From 19h ago 14.02 BST Far-right Israeli ministers say they will survive Keir Starmer following UK sanctions Israeli far-right minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir, surrounded by security. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has expressed defiance to the UK government’s decision to impose sanctions on him and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. In a statement, Ben-Gvir said: “We survived Pharaoh, we will also survive Keir Starmer. I will continue to work for Israel and the people of Israel without fear or intimidation!” He went on to compare the UK’s decision to the 1939 UK policy paper limiting Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine. Smotrich also calls the decision “a white paper”. “Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we will not allow it to do so again,” he continues. “We are determined to continue building.” Share Updated at 14.04 BST

15h ago 18.15 BST Summary We are now closing the blog. Here is a round-up of events today: The British government has formally sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, following their conduct over the war in Gaza. The UK will join Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other nations in freezing the assets and imposing travel bans on Israel’s national security minister Ben-Gvir, and finance minister Smotrich.

Ben-Gvir expressed defiance to the UK government’s decision to impose sanctions on him and Smotrich. In a statement, Ben-Gvir said: “We survived Pharaoh, we will also survive Keir Starmer. I will continue to work for Israel and the people of Israel without fear or intimidation!”

Israel has deported Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg after she was detained along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat . Thunberg accused Israel of “kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel”. She said she was flying to Sweden via France.

Israeli troops killed at least 17 Palestinians trying to reach food distribution sites on Tuesday morning, local health authorities in Gaza said.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his cabinet on Thursday to discuss hostage talks, The Times of Israel reports. Netanyahu says there has been “significant progress” in hostage talks. “It’s too early to raise hopes,” he said in a video statement, “but we are working tirelessly right now, and all the time. I hope we will be able to move forward.”

The US no longer wholeheartedly endorses an independent state for Palestinians, US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, told Bloomberg News in an interview published on Tuesday.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory says Israel’s attacks in Gaza amount to “war crimes” and “the crime against humanity of extermination.”

The United States and Israel are seeking to turn nuclear talks into a “strategic trap” for Iran, Iranian lawmakers said in a statement on Tuesday, days before a planned sixth round of Iran-US nuclear talks.

Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister between 2006 and 2009, said Trump should summon Netanyahu to the White House and, facing the cameras, tell the Israeli leader: “Bibi: enough is enough”. Olmert said: “This is it. I hope he [Trump] will do it.”

More than 300 Foreign Office staff have been told to consider resigning after they wrote a letter over fears the government had become complicit in Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Sport in Gaza is on the brink of collapse, Asaad al-Majdalawi, vice president of the Palestinian Olympic committee, said. He told Al Jazeera that Gaza’s entire sporting infrastructure is on the brink of collapse.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists taking part in a convoy crossed the Tunisian border on Tuesday into Libya , aiming to keep heading eastwards until they break Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian territory, the AFP reports.

In a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said that Hamas “must hand over its weapons” and called for the deployment of international forces to protect “the Palestinian people”. Share

16h ago 17.23 BST The international charity ActionAid UK has welcomed the UK government’s sanctions on two senior Israeli government officials, but urged for “much more” action as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “deteriorating by the day”. Hannah Bond, co-CEO of ActionAid UK, said there is “no justification for not taking further action immediately”, adding: Until the government halts all arms exports to the Israeli government, the UK risks complicity in these atrocities. There is no more time to waste: the UK must use every diplomatic lever available to it now to bring about a permanent end to the violence, release the hostages, let humanitarian supplies into Gaza and ensure accountability for all breaches of international humanitarian law.

