Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said today that the Palestinian Authority is ready to assume "full responsibility" in post-war Gaza.
He made the remarks in his first statement since the announcement of a ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war.
"The Palestinian government, under the directives of President Abbas, has completed all preparations to assume full responsibility in Gaza, including the displacement of the displaced, the provision of basic services, the management of crossings and the reconstruction of the war-torn territory," the presidential statement said, reported AFP.
The Palestinian Authority, dominated by Abbas's Fatah party, controls parts of the other Palestinian territory of the West Bank, which is occupied by Israel. Gaza has been ruled by Hamas since 2007 after it defeated forces loyal to rival Fatah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, refusing to propose any alternative under pressure from his far-right partners who want to establish Jewish settlements in Gaza, Israeli media remind.
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Israeli authorities have announced the names of 95 Palestinian prisoners they plan to release on Sunday, as part of the first prisoner exchange under a new ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Israel's Justice Ministry said the prisoners would not be released before 16 p.m. local time on Sunday (15 p.m. Central European Time).
Israeli media reports that women are the majority among the 95 Palestinians who will be released on Sunday, and that most of them were arrested after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli cabinet's security committee approved the ceasefire agreement today, but the full cabinet, which is still considering it, needs to do so, according to Agence France-Presse.
The agreement, which is set to take effect on Sunday, calls for the release of 33 Gaza hostages in the first phase, in exchange for several hundred Palestinians held by Israel.
As part of the first phase of the agreement, which will last six weeks, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages, including children, women, including female soldiers, and men over the age of 50.
In exchange for the hostages, Israel will release 50 Palestinian prisoners for each Israeli soldier and 30 for the other women.
Three women detained in Gaza will be released on Sunday, and Israel has requested that their names be released 24 hours in advance. It is expected that the women will be civilians.
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The Health Ministry of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip announced that 88 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territory in the previous 24 hours.
The Hamas government said that 15 Palestinians have been killed and at least 46.876 wounded in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war with Israel 110.642 months ago, AFP reported.
The Hamas Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters killed, says that women and children account for more than half of the dead.
The Israeli military claims it is only attacking extremists and blames Hamas for the deaths of civilians because its fighters operate in residential areas.
Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip following an attack by Palestinian extremists, led by Hamas, on southern Israeli territory on October 7 last year.
That day, extremists killed about 1.200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250. About 100 hostages have not yet been returned from the Gaza Strip, and Israeli authorities believe that at least a third of them are dead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced today that the security cabinet has approved the agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages from the Gaza Strip, agreed last night in Qatar. The agreement, which is due to come into force on January 19, must also be approved by the full Israeli government.
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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir appealed to other cabinet members at the last minute to vote against the agreement with Hamas on a ceasefire and the release of hostages that had already been approved by the cabinet's core security committee.
Ben Gwir said he was even more horrified by new details of the agreement on Palestinian prisoners who would be released in exchange for Israeli hostages taken in an attack by Palestinian extremists led by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
"Everyone knows that these terrorists will try to hurt again, try to kill again," the minister said in a video message.
He announced last night that his far-right party, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), would leave the ruling coalition if the agreement with Hamas was approved.
"I appeal to my friends in the Likud party and Religious Zionism that it is not too late, we still have a government meeting, we can stop the agreement, join me, we can stop it," Ben Gvir said.
A meeting of the Israeli government has been announced for this afternoon for final discussions to ratify the document that the mediators released on Wednesday.
The agreement is set to come into effect at 12.15:11.15 p.m. (33:16.00 a.m. Central European Time) on Sunday, and the first of a total of XNUMX hostages planned to be freed in the first phase is expected to be released at XNUMX p.m.
According to a leaked copy of the agreement, more than 1.700 Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails in exchange for 33 hostages in the first phase.
Israeli media report that among them are 700 terrorists, 250 to 300 of whom have been sentenced to life imprisonment, and 1.000 Gazans arrested since the start of the war.
At a security cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the current and elected US presidents had promised him that if negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire fail, after the first, which lasted 42 days, and if Hamas does not accept the security demands of intensive fighting, they will continue with American support.
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Russia hopes the ceasefire in Gaza will lead to long-term stabilization of the region, President Vladimir Putin said today at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Massoud Pezeshkian, Reuters reports.
Pezeshkiyan said he hopes the ceasefire will be implemented.
Putin said it was important not to weaken efforts towards a comprehensive resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, which would lead to the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
A complex ceasefire agreement between Israel and the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US and 15 months of bloodshed that has devastated the coastal territory and set the Middle East ablaze.
Israel's security cabinet recommended accepting a ceasefire deal on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed a deal had been reached to end the 15-month war with Hamas in Gaza and free dozens of hostages held by the militants there, the AP reported.
