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Here’s more analysis from the Associated Press on the humanitarian dimension of the reported 42-day first phase of the draft ceasefire deal:
In the first phase, aid entry to Gaza is to be ramped up to hundreds of trucks a day of food, medicine, supplies and fuel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. That is far more than Israel has allowed in throughout the war.
For months, aid groups have struggled to distribute to Palestinians even the trickle of aid entering Gaza because of Israeli military restrictions and rampant robberies of aid trucks by gangs. An end to fighting should alleviate that.
The need is great. Malnutrition and diseases are rampant among Palestinians, crammed into tents and short on food and clean water. Hospitals have been damaged and short of supplies. The draft deal specifies that equipment will be allowed in to build shelters for tens of thousands whose homes were destroyed and to rebuild infrastructure like electricity, sewage, communications and road systems.
But here, too, implementation could bring problems.
Even before the war, Israel has restricted entry of some equipment, arguing it could be used for military purposes by Hamas. Another Israeli official said arrangements are still being worked out over aid distribution and cleanup, but the plan is to prevent Hamas from having any role.
Further complicating matters, Israel’s government is still committed to its plan to ban Unrwa from operating and to cut all ties between the agency and the Israeli government. The UN agency is the major distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Relatives of Israeli hostages and war-battered Palestinians in Gaza are waiting anxiously for the ceasefire deal to be finalised, AFP reports.
“Time is of the essence,” said Gil Dickmann, cousin of former hostage Carmel Gat, whose body was recovered from a Gaza tunnel in September.
“Hostages who are alive will end up dead. Hostages who are dead might be lost,” Dickmann said at a rally in Jerusalem. “We have to act now.”
Umm Ibrahim Abu Sultan, a resident of Gaza City now living in Khan Younis after being displaced, said that she had “lost everything” in the war.
“I am anxiously awaiting the truce. I will cry for days on end,” said the mother of five.
Hamas’s 7 October attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
On that day, militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 46,645 people, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
Israeli media and sources close to the talks said the first phase of a deal would see 33 Israeli hostages freed, while two Palestinian sources close to Hamas told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
Tehran never plotted to kill Donald Trump, Iranian president says
Iran “never” plotted to assassinate Donald Trump during last year’s US election campaign and never will in the future, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an NBC News interview, denying past claims from Trump and the US government.
In November, the US Justice Department charged an Iranian man in connection with an alleged plot ordered by Tehran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps to assassinate the US president-elect. Law enforcement thwarted the alleged plan before any attack was carried out.
Trump also said last year during the US election campaign that Iran may have been behind attempts to kill him.
“None whatsoever,” Pezeshkian said when asked if there was an Iranian plan to kill Trump. “We have never attempted this to begin with and we never will.”
Trump’s return to the White House and Iran’s advancing nuclear program have prompted speculation that the United States and Israel might take military action to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday said Iran was at its weakest point since the country’s 1979 revolution and its weakness was a concern as it may push the country to rethink its nuclear weapons posture.
Pezeshkian said Iran is not seeking war but would be ready to defend itself if its nuclear sites came under attack.
“You see, naturally enough, we will react to any action. We do not fear war, but we do not seek it,” he said, adding: “I solemnly hope that this will not transpire because it will be to the detriment of all the actors, not only and merely us.”
The interview came during intensive diplomatic talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Israel and Hamas after months of indirect talks involving Egypt, Qatar, the United States and other countries.
Asked whether Iran had a role to play in brokering a possible deal, Pezeshkian said: “We do whatever we can in order for peace to prevail in the region.”
Some analysis of the proposed ceasefire deal draft, via Associated Press:
During the proposed deal’s first phase, Israeli troops are to pull back into a buffer zone about a kilometre (0.6 miles) wide inside Gaza along its borders with Israel.
That will allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, including in Gaza City and northern Gaza. With most of Gaza’s population driven into massive, squalid tent camps, Palestinians are desperate to get back to their homes, even though many were destroyed or heavily damaged by Israel’s campaign.
But there are complications. During the past year of negotiations, Israel has insisted it must control the movement of Palestinians to the north to ensure Hamas does not take weapons back into those areas.
Throughout the war, the Israeli military has severed the north from the rest of Gaza by holding the so-called Netzarim Corridor, a belt across the strip where troops cleared out the Palestinian population and set up bases. That allowed them to search people fleeing from the north into central Gaza and bar anyone trying to return.
The draft seen by the AP specifies that Israel is to leave the corridor. In the first week, troops would withdraw from the main north-south coastal road – Rasheed Street – which would open one route for Palestinians returning. By the 22nd day of the ceasefire, Israeli troops are to leave the entire corridor.
Still, as talks continued Tuesday, an Israeli official insisted the military will keep control of Netzarim and that Palestinians returning north would have to pass inspections there, though he declined to provide details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed negotiations.
