_{Israelis demonstrate against the ceasefire that they say will weaken security}

‘First stage of ceasefire deal is guaranteed’: Ex-Israeli official

Alon Liel, former director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, believes the Israeli cabinet will vote in favour of the ceasefire deal despite threats from far-right parties to abandon Netanyahu’s coalition over it.

“Netanyahu has a clear majority in the cabinet … The first stage of the deal is guaranteed,” Liel told Al Jazeera. However, Netanyahu’s hesitancy regarding the deal reflects his concern over the potential weakening of his coalition, he added.

While Netanyahu could maintain his coalition without far-right members Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, “he will become more dependent on moderate members of parliament”.

Liel noted that the second stage of the ceasefire deal – intended to bring a permanent end to the war – is far less certain. “In 42 days, who knows what the region will look like,” he said.

Truce deal ‘backtrack’ on Israel over troop withdrawal made ‘last minute’

Luciano Zaccara, from the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University, says the one thing that US President Joe Biden has gotten right about Israel’s war on Gaza is the fact a military victory is not possible.

“He said that Israel needed to make a ceasefire deal to end the war and there’s only a political way to resolve this, not a military solution. This shows that even though Hamas is weakened it will never be absolutely eliminated,” said Zaccara.

He expressed surprise that the Netanyahu government accepted truce terms with a troop withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor – the 14km (8.7-mile) long strip of land representing the border area between Gaza and Egypt.

That agreement now appears to be in jeopardy with Israeli leaders indicating they won’t pull out of the border region. “If Netanyahu keeps insisting the military presence is needed there, then the backtrack on the deal is not on the Hamas side, it’s the Israeli side that changed last minute,” Zaccara told Al Jazeera.

Israel’s spy chief, negotiators still in Doha nailing down truce details

Israel’s Mossad chief David Barnea and other negotiators remain in the Qatari capital “finalising the details” of the announced ceasefire deal, The Times of Israel reports.

Despite Qatar and the United States declaring a deal has been reached, Israel’s cabinet has yet to vote on it and Israel’s prime minister’s office has alleged “last-minute attempts at blackmail by Hamas”.

It accused Hamas of backtracking on some of the ceasefire’s provisions – a claim rejected by Hamas.

Israeli forces killed 82 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday

As we have been reporting, the Palestinian Civil Defence has said the Israeli military has intensified its assault on parts of Gaza over the past day ahead of Sunday’s planned ceasefire.

Medical sources in the besieged enclave have now told Al Jazeera that at least 82 people have been killed since dawn on Wednesday as a result of Israel’s bombing across the Strip.

The north has endured especially intense bombardment over recent hours, with an attack in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood killing at least 12 people.

Death toll rises from Israel’s attack on Gaza City

We previously reported that the Israeli military had bombed a residential building in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people. The Quds News Network and the Palestinian Information Center now report that at least 20 people have been killed in that attack.

Those same outlets report that Israeli attacks have killed more than 30 people over recent hours, mostly in Gaza City, since the announcement of the ceasefire agreement.

تغطية صحفية: أكثر من 30 شهـ.ـيداً منذ إعلان التوصل لاتفاق وقف إطلاق النار، جراء قصف الاحتلال المتواصل على مدينة غزة. pic.twitter.com/LZ7g47AywJ

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) January 15, 2025

Two killed in Israeli attack on Khan Younis

Previously, we reported that Gaza’s civil defence said it was responding to the scene of an Israeli air attack in the Qizan Abu Rashwan area near Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The Wafa news agency now reports that at least two people have been killed in that attack, which struck the Lahham family home, while several more people have been injured.

Israeli military bombs home in Gaza City, killing child

Israeli fighter jets bombed a house on Mashtaha Street in the Shujayea neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, killing at least one child, the Quds News Network and the Shehab news agency report. Rescue crews are currently attempting to locate survivors in the rubble.

At least 40 killed as Israel’s assault on northern Gaza intensifies

As we have been reporting, the Israeli military has carried out several deadly strikes on Gaza City, with civil defence crews saying attacks have intensified since the announcement of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Sources in the Palestinian enclave now report that at least 40 people have been killed in those attacks over recent hours, according to the Quds News Network and the Palestinian Information Center.

Ceasefire only slows down Israel’s ‘machinery of death and destruction’: Analyst

Middle East political analyst Omar Baddar said that with the ceasefire not scheduled to start until Sunday, Israel is “accelerating its bombing” and has killed more than 80 people in its latest attacks on Gaza.

