Jan. 15: In first, US acknowledges PM added conditions that hampered hostage talks in July

UK welcomes ‘long-overdue’ deal; Germany calls to ‘seize opportunity’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal as “the long overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been waiting for.”

“They have borne the brunt of this conflict –- triggered by the brutal terrorists of Hamas,” he says in a statement, adding that attention should now turn to how to secure a “permanently better future… grounded in a two-state solution.”

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock calls on all sides to “seize” the opportunity before them.

“In these hours there is hope that the hostages will finally be released and the deaths in Gaza will end. All those in positions of responsibility should now ensure that this opportunity is seized,” Baerbock says on social media.

Netanyahu thanks Biden, Trump for help securing hostage deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks on the phone with US President-elect Donald Trump on January 15, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is speaking separately with both US President-elect Donald Trump and US President Joe Biden to thank them for their help in securing a ceasefire-hostage release deal, his office says.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu thanks Trump for his “help in advancing the release of the hostages and helping Israel to bring an end to the suffering of dozens of hostages and their families.”

Netanyahu also thanks the incoming US president for his comments earlier today that Gaza will “NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven.” The pair agreed to meet soon in Washington, the PMO says.

The prime minister spoke as well with Biden and “also thanked him for his help in advancing the hostage deal.”

The announcement from the PMO is Netanyahu’s first public confirmation that Israel has accepted a US and Qatari-brokered ceasefire-hostage release deal, expected to come into effect on Sunday.

Reps from US, Qatar, Egypt will monitor ceasefire deal from Cairo — Qatari PM

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announces a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, at a press conference on January 15, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says there will be a “follow-up mechanism” made up of representatives from the US, Qatar and Egypt that will be based in Cairo and responsible for monitoring the implementation of the hostage release and ceasefire agreement.

The mechanism will hopefully be in place by Sunday when the ceasefire commences, Al Thani says during a press conference announcing the agreement.

The Qatari premier is asked why he’s confident that this deal will hold when the previous deal in November 2023 fell apart after a week.

The previous deal was aimed at “building the momentum to lead to a longer-term agreement, which [is what] we have today,” Al Thani responds.

He says the November deal was “transactional” and a day-to-day deal, whereas the new agreement is a more detailed three-staged deal.

“The details of the agreement will be published in the next couple of days once the details are finalized,” Al Thani adds.

The Qatari premier says collaboration between the incoming and outgoing US administrations played a “vital role” in securing today’s deal.

Al Thani makes a point of thanking both US President Joe Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk and President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff for their efforts over the past week in Doha.

Israel inflation rate eased in November, led by decline in cost of fresh produce

The inflation rate eased in December, led by a decline in the costs of fresh fruit and vegetables, transportation, and foreign travel, Central Bureau of Statistics data shows.

Annual inflation over the past 12 months stood at 3.2 percent, down from 3.4% in November. However, the annual inflation rate is still above the government’s target range of 1% to 3%.

On a monthly basis, the consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation that tracks the average cost of household goods, fell by 0.3% after declining 0.4% in November and accelerating 0.5% in October. The December figure compared with analysts’ expectations of a decline of 0.1%.

In December, price declines were seen in the costs of fresh fruit and vegetables, which dropped 5.6%, culture and entertainment slipped 2%, while transportation retreated 0.8%, according to the statistics bureau. Travel costs, including flights within Israel and abroad, fell 2.9%; and prices of hotel stays declined 9.2%.

These were offset by price increases in clothing, which was up 1.9%. In the real estate market, rents on renewal of contracts rose 2.6% and rents on contracts for new tenants jumped by 4%.

Biden spokesperson claims no pressure was needed on Israel to secure today’s deal

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller denies that pressure needed to be placed on Israel to secure a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.

The stance contradicts what senior Arab diplomats and two other sources familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel yesterday, revealing that a “tense” meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff led to a breakthrough in the talks after the latter leaned on the premier to make the compromises necessary for an agreement.

The two senior Arab diplomats said that the level of pressure exerted on Netanyahu by Trump’s envoy in that one meeting had been absent in the countless conversations that Biden officials held with the prime minister throughout the war.

Asked about such reporting during a press briefing, Miller insists, “It is not because of pressure that we have seen brought to bear by any party on the government of Israel the last few days that has gotten us to a deal.”

Miller says the breakthrough was because of Hamas’s weakened and isolated position and that its fighters “needed a break” from the fighting.

He acknowledges that the Trump team has been helpful in the effort but denies that pressure from the president-elect and his team played a role in securing the agreement.

Macron says ceasefire must be followed by ‘political solution’

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his speech to French ambassadors posted around the world, on January 6, 2025 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (Aurelien Morissard / POOL / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron says that a ceasefire deal reached by Israel and Hamas must be followed by a “political solution” to end the conflict in Gaza.

“The agreement must be respected. The hostages freed. Gazans aided. A political solution must happen,” Macron posts on X.

In first, US acknowledges that Netanyahu added conditions that hampered hostage talks in July

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of a map of the Gaza Strip as he speaks during a press conference at the Government Press Office in Jerusalem on September 4, 2024. (Abir Sultan/Pool/AFP)

Hours after a hostage deal was announced, a top Biden administration official publicly confirms for the first time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added conditions to prior proposals being negotiated that hampered those talks.

For months, Biden officials publicly insisted that Hamas was the main obstacle to a deal, and while sometimes said “both sides” were not cooperative, avoided ever singling out Netanyahu.

Israeli, Arab and US officials all told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu was also chiefly to blame at times for breakdowns in negotiations, particularly in July when he added conditions to his earlier proposal regarding the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, which torpedoed the negotiations.

Former members of Israel’s war cabinet Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot and Yoav Gallant have all spoken publicly of this to varying degrees, revealing that Netanyahu’s desire to ensure his coalition would remain intact harmed efforts to reach a deal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to suggest earlier this month that the US refrained from publicly criticizing Israel’s role in the talks amid fears that it would lead Hamas to harden its positions.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says during a press briefing, “There have been times that Israel has introduced new conditions and new proposals that have made it more difficult to get an agreement.”

“There certainly have been times when we went to the government of Israel and said, ‘We think that you are pushing too hard, and we want you to back down,” Miller recalls.

However, he asserts that Hamas sometimes did the same thing and that since August, it was the main obstacle to an agreement. It was that month when Hamas decided that it wasn’t going to negotiate at all, he says.

Talks were further hampered by Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in October, given that he was the main decision-maker, but Miller said the US supported that move and that it ultimately helped the negotiations.

West Bank Palestinians celebrate Gaza ceasefire as some show support for Hamas

Palestinians in the West Bank march through the streets in a celebration of an imminent ceasefire-hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, announced earlier this evening.

Some chant “Hamas!” in support of the terror group that sparked the 15-month-long war with Israel, while others call out the name of Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas and architect of the October 7 onslaught.

Calls of “God is great!” ring out as well.

Traffic in some areas of Ramallah is stopped as a result, and Palestinian Authority security is stationed nearby.

Ramallah right now: pic.twitter.com/x5R3mGTfy4

— PalMedia (@PalMediaOrg) January 15, 2025

Egypt hails deal, calls for ‘accelerating’ humanitarian aid into Gaza

A truck with humanitarian supplies makes its way to the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, January 6, 2025. (COGAT)

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi stresses the “importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid” into Gaza as he welcomes a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Sissi, whose government helped negotiate the truce, says the deal came after “strenuous efforts over more than a year of Egyptian, Qatari and US mediation.”

Meanwhile, the chief of the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees also calls for “rapid and unhindered” aid access to Gaza once the deal begins.

“What’s needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war,” Philippe Lazzarini, chief of UNRWA, writes on X.

Bill granting religious services minister power to allocate funds to local religious councils passes third reading

A bill granting the religious services minister the power to allocate additional funds to local religious councils around the country passes its third reading in the Knesset 46-35.

The so-called Rabbis Bill II, written by Shas MK Erez Malul, amends the Religious Services Law so that the religious services minister, currently Shas’s Michael Malkieli, will be allowed, after consulting with the finance minister, to pay for “salary expenses and positions beyond what is stated” in the law.

According to the bill’s explanatory notes, the legislation would allow the government to pay the “salaries of regional rabbis, rabbis of moshavim and ritual bath attendants without burdening the regional authorities and councils” — in both communities that have religious councils and those that don’t.

Although it does not explicitly grant the minister the power to appoint rabbis, opponents of the bill have repeatedly criticized the bill as an effort to expand Shas’ influence over religious life across the country.

“On a day of such high emotions, the ultra-Orthodox are using the hostages cynically to sneak in a second and third reading of the bill,” states Rabbi Seth Farber, whose organization, Itim, lobbied against the legislation.

The law will “enable the minister of religious affairs to appoint hundreds of rabbis in lifetime positions at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer, and impose these rabbis on local communities,” he alleges.

Ceasefire aims to bring more than 500 trucks of aid a day into Gaza, US says

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says that the ceasefire deal aims to bring “up to over 500 trucks a day” of humanitarian aid, though, “it won’t happen overnight.”

The ceasefire will also “unlock a real solution” regarding the distribution of humanitarian assistance which has been marred by looting due to the breakdown of law and order and security in Gaza amid the war.

Miller says during a briefing that the US has been working with aid groups so that they’re ready to surge aid once the ceasefire begins on Sunday.

Sa’ar: Backing deal is a ‘very hard decision,’ but cabinet will have to accept it

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar at a press conference at Villa Madama in Rome on January 14, 2025. (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says supporting the ceasefire-hostage release deal is a “very hard decision,” but one that must be made.

“I want to be very frank with you and honest. It’s a very hard decision,” Sa’ar says in a speech to Jewish leaders at the Great Synagogue of Rome before he cuts his trip short and returns to Israel for the cabinet votes tomorrow.

“When you decide on the release of so many terrorists, including murderers, who killed Jews — and it’s not the only dimension of the agreement — it’s not an easy decision,” says Sa’ar, but it’s one that “the Israeli cabinet will have to accept.”

Sa’ar says that Israel has “done our utmost and brought home the majority of the hostages, but 98 of them are still there. If we postpone the decision, we don’t know how many of them will survive,” he adds. “So, we have to make a very tough and painful decision.”

Turkey, Jordan welcome news of Gaza ceasefire

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (Luis Robayo/AFP)

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country hopes for a “lasting peace” in Gaza after the announcement of a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.

“We hope this agreement will be beneficial for our region and for all humanity, particularly for our Palestinian brothers, and that it will open the way to lasting peace and stability,” Erdogan writes on X.

Jordan also issues a statement welcoming the deal, and calling on world powers to ensure aid is swiftly delivered to Gaza.

“The ministry welcomes the announcement of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi says in a statement, urging global action to ensure the “sufficient and durable” delivery of aid to the territory.

US says matter of Hamas’s role in post-war Gaza will be focus of future negotiations

Asked whether the hostage deal ensures that Hamas will no longer be in power at the end of the Gaza war, US State Department spokesperson Matthew says this is a matter to be determined in negotiations between Israel and Hamas when they regroup next month for negotiations on the terms of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Miller clarifies that the US remains committed “to ensuring that Hamas never again resumes governing Gaza,” adding that such a scenario is similarly a dealbreaker for Israel. “I would hope that it would be a deal breaker for the Palestinian people as well.”

