ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 496
The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
Hamas-affiliated media claims that Israeli forces have started withdrawing from areas in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, and are instead regrouping along the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.
There is no comment from the IDF.
The reports come ahead of the slated release of three female Israeli hostages later on Sunday as the ceasefire-hostage release deal begins, although Hamas has yet to provide Israel with their names.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken twice claims Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prosecution of the Gaza war is backed by the vast majority of the Israeli public.
In a pair of recent interviews, Blinken is asked leading questions aimed at coaxing him to admit that Netanyahu has not been an honest interlocutor.
Both times, Blinken seeks to avoid answering the question directly but argues that Netanyahu is representative of the vast majority of Israeli society, which is still traumatized by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
“What’s been misunderstood around the world is ascribing to one individual or maybe a small group of individuals the policies that Israel is pursuing that many people don’t like,” Blinken tells CNN.
“I think this is a reflection of 70, 80, 90 percent of Israelis following the trauma of October 7th, and ascribing this to any one individual, I think, is a mistake and actually leads you to maybe draw the wrong conclusions,” Blinken maintains.
“This is where the country is, and the policies that the government’s pursuing are really a reflection of the country, even – even many people who don’t like the prime minister,” he continues.
“What we’ve seen in Israel since October 7th is a reflection not of an individual prime minister, not of individual members of his cabinet, but genuinely a reflection of 70, 75 percent, 80 percent of Israeli society,” Blinken says in a subsequent interview with The New Yorker. “The societal trauma is reflected in its policies and support for those policies.”
It was not expressly clear which policies Blinken was referring to, but repeated polls have demonstrated that nowhere near a majority of Israelis have been satisfied with the government’s prosecution of the war.
Only 22 percent of Israelis expressed trust in the government, according to a Channel 13 poll from last month.
A Channel 12 poll from November found that 64% percent of the public doesn’t trust how Netanyahu’s government is running the country, compared to 30% who do.
Asked how they’d grade Netanyahu’s handling of the war in July, 68% of respondents to a Channel 12 survey gave the premier a bad grade, compared to 28% who gave him a good grade. Asked why the war hadn’t ended yet, 54% said it was because of Netanyahu’s political considerations and 34% said it was due to substantive and operational considerations.
An earlier version of this post referring to Blinken’s claims as “false” has been updated.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggests that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would say one thing in private conversations with the Biden administration and then often subsequently contradicted himself in front of other audiences in order to ensure the survival of his hard-right coalition.
Blinken is asked during an interview with the New Yorker whether Netanyahu has been truthful in his correspondence with the US.
“In the moment of those conversations, yes,” Blinken responds laughing.
“I’m laughing because given the incredibly complicated coalition politics that exist in Israel, he proceeds in many ways on the basis of what gets [him] to tomorrow and keeps [his] coalition together,” Blinken says.
“He might say one thing to me, and then depending on the audience he’s before next, maybe that takes a little bit of a different turn,” he acknowledges.
Blinken admits that over the course of the administration’s efforts to secure a ceasefire, “there are many moments of frustration… But you have to keep your eye on the prize.”
The High Court of Justice expresses “discomfort” at the government’s request to extend the amount of time that opponents of the hostage-ceasefire deal have to petition against the agreement.
“Every effort must be made to present the response before the specified date,” Justice Daphne Barak-Erez writes in a ruling on behalf of the court.
As part of preparations ahead of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the IDF has declared the Nitzana Crossing area on the Egypt-Israel border a closed military zone.
The order, signed by IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, is valid until January 26.
Additionally, closed military zones in the Yad Mordechai and Kerem Shalom areas will remain in place until January 24 at least, the IDF adds.
Israeli civilians who are not residents of those areas or do not have permission from the army, will not be permitted to enter the closed military zones.
Sharon Sharabi, whose brother Eli Sharabi is slated to be freed from Hamas captivity during the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal, addresses the few thousand demonstrators at the Jerusalem hostage families protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence.
“You are not alone, we are with you!” chants the crowd as Sharabi takes the stage on the eve of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
On October 7, 2023, Sharabi’s brothers Yossi and Eli were taken captive by Hamas. While Eli remains alive in the Gaza Strip, his older brother Yossi was declared dead in captivity last January.
Sharabi defends the deal from its detractors, insisting that “when it comes to saving human life, there is no compromise.”
“The State of Israel is paying heavy prices in order to return the hostages home, yes, we can’t beautify it,” he says. “But the price of the hostages remaining in Hamas captivity is the highest price that the State of Israel could pay in all its history.”
Shlomo Alfasa Goren, whose sister-in-law Maya Goren was murdered by Hamas on October 7, urges protesters not to ease pressure on the government until all hostages are released from Hamas captivity.
“We will continue to anxiously wait, and we won’t waver on every single hostage who is currently left behind. The government of Israel insists on total victory, refused to stop the fighting, and this is the deal that finally succeeded,” he says.
Citing a request from local authorities, the military says schools won’t open until 10 a.m. tomorrow in parts of southern Israel near the Gaza Strip, describing the move as part of its preparations for the hostage-ceasefire deal that will begin 1.5 hours earlier.
Defense officials assess Hamas may fire barrages of rockets at Israel shortly before the ceasefire takes force at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, according to Hebrew media reports.
Police have arrested more than 20 protesters at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest in central London after they violated police orders meant to contain the demonstration.
Police had ordered organizers to keep the protest confined to the area of Whitehall, away from nearby Portland Place and Russell Square, where the Central Synagogue is located.
However, protesters carrying signs with antisemitic messages violated the orders and proceeded toward Trafalgar Square, where 20-30 were arrested.
This is a dark day for London. Not only did we see the usual antisemitic bile and open support for Jew-hating terrorist organisations to which our nation’s capital has become accustomed, but extremists repeatedly breached the modest restrictions imposed by the police on today’s… pic.twitter.com/Jq2BMF7klw
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) January 18, 2025
For more than a year, PSC has conducted weekly marches from near the BBC’s Broadcasting House to Whitehall, bringing antisemitic rhetoric and threats to the door of London’s Central Synagogue. These marches are timed to threaten Jewish families leaving the synagogue after Shabbat services, the non-profit organization Campaign Against Antisemitism says.