People are still waiting for the “first bit of good news” when the ceasefire actually comes to fruition, Baddar said, but that will only mean that Israel’s “machinery of death and destruction” have only slowed down in Gaza.

“By no stretch of the imagination does that mean that Gaza is going to be a safe and free place for Palestinians to live,” Baddar told Al Jazeera, speaking from Washington, DC, in the US.

“No matter what happens, Gaza is going to be a concentration camp that is in ruins with tens of thousands of people having been killed and with many more buried under the rubble,” he said.

“We still don’t know the full extent of this genocide. And countless children have lost parents and have lost limbs. The situation in Gaza is incredibly dire,” he added.

At least 5 killed in Israel’s latest attack on Gaza City

The Palestinian Civil Defence has said its crews have retrieved five lifeless bodies from the rubble of the Khalifa family home in the Remal neighbourhood, west of Gaza City. Ten people have also been injured in the strike, which is the latest deadly Israeli attack to rock Gaza City over recent hours.

Two children killed in Gaza City school attack

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting a deadly Israeli attack on a school housing displaced people in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood. The attack has killed at least two children and injured 20 people, they report.

At least 20 Palestinians killed in Jabalia city attack

At least 20 people have been killed in an Israeli attack on Jabalia city in northern Gaza, with many others trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings and others sustaining critical injuries.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 72 people since the ceasefire deal was announced, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy bombardment as people celebrated the deal.

The 48 bodies of people killed since midday Wednesday were taken to several hospitals. About half of the dead are women and children, said Zaher al-Wahedi, head of the ministry’s registration department.

Israeli settlers set fire to vehicle near Hebron

Extremist Israeli settlers have set fire to a vehicle in the al-Kassara area, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the Quds News Network reports.

There has been an uptick in Israeli settler violence against Palestinian communities in recent weeks.

In one assault on the village of Khirbet Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, the words “revenge” and “Funduq” were graffitied in Hebrew on a wall with a Star of David, referencing the location of a shooting attack on January 6 in which three Israelis were killed.

مصادر محلية : مستوطنون يشعلون النار بمركبة في منطقة الكسارة جنوب الخليل pic.twitter.com/m6OeiSR8ju

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 16, 2025

Israeli military carries out raids, arrests across the West Bank

The Israeli military has carried out raids and arrests in several locations across the occupied West Bank overnight, including:

PM Netanyahu says cabinet won’t meet to approve Gaza truce

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his cabinet will not meet as scheduled to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, blaming Hamas for causing a “last-minute crisis”.

The Israeli cabinet was set to meet on Thursday morning to ratify the deal, with the ceasefire scheduled to take effect from Sunday.

“Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions,” a statement from Netanyahu said. “The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”

Key party in Netanyahu government threatens to quit if Israel doesn’t return to war after ceasefire

A key party in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition is threatening to quit if the prime minister doesn’t return to war in Gaza after the first phase of a ceasefire-hostage agreement that was reached with Hamas on Wednesday. The move could lead to the collapse of the Israeli government.

The agreement announced by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt stipulates that Hamas and Israel start negotiating a permanent ceasefire during the 42-day first phase of a truce.

The Israeli cabinet delayed a Thursday vote to ratify the deal, citing last-minute changes by Hamas – which the militant group denied.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionist Party on Thursday conditioned that Israel must “return to the war in order to destroy Hamas and the return of all the hostages… immediately after the conclusion of the first phase of the deal” to remain in government, it said in a statement.

The party did not say if it sought a written guarantee from Netanyahu to return to war.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a fellow far-right member of the government, has also threatened to resign and has called on Smotrich to join him. Neither party has enough lawmakers in parliament to collapse the government alone.

Together, both ministers control 14 seats in the legislature, enough to topple the government.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered Netanyahu a “safety net” to protect his government from collapse. That support, however, would almost certainly be tied to the ceasefire deal, and could be withdrawn after all hostages are released, collapsing the government.

Biden administration "fully" expects hostage deal to be implemented Sunday despite delay

The Biden administration “fully” expects the ceasefire-hostage deal in the Middle East to be implemented Sunday – despite a delay in approval of the agreement by Israel’s cabinet.

Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told CNN Thursday that complications were expected “in deals that are complicated… and when there is literally zero trust between the two parties to the agreement.”