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As hopes of a ceasefire grow, hunger and cold are adding to the suffering for the millions of Palestinians in the strip.
Fifteen months into the war in Gaza, where more than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed and almost all of the population of 2.1 million are living in makeshift accommodation, conditions continue to deteriorate in the face of famine and cold.
At least 1.9 million people – or about 90% of the territory’s population – are displaced. Many have been forced to relocate repeatedly, some as many as 10 times.
Over the past three months, Israeli ground operations have concentrated on the northern third of the territory, where Israel says it is trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping and Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate a buffer zone.
The United Nations said on Tuesday it was busy preparing to expand humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip under a potential ceasefire but uncertainty around border access and security in the territory remain obstacles, Reuters reports.
Negotiators in Qatar are hammering out final details of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza, with mediators and the warring sides all describing a deal as closer than ever. A truce would include a significant increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The UN humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, met with Israeli and Palestinian ministers in recent days and spoke with the Egyptian foreign minister on Tuesday about UN engagement in a ceasefire, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
“The UN system as a whole is in intense planning and preparation for when a ceasefire comes into play, and how we can increase the aid,” Dujarric said.
Among the unknowns are what border crossings would be open into Gaza under a truce and how secure the territory would be for aid distribution since many shipments have been targeted by armed gangs and looters during the conflict.
“Obviously, things will continue to be challenging because we don’t have answers to all those questions,” Dujarric said.
The fate of the UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa is also unclear as a law banning its operation on Israeli land and contact with Israeli authorities is due to take effect later this month.
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The White House has released a readout of the call between President Joe Biden and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.
The two leaders discussed the negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal based on the arrangement described by President Biden last year and endorsed unanimously by the UN security council.
The President thanked President Sisi for his leadership and praised the mediating role of Egypt throughout the process. He emphasized that this deal would never have been possible without Egypt’s essential and historic role in the Middle East and commitment to diplomacy for resolving conflicts.
Both leaders emphasized the urgent need for a deal to be implemented to bring immediate relief to the people of Gaza through a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by the ceasefire together with the return of hostages to their families. Both leaders committed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams over the coming hours.
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Death toll rises to 13 in Israeli airstrike on Gaza's Deir al-Balah – report
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reports that at least 13 people have been killed in the airstrike on Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, up from 10 reported earlier. Wafa reports the attack on Tuesday evening hit the home of the Shaheen family in the city’s south.
The families of Israeli hostages held captive for 15 months in the Gaza Strip have voiced cautious optimism their loved ones may soon be free as talks to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continued in Qatar.
“The reports suggesting a potential deal to secure the release of our loved ones offer a glimmer of hope, though we remain cautious,” a statement from the families released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters said on Tuesday.
“Our hearts are filled with both hope and apprehension as we await concrete developments. In these sensitive times, it is our shared responsibility to exercise care and consideration.”
“Every day you fear the worst,” Moshe Emilio Lavi – whose brother-in-law, Omri Miran, is among the hostages – told the Guardian.
“Time ran out a long time ago. The international community completely failed. Our government failed by not prioritising their release enough.”
At least 10 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza's Deir al-Balah, say medics
An Israeli airstrike on Gaza’s Deir al-Balah killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded others, Reuters reported, citing medics.
In a separate strike on a house in Rafah, five people including a woman were killed, and four others were injured, medics said.
Hamas accepts draft ceasefire deal - report
Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages, Associated Press is reporting, citing two officials involved in the talks.
An Israeli official said progress has been made but the details are being finalized, the news agency said.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is currently meeting with his hostage negotiation team and with members of Israel’s security establishment, the Times of Israel is reporting.
In an update to the hostages’ families, Netanyahu’s office said talks in Doha are ongoing and that the sides are discussing final details required for an agreement, it said.
Negotiations will continue through the night, the prime minister’s office said, adding that families will be updated as soon as possible.
Six killed in Israeli airstrike on Jenin refugee camp in West Bank - Palestinian health ministry
Six Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli strike on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, a statement by the Palestinian health ministry said.
A 15-year-old was among the people killed in the Israeli strike, the ministry said, as well as three members of the same family.
The Israeli military confirmed it carried out “an attack in the Jenin area”, without providing additional details.
Summary of the day so far
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza were “right on the brink” as the warring sides were reported to be closing in on a deal. Envoys representing the Biden White House and the incoming Trump administration have been taking part in what was billed as a “final round” of talks, meeting delegates from Israel, Egypt and Qatar. “It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” Blinken said. “But, right now, as we sit here, we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.” The US president-elect, Donald Trump, said negotiators were “very close” to finalising a deal.
However, a deal had not yet been clinched on Tuesday night despite more than eight hours of talks in Qatar. A senior Hamas official told Reuters that his group was awaiting documents from Israel that would give more details of the geographical area covered by a ceasefire. A Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said earlier on Tuesday that talks on the final details were under way after both sides were presented with a text.
