiated a much-needed ceasefire deal.

Albert Toth reports:

Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory that has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.

Authorities plan to vaccinate children in central Gaza until Wednesday before moving on to the more devastated northern and southern parts of the strip. The campaign began with a small number of vaccinations on Saturday and aims to reach about 640,000 children.

Gaza's Health Ministry said more than 72,600 children received vaccines Sunday.

The World Health Organization has said Israel agreed to limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign. There were initial reports of Israeli strikes in central Gaza early Sunday, but it was not immediately known if anyone was killed or wounded. The pause ended Sunday afternoon, according to a schedule released by Israel.

Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day.

Gaza recently reported its first polio case in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in a leg. The World Health Organization says the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but aren't showing symptoms.

US President Joe Biden has said that a final deal for the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza was very close but that he did not think Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu was doing enough to secure such an agreement.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has announced a “large-scale demonstration” outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem among several other protests set to take place across Israel as part of the “Bringing the Nation to a Halt” campaign.

Posting on X, the group listed three rallies scheduled for 7pm local time (4pm UK time) to “continue the fight alongside them for a deal to bring all hostages home”.

A protest is also planned for outside Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, while a “massive rally” has been called to take place at Begin Gate in Tel Aviv.

Kamala Harris has spoken with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the Israeli-American who was among the six hostages killed by Hamas whose bodies were recovered in Gaza over the weekend.

The Vice President wrote in a post on X: “Doug and I just spoke to Jon and Rachel, Hersh Goldberg-Polin's parents, to express our condolences following the brutal murder of their son by Hamas terrorists. My heart breaks for their pain and anguish.

“I told them: As they mourn this terrible loss, they are not alone. Our nation mourns with them.”

In a statement issued before the meeting, Ms Harris condemned Hamas as “evil”. She continued: “I strongly condemn Hamas’ continued brutality, and so must the entire world.”