“We fully expect the deal to be implemented as described by the president and by the mediators, Egypt and Qatar yesterday, and on the timeline that was described” Finer told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. “What we’re doing now is working through details of implementation.”

Finer said the United States was in “very close touch with the mediators” and with the Israeli government.

President-elect Donald Trump took full credit for the deal Wednesday, and when asked about it, Finer said he was “certainly not going to respond directly to the president-elect.”

“What I would say is the contours of this deal, the details of this deal, all of the elements, were laid out by President Biden back in May,” he said. “The reality is, to be honest, we’ve not been focused on the political outcomes here and on who gets the credit. What we’ve been focused on is the outcome in the region trying to get this deal done and achieved.”

What changed PM Netanyahu’s stance over truce with Hamas?

Analysts say Netanyahu could now seek a way to use the Gaza ceasefire to his advantage, potentially by pivoting away from the far-right coalition partners he has relied on since 2022.

The deal could even pave the way for a long-sought normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia, backed by incoming US President-elect Donald Trump.

“The key is not the situation but how you play the game, and the bottom line is that [Netanyahu] is the best player of the game there is,” said Jonathan Rynhold, head of the political studies department at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv.

Anshel Pfeffer, a journalist and author of a 2018 biography of Netanyahu, questioned what the incoming US president offered the Israeli prime minister to secure a truce.

“The question is what is Netanyahu getting out of the deal beyond the hostage release and the ceasefire, and that is where we get into the Saudi question,” Pfeffer said.

It’s possible the ceasefire “could be part of something much bigger. … Trump wants a deal” between Saudi Arabia and Israel, he said.

While Netanyahu’s far-right partners have promised to oppose the ceasefire, Pfeffer said it’s unlikely any disagreements in the ruling coalition would bring him down. Still, the ceasefire will be “a moment of truth” for Netanyahu when he might try to “pivot away from the far right in the coalition to some sort of legacy-defining deal with the Saudis”.

White House spokesman says ‘confident’ ceasefire deal intact

Speaking to US network NBC, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the US government is aware of the issues that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has raised today and is “working with him and his team to iron all this out”.

“We’re going to get there,” said Kirby. “We’re confident we’ll be able to solve these last-minute differences and get it moving and that this ceasefire can take place starting Sunday.”

Gaza deal offers Iran a chance to de-escalate, analyst says. Whether it will remains "far from certain

The Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal could provide an opportunity for wider de-escalation in the Middle East, particularly if Iran uses the opportunity to bring the temperature down, a senior fellow at UK-based think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) says.

Iran – which backs Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen – has long engaged in a shadow war with Israel. Last year, Israel and Iran traded direct attacks for the first time.

“The ceasefire opens the possibility for Iran, having already lost significant strategic and hard power in the region, to reconsider its transnational proxy policy and deescalate with Israel,” said Burcu Ozcelik, a senior research fellow for Middle East security at RUSI.

“It is far from certain that Tehran will seize the opportunity for de-escalation, despite needing it on many fronts.”

“There are several regional moving parts that will have a bearing, such as constraints on the US, Qatar and Egypt to facilitate the survival of the agreement and move beyond the impasse in the next phases,” Ozcelik said Thursday.

Ozcelik added that Houthi militants in Yemen will “now be expected to halt disruptive maritime activities in the Red Sea, something that the US, UK and allies will be watching closely.”

Over the past year, the Houthi group has been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and launching missiles at Israel, saying it will only stop once a Gaza ceasefire is reached.

“All actors will apply a wait-and-see approach during a still volatile conflict environment,” Ozcelik said. “And the risk remains that the deal could prove to be a tentative lull rather than mark the end of the war.”

Analysis: Netanyahu makes rare political error, complicating approval of Gaza truce

Egypt pledges to ensure Gaza ceasefire implementation

Egypt says it will continue its efforts to implement the commitments outlined in the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

During a phone call with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty highlighted Egypt’s active role alongside Qatar and the United States in reaching the agreement for a prisoner exchange and halt of fighting in Gaza.

Abdelatty emphasised the importance of expanding humanitarian aid across Gaza, rehabilitating hospitals and healthcare facilities, and enabling displaced civilians to return to their homes.

Syria leader welcomes UN forces in buffer zone with Israel

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa says his country is ready to welcome United Nations peacekeepers into the UN-established buffer zone with Israel.

