Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams signed a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Doha early Friday, after the final hurdles stalling finalization of the agreement were cleared. Confirming the deal was completed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the security cabinet would convene Friday to vote on it before the full government follows suit on Saturday, likely resulting in the scheduled release of first batch of hostages being pushed from Sunday until Monday.
update – Israeli Ministers Cabinet approves Hostage-Ceasefire Deal. But 81 Killed in Gaza in last Hours
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In the cover image, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not too smiling after the removal of his prostate for a benign tumor, and the innocent children of Gaza who play smiling deep in their hearts despite the mutilation of their legs (video below)
Since the conflict in Gaza began on October 7, on average more than 10 children a day have lost a limb. Furthermore, due to the paralysis of the health system caused by the conflict, many of the amputations have been performed without any anesthesia. Save the Children reported this in January 2024, then they even lost count of those killed…
by Carlo Domenico Cristofori
UPDATE ON JANUARY, 18, 2025 – 4 AM – CET
Government ministers vote in favor of approving hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas
The full Israeli government voted early Saturday in favor of approving the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas, after the security cabinet gave its blessing to the deal on Friday.
The Prime Minister’s Office issued a brief statement after 1 a.m. confirming the government approved the deal after meeting for more than seven hours, which Hebrew media outlets reported 24 ministers voted in favor of and eight opposed.
The statement added that the deal will enter into force on Sunday, when the first three Israeli hostages are to be freed. Thirty-three hostages are to be freed in the first, 42-day phase of the deal.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was joined by the cabinet members in his ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu, in voting against the deal, which Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his far-right Religious Zionism party’s Orit Strock and Ofer Sofer also opposed.
Otzma Yehudit has threatened to quit the coalition over the deal, while Religious Zionism will apparently remain in the government despite opposing the agreement after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly reached understandings with Smotrich to keep his faction in the fold.
UPDATE ON JANUARY, 17, 2025 – 7 PM – CET
Security cabinet approves hostage-ceasefire deal; full cabinet meets to review, vote on it
The high-level security cabinet voted Friday afternoon to approve the hostage release-ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza, and recommended that the government adopt it, the Prime Minister’s Office said. The full cabinet then convened for a discussion and vote, with the meeting extending long into Shabbat.
The full cabinet was expected to vote by a large majority to approve the deal, which was signed overnight in Qatar and is set to take effect on Sunday.
UPDATE ON JANUARY, 17, 2025 – 6 AM – CET
Doha Deal Signed. Political Crisis Remains in Israel
According to a US official quoted by Axios, after the announcement of the agreement there was disagreement on the final list of Palestinian prisoners who will be released. Hamas has asked to exchange several names on the list with the group’s military leaders who are serving multiple life sentences.
The political question remains open within the Israeli government, where the two ministers of the far-right Zionist movement are threatening to resign and Lapid’s opposition is offering to come to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s aid.
“If the agreement on the release of the kidnapped prisoners is approved, we will submit letters of resignation and will not be part of the government. We will return to the executive if the war in Gaza resumes.”
This was announced by Itamar Ben Gvir, a member of the far-right Zionist movement, Israeli Minister of National Security, who has always been against the agreement between Israel and Hamas, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is said to be weighing a similar move.
According to Israeli TV Channel 12, the government is ready to postpone the vote on the agreement until Saturday evening, so it could come into force on Monday. The ministers will meet on Friday, as planned, but the meeting will continue on Saturday evening to respect Shabbat. After the vote, those who oppose the agreement will have 48 hours to appeal to the Supreme Court.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel, however, that the real reason the premier delayed the vote was part of a scramble to keep his coalition intact.
To quell the controversy, however, at the last moment Prime Minister Netanyahu urgently convened the Security Cabinet this morning, Friday, January 17, before the Council of Ministers in order to meet the initial deadline of starting the truce on Sunday, when the first three hostages, probably civilian women, will be released.
UPDATE ON JANUARY, 16, 2025 – 6 PM – CET
Final hurdles said cleared for hostage-ceasefire deal, cabinet set to meet to approve
The Israeli security cabinet was set to approve the deal this morning, but the meeting was delayed after the Prime Minister’s Office accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement.
«The meeting will reportedly be held tomorrow morning, though it has not yet been confirmed» Times of Israel reports.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli vows to resign from the government if Israel withdraws from the Philadelphi Corridor along the border between Gaza and Egypt before the war goals are achieved, as sources were quoted as saying the final issues in a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas had been resolved.
A senior diplomatic official confirmed earlier today that Israel had not agreed to gradually pull out of the Philadelphi Corridor from the start of the ceasefire and that IDF troops would remain in the area “throughout the entire first stage, all 42 days.”
Houthis to resume attacks if Israel violates Gaza ceasefire
Yemen’s Houthis will resume strikes on Israeli territory and merchant ships if Israel pulls out of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, said Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the group’s leader.
“We will follow the phases of the implementation of the deal. In the event of any Israeli violation, continued massacres or renewed siege, we will be ready to immediately provide military support to the Palestinian people,” he said in comments broadcast by the Houthi-owned Al Masirah television channel.