Hamas said the talks had reached the final steps and that it hoped this round of negotiations would lead to a deal. An Israeli official said talks had reached a critical phase although some details needed to be hammered out: “We are close, we are not there yet.” The militant group Islamic Jihad said it was sending a senior delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final arrangements for a ceasefire deal.
The first part of the ceasefire deal would involve a release of 33 Israeli hostages, including children, women, elderly people and the sick, and up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, alongside a partial Israeli troop withdrawal in a first phase lasting 60 days, according to Israeli media and reports from Doha. After 16 days, talks would begin on a second phase of the agreement which would involve the release of other survivors among the 61 remaining hostages, including military-age men, and the bodies of those who have died. The Israeli military withdrawal would be completed in the course of this second stage.
Hopes rose across Gaza that the war that has devastated the territory, killing more than 46,000 and displacing millions, was finally coming to an end. Residents of the embattled territory expressed mixed emotions: hope and fear for the future but pain and grief for the past 15 months. Optimism over the negotiations has been tempered by past experience after earlier apparent breakthroughs ultimately failed in the face of opposition from the coalition government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, or obstruction from Hamas inside Gaza.
Fighting in Gaza has continued in recent days despite reports of an imminent ceasefire. Late on Monday night, two Israeli airstrikes in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed two women and their four children, aged between 1 month and nine years old. Another 12 people were killed in two strikes on the southern city of Khan Younis.
Blinken, in an outgoing speech at the Atlantic Council, outlined a vision for a postwar settlement under which Israel would accept a united leadership of Gaza and the West Bank territories under a reformed Palestinian Authority. Israel has so far rejected those conditions. He also spoke about significant involvement from the international community and Arab countries, including the possibility of deploying troops to stabilise security and facilitate humanitarian aid delivery. Blinken’s speech was interrupted several times by protesters.
Palestinian families are seeking justice after an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) raid on Balata camp in the West Bank resulted in the death of an 80-year-old woman and another civilian. A report by the Guardian found that the IDF operation on 19 December 2024 used a hospital vehicle with Palestinian licence plates, in violation of humanitarian law.
Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest.
Israel’s former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said finalising a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas is the right thing to do as he urged the government to put “national considerations” above political interests.
“I hope that this time … the national interest will override the political interest,” Gallant said, in apparent reference to Benjamin Netanyahu, who fired him in November after the two clashed on a number of issues, including a ceasefire agreement. Gallant at the time had been urgently pushing for a deal.
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said he hoped a possible ceasefire in Gaza will open a new phase and allow the restoration of peace in the Middle East.
“The agreement being finalised in these hours on the ceasefire and hostage release is very important news,” Tajani said during a news conference after a meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar.
He said he hoped an agreement would “hopefully open a new phase and allow peace to be restored throughout the Middle East,” Reuters reported.
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires from Tel Aviv, where thousands gathered in “hostage square” on Tuesday night in anticipation of a ceasefire deal.
Hamas says it is waiting for maps of areas Israel will withdraw to before ceasefire response
A ceasefire agreement and hostage release deal has not yet been clinched, despite more than eight hours of talks in Qatar on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
A senior Hamas official told the news agency his group was awaiting documents from Israel that would give more details of the geographical area covered by a ceasefire:
[Hamas] hasn’t delivered its response yet because the occupation [Israel] has not submitted the maps that will show the areas to which its forces will withdraw.
The official added that the maps included Israeli withdrawals from the Netzarim area in the middle of the Gaza Strip, to allow the return of the displaced people to their homes, Jabalia in the north of the tiny territory, the Philadelphi road along the southern border with Egypt, and Rafah, also near that border.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a news conference earlier Tuesday that talks on the final details were under way after both sides were presented with a text.
Updated
Joe Biden discussed the proposed Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal in a phone call Tuesday afternoon with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Reuters reported.
The Egyptian government has been working with Qatar and the US on mediation efforts.
Details of the conversation between the outgoing US president and his Egyptian counterpart were not immediately released, but a readout of the call is expected to be published to the White House website later.
A rally organized by families of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza is taking place in Tel Aviv, CNN reports, with protestors blocking traffic and chanting their demands for the release of everyone still held captive.
The protest comes amid speculation of the imminent announcement of a ceasefire deal between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas that is expected to see the release of 33 hostages in its first phase. Hamas and its allies hold 94 people taken hostage in Gaza, although Israel believes at least 34 of them have been killed.
According to CNN:
Video shows people congregated in the street at Begin Gate, blocking traffic and chanting: ‘There will be no victory without the last hostage.’ Some hold signs bearing photos of the hostages and others reading, ‘Stop the bloody war’, and ‘Everyone is a humanitarian case’.
Sharon Sharabi, brother of hostages Eli Sharabi and the late Yossi Sharabi, said in a statement to reporters: “These are critical hours for Israeli citizens and the state of Israel, with time running out for all our hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for over 15 months”.
