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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Monday, December 16, 2024

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Israelis attend a rally calling for the release of those held hostage by the Hamas terror group in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, December 7, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Dispute over how many hostages to be freed in a partial deal

Katz said to tell MKs hostage-truce deal ‘closer than ever,’ echoing Hamas optimism

By Gianluca Pacchiani and ToI Staff

Terror group leader quoted as saying agreement close, ‘if Netanyahu doesn’t obstruct it’; Egyptian security sources say talks aim to free more hostages, secure longer truce

National Security Itamar Ben Gvir attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Ben Gvir to ex-hostage: Even if captives being raped, deal will cause 10,000 future rapes

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks about Israel's operations in Syria, following a call with US President-elect Donald Trump, December 15, 2024. (Screenshot/GPO)

PM discusses hostages with Trump as Israeli officials say deal could be clinched in days

By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to the courtroom at the District court in Tel Aviv, before the start of testimony, December 16, 2024. (Yossi Zeliger/POOL)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 16: Likud sources say PM unlikely to fire Ben Gvir for voting against state budget

Budget passes 1st Knesset reading as Otzma Yehudit party opposes bills over refusal to fire AG * Netanyahu trial hearing Tuesday called off over cryptic ‘special circumstances’

9:58 pm

Likud sources say Netanyahu unlikely to fire Ben Gvir for voting against state budget
8:35 pm

Budget bill narrowly passes 1st reading, after Ben Gvir and party vote against
8:09 pm

Israeli delegation in Doha for hostage talks

ToI in Lebanon

As northern Israel comes back to life, Hezbollah strongholds over the border lie in ruins

91st Division commander says Israel must keep acting forcefully against threats from Iran-backed terror group, though war zone is quiet weeks into ceasefire

An IDF soldier in the 91st Division holds a Lebanese flag in Meiss El Jabal, Lebanon, December 15, 2024. (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)

Troops of the IDF's 91st Division operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued on December 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec. 16: Day 437 – How is the ceasefire holding? ToI reports from Lebanon

By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Lazar Berman

Female officers at the Border Defense Corps (Photo by IDF)

Promoted CampaignLevLeChayalot

Help the young women defending Israel

LevLeChayalot is dedicated to supporting the courageous young female IDF soldiers defending Israel by providing emotional support, financial aid, uplifting events, and much more.

An explosion from alleged Israeli airstrikes on weapons depots in the Syrian coastal area of Tartus, early December 16, 2024. (Screenshot: X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Heavy Israeli airstrikes reported on Syrian military sites in coastal Tartus region

Latest raids said to hit sites including air defense units and surface-to-surface missile depots; war monitor calls them ‘heaviest strikes in Syria’s coastal region since 2012’

Minister Israel Katz at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on November 10, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Katz: Despite assurances by rebel leaders, Syria threat requires boost to defense budget

UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen, left, meeting with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on December 15, 2024. (SYRIAN INTERIM GOVERNMENT / AFP)

Nations step up outreach to Syria’s post-Assad rulers

By AFP and ToI Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, right, and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, left, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 10, 2023. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Lapid: Levin is endangering Israel, with Netanyahu's backing

Netanyahu allies look to marshal support for ousting AG and reviving judicial overhaul

By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff

Coalition largely backs controversial agenda, but postpones final decisions due to ultra-Orthodox parties’ demand to first push forward bill exempting Haredim from IDF enlistment

Op-ed

Israel’s justice minister is creating a dictatorship in the judicial system

In this article, a group of senior experts, including a former chief justice of the Supreme Court and two former IDF chiefs of staff, respond to claims made by Justice Minister Yariv Levin

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/Flash90)

Rachelle Unreich

In Melbourne, the Adass Synagogue is a wreck, but we are not

Like so many others, my mother survived the Holocaust with nothing, but the Judaism she left me as an inheritance filled with small miracles

What my grandfather Rabbi Harry Davidowitz never told me

A street newly named for him recognizes one of the many stories I never knew, his role in writing Israel’s Declaration of Independence

Analysis

Gianluca Pacchiani

With a show of force in Jenin, the PA tries to prove it can rule Gaza. But can it?

Ramallah is bent on regaining control of the northern West Bank and thereby improving its credentials to govern in postwar Gaza. But its legitimacy among Palestinians remains low

Palestinian security forces patrol in the center of the city of Jenin in the West Bank, December 16, 2024. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Lapid raps move: Way to handle criticism is to stay, not run

Israel to close its embassy in Dublin due to Ireland’s ‘extreme anti-Israel policy’

By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff

Irish PM calls move ‘deeply regrettable’; FM Sa’ar announces new embassy in Moldova, says Israel ‘giving weight’ to countries that are ‘interested in strengthening ties’

Protesters at an Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstration in Dublin on November 17, 2012 (Peter Muhly/AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (left) Netanyahu at the Knesset, November 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); An exterior view of the International Criminal Court, or ICC, in The Hague, Netherlands, on April 30, 2024. (AP/Peter Dejong); Then-defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during a press conference at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, on November 5, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Appealing ICC arrest warrants, Israel says court violated its own charter and rulings