“Military operations in support of the Palestinian people will continue if the Israeli enemy does not stop the escalation and the practice of collective punishment before the implementation of the agreement,” al-Houthi went on to say.
ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON JANUARY, 16, 2025 – 4 PM – CET
Hamas says Israel struck site where Israeli hostage was held
The Israeli military has delivered a strike on a facility where Hamas kept a female Israeli hostage, who was to be swapped during phase one of the Gaza ceasefire deal, said Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades .
“After a ceasefire agreement was announced, enemy forces struck a facility where a female hostage, included in the list of the phase one swap, was held,” he wrote on Telegram without specifying the current condition of the woman.
He warned that “any shelling attack” on Israel’s part “may turn the release of hostages into a tragedy.”
Israel holds off on approving hostage deal, accusing Hamas of reneging on details
Israel was still holding off on Thursday afternoon from officially declaring that a ceasefire-hostage release deal announced a day earlier by mediators had been reached with Hamas, insisting that details remained to be finalized and that Hamas was throwing last-minute wrenches into the negotiations.
Mossad chief David Barnea, the head of Israel’s negotiating team who was dispatched to Doha on Saturday night, was still in the Qatari capital as of Thursday afternoon, according to an official familiar with the talks.
An Israeli official not from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office suggests that the premier is making announcements about breakdowns in negotiations and holding off on announcing the agreement his negotiating team signed off on yesterday while he works to keep his coalition intact.
“The Israeli cabinet will not convene [to approve the deal] until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement,” Netanyahu stressed in a previous statement.
Israeli forces have launched a new wave of deadly airstrikes across Gaza Strip
In a blatant violation of the ceasefire, the Israeli occupation forces have launched a new wave of deadly airstrikes across the besieged Gaza Strip, killing and injuring dozens of Palestinians.
Israel intensified its airstrikes across Gaza shortly after the ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, Reuters reported, citing the civil emergency service and residents in the enclave.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, there have been 81 deaths in the last 24 hours.
«The carnage continued throughout the night, with Israeli warplanes striking homes in the Shujaiya neighborhood and the vicinity of the Patient Friends Association Hospital. Two young girls were killed in these attacks. Rescue teams later recovered five bodies and over 10 injured individuals from the rubble of a bombed house in al-Rimal» Al Manar Lebanese newspaper has written..
Religious Zionism party opposes hostage deal
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partner National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has threatened to bolt the government if the deal announced yesterday is approved, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of religious Zionism party, is said to be weighing a similar move.
Right-wing protesters demonstrated Wednesday night and Thursday against a deal for a truce in the Gaza war that would see the release of at least some of the Israeli hostages held by terror groups in the Palestinian enclave, warning that the terms of the agreement may endanger national security by releasing many convicted Palestinian terrorists while leaving some hostages in captivity and Hamas intact.
The Israeli official acknowledges to The Times of Israel that details are still being finalized in negotiations but insists that the disagreements are relatively minor and will be solved in the coming hours.
The US is aware of last-minute issues closing the final details of a ceasefire-hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas that was announced yesterday, according to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, who nevertheless expresses confidence that the agreement will begin to be implemented on Sunday.
Hamas has rejected claims by Netanyahu that it is creating a last-minute “crisis”
The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement this morning accusing Hamas of backing out of some agreements and creating a “crisis” in finalizing the deal.
“Hamas is reneging on agreement and creating a last-minute crisis that prevents an agreement from being reached. Hamas is abandoning the clear agreements reached with the mediators and with Israel in an attempt to exert pressure at the last minute,” the statement said.
Palestinian armed group Hamas has rejected claims by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it is creating a last-minute “crisis” in finalizing the deal to release the hostages held in Gaza.
On Wednesday, US President-elect Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had struck an agreement securing the release of the remaining hostages. According to multiple media outlets, the agreement approved in Qatar involves a 42-day truce and an exchange of prisoners, including all Israelis taken captive in the October 7, 2023 Hamas incursion into the country.
“Hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators,” Izzat al-Risheq, a senior member of the group’s political bureau, said in a post on Telegram on Thursday.
Hostage families: “Only Netanyahu responsible if the agreement collapses”
The families of the hostages at the Haim Forum, referring to the announcement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that “Hamas is retracting its agreements”, stated that “neither Hamas nor Ben Gvir, but Benjamin Netanyahu, will be responsible for any further obstruction to the return of the hostages”.
Families of Israeli Hostages threaten Legal Action against Netanyahu over blocked Gaza deal
According to the families, “the agreement must be started immediately in all its phases”.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum calls on the public to gather at Tel Aviv’s so-called Hostages Square, as the nation waits for confirmation from Israel on a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas that was announced yesterday.
“These are critical and moving hours for us and for the entire nation of Israel,” the forum says in a statement.
Netanyahu cancels trip to Trump’s inauguration
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend US President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration ceremony, The Times of Israel reported on Thursday, citing the prime minister’s senior aide.
Trump will take the oath of office and officially be sworn in as the 47th US president on January 20 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. The Israeli leader had previously been expected to attend the event.
The now-cancelled trip to Washington would have been Netanyahu’s first trip abroad since an arrest warrant against him and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
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