Jan. 14: Netanyahu huddles with hostage negotiators, security chiefs as deal nears completion

Israeli strike on Gaza’s Deir al-Balah reportedly kills at least 10 Palestinians; no immediate IDF comment

An Israeli airstrike on Gaza’s Deir al-Balah killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded others, medics tell Reuters.

The IDF does not immediately comment, but has long insisted that it does not target civilians, while Hamas hides among them.

Netanyahu huddles with hostage negotiation team, security chiefs in efforts to finalize deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently holding consultations with Israel’s hostage negotiation team and with members of Israel’s security establishment.

His office has sent an update to the hostages’ families, saying that talks in Doha are ongoing and that the sides are discussing final details required for an agreement.

Negotiations will continue through the night, Netanyahu’s office says, adding that they will update the hostage families as soon as they can.

Biden tells Sissi deal wouldn’t be possible without Egypt; leaders agree to stay in touch ‘in coming hours’

During their phone call earlier, US President Joe Biden told Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that “this deal would never have been possible without Egypt’s essential and historic role in the Middle East and commitment to diplomacy for resolving conflicts,” according to a White House readout.

The statement appears aimed at calming tensions, in light of reports of Egyptian frustration at being sidelined in the hostage talks taking place in Qatar.

“Both leaders committed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams over the coming hours,” the readout adds.

PM aide rejects claim that Ben Gvir thwarted hostage releases, says Hamas is only reason for no deal

After National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir claimed earlier today that he and fellow far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich had succeeded multiple times in torpedoing potential hostage deal, cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs tweets a denial.

There has still been no official word from Netanyahu in response to Ben Gvir. Earlier today, his office instead issued a statement it attributed to an “Israeli official,” rejecting Ben Gvir’s claims, which have sparked massive uproar among the hostages’ families. Netanyahu’s office has long rejected mounting reports that political considerations and his desire to remain in power led him to hamper hostage talks over the last year.

Picking up where the “Israeli official” left off, Fuchs tweets that the deal being finalized is the same as the one Israel submitted on May 27.

Fuchs claims Hamas rejected that proposal for six months and still has yet to give its final approval.

The Netanyahu aide argues that if Hamas had responded positively to the May 27 proposal at any point over the past six months, it would have passed with a majority in the security cabinet and the broader cabinet. “I know this for a fact,” Fuchs writes.

He insists that Netanyahu has not changed any of his positions on the matter and that the only side thwarting a deal to date has been Hamas.

Egyptian and Qatari mediators, US officials, and even members of Israel’s hostage negotiation team have disputed this account, saying Netanyahu, at times, has been the main obstacle to a deal.

6 said killed in IDF strike in Jenin, potentially undermining PA counter-terror op there

The Palestinian Authority health ministry reports at least six dead in the IDF drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin.

The IDF said it carried out the strike in a joint operation with the Shin Bet, without immediately providing further information.

The strike was in the Jenin refugee camp, which has been overtaken by various armed terror groups over the past year.

This is the first strike that the IDF has conducted in the camp where the PA’s own security forces have been operating for roughly a month, trying to clamp down on terror activity.

The Israeli strike risks undermining the PA effort, analysts warn.

At joint presser, Italian FM says he hopes hostage deal will lead to Mideast peace; Sa’ar less optimistic

Italy’s foreign minister says he hopes a possible ceasefire in Gaza will open a new phase and allow the restoration of peace in the Middle East.

“The agreement being finalized in these hours on the ceasefire and hostage release is very important news,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani tells a news conference, after a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar.

He says an agreement would “hopefully open a new phase and allow peace to be restored throughout the Middle East.”

Sa’ar accuses the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday of encouraging terrorism and inciting violence against Israel, saying that its policies are standing in the way of achieving peace.

“For this, we must see a deep and real change among Palestinians. Unfortunately, we are not seeing it today,” he says.

Israelis will not compromise on security and will intervene if it sees a threat from Gaza in the future, Sa’ar says, as a ceasefire deal with Hamas appears close to approval.

“And if we see terrorism in the Gaza Strip at any point in the future, we will do the same thing we are doing in Judea and Samaria,” he says, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.

However, Sa’ar says there is “true willingness” from Israel’s side in support of a Gaza truce deal.

“I believe that if we achieve this hostage deal, we will have a majority in this government that will support the agreement,” Sa’ar says.

US House passes bill banning transgender students from women’s sports

The Republican-led US House of Representatives has passed a bill severely restricting transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams.

The legislation, which would apply to any schools that receive federal funding, now goes to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.

IDF says it carried out drone strike in West Bank city of Jenin

The IDF says it carried out a drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin a short while ago.

The strike comes during a joint IDF and Shin Bet counterterrorism operation in the area.

Further details will be provided later, the military adds.

Talks among Iran, European countries aim to restart nuclear negotiations, Iran FM says

Talks held in Geneva among Iran, Britain, France, and Germany aim to find a way to resume nuclear talks, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says in an interview with Iran’s state TV.

Iran’s official news agency reported earlier on Tuesday that the talks held in Geneva on Monday will lead to dialogue continuing regarding Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

“The talks were serious, frank, and constructive. We discussed ideas involving certain details in the sanctions-lifting and nuclear fields that are needed for a deal,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for international and legal affairs, wrote on social media on Monday.

“Sides concurred that negotiations should be resumed and to reach a deal, all parties should create and maintain the appropriate atmosphere. We agreed to continue our dialogue,” he added.

The talks followed discussions in November. At that time, an Iranian official told Reuters that finalizing a roadmap with Europeans would “put the ball in the US court to revive or kill the nuclear deal.”

Yeshiva University president says ‘deeply honored’ to deliver benediction at Trump inauguration

Rabbi Ari Berman at The Times of Israel offices, October 15, 2017. (Luke Tress/ Times of Israel)

The president of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, says he is “deeply honored” to deliver a benediction at incoming US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.

“As I prepare my remarks, I am inspired by the words of the prophet Jeremiah, who thousands of years ago walked through the roads of Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, and proclaimed ‘Blessed is the one who trusts in God,'” Berman says in a statement to The Times of Israel.

“I pray that we are all united around the core values of life and liberty, of service and sacrifice, and especially of faith and morality, which George Washington called the ‘indispensable supports’ of American prosperity,” he says.

Berman, the university president since 2017, will deliver a blessing on January 20, immediately after Trump’s inaugural address. He will become the first American-Israeli to speak at a presidential inauguration, and the only university president to deliver remarks at Trump’s inauguration. He will be the 10th rabbi to participate in a presidential inauguration, and the third to deliver a benediction.

Berman will pray for the “wellbeing and safe return” of the hostages held in Gaza during the speech, the university says. Yeshiva University, in New York City, is the flagship institution of higher learning for US Modern Orthodox Jews, with more than 7,400 students in undergraduate and graduate programs.

In blow to AG, High Court proposes 3 months run for civil service chief tapped by PM

Attorney Roi Kahlon (Shelly Padan)

The High Court of Justice proposes that the acting civil service commissioner appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu serve in the position for three months, despite his appointment having been opposed by the attorney general.

Netanyahu appointed attorney Roi Kahlon to the position last week, in defiance of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s position. She had taken the side of petitioners to the High Court arguing that Kahlon did not meet the qualification criterial for the post, even as a stop-gap appointment.

But the High Court panel, made up of conservative justices Noam Sohlberg and David Mintz, and liberal justice Daphne Barak-Erez, proposes that instead of issuing a final ruling, Kahlon be allowed to serve for three months. It says, however, that his period as acting civil service commissioner should not be extended beyond three months, implying either that a different permanent appointment be made for the post or that another interim head be appointed.

The ruling is a blow to Baharav-Miara, who strongly opposes Kahlon’s appointment, asserting that he is under-qualified, that his resumé is inaccurate, that there were procedural flaws with his appointment, and that there was therefore a legal impediment to appointing him to the post.

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, who has frequently tussled with the attorney general, says the court’s proposal demonstrated Baharav-Miara’s bad faith when dealing with the government and accuses her of “inventing” legal arguments against it.

He referred to a similar ruling, also issued by Sohlberg, in which the High Court rejected a petition against the appointment of Odelia Minnes, as temporary chair of the Second Authority commercial broadcasting regulatory body, a case in which Baharav-Miara not only opposed the government’s position, but also refused to allow it independent counsel to argue its case in court.

Sohlberg in that ruling rebuked the attorney general over the substance of the issue and her refusal to grant the communications minister independent counsel.

