Jan. 16: Hostages Forum urges government to approve deal ‘with the requisite urgency’

Hostages Forum urges government to approve Gaza deal: ‘Don’t delay their return for even one more night’

Relatives and supporters of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza since October 7, 2023 protest in favor of the Gaza truce, in Tel Aviv, January 16, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum calls on the government to approve the hostage-ceasefire deal announced by mediators yesterday, amid reports that its implementation would be delayed by one day.

“For the 98 hostages, every night is another night of a terrible nightmare. Do not delay their return even for one more night,” the forum says in a statement.

“We call on the decision-makers — put other matters aside, bring them all back with the requisite urgency.”

It is believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

‘I feel sorry for them’: Rachel Goldberg in message to leaders who failed to close hostage deal to free Hersh

Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was abducted from the Nova music festival in the October 7 attacks and later murdered in captivity, speak to Channel 12's Ilana Dayan, January 16, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Rachel Goldberg is interviewed with her husband Jon Polin by Channel 12 and asked if she has a message to leaders who failed to secure the release of their son Hersh and who are now signing a near-identical deal to the one that was unveiled nearly eight months ago.

“I think I feel sorry for them,” she responds after giving the question some thought.

“I think I feel bad for them, and I think when they have their quiet moments, or when they make whatever quiet conversations with themselves, they have to live with that for the rest of their lives,” she says.

“I don’t need to say anything to them. They have to live with the choices and decisions that they’ve made, and they can justify to themselves and to others publicly however they need to so that they can look themselves in the mirror when they’re brushing their teeth or combing their hair,” says Goldberg.

Channel 12 anchor Ilana Dayan recalls the parents’ decision to decline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to pay a condolence call after Hersh was murdered along with five other hostages in late August. She asks if there has been any contact from the premier since then.

This combination of six undated photos shows hostages, from top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi; from bottom left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat. They were murdered by their Hamas captors in Gaza in August 2024. (The Hostages Families Forum via AP)

“It’s abundantly clear that we are devastated and disappointed that Hersh’s life and the lives of the five others who are with him ended when and how they ended. It should not have come to that,” Polin responds.

“I don’t think that we need to remind anybody in our political establishment that that is failure — total failure. It’s not opinion. It’s fact. We left our loved ones to suffer for 328 days. They did everything they needed to do, and we failed them. We don’t need to remind anybody of that. That should be something that they live with and they have to wrestle with,” he adds.

Before concluding the interview, Polin asks to provide one more message.

“We lost our child, the dearest thing to us. So many other families have had similar losses,” Polin begins.

“We saw last night video footage — from both Israel and from Gaza — citizens in the streets by and large celebrating the announcement of a deal,” he continues.

“The people of the region are worthy of a better future, and the only thing we could all do to honor those who have fallen as victims in this is to be worthy of them,” Polin adds, urging the Israeli government to follow through with the hostage deal announced yesterday.

Otzma Yehudit defends opposition to hostage deal, vows to support government from outside coalition

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party defends its position against the nascent hostage-ceasefire deal, which it says “endangers Israel’s security, undermines the achievements of the war, and constitutes a complete victory for Hamas.”

Responding to a statement released by the ruling Likud party a short while ago, the far-right party reiterates that it will continue to support the coalition, “but we will not sit in a government that makes such immoral agreements.”

Ben Gvir announced this evening that Otzma Yehudit will leave the coalition if the government approves the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas that was announced yesterday by mediators.

Without the six-strong Otzma Yehudit, Netanyahu’s coalition would still have a majority in the 120-seat Knesset — 62-58.

Three protesters arrested amid clashes with police at anti-hostage deal protest in Jerusalem

Protesters clash with police during an anti-hostage deal protest in Jerusalem, January 16, 2025. (Flash90)

Three protesters have been arrested for disturbing the peace and damaging vehicles that were passing by an anti-hostage deal demonstration in Jerusalem, according to a police statement.

One of the suspects was arrested for spraying pepper spray at the protesters, police say.

The protesters also blocked traffic, including emergency vehicles, and set a fire in the middle of the road, according to the statement.

Opponents of the deal announced yesterday say its terms may endanger national security by releasing many convicted Palestinian terrorists while leaving some hostages in captivity and Hamas intact.

Likud after Ben Gvir says he’ll quit over Gaza deal: ‘It’ll be an eternal disgrace’

After National Security minister Itamar Ben Gvir says his Otzma Yehudit party will leave the coalition if the government approves the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas announced yesterday, the ruling Likud party says, “Anyone who dissolves the right-wing government will be remembered as an eternal disgrace.”

In a statement, the party denies the far-right minister’s claim that the deal constitutes an end to the war against Hamas.

“Contrary to Ben Gvir’s comments, the existing deal allows Israel to return to fighting under American guarantees, receive the weapons and means of warfare it needs, maximize the number of living hostages that will be released, maintain full control of the Philadelphi Route [on the Egyptian border] and the security buffer that surrounds the entire Gaza Strip, and achieve dramatic security achievements that will ensure Israel’s security for generations.”

The deal is expected to be approved by the security cabinet even without support from the premier’s far-right coalition partners.

French police briefly close off basketball arena ahead of Paris v Maccabi Tel Aviv game over suspicious object

PARIS – Police briefly close off the Adidas Arena ahead of a Euroleague basketball game between Paris and Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv because of a suspicious package outside the stadium.

A police officer tells Reuters that no one was allowed inside the security perimeter while a dog was sent in to sniff a food delivery package that had been left on a bike.

The package was destroyed on site and spectators were allowed inside the security perimeter after half an hour.

“There was nothing in there,” a police officer tells Reuters. “It was a preventive measure.”

The Euroleague Round 22 match was already classified as high-risk by the French National Division for the Fight against Hooliganism (DNLH), part of the Ministry of the Interior, due to security concerns linked to ongoing geopolitical tensions.

#Euroleague | Dispositif en place à l’Adidas Arena et autour de l’enceinte pour assurer la sécurité des athlètes et spectateurs et le bon déroulement de la rencontre entre le Paris Basketball et le Maccabi Tel-Aviv. pic.twitter.com/sRRKZVvAhd

— Préfecture de Police (@prefpolice) January 16, 2025

‘President Trump, get them all home’: Protesters in Tel Aviv urge government to approve hostage deal

Protesters gather at the Begin Gate of the Kirya, Israel's military headquarters, in Tel Aviv, to urge the government to approve a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, January 16, 2025. (Pro-Democracy Movement/Yael Gadot)

Amid reports that the government is delaying the implementation of a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas by one day, protesters gather at the Begin Gate of the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters, in Tel Aviv to call for the release of all of the abductees held by terror groups in Gaza.

The protesters hold a banner that reads, “President Trump, get them all home,” ahead of the US president-elect’s inauguration next week.

Two Arab officials told The Times of Israel earlier this week that incoming Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff did more to sway Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a single sit-down last weekend than outgoing US President Joe Biden did all year.

את כולם!!!!!!!! עכשיו! בגין! pic.twitter.com/ZGk1sJ4so4

— Ami Dror 🇮🇱 עמי דרור (@AmiDror) January 16, 2025

Trump shares ToI story revealing how his envoy pressured Netanyahu to accept hostage deal

US President-elect Donald Trump shares on his Truth Social account a Times of Israel report revealing the pressure that his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff applied on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a hostage deal when the pair met in Jerusalem last week.

Trump posts the story’s headline, “Arab officials: Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year,” along with a link to the report.

Arab officials: “Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year”

Donald Trump Truth Social 02:24 PM EST 01/16/25 https://t.co/p5SUyarjEu

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 16, 2025

Biden administration said stunned by reports Israel will delay hostage deal implementation by one day

US President Joe Biden, center, with Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, right, speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House on the announcement of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages after more than 15 months of war, January 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Biden administration is said to be stunned by reports that Israel is planning to delay the implementation of the hostage deal by one day.

Channel 12 reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to only convene a cabinet meeting to vote on the deal’s approval on Saturday, rather than tomorrow. The report said there wouldn’t be enough time to hold both a security cabinet vote and a full cabinet vote before Shabbat on Friday, forcing the delay of the latter until Saturday evening. The government is then required to give 24 hours for High Court of Justice petitions against the deal before moving forward with its implementation.

Channel 12 says the White House is fuming over the decision and warns that the extra day could lead to further complications in the deal’s implementation.

After Ben Gvir says he’ll quit, Lapid reiterates offer to give Netanyahu political safety net to advance hostage deal

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid reiterates his offer to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a political safety net to advance a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas announced yesterday after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says he’ll quit the government if the agreement is approved.

“I say to Benjamin Netanyahu, don’t be afraid or intimidated, you will get every safety net you need to make the hostage deal,” Lapid writes on X.

“This is more important than any disagreement we’ve ever had.”

The nascent deal is expected to be approved by the government, even without Ben Gvir’s support.

Ben Gvir says his Otzma Yehudit party will quit government if hostage-ceasefire deal is approved, implemented

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks at a press conference, January 16, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says his Otzma Yehudit party will leave the coalition if the government approves and implements the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas that was announced yesterday by mediators.

In a press conference, Ben Gvir says the deal, which includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners from Israel, will enable the rehabilitation of terror groups in Gaza and bring back the threat to residents in border areas.

“Hundreds of terrorist murderers” will be freed, he warns, and there will be “thousands of terrorists” among Gazans allowed to return to the north of the Strip. Furthermore, Israel will be withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border and ending the war before its goals are attained, he charges. Israel will be throwing away “all of the achievements” of the war to date.