During the past week, the Metropolitan Police ordered PSC to keep its weekly march confined to the Whitehall area alone to avoid confrontation. However, protest organizers threatened to flout the order, saying on X, “If they refuse to do so and prevent us from marching, we will rally on Whitehall in protest.”
“This is a dark day for London,” Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAM) says on X following the protest. “Not only did we see the usual antisemitic bile and open support for Jew-hating terrorist organizations to which our nation’s capital has become accustomed, but extremists repeatedly breached the modest restrictions imposed by the police on today’s protest.”
“What happened today was not a case of a few bad apples. It is time that the organizers of the protest, several of whom appeared to be involved in trying to break the police lines and defy the conditions, finally be arrested and their organizations’ future demonstrations must be contained as static rallies,” CAM says.
US President-elect Donald Trump says the ceasefire and hostage release deal “better hold,” as he’s asked by NBC News’ “Meet the Press” if he’s confident the Israeli captives held by Hamas will soon be freed.
“Well, we’re going to see very soon, and it better hold,” Trump says during the phone interview.
Trump says he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Just keep doing what you have to do. You have to have — this has to end. We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done.”
He adds that he and the Israeli premier will be meeting “fairly shortly,” without elaborating.
Thousands of people flock to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv for the weekly rally urging the release of the captives, some 12 hours before the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal is set to take effect.
Freed hostage Amit Soussana, who was released during a weeklong truce in November 2023, says that she “didn’t think for a moment that the deal didn’t include everyone and that the fighting could resume.”
She says she watched all the releases on a television in Gaza during that truce agreement.
“I didn’t know when I would get out, and still I was so happy for every hostage who was released,” she says.
“When I was released, I left behind people I love,” she says. “We can’t do that to them again. They won’t survive it.”
“Today we are finally beginning to see the light, but true victory, and a recovery for all of us, can start only once the last of the hostages comes back home,” she adds.
The deal will see 33 hostages released in the first “humanitarian” phase of the agreement. The remaining 65 hostages are to be released over the deal’s next phases.
“The agreement has to include everyone,” says Soussana. “We must formulate the second and third phases now and make sure nobody is left behind.”
Soussana, who has spoken publicly about the sexual assault she endured in captivity, tells the audience that the three women expected to be released on Sunday “must not return to a divided society.”
“The return will be hard, but I know life trumps everything,” she says.
Ofri Bibas Levi, sister of hostage Yarden Bibas, marks the second birthday of Yarden’s son Kfir, the youngest hostage in Gaza.
“I try to draw comfort from the thought that this year, Kfir’s birthday is the date when the agreement will finally be ratified,” she says. “This day will become a symbol of hope, a new beginning, for the rehabilitation and the recovery of an entire nation.”
She notes that the family has for the past year been searching for the purple toy elephant that Kfir can be seen clutching in a now iconic photo of him.
“To us the elephant symbolizes Kfir, the life that was, normalcy, the childhood that was stolen,” she says.
“This week — with painful timing — the elephant has finally been found.”
US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat there would be “ALL HELL TO PAY” if the hostages were not freed by his inauguration on January 20 was aimed not only at Hamas but also Israel, a source familiar with conversations that his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and mediators in Doha tells the Wall Street Journal.
According to the person cited in the report, Witkoff told Netanyahu after traveling to Jerusalem last Shabbat that decisions needed to be made and he needed to authorize Israeli negotiators to make them, but if the premier did not want to do so then all those involved in the talks should pack up and head home.
“The president has been a great friend of Israel,” the person quotes Witkoff as telling Netanyahu, “and now it’s time to be a friend back.”
Witkoff reportedly delivered a similar message to Arab mediators, saying now was the time to seal an agreement and end the diplomatic to and fro.
Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv says a man seriously wounded in a terror stabbing earlier today in the coastal city is in stable condition and conscious, with no threat to his life.
Some 2,000 anti-government, pro-hostage deal protesters rally outside the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, a day before the Gaza ceasefire-hostage release agreement is set to go into effect.
Many of the protesters arrived at the rally as part of a massive human column that marched up Kaplan Street for the weekly “democracy march,” chanting, “The government is criminal.”
The protest is held amid a sea of Israeli flags, dotted with some American, Pride, and sheer yellow flags, the latter representing solidarity with the hostages.
Outside IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, protesters chant: “We are all hostages of the government of blood.”
Ahead of speeches, an activist standing on an overhead pedestrian bridge reads the names of the remaining 98 hostages. After each name, protesters yell,”Now!”
By contrast, when Yifat Calderon, cousin of hostage Ofer Calderon, reads out the names of ministers who voted against the deal Friday night, the crowd erupts in boos at each name.
Talia Danzig, granddaughter of slain hostage Alex Danzig, says her grandfather will only be able to rest in peace when all the hostages return.
“All 98 of them will come home and get the biggest hug a human has ever received,” she says.
“I fought to bring you back, and you didn’t return in time,” she says of her grandfather, whose autopsy indicated he was shot by his captors after Israel bombed the area where he was held.
“You came back in a black bag,” says the granddaughter. “The funeral was attended by hostage families who used to be just plain families.”
She says that when she hears opponents of the hostage deal urge “only military pressure and war,” she thinks to herself, “military pressure and war will kill the hostages.”
Referring to the government’s failure to reach a hostage deal until this week, Danzig says: “We won’t let them keep on thwarting [it], we won’t let them keep on selling us lies.”
The weekly Begin Road protest takes place at the same time as the weekly Hostages and Missing Families Forum rally at Hostages Square, a block away.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in a video statement says the military’s intensive fighting against Hamas enables the release of the hostages in the upcoming ceasefire agreement.
“For more than a year and three months, the IDF has been fighting Hamas and has important achievements – we have defeated Hamas’s military wing and eliminated the organization’s chain of command and its leader, Yahya Sinwar,” Halevi says following a visit to northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun.