Updated
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, will visit Lebanon on Friday, according to reporting by AFP. It will be the second such trip by a head of state since the new Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, was elected by lawmakers last Thursday.
Macron’s office said he planned to mark “the unwavering commitment of France to support Lebanon, its sovereignty and unity”. Lebanon gained independence from France in 1943.
His trip follows a ceasefire in November between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, announced by Macron and Joe Biden, the US president.
Last Friday, Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides became the first head of state to visit Lebanon since Aoun took office.
Updated
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s controversial pick for US secretary of defense, has been facing questions during his confirmation hearing with the US senate armed services committee in Washington.
Hegseth’s opening statements were interrupted several times by protesters, including one who called him a “Christian zionist”.
As the protester was removed from the room, another was heard shouting about “bombing babies in Gaza”.
Three people were arrested and charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, according to Capitol police.
Gaza deal 'painful' for Israel but hostages' lives must be 'top priority', says Scholz
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas “now seems within reach”.
Scholz, in a statement reported by AFP, acknowledged that a potential deal with Hamas would be “painful” for Israel, but said that saving the lives of hostages must be the “top priority”. He said:
We understand how painful any agreement with the terrorist organisation Hamas is for Israel. Nevertheless, the lives of the hostages must now be the top priority.
He said he was calling for an agreement partly because “there are numerous German nationals among the hostages” and said it would “finally alleviate the suffering in Gaza”.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that following investigations by Israel’s air force and home front command, a ballistic missile launched from Yemen overnight was successfully intercepted by air defences.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said it fired a missile in the early hours of Tuesday, triggering sirens in several areas across central Israel. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
A large fragment of a Houthi missile landed on the roof of a home in Mevo Beitar overnight, causing damage, the IDF said.
The military said it identified additional shrapnel impacts in Tzur Hadassah and Beitar Illit, with no major damage.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was delivering a speech at the Atlantic Council thinktank when he was interrupted by Gaza protesters.
One protester told the US secretary that he would “for ever be known as bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide”.
“You have the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on your hands,” she said.
Israel’s health ministry is preparing for the return of 33 hostages as part of the first phase of a potential ceasefire, an Israeli official said.
The conditions of these hostages, which will include women, children, older adults and wounded civilians, will be “very different” than when Hamas released 105 hostages as part of a hostage deal in November 2023, Dr Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of the ministry’s public health division, said, the Times of Israel reported. It adds:
The admitting hospitals will make sure to give the hostages their privacy while they do medical tests and check for nutritional deficiencies. The medical staff will continue to monitor the hostages’ health over a long period of time.
The head of the Palestinian political party Palestinian National Initiative said they believe Hamas has accepted a ceasefire deal.
Mustafa Barghouti told the BBC that the deal was “closer … than any time before”, adding:
The deal is almost ready and I think the Palestinian side has agreed to it, accepted it. They’re waiting for the Israeli final response.
Gaza ceasefire deal 'right on the brink', says Blinken
Blinken is asked about reports earlier today that Hamas has accepted a ceasefire deal.
“It’s right on the brink,” the US secretary of state says. “It’s closer than it’s ever been before.”
“We await final word from Hamas on its acceptance and until we get that word, will remain on the brink.”
He says that could come “any time”, including in the hours and days ahead.
Blinken says the US continues to believe that the best way to create a more stable and secure Middle East is through forging a more integrated region.
Key to achieving that integration is ending the conflict in a way that “realizes the longstanding aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians to live with peace and security in states of their own”, he says.
Ultimately, however, the US cannot dictate outcomes, Blinken says. He says there is a “historic window of opportunity” open that will prevent more deaths and will “break the cycle of violence and bloodshed.”
“We must not squander this chance,” he says.
Blinken says that the longer the war goes on, the worst the humanitarian situation gets in Gaza.
He says Israel’s efforts have “fallen far short” of meeting the “colossal” scale of humanitarian need in Gaza, and there are steps that Israel can take to ensure that critical aid reaches Palestinians in need.
Those steps include restarting the flow of commercial goods, undertaking pauses in military operations, and securing aid corridors to storage and distribution sites.
“The suffering of civilians in Gaza is a tragedy in its own right,” he said. “It has also isolated Israel internationally and imperiled its hardened strides toward building relationships in the region.”
Blinken talks of need to 'forge new reality' in Middle East in last major foreign policy speech
Blinken speaks of the need to “forge a new reality” in the Middle East. He said he doesn’t want to turn “back the clock” to the way things were before 7 October 2023. He said he wants countries in the Middle East to be able to achieve their aspirations in a climate of peace and security. He says this will be difficult to achieve. A heckler interrupted his speech and said that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, a war that the US has fuelled through its huge amount of military assistance given to Israel. Blinken says the US has a goal of ending the war in Gaza and normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Updated
Hezbollah is a 'shadow of its former self', Blinken says
Blinken says Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group, is a “shadow of its former self” with its senior leadership killed and much of its infrastructure destroyed by the Israeli military. He also mentioned former Syrian president Bashar-al Assad being ousted by rebel forces last month and said that Hamas – the Palestinian militant group – has been “decimated”. He said “immeasurable” suffering has been inflicted on Palestinians, though there has been what he describes as “strategic gains” in the region. Nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced, many multiple times, is hungry and/or knows someone who has “lost a loved one” in (Israel’s) war, Blinken says. The more people suffer, the less they feel sympathy for the suffering of the other side, he added.