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16h ago 17.15 BST Here are some images coming to us over the wires: View image in fullscreen Activists, heading towards Gaza by land, wave the Palestinian flag as they arrive in Zawiyah, about 45 kilometres west of the Libyan capital Tripoli, on 10 June 2025. Hundreds of people, mainly Tunisians, in a nine-bus convoy including doctors bound for Gaza joined the “Soumoud” convoy, meaning “steadfastness” in Arabic, with the aim of reaching Rafah, in southern Gaza on the border with Egypt, “by the end of the week”, activists told AFP. Photograph: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP View image in fullscreen A view of Palestinian homes destroyed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Tulkarm refugee camp, east of Tulkarm city, in the northern West Bank, on 9 June 2025. Israeli bulldozers, supported by troops, continue large-scale home demolitions in the camp. Photograph: APAImages/Shutterstock Share

17h ago 16.30 BST UK sanctions on Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have been imposed in a “personal capacity”, Downing Street said. A No 10 spokesman said: These sanctions apply to the individuals in their personal capacities, not their ministries and departments. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich do not speak for all Israeli people … and have a long history of dangerous extremist and inflammatory views. As the Israeli ambassador to the UK has said in recent interviews, their statements in their ministerial capacities do not even represent government policy. Their agenda and actions undermine the interests of Israeli people, including security, many Israelis see this. So, today, with our international partners, we have announced measures against those ministers in a personal capacity. Share

17h ago 16.26 BST The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions targeting individuals and charities that it said were prominent financial supporters of the Palestinian groups Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Reuters reports. The US Treasury Department said the individuals and groups targeted were funding Hamas’ military wing under the pretence of doing humanitarian work, in Gaza and internationally. Those sanctioned included the Gaza-based Al Weam Charitable Society, the Turkey-based Filistin Vakfi, the El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work, which is based in Algeria, the Netherlands-based Israa Charitable Foundation and the Associazione Benefica La Cupola d’Oro, based in Italy, the department said in a statement. The five individuals targeted on Tuesday were leaders associated with the groups, it said. Share

17h ago 16.06 BST US harbours doubts about Palestinian state – Ambassador The US no longer wholeheartedly endorses an independent state for Palestinians, US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, told Bloomberg News in an interview published on Tuesday. “Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it,” Huckabee told the outlet. He added that those probably won’t happen “in our lifetime”. When he was asked if a Palestinian state remains a US policy goal, he said: “I don’t think so.” Share Updated at 16.17 BST

18h ago 15.14 BST Patrick Wintour More than 300 Foreign Office staff have been told to consider resigning after they wrote a letter over fears the government had become complicit in Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza. It is the fourth internal letter from staff about the offensive in Gaza, which started in October 2023 in response to Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel. In their letter of 16 May the staff, from embassies around the world and at various levels of seniority, questioned the UK’s continued arms sales and what they called Israel’s “stark … disregard for international law”. Foreign Office staff told to consider resigning after challenging UK policy on Gaza Read more Share

18h ago 15.13 BST Foreign Secretary David Lammy has elaborated on the UK government’s decision to impose sanctions on two Israeli ministers. “We are sanctioning the two ministers who have used horrendous extremist language,” Lammy said, adding that he would “encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language”. View image in fullscreen British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters Asked whether the UK would encourage Mr Netanyahu to sack the ministers, Lammy said: “The Israeli government will make their own determination.”But from the UK’s perspective, he said: “We have to be clear that we act when we see these egregious individuals encouraging abuses of human rights in this way.” Share Updated at 15.16 BST

18h ago 14.55 BST ‘Significant progress’ made in hostage talks – Netanyahu View image in fullscreen Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu Photograph: Abir Sultan/AP After UK sanctions on two Israeli ministers, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there has been “significant progress” in hostage talks. “It’s too early to raise hopes,” he said in a video statement, “but we are working tirelessly right now, and all the time. I hope we will be able to move forward.” Pressure is mounting on Israel to reach a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza after nearly two years of fighting. 54 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom about 31 are thought to be dead. As the war rages on, the chance of their continuing survival diminishes. Dr Einat Yahana, a psychologist with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, says that more than 38% of family members of hostages suffer from extreme fatigue, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and depression. Meanwhile, over 50,000 Palestinians have perished in Gaza since the war began after the 7 October attacks. Foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said: “There has recently been certain progress. In light of past experience, I don’t want to overstate it at this point. “But we are interested in reaching a deal, which will include a ceasefire.” Share Updated at 15.04 BST

Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza and supporters protest for their release, outside the Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv, March 9, 2025. (Photo: Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene a cabinet meeting on Thursday to discuss new initiatives for a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas, Israeli media outlets reported on Tuesday.