“Israel’s advance in the region was due to the presence of Iranian militias and Hezbollah. After the liberation of Damascus, I believe that they have no presence at all. There are pretexts that Israel is using today to advance into the Syrian regions, into the buffer zone,” said al-Sharaa.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he ordered Israeli forces to grab a buffer zone in the Golan Heights – established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria – after a lightning advance by Syrian opposition forces ended Bashar al-Assad’s rule last month.



Qatar PM demands Israel ‘immediately withdraw’ from Syria after land grab

Qatar told Israel to “immediately withdraw” from its “buffer zone” with Syria as its prime minister visited Damascus after Israeli troops seized the area following Bashar al-Assad’s fall.

“The Israeli occupation’s seizure of the buffer zone is a reckless … act and it must immediately withdraw,” Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at a news conference with Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Sheikh Mohammed pledged to support the rehabilitation of Syria’s infrastructure, devastated by nearly 14 years of civil war.

“We will provide the necessary technical support to make the infrastructure operational again and provide support to the electricity sector,” he said, adding Qatar “extends its hand to our Syrian brothers for future partnerships”.

Israel creating ‘new reality on the ground’ in occupied Golan Heights

Sultan Barakat, a public policy professor at the Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, tells Al Jazeera that Israel’s expansion into the occupied Golan Heights after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in Syria is designed to establish a new reality.

“It’s shifting the line for negotiations and political settlement into the future,” Barakat said. “It’s creating new realities on the ground and distracting people from what the real issue is.”

Barakat said Israeli proposals for a buffer zone to be established in the occupied territory or a joint “park of peace” were disingenuous.

“All of these ideas are really designed to create a new reality on the ground,” he said, “and to grab more land and to create a negotiation position that is very different from what is legally recognised.”

NGO worker killed alongside young family by overnight Israeli airstrikes, colleagues say

Israeli bombardment killed a Palestinian human rights worker, his wife and their two young daughters in northern Gaza early Thursday, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), a Gaza-based NGO.

Ihab Marwan Kamal Faisal, 33, his wife Hanin Jamal Al-Dahdouh, 29, and their two daughters – Reem, 6, and Najma, 3 – were killed by the attack in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, the PCHR said. The family had been seeking refuge at the house, the group added.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

Months earlier, two of Faisal’s brothers were killed by Israeli bombing and two of his wife’s brothers were killed in another bombing in Gaza City, the organization said.

“Words cannot describe my feelings and the feelings of my colleagues towards this ongoing brutality against our people and against our colleagues,” Raji Sourani, a lawyer and the director of the PCHR, said in statement.

“He was a man of good character and commitment and was dedicated to his work in the darkest and most dangerous circumstances,” he added. “The brutality of the occupation is evident in every detail of our lives, killing our children and killing our dreams.”

Disabled children seeking refuge in residential block killed by Israeli airstrike, residents say

More than a dozen Palestinians wrapped in shrouds and blankets covered the floor of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on Thursday, after Israeli forces unleashed a wave of aerial attacks overnight.

CNN footage from the medical facility, in northern Gaza, showed relatives, including elderly men, kneeling over the bodies of the deceased. In some scenes, blood stains can be seen seeping through the cloths. In another scene, rows of Palestinian men line up to perform Janazah, the Islamic funeral prayer.

At least 53 bodies – including 18 women, 18 children, 14 men and three elderly people – have arrived at Al-Ahli hospital since the ceasefire and hostage release deal was reached on Wednesday night, according to the hospital director, Dr. Fadel Naim. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN they “conducted strikes on approximately 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip” over the past day.

Ali Asaliyah, a man displaced from Jabalya, just north of Gaza City, told CNN his brother-in-law was killed by bombardment on a residential block in Sheikh Radwan, in Gaza City. Three girls and a boy with disabilities were also killed, he said.

“They were martyred through no fault of their own, completely powerless,” Asaliyah told CNN. “From the moment they announced a ceasefire, the Israelis heavily bombed residential blocks… We are all targeted in Gaza. We are all civilians. We don’t have weapons, nor are we affiliated with the resistance,” he said.

Abu Hani Alloush, who is elderly, told CNN from the hospital that he was sitting at home on Wednesday evening when his house came falling down on him shortly after it was struck. “We are waiting for the truce, hoping those who are missing and those displaced will return,” he said. “People are dying every minute… We consider them martyrs, and we say, ‘indeed we belong to God, and indeed to Him we return.’”

_{Women cry over the body of a loved one killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza City the previous night outside the morgue at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on Thursday}