He also warns that the current deal will not see the release of all hostages held in Gaza, repeating his claim from earlier this week that it “seals the fate of the rest of the hostages who are not included in the death deal.”

Ben Gvir calls on members of fellow far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, and “ideological” members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, to act in accordance with their stated opposition to the agreement.

Hebrew media has assessed that the security cabinet will approve the deal tomorrow even without the support of Ben Gvir and Smotrich, and that the full cabinet will also approve it.

Without the six-strong Otzma Yehudit, Netanyahu’s coalition would still have a majority in the 120-seat Knesset — 62-58. Without Smotrich’s 8-strong Religious Zionism, it would lose its majority, though opposition parties have promised to give the coalition a “safety net” to advance and see through the deal

If the government returns to fighting Hamas after the ceasefire, Ben Gvir says in the press conference, his party will offer to rejoin the government.

Reports: High-level Israeli defense delegation heading to Cairo tomorrow to coordinate hostage-ceasefire deal

A delegation of senior Israel defense officials will head to Egypt’s capital Cairo tomorrow to coordinate matters relating to the ceasefire and hostage deal with the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip, according to Hebrew-language media.

The Walla news site and Army Radio report that the delegation will include senior Shin Bet officials, the head of the IDF Strategy Directorate Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, and COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian.

The meetings will focus on coordinating the process of releasing the hostages on the first day of the ceasefire, the reports say. In the previous ceasefire deal, the hostages were released via the Rafah Crossing to Egypt and then to Israel.

Also according to the reports, the delegation will discuss with Egyptian officials the reopening of the Rafah Crossing for Palestinians to leave Gaza, the entry of aid to the Strip, and the IDF’s deployment and expected withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor, the Egypt-Gaza border area.

Egypt says implementation of Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal must ‘start without delay’

Egypt’s foreign ministry says the implementation of a hostage release-ceasefire in Gaza must “start without delay,” a day after mediators announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement.

The deal, announced by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt, is set to take effect on Sunday and involves the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be finalized.

Since the deal was announced, the Hamas-run civil defense agency in Gaza says at least 80 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in Israeli strikes. The toll could not be independently verified.

The IDF said earlier today that some 50 strikes over the past day eliminated several members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and hit buildings used by the terror groups, weapon depots, rocket launchers, weapon manufacturing sites, and observation posts.

In a call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty calls for an immediate start to the truce and stresses “the need for the parties to adhere to its provisions and work to implement its stages on the specified dates.”

Cairo also calls for the rapid, safe and effective distribution of humanitarian aid, as well as “early recovery projects in preparation for reconstruction.”

Israeli cabinet reportedly set to delay vote on hostage-ceasefire deal until Saturday night, meaning deal may not take effect before Monday

People walk past an installation consisting of a clock counting the time since Hamas's October 7, 2023 massacre, set up on a square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, now informally called the "Hostages Square", in Tel Aviv on January 16, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)

The full cabinet is set to delay its vote on the hostage-ceasefire deal until Saturday night, Channel 12 reports, meaning that implementation of the deal might not start before Monday.

The report says ministers will meet as planned tomorrow to discuss the deal, but that the meeting will continue on Saturday night.

After the vote, a list of Palestinian security prisoners to be freed will be published, and opponents will have 48 hours to petition against these releases to the Supreme Court.

The report says it was decided by the Prime Minister’s Office that if the original timetable were to be maintained, and a vote to be taken tomorrow, this would mean opponents of the prisoner releases would have almost no time to lodge appeals because of Shabbat. The court is not expected to intervene in the releases.

Channel 12 says judicial sources have made clear that the formal 48-hour period for petitions can be shortened, as happened ahead of the November 2023 truce, and that the intended Sunday start of the deal need not be affected, but that the Prime Minister’s Office was not persuaded.

The deal is currently scheduled to take effect on Sunday at 12:15 p.m., with the first three hostages to be released soon after.

US President-elect Donald Trump is to be sworn into office on Monday.

The TV report says Israel’s negotiators are staying in Doha until the deal is signed and will return to participate in the cabinet discussions.

According to a leaked copy of the agreement, over 1,700 Palestinian prisoners are to be freed in return for 33 Israeli hostages in the first phase of the deal: 700 terrorists, 250-300 of whom are serving life terms; 1,000 Gazans captured since October 8 in fighting in the Strip; and 47 rearrested prisoners from the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal.

Settler activist rallies against hostage deal: ‘Trump promised hell for Gaza, and he is giving us hell’

Veteran settler activist Daniella Weiss addresses anti-hostage deal rally in Jerusalem on January 16, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

At a Jerusalem rally against the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, veteran settler activist Daniella Weiss rails against US President-elect Donald Trump, a prospective peace with Saudi Arabia, and calls for Jewish settlement of the Gaza Strip.

She laments that many on Israel’s right have convinced themselves that Trump “will bring us only good things as if he is the messiah. But here he is, already seeking peace with Saudi Arabia,” which she goes on to label an “illusion of world peace.”

“Trump promised hell for Gaza, and he is giving us hell, the Jewish people!” she says.

“The time has come to go back and cancel this deal. It is a shame and disgrace that we are here, crawling before our enemies,” she says. The crowd begins to chant “death to terrorists” during a brief pause in Weiss’s speech.

Weiss resumes, claiming that rejoicing across the Arab world at news of a hostage and ceasefire deal is “not just rejoicing, but preparations to attack, preparations for war.”

She then repeats some of her points in English, claiming that the entire world fears Trump because “the way [that] he rewarded Hamas for attacking Israel, he is going to reward Russia for attacking Ukraine.”

She calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others in his cabinet to “go by the values of the Bible, the values of the Jewish nation,” and vote against a hostage and ceasefire deal.

“We want the Jewish people in the land of Israel… [we will] never give any part of the living body of the land of Israel to anybody,” she says. “We will settle Gaza, we will settle Lebanon, we will settle the entire Promised Land!”

Hundreds of Iranians gather to celebrate Gaza deal; Ayatollah Khamenei hails Palestinian ‘resistance’

Iranians wave Palestinian, Hezbollah and national flags as they celebrate the news of a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel, in Tehran on January 16, 2025. (AFP)

Hundreds of Iranians are gathering in major cities around the country including the capital Tehran and Tabriz in the northwest to celebrate the announcement of a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza, Iranian state media reports.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hails Palestinian “resistance” after the truce announcement to halt more than 15 months of fighting, saying “the patience of the people of Gaza and the steadfastness of the Palestinian resistance forced the Zionist regime to retreat.”

He adds that Israel was “defeated” after committing “the most heinous crimes, killing thousands of women and children” during its military campaign against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

Hamas is among Iran’s axis of proxies in the region, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

Hostage’s mother urges support for nascent deal: ‘The last opportunity for me to get Matan back alive’

Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, speaks during a Knesset committee hearing on December 16, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker and a prominent voice in the fight to secure a deal for the release of those held captive in the Gaza Strip, voices support for a nascent hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“At this moment, there are those who are not ready to end the war, and are trying and will try to thwart the implementation of the deal. We are already hearing [right-wing ministers] Ben Gvir and Smotrich speaking against the deal and making threats,” she says in a video message.

“Today it is already clear that the second and third phases of the deal will only be realized if we end the war — and that is precisely what the extremists will try to thwart.”

Zangauker’s son is not among the 33 hostages set to be released in the initial six-week phase of the ceasefire.

Negotiations on the terms of the second phase of the deal, which is expected to see the release of the remaining 65 hostages, are slated to begin on the 16th day of the first stage.

“This is the last and most crucial opportunity for me to get Matan back alive – it must not be missed.”

Government may take separate decision on war against Hamas to placate Smotrich — report

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend a vote in the Knesset plenum, Jerusalem, December 31, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to hold his sixth meeting in two days with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as he seeks to persuade the Religious Zionism coalition party leader not to quit the government over the hostage-ceasefire deal, Channel 12 reports.

The unsourced report says the government may pass a separate decision to placate Smotrich stating that the war against Hamas will not end before Hamas is destroyed militarily and in terms of governing capacity. This decision will also define a new war goal: Destroying terrorism in the West Bank.

Channel 12 assesses that even if Smotrich and fellow far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir vote against the hostage-ceasefire deal, it will be approved by both the security cabinet and the full cabinet.

Ben Gvir may well take his party out of the coalition, the report notes. The Otzma Yehudit leader is set to hold a press conference shortly.

‘Criminal! You belong in The Hague’: Heckler carried out of Blinken press conference

WASHINGTON – Multiple hecklers interrupt US Secretary of State Antony Blinken inside the State Department briefing room during his remarks on the heels of a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.

“Criminal! You belong in The Hague,” independent journalist Sam Husseini shouts as Blinken delivers opening remarks at his final news conference. The Hague is where the International Criminal Court is located.

Husseini is carried out by security personnel after his repeated shouts.

Blinken was interrupted at least two other times earlier with similar heckling denouncing US policy on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Reporter @samhusseini was just physically dragged from Blinken’s briefing. “Why aren’t you at The Hague?”

Remember when this sort of thing only happened in oppressive regimes and we thought it was never happen here? pic.twitter.com/qRIEmq348z

— Esheru (@EsheruKwaku) January 16, 2025

IDF chief of staff visits northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, briefs troops ahead of ceasefire

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited troops of the Nahal Brigade in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun today.