“The work doesn’t end here. We still have a lot more to do. We will do this with great strength and determination. The IDF’s powerful fighting has created the conditions necessary to achieve the critical objective before us today: returning the hostages to their homeland and their families,” he says, adding that the fighting “comes at a heavy cost.”
“At this time, alongside the excitement and anticipation, we in the IDF are committed to all the hostages and their families – soldiers and civilians alike. We will not stop or rest until they all return,” Halevi says.
He says the IDF and Shin Bet’s activities in Gaza “have been decisive in creating the conditions for the agreement that was reached.”
“In the coming days, the IDF will prepare for a reinforced defensive posture along the Gaza Strip border, a plan that was pre-planned and incorporates defensive as well as offensive components,” Halevi says.
“In the promise between the IDF and Israeli society, which we failed to uphold on October 7, we are determined to stand firm and ensure that such a difficult, cruel, and horrific event will never happen again,” he continues.
Halevi says the IDF’s operations in Gaza have “already created a new situation on the ground.”
“Hamas has been severely weakened, and we will not allow it to recover, or allow it to be in control. The level of security today is significantly better than it was on October 7 and also prior,” he says.
“Despite the initial failure, the IDF in this war planned, implemented, and achieved many accomplishments. The Middle East is undergoing changes, our map of threats has completely changed, new opportunities have opened, and we are preparing for new challenges. Throughout this journey, we have been determined to achieve the objectives of the war – and we will continue to,” Halevi says.
“My thoughts today are with the families of the hostages whose return dates have not yet been set and with the families awaiting the return of their loved ones soon. The IDF stands with you,” he adds.
In his pre-recorded address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not rest until every last hostage in Gaza is returned home.
“To date, we have brought home 157 of our hostages, 117 of whom were returned home alive,” he says. “In the deal that has now been ratified, we will bring home another 33 of our brothers and sisters, most of them alive.”
Netanyahu says the government approved the outline for the “return of our hostages — this is a war goal that we will not let up on until it is completed.”
The prime minister says the agreement with Hamas was able to be reached due to “the heroism of our fighters in battle” as well as Israel maintaining a “firm stand” in talks “in the face of heavy pressure.”
He credits both the outgoing Biden administration and incoming Trump administration with playing a role, saying that the US president-elect began working to free the hostages “as soon as he was elected.”
Netanyahu also thanks Trump for his decision “to lift all remaining restrictions on the supply of essential weapons and ammunition to the State of Israel.”
Hundreds of protesters are marching in Jerusalem in a show of support for the hostage-ceasefire deal set to take effect tomorrow.
“We won’t stop until they all return,” chant the demonstrators as they set out from Zion Square in Jerusalem’s city center.
The deal’s first phase will see 33 hostages — women, children, the elderly, and sick — freed over 42 days.
Protesters carry banners with the faces and names of hostages slated to be released in the second phase of the deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he stood firm on three issues throughout US and Qatar-brokered negotiations for a ceasefire.
First, he says, Israel maintains the “right to return to fighting if needed” with US support.
For months, he says, “Hamas demanded that we commit in advance to ending the war as a condition for Hamas to even enter the framework on freeing hostages. It made all manner of additional dictates.” He says he rejected them all, and prevailed.
Secondly, he says, he demanded a significant increase in the number of live hostages returning in the first stage of the deal. “Our insistence on this bore fruit: [In negotiations since May] we almost doubled the number of living hostages who are to be released in the first phase.”
And thirdly, he says he insisted on maintaining a presence in the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egypt border. Netanyahu says Israel will not decrease the number of troops in the Philadelphi Corridor but will increase them during the first stage. This appears to contradict the terms of the deal, which say that Israel “will gradually reduce the forces in the corridor area during stage 1” and complete its withdrawal from the corridor by the 50th day.
“Our forces will be deployed inside the strip and will secure it from all sides. This will prevent weaponry being smuggled in and hostages being smuggled out, he says.
He also says that convicted Palestinian murderers freed from Israeli prisons will not be released to the West Bank, but will go either to Gaza or to elsewhere overseas. Prisoners serving serious time for terror convictions who weren’t found guilty of murder will be released to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
He says the deal was enabled because of Israel’s successes in the multifront war, in which the entire Iranian axis has been hurt, and Hamas has been isolated. “We have changed the face of the Middle East,” he claims. “Hamas is today agreeing to what it did not agree to in the past.”
“The campaign is not yet over. A long challenging journey is ahead,” he concludes.
Israeli hostages’ families should ask the Israeli military to stop intensified strikes in the final hours before a ceasefire takes effect as this “would be reason for killing their children,” a Palestinian terrorist spokesperson says.
The spokesperson, Abu Hamza, is with the al-Quds Brigades armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, which also holds Israeli hostages in addition to the enclave’s dominant terrorist movement Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls the first stage of the hostage release deal a “temporary ceasefire,” and says that this is what President-elect Donald Trump has called it too, in his first public comments on the agreement, slated to go into effect tomorrow.
Netanyahu says both Trump and US President Joe Biden stressed that Israel can return to fighting in Gaza if the next stages of the deal are not realized.
Israel will not rest until “all of its war goals are completed,” he says, which includes the return of every single hostage being held in Gaza.
The prime minister says the US has promised Israel will have the weaponry it needs to return to fighting if necessary, and will do so “in new ways and with very great power.”
Netanyahu makes the remarks in a 10-minute video message.
Notably, when first describing the hostage-ceasefire deal, he says that “the cabinet and the government” approved what he calls “the framework for the return of our hostages.”
“In the agreement approved just now, we will get back another 33 of our brothers and sisters — most of them alive,” he says.
He makes no mention at this stage of the further potential phases of the deal, under which the remaining 65 hostages are to be released and a permanent ceasefire instituted in Gaza.
He twice says that he and his wife Sara are praying and working for the return of all the hostages, and says Sara is pouring her heart and soul into the mission, at home and abroad. (She has been in Florida for the last several weeks.)
He says the deal is a result of Israel resisting pressures from outside and in, and of cooperation with the outgoing Biden Administration and the incoming Trump administration.
“President Trump joined the mission to free the hostages from the moment he was elected,” Netanyahu says. “He spoke to me on Wednesday evening and welcomed the agreement.”