In his latest iteration of short video interviews with his aide, Netanyahu said on Monday that there was “significant” progress in the talks with Hamas.

“It’s too early to raise hopes,” he continued, “but we are working tirelessly right now, and all the time. I hope we will be able to move forward.”

Speaking with the Times of Israel, an Israeli official also said there was “tentative progress” in the talks with Hamas in recent days.

“There is a chance. There are contacts – and there are developments,” an Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post. The talks reportedly focus on the latest Witkoff proposal, which includes the release of 10 Israeli hostages in return for 60 days of ceasefire.

Hamas has reportedly worked on a new response to the proposal amid heavy pressure from Qatar, as well as Arab-American Bishara Bahbah and the White House envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Bahbah, who is originally from Lebanon, has been sent to Qatar and has talked with senior Hamas officials in recent weeks.

The Jerusalem Post cited informed sources who said that Hamas’ upcoming response could lead to a breakthrough in the talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked on the phone on Monday, and in addition to the Iran nuclear talks, also discussed the Gaza War.

Afterward, Trump told reporters, “We are in the midst of negotiations between us, Israel, and Hamas. We’ll see what happens with Gaza. We want to bring the hostages back.”

Meanwhile, the fighting on the ground continued unabated. On Tuesday, a rocket launched by Hamas from the northern Gaza Strip triggered alarm sirens in Zikim, before the Israeli Air Force intercepted it.

#عاجل ‼️ الى كل المتواجدين في شمال قطاع غزة وتحديدًا في أحياء الكرامة، عبد الرحمن، النهضة ومعسكر جباليا في بلوكات 975, 979, 980, 982, 983, 1814

⭕️جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي يعمل بقوة شديدة جداً في مناطق وجودكم لتدمير قدرات المنظمات الإرهابية.

⭕️سيرد جيش الدفاع بشكل صارم على كل عملية… pic.twitter.com/bv3YjWr6BU — افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) June 10, 2025

In response, IDF Arabic Spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee issued evacuation orders for the launch areas near Jabaliya, before impending airstrikes.

Earlier Tuesday, Hamas again alleged that IDF troops fired on Gazan civilians, claiming that 17 Palestinians were killed by IDF fire near an aid distribution site.

The military confirmed that troops fired warning shots “to distance suspects who were advancing in the area of Wadi Gaza and posed a threat to the troops. This is despite warnings that the area is an active combat zone.”

“The IDF is aware of reports regarding several individuals injured in the area. An initial inquiry suggests that the number of reported individuals injured does not align with the information held by the IDF. The details are under review.”

“The warning shots were fired hundreds of meters from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours and toward the suspects who posed a threat to the troops,” the military stressed.

כוחות צה״ל בפיקוד הדרום ממשיכים לפעול בהכוונת אגף המודיעין ושב”כ נגד ארגוני הטרור ברחבי רצועת עזה, במסגרת מבצע “מרכבות גדעון”.

במספר פעילויות של צוותי הקרב של אוגדה 98 ביממה האחרונה, זיהו הכוחות כעשרה מחבלים בסמוך אליהם.

הכוחות חיסלו את המחבלים באמצעות ירי צלפים וירי פגזים… pic.twitter.com/pTpgPRmErv — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 9, 2025

On Sunday, Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip killed 10 terrorists in a single incident, after they posed a threat to them. In another incident, “IDF troops identified five terrorists adjacent to them. Following the identification, the troops directed an IAF aircraft that struck and eliminated the terrorists,“ the army said.

Throughout Sunday, “the IAF struck dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including military structures, terrorists, anti-tank missile launchers, terror tunnels, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites used by the Hamas terrorist organization that posed a threat to the troops in the area.”

The IDF also stated that troops of the 188th Armored Brigade completed an operation to expand the security zone securing the Israeli communities located on the Gaza border and beyond.