Hundreds of right-wing hostage deal opponents block major Jerusalem intersection

Right-wing demonstrators march in opposition to hostage deal in Jerusalem on January 14, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Hundreds of right-wing demonstrators are blocking an intersection in central Jerusalem, in protest of the ongoing hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

“A freed terrorist is tomorrow’s murderer,” protesters chant as some sit on the pavement. Most participants hail from Israel’s religious Zionist community, with men donning kippahs, women in head-coverings.

“We won’t forget, we won’t forgive. You don’t have a mandate to surrender to Hamas,” shouts a young man through a loudspeaker.

Traffic is currently blocked in both directions, as police observe on the sidelines.

Earlier this evening, family members of slain soldiers spoke before a large crowd near the Prime Minister’s Office.

Amitai, the brother of slain soldier Elkanah Wiesel, addresses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I remember, as if it were today, one of your first events at the start of the war. You called this war a war between the children of light and children of darkness,” he says.

“I ask you today, Mr. Prime Minister, what happened to the children of light and the children of darkness? Did something change so that you started to talk with the children of darkness?” he continues.

Thousands at Hostages Square await Hamas’s answer: ‘The longest night’

Demonstrators raise placards during an protest calling for action to secure the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza since the October 2023, in front of the Israeli defense ministry in Tel Aviv on January 14, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Thousands of people pack into Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, in tense anticipation of Hamas’s answer to the drafted agreement to bring the captives home.

The Square hosts a regular “Singing for Their Return” event on Tuesdays, featuring Israeli musicians, which usually draws a few dozen people. The crowd tonight is noticeably larger than previous Tuesdays.

Soul singer Evyatar Banai sings his 1997 song “I Have a Chance,” stressing the line: “I have a chance to be saved.”

Captivity survivor Moran Stella Yanai describes her release in the November 2023 hostage deal, 54 days after she was kidnapped from the Reim-area Nova music festival.

“On the 49th day, after weeks of darkness, they put me in a costume. There were two girls with me,” she says.

“They took us to the exchange point,” where Hamas handed the hostages over to the Red Cross, she says.

“Right there, a step away from freedom, they pulled me back,” she continues. “The two girls went on, and I was left behind… in hell.”

“That night was the longest in my life,” she says.

“I imagined them touching the world outside — eating a luscious fruit, drinking clear water, doing what they want to do,” says Yanai. “That was my light in the darkness.”

“But how much hope can a person have after 466 days? she asks.

“I saw the horror, the fear, and I understood something simple — nobody should be pulled into the darkness a moment before the light.”

Egypt’s Sissi, Biden discuss Gaza ceasefire, hostages-for-prisoners swap deal

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and US President Joe Biden discussed in a phone call earlier today the ongoing mediation efforts by Cairo, Doha, and Washington to reach a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

Pete Hegseth says ‘accountability is coming’ to the Pentagon

Pete Hegseth, US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Pentagon, says that accountability would be coming for all levels of military officials, if he is confirmed for the job.

“Accountability is coming, because everybody in this room knows, if you’re a rifleman and you lose your rifle, they’re throwing the book at you. But if you’re a general who loses a war, you get a promotion,” Hegseth says, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“Everyone from the top, from the most senior general to the most lowly private, (we) will ensure that they’re treated fairly.”

Reuters has reported that members of Trump’s transition team are drawing up a list of military officers to be fired, potentially to include the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Lebanon’s PM designate Nawaf Salam resigns as member of International Court of Justice

Nawaf Salam, who has been designated as the new prime minister of Lebanon, has resigned as a member of the International Court of Justice, says the ICJ.

Salam’s term as head of the ICJ had been due to end in early February 2027.

Earlier this week, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun summoned Salam to designate him prime minister, after most lawmakers had nominated him, dealing a big blow to Hezbollah, which accused opponents of seeking to exclude it.

Hamas official: We haven’t given final response to deal because Israel hasn’t submitted maps of IDF withdrawal

Hamas has not delivered its final response to mediators yet because Israel did not submit maps of its forces’ withdrawal from Gaza, a Hamas official tells Reuters.

Hegseth: I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas

Pete Hegseth, US President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be defense secretary, appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, January 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Speaking at his confirmation hearing before the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee, US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary Pete Hegseth says, “I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas.”

Notably, Israel’s current war aims do not extend to killing every last member of Hamas, and Israeli officials have told The Times of Israel that even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged as much. Doing so would have Israel bogged down in Gaza indefinitely, given that the terror group is managing to recruit new fighters. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier today that Hamas has recruited as many fighters as it has lost.

“I’m a Christian and I robustly support the State of Israel and its existential defense,” Hegseth tells the Congressional committee.

Like members of many previous administrations, Hegseth says his top priority will be shifting the US military priorities away from the Middle East and toward China.

HEGSETH: "I'm a Christian and I robustly support the state of Israel and its existential defense … I support Israel destroying and k*lling every last member of Hamas" pic.twitter.com/w86gmjRHYq

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) January 14, 2025

Netanyahu tells bereaved families that Israel will respond with unprecedented force to any Hamas violations

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wrapped up a meeting with the Gvura Forum of families who lost loved ones fighting in Gaza.

Channel 12 says Netanyahu told the families that Hamas has yet to respond to the final hostage deal proposal.

He said that Israel will closely monitor Hamas’s adherence to the deal, and that every breach will be met with a powerful response, the likes of which Hamas has never seen before.

The rules of the game will change from the moment that US President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House, Netanyahu said, according to Channel 12.

Former hostage recounts ‘darkness’ of her captivity, says no one should be forced to live like that

Former hostage Moran Stella Yanai speaks at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square on January 14, 2025 (Screen capture/ YouTube)

Moran Stella Yanai, who was taken hostage from the Nova rave on October 7, speaks about the 49th day of her captivity, when she was prepared to be released home to Israel.

She speaks of the hope she felt in those moments, but recalls being pulled back, kept in the darkness, as she imagined freedom and being able to once again do whatever she wanted, about the hugs she would receive.

“I’m not a politician and I have no answers. I don’t know the right way to do this, but I know one thing: I was there 54 days and I experienced the fear, and no one should return to the darkness,” she says. “It’s forbidden for anyone to remain there. It’s not an issue of strategy or ideology. It’s about humanity and that every single one must return, until the last hostage.”

She speaks in English as well, appealing to the international community with a plea to help bring the hostages home.

“These are our children, parents, brothers, and sisters, individuals with dreams, hopes, and loved ones longing for their return,” says Moran. “Prove that compassion can prevail over despair.”

Hundreds of right-wing demonstrators protest against hostage deal outside PM’s office

Right-wing demonstrator holds up sign that reads: 'You don't have a mandate to surrender to Hamas,' during a protest against the brewing hostage deal in Jerusalem on January 14, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Hundreds of right-wing demonstrators in Jerusalem are preparing to march to the Prime Minister’s Office, in opposition to the hostage deal proposal currently on the table.

The “emergency protest” comes in the wake of quickly advancing negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

“We are calling on the prime minister not to give into this deal… a deal that will free thousands of terrorists with blood on their hands,” says an organizer from a loudspeaker.

Families of the hostages and slain soldiers are leading the march alongside Likud MK Amit Halevi.

“We are marching in order to give our prime minister the strength to succeed,” says an organizer before the march sets out.

Thousands gather for unity rally at Hostages Square, as deal appears near

Aviv Geffen, left, and Omer Adam, perform at Tel Aviv Hostages Square on January 14, 2025 (Screen capture/ YouTube)

On Tuesday evening, as on many previous Tuesday nights, thousands gather for a unity rally of prayer and song held in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, with some of the country’s best-known performers, as well as several hostage family members, including the father of hostage Yarden Bibas, and former hostage Moran Stella Yanai, who was freed during the November 2024 pause in fighting.

The aunt of murdered hostage Omer Neutra calls to the audience to recite the prayer “Shema Yisrael” together, with a resounding “Amen” at the end. She sends strength to the hostage negotiators, with the hope that they will bring home all the remaining hostages.

As Aviv Geffen and Omer Adam perform, Geffen says, “Omer and I are here tonight to say there are no differences between us, no religious and no secular Israelis, no Ashkenazi and Mizrachi, there is just the nation of Israel, the Jewish nation, praying that the hostages come home,” says Geffen. “That is our prayer.”