The military says Halevi held an assessment with officers and briefed the troops on the army’s activities in Gaza in the coming days, ahead of an upcoming ceasefire with Hamas.

Houthis say Israel ‘failed miserably’ in Gaza, threaten to continue attacks ‘in support of the Palestinian people’

Houthi supporters carry a mock rocket and chant slogans during an anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, December 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Israel has “failed miserably” in Gaza, the leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels says, a day after a ceasefire deal was announced by mediators yesterday.

“The Israeli enemy failed to achieve its declared and clear goals, and failed miserably to recover its prisoners without an exchange deal,” Abdulmalik al-Houthi says in a televised address, insisting that Israel and the US were “obliged” to accept the ceasefire.

He also threatened that his US-designated terror group could continue its attacks on Israel in the coming days.

“If the Israeli enemy continues its massacres and escalation over these three days, we will sustain our offensive and military operations in support of the Palestinian people,” he says.

The IDF says the Houthis have launched some 40 ballistic missiles at Israel since fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, starting the ongoing multifront war.

Israel and Western allies have carried out several sorties against Houthi targets in Yemen, but they have failed to stem the attacks.

Israeli diplomatic source insists last details of hostage-ceasefire deal still haven’t been finalized

After a minister said a deal had finally been clinched and US sources indicated the gaps had been closed, an Israeli diplomatic source continues to insist that the last details of a hostage release deal have not been finalized.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is adamant on finalizing all the details of the agreement before he brings it to the approval of the cabinet and the government,” the source tells reporters, claiming that Israel forced Hamas to back down from last-minute demands over the Philadelphi Corridor. Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office said there had also been a disagreement on the identities of some of the Palestinian prisoners set to be released.

“This insistence seems to be bearing fruit, but until things are fully agreed upon, Netanyahu will not convene the cabinet and the government,” the source says.

Earlier this evening, Shas leader Aryeh Deri said he had received word that the final deal had been agreed upon and the cabinet would soon convene. Hebrew media reports say that the cabinet is expected to meet tomorrow morning and the deal is still set to go into effect on Sunday.

Sources have suggested that the delay in approval is linked in part to the threat by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to quit the coalition if the deal is approved.

Defense Ministry says it’s preparing for release of Gaza hostages in upcoming ceasefire with Hamas

The Defense Ministry says it is preparing for the release of the hostages from the Gaza Strip in the upcoming ceasefire with Hamas.

Defense Minister Israel Katz and the ministry’s director general, Eyal Zamir, held an assessment today with officials from the ministry, IDF, and COGAT as part of those preparations.

Katz and Zamir “directed that all ministry capabilities be made available for implementing the hostage release deal, receiving the returning hostages, and supporting their families,” a statement says.

The ministry says its Rehabilitation Department and Department of Families and Commemoration “have been placed on full alert alongside the IDF.”

“They will provide all necessary assistance and support to the returning hostages and their families in all aspects, emphasizing close medical and mental health care and support, and will enhance emotional support and guidance for all families,” the ministry says.

The ministry’s Engineering and Construction Department, Logistics and Assets Department, and Crossing Points Authority “will conduct an accelerated operational, logistical effort to execute all aspects required by the IDF to implement the deal, including infrastructure work and providing all logistical solutions needed for the operation’s success,” the statement adds.

World Health Organization says at least $10 billion needed to rebuild Gaza’s health system over 5-7 years

Palestinians inspect the rubble of buildings hit in Israeli strikes the previous night in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, on January 16, 2025. (Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)

GENEVA – At least $10 billion will likely be needed to rebuild Gaza’s devastated health system over the next five to seven years, according to an initial World Health Organization assessment.

“The needs are massive,” the UN health agency’s representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, tells reporters. The initial assessment of the cost to rebuild just the health sector was “for even more than $3 billion for the first 1.5 years and then actually $10 billion for the five to seven years.”

Feiglin announces bid to run in next elections, calls on right-wing parties to topple government

Right-wing leader Moshe Feiglin attends a Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting in Jerusalem, August 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Moshe Feiglin, a far-right politician who left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party a decade ago, has announced that his Zehut party will run in the next general election, according to Hebrew media.

The Ynet news site reports that Feiglin calls on the leaders of right-wing parties to withdraw from the coalition and topple the government.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must go,” he is quoted as saying, citing the “unimaginable gap between the generation of heroism that is waging the war and the generation of defeat that is leading it.”

Feiglin also announced his intention to run for office in January last year.

Zehut previously ran as an independent party, and, in one election in 2019, was widely projected in opinion polls to enter the Knesset with up to 10 seats, before faltering and failing to enter the parliament entirely.

Likud minister vows to resign if Israel withdraws from Philadelphi Corridor before war goals achieved

Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli speaks in the Knesset on June 25, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli vows to resign from the government if Israel withdraws from the Philadelphi Corridor along the border between Gaza and Egypt before the war goals are achieved, as sources were quoted as saying the final issues in a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas had been resolved.

“So far, the government has kept its commitment to the war’s goals even when question marks arose, as in the previous deal [in November 2023], the issue of entering Rafah, or a ground maneuver in Lebanon. It is clear to me that this will be the case now as well,” the Likud minister writes in a post on X.

He then vows he’ll resign from his position as minister if “God forbid” the IDF pulls back from the Gaza-Egypt border before the war goals of toppling Hamas and freeing the hostages are achieved.

A senior diplomatic official confirmed earlier today that Israel had not agreed to gradually pull out of the Philadelphi Corridor from the start of the ceasefire and that IDF troops would remain in the area “throughout the entire first stage, all 42 days.”

“This deal is difficult to digest and involves heavy costs. So, as was the case with the previous vote, I will make my final decision only after the full details of the deal are presented,” he adds.

The security cabinet was set to approve the deal this morning, but the meeting was delayed after the Prime Minister’s Office accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement. The meeting will reportedly be held tomorrow morning, though it has not yet been confirmed.

Blinken ‘confident’ implementation of Gaza hostage release-ceasefire to start Sunday

US President Joe Biden, alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Cross Hall of the White House on January 15, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voices confidence that the implementation of a ceasefire in Gaza would begin Sunday after Israel held off on a cabinet vote and accused Hamas of backtracking.

“I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,” Blinken says at a farewell news conference.

He says that he and other officials of US President Joe Biden’s administration, which ends Monday, were on the telephone to try to resolve issues in the ceasefire announced yesterday through mediator Qatar.

“It’s not exactly surprising that in a process, in a negotiation, that has been this challenging and this fraught, you may get a loose end. We’re tying up that loose end as we speak,” Blinken says.

Gaza ceasefire should be positive for Israel’s credit rating — Fitch

LONDON (Reuters) – A ceasefire in the war in Gaza should be positive for Israel’s under-pressure credit rating, Fitch’s top sovereign rating analyst says.

Israel’s “A” rating is currently on a downgrade warning, or a “negative outlook” in rating agency-speak.

“We’ve got Israel on negative, I guess that’s something that’s really related to public finances associated with the war,” Fitch’s head of sovereign ratings James Longsdon says at a conference held by the firm.

“To the extent that [the war] can sort of stabilize, that would be positive I think there.”

Israel’s rating had never been downgraded before last year, but the heavy cost of the last 15 months of fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon saw it cut multiple times by major rating firms such as Fitch, S&P Global and Moody’s.

Report: US source says remaining issues in hostage-ceasefire deal solved, agreement closed

The remaining issues in the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas have been resolved and the agreement is closed, according to a US source cited by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid.

The deal was announced by Qatari and US leaders yesterday, but the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement this morning accusing Hamas of backing out of some agreements and creating a “crisis” in finalizing the deal.

Shas chair Deri says barriers holding up hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas have been overcome

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri attends a vote at the assembly hall of Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 31, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri announces that the barriers preventing the implementation of a ceasefire deal with Hamas have been dealt with.

“A few minutes ago I received a final announcement that all obstacles have been overcome and the deal is underway,” Deri states at his party’s annual conference. “Now they are busy with the final technical wording. I want to congratulate Prime Minister Netanyahu, he is responsible for the agreement.”

Moscow lauds emerging Gaza deal, hopes Russian-Israeli hostage Sasha Trufanov will be among those freed

Hostage Sasha Trufanov in a video released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group on November 13, 2024. (Screengrab)

Moscow expresses hope that Russian-Israeli Sasha Trufanov will be among those freed in an emerging hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

“We hope the agreement’s implementation will lead to long-term stability in Gaza, allow displaced persons to return, and facilitate reconstruction of what was destroyed during the conflict,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says in a statement.

“Additionally, we expect Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees exchanged under this accord to reunite with their families. It is our hope that Russian citizen Alexander Trufanov, presently in Gaza, will be among those freed.”

Trufanov, 27, was among 251 Israelis taken hostage in Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023 massacre. He was kidnapped along with three members of his family from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His mother Yelena Trufanova, 50, and her mother Irena Tati, 73, were released by Hamas on November 29 at Putin’s request. His girlfriend Sapir Cohen was among 105 hostages released in a week-long truce in November.

The Kremlin says it “welcomes” the deal, but also expresses a degree of caution after Israeli accusations that Hamas is backtracking on the fragile agreement.

“Any settlement that leads to a ceasefire, an end to the suffering of the people of Gaza and increases Israel’s security can only be welcomed,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters.

“But let’s wait for the finalization of the process.”