Mediators in the negotiations, representatives of Qatar and the United States (US), announced a ceasefire on Wednesday, but a final agreement remained up in the air for more than a day as Netanyahu claimed there were last-minute obstacles, which he blamed on Hamas.
The militants claimed they were "committed" to the deal, while Gaza residents and families of the hostages waited anxiously to see if it would materialize.
The deal now goes to the full cabinet for final signature. They are expected to approve the ceasefire, which could take effect as early as Sunday, although it has drawn fierce resistance from Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners.
However, their remarks could destabilize his government.
Previously, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Thursday that he was confident that the agreement between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages would begin to be implemented on Sunday, as planned, despite the dispute between the warring parties on Thursday.
"I am confident and fully expect that implementation will begin, as we have said, on Sunday," Blinken told reporters in Washington at a farewell press conference at the State Department.
The start of the ceasefire and the initial release of hostages on Thursday were called into question after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas extremists of abandoning some parts of the agreement.
A statement from Netanyahu's office said Hamas was trying "to force last-minute concessions" and had backed away from a deal that would give Israel a veto over which Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder would be released in exchange for Israeli hostages.
Shortly afterwards, Izzat al-Rishk, a senior Hamas official, said that the extremist organization was "committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by the mediators."
Although a ceasefire is expected, Palestinian health services said Israeli forces carried out multiple airstrikes on Gaza on Thursday, killing at least 77 people.
If the ceasefire agreement is respected, United Nations agencies have said they are ready to significantly increase humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, where at least 1,9 of the 2,3 million people have been displaced, while 92 percent of homes have been destroyed.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog strongly supported the ceasefire after it was announced on Wednesday.
"As the president of the State of Israel, I am making it clear that this is the right move. It is an important and necessary move. There is no greater moral, human, Jewish or Israeli obligation than to bring back our sons and daughters - whether they are recovering at home or being buried," Herzog said.
But ultra-conservative Defense Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Thursday he would resign if the government ratified the ceasefire agreement, which he strongly opposes. Israeli media earlier reported that the cabinet was expected to ratify the agreement on Friday, but that has not yet been officially confirmed. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is also against the agreement.
Thirty-three hostages, including two Americans, are due to be freed over the next six weeks as part of a ceasefire deal reached on Wednesday in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The first phase calls for a 42-day ceasefire and increased aid to the Palestinians.
The rest, including male soldiers, will be released in a second phase to be negotiated during the first phase. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining prisoners without a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal.
The Gaza War broke out after Hamas invaded Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. The attack killed more than 1.200 people and kidnapped about 250.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 46.000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Health Ministry. There is no data on how many militants were killed in that total. Israel claims to have killed more than 17.000 fighters, but provides no evidence.
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The entire Israeli government will hold a session to vote on the ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages today, instead of Saturday as previously announced, CNN reported.
Israel's eleven-member Security Council is currently meeting to vote on the agreement.
After the agreement is approved by the Security Council, the entire 33-member Israeli government will hold a session at 15:30 p.m. local time (16:30 p.m. GMT).
AFP previously reported that two sources close to Hamas said the first group of hostages to be released included three Israeli female soldiers.
However, given that Hamas considers any Israeli of military age who has completed mandatory military service to be a soldier, this term could also refer to civilians kidnapped during the attack on October 7, 2023, the Guardian explains.
The first three names on a list obtained by AFP, which contains 33 hostages to be released in the first phase, are women under the age of 30 who were not in military service on the day of the Hamas attack.
Two sources close to Hamas told AFP that the three Israeli soldiers would be the first to be released on Sunday evening. One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they would be received by Red Cross workers, as well as Egyptian and Qatari teams.
"They will then be transported to Egypt, where they will be handed over to the Israeli side present there to complete the handover and undergo the necessary medical examinations. After that, they will be transported directly to Israel. It is expected that (Israel) will then release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several serving longer sentences," the source added.
Hamas announced that obstacles that arose regarding the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement have been resolved.
According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that the Israeli attacks were endangering the lives of the hostages who were due to be released under the agreement and that their "freedom ... could turn into a tragedy."
The release of hostages held in Gaza since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, is expected to begin on Sunday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"Subject to cabinet and government approval and implementation of the agreement, the release of the hostages can proceed as planned, and the hostages could be released as early as Sunday," the office said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the decision to release West Bank settlers held under administrative detention, ahead of the expected release of Palestinian prisoners on Sunday or Monday, as part of a ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas in Doha last night, according to the Times of Israel.
"In light of the expected release of terrorists from Judea and Samaria (as Israelis call the West Bank) as part of the hostage-free agreement, I have decided to release the settlers who are in administrative detention and send a clear message of strengthening and supporting the (Israeli) settlements in the West Bank, which are on the front lines of the fight against Palestinian terrorism and face growing security challenges," Katz said.
More than 100 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced on Wednesday, according to the Gaza Civil Defense. At least 27 children are among the dead, the Guardian reports.