Report: PM’s associates offering to deepen settler hold of West Bank if Smotrich doesn’t thwart hostage deal

Channel 12 reports that associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are holding meetings with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, in order to try to convince him to back the hostage deal on the table, or at least to not work to collapse the government if it advances.

The Netanyahu associates are offering Smotrich a package of compensation measures, which focus largely on further entrenching Israel’s presence in the West Bank, Channel 12 reports.

Sa’ar: ICJ president tapped to be Lebanon PM called Israel ‘enemy,’ proving court’s bias

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says that comments earlier today by Nawaf Salam, the newly appointed prime minister of Lebanon, who served as the president of the International Court of Justice, prove that the ICJ is biased against Israel and its decisions must be invalidated.

“The president of the ICJ, just appointed prime minister of Lebanon, has called Israel an enemy,” says Sa’ar. “This is the president of a court presiding over a case related to Israel — someone who is supposed to remain impartial and neutral. Yet, he refers to Israel as an enemy.”

In his first speech as premier earlier today, Salam — referring to Israel — said he would work to “impose the complete withdrawal of the enemy from the last occupied inch of our land.”

“How can such a person be expected to judge Israel fairly?” asks Sa’ar. “President Salam’s decisions regarding Israel must be disqualified immediately. Otherwise, they might as well take the ‘J’ out of the ICJ.”

Salam, who resigned from the court today, began his role as ICJ president in February 2024 and has served as a member since 2018. He has been presiding over South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide, and took part in rulings, including, in January 2024, saying there is “plausibility” that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and in July 2024 calling Israel’s presence in the West Bank “illegal.”

Mobile bakery, operated by COGAT and World Central Kitchen, ‘producing 3,000 loaves of bread per hour’

A mobile bakery, operated by the IDF's COGAT and the World Central Kitchen NGO, is seen producing bread, on January 14, 2025. (COGAT)

A mobile bakery, operated by the World Central Kitchen NGO, in coordination with the IDF’s Coordinated Office of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT), has begun operations in the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, and “is producing over 3,000 loaves of bread per hour,” COGAT says in a statement.

It is not immediately clear what constitutes a “loaf.” A photo attached to the statement shows the mobile bakery producing what looks like pita bread.

The mobile bakery passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing on the Israel-Gaza border with Jordanian assistance, after a security inspection by the Ministry of Defense’s Land Crossings Authority, in coordination with COGAT, the statement adds.

“The IDF, through COGAT, will continue coordinating with international aid organizations to support and facilitate the transfer of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza, with a particular focus on food supply efforts,” it concludes.

If Hamas gives a positive response, implementing deal can start immediately, PM said to tell families

Sharon Sharabi and other relatives of Israelis held hostage by terrorists in the Gaza Strip speak to the media after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, January 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Meeting with representatives of the hostages’ families earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told them that a deal was “days or hours” from being finalized. “We are waiting for Hamas’s [positive] response and then it will be possible to start [implementation] immediately.

According to a Channel 12 report on part of the meeting, one of the relatives stressed that the families are deeply worried that the deal will collapse after phase one, which provides for the release of 33 hostages. Netanyahu said in response that talks on phase two would commence on the 16th day of phase one “and we won’t leave Gaza until all the hostages are returned.”

Asked why the wait until day 16 to start the phase two talks, Netanyahu reportedly said, “The negotiations now are about all [of the hostages], but the deal will be in phases. Ultimately, we’re dealing with a murderous terror group. You have to start with something in order to get the rest moving. I will do everything to bring everybody home — the living and the dead.”

The families also asked him why the deal could not have been done months ago, and he reportedly responded that Israel now has “an envelope” of support from incoming president Trump.

He also reportedly spoke of the deal providing for “a protracted ceasefire” in return for all the hostages, rather than an end to the war.

Netanyahu was supposed to meet earlier today with representatives of the hawkish Gvura Forum of families of hostages and fallen soldiers. Channel 12 says the meeting was delayed while the Forum weighed canceling it because of their opposition to the deal, but that they decided to go ahead and are now sitting with the prime minister.

Arab mediator: Deal being finalized largely identical to May proposal; both sides prevented earlier implementation

Visitors at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. January 13, 2025. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

A senior Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel that the three-phased hostage deal currently being finalized between Israel and Hamas is largely the same as the proposal that was proposed by Israel last May.

“A deal could have been reached much earlier, but both sides led to talks falling apart at various times,” the diplomat familiar with the negotiations says.

Gallant: I hope that this time, gov’t will put national interest before political interest

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant visits Hostages Square in Tel Aviv and gives remarks to the press expressing his support for the proposal currently on the table.

“I hope that this time… the national interest will override the political interest,” Gallant says, hinting at his previous claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scuttled previous opportunities to secure a deal in order to maintain his coalition.

Asked about the opposition of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir to the brewing hostage deal, Gallant says that, as someone who shares the views of the majority of Israelis who back the agreement, he is “embarrassed” by the two far-right ministers.

He says their conduct is “not Jewish, not Zionist, and not humane.”

Sa’ar: Israel working to reach gradual deal, not partial deal

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar meets with pro-Israel influencers in Rome on January 14, 2025. (Shalev Man/Foreign Ministry)

During a diplomatic trip to Italy, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tells a group of pro-Israel influencers that Israel is not working on a “partial deal, but a gradual deal.”

Speaking to the group in Rome, Sa’ar says Israel has been engaged in “very intensive negotiations” to reach a hostage release and ceasefire deal, “with significant involvement from the current and future American administrations,” according to a statement from his office.

The foreign minister says that both the Biden and Trump administrations “want to reach a hostage deal this week or before January 20,” the date that US President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office.

Sa’ar adds that Israel is working tirelessly towards a deal because “we want our people back home and we want to achieve a hostage deal. This is not a partial deal, this is a gradual deal.”

Appearing to deny report that Hamas has accepted draft proposal, Blinken says mediators still await response

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken appears to deny reports that Hamas has accepted a final ceasefire proposal, asserting that the terror group has yet to give a final answer to the deal on the table.

“It’s right on the brink. It’s closer than it’s ever been before, but right now… we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, it will remain on the brink,” Blinken says in an on-stage interview, shortly after giving an address on his Mideast policy at the Atlantic Council.

“That could come anytime. It could come in the hours ahead. It could come in the days ahead,” he adds.

Laying out Gaza ‘day after’ plan, Blinken says it will require Israel granting PA foothold in Strip

An anti-Israel protester is removed from the room as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Laying out his plan for the postwar management of Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he envisions the Palestinian Authority inviting international partners to help establish and run an interim administration responsible for running key civil sectors in Gaza such as banking, water, energy, health and civil coordination with Israel.

He says the international community would provide funding, technical support and oversight to this interim administration in Gaza, without elaborating on who exactly would be funding the enterprise.

He says the interim panel would be assembled through consultation with communities in Gaza and should include representatives from the Strip along with representatives from the PA.

The committee would work closely with a senior UN official appointed to oversee the international Gaza reconstruction effort. The temporary committee would be replaced by a reformed PA “as soon as it’s feasible.”

An interim security mission made up of troops from US-allied countries along with vetted Palestinian personnel. It would be in charge of securing humanitarian aid along with border security and smuggling prevention, Blinken says.

He reveals that some US allies have already expressed willingness to contribute security forces to the interim mission but that they have conditioned this support on Israel agreeing to allow the West Bank and Gaza to be reunited under a reformed PA as part of a pathway to a two-state solution — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.

Blinken says that his plan also envisions the US establishing a new initiative to train, equip and vet a PA-led security force for Gaza, which would gradually take over the interim security mission.

These various frameworks for Gaza’s governance, reconstruction and security would be enshrined in a UN Security Council resolution.

Blinken’s speech was a subject of controversy within the Biden administration, with some arguing that it would be exploited by Netanyahu for political gain. Others maintained that it could even harm the hostage negotiations. Another US official told The Times of Israel that the decision to unveil the plan in this manner decreases the likelihood that it will be adopted by the incoming Trump administration, which largely wants to avoid continuing initiatives from the outgoing team.

Blinken: We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new fighters as it has lost

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticizes Israel’s war strategy, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to advance a viable alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza, such as the PA, led the IDF to repeatedly return to places in the Strip it had previously cleared of Hamas fighters who managed to return.

“We’ve long made the point to the Israeli government that Hamas cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, that without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan and a credible political horizon for the Palestinians, Hamas, or something just as abhorrent and dangerous, will grow back,” Blinken says in an address on the Biden administration’s Mideast policy at the Atlantic Council.