Hamas warns IDF ‘aggression’ in Gaza could endanger hostages slated to be released under emerging deal

This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke plumes rising from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on January 16, 2025. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Hamas’s military wing, the Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, warns that Israel’s continuing airstrikes and shelling in Gaza, despite the announcement of a ceasefire deal, endanger hostages who are slated to be freed under the nascent agreement.

“Any aggression and shelling at this stage by the enemy could turn the freedom of a prisoner into a tragedy,” the terror group says in a post on Telegram.

Israel is still holding off from officially declaring that a ceasefire-hostage release deal announced yesterday by mediators has been reached with Hamas, insisting that details remained to be finalized and that the terror group is throwing last-minute wrenches into the negotiations.

Haredi parties may bolt coalition if no law passed on military service exemptions — Shas minister

Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli (Shas) says legislation exempting Haredi men from military service is a core interest of the ultra-Orthodox parties, and that they could leave the coalition if it isn’t passed.

Expressing hope that the Haredi parties will be able to arrive at an agreement with Defense Minister Israel Katz and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein on the text of a law, Malkieli tells the Haredi radio station Kol Berama that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “understands politics” and “he understands the significance of the enlistment law for the Haredi public,” which “entered the government for this law.”

“The ultra-Orthodox parties will topple the government when the gedolei Yisrael instruct them to do so,” he says, using a term for the Haredi community’s top rabbinic leaders.

Hostages’ families call Tel Aviv rally as nation awaits official hostage-ceasefire deal confirmation

Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, January 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum calls on the public to gather at Tel Aviv’s so-called Hostages Square, as the nation waits for confirmation from Israel on a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas that was announced yesterday.

“These are critical and moving hours for us and for the entire nation of Israel,” the forum says in a statement.

“We are happy and congratulate every hostage who will return. And at the same time, we are anxious about the fate of our loved ones who may be left behind,” the families add, calling on the public to join the Tel Aviv demonstration this evening from 6 p.m.

“Now, more than ever, we need you to be with us. With your hand on the pulse and your eyes on the last hostage, so that we leave no one behind.”

IDF: Hamas terrorist who participated in Nova festival massacre on Oct. 7 killed in overnight airstrike in Gaza

A Hamas terrorist who participated in the massacre at the Nova music festival near Re’im during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, was killed in an overnight airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the military says.

The IDF says the strike killing Hamas Nukhba force terrorist Muhammad Hashem Zahdi Abu al-Rous was among over 50 launched in the past day in Gaza.

The strikes over the past day eliminated several more members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and hit buildings used by the terror groups, weapon depots, rocket launchers, weapon manufacturing sites, and observation posts, according to the IDF.

High Court gives Levin 10 more days to appoint Supreme Court president

While expressing deep frustration with Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the High Court of Justice gives him 10 extra days to appoint a new Supreme Court president, as the deadline it gave him in December passes today.

Levin has refused to appoint a new president for 15 months due to his opposition to the likely appointee Acting Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, a liberal, and has been ordered twice by the court in its capacity as the High Court to hold a vote for a new court president.

Levin sent the court a notice yesterday telling it that he was again postponing a vote due to what he said was his need to “clarify” allegations of misconduct by Amit.

The three justices on the panel, two conservatives and one liberal, insist that the only body authorized to evaluate any misconduct by Amit is the Judicial Selection Committee itself where the vote on a new president will be conducted.

Despite these points, the court says because of the “importance of appearances,” it has decided to give Levin another 10 days to bring the relevant claims against Amit to the committee for it to hear and discuss.

Media reports earlier this week alleged that civil lawsuits relating to property jointly owned by Amit and his brother put him in a conflict of interest in court proceedings he was involved in as a judge since those proceedings involved parties connected to the lawsuits. Amit says he had given his brother power of attorney over the property in question and was unaware of the proceedings, and therefore unaware he might have a conflict of interest.

Shas ‘eagerly awaiting’ hostage-ceasefire agreement: ‘We’ll support a deal that will save human lives’

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 24, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Shas is “eagerly awaiting the completion of the hostage deal,” Interior Minister Moshe Arbel tells the ultra-Orthodox party’s annual conference.

“We know how to put our opinion aside and completely obey the Council of Torah Sages and their instructions,” he says. “As students before our rabbis, we will support a deal that will save human lives.”

Arbel adds that he has informed Haim Bibas, chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities, that his ministry “is prepared for whatever is needed to assist the hostages and their families.”

In Damascus, Qatari PM calls on Israel to ‘immediately withdraw’ from Syria buffer zone

This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani in Damascus, Syria, January 16, 2025. (SANA/AFP)

DAMASCUS – Doha demands Israel “immediately withdraw” from its buffer zone with Syria, the Qatari prime minister says during a visit to Damascus.

“The Israeli occupation’s seizure of the buffer zone is a reckless… act and it must immediately withdraw,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani says at a press conference with new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

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 unstable situation in Syria since last month’s fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Wizz Air restarts Tel Aviv-London route as other airlines consider resuming Israel flights after Gaza truce

A Wizz Air flight takes off from Ben Gurion International Airport, July 22, 2019. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Wizz Air has restarted its London to Tel Aviv route, along with flights to Amman, Jordan, amid cautious optimism around a nascent hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Many Western carriers canceled flights to swaths of the Middle East in recent months, including Beirut and Tel Aviv, as conflict tore across the region. Airlines also avoided Iraqi and Iranian airspace out of fear of getting accidentally caught in drone or missile warfare.

Earlier today, Germany’s Lufthansa Group announced that it will resume flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel from February 1, including carriers Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and Swiss.

Before the ceasefire was announced, low-cost carrier Ryanair said it was hoping to run a full summer schedule to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

British carrier EasyJet tells Reuters it welcomes the news of the Gaza ceasefire and will review its plans in the coming days.

Air France-KLM says its operations to and from Tel Aviv remain suspended until January 24, while its flights between Paris and Beirut will be suspended until January 31.

Lufthansa flights to and from Tehran up to and including February 14 remain suspended and the airline will not fly to Beirut in Lebanon up to and including February 28.

Human Rights Watch: Trump’s return to power ‘threatens rights’ both within US and abroad

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

UNITED NATIONS — Donald Trump’s return to power could see him repeat rights violations committed during his first presidency and heap pressure on already faltering international institutions, Human Rights Watch warns.

The Republican’s “return to the White House not only threatens rights within the US but will also affect, by commission and omission, respect for human rights abroad,” the organization says in its annual report.

Herzog backs nascent hostage deal, says ‘stubborn details’ still being hammered out

President Isaac Herzog meets at his residence in Jerusalem with family members of hostages, fallen and reservists, January 16, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

President Isaac Herzog says there are still negotiations on some “stubborn details” of the hostage release-ceasefire deal.

The president says he fully backs the nascent deal, noting that there are “stubborn negotiations on a very significant detail. I hope and expect that this will be completed as soon as possible.”

The Prime Minister’s Office has said that the final disagreement hinges on the identities of Palestinian prisoners slated to be released from Israeli jails.

Herzog makes the comments in a meeting with family members of hostages, fallen soldiers and reservists who express their support for the deal, including loved ones of slain hostages Yotam Haim and Omer Neutra as well as Bar Kupershtein, who has been held in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Supporting the deal is “the right thing to do, the most just and the most necessary,” and all stages of it must be implemented, adds Herzog. “What we need to do now is to give it full support,” and hopefully we will soon “begin to see them coming home.”

Netanyahu holding off on hostage deal announcement over ‘coalition politics,’ says official not from PM’s office

An Israeli official not from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office suggests that the premier is making announcements about breakdowns in negotiations and holding off on announcing the agreement his negotiating team signed off on yesterday while he works to keep his coalition intact.

Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partner National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has threatened to bolt the government if the deal announced yesterday is approved, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is said to be weighing a similar move.

The Israeli official acknowledges to The Times of Israel that details are still being finalized in negotiations but insists that the disagreements are relatively minor and will be solved in the coming hours.

Asked to explain Netanyahu’s conduct since the deal was announced, the Israeli official chalks it up to “coalition politics.”

White House ‘confident’ that last-minute issues with hostage deal can be solved, ceasefire can start Sunday

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, December 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The US is aware of last-minute issues closing the final details of a ceasefire-hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas that was announced yesterday, according to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, who nevertheless expresses confidence that the agreement will begin to be implemented on Sunday.

Kirby’s comments come as Israel is still holding off from officially declaring that a deal has been reached, insisting that details remained to be finalized and that the terror group is throwing last-minute wrenches into the negotiations.

“We’re aware of these issues that the prime minister has raised today, this afternoon, their time, and we’re working through that. Our team on the ground is actually working with him and his team to iron all this out and flatten it and get it moving forward,” he tells NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement this morning accusing Hamas of backing out of some agreements and creating a “crisis” in finalizing the deal.

“Obviously, this has got to get approved by the Israeli government, and Prime Minister Netanyahu knows that. He’s working through that process as well, but we’re confident that we’ll be able to solve these last-minute issues and get it moving, and that this ceasefire can take place starting on Sunday.”

Edelstein rejects Katz’s call for gradual increase in Haredi recruits: ‘There’s no time… the army needs soldiers’

MK Yuli Edelstein attends a discussion on the IDF conscription law at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he chairs, Jerusalem, January 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein dismisses Defense Minister Israel Katz’s call to gradually increase the number of ultra-Orthodox recruits over the next seven years, declaring that he “will not settle for a temporary solution or, alternatively, a process that will take many years.”