Egypt has been brokering talks between the various Palestinian factions about establishing an interim committee of technocrats that will administer Gaza after the war. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party is insisting that Hamas cannot have any ties to the committee and that the terror group put down its arms and allow the PA to solely manage the security of Gaza. The sides have yet to reach an agreement on the matter.

Houthis hail Gaza terror groups following ceasefire announcement, say Israel is threat to entire region

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen hail Palestinian terror groups in Gaza following the announcement of the ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

The rebels warn, however, that Israel “continues to be a threat to the stability and security of the region.”

The Houthis have fired over 350 drones and ballistic missiles at Israel since October 7, 2023, and have launched numerous attacks on international shipping routes in the Red Sea, claiming that it is doing so in support of Gaza and the Palestinian people.

Red Cross says it stands ready to facilitate release of hostages from Gaza

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)

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross says the organization stands ready to help facilitate the release of the hostages from Gaza and the Palestinian security prisons from Israeli facilities, and to implement the agreed-upon ceasefire in the Strip.

“We are ready to facilitate any release operation as agreed by the parties so that hostages and detainees can return home,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric says in a statement, adding that the organization is “also prepared to massively scale up our humanitarian response in Gaza, where the situation demands it.”

Involvement of Trump team in hostage talks was ‘critical,’ US State Department says

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says the involvement of US President-elect Donald Trump’s team “has been absolutely critical in getting this [hostage] deal over the line.”

Given that the implementation of the deal will take place during the Trump administration, cooperation between the incoming and outgoing teams was essential for securing today’s agreement, Miller says during a press briefing.

Egypt and Qatar will be responsible for ensuring that Hamas remains at the negotiating table to hammer out the terms of the second phase and the Trump administration will be responsible for ensuring that Israel remains at the table, he adds.

Miller argues that the cooperation between outgoing US President Joe Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who sat together at the negotiation table may well have been unprecedented and demonstrates the power of bipartisanship.

Leak of purported ceasefire terms show 2 hostages held for past decade to be released in first phase, gradual IDF withdrawal from key routes

Avera Mengistu (left) and Hisham al-Sayed. (Flash 90/Courtesy)

A leaked document with some of the purported terms of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been published by Palestinian media.

According to the document, entitled Appendix I, Israeli forces will withdraw from the densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip, including the Netzarim Corridor, and deploy to a 700-meter-long perimeter on the Gaza border. There will be an exception of five positions where the IDF will be allowed to deploy troops by an additional 400 meters inside Gaza, meaning up to just over a kilometer.

Regarding the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, the document details that the nine sick and wounded hostages from the list of 33 in the first stage will be released in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners who are serving life sentences.

Israel will also release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners detained in the Gaza Strip since October 8, 2023, who were not involved in the events of the October 7 onslaught, the document says.

For the elderly male hostages from the list of 33, the document says they will be released in exchange for three Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and another 27 prisoners without life sentences.

Hostages Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza since 2014 and 2015, will be released in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners in addition to 47 Palestinians released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner sway deal and re-arrested, according to the document.

Some of the Palestinian prisoners will be exiled abroad and some will be released to Gaza, according to a list agreed upon between the sides, it says.

Regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, the Gaza-Egypt border, the document says Israeli troops will gradually withdraw during the first stage according to maps agreed upon between the sides.

After the release of the last of the 33 hostages on day 42 of the ceasefire — the end of the first stage — IDF troops will need to begin to complete their withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor, at the latest on day 50 — during the second stage.

Regarding the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt, the document says that the terminal will be open for civilians and wounded to leave Gaza for abroad after the release of all the female hostages in the first phase.

Israeli troops will redeploy around the crossing by maps agreed upon between the sides.

A total of 50 Hamas operatives will be allowed to leave Gaza via the crossing each day, but each will be required to obtain approval from both Israel and Egypt.

Regarding the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, the document says that on the seventh day of the deal, Gazans will be allowed to return on foot to north Gaza while unarmed, but without any inspection, via the coastal road.

On day 22, displaced unarmed Palestinians will be allowed to return to north Gaza via the Salah a-Din road, also without inspection.

Also on day seven of the ceasefire, vehicles will be allowed to return to north Gaza, but they will be required to undergo an inspection by a private company which will be determined by the mediators and Israel.

The document does not include all the terms of the ceasefire.

Asked whether he or Trump should get credit for the deal, Biden replies, ‘Is that a joke?’

President Joe Biden turns back to the cameras to answer a question from a reporter about who deserves credit for the ceasefire, in the Cross Hall of the White House after speaking about the announcement of a ceasefire deal in Gaza, Jan. 15, 2024, in Washington. With Biden are Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

US President Joe Biden says he is “confident” that Israel and Hamas will reach phase two of the agreement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought during the negotiations to ensure that Israel would be allowed to resume fighting after the first stage, but Biden indicates he’s determined to make sure that doesn’t happen, given the pledges from the mediators to ensure negotiations on the second phase will continue until an agreement is reached. The fighting will remain at a halt, so long as those talks continue, Biden says.

Asked who should get credit for the deal — him or Trump — Biden responds, “Is that a joke.”

Biden says the hostage negotiation, which climaxed today, was one of the most difficult of his career.

“I’m deeply satisfied this day has come for the sake of the people of Israel and the [hostages’] families of waiting in agony, for the sake of the innocent people in Gaza who suffered unimaginable devastation because of the war,” Biden says.

“The Palestinian people have gone through hell. Too many innocent people have died. Too many communities have been destroyed,” he continues.

Biden notes that while the deal was negotiated by his administration, it will be implemented by the incoming Trump administration. “In these past few days, we’ve been speaking as one team.”

“This has been a time of real turmoil in the Middle East, but as I prepare to leave office, our friends are strong, our enemies are weak, and there’s a genuine opportunity for a new future,” Biden says.

He also suggests that the hostage deal could lead to the creation of a “credible pathway” to a Palestinian state. This would require Israeli acquiescence, which Jerusalem has repeatedly made clear it will not grant.

With the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the isolation of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the ceasefire in Gaza, “we’re handing off to the next team a real opportunity for a better future for the Middle East,” says Biden.

He quotes former US senator and northern Ireland peace negotiator George Mitchell who said, “Diplomacy is 700 days of failure and one day of success.

“We’ve had many difficult days since the Hamas began this terrible war. We’ve encountered roadblocks and setbacks. But we haven’t given up. And now, after more than 400 days of struggle, a day of success has arrived,” Biden says.

Hostage families cautiously welcome deal, plead for government to fully uphold it

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum welcomes the hostage release-ceasefire deal that will come into effect Sunday but says that its fight won’t end until all 98 of the hostages are returned to Israel from captivity in Gaza.

Ninety-four hostages have been in captivity since the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught in southern Israel, while two others — Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed have been held captive by the terror group since 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Hamas has also held the bodies of slain IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul for over a decade after they were killed in the 2014 Operation Protective Edge.

“This is an important and significant step that brings us closer to the moment when we will see all of the hostages return — the living for rehabilitation with their families and the fallen for a proper burial in their country,” the forum says.

“However, the journey has only just begun and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”

The group demands that the Israeli government remain committed to ensuring “the full implementation of the agreement until the last hostage is returned.”

“The announcement of the signing [of a deal] does not allow for joy or relief among the families. Our breath will be held until all our loved ones return home.”

‘Imperative’ Gaza ceasefire removes aid obstacles, UN chief says

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, during a visit in Pretoria, South Africa. December 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says it is “imperative” that the newly struck Gaza ceasefire removes obstacles to aid deliveries as he welcomes the deal that includes a prisoner and hostage exchange.

Guterres also calls for the “integrity” of Palestinian territory to be respected and for a push to ensure “unified” Palestinian leadership capable of securing peace.

“It is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support a major increase in urgent life-saving humanitarian support,” he says.

Guterres has led calls for a ceasefire in the deadly conflict and has advocated for an unhindered flow of aid to the war-torn territory, including that delivered by UN agencies.

Hawkish hostage forum rejects deal that will ‘pave the way for the next massacre’

Families of hostages and slain soldiers, from the Tikva Forum, hold a press conference at the Knesset on January 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The hawkish Tikva Forum, which represents a group of hostage families and relatives of fallen soldiers, says that it is “concerned” about the imminent hostage release-ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas have agreed to, and which will come into effect on Sunday.

The group warns that the agreed-upon deal, which will see the hostages released in phases, will “effectively leave dozens of kidnapped people behind and pave the way for the next massacre and more hostages.”

“We are excited, like the entire Israeli people, when we see the hostages returning home after a long and cruel captivity,” the forum says but warns that “this deal is dangerous, both for the hostages who will remain in captivity and for the entire Israeli people.”

The forum appeals for cabinet members to “consider those who will be left behind, those who will not return, and those who will be killed in future terror attacks” before voting to approve the deal’s framework tomorrow morning.

“We will not stop or remain silent until we ensure the return of all the hostages, the safety of Israeli citizens and the IDF soldiers, who may pay the most terrible price of all,” it adds, urging government members to resign in protest of the deal.

Decrying deal, Smotrich says his party will bolt gov’t unless it’s certain war will resume ‘at full scale’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announces a compensation plan for evacuees returning to their homes in northern Israel, at a press conference on January 5, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich comes out against the ceasefire and hostage release deal announced this evening, declaring it a “bad and dangerous deal for the national security of the State of Israel.”

“Along with the great joy and excitement of the return of each and every kidnapped person, the deal reverses many of the achievements of the war” bought at the cost of Israeli blood, he declares.

“We will not be silent. The voices of our brothers’ blood cry out to us,” Smotrich, who heads the far-right Religious Zionism party, continues, laying out an ultimatum for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“A clear condition for us to remain in the government is the absolute certainty of returning to the war” at “full scale” until “complete victory,” meaning the “destruction of the Hamas terrorist organization and the return of all the hostages to their homes,” he says.

“Over the past two days, the prime minister and I have been conducting hectic talks on the matter. He knows what the detailed demands of Religious Zionism are and the ball is in his hands.”

Biden: We got here thanks to ‘the pressure Israel, backed by the US,’ built on Hamas; says it’s the ‘exact’ same deal from May

US President Joe Biden says the US-backed pressure on Hamas and weakening of the Iran-backed Axis of Resistance against Israel led the terror group to agree to today’s hostage release and ceasefire deal.

“We’ve reached this point because of the pressure that Israel built on Hamas, backed by the United States,” he says in a White House address announcing the deal. He highlights Israel’s October killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the killing of the terror group’s senior commanders along with thousands of its fighters, and the destruction of its military formations.

He recalls how the US twice helped Israel thwart missile attacks from “Hamas’ strongest supporter, Iran.”

Biden also boasts of having “shaped Israel’s strong and calibrated response, [which] destroyed Iran’s air defenses but avoided… an all-out war.” The president at the time publicly cautioned Israel against hitting Iranian nuclear or oil sites.

He also highlights the coalition that the US recruited to defend the Red Sea against Houthi attacks — a mission that hadn’t managed to curb continued Houthi missile attacks against Israel. The Yemeni rebels pledged to continue attacks until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.

Biden then highlights the significant weakening of another major Hamas backer, Hezbollah, which would go on to break its promise to continue striking Israel until the war in Gaza ended, and instead agreed to a ceasefire in November.

“The United States helped to shape and change the equation, and the terror network that once protected and sustained Hamas is far weaker. Iran is weaker. Iran is weaker than has been in decades,” Biden says.