“That’s exactly what’s happened in northern Gaza since October 7. Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back Hamas, militants regroup and reemerge because there’s nothing else to fill the void,” he says.

“Indeed, we assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost,” Blinken reveals. “That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.” (Israel estimates that it has killed some 18,000 fighters from terror groups inside Gaza during the war.)

“Israel has pursued its military campaign past the point of destroying Hamas’s military capacity and killing the leaders responsible for October 7, convinced that unrelenting military pressure was required to get Hamas to accept a ceasefire and hostage deal on Israel’s terms,” he says.

He adds that Hamas has “cynically weaponized the suffering of Palestinians” and points to a Wall Street Journal report that purported to reveal a message that the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar sent to mediators in which he called the death of Palestinian civilians “necessary sacrifices” and argued that the more innocent Palestinians were killed, the more Hamas would benefit.

Blinken: Israelis must abandon myth that they can carry out de facto annexation without cost

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pans both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority for some of their policies over the past several years.

“Israelis must abandon the myth that they can carry out de facto annexation without cost and consequence to Israel’s democracy, to its standing and to its security,” Blinken says in a speech at the Atlantic Council reviewing his Mideast policy.

“Israel is expanding official settlements and nationalizing land at a faster clip than any time in the last decade, while turning a blind eye to unprecedented growth in illegal outposts. Violent attacks by extremist settlers against Palestinian civilians have reached record levels,” he laments.

Blinken says Israel’s refusal to allow the Palestinian Authority to gain a foothold in Gaza and to accept a time-bound, conditions-based approach for Palestinian statehood has prevented other international actors from accepting Israel’s call to help rebuild Gaza.

He acknowledges that some in Israel argue that heeding those requests would amount to a reward for Hamas. However, Blinken argues that Hamas is opposed to the two-state solution for which the international community has advocated and sought to quash with the October 7 onslaught.

“Israel’s government has systematically undermined the capacity and legitimacy of the only viable alternative to Hamas — the Palestinian Authority,” Blinken says, pointing to Israel’s withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenues that belong to the PA.

“Israelis must decide what relationship they want with the Palestinians. That cannot be the illusion that Palestinians will accept being a non-people without national rights. Seven million Israeli Jews and some 5 million Palestinians are rooted in the same land. Neither is going anywhere,” he says.

As for the PA, Blinken says it “repeatedly failed to undertake long-overdue reforms,” including ones to rein in corruption, decrease bloated bureaucracy and alter its welfare program to cease payments to security prisoners based on the severity of their attack against Israelis.

He also blasts the PA for refusing to consistently and unequivocally condemn Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, saying it “only entrenched doubts among Israelis that the two communities can ever live side by side in peace.”

Blinken: I believe we’ll get a Gaza ceasefire; ball in Hamas’s court

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators submitted a final hostage deal proposal to Israel and Hamas on Sunday.

“The ball is now in Hamas’s court. If Hamas accepts, the deal is ready to be concluded and implement it,” he says, indicating that Israel has already accepted — something even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has not confirmed.

“I believe we will get a ceasefire. Whether we get there in the remaining days of our administration, or after January 20, the deal will follow closely the terms of the agreement that President Biden put forward last May and that our administration rallied the world behind,” he adds.

Blinken: Majority of Muslim world doubts Oct. 7 attack; Israeli media doesn’t report on Gaza suffering

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

In a speech reviewing the Biden administration’s Mideast policy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reflects on the dangerous ripple effects of the war in Gaza.

“The more people suffer, the less they feel empathy for the suffering of those on the other side,” Blinken says.

“Throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds, large majorities believe that October 7 didn’t happen — or if it did, that it was a legitimate attack on Israel’s military.

“In Israel, there is almost no reporting on the conditions in Gaza and what people there endure every day.”

“This dehumanization is one of the greatest tragedies of the conflict,” he adds.

Blinken’s Mideast speech interrupted by anti-Israel protesters who accuse him of facilitating Gaza ‘genocide’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is 15 minutes into his speech reviewing the Biden administration’s Mideast policy at the Atlantic Council and he has already three times been interrupted by anti-Israel protesters who accuse him of facilitating genocide.

“You will forever be known as Bloody Blinken,” the first protester shouts.

“You’re a brutal war criminal,” screeches the second protester five minutes later.

Azerbaijan foils plot to assassinate local Jewish figure

Two suspects have been arrested in Azerbaijan for planning to assassinate a senior figure in the country’s Jewish community, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan. The plot was discovered and foiled by Azerbaijani security forces.

According to the report, the two were offered $200,000 by representatives of another country, likely Iran, to kill a member of the Jewish community. The primary suspect, a drug trafficker, had recently traveled to another country and met with its security services.

A source within the Azerbaijani Jewish community told Kan that the target was a well-known figure who actively promotes cooperation between the predominantly Muslim country and Israel.

Iran is actively seeking to lure local agents to attack Jewish and Israeli targets. Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli National Security Council warned citizens to be on high alert for such attempts.

At Mar-a-Lago event, Religious Zionism MK urges Trump to reject deal that his own envoy is working to finalize

Religious Zionism lawmaker Ohad Tal calls on US President-elect Donald Trump to oppose the hostage deal that his own envoy Steve Witkoff is currently working to finalize in Doha along with US President Joe Biden’s top aide Brett McGurk.

“The current deal, which was pushed by the Biden administration, is a horrible deal that will roll back all of Israel’s achievements of the past year,” he says at a prayer breakfast at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Tal says that Trump, “more than any other leader in the world,” knows how “to differentiate between good and evil and I call on you from here from this important podium not to support a deal that will leave this total evil of Hamas in power; not to support a deal that will leave back the vast majority of the hostages.”

Calling Trump’s recent electoral win a “spiritual victory for the values we all treasure,” Tal criticizes “wokeism” and says that the incoming administration provides “an opportunity to apply full Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, the heart of our ancestral homeland.”

A last-minute attempt in Mar a Lago to convince Trump not to support the hostage agreement that is about to be signed. Knesset member @MKOhadTal chairman of the “Religious Zionist” faction said at a conference held at this time in Mar-a-Lago that "we want a deal that will return… pic.twitter.com/fXO39p0MlF

— Ariel Kahana אריאל כהנא (@arik3000) January 14, 2025

Palestinian Islamic Jihad delegation arriving in Doha for talks on hostage deal’s final details

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group announces that a high-level delegation will arrive in Doha this evening to participate in talks regarding the final details of the hostage deal that is believed to be on the verge of completion.

PIJ is believed to be holding a number of the 98 hostages still captive in Gaza.

Report: Deal to see release of female civilian hostages, followed by female soldiers, elderly and severely ill

The emerging hostage deal will begin with the release of three female civilian hostages on the first day of the first 42-day phase. Each subsequent week will begin with the release of another group of hostages, Channel 12 reports, without citing any sources.

The releases will begin with the female civilian hostages along with the Bibas children Ariel and Kfir. Hamas claimed at the beginning of the war that they and their mother Shiri were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The IDF said it was probing the matter and has since said that it doesn’t have intelligence confirming that they’re no longer alive.

The next group to be released in the first phase will be female soldiers, followed by the elderly and then those who are deemed extremely ill, with 33 hostages being released in total.

The Channel 12 report has not been confirmed by Israeli authorities.

The majority of those slated for release are believed to be alive.

Hostages’ families leave meeting with PM with questions on when 2nd phase of deal will begin

Sharon Sharabi speaks to reporters after leaving a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hostage families at his Jerusalem office on January 14, 2025. (Screen capture/Channel 12)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wrapped his meeting with the first of two groups of hostages’ families at his office in Jerusalem.

Several of those who were in the first meeting tell Channel 12 that they left with lots of questions unanswered, particularly regarding when the second and third phases of the deal will commence.

The first stage of the deal is slated to last six weeks and see the release of 33 hostages — the remaining women, elderly and severely ill hostages.

The deal on the verge of being inked stipulates that on the 16th day of the first phase, Israel and Hamas will begin negotiations regarding the terms of the second stage during which the remaining living hostages will be released. If talks have not completed by the end of the first phase, the sides will be urged by the mediators to continue negotiating until the terms of the second phase are reached.

Netanyahu has preferred the staged framework, rejecting a one-stage deal for all of the hostages in exchange for Israel permanently ending the war, arguing that doing so would allow Hamas to remain in power.