In a video message recorded following a tour of the IDF’s new ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade’s training base, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman says, “We don’t have the time or the luxury to wait any longer. The army needs many fighters.”

“The committee I chair will only issue a law on recruitment in high numbers, with a corresponding increase in the scope of recruitment and sanctions,” he says.

During a hearing in Edelstein’s committee earlier this week, Katz pushed back against the military’s assertion that it will soon be able to conscript ultra-Orthodox men without restriction, telling lawmakers that the number of Haredim drafted into the military should be increased gradually year-over-year until it hits 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort in 2032.

Katz is slated to address the committee again next Wednesday.

Health Ministry issues guidelines for hospitals set to receive hostages

A group of Israelis watch as a helicopter carrying hostages released from the Gaza Strip lands at the helipad of the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petah Tikva November 26, 2023.(AP/Leo Correa)

The Health Ministry has issued new guidelines for hospitals to receive hostages released during the upcoming ceasefire-hostage release agreement.

Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, head of the Health Ministry’s General Medicine Division, says the updated protocol differs “significantly” from the one implemented for hostages released during the temporary ceasefire deal of November 2023, when 105 hostages were released.

“There is a risk that returning hostages may develop Refeeding Syndrome,” Dr. Mizrahi explains. “This condition arises when individuals deprived of food during captivity attempt to compensate by consuming carbohydrates, potentially leading to serious harm.”

The protocol advises a minimum hospital stay of four days for returning hostages. Mizrahi notes that some of the previously released hostages regretted leaving earlier than recommended, suggesting extended stays could better support their recovery.

The guidelines emphasize the need for heightened attention to hygiene due to concerns about potential exposure to pathogens during captivity.

The ministry also urges families and visitors to avoid taking photos or posting updates on social media from hospital premises, warning such actions could inadvertently harm the recovery process of those freed from Hamas captivity.

There will be documentation and collection of forensic evidence from the atrocities they have suffered, Mizrahi says. Among other things, hostages will undergo tests for sexually transmitted diseases and female abductees will also be given pregnancy tests.

Justice minister must appoint new Supreme Court president, AG says after Levin delays vote

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Justice Minister Yariv Levin at a farewell ceremony for retiring acting Supreme Court president Uzi Vogelman, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, October 1, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/POOL)

The attorney general insists that Justice Minister Yariv Levin is obligated to appoint a new Supreme Court president today, and that if he wants to deliberate allegations of wrongdoing against Acting Supreme Court President Isaac Amit he must do so in the Judicial Selection Committee.

The State Attorney’s Office writing for Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara filed its response to Levin’s notice to the court on Wednesday that he was postponing the vote in the Judicial Selection Committee on electing a new Supreme Court president due to the allegations against Amit, who is likely to be elected permanent president if a vote is called.

In December, the Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice ordered Levin to appoint a new court president by today, January 16, after he refused to do so for 15 months.

Baharav-Miara argues that Levin had time to clarify the allegations before today’s deadline, and pointed out he had not asked the court for a postponement but simply informed it of his decision to delay.

Regardless, she said that according to the law and procedure, Levin must bring the allegations to the Judicial Selection Committee which is the only authorized body to deal with objections to candidates, noting that Amit himself had said he is willing to explain himself to the committee.

The Judicial Selection Committee could, if it believes necessary, decide to hold further hearings to get to the bottom of the matter, the attorney general adds.

She adds that a request by Levin for disciplinary procedures to be initiated against Levin does also “not constitute justification for violating the court order and postpone the date of the committee hearing.”

Concludes the attorney general, “There is therefore no place or grounds for the court to accede to the ‘minister’s announcement,’ and the minister must obey the final ruling issued by the court” and appoint a new president today.

The High Court is expected to issue a decision on the matter later today.

EU pledges €120 million in Gaza aid following ceasefire deal

The EU said Thursday it would deliver 120 million euros ($123 million) in aid for war-torn Gaza, a day after the announcement of a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

“Today we are also adopting a package of 120 million euros for Gaza to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis there,” EU spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova tells reporters.

Welfare minister: Released hostages to receive $16,500 in financial aid upon return

Labor and Welfare Minister Yoav Ben Tzur addresses the Shas party annual conference, on January 16, 2025. (Screenshot, Shas)

Addressing the Shas party’s annual conference, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoav Ben Tzur welcomes the ceasefire-hostage deal and says that his ministry is standing ready to assist freed hostages.

“This is a big day for the State of Israel. The National Insurance Institute is prepared and ready for their return to the country,” Ben Tzur states.

“There is a whole basket of support that has been prepared for the hostages who will be returning, from an immediate grant of NIS 10,000 ($2,700) for immediate needs, to a per abductee grant of NIS 50,000 ($13,800) for medical treatment and the unconditional recognition of 50 percent disability status.”

“All of this won’t help them forget so fast what they went through but I hope that God will heal their bodies and souls,” he adds.

Father of fallen IDF soldier says military can rescue hostages without need for a deal

Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solomon prepares to give brief remarks at anti-hostage deal protest outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 16, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Bereaved father Wally Wollfstal, whose son Ariel was killed in Gaza last year, calls on the Israeli government to continue its war against Hamas at a Jerusalem protest.

“Israeli soldiers, our heroes, can free them [the hostages],” he shouts. “Let the IDF win! The IDF can do this work.”

The demonstrators gather outside the Knesset adjacent to a tent erected months before by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a vast coalition of hostage families who support a ceasefire deal to free their loved ones.

Some youths approach the fence between them and the Hostage Families Forum tent, tearing down pro-hostage deal banners.

Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solomon arrives at the protest in a show of support.

“With God’s help, we will make the right decisions for the sake of the State of Israel,” he says to a lingering crowd.

Of the 251 hostages seized by Hamas on October 7, 2023, eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 others were recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military.

One hundred and five hostages were released alive during a weeklong truce in November 2023, and four were released prior to that.

Religious Zionism reiterates opposition to hostage deal, demands resumption of fighting after first phase

Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot (L) arrives at a faction meeting in Jerusalem as the party considers resigning from government ahead of a cabinet vote on a ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas. January 16, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party reiterates its opposition to the ceasefire-hostage agreement, insisting that its continued membership in the government hinges upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s guarantee that the war will not end without the complete military defeat of Hamas.

“The faction stands behind the demands of the party chairman, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to ensure Israel’s return to the war to destroy Hamas and the return of all the hostages, including a change in the concept of decisive victory, immediately upon the conclusion of the first phase of the deal,” the party declares in a statement, adding that this is the “condition for the party to remain in the government and coalition.”

The statement follows what Hebrew media reports indicate was an inconclusive Religious Zionism party faction meeting convened to discuss whether or not to bolt the coalition.

According to some reports, Smotrich has demanded some sort of written assurance from Netanyahu. However, this could throw a wrench into negotiations for the second phase of the deal, under which Hamas would release the remaining living captives in exchange for more security prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to a draft agreement seen by the AP.

Speaking to Kan radio ahead of the meeting, Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot said that “in all likelihood, we will resign from the government.”

According to an unconfirmed report by the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, a delay in convening the cabinet to approve the agreement this morning was not the result of Hamas backing out of some agreements and creating a last-minute “crisis,” as claimed by the Prime Minister’s Office. Rather, it reports, Netanyahu is waiting for an explicit guarantee that Smotrich will not leave the government.

The governing coalition would still retain a slim majority of 61 seats if the seven Religious Zionism MKs were to resign.

16-year-old from southern Israel indicted on charges of planning ISIS-style attacks

Police and the Shin Bet indicted a 16-year-old from southern Israel on charges of “security offenses inspired by terrorist groups,” says a police spokesman.

Law enforcement arrested him in December last year on suspicion of planning to join the Islamic State terror group and manufacture explosives to use in terror attacks.

Police say the suspect planned to move abroad and join ISIS, but also considered staying in Israel to create a “military squad that would carry out attacks against Jews.”

The youth also “carried out activities for the purpose of preparing explosives,” the police say.

AG says she won’t open criminal investigation into acting Supreme Court chief justice

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer that she will not be opening a criminal investigation into Acting Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Amit after the head of police investigations stated that there was no suspicion of criminal wrongdoing in allegations made against Amit in recent days.

Krozier, a member of the Judicial Selection Committee for the coalition, had asked the attorney general if she intended to open such an investigation, noting that appointment procedures had been postponed in order to complete legal investigations in similar situations.

“The position of all the professional parties who examined the claims is that they do not reveal a basis for the continuation of a probe,” Baharav-Miara tells the MK.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin was ordered by the Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice to convene the Judicial Selection Committee and appoint a new Supreme Court president by today – which would likely be Amit if a vote is called – but Levin has told the court he intends to postpone that meeting until the allegations against Amit could be clarified.

The High Court ordered the attorney general to respond to that decision by this morning, before making a ruling regarding today’s deadline to appoint a new court president.

Mossad chief and Israeli team still in Doha, finalizing details of hostage deal

Mossad chief David Barnea and the Israeli negotiating team are still in Doha finalizing the details of the ceasefire-hostage release deal, The Times of Israel has learned.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched Barnea along with IDF hostage point man Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and his political adviser Ophir Falk, to Doha on Saturday night when efforts to reach a deal appeared to be coming to fruition.

While Qatar and the US, who brokered the deal, announced last night that it had been reached, Israel has insisted that small gaps remain, including a dispute over which Palestinian security prisoners will be freed. Netanyahu has yet to formally announce a deal or address the nation, saying he will only do so when it is finalized.