In answer to a question, the president notes: “This is the exact framework of the deal I proposed back in May. Exact. And, we got the world to endorse it.”

Ex-defense minister Gallant: National considerations prevailed over political interests

Yoav Gallant attends a plenum session on the opening day of the Knesset's winter session, in Jerusalem, October 28, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant welcomes the ceasefire and hostage release deal, declaring that “national and security considerations have prevailed over political interests” and that he supports the government “in making the right decision ethically, politically and morally.”

“Thank you to the outgoing US Administration and incoming US President Trump, for putting pressure on all parties and securing an agreement for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza,” he says. “The State of Israel is committed to returning all the hostages home — we must continue taking every measure necessary to fulfill this mission swiftly.

“Tonight, I salute those who paid the price to make this agreement possible: our courageous troops and service-members; the wounded and the fallen heroes who fought fiercely against a brutal enemy and created the conditions necessary to bring our people home,” he adds.

US anti-Israel groups hail victory for ‘resistance’ in Gaza

Nerdeen Kiswani, the leader of Within Our Lifetime, at a protest in Manhattan on September 17, 2021. (Luke Tress)

American anti-Israel groups hail the Gaza ceasefire as a victory for the Palestinian “resistance.”

Within Our Lifetime, a hardline anti-Israel group in New York, says, “Resistance has won.”

“Imperialism and Zionism has lost, the Democratic party has lost, the future of the Zionist state continues to be eroded,” group leader Nerdeen Kiswani says in a statement.

The Palestinian Youth Movement in New York announces a rally in Times Square tomorrow. “Palestinians in Gaza have not only survived, but shown the world that they will continue to rise until liberation,” it says.

National Students for Justice in Palestine calls the agreement “a step forward on the long, arduous path to Palestine’s inevitable victory.”

“The people of Gaza chose to resist,” NSJP says.

Columbia University’s coalition of anti-Israel groups posts a message saying, “Glory to our martyrs, glory to our people, glory to our fighters.”

“This victory is Gaza’s alone, we must fight and escalate,” the group says.

The People’s Forum, a socialist anti-Israel group in New York, hails “a victory for the Palestinian people and the global struggle for liberation.”

“The struggle against imperialism and Zionism has advanced,” the group says. “A new phase in the struggle begins now.”

Terms of hostage deal aren’t easy, but they are necessary, Herzog says

President Isaac Herzog notes that many different elements of the hostage release-ceasefire deal — including the release of convicted Palestinian terrorists — are not easy for the country, but necessary.

“This deal — when approved and implemented — will bring with it deeply painful, challenging, and harrowing moments,” says Herzog. “I respect and deeply empathize with the fears and pain this deal evokes.”

Herzog says that throughout more than a year of fighting in Gaza, “at great cost in blood, through enormous security, diplomatic and societal efforts, we have created a moment of opportunity. We must seize it.”

The president notes that for the families of the hostages, “these hours and days are hell on earth. I call on all of us to show immense sensitivity to all the families of the captives — including those who are deeply pained by this deal. I ask to especially embrace the anxious and grieving families, who fear their loved ones will not return in the first stage of the deal.”

Herzog thanks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli team, Qatar, Egypt and both outgoing US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump for their efforts to reach a deal, and vows to “continue to act with all our might until every stage of the deal is realized and the last hostage returns.”

Herzog calls on government to approve hostage deal when it comes to a vote tomorrow

President Isaac Herzog delivers a statement on the hostage release-ceasefire deal approved by Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, January 15, 2025. (Screenshot, GPO)

President Isaac Herzog calls on the government to approve the hostage-ceasefire deal when it comes up for a vote.

In an address to the nation from his office, Herzog says he supports “the prime minister and the negotiating team for its efforts to reach a deal.”

The security cabinet and the full cabinet, who are expected to vote on the framework tomorrow, must approve the deal “to bring our sons and daughters home,” says the president.

“There is no higher Jewish value than returning captives home,” adds Herzog.

Biden stresses: Hostage-ceasefire deal will bring about a ‘permanent end of the war’

US President Joe Biden (center) announces that a deal has been reached for a ceasefire-hostage deal agreement between Israel and Hamas, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R), at a briefing on January 15, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

US President Joe Biden says the hostage release and ceasefire deal his administration helped broker between Israel and Hamas will bring about a “permanent end of the war” in Gaza at the conclusion of its second of three phases.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long insisted that he will not agree to permanently end the war until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been dismantled, and sought during negotiations to ensure that Israel could resume fighting after the first stage.

Laying out the phased deal, Biden says the first phase will be a “full and complete ceasefire” lasting six weeks, during which Israeli troops will withdraw from populated areas.

He does not stipulate whether this includes the Philadelphi Corridor, where Netanyahu had pledged the IDF would remain. Arabic media has reported that the IDF will gradually withdraw from the corridor during the first phase until there are no remaining troops there at the end of the six weeks.

Biden doesn’t say how many hostages will be released in the first phase but says Americans will be among the female, elderly and severely ill hostages released in the first phase. There are seven dual American-Israeli nationals still held in Gaza, including three who are believed to be alive — Keith Siegel, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Edan Alexander.

During phase one, Palestinians will be allowed to return to their neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza and a surge of humanitarian aid will commence, Biden says.

During the first phase, Israel and Hamas will resume negotiations aimed at agreeing to terms for phase two, “which is a permanent end of the war — let me say it again, a permanent end of the war,” Biden asserts.

If those talks extend longer than the first phase’s 42 days, the ceasefire will remain in place, as long as the parties remain at the negotiating table.

Biden says he’s spoken to the leaders of Qatar and Egypt and all three have pledged that the negotiations will keep moving forward “for as long as it takes.”

During the second phase, he says, the remaining living hostages will be released and all remaining Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza — another Hamas demand that Netanyahu had publicly rejected.

In phase three, the bodies of the remaining hostages will be released and major reconstruction plans for Gaza will commence, Biden says.

Right-wing protesters rally against hostage deal, blocking traffic in Jerusalem

Right-wing demonstrators protest against the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on January 15, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Dozens of right-wing demonstrators protesting the freshly-signed hostage release and ceasefire deal block traffic under Chords Bridge, at the entrance to Jerusalem.

Police are trying to haul the protesters, mostly young Orthodox men, off the pavement and onto the sidewalk with little success.

Many of the demonstrators return to the center of the road while chanting: “Conquest, expulsion, settlement,” referring to the Gaza Strip.

Police have not yet made any arrests.

Hamas confirms it accepted ceasefire agreement, credits ‘valiant resistance’ in Gaza as reason for deal

Hamas confirms in a statement that it has accepted the outline for a hostage release-ceasefire deal with Israel, after more than 15 months of war sparked by the terror group’s deadly invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

In a statement, the terror group claims that the ceasefire is the result of “the legendary steadfastness of the great Palestinian people and the valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip.”

Netanyahu will only address the public once the deal is ‘complete and closed,’ says official source

Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Knesset on December 23, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Amid the flurry of speeches and responses to the newly announced hostage-ceasefire deal, a source in the Prime Minister’s Office indicates that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be making any public comments just yet.

“The prime minister will only speak to the public when the deal is complete and closed,” the source says.

Biden hails ceasefire-hostage deal, attributes it to US diplomacy, pressure on Hamas

US President Joe Biden (center) announces that a deal has been reached for a ceasefire-hostage deal agreement between Israel and Hamas, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R), at a briefing on January 15, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

US President Joe Biden hails the recently announced ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, asserting that it is the result of the pressure and isolation placed on Hamas along with determined American diplomacy.

“This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” Biden says in a statement.

The deal agreed today is the same one whose “precise contours” he laid out in a speech last May, he says, and notes that the proposal was endorsed by the UN Security Council.

The US president says today’s agreement is “not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran — but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy,” he says. “My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”

“Even as we welcome this news, we remember all the families whose loved ones were killed in Hamas’s October 7th attack, and the many innocent people killed in the war that followed,” Biden says.

“I am also if thinking of the American families, three of whom have living hostages in Gaza and four awaiting return of remains after what has been the most horrible ordeal imaginable. Under this deal, we are determined to bring all of them home,” he continues.

“It is long past time for the fighting to end and the work of building peace and security to begin,” Biden adds, noting that he will speak publicly about the deal soon.

Lapid and Gantz hail deal, say all hostages must return home, promise Netanyahu political support if needed

Opposition leader Yair Lapid hails the newly announced hostage-ceasefire deal in a video statement, January 15, 2025 (Screenshot)

In a video address, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says that the “entire country is holding its breath” as it waits for the return of the hostages from Hamas captivity.

“I want to send a huge thank you on behalf of the entire country to President Trump and his team, to President Biden, to the Qataris and the Egyptians, due to whom this is happening and without whom it would not have happened,” he says of the newly confirmed hostage-ceasefire deal.

Lapid insists that the deal must not be halted after the first phase and reiterates his oft-repeated promise to provide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a political “safety net until the last moment, until the last hostage.”

“Everyone must return home,” he states.

For his part, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz welcomes the hostage deal with Hamas, declaring that his heart and those of the entire Israeli people are with the families of the hostages.

“As I said, National Unity will support the move publicly, and if necessary – also politically,” Gantz tweets.

“We must take advantage of the period of the implementation of the first stage [of the deal] to reach an arrangement that will return all our abductees and apply political pressure to replace the Hamas government. It is possible.”

Qatari PM announces hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas to begin Sunday

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announces a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, at a press conference on January 15, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announces a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Speaking at a press conference in Doha, Al Thani says the deal will take effect on Sunday.

He specifies that with the final elements being dealt with this evening, the Israeli government will then take its necessary measures ahead of implementation.

He notes that in the 42-day first phase, Israel will withdraw its forces away from population centers to the border areas.

He says there will be an increased flow of aid into all parts of Gaza, the rehabilitation of hospitals and health centers, and the return of displaced Gazans.

He says 33 Israeli hostages will be released in return for an unspecified number of prisoners.

The details of phases two and three of the deal will be finalized subsequently, he says.

Al Thani also calls for calm in Gaza until the deal takes effect on Sunday.

Health minister welcomes hostage deal, says healthcare system ready to receive them

Health Minister Uriel Busso (Shas) posts a photo montage of the hostages on X with the message, “The healthcare system is ready and waiting for you.”

pic.twitter.com/95fcjgg6Zq

— Uriel Busso-אוריאל בוסו (@BussoUriel) January 15, 2025

Armed Hamas gunmen parade through streets of Gaza after news of imminent ceasefire

Members of the Hamas terror group's military wing arrive in a vehicle at a street in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on January 15, 2025, following news of an imminent ceasefire-hostage release deal. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)

Armed Hamas gunmen are seen parading in the Gaza Strip following the news of an imminent ceasefire between Israel and the terror group.

The ceasefire has not yet taken effect.

في تحدٍ للاحتلال.. كتـائب القــسام في شوارع قطاع غزة:

"نحن في الميدان وسنظل في الميدان" pic.twitter.com/Gs5OnSUsZU

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 15, 2025

مشاهد مفاجئة قبل قليل..

ظهور مسلحين في تحدي الاحتلال وتتجول بمناطق في قطاع غزة، لمشاركة الأهالي احتفالاتهم، قبيل الإعلان الرسمي عن وقف الحرب. pic.twitter.com/rZdgirwDUE

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 15, 2025

EU commissioner welcomes deal, pledges to support recovery, peace efforts

EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica hails a ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas, saying the bloc “remains committed to supporting all efforts towards a long-lasting peace and recovery.”