Hamas has sought assurances from the mediators that the first phase will lead immediately to the second phase, which is supposed to end with the declaration of a permanent ceasefire. The third phase is slated to see the release of remaining bodies of slain hostages.

Sharon Sharabi, whose brothers Yossi and Eli are held in Gaza, tells reporters after the meeting that the government should not agree to wait until the 16th day to start negotiations on the terms of the second phase, arguing that these talks should commence right away. Yossi Sharabi was accidentally killed in an IDF strike, while Eli Sharabi is believed to be alive.

The first meeting at the premier’s office lasted 45 minutes, with Netanyahu telling the families that talks are advancing and that he is doing everything he can to bring about the release of all 98 hostages, Channel 12 reports.

Netanyahu highlighted how Israel’s military successes over the past several months led Hamas to compromise on some of its positions. He says that the deal will allow Israel to remain in the first phase in the Philadelphi Corridor along with a buffer zone along the Israel-Gaza border.

After being unsure earlier, IDF says it successfully intercepted last night’s Houthi missile

Following investigations by the Israeli Air Force and Home Front Command, the IDF says the ballistic missile launched from Yemen overnight was successfully intercepted by air defenses.

A large fragment of the Houthi missile landed on the roof of a home in Mevo Beitar, causing damage. The military says it identified additional shrapnel impacts in Tzur Hadassah and Beitar Illit, with no major damage. All of these are in the Jerusalem area.

Blinken hints at opposition to Israeli strike on Iran nuclear facilities

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers a statement to the press after meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, December 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted at his opposition to an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Blinken was pressed on an interview with MSNBC yesterday why Israel shouldn’t take out Iran’s nuclear program once and for all now that Tehran has been significantly weakened.

“You have to look at what would be enduring and what would make sure that the program doesn’t come back. So one of the things you have to assess is: If that were to happen, would Iran simply rebuild and rebuild even deeper underground in a place that would be even harder to get to?” Blinken responds.

Blinken repeats his recent acknowledgement that Iran has accumulated enough fissile material necessary for a nuclear weapon and could upgrade material to bomb-grade quality within a week or so. However, actually developing a weapon would take far longer.

“Iran is going to be faced with decisions of its own of how it wants to move forward, but I think the incoming administration would have an opportunity precisely because Iran’s on its back feet – the – it’s suffering economically in a terrible way,” he says. “Its people are disputing so much of what the regime has done, particularly in meddling in the affairs of other countries throughout the region.”

“This is a moment of opportunity, and maybe a moment of opportunity to resolve in an enduring way the nuclear challenge posed by Iran, but also the actions that Iran takes throughout the region,” Blinken adds.

Health Ministry gearing up for possible return of hostages

A Red Cross vehicle carrying newly released hostages drives towards the Rafah border point with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023. (MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of the Health Ministry’s public health division, says the ministry is preparing for the return of hostages, with 33 expected to be freed in the first phase of the deal currently being negotiated between Israel and Hamas.

The conditions of these hostages, including women, children, older adults and wounded civilians, who return after more than a year in captivity will be “very different” than when Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, she tells Ynet.

She stresses that officials have learned from the last hostage release.

The admitting hospitals will make sure to give the hostages their privacy while they do medical tests and check for nutritional deficiencies. The medical staff will continue to monitor the hostages’ health over a long period of time.

Germany’s Scholz: Deal with Hamas painful, but hostage lives a priority

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a public discussion in Luenen, western Germany, on January 13, 2025. (Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP)

After many months of negotiations, a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas seems to be within reach, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says.

“We understand how painful any agreement with the terrorist organization Hamas is for Israel. Nevertheless, the lives of the hostages must now have top priority,” says Scholz in a statement, adding it offered the chance of a ceasefire to alleviate the suffering in Gaza.

Hamas says it has briefed other Palestinian factions on ‘progress’ in ceasefire talks

Delegations of leaders from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine meet in Cairo on December 20, 2024. (Courtesy)

The Hamas terror group says in a statement that it hopes for a “clear and comprehensive agreement,” in the ongoing talks for a ceasefire-hostage deal in Doha.

Hamas says that it had held consultations with other Palestinian factions and informed them of the “progress made.”

Some of the hostages are being held by other groups in Gaza, such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Shekel gains, Tel Aviv stocks rise on expectation of hostage-ceasefire deal

Illustrative: New Israeli shekel bills, September 24, 2023. (Hadar Youavian/Flash90)

The shekel gains and shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange rise amid reports that Israel is on the brink of agreeing on a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by the Hamas terror group.

The local currency appreciates by about 1.2 percent and trades around 3.63 against the dollar. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s benchmark TA-125 index and the TA-35 index of blue chip companies both add about 0.6%. The TA-Technology index is up 0.9%.

Lebanon’s new PM vows to extend state control all over Lebanese soil

Lebanon's new prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam delivers a statement at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, on January 14, 2025. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Lebanon’s new prime minister pledges to extend state authority over all Lebanese soil after a November ceasefire ended a war between Hezbollah and Israel that severely weakened the Shiite terror group.

Nawaf Salam, in his first speech, says he would “extend the authority of the Lebanese state across all its territory” and “work seriously to completely implement UN Resolution 1701” calling for Hezbollah to withdraw from south Lebanon.

46% of adults worldwide hold antisemitic beliefs, ADL survey finds

Antisemitic graffiti daubed on a Sydney synagogue, January 10, 2025 (Social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Nearly half of all people worldwide hold deeply entrenched antisemitic attitudes, according to a survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Some 46 percent of the world’s adult population – an estimated 2.2 billion people – harbor such attitudes, the report says, based on a survey of over 58,000 adults from 103 countries and territories. That’s more than twice as many as a decade ago and the highest level on record since ADL started tracking these trends globally, the organization notes.

The survey also found that 20% of respondents worldwide have not heard about the Holocaust, and that less than half (48%) recognize the Holocaust’s historical accuracy.

Younger respondents under age 35 tended to show a greater prevalence of antisemitic attitudes, the report notes.

“Antisemitism is nothing short of a global emergency, especially in a post-October 7 world. We are seeing these trends play out from the Middle East to Asia, from Europe to North and South America,” says ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt.

“It’s clear that we need new government interventions, more education, additional safeguards on social media, and new security protocols to prevent antisemitic hate crimes.”

On the positive side, the report notes that 57% of respondents said they recognize that hate toward Jews is a serious problem in the world, and 67% do not want their country to boycott Israeli products and businesses.

The ADL calls on governments and organizations to adopt and implement the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism, a framework launched last July and endorsed by dozens of countries and multilateral organizations.

Hostages’ families to meet Netanyahu at 2:30 as deal approaches

Representatives from the Hostage Families Forum will meet with the Prime Minister today at 2:30 p.m., the forum announces, amid indications Israel is on the brink of agreeing on a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The forum says that other family members will gather outside the meeting, calling for “an agreement that guarantees the return of every last hostage, with a predetermined method and timeline.”

Knesset approves MK Idan Roll’s request to leave Yesh Atid

MK Idan Roll during a Knesset house committee meeting on January 14, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90

The Knesset House Committee votes 11-0 to approve MK Idan Roll’s request to resign from the Yesh Atid party.

In his request to the committee, Roll states that Israeli society “underwent a tremendous upheaval on October 7” and that, out of this, a new camp “has developed that wants to put behind it everything that existed until October 7” and “create a liberal agenda.”

“This house remains closed to what is happening outside,” he says, calling for utilizing the lessons learned following October 7 to create something new, adding that he believes the Knesset “quickly returned to the habits of October 7.”

“Therefore, I say here: It will not help if every existing party receives another seat or two. The rules have changed. The time has come for the national majority to create a national agenda,” he continues. “The only way this will happen is to lower the threshold and open this closed club. Everyone here swore allegiance to the State of Israel and not to the party leaders.”

In response, Yesh Atid faction chair Merav Ben Ari tells Roll that if he wants “new politics, then leave and let new a leadership come in.” She argues that “we are not all the same people since October 7 and understand the magnitude of the responsibility.”

“The honest thing you need to do is resign and return the seat to Yesh Atid,” she argues.

Roll is now forbidden by law to run in the next election under any party currently in the Knesset — an ordinance put in place to prevent sitting lawmakers from joining rival parties in return for material favors.

Qatar says Gaza talks in ‘final stages’ with major issues resolved, deal possible ‘very soon’

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani attends a press conference in Doha, Qatar, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

Negotiations in Doha for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their “final stages,” mediator Qatar’s foreign ministry says.