Updated
Blinken has been called a “monster” and a “war criminal” by a heckler. “You have no compassion,” she said.
Updated
US secretary of state delivers remarks expected to focus on Middle East
Antony Blinken is delivering his last (major) remarks in Washington as secretary of state before the Trump administration comes in next week. Blinken, who has been heavily involved in negotiations, is set to talk about the future of the Middle East and comment on the prospect of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. You can watch our live feed at the top of the blog to follow along.
Updated
Militant group Islamic Jihad, which is separate from Hamas and also holds hostages in Gaza, said it was sending a senior delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final arrangements for a ceasefire deal.
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer has confirmed that the government will vote on any ceasefire deal put forward by negotiators, as was the case for the temporary truce agreed upon in November 2023. “Again, this is not concluded yet - it’s very important to remember that. We are moving closer but this is not concluded yet,” he was quoted by BBC News as saying, in reference to the talks in Doha. About 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, triggering Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza. Eighty captives were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails in a ceasefire in November that year, but the truce collapsed after a week.
Updated
Despite the ongoing truce talks in Qatar, at least 32 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn, with at least 24 of these people killed in the central and southern parts of the territory, medical sources have told Al Jazeera Arabic.
At least 35 Palestinian people have been arrested by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank since yesterday evening until this morning, Tte Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a joint statement.
According to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, the detentions were carried out in Nablus, Salfit, Jenin, Tulkarm and Hebron.
These detentions were accompanied by assaults, threats against detainees and their families and the destruction of property, Wafa reported.
It is estimated that over 11,000 Palestinians have been detained in the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023.
Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the West Bank.
They have described alleged abusive and humiliating treatment, including holding blindfolded and handcuffed detainees in cramped cages as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.
Updated
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their ‘closest point’ yet to Gaza ceasefire deal
As we have been reporting throughout the blog, both Israel and Hamas delegations are in the same building in the Qatari capital of Doha discussing the ceasefire deal, which is being hosted by Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari has been quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the ongoing negotiations are positive and productive. He said the two parties are at the “closest point” yet to agreeing on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages.
Updated
Images taken from Sderot today show Israel continuing to launch strikes on what remains of buildings in Gaza.
Writing for Haaretz, in an op-ed Amos Harel argues that in appearing to come to an agreement with Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu has “folded under [Donald] Trump’s pressure.”
Harel writes that “the incoming president has much more leverage over Netanyahu and the Egyptian and Qatari mediators than does the outgoing president, Joe Biden.”
He stated that at his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff, told the prime minister that the president-elect expected a deal to be done. Harel continues:
Things that Netanyahu had termed life-and-death issues suddenly vanished.
Netanyahu agreed last May, under pressure from Biden, to a proposal that included the gradual but full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, an end to the war and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners. Afterward, he backtracked, using Philadelphi as an excuse. In the ensuing months, he raised more obstacles. (In his defense, Hamas also caused problems.)
Over those months, at least eight hostages died, two killed by Israeli bombs and six murdered by Hamas. Another 122 Israeli soldiers were killed, a third of them in the assault on Jabalya and Beit Hanoun that began last October.
There is certainly value in continuing to pummel Hamas, but it has not been defeated and complete victory is not waiting around the corner. Netanyahu’s claim that only military pressure will lead to the release of hostages – a claim that has sometimes been backed by the IDF brass – has proven to be baseless. And now, the prime minister is folding.
Updated
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz has commented on the prospect of a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Reuters quotes him saying:
We understand how painful any agreement with the terrorist organisation Hamas is for Israel. Nevertheless, the lives of the hostages must now have top priority.
Israeli Army Radio reports a molotov cocktail attack on vehicles on Israel’s highway 5. It says three were thrown, but no casualties are reported.
Reports: outline of first phase of ceasefire and hostage release agreement
Reuters is now also carrying what it says is an outline of the proposed deal between Israel and Hamas, according to information it has received from an Israeli official and a Palestinian official.