“I welcome the ceasefire agreement and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, which will bring much-needed relief to those affected by the devastating conflict,” Suica posts on X.

I welcome the ceasefire agreement and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, which will bring much-needed relief to those affected by the devastating conflict.

The EU remains committed to supporting all efforts towards a long-lasting peace and recovery.

— Dubravka Suica (@dubravkasuica) January 15, 2025

Egyptian media: Preparations underway to open Rafah Crossing for Gaza aid

Egyptian army soldiers guard their side of the Rafah crossing, closed since early May, on July 4, 2024. (Giuseppe CACACE / AFP)

Egyptian state media reports that coordination is underway to “open the Palestinian Rafah crossing to allow the entry of international aid” into Gaza, citing an Egyptian security source.

Egypt is “preparing to bring in the largest possible amount of aid to the Gaza Strip,” the report says, following news of a ceasefire-hostage release deal reached between Israel and Hamas.

Tibi criticizes government for taking months to approve deal similar to May 2024 proposal

Responding to reports that the hostage deal with Hamas is largely the same as the one that was proposed by Israel last May, Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi criticizes the government for the lengthy delays, writing on X in English and Hebrew that “the May 2024 agreement was ratified on January 2025.”

Ultra-Orthodox party leader welcomes hostage deal: ‘Saving a life comes before the entire Torah’

Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf speaks at the International Bay Conference for Regionality, in Haifa, December 18, 2024. (Flash90)

Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, welcomes the hostage deal with Hamas, declaring that “saving a life comes before the entire Torah.”

“Our sons and daughters who are dying in the Hamas tunnels are crying out to us and begging for their lives,” he tweets. “With God’s help, I will be able to once again fulfill the incomparable commandment of ransoming captives and to support the deal tomorrow…while safeguarding Israel’s security interests. We are waiting for you!”

IDF preparing to receive hostages released in upcoming deal

The IDF is preparing to receive the hostages that will be released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip as part of the upcoming ceasefire deal.

The name of the military’s preparation operation is dubbed “Wings of Freedom,” the IDF says.

PMO: ‘Number of clauses’ in hostage deal yet to be finalized

The Prime Minister’s Office says that there are still “a number of clauses” in the hostage-ceasefire deal that have yet to be finally agreed upon.

Israel hopes that “the details will be finalized tonight,” the PMO says.

With ‘EPIC’ deal reached, Trump says he’ll work with Israel to ensure Gaza’s ‘NEVER’ again terror safe haven

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)

US President-elect Donald Trump says that with a ceasefire and hostage release deal inked, his incoming administration will work closely with Israel to make sure Gaza “NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven” and to expand the Abraham Accords.

“With this deal in place, my National Security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven,” Trump writes on Truth Social.

“We will continue promoting PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH throughout the region, as we build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the Historic Abraham Accords. This is only the beginning of great things to come for America, and indeed, the World!” he adds.

“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” Trump continues. “I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.”

Levin postpones hearing on appointing Supreme Court chief, says candidate had conflict of interest as judge

Justice Minister Yariv Levin speaks during a Knesset plenum session on November 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)

Justice Minister Yariv Levin tells the High Court of Justice that he is postponing a hearing of the Judicial Selection Committee that should have been held tomorrow to appoint a new Supreme Court president, to examine claims that Acting Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, who is the primary candidate for the position of president, had a conflict of interest as a judge over civil lawsuits in which he was listed as a party.

The Supreme Court, sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice, ordered Levin in December to call a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee and appoint a new president of the court by tomorrow, January 16.

Levin has resisted filling the position for 15 months since he opposes the appointment of Amit, a liberal, as permanent president, but did not have the votes in the committee to get a conservative candidate appointed.

Writing to the court on behalf of Levin, attorney Tzion Amir says that the Judicial Selection Committee has to conduct “a thorough clarification” of the claims against Amit. He says Levin requested on Tuesday that the Justice Ministry’s legal adviser examine the claims, and that the legal adviser told Levin today that she needs more time to look into the matter and present her findings to the Judicial Selection Committee.

Amir says that as a result, “it will not be possible to bring the issue of the election of a Supreme Court president to the Judicial Selection Committee before the necessary facts have been established.”

Although Levin had not actually scheduled a meeting for the committee tomorrow, Amir writes that there is “no choice but to postpone the date for convening the committee.”

Earlier this week, the Ynet news website published a report where it said that Amit had been party to civil lawsuits regarding a property he owned in Tel Aviv under his former surname Goldfriend, and he had heard cases presented in court by a lawyer’s office that was representing him in one of the civil cases.

The report also alleged that Amit was directly involved in a selection committee that considered the advancement of a judge who presided over a case regarding the Tel Aviv apartment, on Eilat Street.

The Judicial Authority defended Amit, saying that due to power of attorney arrangements, he was represented in the cases by others and had no knowledge of the proceedings, and had made no attempt to conceal his identity.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel which successfully petitioned the High Court to force Levin to call a vote on electing a new president slams Levin for what it says is his ongoing efforts to “avoid complying with the High Court order” by “inventing investigation authorities he does not have,” and calls on the justice minister to convene the committee immediately.

Arab official says ‘minor’ issues still being finalized, but aren’t significant enough to delay deal

There are several “minor” issues regarding the ceasefire and hostage release deal that will be finalized after the agreement begins to be implemented, a senior Arab official tells The Times of Israel.

Those issues include Israel finishing the vetting of the roughly 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners who are slated to be released. These are largely Gazans who have been detained by Israel since the war began, the Arab official from one of the mediating countries says.

The number of Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences who will be released as part of the deal has also not been finalized, though it is just about done, the official continues.

Hamas has agreed that those serving life sentences will be released to an agreed-upon third country, but Israel is also asking that a number of other prisoners being released be sent abroad as well, the Arab official familiar with the negotiations says, adding that this issue will also be finalized in the coming days.

The mediators determined that these issues are not significant enough to warrant a delay in announcing the deal and beginning its implementation.

The first day of the agreement is slated to take place on Sunday, during which three Israeli hostages will be released, the Arab official says.

Report says living hostages will be first to released in deal’s first phase

A Red Cross convoy carrying Israeli hostages heads to Egypt from the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Detailing unconfirmed elements of the deal, Channel 12 reports that of the 33 hostages to be freed in the first, 42-day phase of the deal, those to be released will be female civilians, then female soldiers, then men who are over 50, and men who are infirm.

It adds that those among the 33 who are alive will be freed first, and says this was a demand that Israel insisted upon. Israel is to believe that most of the 33 are alive.

Channel 12 notes that the list of the 33 hostages to be freed comprises four female civilians, five female soldiers, as well as Shiri Bibas and her two small sons Ariel and baby Kfir, 10 men aged 50 and over, and 11 infirm men. The report says Hamas is to provide a list of the hostages and their status by the seventh day of the deal.

It adds that Ethiopian-born Israeli Avera Mengistu and Bedouin Israeli Hisham al-Sayad, held since 2014 and 2015 respectively, are among the living hostages set to be freed in this phase.

The first three hostages are set to be released on the first day of the deal’s implementation, with four more to go free on the seventh day. After that, three hostages are to be released every seven days, with the final 14 to be released in the final week of the phase.

The TV report adds that well over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners will be freed in return for the 33 hostages, and says that, according to unconfirmed Arab sources, these will include at least 250 terrorists serving life terms and another 400 serving terms up to 20 years.

Some of those to be freed will be prisoners captured in Gaza after October 7, 2023, but nobody who took part in the invasion and slaughter will be freed, it says. All women and children aged under 19, arrested from October 8, 2023, in Gaza will be among the prisoners released.

The TV report says 47 rearrested prisoners from the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal will be freed. It also says released prisoners will not be required to sign a declaration pledging not to return to terrorism.

The report says that Gazans displaced from northern Gaza — an estimated million people — will be able to return under the terms of an agreed mechanism until the 22nd day of the deal.

It quotes an unconfirmed Egyptian report saying the IDF will withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor on the final day of phase one — a claim denied by Israeli officials — and says the IDF will gradually withdraw from Gaza’s cities and major population centers.

Humanitarian aid into the strip will be boosted considerably, it adds.

The TV report says negotiations on the deal’s second phase will begin on the 16th day of the first phase. It says all living hostages will be freed in return for a permanent ceasefire.

Demonstrators raise placards during a protest calling for action to secure the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza since October 7, 2023, in front of the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv on January 15, 2025, as news spread that a hostage-ceasefire deal had been agreed. (Jack Guez / AFP)

The report says that the security cabinet and then the full cabinet are set to vote — and expected to approve — the deal tomorrow morning, provided the final deal is signed by then. After that, lists of Palestinian security prisoners to be freed will be published, to enable petitions against their release to the High Court. The court is widely expected not to intervene in the deal.

Gazans celebrate as news of ceasefire deal spreads across war-torn enclave

People celebrate while watching a television on a street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 15, 2025, as news spread that a ceasefire and hostage release deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas. (Bashar Taleb / AFP)

Thousands of Gazans celebrate as news spreads that a ceasefire deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas, aimed at releasing the 94 hostages abducted by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, in exchange for an expected 1,000-plus Palestinian security prisoners, and potentially ending more than 15 months of war in the Palestinian enclave sparked by the Hamas attack.

AFP journalists in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah and other areas witnessed people gathering in groups, hugging and taking photos with their mobile phones to mark the announcement.

PA health ministry says 5 dead in IDF strike in Jenin

The Palestinian Authority health ministry reports five dead in the IDF airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin a short while ago.

The military said it would provide further details on the strike later.

Senior Israeli official: Hamas ‘folded’ on demands over Philadelphi Corridor; others slam ‘spin’ by PM’s associates

A senior Israeli official familiar with the ceasefire talks says that Hamas “folded” on its demands over the Philadelphi Corridor but that there are still details to be finalized.

“Due to the insistence of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Hamas folded on the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor,” the strip along the border of Egypt and Gaza where Israel has insisted on maintaining a presence during the ceasefire implementation, the official says.

“However the framework has not been completely finalized and there are still a number of details that have not been finalized,” the official adds in a message sent to reporters just a few minutes after US President-elect Donald Trump said that the deal was reached.

An Israeli official outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says that the claim that Hamas issued last-minute demands regarding the Philadelphi Corridor is “spin” from the Israeli premier’s associates.

Two Arab officials echo the sentiment, saying the statement from a “senior Israeli official” claiming as much was issued after the sides had already reached an agreement.

Security cabinet to meet at 11:00 a.m. Thursday to approve hostage deal

The security cabinet will meet at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow to approve the hostage-ceasefire deal, according to reports in Hebrew media.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim confirms terror group accepted deal

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim confirms to reporters that the terror group has accepted a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel.

IDF says it carried out strike in West Bank city of Jenin, says details to follow later

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

It says further details will be provided later.

Last night, an IDF drone strike in Jenin killed six Palestinians, including four who were claimed by Hamas as members of the terror group.

Herzog meets with Red Cross president to discuss preparations for hostages’ release

President Isaac Herzog meets with ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric in his office on January 15, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

President Isaac Herzog is meeting in Jerusalem with International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric to discuss preparations for a hostage release deal, his office says.

Spoljaric updated Herzog on the ICRC’s “preparedness for the transfer of the hostages and the different challenges facing them,” according to the president’s office. Herzog emphasized “the utmost importance and sensitivity of this mission,” his office says.