The cabinet was slated to meet this morning to discuss and vote on the deal, though the meeting has been delayed, with the Prime Minister’s Office saying the delay is due to unresolved details, while other reports attribute it to last-minute efforts to convince far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich not to pull out of the government over the vote.

‘Jewish blood is not cheap’: Demonstration against hostage deal reaches Knesset

Right-wing youths protest against a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 16, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

A hundreds-strong demonstration against the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas has reached the Knesset.

Families of slain soldiers are speaking outside the legislative building, insisting that the deal constitutes surrender.

“The goal of these Arabs — Hamas and everyone around — is to tarnish Israel’s honor,” says Yoram Eliyahu, a religious Zionist rabbi whose son Yedidya fell in Gaza.

Behind the families, demonstrators carry coffins representing the Israeli soldiers killed in the war with Hamas.

“Bibi wake up, Jewish blood is not cheap!” the protesters, mainly Orthodox teenagers, chant, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname.

Separately, Zvika Mor, the father of hostage Eitan Mor and one of the founders of the hawkish Tikva Forum, says he asked to speak at a Religious Zionism faction meeting earlier today but was turned away.

He urges Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich to resign from the coalition rather than allow the deal to go through.

“Dissolve the government, you must not let that deal be approved,” Mor says in a video statement. “This deal will leave my son behind in Gaza for many more years — I’m not prepared for that to happen.”

Senior Israeli official denies IDF will gradually withdraw from Philadelphi Corridor in first phase of ceasefire

Israeli soldiers patrol along the Philadelphi corridor in the Gaza Strip on September 13, 2024. (Sharon ARONOWICZ / AFP)

A senior diplomatic official denies that Israel has agreed to gradually pull out of the Philadelphi Corridor along the border between Gaza and Egypt from the start of the ceasefire.

The official says Israeli troops will remain in the area “throughout the entire first stage, all 42 days.” The number of troops deployed there will remain the same, the official says, “but will be distributed in a different manner, including outposts, patrols, observation points and control along the entire route.”

Only on day 16 of the first stage, the official says, will negotiations begin over the end of the war, and “if Hamas does not agree to Israeli demands to end the war, Israel will remain in the Philadelphi Corridor also on the 42nd day and also the 50th day.” In practical terms, the official adds, “Israel is staying in Philadelphi until further notice.”

A leaked version of the agreement, the authenticity of which was later confirmed to The Times of Israel, states that the Israeli side “will gradually reduce the forces in the corridor area during stage 1 based on the accompanying maps and the agreement between both sides.” On day 42, the deal says, “Israeli forces will begin their withdrawal and complete it no later than day 50.”

Right-wing protesters opposed to hostage deal march to PM’s office in Jerusalem

Elkana Weitzen, brother of slain soldier Amichai Weitzen, speaks against the hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas at rally on January 16, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Hundreds of demonstrators decrying the hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas are marching to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

At the head of the march are family members of slain soldiers, affiliated with the right-wing Gevurah (“Heroism”) Forum.

Protesters deride the deal as a surrender to Hamas that stands to harm the “honor of the Jewish people.”

“We all know that this deal will only weaken the Jewish people,” says Elkana, the brother of fallen soldier Amichai Weitzen.

Katz to meet with Knesset committee next week to continue talks on Haredi draft legislation

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

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is set to continue its discussion with Defense Minister Israel Katz regarding his principles for ultra-Orthodox enlistment next Wednesday, following a hearing on the issue earlier this week. His presentation will be preceded by a closed briefing by IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Tuesday.

During his first briefing, Katz pushed back against the military’s assertion that it will soon be able to conscript ultra-Orthodox men without restriction, telling lawmakers that the number of Haredim drafted into the military should be increased gradually year-over-year until it hits 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort in 2032.

He listed two nonnegotiable criteria that any legislation dealing with the issue would have to meet in order to win his support: that Haredim would engage in “real and significant service while safeguarding their lifestyle,” and the preservation of the “Torah world” — the network of full-time yeshivas that form the backbone of ultra-Orthodox society.

Katz’s briefing to the committee was interrupted by relatives of the hostages held in Gaza, who spent much of the meeting yelling at the minister, preventing him from answering lawmakers’ questions.

10 soldiers hurt in accidental blast at IDF training base in southern Israel yesterday

Last night, 10 IDF soldiers were wounded in an accidental blast at the Combat Engineering Corps’ training base in southern Israel.

Three of the soldiers are listed in moderate condition, while the other seven are lightly hurt, the military says.

According to an initial IDF probe, the explosion occurred during a presentation of explosive weapons to trainees.

The IDF Military Police is expected to launch an investigation into the incident.

German airline Lufthansa says Tel Aviv flights will resume from February 1

A Lufthansa Airbus A380 lands in Frankfurt, Germany, February 14, 2019. (AP/Michael Probst)

German airline group Lufthansa says it is gradually resuming its flight schedule to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport starting on February 1.

The resumption of services to Israel applies to all carriers within the group, which includes Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings. The group will operate daily flights to Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, and Vienna as well as three weekly flights to Brussels and two weekly flights to Dusseldorf.

Previously, the group’s airlines had suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including January 31, due to the war in Gaza with the Hamas terror group.

Police won’t request investigation of acting Supreme Court chief over conflict of interest allegations

Acting Supreme Court President Justice Isaac Amit at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, November 14, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The head of the police investigations department, Deputy Commissioner Boaz Blatt, says he will not seek to open an investigation into Acting Supreme Court Justice Isaac Amit for alleged misconduct regarding civil lawsuits involving property the judge owned.

“No suspicion of criminal violations arose, and there is no basis requiring a request to the attorney general to open a criminal investigation,” Hebrew media reported Blatt as saying regarding the issue.

Media reports earlier this week alleged that the civil lawsuits put Amit in a conflict of interest in other court proceedings he was involved in as a judge which also involved parties connected to the civil lawsuits. Amit said he had given his brother power of attorney over the property in question and was unaware of the proceedings, and therefore unaware he might have a conflict of interest.

Despite the police declining to investigate, Justice Minister Yariv Levin requests that the legal adviser to the Justice Ministry and the Judicial Selection Committee file a formal complaint to begin disciplinary proceedings against Amit, accusing him of violating ethical regulations and conflict of interest laws.

Following the reports about Amit’s civil lawsuits and possible conflict of interests, Levin told the High Court of Justice yesterday that he was postponing a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee on appointing a new Supreme Court president until the allegations against Amit could be clarified.

The High Court in December ordered Levin to hold a vote by today, following 15 months in which the justice minister refused to do so because he strongly opposes Amit, a liberal, becoming president, an appointment he is likely to receive if there is a vote in committee.

The court asked the attorney general for her response to Levin’s announcement by this morning, before making a decision.

Senior Hamas official denies group is backtracking on hostage deal agreements

Senior Hamas official Izzat el-Risheq denies accusations that the terror group has reneged on some details of the hostage-ceasefire deal, and says it is committed to the agreement announced by mediators yesterday.

The Prime Minister’s Office has issued two statements in the past few hours accusing Hamas of backtracking on several issues.

In a Western Negev gas station, customers are in agreement that a hostage deal is needed, but that it took too long

At a gas station close to Ofakim in the western Negev, customers are unanimous that the government must accept the hostage deal with Hamas, saying they only wish it had happened earlier.

“If the prime minister had taken responsibility and understood that we could have done this a long time ago, the lives of many soldiers [killed fighting Hamas] could have been saved, ” says Dora Azuelos from Moshav Gilat. “For us, every soldier is as important as a hostage.”

Shlomo Zechut, also from Moshav Gilat, expresses similar thoughts, adding, “I would have preferred if the hostages had been released much sooner. We should have given (Hamas) all the terrorists they wanted in May,” when negotiations on a virtually identical hostage deal proposal collapsed.

Hamas cannot be destroyed, he posits, because you can’t destroy an idea. He says that instead, Israel has to ensure the terror group remains as weak as possible and keep a close eye on everything it does.

While he declares that the war has been managed “terribly” by Israel, with the IDF clearing an area of terror operatives only for them to return and regroup later, he says he opposes any kind of Israeli occupation of the Strip.

Nimrod, 25, who prefers not to give his surname or location other than saying he is from the Western Negev, doesn’t like the fact that the deal will be implemented in stages rather than all at once.

“We have no choice,” he allows. “We have to bring them back. After that, we can deal with Hamas.”

He criticizes the government for lacking any plan for the day after the war, saying Israel should have replaced Hamas with the Palestinian Authority or even Egypt.

“It is good that we destroyed the Hamas leadership,” he says, “but we failed to capitalize on it.”

IDF says earlier projectile impact near Gaza border community was ‘false identification’

After further investigation, the IDF says the projectile impact in an open area near Nir Am this morning was a “false identification,” meaning that no rockets were launched from Gaza at Israel.

Sirens had sounded in the community.

IDF intelligence chief freezes planned appointment for Gaza Division intelligence officer who held role in run-up to Oct. 7

The chief of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, has frozen a planned appointment for the outgoing intelligence officer of the Gaza Division, who was in the role on and before the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.

The move comes after Army Radio reported this morning that the Gaza Division intelligence officer, Lt. Col. “Aleph,” was appointed to a role in the Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 9900, which specializes in VISINT, or visual intelligence.