It reports the first phase entails:
33 hostages would be set free. These include children, women including female soldiers, men above 50, wounded and sick. Israel believes most are alive but has had no official confirmation
On the 16th day from the deal taking effect, negotiations would start on a second stage, with the aim of securing the return of the remaining living hostages – male soldiers and younger civilian males – and the return of the bodies of dead hostages
In return for the hostages, Israel will free from its jails a significant number of Palestinian prisoners, although exactly how many will depend on how many hostages are still alive. The two officials have given Reuters slightly differing indications of how many – the Israeli official said the number would be “many hundreds”, while the Palestinian official said it would be more than 1,000
Where the prisoners would be sent has not yet been agreed but anyone convicted of murder or deadly attacks would not be released to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and anyone who took part in the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel would not be released
Israel will not fully withdraw its troops from Gaza until all the hostages have been returned but there will be a phased pull back, with Israeli forces remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages
There would be security arrangements at the Philadelphi corridor bordering Egypt, along the southern edge of Gaza, with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed back, with a mechanism to ensure no weapons are moved there, and the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza will start to work gradually. There would be a significant increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports more people, including children, being killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza.
It reports “five citizens, including two children, were killed when the occupation’s warplanes bombed a civilian vehicle in the Al-Zawaida area in the central Gaza Strip.”
In addition it says a Palestinian fisher was killed “by Israeli gunboat fire.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza issued updated casualty figures for the war, claiming that Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 46,645 Palestinians and wounded 110,012 more since 7 October 2023. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
An Israeli official has responded to earlier comments by Itamar Ben-Gvir, who appeared to have claimed that he had been instrumental in Israel opposing hostage release deals and ceasefire negotiations over the past year.
In a statement, the far-right national security minister said “We succeeded in the past year through our political power in preventing this deal from going through. Since then, however, additional parties have joined the government which are supporting the deal, and we are no longer the decisive factor.”
Haaretz quotes an Israeli official denying this. They said “the only one who managed to hinder a deal to release hostages since November 2023 is the terrorist group Hamas, which has continued its line of refusal, as US officials have said time after time. What changed Hamas’ position this time are Israel’s powerful achievements in this war.”
Ben-Gvir has said he will oppose any deal, and called on finance minister Bezalel Smotrich to also come out against the deal.
Ben-Gvir said “This isn’t a difficult decision that needs to be made in order to return hostages. It’s a decision that [will] knowingly cost the lives of many other Israeli civilians, who unfortunately will pay for this deal with their lives. We’ve already seen the fruits of these [kinds of] deals.”
An Israeli official, speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity, has said the conclusion of a ceasefire and hostage release deal is “in the hands of Hamas.”
The official told the US news network “We think that we’ve made all the compromises that are needed to bring a deal. It’s in the hands of Hamas and they need to make this decision.”
In additional comments, the official said “Until Hamas will tell us how many of our hostages are alive, I don’t know how many prisoners – terrorists – will be released” but suggested the number would be in the hundreds.
About 100 hostages are still believed to be held captive in Gaza since 7 October 2023, and not all of them are believed to be alive.
CNN reported that the Israeli official would not commit to a deal permanently ending the war, only saying that Israel is keen to “bring all our hostages back home”.
In the UK, Labour ministers have effectively determined there is no human rights concern that could justify halting the sale of F-35 fighter jet parts that could be used by Israel in Gaza, according to a legal submission from two campaign groups.
Dan Sabbagh and Patrick Wintour report …
Benjamin Netanyahu to meet representatives of Hostage Families Forum hostage
Israeli media reports that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet members of the Hostage Families Forum at 2.30pm (12.30pm GMT) today.
The Times of Israel states the meeting comes “amid indications Israel is on the brink of agreeing on a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.”
It quotes the forum saying that there will be a gathering outside the meeting, where family members will demand “an agreement that guarantees the return of every last hostage, with a predetermined method and timeline.”
It is understood that about 30 hostages including women, the elderly, the wounded and sick, would be released gradually in the first phase of the proposed deal, in return for the release of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. Male hostages would be released at a later stage.
Hamas and other groups seized and abducted about 250 people from southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and about 100 of them, not all of whom are believed to be alive, remain in captivity. Some hostages were released during a previous limited ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange in late 2023.
Lebanon’s prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam has said “my hands are extended to everyone” during a speech in which he called for a new chapter in the country.
Reuters quotes Salam saying “This is my sincere call, and my hands are extended to everyone. Reconstruction isn’t just a promise, but a commitment, and this requires complete implementation of UN resolution 1701, implementation of all articles of the ceasefire, and imposing the full withdrawal of the Israeli enemy from every inch. It is time to begin a new chapter, one that we want to be rooted in justice, security, progress, and opportunity”
Earlier Lebanon’s National News Agency reported continued Israeli military raids in southern Lebanon, and two people have been reported injured after unexploded ordnance detonated when people were working to clear a house previously hit by an Israeli airstrike.
Associated Press reports it has seen a copy of the draft agreement between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, and that officials from Egypt and Hamas confirmed its authenticity on condition of anonymity.