“[Trump] rightly stressed that the first stage of the accord is a temporary ceasefire,” the prime minister says. “That’s what he said, ‘A temporary ceasefire’.”
Ahead of the future phases of the accord, says Netanyahu, “we retain significant assets in order to get back all of our hostages and to achieve all the goals of the war.”
“Both President Trump and President Biden gave full backing to Israel’s right to return to fighting if Israel concludes that the negotiations on the second phase are going nowhere,” he specifies. “I greatly appreciate this.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies a claim by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir that he was promised credit for firing the IDF chief if he agreed to stay in the government.
“Ben Gvir wasn’t offered anything,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement. “It’s a total lie.”
Ben Gvir announced that he would tender his resignation from the government tomorrow in protest of the hostage release-ceasefire deal, although he has said he will not seek to bring down the coalition.
Speaking to Channel 12 news tonight, Ben Gvir claims that Netanyahu promised him that he would oust IDF chief Lt. Gen Herzi Halevi and would say that it was due to pressure from the Otzma Yehudit chief if Ben Gvir agreed to remain in the coalition.
Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when trying to persuade him not to resign, offered to fire IDF Chief Herzi Halevi and give Ben Gvir the credit for the move.
Speaking to Channel 12, he contrasts his imminent resignation with the fact that others, such as fellow far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich, who threatened to quit if Israel were to leave the Philadelphi Corridor, are not doing so. “I’m a man of principle,” he says, and, therefore, he is quitting over this “terrible” deal.
Ben Gvir says the deal is creating the ground for the next kidnappings of hostages.
He says there should be a rule that terrorists who carry out murders not be released in a hostage deal.
He says Netanyahu, trying to prevent his resignation, offered the same promises he made to Smotrich of increased settlement building and “offered me that they’ll say, regarding the chief of staff [Herzi Halevi], that’s he is being fired because of me.”
An organization that represents victims of Palestinian terror attacks vows to petition the Supreme Court to stop the release of Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement starting Sunday, calling it a “victory for the murderers.”
“They are releasing terrorists who have blood on their hands for the second time, and this means [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, under pressure from [President-elect Donald] Trump, is endangering people who will be murdered in the future,” says Meir Indor, the head of the Almagor Terror Victim Association.
Indor adds that Israel has not learned its lesson from the past three prisoner exchanges, which all led to released prisoners carrying out new attacks.
Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war, was released together with more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoner in a 2011 deal in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was taken from his tank in Gaza and held captive for five years.
Indor says that it’s an additional insult that the negotiations did not leave the typical 48-hour window for victims of attacks to appeal the release of specific prisoners who attacked them.
The IDF says it has completed its preparations for receiving the hostages who are set to be released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip in the upcoming ceasefire deal.
The military established three complexes near the Gaza border, at the Re’im base, the Kerem Shalom Crossing, and the Erez Crossing, where the hostages will meet with IDF representatives, including doctors, psychologists, and mental health officers and receive initial treatment.
From there, they will be escorted by the IDF to hospitals in Israel where they will meet their families.
The IDF estimates that it will take some two hours from the moment the Red Cross hands over the hostages to troops from a special forces unit in Gaza till the moment they head from the army facilities to a hospital.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to issue a statement to the public in approximately an hour, his office says.
Netanyahu has not publicly addressed the ceasefire-hostage release deal since it was reached in Doha last week. He has not made any public addresses since before surgery to remove his prostate last month.
The Israel military says it is on heightened alert for various scenarios that could occur as the ceasefire with Hamas takes effect tomorrow morning.
Overnight, the IDF Southern Command will work to redeploy troops inside the Gaza Strip, withdrawing from urban areas and positioning them on lines that were agreed upon between Israel and Hamas. A large amount of forces will be moving around during the night and the morning hours.
Also in the hours before the ceasefire takes effect at 8:30 a.m., the IDF says it will continue to carry out strikes and destroy infrastructure used by Hamas in Gaza.
The Southern Command is also bolstering troops and air defenses along the border with Gaza, and preparing to respond to incidents if required. The military assesses that there could be rocket fire from Gaza ahead of the ceasefire or even during it.
Still, there are no changes to the Home Front Command guidelines for civilians.
Lastly, the Southern Command is readying for the release of the hostages, who will be handed over to troops inside the Strip by the Red Cross and then brought to one of three army facilities near the border for an initial checkup. From there, the IDF will escort them to hospitals to meet their families.
If the ceasefire deal falls apart, or if the second stage is not implemented at the end of the 42 days, the IDF says it is ready to “immediately” return to fighting, according to what is decided by Israel.
In a statement condemning the “terrible” ceasefire deal with Hamas, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declares that he will “not sit in a government that, God forbid, will stop the war and not continue until complete victory over Hamas.”
While he says that he is happy that some of the hostages will return home, Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, warns that “a difficult task awaits us immediately afterward, to return and fight until victory.”
Despite having voted against the hostage agreement, Smotrich and his far-right Religious Zionism party are remaining in the government after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly agreed to a number of his demands.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to prevent this dangerous deal, but we insisted and were able to ensure, through a government decision, in the cabinet, and other ways, that the war would not end in any way, without achieving its full goals, foremost among them the complete destruction of Hamas in Gaza,” he declares, even though the multiphase hostage-ceasefire agreement approved by the government overnight ends with a permanent ceasefire.
“We demanded and received a commitment to completely change the method of war,” including “through a gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip, the lifting of the restrictions imposed on us by the Biden administration, and full control of the Strip, so that humanitarian aid will not reach Hamas as it has been until now,” Smotrich says, declaring “there is no other way to achieve the goals of the war.”
Hours before a ceasefire deal is slated to go into effect, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has still not received a list of the names of the hostages Hamas is slated to release, which could hold up the agreement.
“We will not move forward with the outline until we receive a list of the hostages to be freed, as agreed,” Netanyahu says in a statement released by his office. “Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement. The sole responsibility lies with Hamas.”
The agreement states that Hamas is required to provide the names of the hostages at least 24 hours ahead of their release — which was supposed to be 4 p.m. local time.
