Israel News for 1-15-2025
News Update
Negotiations to finalize an agreement continue today in Doha, with negotiators still waiting for Hamas to respond to the final deal framework. According to the WSJ, the first stage of the deal would pause the fighting in Gaza and allow for the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israel in exchange for the release of 33 hostages being held in Gaza. The hostages to be released would include women, children, people with severe injuries and those above the age of 50. The release of hostages is expected to be spread out over several weeks at least. Israel doesn’t yet know how many of the 33 hostages are alive.
Arab officials said the talks were currently focused on three main implementation issues: who would regulate the flow of aid into the besieged enclave; the evacuation of those injured in Gaza via the main Gaza-Egypt border crossing; and the release of hostages being held in Gaza and Palestinians from Israeli jails. Israel will need to release around 3,000 prisoners, 1,300 in the first phase, including terrorists convicted of mass murders. Hamas has agreed that Palestinians released from long jail terms would leave the Palestinian territories and live in exile abroad with their families. In preparation for the release of Palestinian security prisoners as part of the emerging hostage deal with Hamas, the Israel Prison Service will equip guards with body cameras to ensure transparency and prevent false claims regarding the detainees’ physical condition.
In the first phase, Israeli forces would remain in some parts of Gaza when the fighting stops but would eventually withdraw from the corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and another that bisects the strip. Hamas has reportedly accepted verbal guarantees from the U.S., Qatar, Egypt and Turkey that Israel would continue negotiations for a permanent cease-fire after the expiration of the first phase of the deal.
President-elect Donald Trump said he believed there was a handshake between parties in the negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Doha and that the talks were nearing the end. He said, “I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week, but it has to take place” and that “If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there — a lot of trouble like they have never seen before. They will get it done.” [Biden and his administration futzed around and pandered to Hamas for a year and a half, and one warning from Trump, before he is even president, has got them to agree to a deal. I guess “all hell will break loose” is more convincing than “don’t”.]
Two IDF soldiers were seriously wounded overnight when their jeep hit an explosive device in the Palestinian town of Kabatiya in Samaria. Hours earlier, an Israeli Air Force strike in Jenin killed six terrorists.
Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition from the Palestinian Authority to overturn a law allowing victims of terror to claim compensation from the body that finances the terror, namely the PA. Supreme Court Justice and Acting President Isaac Amit stated, “we will begin and say what is absent from the petition but deserves to be said: The Palestinian Authority pays terrorists and members of their families significant amounts of money and benefits, in close connection with the criminal acts of terrorism they committed.” According to the PA, there are approximately 180 claims pending against it for compensation for acts of terrorism. For more, click here.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs and former foreign minister, has accused Israel of embedding explosives in centrifuge components acquired for Tehran’s nuclear program in what he described as an undisclosed attempt by Israel to sabotage Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