The IDF in a statement says Binder decided to freeze the intelligence officer’s “temporary posting,” and the matter will be discussed after the military’s investigations into October 7 are completed.

Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, takes credit for the move, saying he ordered the IDF to cancel the appointment of the intelligence officer “who ignored the warnings of the surveillance soldiers on the eve of October 7.”

“The defense minister also reminds the IDF chief of staff of his directive to avoid any appointment of those who were involved in the events of October 7, and to finish the IDF’s investigations by the end of this month… so that the families and public can be updated, and in order to draw the necessary conclusions, including on the issue of appointments in the IDF,” Katz’s office adds.

PM’s office claims Hamas creating last-minute ‘crisis’ and backing out of some agreements, delaying cabinet vote

The Prime Minister’s Office claims Hamas has backed out of some agreements and is creating a last-minute “crisis” in finalizing the hostage release deal.

“Hamas is reneging on the understandings and creating a last-minute crisis that is preventing an agreement,” the PMO says in a statement, issuing it in both English and Hebrew.

“The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”

Overnight the PMO said the purported dispute was related to the identity of Palestinian security prisoners slated for release. It said Hamas was “demanding to dictate the identity of these murderers,” contradicting agreed-upon terms.

A leaked version of the deal said prisoners would be released “based on lists agreed upon by both sides.”

Last night, the prime minister of Qatar as well as both US President Joe Biden and US President-elect Donald Trump announced that a deal had been reached, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to insist that the final deal has not been inked and some outstanding details remain.

Cabinet meeting on hostage deal delayed for final details from Qatar, and as PM waits to hear if Smotrich will resign — report

A security cabinet meeting on approving the hostage-ceasefire deal has been delayed until later today, Hebrew media reports, as negotiators in Qatar are said to be working on ironing out the final details of the agreement.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the cabinet meeting, which was expected to take place at 11 a.m., has also been delayed by the Religious Zionism party’s ongoing deliberations about its future in the governing coalition.

The report adds that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not convene the cabinet until Religious Zionism chair Bezalel Smotrich gives him an answer as to whether or not his party will resign in protest.

Religious Zionism will meet on potential resignation ahead of cabinet vote on hostage deal

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a Religious Zionism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 9, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Religious Zionism party will meet this morning to decide on its future in the governing coalition, ahead of an expected cabinet vote on the hostage-ceasefire deal, Hebrew media reports.

The far-right party may resign from the government in opposition to the deal, which party leader Bezalel Smotrich decried last night as “bad and dangerous.”

Citing an unnamed source familiar with the details of the Religious Zionism party’s deliberations, Ynet reports that Smotrich is worried the deal will “stick to him” and damage his reputation among his voter base if he remains in the coalition.

Religious Zionism MK says party will likely resign from government over hostage deal

MK Zvi Sukkot at a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Religious Zionism party will likely resign from the government in protest of the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, MK Zvi Sukkot tells Kan radio.

“In all likelihood, we will resign from the government,” says the far-right MK, adding that the Religious Zionism party is “here to change the DNA of the State of Israel,” not just to fill seats in the coalition.

Yesterday, party leader Bezalel Smotrich decried what he said was a “bad and dangerous deal” for Israel, and said his party would only remain in government if Israel returns to fighting “at full scale” once the hostages are released.

The governing coalition would still retain a slim majority of 61 seats if the seven Religious Zionism MKs were to resign.

Iran’s IRGC: Ceasefire deal is ‘great victory’ for Palestinians, ‘defeat’ for Israel

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran hails the ceasefire-hostage deal as a “great victory” for the Palestinians and a “defeat” for Israel.

“The end of the war and the imposition of a ceasefire… is a clear victory and a great victory for Palestine and a bigger defeat for the monstrous Zionist regime,” the IRGC says in a statement shared by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

After sirens in Gaza border community of Nir Am, IDF says projectile hit open area

After sirens sounded in the Gaza border community of Nir Am, the IDF says one projectile struck an open area.

Further details are under investigation, the military adds.

Seven said killed in Gaza airstrikes, hours before cabinet votes on hostage deal

The Hamas-run civil defense agency in Gaza says that at least seven people were killed in fresh strikes overnight, hours before Israel’s cabinet is set to vote on a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group.

“Our crew retrieved 5 dead and more than 10 injured from under the rubble of a house… that was bombed by the Israeli army in the Al-Rimal area west of Gaza City,” the agency says in a statement.

It adds it had retrieved the bodies of two more people killed in a strike at “the Al-Sha’biya intersection in the center of Gaza City.”

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 46,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting that broke out following the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

Palestinians report overnight settler attacks in Huwara, in the West Bank

Israeli settlers broke into the Palestinian West Bank town of Huwara overnight and attacked its residents, according to Palestinian reports.

Video footage purportedly captured during the incident shows the settlers roaming the streets of the Nablus-area town, before fleeing down the road as residents fling stones at them.

According to reports, the settlers attempted to attack the town’s homes, and a Palestinian child was said to have been injured in the violence.

Breaking 🚨: groups of Settlers terrorists are attacking the village of Hawara right now and Palestinian men are defending their village with stones. pic.twitter.com/3HfSIwlnY1

— Khalil Sayegh خليل الصايغ (@KhalilJeries) January 15, 2025

The residents of Huwara have endured heavy violence at the hands of extremist Israeli settlers in the past. In early 2023, dozens of settlers rampaged through the town, setting fire to homes and cars and killing a Palestinian man in response to a deadly terror shooting in the area.

Parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin celebrate hostage deal but mourn that it came too late for their son

Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Gaza after being kidnapped on October 7, 2023, address a rally calling for the release of Israelis still held by Hamas, Tel Aviv, November 23, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted from the Nova music festival in the October 7 attacks and later murdered in captivity, welcome news of a hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, but mourn the time it took to reach this point.

In a statement, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin hail the deal as “an opportunity to bring home 98 cherished hostages who have been held in captivity for far too long.”

The agreement is “only the beginning of the end, not the end itself,” they caution. “It is imperative that this process is completed and all 98 hostages are returned to their families.”

“Our beloved son Hersh and so many other innocent civilians should have been saved long ago by a deal like this one,” the bereaved parents add, noting that the deal outline is virtually the same as an outline presented back in May 2024 which failed to make it through rounds of tense negotiations.

“We will struggle with that failure for the rest of our lives,” they say.

“But today we celebrate the impending reunifications of the 98 remaining hostages with their loved ones with whom we have been tirelessly advocating and so many of whom have become like family to us during this 467 day struggle.”

The Golberg-Polins also acknowledge the impact that the ceasefire will have on Palestinian civilians inside the war-torn Gaza Strip, saying that they too must be “relieved of the suffering they have endured” over the course of Israel’s war with Hamas and “begin the recovery process.”

Islamic Jihad calls ceasefire deal ‘an honorable agreement to stop the aggression’

Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists are seen on their way to cross the Israel-Gaza border fence from Khan Younis during the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023. (Said Khatib/ AFP/ File)

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second-largest terror group after Hamas, hails the ceasefire deal as “honorable.”

Hamas had needed Islamic Jihad’s support for the deal in order to avoid a potential disruption in the process.

“Today, our people and their resistance imposed an honorable agreement to stop the aggression,” Islamic Jihad says in a statement.

The Iran-backed terror group says the deal between Israel and Hamas includes the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as well as an “honorable” prisoner exchange. It says that terror groups in Gaza “will remain vigilant to ensure the full implementation of this agreement.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s fighters seized captives while taking part in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and have since been battling Israeli forces in Gaza.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

PM’s office: Hamas seeking to dictate which Palestinian prisoners will be freed but Israel has veto

As negotiators in Doha iron out the final details of the hostage-ceasefire deal, the Prime Minister’s Office releases a statement shortly before 3:30 a.m. declaring that Israel has a veto over the release of “mass murderers who are symbols of terror.”

The statement says Hamas “is demanding to dictate the identity of these murderers” and accuses the terror group of seeking “to go back on the understandings” in the agreement.

Hamas leader touts ceasefire as a defeat for Israel while hailing Oct. 7 atrocities

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya gives a televised speech about the hostage-ceasefire deal between the Palestinian terror group and Israel, in the Qatari capital of Doha on January 15, 2025. (YouTube screenshot used in accordance with article 27a of the Copyright Law)

Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya says in a televised address that Israel failed to achieve its goals in Gaza, as he declares the ceasefire-hostage deal that was announced as a “historic moment” and describes it as a defeat for the Jewish state.

“Our people have thwarted the declared and hidden goals of the occupation. Today we prove that the occupation will never defeat our people and their resistance,” al-Hayya is quoted as saying by Germany’s dpa news agency.

He vows the Gaza-ruling terror group will neither forgive or forget, while praising the Hamas-led massacres of Israelis in October 2023 that started the war in Gaza as a “military accomplishment” and “a source of pride for our people,” according to a New York Times translation of his remarks.

Al-Hayya additionally hails other Iran-backed organizations such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen for launching solidarity attacks on Israel.

He also indicates Hamas will continue to pursue Israel’s destruction, saying the Palestinian terrorist organization will continue to look toward Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque as a guide.

“Our enemy will never see a moment of weakness from us,” he adds.

US official says 2 American-Israeli hostages to be freed in first phase of deal

American-Israelis Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen will be among the 33 hostages released in the first phase of the hostage deal announced today, a senior Biden administration official tells reporters.