Members of the Otzma Yehudit party will submit their letters of resignation from the government on Sunday morning to protest its acceptance of the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right party had threatened to pull out of the coalition should Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet accept the deal, which is set to go into effect on Sunday morning.
“In light of the approval of the reckless agreement with the terrorist organization Hamas…” the Otzma Yehudit party will submit letters of resignation from the government and the coalition tomorrow morning, and ministers Ben Gvir, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu, as well as committee chairs MKs Zvika Fogel and Limor Son Har-Melech and MK Yitzhak Kroizer, will leave their positions,” the far-right party says in a statement.
Relatives of hostages held in Gaza deliver their weekly statement to the press outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, with the brother of captive Itzik Elgarat urging US President-elect Donald Trump to demand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly declare the multiphase hostage-ceasefire deal be fully implemented.
“We are asking you to stand on guard. Ensure the deal is implemented in full and doesn’t come apart. Demand Netanyahu declare that the war is over,” says Danny Elgarat.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was abducted by Hamas during the terror group’s October 2023 onslaught, accuses “The extremists in the government” of working to prevent the agreement’s full implementation and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of making promises to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, “that contradict the commitment to end the war and endanger the agreement.”
She also calls on Netanyahu to publicly announce that the war is over and the terms of the deal will be fully carried out.
The IDF has published a warning to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip not to approach areas where the military will be deployed at the start of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, set to begin at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow.
“According to the agreement, IDF troops will remain deployed in specific areas in the Gaza Strip. Do not approach IDF troops in the area until further notice. Approaching the forces exposes you to danger,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, says on X.
“Movement from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip or toward the Netzarim Corridor remains dangerous in light of IDF activity in the area. Once such movement is permitted, a statement and instructions will be issued regarding safe methods of movement. Residents are warned against approaching IDF troops in general and in the Netzarim Corridor area in particular,” Adraee says.
Under the agreement, on the seventh day of the ceasefire, Gazans will be allowed to return on foot to northern Gaza while unarmed, but without any inspection, via the coastal road.
On day 22, displaced unarmed Palestinians will be allowed to return to north Gaza on foot via the Salah a-Din road, also without inspection.
Also on day seven of the ceasefire, vehicles will be allowed to return to northern Gaza, but they will be required to undergo an inspection by a private company to be determined by the mediators and Israel.
Adraee also warns Palestinians against approaching the Rafah Crossing on the Egypt border and the Philadelphi Corridor area, where troops will remain deployed during the entire first stage of the ceasefire.
“In the maritime area, along the entire Strip, there is a great risk of fishing, swimming and diving and we warn against entering the sea in the coming days,” he says.
“It is forbidden to approach Israeli territory and the buffer zone. Approaching the buffer zone is extremely dangerous,” Adraee adds, referring to a zone along the entire border with Israel where troops will be deployed.
#عاجل ‼️ بيان عاجل إلى سكان قطاع غزة بخصوص دخول اتفاق وقف إطلاق النار حيز التنفيذ صباح غدًّا في تمام الساعة 08:30.
⭕️أود توضيح الأمور التالية لتفادي الاحتكاكات وسوء الفهم. نحن في جيش الدفاع ننوي التاكد من تطبيق كافة تفاصيل الاتفاق.
⭕️بناء على الاتفاق تبقى قوات جيش الدفاع… pic.twitter.com/iF9jDzbA4g
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) January 18, 2025
An Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that Hamas has yet to submit the names of the three hostages it is slated to release tomorrow.
The agreement stipulates that Hamas is to provide the names of the hostages by 24 hours ahead of time — in this case, 4 p.m. local time.
The Israeli official urges the Qatari and Egyptian mediators in contact with Hamas to ensure the deal’s terms are upheld.
The official urges the public to be prepared for such problems, saying they do not mean the deal is falling apart.
However, the official stresses that the mediators should not allow these problems to become the norm just as the deal starts.
Surveillance camera video shows the stabbing attack in Tel Aviv this afternoon, with the Palestinian terrorist seen attacking a group of people standing on the sidewalk outside an eatery in the coastal city.
The attacker can be seen in the footage fleeing the scene, after which he was shot dead by an armed civilian.
חוצה את הכביש ומתנפל על מבלים במסעדה: תיעוד הפיגוע בתל אביב@AnnaPines_ | @ItayBlumental pic.twitter.com/qDAX7wVThS
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 18, 2025
The IDF is bolstering its troops in the West Bank with seven additional companies, according to a military source, ahead of the hostage deal with Hamas during which Israel will release Palestinian prisoners, many of them to the West Bank.
The military says IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment this evening focusing on the army’s preparations in the West Bank and southern Israel.
Halevi instructed to bolster troops in the West Bank, with an emphasis on “counter-terrorism efforts through offensive operations and enhanced defensive measures in communities and on main routes, particularly concerning the release of prisoners.”
Halevi also “approved the Southern Command’s defensive plans in accordance with the agreements determined by the political echelon.”
Ze’ev Revach, one of Israel’s most prominent actors and comedians, has died at 84.
Revach won several Ophir Awards during his decades-long career, for which he was honored in 2018 by being named one of the torchlighters at Israel’s 70th Independence Day celebrations.
ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is a “hopeful development” but also warns that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a “long record” of violating ceasefire agreements.
“Everyone should do their part to prevent a return to the past in Gaza, and constant pressure should be put on Israel,” Erdogan says at a ruling party congress.
Erdogan also addresses Turkey’s relationship with the new Syrian administration and praises its “inclusive“ approach.
“We will provide all kinds of support so that Syria can become whole, strong, and prosperous again,” Erdogan says.
Police confirm an armed civilian shot and killed the Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv who seriously wounded a man in a stabbing attack on the coastal city’s Levontin Street.
The terrorist who carried out the stabbing attack in central Tel Aviv is identified as Salah Yahye, 19, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem.
He was illegally in Israel, according to defense sources. Medics say he was shot dead at the scene.
The victim of the attack, a man in his 30s, was taken to Ichilov Hospital in serious condition.
Police say the stabbing was a terror attack.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service clarifies the man wounded in the suspected terror attack in Tel Aviv was stabbed and not shot.