As part of the operation, they dismantled underground infrastructure in the area of Khirbat Ikhzaa, “which served as a central stronghold of the Hamas terrorist organization.”

הושלם מבצע של חטיבה 188 להשמדת יותר מ-1,200 תשתיות טרור בח׳רבת אחזעה ולהרחבת מרחב האבטחה מול יישובי הנגב המערבי

לכל הפרטים והתיעודים 👈 https://t.co/mVPPhHqFNG pic.twitter.com/ha9FVLW0p7 — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 10, 2025

During the Oct. 7 invasion and massacre, “hundreds of Hamas terrorists emerged from this area and infiltrated into communities,” the IDF said.

Soldiers from the 188th Armored Brigade and the Yahalom engineering commando also found and dismantled an underground tunnel route, 500 meters long and 25 meters deep.

“During combat engineering operations and through Israeli Air Force strikes, dozens of terrorists were eliminated and over 1,200 terrorist infrastructure sites – both above and below ground – were dismantled, in order to remove threats to the communities near the border.”

News Analysis

An injured man searching through the rubble of his home in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, after an Israeli strike on Tuesday.

For weeks, Israel and Hamas had been locked in fruitless negotiations to extend the fragile cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and exchange more Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

The talks stalled because Hamas refused to release significant numbers of hostages unless Israel promised to permanently end the war — a commitment Israel would not make unless Hamas agreed to give up power in Gaza.

Now, Israel appears to have returned to war in an attempt to crush Hamas’s hopes of retaining control of the territory.

Israel’s heavy aerial attacks on Gaza early on Tuesday stopped short of an immediate ground invasion. But they could develop into a full ground operation if Hamas refuses to give up control of Gaza, according to two Israeli military officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has already reaped domestic rewards from the strikes. Hours after they began, a far-right party rejoined Mr. Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, bolstering the government’s fragile majority in Parliament, weeks after it left the alliance to protest the initial truce.

In Gaza, the strikes have served as a brutal reminder to Hamas of the destruction that it and Gaza’s civilian population face if the group doesn’t back down. The strikes killed hundreds, according to the Gazan Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, in one of the highest nightly tolls in months. Israel’s military also ordered residents in two Palestinian border villages to flee their homes, hinting at the possibility of an Israeli invasion there in the coming days.

By making missile strikes instead of immediately beginning such a ground operation, Israel was seeking “to push Hamas to show more flexibility,” said Michael Milstein, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian affairs and a former senior officer in Israeli military intelligence. “The big question,” he said, “is how Hamas will respond.”

“Personally I don’t think it’s likely Hamas will be ready to give up their red lines,” Mr. Milstein said. “I’m quite concerned that within a few days we will find ourselves in a limited war of attrition: ongoing airstrikes but no readiness from Hamas to give up.”

If that remains the case, the Israeli officials said, Israel could potentially capture and exert more formal control over large parts of the territory. That would constitute a strategy that Israel avoided during earlier phases of the war.

The military also aims to kill senior Hamas administrators who were not previously viewed as high-priority targets, the officials said, in a bid to signal to Hamas that Israel will not allow the group to retain control of Gaza. Hamas’s government media office announced that four of the most senior civilian administrators and security chiefs in the territory were killed in the Israeli strikes.

“This is just the beginning,” Mr. Netanyahu warned in a speech hours later. “We will keep fighting to achieve all of the war’s objectives.”

Video It was the first major strike on Gaza since Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire nearly two months ago. Credit Credit… Hatem Khaled/Reuters

By Tuesday evening, 16 hours after the Israeli assault began, Hamas still had not fired back and, though it did call on Palestinians to step up attacks in the West Bank, it did not issue a statement vowing an immediate response from Gaza. It was not clear whether that was because its military capabilities were too degraded in the earlier phases of the war, or because it sought to avoid a stronger response from Israel.

Either way, it showed no public signs of backing down in the negotiations. In statements to the news media, Hamas harshly criticized the strikes, dismissing Israeli claims that it had been on the point of renewing its own attacks on Israel. The group warned that Israel had condemned the remaining hostages in Gaza to an “unknown fate.”