The news agency outlines the deal as follows:
Phase one, lasting 42 days, would see the gradual release of 33 of the remaining hostages, and Israeli forces would withdraw from population centres in Gaza, alongside a “surge” in humanitarian aid
Negotiations for phase two would take place during this period, with the aim of releasing all the remaining male captives and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza
A third phase would see the return of the bodies of hostages killed in Gaza since their abduction on 7 October 2023, and the setting up of a rebuilding plan and new governance structure for Gaza
Updated
It has been a busy day for protest outside the Knesset in Jerusalem. Earlier relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas and other groups in Gaza since 7 October 2023 gathered demanding a deal to secure their release.
There has also been a protest march over the planned Benjamin Netanyahu government legislation on conscription for ultra-Orthodox men, which has been a controversial political issue in Israel for months.
The march was led, Haaretz reports, by Laly Deri, the mother of an IDF soldier who was killed in Gaza during the current conflict. The protest is against government plans to delay the implementation of expanded conscription laws that would see ultra-Orthodox men serve in the IDF, ending a previous exemption on religious grounds.
Haaretz quotes Deri saying “We need our brothers with us. This is a fight for survival,” adding that protests would continue “until the stretcher we all carry expands and grows, with more communities joining in carrying it, not only from our ultra-Orthodox brothers, but from all sectors of Israeli society.”
This picture shows part of a missile, believed to have been fired by Houthi forces in Yemen, lodged in the roof of a house in the Israeli village of Mevo Beitar, which is to the south-west of Jerusalam.
Reuters is carrying some response from officials on both sides of ceasefire and hostage release negotiations. It quotes an official from Israel saying anonymously “We are close, we are not there,” while Hamas has said talks have reached their final stage, stating that the group was looking for a clear and inclusive deal.
At least 24 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since dawn – reports
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, states that at least 24 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since dawn.
Most recently, a residential building was hit in the city of Khan Younis, causing dozens of reported casualties. They are being transferred to Nasser hospital.
Civilians, in this time preceding a possible ceasefire deal, are doing everything they can to avoid areas that may have some type of military presence, but they report being trapped by quadcopter drones.
Al Jazeera has been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, and the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has also closed Al Jazeera operations there.
As of 13 January, preliminary investigations by the Committee to Protect Journalists showed at least 160 journalists and media workers were among those killed in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since 7 October 2023.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Qatar: statements from Biden and Trump have contributed to improved prospects for peace deal in Gaza
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson has said that recent statements by both president Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump have contributed to the improved prospects of a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
During his press conference in Doha, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson was asked what has made a ceasefire deal more likely now, and specifically if the prospect of the incoming second Trump administration in the US had made a difference.
Majed Al-Ansari told reporters “That is a question I would like to answer after announcing that there is an agreement.”
He said he would rather rephrase it and answer the question “why are we more optimistic right now?”
He continued:
So the main reason why we are more optimistic right now is during the past months there were underlying issues, major issues between the two parties [Israel and Hamas] unresolved.
These issues were resolved during the talks in the past couple of weeks, and therefore we have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed, and we have language pertaining to this issue that has been distributed between both parties.
We especially appreciate the roles of both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration in the talks in the past couple of weeks, they have been involved fully in the talks. They were working in tandem together here in Doha and beyond in the region to make sure that the deal happens.
And we appreciate statements by both president Biden and president-elect Trump that were helpful in pushing the deal forward.
Qatar: Gaza ceasefire negotiations at 'final stages' but people should not get 'over-excited' about progress
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari has said his country believes ceasefire and hostage release negotiations between Israel and Hamas are “at the final stages” but cautioned that people “shouldn’t be over-excited about what’s happening right now.”
Speaking in Doha in English during a bilingual press conference, he said: “It is very important not to raise expectations to a level that doesn’t link to what’s happening on the ground right now.
“We are, we do believe, at a developed stage. We do believe we are at the final stages. But obviously, until there is an announcement, there will be no announcement, and therefore we shouldn’t be over-excited about what’s happening right now.”
Al-Ansari made a point of thanking representatives of both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration from the US who are participating in talks, and said “the meetings that have taken place here in Doha are productive. They are positive, and we hope to hear some developments.”
The foreign ministry spokesperson then reiterated Qatar’s longstanding position on the conflict, saying
Obviously, we have said this for months. This war should have been over a long time ago. The humanitarian cost of the ongoing war is unbearable and continues to be unbearable for the people of Gaza and for the stability and security of this region.
And therefore, we again say and call on both parties to seriously engage in the negotiations, which are happening right now – and we do applaud the fact that the negotiations are taking place – but we also, you know, are urging both sides to end this now and sign the agreement as soon as possible, so … both the hostages and prisoners can get back to their families and life in this region, and stability in this region.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, is currently giving his weekly briefing, in which he is speaking about prospects for a ceasefire deal in Gaza. We will bring you the key lines as they emerge.