The suspected attack was initially described as “a shooting incident,” as the assailant was shot and “neutralized.”
Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv lists the victim’s condition as serious, after medics initially reported he was moderately hurt.
CAIRO — Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty says 50 fuel trucks are set to enter the Gaza Strip when the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas starts on Sunday.
Abdelatty, whose country mediated the deal with Qatar and the United States, says it provides for “the entry of 600 trucks per day to the Strip, including 50 trucks of fuel.”
The truce between Israel and Hamas is set to take effect at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, bringing with it a surge of aid, according to mediators.
Hundreds of trucks have lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing — previously a vital entry point for aid that has been closed since May when Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side.
At a joint news conference on Saturday with his Nigerian counterpart, Abdelatty says “We hope that 300 trucks will go to the north of the Gaza Strip,” where thousands are trapped in what aid agencies say are apocalyptic conditions.
Police say they’re probing a “shooting incident” in Tel Aviv that left several people wounded.
A statement from the force says police are looking into “the circumstances of the incident” and that a large number of officers are on the scene.
A spokesman for the Magen David Adom ambulance service says medics are treating a man with moderate wounds and that “the terrorist was eliminated.”
Police have not yet declared the incident a terror attack.
WASHINGTON — The United States announces it will donate more than $117 million in security assistance for Lebanon’s armed forces, as the crisis-hit country seeks to implement a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The State Department says in a statement that it had convened a “virtual donors meeting” on Thursday “with partners and allies to discuss critical security assistance needed for Lebanon to fully implement the cessation of hostilities.”
It says the new assistance to Beirut will support both the country’s armed forces and internal security forces “as they work to assert Lebanese sovereignty across the country.”
The IDF says one ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defenses.
Sirens had sounded in the southernmost city of Eilat and nearby towns.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.
It marks the second Houthi attack today after a missile fired earlier at central Israel was shot down.
The BBC, citing a senior Palestinian official, reports that as part of security arrangements between Israel and Hamas in the upcoming ceasefire, Israel will allow Hamas policemen to wear their blue uniforms in certain Gaza areas.
The Hamas policemen will oversee the movement of displaced people within Gaza but will avoid areas where IDF troops are located in the Strip. They will carry weapons when they must, and Egyptian and Qatari officials will help mediate in the event of any conflicts between the sides.
Sirens sound in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat due to a ballistic missile launched from Yemen.
The IDF is looking into the details.
Earlier, the Houthis in Yemen launched a ballistic missile toward central Israel that was intercepted.
The Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for this morning’s ballistic launch at Israel, claiming to have targeted the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.
“The missile reached its target with high accuracy, thanks to Allah, and the interception systems failed to intercept it,” the Houthis say.
The IDF said the missile was successfully downed by Israeli air defenses. Fragments landed in towns near Jerusalem, without causing any damage.
There were no reports of direct impacts. The Defense Ministry is located at the IDF headquarters in central Tel Aviv.
Israel is expected later this afternoon to receive the names of the first three hostages to be released, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The report says Hamas will give the names to Qatar, who will then inform Mossad Chief David Barnea.
Barnea is then expected to inform the families.
The Kan report says it is believed that the first three hostages to be freed will be civilian women and not any of the five female soldiers on the list of 33 hostages to be freed in the 42-day first phase of the Israel-Hamas deal.
The three are slated to be released at 16:00 tomorrow.
Lebanon’s new president Joseph Aoun stresses to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres the urgency of an Israeli military withdrawal as stipulated by a ceasefire deal that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in November.
According to a statement by the Lebanese presidency on X, Aoun tells Guterres during a meeting in Beirut that continued Israeli breaches were a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and the agreed ceasefire deal.
The ceasefire, which took effect on Nov. 27 and was brokered by the United States and France, requires Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days, and for Hezbollah to remove all its fighters and weapons from the south.
Guterres says the UN would exert utmost efforts to secure an Israeli withdrawal within the set deadline under the ceasefire terms, according to the statement.
He had said on Friday the Israeli military’s continued occupation of territory in south Lebanon and the conduct of military operations in Lebanese territory were violations of a UN resolution upon which the ceasefire is based.
Israel denies violating the ceasefire agreement and says continued strikes have hit Hezbollah fighters ignoring the accord under which they must halt attacks and withdraw beyond the Litani River, about 30 km (18 miles) from the border with Israel.
Israel says it only acts when the Lebanese army or the UN observers refuse to intervene.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad warns that continued Israeli strikes in Gaza could kill hostages ahead of their release.
Israeli hostages’ families should ask the Israeli military to stop intensified strikes in the final hours before a ceasefire takes effect as this “would be reason for killing their children,” PIJ military wing spokesman Abu Hamza says.
Islamic Jihad also holds hostages along with Hamas.
The ceasefire goes into effect at 8 a.m. tomorrow.
Antonio Guterres says the international community will back Lebanon “for what we believe will be a speedy recovery of this country, making it again the center of the Middle East.”
The UN Secretary-General makes his comments following a meeting in Beirut with Lebanon’s newly elected president Joseph Aoun. A new prime minister was also named to form a government following Aoun’s election last week.
Lebanon had been without a president for 26 months, part of internal divisions in the small nation.
Guterres says that naming a president and prime minister makes it possible to consolidate the Lebanese institutions and to deploy the Lebanese army across the country, including areas from where Israeli troops will withdraw.
“As soon as the conflict ends, reconstruction begins,” Guterres says.
The US-brokered ceasefire is an attempt to end the Israel-Hezbollah war that has killed more than 4,000 people and wounded over 16,000 in Lebanon and started when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on southern Israel.
Part of the deal is that Hezbollah will pull out from the border area with Israel and only Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers can have armed presence along the Israeli border.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum urges the government to start work negotiating the next phases of the hostage-ceasefire deal ahead of the 16-day target agreed under the current deal.
“We, the families of the 98 hostages, welcome the agreement intended to bring all hostages home. This represents a significant and crucial advancement that brings us closer to the moment when we will see all hostages return home—the living to rehabilitate among their families, and the deceased for proper burial,” the forum says in a statement.