“We do believe that we are at the final stages… certainly we are hopeful that this would lead very soon to an agreement,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari tells a news conference, adding that “until there is an announcement… we shouldn’t be over-excited about what’s happening right now.”

He says that most obstacles had been overcome.

“During the past months, there were underlying issues, major issues between the two parties unresolved. These issues were resolved during the talks in the past couple of weeks, and therefore we have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed,” he says.

Israel to release 50 Palestinian prisoners including 30 serving life sentences for each female soldier hostage

A woman looks at a mural of the five female soldiers held hostage in Gaza, at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. September 17, 2024 (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

According to a draft of the deal being negotiated between Israel and Hamas, Israel will pay a steep price to secure the release of female soldiers being held hostage, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press.

The three-phase agreement would begin with the gradual release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, including women, children, older adults and wounded civilians, in exchange for potentially hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Israel.

Among the 33 would be five female Israeli soldiers, each of whom would be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 convicted security prisoners who are serving life sentences.

During this first, 42-day phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from population centers, Palestinians would be allowed to start returning to their homes in northern Gaza and there would be a surge of humanitarian aid, with some 600 trucks entering each day.

The deal would allow Israel throughout the first phase to remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the band of territory along Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Hamas had initially demanded Israel withdraw from. But Israel would pull out from the Netzarim Corridor, a belt across central Gaza where it had sought a mechanism for searching Palestinians for arms when they return to the territory’s north.

In the second phase, Hamas would release the remaining living captives, mainly male soldiers, in exchange for more prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the draft agreement. But Hamas has said it will not free the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in the past vowed to resume fighting unless Hamas’s military and governing capabilities are eliminated.

In a third phase, the bodies of remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan to be carried out in Gaza under international supervision.

Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, officials tell Associated Press

Demonstrators protest calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip outside IDF headquaters in Tel Aviv, January 13, 2025.(Itai Ron/Flash90)

CAIRO — Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks say. An Israeli official says progress has been made, but the details are being finalized.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirm its authenticity. The plan would need to be submitted to Israel’s cabinet for final approval.

All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.

Final talks resume in Doha; Palestinian source says deal could be clinched today ‘if all goes well’

Negotiators are meeting in Qatar hoping to finalize details of a plan to end the war in Gaza, after US President Joe Biden indicated a ceasefire and hostage release deal was imminent.

Mediators had given Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement yesterday, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a “breakthrough” in talks in Doha attended by envoys of both Biden and US President-elect Donald Trump.

A Palestinian source close to the talks tells Reuters he expects the deal to be finalized on Tuesday if “all goes well.”

Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk have both attended the talks hosted by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Israel is represented by David Barnea, director of spy service Mossad, and Ronen Bar, director of the Shin Bet internal security agency.

Hostage familes rail at Katz in Knesset, demand deal that will bring all captives home

Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza attend a discussion at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Representatives of the hostage families scream at Defense Minister Israel Katz, asking why their relatives are not on the list of those to be released under a potential deal being currently negotiated.

“They’re engaged in a selection,” yells one family member, referring to the Nazi practice of selecting those who would live or die in concentration camps.

Some of the family members wear a yellow Star of David with 7.10 on it, referring to the October, 7, 2023, Hamas assault.

The outburst disrupts a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in which Katz is presenting his proposal for legislation to exempt large numbers of ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service.

“I’ve been a Likud member my entire life,” shouts Hanna Cohen, whose niece Inbar Haiman was murdered in Hamas captivity in 2023. “I want her [back] for burial in Israel.”

“No Schindler’s list,” yells Cohen.

Katz insists ultra-Orthodox draft deal can only be advanced in cooperation with Haredi parties

Defense Minister Israel Katz (L) attends a discussion on the army conscription law at a Foreign Affairs and Defense committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 14, 2025.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Defense Minister Israel Katz insists that legislation regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment must be advanced with the agreement of that community’s leadership.

“Because the Haredim will be a third of Israel’s population, it is important in my opinion to promote legislation that is based on dialogue and agreement, including by Haredi public leaders,” Katz tells members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

“The goals must be realistic and reflect the correct relationship between the desired and the possible,” he says.

Katz’s enlistment proposal meets with jeers by lawmakers, with some loudly accusing him of promoting draft evasion and engaging in politics.

“You didn’t speak about the needs of the IDF among your principles,” yells MK Merav Michaeli of the Democrats. Others note that the IDF told the committee only last week that starting in 2026 it would have the capacity to absorb Haredi recruits “without any restrictions.”

Responding to criticism from lawmakers that his enlistment plan contradicts the IDF’s own estimate, Katz responds that that “the ability to recruit and absorb are two different things.”

“The ability to recruit in practice is related to areas of agreement with the leaders of the Haredi sector and the existence of a law that regulates the status of Torah scholars. Without a legal arrangement, the ability to absorb them is only on paper,” Katz argues.

Katz vows his Haredi draft bill will both encourage ‘significant service’ and preserve Torah world

Defense Minister Israel Katz (L) attends a discussion on the army conscription law at a Foreign Affairs and Defense committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 14, 2025.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Defense Minister Israel Katz says that he will not advance any legislation relating to ultra-Orthodox enlistment unless it meets two criteria.

The first is making sure that it allows Haredim to engage in “real and significant” service and the second is the preservation of the “Torah world” — a reference to the network of full-time yeshivas that form an integral part of ultra-Orthodox society.

Katz says that the IDF would seek to enlist 4,800 soldiers this year, 5,700 the following year and a specified amount each subsequent year, rising to 50 percent of eligible Haredim in seven years. Civilian service in organizations such as the Zaka volunteer disaster response group will not count toward these numbers.

There will be sanctions on draft dodgers, and young men will age out of IDF service and no longer need exemptions at 26, he adds.

Katz proposes financial sanctions on both educational institutions, such as yeshivas, and individuals, should the annual enlistment quotas from the ultra-Orthodox community under his conscription plan not be met.

This includes personal sanctions on all those designated for service, including those studying in yeshivas, he says.

“I was convinced during the discussions that there should be sanctions not only on the yeshivas but also on the students, and this is something that has not been the case to date,” he states.

Ben Gvir says he repeatedly foiled a hostage deal over the last year, sparking outcry

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posts a video message calling on Bezalel Smotrich to join him in opposing a hostage deal on January 15, 2025 (Screencapture/ X)

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparks an outcry when he says that he has repeatedly foiled a hostage-ceasefire deal over the past year.

In a post on X together with a video in which he calls on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will bolt the coalition if the deal goes through, the Otzma Yehudit leader says that he has managed to stop previous efforts to reach a deal.

“In the last year, using our political power, we managed to prevent this deal from going ahead, time after time,” he writes.

However, he says he now lacks the power to stop the deal because Netanyahu expanded the coalition by bringing in Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party.

“Recently other actors who support the deal have joined the government and we no longer hold the balance of power,” he laments.

His remarks draw an outcry from hostage family members and opposition politicians.

“He is openly admitting that he stopped a deal with his own hands for political gain,”  Gil Dickmann, a relative of Carmel Gat who was killed by her captors. “If it were not for him, Carmel would be alive today.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says Ben Gvir’s comments prove his accusations that the government was not making a deal for political reasons.

“For more than a year I have been saying that ‘they are not reaching a hostage deal for political reasons’ and everyone tells me that this cannot be, that it’s shocking, and how could I say such a thing,” Lapid posts on X.

“And today Ben Gvir puts out a video and says to the camera, without blinking, that is the terrible truth,” he say.

Turkish chief rabbi Ishak Haleva dies at 84

Turkish chief rabbi Ishak Haleva in an undated picture published on January 14, 2025 (Turkish Chief Rabbinate)

Turkish chief rabbi Ishak Haleva has died at the age of 84, the country’s chief rabbinate says.

Haleva had been the chief rabbi of Turkey since 2002, when he replaced David Asseo. He served as a member of the Presidium Council of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, and lectured on Jewish history and Hebrew at Marmara University and Sakarya University.

Members of the Turkish Jewish community, which numbers around 14,500, mourn him on social media, saying that he was well-loved and known for his interfaith dialogue efforts.

Haleva was born in Istanbul in 1940 and was ordained as a rabbi in Israel by former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef after studying at Yeshiva Porat Yosef in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife and four sons.

No word has been given on who will replace him.