Siegel is part of the category of elderly hostages, while Dekel-Chen was shot on October 7 and is therefore considered among the wounded. The third American hostage believed to still be alive, Edan Alexander, is a soldier, and therefore won’t be released until the second 42-day phase, but the US is committed to securing his release, the senior official says during a briefing.

The bodies of four other Americans still held in Gaza will be released in the third phase, the official says.

While the senior US official says five female IDF soldiers captured on October 7 will be released on the first day of the deal, Israeli officials later tell reporters that is not the case.

Top Biden aide seems to downplay Blinken’s claim that Hamas recruited as many fighters as it lost

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)

A senior Biden administration official appears to downplay a claim made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Hamas has recruited roughly as many fighters as it has lost.

The senior US official was asked about Blinken’s comments during a briefing with reporters following the announcement of a Gaza hostage deal.

“I heard that, but Hamas is a significantly degraded military organization,” the official responds. “Israeli forces can go anywhere in Gaza they want. Hamas leaders are living almost entirely underground and trying to take refuge in civilian structures.”

“They really have no free-standing brigades or military organization anymore,” he says of Hamas.

“Have they recruited poor Gazans who are living in hell on earth? Yes, but that is a far cry from an organization that invaded Israel with military formations with thousands of organized fighters on October 7. Its ability to do that I really believe has been forever foreclosed,” the senior US official states.

Blinken made the comments Wednesday while arguing that Israel’s failure to stand up a viable alternative to Hamas has led the IDF to repeatedly return to places in Gaza ipreviously cleared of Hamas fighters who managed to return.

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

“That’s exactly what’s happened in northern Gaza since October 7. Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back Hamas, militants regroup and reemerge because there’s nothing else to fill the void,” he said. “That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”

US official says talks temporarily broke down over Hamas refusal to provide list of hostages

A senior Biden administration official briefing reporters following the announcement of a ceasefire-hostage deal says that talks broke down last month after Hamas refused to provide a list of the 33 hostages it was prepared to release in the first phase of the agreement.

Hamas asked for a one-week ceasefire in order to come up with the list, but Israel and the mediators held firm in rejecting the idea.

The terror group managed to submit a list at the end of December, which allowed talks to proceed, says the senior US official, who doesn’t go as far as to acknowledge the list does not specify which hostages are alive and which are dead.

Hamas officials claimed they lost contact with many of those holding hostages and insisted the terror group could not confirm the status of all hostages without a halt of Israeli fire.

Shortly after the list was produced by Hamas, though, Biden’s top advisers traveled to the region to jumpstart and finalize negotiations. On January 5, White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk arrived in Doha, where he has remained ever since, participating in 18 hours or more of negotiations each day, the US official says.

The talks included the drawing up of detailed maps showing Israel’s phased withdrawal from Gaza and going through lists of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners slated for potential release.

On Thursday, mediators will hold a meeting in Cairo to further discuss the deal’s implementation. Qatar’s prime minister said representatives from the three mediating countries will serve on an enforcement committee to ensure the deal is implemented properly.

After the deal was announced, US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a warm call in which they reflected on the horrors of October 7 and the plight of the hostages as well as the joy of being able to reunite them with their families, according to the senior US official, who says Netanyahu also noted that he and Biden had experienced a significant number of historical moments throughout their 44 years knowing each other.

US official says Biden prioritized Israel’s ‘defanging’ of Hezbollah to push Hamas toward deal

People take part in a march in the southern Lebanese city of Saida, on August 5, 2024, to protest against the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh (portrait bottom) and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukur (portrait top). (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

A senior Biden administration official says the US shifted its approach to the Gaza war in August, prioritizing the support of Israel “defanging” Hezbollah amid stalled negotiations for a hostage deal based on the belief that doing so would further isolate Hamas and lead the terror group to show more flexibility in the ceasefire talks.

The senior US official briefing reporters from Qatar tries to frame the Biden administration’s role as essential for bringing about the deal, but other US officials who have spoken with The Times of Israel in recent months have acknowledged that Washington did not immediately back Israel’s decision in September to massively escalate its military operations against Hezbollah. The US officials said that Israel did not give Washington a heads-up before conducting the mass detonation of communication devices that wounded thousands of Hezbollah operatives or before the IDF conducted an airstrike that killed the terror group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The US did, however, begin supporting Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah after-the-fact, shelving an initiative for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon in late September. Once Israel finished dealing massive blows to Hezbollah group two months later, the US brokered a permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist organization.

The senior Biden official briefing reporters harkened back to the first hostage deal in November 2023, which fell apart after a week when Hamas walked back on commitments to release a number of female hostages, leading the fighting to resume.

The US sought unsuccessfully to secure short-term hostage release and ceasefire deals in the months that followed before settling on the staged framework in the spring of 2024.

The ceasefire and hostage release deal inked Wednesday is based on an Israeli proposal submitted on May 27, which was unveiled by Biden in a White House speech four days later, the senior US official says.

Negotiations were held on and off, with Hamas agreeing to the proposal at the beginning of July, while making a series of amendments.

The senior US official claims that the Hamas response was one that no Israeli government could have accepted as it was effectively an “all for all” deal that required Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza, while leaving Hamas in power. This contradicts what Israeli and Arab officials familiar with the talks have said about the Hamas offer, arguing that it was not a drastic departure from Israel’s earlier proposal.

Moreover, Israel’s negotiating team of security chiefs urged the government to accept the Hamas response at the time. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proceeded to add conditions regarding Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip, which led talks to breakdown, Arab, Israeli and US officials said at the time.

The US sought to revive negotiations in August, but that months-long effort fell apart after Hamas executed six hostages — including American-Israel national Hersh Goldberg-Polin — as their captors feared that IDF troops were approaching the tunnel where they were held in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the senior US official says during the briefing.

“After that, we really shifted our focus, and the strategy became… the campaign in Lebanon to defang Hezbollah,” the senior US official says. “We supported the Israelis… because as long as Hezbollah was saying it would continue to [maintain] another front against Israel… Hamas was not really under enough pressure and isolation to do the deal and release the hostages.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk in Jerusalem, July 10, 2024. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

It was around this time that Israeli forces managed to killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.

The senior official told reporters that already in August when the hostages were executed, the US “basically concluded that as long as Yahya Sinwar was alive, we were not going to get a deal.”

This conclusion was also what led to the shift in focus to wrapping up the northern front.

Once Israel completed many of its operational goals against Hezbollah in October, Biden’s top aides returned to the region and met with Netanyahu, who agreed to work toward a US-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon, which could then be dovetailed with a ceasefire in Gaza, the senior official recalls. The Lebanon deal was reached on November 27.

Less then two weeks later, Biden’s top aides traveled to the region to revive the negotiations and largely remained in the area until the deal was reached Wednesday.

Last week, White House Mideast envoy Brett McGurk was joined by US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Doha. Their partnership was “crucial” to securing the hostage deal, says the US official briefing reporters.

Arab officials familiar with the talks told The Times of Israel it was Witkoff’s Saturday meeting with Netanyahu that led to a breakthrough in talks, with the Trump envoy leaning harder and more effectively on Netanyahu in one sitting than the Biden administration had all year.

Over the last few days, negotiations were taking place at a building in Doha, with the Israeli and American teams on the second floor, the Hamas team on the first floor and the Egyptian and Qatari teams shuttling between them, the senior US official adds.

Hamas tried to add new demands at the last minute, but “we held very firm, and we now have an agreement,” the official says.

IDF says rocket sirens in Gaza border kibbutz activated due to ‘false identification’

The military says rocket warning sirens in Kibbutz Nir Am near the Gaza border were activated due to a “false identification.”

Trump’s pick for secretary of state says sanctions on violent settlers to be lifted

US Senator Marco Rubio testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be secretary of state, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on January 15, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, reveals the incoming administration will end the sanctions regime that the Biden administration rolled out last year against violent Israeli settlers.

The sanctions were unveiled amid mounting US frustration over Israel’s failure to crackdown on rampant settler violence targeting Palestinians throughout the West Bank. Seventeen individuals and 16 entities were designated in eight batches of sanctions imposed since February 2024. A handful of other Western countries have joined the US in implementing such sanctions, which have been the subject of criticism among the Israeli far-right.

Rubio is asked at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee whether the incoming administration will reverse the policy.

“Yes,” Rubio responds before adding, “Without speaking out of turn, I’m confident in saying that President Trump’s administration will continue to be perhaps the most pro-Israel administration in American history.”

Rubio doesn’t provide a timeline for the sanction reversal, which an Israeli official speaking to The Times of Israel last month speculated could be used as leverage by the Trump administration in its ties with Jerusalem.

Rubio is also asked whether the Trump administration will cease the policy of granting waivers that allow Palestinian Authority officials to hold political meetings in Washington. Rubio responds in the affirmative.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas also asks whether Rubio will commit “to ending discriminatory policies, including Biden administration secret boycott policies against Jews in Judea and Samaria [West Bank].” Cruz doesn’t elaborate as to what he’s referring to. US President Joe Biden’s former ambassador Tom Nides visited a West Bank settlement during his tenure. The administration did maintain a de facto boycott of far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, but did so in order to avoid legitimizing their extremist views and not because they are settlers.

Regardless, Rubio also responds to Cruz’s question in the affirmative.

PM’s office again says he won’t issue official statement on deal until ‘final details completed’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says again that the final details of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas are still being hammered out in Doha.

An official statement from Netanyahu on the deal will only be released “after the final details of the agreement are completed, which are being worked on at this time,” the PMO says.