“We urgently call for swift arrangements to ensure all phases of the deal are implemented, and emphasize that negotiations for the next phases must begin before day 16,” they say.
They also note that today is the second birthday of the youngest hostage Kfir Bibas.
“Today also marks Kfir Bibas’ second birthday—both of his birthdays have been spent in Hamas captivity. This unconscionable tragedy must end now,” the statement says urging the public to attend rallies later this evening “to demand the guarantee of returning the last hostage!”
Police say that they have received reports of debris and shrapnel from the intercepted missile fired from Yemen that fell in the Jerusalem area.
Police say some fragments fell in an open area near Moshav Bar Giora, while other pieces fell near a gas station next to Mevo Beitar.
Hebrew media also report that a large part of the missile fell in a field near Beitar Ilit.
שברי יירוט שנפלו ליד ביתר עילית. צילום: לפי סעיף 27א' pic.twitter.com/yJiOv3W16M
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) January 18, 2025
There are no immediate reports of injury or damage.
Police urge the public not to touch the fragments and say that sappers are working at the scene to remove them. Police are also carrying out searches for further debris.
Earlier in the week, a large chunk of a Houthi missile fell on a house in Mevo Beitar.
Two judges are killed in a shooting attack outside the Supreme Court building in Tehran, state media reports.
“Three judges of the Supreme Court were targeted. Two of them were martyred and one was injured,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reports, adding that the “assailant killed himself.”
The judiciary identified the judges who were killed as ayatollahs Mohammad Moghiseh and Ali Razini. Opposition websites have in the past said Moghiseh was involved in trials of people they described as political prisoners.
🚨🇮🇷JUDGES KILLED OUTSIDE IRAN’S SUPREME COURT
2 senior judges of Iran’s Supreme Court were assassinated this morning in an attack outside the Palace of Justice in Tehran.
The judges, Hojjatoleslam Walmuslemin Razini and Hojjatoleslam Walmuslemin Moghiseh, were known for their… pic.twitter.com/Q7mjiJje6l
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 18, 2025
The IDF in a statement says it is readying for the ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, which was approved by the government overnight and is set to begin tomorrow.
“The agreement will take effect on Sunday, January 19th, at 08:30, and as part of it, IDF troops will implement the operational procedures in the field in accordance with the set agreements,” the military says.
“The IDF has been preparing to receive the hostages after their release from Hamas captivity and is operating to provide suitable physical and psychological support, with careful attention to every detail,” the statement continues.
“Alongside the agreement and our commitment to bringing home all the hostages, the IDF will continue to operate in order to ensure the security of all Israeli citizens, particularly those in communities near the Gaza Strip,” it adds.
In the first stage of the ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, Israel is expected to be releasing a total of 1,904 Palestinian prisoners.
They include 737 detainees and security prisoners, including numerous terrorists serving life sentences for murder, among them members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah movement, along with women and children being held in Israeli jails.
Israel will also be releasing 1,167 Palestinians detained in the Gaza Strip during the IDF’s ground offensive, who did not participate in the October 7, 2023, onslaught.
On Sunday, the first three female hostages from the list of 33 humanitarian cases — a category made up of women, children, elderly individuals, and the infirm — are set to be released.
The other 30 hostages on the list will be released each Saturday until the end of the 42-day deal.
The hostages will be released in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners detailed in the terms of the deal.
For each of the living women, children and elderly, 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released; for all nine sick hostages, 110 prisoners will be released; for each of the female IDF soldiers, 50 prisoners will be released; for hostages Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza for a decade, 30 prisoners will be released for each, in addition to 47 Palestinians released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal and re-arrested; and for the bodies of hostages in the first stage, Israel will release the 1,000+ Gazan detainees.
The IDF says one ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defenses.
Sirens had sounded across central Israel and Jerusalem over fears of falling fragments following the interception.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed the interception of a ballistic missile launched by Ansarullah from Yemen.
Footage of the interception in central Israel has been released, showcasing the missile defense system in action. pic.twitter.com/DQw2ObxpDD
— Geo View (@theGeoView) January 18, 2025
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem congratulates Palestinians on Saturday for the Gaza ceasefire deal, saying it proved the “persistence of resistance” against Israel in his first comments since Israel and Hamas reached the accord on Wednesday.
“This deal, which was unchanged from what was proposed in May 2024, proves the persistence of resistance groups, which took what they wanted while Israel was not able to take what it sought,” the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group says in a speech.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November.
Sirens are sounding across central Israel and Jerusalem following a ballistic missile launched from Yemen.
The IDF is looking into the details.
🔴 Rocket Alert [10:18:03] – 18 Alerts 🔴:
• Shfela (Lowlands) — Zeitan, Yagel, Ahisemech, Ben Shemen, Ramla, Ramla, Regional Council Gezer, Regional Council Hevel Modi'in Industrial Park, Ginaton, Nesher Industrial Zone (Ramla), Achiezer, Be'er Yacov, Kfar Chabad, Lod, Ben… pic.twitter.com/HzpplosvyP
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) January 18, 2025
The Gaza ceasefire will come into effect on Sunday at 8:30 am (0630 GMT,) the Qatari foreign ministry spokesman says on X.
“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari says.
“We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources.”
The exact time of the ceasefire’s start had been unclear, though Israel, whose cabinet earlier approved the hostage and prisoner exchange deal, had said no prisoners would be freed before 1400 GMT.
A man in his 30s and his toddler daughter die after a fire breaks out at their home in the northern town of Beit She’an, rescue workers and medics say.
Medics attempted to resuscitate the two, who were suffering severe smoke inhalation, but were later forced to declare them dead.
Five other people are lightly hurt in the apartment blaze, also from breathing smoke, and are treated at the scene, the Magen David Adom rescue service says.
Notorious Fatah terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, who was part of a prison break from a high-security detention facility in northern Israel in 2021 before he and the other escapees were again apprehended, is included on the Justice Ministry’s list of Palestinian security prisoners that Israel is slated to release in the first stage of the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The list in Hebrew published online states that Zubeidi will not be sent abroad, allowing him to return home to the northern West Bank city of Jenin, where he was the commander of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
The IDF last year killed his son Mohammed alongside several other gunmen in a drone strike, describing the younger Zubeidi as “prominent terrorist from the Jenin area,” which has been a hotbed of terror activity over the past year.