Mother of fallen soldier leads dozens in protest against Haredi draft law outside Knesset

Laly Derai, (c) the mother of a fallen soldier, leads a protest march calling for an equality of burden in also drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews to the IDF, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem. January 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Dozens of Israelis are protesting outside the Knesset against a planned ultra-Orthodox draft law that will limit the numbers of Haredi men conscripted into the army.

The demonstrators wave Israeli flags and carry a stretcher, calling for the ultra-Orthodox to “shoulder the burden” of military service along with other citizens.

Defense Minister Israel Katz is expected to present the outlines of his plan that will gradually expand ultra-Orthodox draft, at the Knesset later today.

Among those leading the march from the Mount Herzl military cemetery to the Knesset is Laly Derai, the mother of Saadia Derai, who was killed in combat in the Gaza Strip.

“The reservists and regular army soldiers bear such a hard burden,” Derai tells the Ynet news site at the start of the march. “We can’t continue without expanding the circle of those carrying the stretcher.”

Israelis attend a protest march calling for an equality of burden, in also drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews to the IDF, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem. January 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Regarding Katz’s plan, Derai says that while she believes the defense minister means well, “he doesn’t understand the urgency — we can’t wait seven years until they are drafted.”

She calls on legislators to craft a law that will be be “ironclad and not allow healthy youths to evade service in the IDF for all sorts of loopholes by sitting in a yeshiva.”

‘Final round’ of Gaza talks to start today in Qatar — official

A billboard calling for an end of the war between Israel and Hamas along with a portrait of US President-elect Donald Trump stands on top of a building near a protest by right wing Israelis rejecting a potential deal with Hamas, in Jerusalem , on January 13, 2025. (Photo by Menahem Kahana / AFP)

A “final round” of Gaza truce talks is due to start today in Qatar, says a source briefed on the negotiations aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war after more than 15 months.

“A final round of talks is expected to take place today in Doha,” the source tells AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that today’s meetings “are aimed at finalizing the remaining details of the deal” with the heads of Israel’s intelligence agencies, the Middle East envoys for the incoming and outgoing US administrations and Qatar’s prime minister present.

Mediators are to meet separately with Hamas officials, the source says.

Ben Gvir urges Smotrich to join him in threat to bolt government if hostage deal goes through

Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage in Gaza since October 2023 stage a protest calling for a deal with the Palestinian Hamas group to secure their release, in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 14, 2025. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)

Otzma Yehudit chief National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join forces with him to prevent a “surrender” deal by threatening to bolt the coalition.

“Otzma Yehudit alone does not have the ability to prevent the deal. I suggest that we go together to the prime minister and inform him that if he passes the deal we will resign from the government,” Ben Gvir declares.

The two far-right parties ran together in the last election, but operate independently. Ben Gvir and Smotrich have also been at odds in recent weeks over funding for the police in the budget.

“I emphasize that even if we are in opposition, we will not bring down the prime minister, but this cooperation is our only way to prevent the surrender deal… and ensure that the deaths of hundreds of soldiers were not in vain,” Ben Gvir says.

Israel warns citizens of Iranian efforts to entice them abroad after attempt to lure businessman to Dubai

Illustrative: A cybersecurity expert talks about Iran hacking techniques, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, September 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Israel issues a warning to its citizens to be on high alert for increased attempts by Iran to lure them abroad in order to harm or kidnap them.

In a statement, the National Security Council says Iranian forces are targeting Israelis online and trying to convince them to attend meetings abroad at which they will be attacked.

Recently, the NSC says, an Israeli businessman was contacted by someone on Telegram posing as an employee of the Farsi version of the Al Arabiya news outlet and seeking to set up a meeting in Dubai to conduct an interview. After becoming suspicious, the businessman alerted the NSC, which discovered that the contact had infected his cellphone with malware to hack into his phone.

The NSC warns Israelis against sharing information with unknown contacts online and disclosing personal details or travel plans with any potential business or academic partners without verifying their identities. Israelis are urged to be vigilant and to contact the Foreign Ministry or NSC about any suspicious activity.

18 said killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Gaza

A Palestinian medic helps a man injured in Israeli strikes disembark from an ambulance into at Al-Ahli Arab hospital, also known as the Baptist hospital, in Gaza City on January 13, 2025 (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 18 people overnight, including six women and four children, local health officials say.

Two strikes in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah killed two women and their four children, who ranged in age from 1 month to 9 years old. One of the women was pregnant and the baby did not survive, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.

Another 12 people were killed in two strikes on the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the European Hospital.

The figures could not be verified.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel says it only targets terror operatives and accuses them of hiding among civilians in shelters and tent camps for the displaced.

Woman says she only noticed Houthi missile on her roof in the morning

Fragments of a Houthi ballistic missile cause damage to a home in a town near Jerusalem, January 14, 2025. (Israel Police)

A woman whose home was hit by a large chunk of debris from an overnight Houthi missile says she only noticed the damage when she went out for a walk.

Michal Wexler, a resident of Mevo Beitar near Jerusalem, tells Ynet that while she and her family were woken by the sirens at around 3 a.m., they did not hear anything to suggest part of the missile had hit their home.

“When we went out for our usual morning walk we saw broken tiles. Only when we looked up did we see a missile on our roof,” she says, adding that the family is uninjured.

“It’s not the smallest part, but we did not hear anything really unusual in the night,” she says, adding that the local security officer had confirmed to her that the large cylinder perched on her home was part of the Houthi ballistic missile.

The military said it had tried to intercept it, but did not give further details.

Trump would have been convicted of trying to overturn 2020 vote if he weren’t reelected in 2024 – special counsel report

US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US President-elect Donald Trump would have been convicted for his alleged effort to overturn the result of the 2020 election if he hadn’t been elected four years later, says a report by special counsel Jack Smith published by US media.

The US Department of Justice’s “view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report says.

“Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the (Special Counsel’s) Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” it says.

Police say fragments from Houthi missile attack fell on homes in Jerusalem area

Fragments from a Houthi missile attack damages a home in the Jerusalem area on January 14, 2025 (Israel Police)

Police say fragments and debris from the overnight Houthi missile attack have been found in communities in the Jerusalem area.

Police say sappers are heading to the scenes in the communities of Tzur Hadassah and Mevo Beitar and call on the public not to touch the debris.

Images show a large cylinder, part of the Houthi missile, that hit the roof of a home.

The IDF said it had attempted an interception. There are no immediate reports of injuries.

Shrapnel from a Houthi missile attack damages a home in the Jerusalem area on January 14, 2025 (Police spokesperson)

Houthis claim overnight missile attack, say they targeted Tel Aviv

Houthi supporters hold posters showing slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during an anti-Israel and anti-American rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman,File)

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim an overnight missile attack on Israel, saying they had launched a “hypersonic ballistic missile” into “occupied Jaffa,” a reference to the Israeli commercial hub of Tel Aviv.

The IDF said it had attempted an interception of the missile that set off sirens in a large swath of central Israel.

The launch came on the heels of a Monday night attack in which a projectile fired from Yemen was intercepted “prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” according to the military.

The Houthi rebels also claim they had launched four drones at Israel.

They pledge to continue their operations until “the end of the aggression against the Palestinians.”

Report: Ceasefire would see release of 3 hostages on first day, start of withdrawal of IDF troops from populated areas

Two men ride in a donkey-drawn cart as trucks carrying medical aid supplies move past in a convoy in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 13, 2025 (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)

The hostage-ceasefire agreement will begin with the release of three hostages held by Hamas on the first day of the deal, following which the IDF would begin withdrawing from populated areas in Gaza, the BBC reports.

The report, citing a Palestinian official, says that seven days later, Hamas will release another four hostages and Israel will begin allowing the return of displaced Gazans from the south to the north.

The report says they will be allowed to travel up the coastal road on foot only.

Cars, animal-drawn carts, and trucks will be allowed to cross through a passage adjacent to Salah al-Din Road, monitored by an X-ray machine operated by a Qatari-Egyptian technical security team, the report says.

The agreement says the IDF will remain deployed in the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border and will retain an 800-meter buffer zone along the Strip’s eastern and northern borders with Israel during the first, 42-day phase of the deal, the BBC report says.

The report also says that Israel will release 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners, including approximately 190 who have been serving sentences of 15 years or more.

The report says Hamas would free 34 hostages in the first phase. Israeli officials put the number at 33.

‘There’s been a handshake’: Trump says hostage deal could be inked by end of the week

US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, January 7, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP)

US President-elect Donald Trump is asked to update the public on the ongoing hostage talks during an interview with the Newsmax network.