The Israeli government said that the resumption of airstrikes was intended to expedite the hostages’ release by putting Hamas under more pressure to compromise. The government’s domestic critics said the strikes actually endangered the hostages since they foreclosed any immediate chance of their negotiated release.

Critics said that the return to war was mainly an attempt to shore up Mr. Netanyahu’s fragile coalition ahead of a tight vote in Parliament on a new national budget. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right lawmaker who quit the government in January in protest of the cease-fire deal, led his party back into the coalition on Tuesday, praising the military action as “the right, moral, ethical and most justified step.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents also said that the renewed fighting was an attempt to distract from the government’s divisive plan to fire Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet.

“Netanyahu is using the lives of our citizens and soldiers because he trembles in fear of us — from the public protest against the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet,” Yair Golan, an opposition leader, said in a social media post. The cabinet was expected to vote on Tuesday on Mr. Bar’s future, a move that had prompted calls for mass protests.

Asked to respond the opposition’s claims, Mr. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.

Reporting was contributed by Rawan Sheikh Ahmad from Haifa, Israel, Myra Noveck from Jerusalem and Johnatan Reiss from Tel Aviv.

From 17 Jan 2025 02.20 GMT Israel PM’s office says hostage-ceasefire deal reached – reports Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams have signed a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Qatar, according to Israeli media. The Times of Israel quoted a statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office as saying the Israeli prime minister had convened a security cabinet meeting for Friday in order to hold a vote on the deal. “The [full cabinet] will later convene to approve the deal,” the statement adds. The Israeli negotiating team called Netanyahu a short while ago to inform him the deal was reached, with him thanking them for their efforts, it said. The families of the remaining 98 hostages have also been updated, according to the statement, which says Netanyahu instructed authorities to work together on preparations for receiving the captives who will be freed as part of the deal. Netanyahu’s office added: The state of Israel is committed to achieving all the goals of the war, including the return of all our hostages, both the living and the dead. Haaretz also reported that a hostage deal had been reached. The Jerusalem Post said the government plenum was currently set to vote on the measure on Saturday, which would delay the release of the first hostages until Monday, rather than Sunday as initially planned. The vote is expected to cause significant opposition in the government, the Post reports, with three ministers already promising to quit if the Israel-Hamas war does not continue Share Updated at 02.23 GMT

17 Jan 2025 02.56 GMT Closing summary We are closing this blog now but you can continue to follow live coverage on a new liveblog here. Summary: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early on Friday that a deal to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip has been reached. The announcement comes a day after Netanyahu’s office said there were last-minute snags in talks to free hostages in return for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu said he will convene his security cabinet later on Friday and then the government to approve the ceasefire agreement. On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet won’t meet to approve the agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages until Hamas backs down, accusing the group of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt to gain further concessions. Senior US officials insisted the hard-won ceasefire would go into effect on Sunday as planned despite the unexpected delay. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he was “very confident” that the ceasefire would go forward and he “fully expects that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday”. He confirmed that there had been a “loose end” between the sides in the complex negotiations. US representatives are still believed to be actively involved with talks in Doha on the final details needed to get the deal over the line.

A vote is now expected to take place on Friday morning, Israeli media reported. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s hardline national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, announced on Thursday evening that he would quit the government if it ratifies the ceasefire deal, calling it “irresponsible” and “reckless”. Ben-Gvir’s departure would not bring down Netanyahu’s government. Opposition leader Yair Lapid pledged his support for Netanyahu, saying that the deal was “more important than any disagreement we’ve ever had.”

Fighting has continued in Gaza despite expectations of a ceasefire, with at least 80 Palestinians killed and hundreds more injured by Israeli airstrikes since the ceasefire announcement , according to the civil defence agency. The Israeli military said that it had conducted strikes on “approximately 50 terror targets” across Gaza since late Wednesday. A civil defence spokesperson said its teams had recovered the bodies of five children after a strike on the northern city of Jabalia.