Following the government vote to approve the hostage deal, the Justice Ministry publishes another list of Palestinian security prisoners slated to be released during the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The new list over 700 prisoners includes numerous terrorists serving life sentences for murder, among them members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah movement.
A statement from the Justice Ministry says the first batch of prisoners slated to freed won’t be released until 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Likud ministers David Amsalem and Amichai Chikli were among the eight cabinet members to vote against the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas, along with ministers from the far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, also of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, was not present.
The Otzma Yehudit ministers who opposed the deal are Itamar Ben Gvir — the party’s leader, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu. The head of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich, was joined by his party’s ministers Orit Strock and Ofir Sofer in voting against.
Otzma Yehudit has threatened to quit the coalition over the deal, while Religious Zionism will apparently remain in the government despite opposing the agreement after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly reached understandings with Smotrich to keep his faction in the fold.
The full Israeli government votes in favor of approving the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas, after the security cabinet gave its blessing to the deal on Friday.
The Prime Minister’s Office issues a statement confirming the government approved the deal, which Hebrew media outlets report 24 ministers voted in favor of and eight opposed.
The statement adds that the deal will enter into force on Sunday, when the first three Israeli hostages are to be freed. Thirty-three hostages are to be freed in the first, 42-day phase of the deal.
Now that the government has approved the agreement, opponents of the deal can petition the High Court of Justice against the release of Palestinian security prisoners who are set to be freed, though the court is unlikely to intervene.
The Palestinian Authority has reached an agreement with the Jenin Battalion that will end over a month-long standoff in the northern West Bank city and adjacent refugee camp, a Palestinian official confirms to The Times of Israel.
The PA has been conducting a counterterrorism operation in Jenin since last month, targeting the so-called Jenin Battalion, which is made up of operatives affiliated with terror groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Ramallah has blamed Iran for funding and arming the Jenin Battalion and other armed factions throughout the West Bank. Fifteen Palestinians were reportedly killed throughout the operation, including six members of the PA security forces, eight civilians, and one terror suspect. A handful of Jenin Battalion members have also been arrested by PA forces.
The armed groups have gained significant prominence in the northern West Bank over the past several years, with the PA seen to have largely lost control over the area.
The PA launched its counterterrorism operation ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, as it seeks to demonstrate its ability to maintain stability in the West Bank.
Early on in the operation, the Jenin Battalion managed to steal a pair of vehicles belonging to the PA security forces, who subsequently intensified the raid of the refugee camp.
دخول الأجهزة الأمنية الفلسطينية إلى مخيم جنين والسيطرة عليه والقضاء على جـ ـرذان كتيبة جنين ومرتزقة إيران 🇵🇸🔥
أهل غزة في انتظاركم أيضًا يا فرسان فلسطين، لنبني الوطن معًا ونقضي على آخر أوكار الإخوان ومرتزقة إيران في غزة..🔥 pic.twitter.com/VDah7Vc7Hc
— مصطفـ𓂆ـى عصفــور (@ustafa_ad) January 17, 2025
While the operation has continued, the sides have held negotiations aimed at reaching a truce under which the armed groups would hand over their weapons in exchange for immunity.
A deal was on the verge of being reached early this week, but talks blew up following a pair of Israeli airstrikes in the camp on Tuesday and Wednesday that killed 12 people including civilians, two Palestinian officials told The Times of Israel on Thursday.
The IDF had held off on conducting any strikes or raids in Jenin when the PA began its raid but ended that policy this week.
One of the Palestinian officials speculated that the decision was pushed by far-right elements in the Israeli military and government who don’t want the PA to succeed in its effort.
The official said the strikes may have also been designed to scuttle the brewing truce — something that Ramallah believes would significantly calm tensions in the northern West Bank.
The talks resumed later Thursday, and the sides managed to reach an agreement Friday evening, the official says.
The deal requires specific members of the Jenin Battalion to hand over their weapons and allows the PA to operate freely in the refugee camp, the Palestinian official says.
PA vehicles have already been filmed entering the refugee camp this evening with bomb-squad units to detonate explosives that the Jenin Battalion placed throughout the area to harm Israeli and PA forces.
A majority of the Israeli public supports continuing the hostage deal into the second phase, a poll aired on the Kan public broadcaster says.
Fifty-five percent of the public wants the deal to continue, even though that means ending the war, the poll reveals. Twenty-seven percent of the public believes the war should resume after the first phase while 18% say they don’t know.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously pledged to continue the war until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been dismantled. He has reportedly indicated to far-right ministers in his cabinet that he still plans to do so after the first phase.
The Likud party even issued a statement yesterday claiming that US President-elect Donald Trump has given Netanyahu assurances that Israel will be able to resume fighting after the first phase.
During the first phase, Israel and Hamas are supposed to hold negotiations regarding the terms of the second phase during which the remaining living hostages will be released. The mediators will serve as guarantors to ensure that the parties remain at the table until an agreement on the second phase is reached, allowing the ceasefire to extend. The second phase would conclude with a permanent ceasefire.
The Kan poll also shows that 62% of the public supports the deal thus far, compared to 18% who are opposed and 20% who said they are undecided.
Even among coalition voters, 45% of respondents support the deal, compared to 30% who oppose it.
However, 46% of coalition voters believe that Israel should resume fighting in the second phase, in apparent violation of the deal’s terms and at the expense of the hostages slated to be released then. Thirty-five percent of coalition voters back continuing the deal into the second phase and 19% of them said they don’t know.
Forty percent of the public thinks there’s a medium chance that the deal will extend into the second phase while 23% think there’s a low chance that it will and 21% think there’s a high chance. Sixteen percent said they were unsure.
Asked which party was responsible for the fact that it took nearly 470 days to reach the agreement, 36% said it was Hamas, 25% said it was Israel, 22% said both sides equally while 17% said they didn’t know.