Earlier this week, Spoljaric also paid a visit to Gaza during her trip to the region. During the weeklong ceasefire in November 2023, the ICRC was the one who transferred the released hostages from their Hamas captors into Israeli custody.

IDF confirms strike in southern Syria, said it targeted weapons convoy near buffer zone

The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike in southern Syria earlier today, after saying it identified a convoy of vehicles with weapons on them near a buffer zone where Israeli troops are deployed.

According to the military, the drone strike was launched near the vehicles as a warning shot, and they dispersed shortly after.

According to Syrian media, the strike killed the mayor of Ghadir al-Bustan, the village where the strike took place, along with several military officers from the new Syrian government.

The military officers had been in the area to remove weapons from positions belonging to the former Assad regime’s army, according to the Syrian media reports.

‘WE HAVE A DEAL’: Trump becomes first leader to announce hostage-ceasefire deal, besting Biden

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 becomes the first person familiar with the negotiations to publicly confirm, on-record, that a hostage release and ceasefire deal has been reached.

“WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!” Trump writes on Truth Social.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden has yet to issue a statement.

US, Qatar and Egypt to issue joint statement on deal shortly, Arab diplomat says

A senior Arab diplomat familiar with the negotiations tells The Times of Israel that the US, Qatar, and Egypt will shortly issue a joint statement announcing the deal.

Afterward, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will hold a press conference in Doha to provide details on the agreement, the official says.

Israeli official confirms ceasefire-hostage deal reached

People walking next to a poster of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, 'We won't stop until they're all released!' in Jerusalem, January 12, 2025 ( Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

An Israeli official confirms to The Times of Israel that a ceasefire and hostage deal has been reached.

Hamas says it has responded ‘responsibly’ to ceasefire deal

The Hamas terror group confirms that it has issued an official reply to the ceasefire-hostage release deal proposal.

It says in a statement that its political wing, based in Doha, has responded “responsibly” to the proposal, but does not elaborate on whether it has accepted or rejected the deal.

US and Arab officials: Israel, Hamas reach hostage-ceasefire deal to be announced in coming hours

FILE - Israeli protesters call for Hamas to release hostages outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, on December 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on a ceasefire and hostage release deal, a US official and an Arab official tell The Times of Israel.

An announcement is expected in the coming hours, an Arab official adds.

Qatari PM said meeting with Hamas after last-minute demand for changes to deal outline

A source involved in the talks tells Reuters that Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani is meeting with Hamas representatives in his office for a final push toward a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

The report comes after an Israeli official said Hamas had introduced new demands regarding the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.

‘I want to know if they’re coming back’: Families of hostages face agonizing wait for deal

Yifat Zailer shows photos of her cousin, Shiri Bibas, center, her husband Yarden, left, and their sons Ariel, top right, and Kfir, who are being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as she poses for a portrait at home in Herzliya, Israel, January 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

With a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas tantalizingly close, families of hostages in the Gaza Strip are afraid to get their hopes up and are agonizing over the unknown.

“These days are horrible for us,” Yafit Zailer says, breaking down into sobs over the thought of her relatives — Shiri and Yarden Bibas and their two small children, Ariel and Kfir — being released after 15 months of captivity.

“I want to know already if they’re coming back,” Zailer says. “I want to know already if they’re OK or not. I want to hold my cousin in my arms and celebrate the biggest celebration.”

Shiri and Yarden Bibas and their two red-haired sons, 5-year-old Ariel and Kfir — who will turn two on Saturday — were among the 251 hostages dragged into Gaza by the Hamas terror group during the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Kfir, who was then 9 months old, was the youngest to be taken captive. The infant with red hair and a toothless smile, who has been in captivity for almost two-thirds of his life, has become a symbol across Israel for the helplessness and anger over the hostages’ plight.

Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were supposed to be released with other women and children during a ceasefire in November 2023, but it fell apart after a week.

All four members of the family were on a list obtained by The Associated Press that named 33 hostages who could be released in the initial six-week phase of the latest draft agreement.

“I want to tell all the parties involved in the negotiations, it’s time to end this,” Zailer says, tears streaming down her face. “It’s time to bring home our people, it’s time to end this war.”

Israeli official says Hamas has made unacceptable last-minute demands regarding the Philadelphi Corridor

View of the Philadelphi Corridor, the Egypt-Gaza border area in southern Gaza's Rafah, October 20, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

An unnamed “senior political source” says that Israel’s negotiating team in Qatar has received last-minute demands from Hamas regarding the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.

According to the source, the demands go against the maps that were approved by the Israel cabinet and the American mediators over the course of the negotiations.

The official says that Israel is opposed to making any changes to these maps.

According to the reported terms of the deal, Israel is to retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor in the first phase of the agreement, though its deployment there may be diluted.

Sa’ar cuts short Europe trip, returning to Israel in light of hostage deal developments

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani (not pictured) hold a press conference at the end of their meeting in Rome, January 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says he is cutting short his trip to Europe and returning to Israel amid “developments in the negotiations to free the hostages.”

According to the Foreign Ministry, Sa’ar will return from Italy to Israel tonight instead of continuing on to his planned visit to Hungary. Sa’ar says he is returning in order to “take part in the discussions and expected votes in the security cabinet and the cabinet” on a potential hostage release-ceasefire deal.

IDF asks officers to come forward if they have information to help Oct. 7 investigation

The IDF is calling on officers who think they have information that may help the military’s investigations into the October 7, 2023, onslaught, to come forward before the probes are concluded and presented to the public.

In a letter sent to commanders across the army, the IDF says that it is preparing to conclude the investigations, which began in March 2024 amid the fighting.

The probes will be presented to the political establishment, bereaved families, and the public once they are concluded.

“In this type of process, given the magnitude of the event and the complexity of the circumstances, we may not have been able to obtain all the information required to put the puzzle together in its entirety, and it is even possible that in some cases corrections and additions will be required,” the letter says.

The military says it is “extremely important to reach truthful investigations, to learn and improve from them, and to strengthen trust in the IDF.”

Therefore, the IDF says it is calling on “commanders who believe they can complete and improve the investigations and its results” to contact the relevant officers and provide the information.

US anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace to pay $600,000-plus penalty after fraud allegations

Members of the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace at an anti-Israel protest in Times Square, New York City, January 1, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The anti-Zionist activist group Jewish Voice for Peace will pay a penalty of $677,634 to the US government after allegations of fraud.

Jewish Voice for Peace received a loan under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was launched in March 2020, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia says in a statement.

Groups engaged in political or lobbying activities were not eligible for the loans, and Jewish Voice for Peace said it was not engaged in such activities in its loan application.

An investigation determined that “Jewish Voice for Peace was primarily engaged in political activities,” however, the statement says.

The investigation came after a complaint filed by The Zionist Advocacy Center, a New York-based group.

Jewish Voice for Peace received a loan of $388,817, and, as part of a civil settlement, agreed to pay twice that amount in a penalty. The settlement does not include a “determination of liability,” the district attorney’s office says.

“Jewish Voice for Peace contends that any misstatements in this application were inadvertent,” the statement says.

Jewish Voice for Peace took in $3.3 million in revenue, mainly from donations and grants, between July 2022 and July 2023, according to its most recent tax filings.

Israel slams ‘imperialist’ Turkey after threat over Israeli presence in Syria

After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Israel over its presence in Syria, Israel in response warns Ankara against “unnecessary threats.”

“Israel completely rejects the Turkish president’s statement,” the Foreign Ministry says, after Erdogan said earlier today that Israel must withdraw its forces from Syria or it will cause “unfavorable outcomes for everyone.”

“The aggressive imperialist actor in Syria (as well as in northern Cyprus, Libya, and other areas in the Middle East) is Turkey itself, and it is advisable for the Turkish president to avoid unnecessary threats,” the statement adds. “The State of Israel will continue to act to protect its borders from any threat.”

Qatari PM to hold press conference on ceasefire deal later today, expected to confirm agreement reached

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani will hold a press conference later today amid reports that a ceasefire-hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is imminent, according to an invitation by Qatar’s state news agency QNA.

The Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed outlet reports that al-Thani will announce that the two parties have reached an agreement.

UN chief called special rapporteur for the Palestinians a ‘horrible person,’ US antisemitism envoy says

UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights Situation in the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese speaks at a press conference during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, Switzerland, March 27, 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini / AFP)

US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt says UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians a “horrible person.”

Lipstadt says Guterres made the comment in a conversation during the Munich Security Conference last year, according to Jewish Insider.

Lipstadt says she expressed Washington’s concerns about Francesa Albanese to Guterres, who responded “She’s a horrible person” twice, the report says.

Albanese reports on the situation in the Palestinian territories and is appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, a separate body from the UN General Assembly, which Guterres leads.

US officials and members of Congress have condemned Albanese and demanded her removal, but Guterres’ spokespeople have repeatedly said he has no authority over her position.

Albanese has a history of antisemitism and inflammatory rhetoric against Israel.

Lipstadt is set to leave her position with the outgoing Biden administration.

Law granting immunity to IDF members who give classified intel to PM passes preliminary reading

A bill providing criminal protection to IDF soldiers and members of the intelligence and security services who give intelligence without authorization to the prime minister and members of his security cabinet passes a preliminary reading in the Knesset 53-43.

The so-called Feldstein Law II, sponsored by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, would allow soldiers to bypass the chain of command and violate information security protocols in the event that the data is absolutely essential for state security or to prevent harm to human life and is being shared due to a belief that it was being concealed from a senior political figure.

In addition, the legislation stipulates that the soldier sharing the information must not act out of an intent to harm national security and has to take all reasonable measures to prevent the data’s disclosure to an unauthorized party.

“This law… says that if you provide a senior political figure with information that is truly essential, similar to exposing corruption – then you have a kind of immunity,” declares Rothman.

In its explanatory notes, the bill states that warnings ahead of October 7 were “not brought to the attention of elected officials.”

A similar bill passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum in early December. That legislation, dubbed the Feldstein Law, would prevent the prosecution of soldiers or other members of the defense establishment who give classified intelligence to the prime minister or defense minister without authorization.

Rothman’s bill is slightly more expansive than the first Feldstein Law, providing legal protection for those who share classified information with security cabinet members and the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee rather than just the prime minister and defense minister.

The bills were introduced after IDF reserves noncommissioned officer Ari Rosenfeld was arrested on suspicion of having leaked intelligence information to former spokesman and aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Eli Feldstein.

In the wake of the pair’s arrest, Netanyahu alleged that vital classified documents weren’t reaching him, which was why the suspects passed them from the Israel Defense Forces to the Prime Minister’s Office — a claim that the military and defense establishment, which came out against the Feldstein Bill, have rejected.

The bills, if passed, are unlikely to provide retroactive legal protection to Rosenfeld.

GOP senator slams ‘lame duck Joe Biden’ hostage deal that Trump envoy is working to finalize

Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican-Arkansas, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations, on Capitol Hill in Washington, September 28, 2021. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton blasts the brewing hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, claiming that outgoing US President Joe Biden is trying to force Israel into signing it, even though President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is in Qatar working with the parties in order to secure the agreement that the hawkish lawmaker is criticizing.

“Why is lame duck Joe Biden trying to cram down a bad deal on Israel on his way out the door?” Cotton tweets.