More than 46,788 Palestinians have been killed and a further 110,453 wounded by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the latest figures by the territory’s health ministry on Thursday. They include 81 killed and 188 injured in the past 24 hours. Among them was Fatin Shaqoura-Salha, the chief of nursing staff at Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat, ActionAid said.

The ceasefire agreement, announced on Wednesday, was due to come into effect on Sunday. In the first phase, to last 42 days, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages and in exchange, Israel would release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female Israeli soldier released by Hamas, and 30 for other hostages. Palestinians displaced from their homes would be allowed to move freely around Gaza, wounded people would be vacuated for treatment abroad, and aid to the territory should increase to 600 trucks a day. A second phase would include Israel completely withdrawing from Gaza.

The leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi, said the Iran-aligned group would suspend their attacks on Red Sea targets but continue if Israel backtracks on the ceasefire. The Houthi attacks have damaged as many as 30 ships and caused a diversion of commercial shipping to South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. Reprisals by the US, Israel and the UK have damaged key Yemen ports and led to multiple deaths.

Arab states are urging Israel and the incoming Trump administration to allow the Palestinian Authority (PA), in conjunction with the UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, to oversee Gaza’s recovery. The future governance of Gaza is due to be discussed at the start of negotiations on the second stage of the deal 16 days after a ceasefire begins. Share

17 Jan 2025 02.38 GMT Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that a deal to return hostages held in Gaza has been reached came a day after the Israeli prime minister’s office said there were last-minute snags in the ceasefire talks.

On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet wouldn’t meet to approve the agreement for a truce in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages until Hamas backed down, accusing the militant group of reneging on parts of the deal in an attempt to gain further concessions, the Associated Press reports. View image in fullscreen Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel remains ‘committed to achieving all the goals of the war’. Photograph: Maya Alleruzzo/AFP/Getty Images Meanwhile, Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 72 people since the ceasefire deal was announced, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight as people were celebrating the ceasefire deal. In previous conflicts, both sides have stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires go into effect as a way to project strength.

Under the deal, expected to begin on Sunday, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The remainder, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Share Updated at 02.50 GMT

17 Jan 2025 02.20 GMT Israel PM’s office says hostage-ceasefire deal reached – reports Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams have signed a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Qatar, according to Israeli media. The Times of Israel quoted a statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office as saying the Israeli prime minister had convened a security cabinet meeting for Friday in order to hold a vote on the deal. “The [full cabinet] will later convene to approve the deal,” the statement adds. The Israeli negotiating team called Netanyahu a short while ago to inform him the deal was reached, with him thanking them for their efforts, it said. The families of the remaining 98 hostages have also been updated, according to the statement, which says Netanyahu instructed authorities to work together on preparations for receiving the captives who will be freed as part of the deal. Netanyahu’s office added: The state of Israel is committed to achieving all the goals of the war, including the return of all our hostages, both the living and the dead. Haaretz also reported that a hostage deal had been reached. The Jerusalem Post said the government plenum was currently set to vote on the measure on Saturday, which would delay the release of the first hostages until Monday, rather than Sunday as initially planned. The vote is expected to cause significant opposition in the government, the Post reports, with three ministers already promising to quit if the Israel-Hamas war does not continue Share Updated at 02.23 GMT

17 Jan 2025 01.56 GMT Israel has agreed to a Gaza ceasefire deal and the cabinet will meet on Friday, Reuters has just reported Israeli media as saying. Share Updated at 02.00 GMT

17 Jan 2025 01.42 GMT Israeli warplanes have kept up intense strikes in Gaza while Israel delayed a cabinet vote on the ceasefire and hostage release deal. Palestinian authorities said late on Thursday that at least 86 people were killed in the day after the truce was unveiled. The Israel Defense Forces said late on Thursday that in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet, the air force had attacked about 50 terrorist targets throughout Gaza in the past 24 hours. The US, however, said it still expected the agreement to go into effect on Sunday as planned. White House spokesperson John Kirby said Washington believed the agreement was on track and the was expected to proceed “as soon as late this weekend”. “We are seeing nothing that would tell us that this is going to get derailed at this point,” Reuters reports him telling CNN on Thursday. With longstanding divisions apparent among ministers, Israel delayed meetings expected on Thursday where the cabinet would vote on the pact, blaming Hamas for the hold-up. Israeli media reports said voting could occur on Friday or Saturday. Share Updated at 02.47 GMT