“We are very close to getting it done. They have to get it done. If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there — a lot of trouble like they have never seen before. They will get it done,” Trump says, replacing his previous threat of “hell” in the Middle East with “trouble.”

“I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week, but it has to take place,” he says.

He again laments that many of the hostages are no longer alive due to the difficult conditions under which they are being held. Israel believes roughly half of the 98 hostages still in Gaza are alive.

ISRAEL, HAMAS NEAR HOSTAGE DEAL?: "We are very close to getting it done," President-elect Donald Trump tells "Rob Schmitt Tonight."

"There's been a handshake." pic.twitter.com/lRO9Ul1zHh

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) January 14, 2025

IDF says it thinks it successfully intercepted Houthi missile that triggered central Israel sirens

The IDF says it believes it succeeded in intercepting a ballistic missile launched from Yemen shortly after 3 a.m. local time.

The army says it made several attempts to intercept the missile but does not go as far as to confirm that it succeeded.

There are no reports of injuries or damage, and the IDF says the incident is over.

Magen David Adom: No reports of injuries from Houthi missile, but 11 were hurt running to shelters

The Magen David Adom emergency service says it has not received any reports of anyone directly injured by the night’s second Houthi missile launch or by falling fragments from Israeli interceptors.

However, 11 people were injured while running to shelters and four more are being treated for panic attacks, MDA says.

IDF says it made several attempts to intercept missile from Yemen

The IDF says it made several attempts to intercept a missile launched from Yemen moments ago.

Notably, the army doesn’t say whether any of the attempts were successful.

There are still no immediate reports of injuries or damage, though.

The IDF says it will follow up shortly with more information.

For second time in hours, missile launch from Yemen triggers central Israel sirens

Red alert sirens have been triggered in several areas across central Israel following a missile launch from Yemen, the IDF says.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

At around 6:30 p.m. local time, the Houthis fired another ballistic missile at Israel, which was intercepted by the IDF

Sirens had sounded in numerous communities in the West Bank, Jordan Valley, Afula area and near Beit Shean — and not in Tel Aviv — amid fears of falling shrapnel.

????For the second time today, sirens sounded across Israel due to a projectile fired from Yemen???? pic.twitter.com/2EGpDNVFcH

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 14, 2025

Biden: Rebuilding from LA fires will take ‘tens of billions of dollars’

Rebuilding after the fires that left some Los Angeles neighborhoods in smoldering ruins over the past week will carry a staggering cost in the billions of dollars, US President Joe Biden says Monday in a briefing with emergency officials.

“It’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles back where it was,” the outgoing president says, as California’s largest city braced for a return of fierce winds that threaten to fan the flames that have already claimed at least 24 lives.

Biden announces aircraft carriers will be named for Clinton, Bush

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greets former President George W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before the a funeral for former Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Washington National Cathedral, in Washington, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

US President Joe Biden announces that two of the Navy’s future aircraft carriers will be named for former commanders-in-chief Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

“The future USS William J. Clinton (CVN 82) and the future USS George W. Bush (CVN 83) will begin construction in the years ahead,” Biden says in a statement issued just a week before he is replaced in office by Donald Trump.

“When complete, they will join the most capable, flexible, and professional Navy that has ever put to sea,” Biden says.

The United States has a long tradition of naming some of its aircraft carriers — massive warships that are crewed by thousands of sailors and carry dozens of planes — after former presidents.

The latest line of US carriers is named for Gerald R. Ford, and another of the multi-billion-dollar ships bears John F. Kennedy’s name — the second time he has been honored in that way.

Clinton — who did not serve in the military — was president from 1993 to 2001, a period that saw US warplanes carry out strikes in Iraq and Yugoslavia, and American troops battle Somali militiamen in the infamous Black Hawk Down incident, among other conflicts.

Bush, who served as a pilot in the Air National Guard, held America’s highest office from 2001 to 2009.

His presidency was defined by the so-called “War on Terror” that he launched in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, a military effort that spanned the globe and included the devastating, long-running wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that left tens of thousands of people dead.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hails the choice of the names, saying that the ships “will serve as lasting tributes to each leader’s legacy in service of the United States.”

“Like their namesakes, these two future carriers, and the crews who sail them, will work to safeguard our national security, remind us of our history, and inspire others to serve our great republic,” Austin says in a statement.

Head of hostage NGO believes US journalist Tice still in Syria

FILE - Marc and Debra Tice, the parents of Austin Tice, who is missing in Syria for nearly six years, speak during a press conference, at the Press Club, in Beirut, Lebanon, December 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

The head of an American organization focused on hostage releases says he believes US journalist Austin Tice is still being held in Syria by people loyal to toppled leader Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking to Reuters in Damascus, Nizar Zakka says he believed Tice was being held by “very few people in a safe house in order to do an exchange or a deal.”

Zakka, a Lebanese businessman with US permanent residency who was held in Iran for four years until 2019 on charges of spying, is the president of Hostage Aid Worldwide.

He has traveled to Syria multiple times following Assad’s ouster by rebels on Dec. 8 in a bid to track down Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist who was abducted in 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Assad.

Zakka says his group’s own investigation had revealed Tice was still in Syria, and that “a lot of progress” had been made in his hunt in recent weeks. But he adds that Syria’s new rulers, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), had not provided much assistance.

“We were hoping that HTS would help us more, but unfortunately HTS did not help us because they had their own concerns,” he says.

Zakka says he had no information on Tice’s precise location but suspected that a deal, possibly involving pressure from Assad’s ally Russia, could see the American journalist released.

Tice was detained at a checkpoint in Daraya, near Damascus, in August 2012. Reuters was first to report that Tice managed to slip out of his cell in 2013 and was seen moving between houses in the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh neighborhood.

He was recaptured soon after his escape, likely by forces who answered directly to Assad, current and former U.S. officials said.

Tice’s mother Debra has voiced hope that upheaval in Syria will lead to freedom for her son and has expressed gratitude for efforts by journalists and other civilians searching for him, including from Hostage Aid Worldwide.

Zakka says he was in regular touch with Debra.

“She gave us all the power and the support for us to make it happen, to find Austin and to work for Austin,” he says.

Report: PM slated to meet with hostage families on Tuesday as deal appears near

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet tomorrow with the families of the hostages in Gaza as negotiations for their release appear to be reaching a conclusion, Channel 12 reports.

‘It won’t happen. Period’: Israeli official says Sinwar’s body won’t be returned as part of hostage deal

IDF soldiers carry the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar from the building where he was killed in Rafah, Gaza on October 17, 2024. (Courtesy)

Israeli diplomatic reporters are sent a statement to be attributed to an “Israeli official” asserting that Jerusalem will not return slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s body as part of a hostage deal.

“It will not happen. Period,” the statement reads.

Earlier today, the Saudi outlet Al-Hadath published an unconfirmed report that Hamas is demanding the body of Sinwar in the first stage of the hostage deal.

Blinken: Important to have Trump people involved in hostage talks because they’ll have to enforce deal

US President Joe Biden, left, pauses with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, before giving a speech about foreign policy at the State Department in Washington, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was important to include President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, in the latest round of talks because if a ceasefire can be reached, it will be up to the Trump team in part to ensure it survives beyond Inauguration Day.

“I think Steve Witkoff has been a terrific partner in this, and also President-elect Trump in making clear that he wants to see this deal go forward, and go forward before January 20th,” Blinken says in an interview with MSNBC.

“Everyone wants to know – and it’s very useful as well to have Steve a part of this – they want to make sure that the deal that the president’s put on the table and that we’ve negotiated, the Trump administration will continue to back,” Blinken said. “So creating that confidence by having Steve Witkoff’s participation, I think, has been critical.”

Under the terms of the agreement being discussed, the US is one of several guarantors and will have a key role in making sure that its first phase — which would see a halt in hostilities and the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel — is followed by the successful implementation of its second phase, which aims to prepare for Gaza’s post-conflict future, including security, reconstruction and governance.

Netanyahu to meet Ben Gvir ahead of possible hostage deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (right) in the Knesset on December 31, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg / Flash 90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet this evening with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to gauge his reaction to a possible hostage-ceasefire deal, Hebrew media report.

Ben Gvir has been one of the most steadfast opponents of a deal with Hamas and has repeatedly threatened to bolt the coalition.

Ben Gvir is also reportedly convening his Otzma Yehudit faction later this evening in a bid to formulate a response to the emerging deal.