“The only ‘deal’ should be unconditional surrender by Hamas—which is already nearly destroyed—and return of ALL hostages. Instead, we hear reports that Biden is demanding that Israel withdraw from key terrain in Gaza, release dozens of hardened terrorists for every one hostage, and get back only SOME hostages?”

It was Witkoff, not a Biden official, who flew to Israel on Saturday and pressured Netanyahu to accept the compromises necessary for a deal, two officials familiar told The Times of Israel earlier this week.

“Here’s the deal’ to offer Hamas and its patron, Iran: you have five days to release ALL the hostages or we ‘unleash hell,'” Cotton adds, referring to the threat Trump has made to Hamas if the hostages aren’t released by January 20.

Hamas official says group has yet to give written response to hostage deal outline

Demonstrators hold torches during a protest calling for the immediate release of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas terror group in Tel Aviv, Israel, on January 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Hamas has not yet given a written response to a Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal proposal under negotiation in Qatar, an official from the group, who refused to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, tells Reuters.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister’s Office said that “contrary to reports” the terror group had yet to provide negotiators with a final response.

Italy tells Israel it won’t arrest Netanyahu under ICC warrant if he visits

Italy has reassured Israeli officials that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be arrested under an ICC warrant were he to visit the country.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar raised the issue during meetings in Rome yesterday with Italy’s foreign minister and justice minister, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

Sa’ar was assured by the ministers that the Italian government has received legal advice that heads of state, including Netanyahu, have immunity during visits to Italy, based on the Vienna Convention, the source says.

Last week, the Polish government said it would also ensure that Netanyahu would not be arrested were he to visit for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp later this month. Netanyahu does not currently have any scheduled visits to either nation.

The ICC in November issued warrants for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel, however, is not a signatory to the Rome Statute nor a member of the ICC.

Syrian media reports several casualties in Israeli strike outside of buffer zone

Syrian media report several casualties in an Israeli airstrike in the village of Ghadir al-Bustan, close to the border with Israel.

The reports say the strike targeted a military convoy.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Ghadir al-Bustan is located around three kilometers from the Israeli border, and is beyond a buffer zone in Syria currently occupied by Israeli forces.

Israel and Hamas ‘super close’ to reaching ceasefire deal, Arab official says

Israel and Hamas are “super close” to reaching a ceasefire and hostage release deal, an Arab official from one of the mediating countries tells The Times of Israel.

Yesterday, two Arab officials told The Times of Israel that a deal would be announced by Wednesday or Thursday and would begin to be implemented 48 to 72 hours later.

The deal will be announced in the form of a joint statement from the mediator — the US, Qatar and Egypt, the officials said.

Five-year-old boy dies from flu after arriving at hospital in critical condition

A five-year-old child suffering from the flu arrived at Wolfson Medical Center in critical condition earlier today and died shortly after his arrival, the hospital says.

The child arrived at the hospital intubated and without a pulse. A spokesperson says hospital doctors “did not have the chance to diagnose and treat him.”

“We are at the beginning of the peak of the illness wave, and the expectation is that the burden will increase in the coming weeks. It is still not too late to get vaccinated and prevent severe illness,” says Prof. Yasmin Maor, head of Wolfson’s infectious diseases unit.

At Beilinson Hospital, four women, aged 22 to 50, are in the general intensive care unit in critical condition due to flu complications.

All four are sedated and ventilated.

The Health Ministry says the number of patients diagnosed with respiratory illnesses is on the rise, including 250 new cases of influenza and 191 new cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common illness that affects the lungs.

There is an increase in the percentage of visits to internal and pediatric emergency departments due to pneumonia but no significant change in the rate of pediatric emergency visits among infants up to two years old due to bronchiolitis. This common lung infection affects babies and children under two. It’s usually mild and can be treated at home, but can be serious. This condition occurs more often during the winter.

The Health Ministry urges individuals to get vaccinated against the flu and to practice good hygiene, as respiratory illnesses can spread easily.

Netanyahu’s office denies report Hamas has given green light to hostage deal

The Prime Minister’s Office tells reporters that “contrary to reports,” Hamas has not yet provided negotiators with its final response to the ceasefire-hostage release deal outline.

Qatari, US and Egyptian negotiators have been working for weeks to secure a deal, with Israeli and Arab officials offering cautious optimism over the past 48 hours that a deal is close to being inked.

Israeli officials expect deal to be signed tonight or tomorrow; Hamas’s Mohammed Sinwar said to give OK

Officials in Jerusalem tell Israeli media that the deal is expected to be signed tonight or tomorrow, and that a joint declaration is anticipated soon afterwards.

This means that if the deal is approved by the security cabinet and then the full cabinet this evening or more likely tomorrow, with a 24-48 hour period to allow for appeals against the deal to the Supreme Court, implementation could begin with the first hostages going free on Sunday.

“There is a breakthrough in the hostage deal negotiations in Doha. Hamas military leader in Gaza Mohammed Sinwar gave his OK,” Walla news cites an Israeli official as saying.

Mohammed Sinwar is the bother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and believed to be commanding Hamas in Gaza.

Palestinian sources confirm deal likely to be signed tomorrow after breakthrough

A Palestinian source tells Israel’s Kan public broadcaster that there has been a breakthrough in talks in Qatar and the deal will likely be signed by tomorrow.

The report confirms similar comments from Israeli officials.

The unnamed source tells Kan that the breakthrough was achieved in a meeting of Hamas leaders that went early into the morning where almost all the issues were sorted out, including that of the maps.

Hamas had been reported to be demanding maps of the extent of an IDF withdrawal.

The source tells Kan that it is expected that implementation of the deal could start within 24-48 hours of it being signed.

Senior Israeli officials say positive progress in hostage talks, deal expected by tomorrow

Demonstrators call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, January 14, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

A senior Israeli official tells the Walla news site that there is progress in the negotiations in Doha for a hostage ceasefire deal.

The site quotes a second official as saying that Israel was optimistic there would be a deal by tomorrow at the latest.

Oil pipeline operator to pay just NIS 1.5 million in compensation for country’s worst spill

Oil seeps between desert bushes in the Evrona Nature Reserve, December 7, 2014. (Environmental Protection Ministry spokesperson/Roi Talbi)

The controversial Europe Asia Pipeline Company will pay just over NIS 1.5 million ($429,000) for causing the worst oil spill in Israel’s history, following an Ashkelon court’s approval of a plea deal.

Shlomi Levy, who served as EAPC deputy director of operations at the time, will be fined NIS 35,000 ($9,620), according to the deal.

Haim Bar Sela, who served as the field operations manager and was ultimately not convicted, will pay NIS 30,000 ($8,250) and perform 360 hours of community service.

The environmental advocacy group Adam Teva V’Din slams the decision by Judge Zohar Dolev Lehmann as inappropriate given the “magnitude of the damage that has been caused and continues to be caused to the environment, nature and health, as described in detail in the verdict.”

Two other defendants decided not to join the plea agreement and to be judged on their own defense.

On December 3, 2014, some 5 million liters (1.32 million US gallons) of crude oil poured out of a pipe owned by the EAPC into the Evrona Nature Reserve in the Arava Desert.

The spill took place near Be’er Ora, some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) north of Eilat, during maintenance work prior to the construction of a new airport in Timna.

Initial operations to pump oil and evacuate it from the reserve greatly reduced the environmental damage, but left about 145 dunams (36 acres) of land soaked in black oil, which has not recovered to this day.

In 2018, the Environmental Protection Ministry assessed the damage in Evrona at NIS 281 million ($77 million at today’s rates). In 2019, it reached a deal in a civil class action suit it had joined whereby EAPC would pay NIS 100 million ($28 million) in compensation.

The case brought to a conclusion today was a separate criminal case brought against the EAPC by the state.

The Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company was initially established in 1968 as a joint Israeli-Iranian venture to carry Asian oil from Eilat to Europe via a network of pipelines that reach from Eilat to Ashkelon and up the length of Israel to Haifa.

IDF issues fresh evacuation warning for civilians in Jabalia amid rocket fire

The IDF has issued an evacuation warning for remaining Palestinian civilians in the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip.

“Terror organizations are again launching rockets from this specific area that has been warned several times in the past,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman says on X, attaching a map of the areas that are to be evacuated.

The warning comes shortly after terror operatives launched a mortar at troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

Civilians are urged to head for shelters in central Gaza City before the IDF launches strikes on the area.

#عاجل ‼️ الى سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في منطقة D5 (قرية جباليا) هذا تحذير مسبق قبل الهجوم!

⭕️تطلق المنظمات الإرهابية من جديد القذائف الصاروخية من هذه المنطقة المحددة التي تم تحذيرها عدة مرات في الماضي.

⭕️من أجل أمنكم، انتقلوا فوراً الى المآوي في مركز مدينة غزة. pic.twitter.com/vnl1riYBU9

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) January 15, 2025

Woman killed in northern Israel, brother arrested

Police say a woman was bludgeoned to death in a Haifa suburb, apparently by her brother who suffers from mental health issues.

Magen David Adom paramedics called to the scene at an apartment in Kiryat Ata attempted without success to resuscitate the woman, 49, and declared her dead.

Officers arrived to collect evidence and later arrested the woman’s brother, 50, at a nearby park, police say.

She was the second woman to die by homicide in the country in two days.

Israel sending team of 5 fire protection experts to help with LA fires

A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon on January 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Fire and Rescue Authority will send a team of five fire protection experts to the United States this evening, to help responders combat the blazes now sweeping southern California, says the agency’s spokeswoman.

The delegation will include experts employed by the department including Dr. Shai Levy, who specializes in forest fire prevention, and Avi Ben-Zaken, operations director in the South District. They will remain in the US for around a week.

“We have had wildfires already in Israel, perhaps not of the size over there [in California] but still, we have had quite big ones,” says spokeswoman Tal Volvovitch. “We are now seeing, outside Israel, the sheer damage that fire can cause and the power it has.”

In 2016, a wave of devastating wildfires leveled some 600 homes in the northern city of Haifa, Volvovitch recalls to The Times of Israel. Many of the experts on the delegation have experience combating these large-scale blazes, making them well-equipped to assist the West Coast state.

Like Israel, California is located in a “Mediterranean” climate, characterized by rainy winters and a hot, dry summer season that lends itself to recurring wildfires.

Earlier this week, Fire and Rescue Authority spokespeople told The Times of Israel it intended to send a symbolic team of a few dozen firefighters to the US West Coast, but the proposal has since been shelved in favor of the current plan.

Erdogan says Israel must withdraw from Syria ‘or it will cause unfavorable outcomes for everyone’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a human rights-themed event hosted by his Islamist AKP political party in the Turkish capital of Ankara, August 5, 2024. (Screen capture: X/Türkiye Canlı, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israel must withdraw its forces from Syria or it will cause “unfavorable outcomes for everyone.”

“The aggressive actions of the forces attacking Syrian territory, Israel, in particular, must come to an end as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will cause unfavorable outcomes for everyone,” he says.

The IDF has said that its deployment to a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border and strategic positions beyond the zone is a defensive and temporary measure amid the situation in Syria.

Erdogan’s comments come even as Turkey has its own forces in northern Syria and threatens further military action.

Turkey has the capacity and ability to crush all terrorist organizations in the country, including Kurdish militia and the Islamic State, Erdogan says.

Speaking in parliament, Erdogan said the Kurdish YPG militia was now the biggest problem in Syria after the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad, and added that the group would not be able to escape its inevitable end unless it lays down its arms.