By Jeremy Sharon

Israeli soldiers and police clash with far-right protesters who broke into the Beit Lid army base over the detention for questioning of military reservists suspected of abusing Palestinian terrorist detainees, in Kfar Yona, July 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv/AFP)

Report: Police ID 20 rioters who broke into IDF bases, but isn’t investigating them

Senior cops said to oppose prosecuting right-wing activists and MKs who stormed bases in July in response to detention of soldiers suspected of abusing Palestinian inmate

View of the Druze town of Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, northern Israel, February 11, 2021. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)

Cabinet approves $11 million plan to double population of Golan Heights

By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff

Money to go toward education, renewable energy, establishment of a student village, and a plan for absorbing new residents in Israel’s northern region

People watching the Quneitra Border Crossing and the surroundings on the Israeli border with Syria, in the Golan Heights, on December 8, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Germany, Turkey criticize Israel’s plan to step up its Golan Heights population

By AFP and ToI Staff

Students drag a toppled statue of late president Hafez al-Assad on the street during a rally near the campus of the Damascus University in the Syrian capital on December 15, 2024. (Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

Damascus students celebrate after Assad’s ouster; Christians remain wary

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Illustrative - an undated photo of a US warship as it crosses the Gulf of Aden. (Kristopher Wilson/US Navy/Wikimedia Commons/File)

IDF says it downed drone from Yemen, as Houthis attack ships in Gulf of Aden

UAV intercepted over Mediterranean before reaching Israel; US official says Houthis shot missile, drones at 3 commercial ships being escorted by US Navy; none hurt in attacks

IDF says Al Jazeera cameraman killed in Gaza strike was member of Islamic Jihad

By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies

Military says Ahmed Al-Louh, previously a PIJ platoon commander, was situated in compound used to plan attacks; TV network accuses Israel of ‘systematic killing of journalists’

Israeli soldiers seen during a military operation at the al-Fara refugee camp near Tubas in the West Bank, August 28, 2024. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Settler leaders call for moving Palestinian population in West Bank ‘to combat terror’

By Jeremy Sharon

Letter from senior settler leaders to security cabinet calls for destruction of ‘every incriminated building’ in West Bank ‘terror centers,’ and restriction on freedom of movement

The off-grid technology hub at the Alfoura School in southern Israel. (Courtesy)

Pioneering Bedouin school models sustainable, solar-powered living

First-of-its-kind project, which engages pupils in tech research, stars at confab on solar energy for Bedouin, where planners also announce green light for three new solar fields

Tel Aviv University researchers decode the mechanism of a rare neurological disease. From left to right, PhD student Eyal Paz, Prof. Abdussalem Azem and Prof. Uri Ashery. (Courtesy, Tel Aviv University)

Israeli researchers decode mechanism of rare neurological disease

By Diana Bletter

Tel Aviv University scientists say faulty TIMM50 protein causes dysfunction in mitochondria; breakthrough could pave way for treatments for range of other conditions

Cafe Otef-Re’im is the flagship in a growing chain that honors and benefits communities ravaged by the October 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities. (Deborah Danan/ JTA)

'The cafe gives me a place where I can feel comfortable'

Cafe chain launched by and for Oct. 7 survivors is expanding to more cities

By Deborah Danan

Named for the Gaza border region, Cafe Otef employs people affected by the massacre and sources products like cheeses, honey, jams and specialty cakes from devastated kibbutzim

More Headlines

Traffic jam on the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, October 18, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Grenade scare causes major traffic jam on Ayalon Highway

Illustrative image of Zebrafish (kazakovmaksim; iStock by Getty Images)

Fish embryos decide when they want to be born, Israeli researchers find

By Diana Bletter

Illustrative: The offices of Israeli company Cellebrite, a provider of mobile forensic software, in Petah Tikva, March 24, 2016. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Serbia used Israeli phone-hacking tool to enable spy campaign – Amnesty report

By Reuters and ToI Staff

An artist's rendition of the new Begin Rooftop project. (Kolker Kolker Epstein Architects)

Jerusalem officials divided over ambitious ‘Rooftop’ plan atop Begin Highway

Illustrative image of robot assistant technology, industry 4.0, artificial intelligence (Jiraroj Praditcharoenkul; iStock by Getty Images)

Israel seeks 200 global AI experts to address shortage in local tech startups

By Sharon Wrobel

Undated photo of then-Ponevezh Yeshiva (Ponevitch) head Rabbi Asher Deutsch. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90)

Rabbi Asher Deutsch, leader of hardline Jerusalem Faction, dies at 79

A screenshot from a video released by the Russian Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office, shows the Volgoneft-212 oil tanker wrecked by a storm in the Kerch Strait, Russia, December 15, 2024. (Russian Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office)

Russian tanker splits in storm and partly sinks, spilling oil into Kerch Strait

US Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill, July 22, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)

Mystery drone sightings over New Jersey show gaps in US security, says Trump adviser

By Phil Stewart, Kanishka Singh and Sarah N. Lynch

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