Local emergency services have described scenes of continuous bombardment since Israel reached a deal with Hamas, which is expected to come into effect in the coming days after being approved by the Israeli cabinet.
Overnight, more than 20 people were killed in Israeli attacks on facilities serving as shelters in Gaza, the Civil Protection said today.
The victims included nine people who died when a family home in Al-Jarn, north of Gaza, was shelled, according to Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal.
In Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, four people were killed in an Israeli helicopter attack in the early hours of the morning, according to the Civil Defense.
Meanwhile, the bodies of two people were pulled from a house in central Gaza that was hit by an Israeli strike, Basal said. Three bodies were still trapped under the rubble, he added.
A meeting of Israel's security cabinet is underway, an Israeli official told AFP.
This meeting is taking place on Friday, ahead of a vote by the entire cabinet expected on Saturday to approve the deal with Hamas.
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan has defended his decision to bring war crimes charges against the Israeli prime minister, saying Israel has made "no real effort" to investigate the allegations itself.
In an interview with Reuters, Khan stood by his decision on the arrest warrant, despite a vote last week in the US House of Representatives to impose sanctions on the ICC in protest, which he described as "undesirable".
ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri in November last year for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The Israeli prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Khan's statements to Reuters.
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes. The United States, Israel's main ally, is also not a member of the ICC and Washington has criticized the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
"We are the court of last resort and... so far we have not seen any real effort by the State of Israel to take steps that would satisfy established case law, namely investigating the same suspects for the same behavior," Khan told Reuters.
"That can change and I hope it will," he added, a day after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
An Israeli investigation could have led to the case being referred to Israeli courts under so-called complementary principles. Israel can still show a willingness to investigate these cases, even after warrants have been issued, Khan added.
The ICC, with 125 member states, is a permanent court for the prosecution of individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.
Khan said that Israel possesses very good legal expertise.
"The question is, were those judges, those prosecutors, those legal instruments used to properly investigate the allegations that we saw in the occupied Palestinian territories, in the state of Palestine? And I think the answer to that was 'no,'" he concluded.
The Guardian is reporting another clip from Joe Biden's final interview as president. Speaking to MSNBC, he recalled a conversation he had with Netanyahu shortly after Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
"I told them we would help, but Bibi, I said, you can't carpet-bomb communities in Gaza. And he said, 'Well, you did that... You leveled Berlin. You dropped a nuclear bomb. You killed thousands of people because you had to to win the war,'" Biden said.
The White House is confident that the Gaza ceasefire agreement and hostage deal reached between Israel and Hamas "will be implemented this weekend," National Security Adviser John Kirby told CNN.
"All the parameters are in place. We've ironed out the last few details that needed to be ironed out and fixed. We believe we're on track to start implementation by the end of the weekend. So, right now, everything is in place. We don't see anything that would indicate that this could be thwarted at this point," Kirby said.
What does the Gaza ceasefire agreement say?
Details of the agreement have not yet been announced by the negotiators Israel and Hamas, which the EU and the US consider a terrorist organization, but according to information provided to Reuters by an official familiar with the ceasefire agreement, these are some of its elements:
- The six-week initial phase of the ceasefire involves the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from central Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza.
- The agreement calls for 600 humanitarian aid trucks to be allowed into Gaza each day during the ceasefire, 50 of which will carry fuel and 300 trucks will be destined for the north.
- Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children, and men over the age of 50. Women and minors under the age of 19 will be released first, followed by men over the age of 50.
- Israel will release 30 Palestinian prisoners for every civilian hostage and 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female Israeli soldier released by Hamas.
- Israel will release all Palestinian women and children under the age of 19 detained since October 7, 2023, by the end of the first phase. The total number of Palestinians released will depend on the number of hostages released and could be between 990 and 1.650 Palestinian prisoners, including men, women and children.
- Hamas will release the hostages over a six-week period, with at least three hostages released each week, with the remaining 33 released before the end of the period. All living hostages will be released first, followed by the remains of deceased hostages.
The implementation of the agreement is guaranteed by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
Negotiations on the second phase of the agreement will begin by the 16th day of the first phase and are expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, including Israeli soldiers, a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops.
The third phase expects the return of the remaining bodies of the deceased and the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
(Radio Free Europe)
At his last press conference, outgoing US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken faced criticism from two journalists who accused him of supporting the war in Gaza, reports The Guardian.
This includes providing diplomatic support to Israel at the UN – blocking multiple calls for a ceasefire – and continuing to send billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel despite concerns that Israel is violating human rights.
"You are a criminal! Why are you not in The Hague," shouted Sam Husseini, an independent journalist, according to Reuters, who was escorted from the room by security as he continued to criticize Blinken.
"Why did you keep sending bombs when we had a deal in May?" asked Max Blumenthal, editor of Grayson, a media outlet that strongly criticizes many aspects of American foreign policy, before he too was thrown out of the room.
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