“Currently, the most serious issue in Syria is the YPG terrorist organization, which still occupies almost one-third of the country’s territory.”

Ankara has threatened to mount a military operation against the Kurdish forces, which control Syria’s northeast, if its demands are not met.

IDF says troops operating in Syria have captured over 3,300 weapons, including 2 tanks

Weapons captured by the IDF in southern Syria, in a handout image published January 15, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says troops operating in southern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime have captured over 3,300 weapons and other spoils.

Among the weapons captured include two tanks, 70 grenades, 165 shells and rockets, 20 anti-aircraft missiles, and some 1,500 RPGs, the military says.

The troops also seized 60 pieces of surveillance equipment and 570 electronic items, including computers and communication devices.

The IDF has said that its deployment to a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border and strategic positions beyond the zone is a defensive and temporary measure amid the situation in Syria.

Top general returns to Israel after activists sought to have him arrested in Italy

Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, Head of Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) arrives to the Supreme Court in Jerusalem for court hearing on the entering of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, July 21, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A senior Israeli general who was visiting Rome this week has returned to Israel after a pro-Palestinian organization said it had asked Italian authorities to arrest him.

Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, who heads the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, a Defense Ministry body known by its acronym COGAT, arrived back in Israel this morning according to his original schedule, a defense source tells The Times of Israel.

On Monday, the Hind Rajab Foundation, which has sparked alarm in Israel by seeking the arrest of Israelis traveling abroad over alleged war crimes, claimed to have filed a case with unspecified “Italian authorities” against Alian.

The foundation said it also filed a case with the International Criminal Court in The Hague against Alian, asking it to issue an international arrest warrant for “genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

There was no immediate comment from Italian judicial authorities or from The Hague on the request.

Alian was on an official visit to Italy as part of his role as head of COGAT.

The defense source says the visit went smoothly without issues, and he returned this morning as planned.

UNRWA chief vows to continue aid to Palestinians despite Israeli ban

People load their carts with sacks of flour at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) aid distribution center in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 3, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA will continue to provide aid to people in the Palestinian territories despite an Israeli ban due to be implemented by the end of January, its director says.

“We will… stay and deliver,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini tells a conference in Oslo. “UNRWA’s local staff will remain and continue to provide emergency assistance and where possible, education and primary health care,” he says.

It’s not immediately clear how UNRWA will operate in areas controlled by Israel.

The laws passed by Israel bar UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and prevent Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency.

Israel has long had an adversarial relationship with UNRWA, accusing it of perpetuating the Palestinian refugee crisis, as it allows Palestinians to maintain the status for generations both in and outside the Palestinian territories. But Jerusalem’s campaign against UNRWA intensified significantly following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Over a dozen UNRWA staffers were found to have participated in the attack, and there has been a drumbeat of revelations in the year that followed regarding the extent to which Hamas has managed to infiltrate the agency.

‘Pro-Palestinian’ settler arrested for inciting against security forces

A poster allegedly placed by a West Bank settler accused of inciting against the security forces published January 15, 2025 (Israel Police)

West Bank police arrest a 21-year-old resident of the Geva Binyamin settlement for hanging up posters expressing “hatred and incitement against IDF forces,” police spokespeople say.

The posters include messages labeling Israeli soldiers terrorists, urging people to “kill cops” and calling for a free Palestine.

Law enforcement say that the young man said during interrogation that he belongs to “pro-Palestinian groups.”

Police plan to file an indictment against the suspect and extend his detention until the end of court proceedings.

Palestinian Authority prime minister insists PA should run Gaza after war

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa speaks during a humanitarian conference for Gaza in Cairo on December 2, 2024 (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa says it “will not be acceptable” for any entity other than the PA to run the Gaza Strip in the future.

Mustafa makes the comments as he visits Norway, one of three European countries that formally recognized a Palestinian state in May.

Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 from the PA. The US has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza ahead of eventual statehood, which the Israeli government opposes.

“While we’re waiting for the ceasefire, it’s important to stress that it will not be acceptable for any entity to govern Gaza Strip but the legitimate Palestinian leadership and the government of the State of Palestine,” Mustafa says.

He adds that “any attempt to consolidate the separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, or creating transitional entities, will be rejected.”

Mustafa says that “we should not leave Gaza to vacuum … We are the government of Palestine, ready to hold our responsibilities in the Gaza Strip as we did before.”

Likud MK blocks bill that sought to shutter public broadcaster

MK David Bitan leads Economic Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 15, 2025.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Legislation aiming to shut down the Kan public broadcaster will not be advanced in the Knesset after Likud MK David Bitan, chairman of the Knesset Economic Committee, announces that the bill will be shelved.

“I can’t advance this bill for a simple reason — public broadcasting is necessary,” Bitan says during a meeting of the committee to discuss the legislation, prompting an outcry from Likud MK Tally Gotliv, who submitted the bill, which was originally written by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi.

“There has always been public broadcasting in Israel, so in terms of canceling the public broadcaster, I’m not in favor,” adds Bitan.

Bitan also says that a bill that would overhaul the TV ratings board will also be frozen. He says, though, that changes to public broadcasting are still needed, and a bill seeking to provide the government with direct instead of indirect control over Kan’s budget will be considered and advanced by the committee, as will legislation that would compel Kan justify its decisions to the committee on an annual basis.

Gotliv and Karhi vow to continue to move ahead with their plans to privatize Kan — effectively ending public broadcasting — through other avenues including via ad hoc Knesset committees.

Man stabbed and wounded in Haifa

A 52-year-old man was stabbed in Haifa this morning, police and paramedics say.

Medics are taking the victim, in moderate condition with a stab wound, to Rambam Hospital in the city.

“Officers from the Haifa Station are currently at the scene and have begun examining the circumstances of the incident,” say police spokespeople.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad official says terror group joined Gaza hostage-ceasefire talks in Qatar

Senior Hamas official Khaled Meshaal (L) and Ziyad al-Nakhalah, (C) Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, during the funeral of the slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in the Qatari capital Doha on August 2, 2024. (Mahmud Hams / AFP)

An Islamic Jihad official tells AFP that a delegation from the Palestinian terror group had arrived in Qatar to participate in talks on a Gaza truce and prisoner exchange with Israel.

“A high-ranking delegation from Islamic Jihad arrived in Doha on Tuesday evening,” says the official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to publicly discuss the talks, adding that “discussions are ongoing, focusing on the mechanism for implementing the ceasefire agreement and the names of Palestinian prisoners included in the exchange deal.”

Trump national security pick says Hamas must be ‘destroyed,’ play no role in postwar Gaza; US to dramatically up support for Israel

Rep. Mike Waltz, Republican-Florida, speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser Mike Waltz says that Hamas must be destroyed and have no role at all in postwar Gaza.

Speaking in an interview on the Call Me Back podcast with Dan Senor, Waltz also says the incoming administration’s relationship with Israel will be much more supportive than the Biden administration’s was.

“We’ve been clear that Gaza has to be fully demilitarized, Hamas has to be destroyed to the point that it cannot reconstitute, and that Israel has every right to fully protect itself,” Waltz says. “Hamas cannot have a role. ISIS doesn’t have a role. Al Qaeda doesn’t have a role.”

“These are hostage-taking, murderous, rapist, torturers that never should ever have any role in governing,” he says.

Waltz indicates that Israel is currently better placed strategically, with Hezbollah and Iran’s threats diminished, because Jerusalem ignored pressure from Washington for restraint.

“I think we’re in a very good place because the Israeli government didn’t listen sometimes to the not-so-good advice coming out of this administration,” Walz says.

“And now we are where we are, where Iran is in the worst position it’s been. And that’s not to say this administration didn’t help with shooting down the missiles, [or that] they didn’t help with arms, but they also tapped the brakes as well in a way that I just did not find rational.”

He also says the US under Trump will not hold back on weapons supplies like the Biden administration did when it withheld the supply of 2,000-pound bombs.

“You’re not going to see this administration tapping the brakes to make sure Israel can arm itself,” he says.

Waltz adds that following the war, the US will push for Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel.

“It’s a huge priority and let’s call it what it is. It’s the next round of the Abraham Accords. I’ve always kind of felt like this current administration shifted their language to call it normalization rather than what it is, which is, I think, a tremendous historic region-changing agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” Walz says.

Top US general holds strategic assessment with IDF chief Halevi

United States CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla, who arrived in Israel this week, held an assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military says.

The IDF says the “strategic” meeting focused on the “regional situational assessment and examined courses of action to address threats and developments in the Middle East.”

“The two discussed a variety of possible scenarios on both near and distant fronts, emphasizing the strengthening of operational cooperation and enhancing readiness for any scenario,” the military adds.

מפקד פיקוד המרכז של צבא ארה״ב (CENTCOM), גנרל מייקל אריק קורילה, נחת השבוע בישראל כאורחו הרשמי של ראש המטה הכללי, רב-אלוף הרצי הלוי.

המפקדים קיימו פגישה אסטרטגית שעסקה בהערכת המצב האזורית ובבחינת דרכי פעולה להתמודדות עם איומים והתפתחויות במזרח התיכון >> pic.twitter.com/ktT4qcfjz4

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 15, 2025

IDF says it hit more than 50 terror targets in Gaza over past day

Over the past day, the Israeli Air Force carried out airstrikes on over 50 targets in the Gaza Strip, the military says, including against groups of operatives from the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups.

One of the strikes, launched overnight, targeted a prominent terror operative who was operating out of a former school in Gaza City, the IDF says.

The military does not provide his identity or further details on his role.

The school building was serving as shelter for displaced Gazans, and Palestinian media report at least five dead in the strike.

Additional strikes overnight hit Hamas operatives in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, in southern and central Gaza respectively, the IDF says.

Other targets hit in the past day included cells of operatives, weapon depots, tunnel infrastructure, anti-tank launch positions, and buildings used by Hamas, the military says.

צה״ל ושב"כ תקפו במהלך הלילה מהאוויר עשרות מטרות טרור ברחבי רצועת עזה, בהם מחבל בתפקיד מרכזי וריכוזי מחבלים מארגוני הטרור חמאס והג'יהאד האיסלאמי >> pic.twitter.com/MBb13RwJrI

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 15, 2025

Official says Hamas lying about Israeli demands in order to avoid finalizing deal

A demonstrator raises a placard during an protest calling for action to secure the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza, in Tel Aviv on January 14, 2025 (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)

An Israeli diplomatic official accuses Hamas of making up lies to try and avoid finalizing a ceasefire-hostage release deal.

“Hamas is making false claims that Israel added new conditions to the negotiations — in order to avoid executing the agreement,” the source tells diplomatic reporters.

Both Israeli and Arab officials have indicated behind the scenes that a deal is hours or days away from being signed in Doha, but no final agreement has been announced.

Zelensky visits Poland as sides reach deal on exhuming Polish victims of WWII-era massacres

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, shakes hands with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting Poland after the two countries reached an agreement on a longstanding source of tensions between them: the exhumation of Polish victims of World War II-era massacres by Ukrainian nationalists.

The office of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says that he would welcome Zelenskyy in the late morning, and that the two would hold a joint news conference.

The visit comes just days after Tusk announced progress on starting exhumations, an issue that has strained relations for years. Poland now holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, a 27-member bloc that Ukraine aspires to join.