Here are some of the latest images sent over the news wires from Gaza.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that Israeli forces are operating to the west of Meiss El Jabal. It states they are “raiding and storming residential homes” and continues:
They are also carrying out searches, vandalism, scattering contents and burning some of them. Limited explosions, machine gun fire and the movement of vehicles and tanks is also being recorded.
The claims have not been independently verified. Meiss El Jabal is adjacent to the UN-drawn blue line which separates Israel and Lebanon.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has reacted to the statement earlier by far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that he will quit the government if a ceasefire and hostage release deal is agreed with Hamas.
Ben-Gvir claimed in his statement that “through our political power, we have managed to prevent this deal from happening, time after time.” [See 9.13 GMT]
In a post to social media, Lapid said:
For a year I’ve been saying “We [Israel] aren’t making a deal to release the hostages for political reasons” and everyone tells me that it can’t be, and it is shocking, and how could I say such a thing. Today Ben-Gvir released a video and told, to the camera, without blinking, the terrible truth.
Palestinian media reports that overnight Israeli security forces have detained 35 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Wafa states that “the arrests were distributed across the governorates of Nablus, Salfit, Jenin, Tulkarm and Hebron.”
The far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has described the prospective of a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas as “terrible”, and called on Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in opposing it.
In a lengthy post to social media, Ben-Gvir said doing a deal would “erase the war achievements that have been achieved with much blood by our fighters, so far, in the Gaza Strip.”
He said that withdrawing his support from the government would not topple Benjamin Netanyahu or prevent the deal alone, hence calling for Smotrich to join him.
Ben-Gvir also appeared to claim having prevented previous attempts to agree a ceasefire, saying “over the past year, through our political power, we have managed to prevent this deal from coming to fruition, time after time.”
In a statement overnight on its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military said that warning sirens sounding in the moshav of Netiv HaAsara had been “determined to be a false identification.”
The moshav is directly on the northern border of Gaza’s territory.
Deal 'very close' says Donald Trump
On Monday night, Donald Trump described a possible ceasefire as being “very close.”
“I understand ... there’s been a handshake and they are getting it finished – and maybe by the end of the week,” Trump told the American cable channel Newsmax Monday night.
He added that part of the deal would see “bodies” brought out of the Gaza Strip, without elaborating.
An Israeli official said negotiations were in advanced stages for the release of 33 of 98 hostages still in Gaza, in the first stage of the deal, according to Reuters. Among those 33 would be children, women, female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick. It would also mean a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.
In return, Israel will free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Palestinian source close to the talks who said the first phase would last for 60 days.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Updated
Negotiators to meet today and hope to finalise plan to end war
Negotiators are to meet in Doha today to finalise details of a plan to end the war in Gaza after Joe Biden indicated a ceasefire and hostage release deal was imminent.
Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both Biden and President-elect Donald Trump.
A Palestinian source close to the talks told Reuters he expected the deal to be finalised on Tuesday if “all goes well.”
David Barnea, director of Israel’s spy service Mossad, Ronen Bar director of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy; Brett McGurk, Biden’s outgoing Middle East envoy and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani were hoping to forge the deal.
“The deal ... would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” Biden said on Monday.
Hopes rise for ceasefire and hostage release deal despite Israeli strikes in Gaza
Welcome to our live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. It is nearly 10.30am in Gaza City and Jerusalem.
Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 18 people overnight, including six women and four children, health officials said, as Israel and Hamas appeared to be coming closer to a ceasefire deal to end the 15-month war and release dozens of hostages.
Earlier in Washington, US president Joe Biden said that the contours of the deal matched a “proposal that I laid out in detail months ago”. The deal comes less than a week before the inauguration of Donald Trump as Biden’s successor.
There have been intensifying indirect negotiations in Qatar attended by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks for more than a year mediated by Qatar, the US and Egypt but they have previously stalled over issues including the exchange of hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, whether a ceasefire is permanent and the extent of the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved in the conflict so far, in the earliest months of fighting.
Other developments include:
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that a wave of Israeli airstrikes killed more than 50 people in the Palestinian territory’s main city on Monday. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the strikes pounded Gaza City throughout the day, hitting “schools, homes and even gatherings of people”. “There is no room in hospitals to receive the wounded,” Bassal told AFP. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not immediately comment on the claims.
The IDF said five soldiers had been killed in fighting in northern Gaza, bringing to nine the number of its troops killed since Saturday.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels meanwhile fired a missile at central Israel, setting off sirens and sending people fleeing to shelters without causing any casualties. Police said Tuesday several homes were damaged outside Jerusalem and released a photo of a missile casing that had crashed into a roof.
An Israeli lawyer has filed submissions to the international criminal court (ICC) alleging incitement to genocide against Palestinians by eight Israeli officials, including President Isaac Herzog and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, said at least five people were killed in the bombing of the Salah al-Din school in Gaza City, which was housing displaced Palestinian people.
At least 46,584 Palestinian people have been killed and 109,731 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in its latest update. At least 19 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.
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