“Finally a breakthrough. There is a decision on the first exhumations of Polish victims of the UPA,” Tusk posted on X on Friday, referring to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. “I thank the ministers of culture of Poland and Ukraine for their good cooperation. We are waiting for further decisions.”

A nongovernmental organization, the Freedom and Democracy Foundation, said Monday that it would begin exhumation work on victims in Ukraine in April.

Although Poland has been one of Ukraine’s most stalwart supporters since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly three years ago, the issue of the Polish victims lying in mass graves in Ukrainian soil eight decades after they were killed has left a festering bitterness among many Poles.

The issue dates back to 1943-44, when Europe was at war. Ukrainian nationalists massacred about 100,000 Poles in Volhynia and other regions that were then in eastern Poland, under Nazi German occupation, and which are now part of Ukraine.

Entire villages were burned down and their inhabitants killed by the nationalists and their helpers who were seeking to establish an independent Ukraine state. Poland considers the events a genocide and has been asking Ukraine to let it  exhume the victims to give them proper burials.

An estimated 15,000 Ukrainians were killed in retaliation.

The issue is sensitive for Ukraine because some of the World War II-era Ukrainian nationalists are regarded as national heroes because of their struggle for Ukraine’s statehood.

Knesset committee okays first step in new judicial overhaul, in session boycotted by the opposition

Justice Minister Yariv Levin attends a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Israeli parliament on November 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)

The Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee approves the first procedural stage in the legislative process for a bill proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to make far-reaching changes to the way judicial appointments are made.

Because Levin’s original judicial overhaul legislation, which was approved in committee but never brought for its final votes in the Knesset plenum, dealt with the same issues and laws that Levin and Sa’ar’s new proposal does, the revised legislation does not need to begin the legislative process from scratch.

Instead, the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee votes to renew deliberations on the original bill in order to implement the changes delineated in the new proposals to the old legislation.

The motion is approved unanimously since the opposition decides to boycott the proceedings on the grounds that Levin and Sa’ar did not engage in any consultative process with the opposition or judiciary when drafting their new proposals.

“Since this is a hearing about agreements which the coalition reached among itself alone, we don’t see a reason for the presence of the opposition in the hearing retracting the bill from the plenum agenda and returning it to the committee,” the party heads of the coalition say in a joint statement.

They add that members of the opposition will, however, be present for deliberations on the substance of the legislation.

Iran’s navy unveils its first signals intelligence ship

Iran’s navy receives its first signals intelligence ship on Wednesday, semi-official Tasnim news organization reports, a few days after the country’s army took delivery of 1,000 new drones.

The Zagros is a new category of military vessel equipped with electronic sensors and the ability to intercept cyber-operations and conduct intelligence monitoring, Tasnim says.

“The Zagros signals intelligence ship will be the watchful eye of Iran’s navy in the seas and oceans,” Navy Commander Shahram Irani says.

Earlier this month, Iran started two-month-long military exercises that have already included war games in which the elite Revolutionary Guards defended key nuclear installations in Natanz against mock attacks by missiles and drones.

The military drills and procurement come at a time of high tensions with Israel and the United States under incoming US president Donald Trump.

In October, the spokesperson of Iran’s government said the country plans to raise its military budget by around 200% to face growing threats.

Iran's Navy received the first homegrown intelligence destroyer named 'Zagros' on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/LHI9qNqgRn

— Mehr News Agency (@MehrnewsCom) January 15, 2025

Dozens of extremist ultra-Orthodox block road outside IDF induction center to protest draft

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men of the extremist Jerusalem Faction are protesting outside the IDF’s main induction center outside Tel Aviv against efforts to draft members of the Haredi community.

The men repeatedly try and block the road outside the Tel Hashomer base amid scuffles with police.

The protest comes after the IDF reissued draft orders to hundreds of ultra-Orthodox teens who had not shown up the first time they were called.

The Jerusalem Faction, an extremist ultra-Orthodox group numbering some 60,000 members, is considered among the most conservative of Haredi factions and regularly demonstrates against enlistment of yeshiva students.

The IDF has stepped up efforts to draft Haredi youths since June, when the High Court of Justice said the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there was no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.

חרדים מהפלגים הקיצוניים מפגינים בשערי הבקו"ם וחוסמים את הכביש | הסיבה: 1,000 החרדים שקיבלו צו גיוס לפני חצי שנה ולא התייצבו – נקראו שוב להתייצב. לדברי המפגינים, אם לא יגיעו הם יוכרזו כעריקים וייצא נגדם צו מאסר@eli_hirschmann pic.twitter.com/MywKXtBBoR

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) January 15, 2025

Smotrich undecided on hostage deal at this ‘fateful moment’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks in a video statement issued on January 15, 2025 (Screencapture/X. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich indicates he is still undecided whether to support the emerging hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.

After several consultations, including with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the far-right Religious Zionism leader issues a video statement saying that “we are at a crucial and fateful moment for the security, future and existence of the State of Israel.”

Smotrich does not indicate how he plans to vote, stating that his only priority is “how to fully achieve the goals of the war, total victory, the complete military and civil destruction of Hamas, and returning the hostages home.”

“I won’t rest or be silent until we achieve these goals,” he says.

Smotrich has previously opposed similar proposals.

Yesterday, fellow far-right leader Itamar Ben Gvir called on Smotrich to join him in rejecting the deal and bolting the government if it goes through.

Three soldiers wounded by roadside bomb in West Bank

Three IDF soldiers were injured, two seriously and one lightly, by a roadside bomb in the West Bank city of Qabatiya overnight, the military says.

The soldiers were in a David light armored vehicle when it was hit by a bomb planted in the area by Palestinian gunmen.

The soldiers, of the Kfir Brigade and Menashe Regional Brigade, were taken to a hospital for treatment.

⚠️The Israeli military: Three soldiers were injured, two of them critically, due to an explosive device targeting a military vehicle in Qabatiya, south of Jenin. pic.twitter.com/yeyiiAEpjU

— The War Room (@WarRoomIntel1) January 15, 2025

South Korean investigators arrest impeached president

Police officers and investigators leave the residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on January 15, 2025. (Anthony Wallace/AFP)

South Korean authorities have arrested impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over insurrection accusations related to his December 3 martial law declaration, investigators say.

Yoon’s presidential motorcade left the hillside residence where he has been holed up for weeks behind barbed wire barriers and a small army of personal security, and later arrived at the offices of the anti-corruption agency heading the probe.

In a statement, Yoon says he submitted himself for questioning to avoid any violence after more than 3,000 police officers marched on his residence to arrest him from the early hours on Wednesday.

“When I saw them break into the security area using firefighting equipment today, I decided to respond to the CIO’s investigation – despite it being an illegal investigation – to prevent unsavory bloodshed,” Yoon says in a statement.

Iranian president denies Tehran’s regional standing has taken blow over past year

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks at a memorial ceremony for Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani, shown in the banner, who was killed in a US drone attack in 2020, as models of domestically-built missiles are displayed at right, at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, January 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denies the Islamic Republic’s regional standing has weakened over the past year, which has seen the collapse of the Tehran-backed Assad regime in Syria, Israel’s dealing of serious blows to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas, and the exposure of Iran’s inability to thwart Israeli airstrikes on its soil.

“I do not see any link,” he says in an interview with NBC News. “Comparing to last year inside the country, we’re more coherent. We’re more robust. We have better participation. We have a more solid security in the country.”

He also insists Iran will be ready to defend itself if Iranian nuclear facilities are targeted.

“You see, naturally enough, we will react to any action. We do not fear war, but we do not seek it,” he says, adding that “I solemnly hope that this will not transpire because it will be to the detriment of all the actors, not only and merely us.”

Pezeshkian again denies that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, saying suggestions otherwise are “to fabricate some sort of a pretext.”

Additionally, he repeats Iranian claims that the Islamic Republic did not attempt to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump — which the US Justice Department has charged suspects over — in revenge for the 2020 American airstrike that killed Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who Pezeshkian spoke at a memorial ceremony for earlier this month.

Senior Iranian official accuses Israel of placing explosives in centrifuge equipment

Illustrative: In this image made from April 17, 2021, video released by the Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting, IRIB, state-run TV, various centrifuge machines line the hall damaged on April 11, 2021, at the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility, some 200 miles (322 km) south of the capital Tehran. (IRIB via AP)

Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was foreign minister when Iran and world powers agreed to the 2015 nuclear deal and is now vice president for strategic affairs, alleged in a recent interview that Israel once planted explosives in Iranian centrifuge equipment, according to a translation of his remarks by Iran International.

“Our colleagues had purchased a centrifuge platform for the Atomic Energy Organization, and it was discovered that explosives had been embedded inside it, which they managed to detect,” the opposition outlet quotes Zarif as telling the Hozour program.

He didn’t specify when the alleged incident occurred or mention Natanz, where former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen has intimated that Israel blew up Iran’s underground centrifuge facility in 2021.

In this file photo from February 23, 2021, Iran’s then-foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif addresses a conference in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Zarif in the interview also decried sanctions on Iran, blaming them for forcing Tehran to turn to intermediaries — opening up vulnerabilities in the supply chain that Israel can take advantage of.

“Instead of being able to order equipment directly from the manufacturer, sanctions force you to rely on multiple intermediaries for such purchases,” he said. “If the Zionist regime infiltrates even one of the intermediaries, they can do anything and embed anything they want, which is exactly what happened.”

“The issue with the pagers in Lebanon turned out to be a multi-year process, meticulously orchestrated by the Zionists,” he noted, referring to the blasts in September directed against the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

Israel and Hamas finalizing details on implementation of hostage deal, Arab officials tell ToI

Demonstrators call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, January 14, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Israel and Hamas agreed in principle to a hostage deal on Monday night and have since been working in Doha to finalize the details regarding implementation of the agreement, two Arab officials tell The Times of Israel.

One of the main issues that has yet to be finalized is the exact parameters of the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza, and the mediators are still waiting for a map from Israel laying this out, the Arab officials say.

The two officials speculate that a deal will be announced on Wednesday or Thursday in the form of a joint statement from the US, Qatar and Egypt, who have been mediating between Israel and Hamas.

Earlier Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Israel had accepted the hostage deal, while Hamas had yet to do the same.

On Monday, two officials familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff held a “tense” meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Saturday during which he leaned on the premier to make the compromises necessary to secure an agreement.

One of the Arab officials speaking to The Times of Israel on Tuesday says Witkoff managed to move Netanyahu more in that one meeting than the Biden administration had in countless conversations over the past year.

Lev Tahor member arrested in Guatemala as crackdown on extremist group continues

Eliezer Rompler, of the Lev Tahor cult, arrives at the Jerusalem District Court for a court hearing on May 26, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A member of Lev Tahor, an extremist Jewish sect based in Guatemala, is arrested in neighboring El Salvador.

Elazar Rompler, who has Israeli citizenship, is being held in detention ahead of an expected extradition to Israel, El Salvador’s attorney general office says in a statement.

Rompler is accused of abusing students between 2009 and 2011, the statement says.

The Jerusalem District Court indicted Rompler for child abuse in 2020.

Another member of the group, Jonathan Emmanuel Cardona Castillo, was arrested by police in El Salvador earlier this month on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and abuse of minors. Castillo had attempted to cross the border from Guatemala into El Salvador near the town of Ahuachapán, where he was apprehended.

Authorities in Guatemala raided the group’s compound last month due to reports of human trafficking. Police removed women and children from the compound and have been holding them in a detention facility since then.