17 Jan 2025 01.12 GMT Egypt urges truce deal be implemented ‘without delay’ Egypt’s chief diplomat has called on Israel and Hamas to implement the Gaza ceasefire plan “without any delay”, raising pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the deal. Foreign minister Badr Abdelatty declined to comment on the Israeli prime minister’s claims that Hamas has “reneged” on certain pledges in the agreement. But, speaking to the Associated Press, Abdelatty said a deal had been reached thanks to “deep involvement” by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, including officials from Donald Trump’s incoming administration. “We have a deal. What’s very important is to start implementation,” Abdelatty said from the foreign ministry’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, a newly built city east of Cairo. What we are doing now is to push for final approval and implementation, without any delay. View image in fullscreen Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty: ‘we are expecting that others to fulfil their own commitments.’ Photograph: Amr Nabil/AP Cairo is supposed to be the location for continued talks between the US, Qatar and Egypt on implementing the deal. Abdelatty said the talks were set to begin soon, and that the mediators would have an “operation room” overseeing the deal in the Egyptian capital.

He said: We are fully committed to fulfil our own commitments and we are expecting that others to fulfil their own commitments. Share Updated at 02.44 GMT

17 Jan 2025 00.41 GMT EU pledges €120m in new aid for Gaza The European Union has said it will deliver €120m ($123m) in fresh aid for Gaza to address the “ongoing humanitarian crisis” there. The package would include food, healthcare and shelter assistance and support to allow access to clean water, said a statement from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. Agence France-Presse reports the commission as saying a day after the announcement of a ceasefire deal that the new package brought the EU’s humanitarian assistance to Gaza to more than €450m since 2023. The EU had also conducted flights that delivered over 3,800 tonnes of aid. EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said Brussels hoped the ceasefire would “allow vastly improved access for humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, and that aid can be effectively distributed to those in need”. Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa is in Brussels for meetings with senior EU officials including European Council chief Antonio Costa on Thursday and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Friday. EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib met Mustafa earlier on Thursday, after which she said they “discussed the huge needs in Gaza and the West Bank and how to address them”. Share Updated at 00.42 GMT

17 Jan 2025 00.14 GMT Palestinians in Gaza are eager to leave bleak tent camps and return to their homes if a ceasefire agreement halts the war, but many will find there is nothing left and no way to rebuild, as the Associated Press reports. Israeli bombardment and ground operations have transformed entire neighbourhoods in several cities into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and mounds of debris stretching away in all directions. Major roads have been plowed up. Critical water and electricity infrastructure is in ruins. Most hospitals no longer function. And it’s unclear when – or even if – much will be rebuilt. View image in fullscreen Palestinians walk past the rubble of homes in Khan Younis destroyed in Israeli strikes. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters The agreement for a phased ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas-led militants does not say who will govern Gaza after the war, or whether Israel and Egypt will lift a blockade limiting the movement of people and goods that they imposed when Hamas seized power in 2007. The UN says it could take more than 350 years to rebuild if the blockade remains. Share Updated at 00.17 GMT

16 Jan 2025 23.17 GMT An envoy from president-elect Donald Trump took part in the final negotiations on the ceasefire deal side-by-side with an incumbent official in Biden’s White House in a highly unusual arrangement, as Agence France-Presse reports. In Washington, US secretary of state Antony Blinken was asked about Trump claiming he sealed the deal and Blinken responded: “The important thing is not who gets the credit; the important thing is getting the results.” Virtually everything that now needs to be implemented under the agreement will be implemented under the Trump administration. It was very important for the parties to know that the Trump administration stood behind the agreement that we negotiated. Asked whether the Biden administration would leave without any determination on whether Israel had carried out human rights violations, Blinken said: In Gaza, we faced a uniquely challenging situation in trying to make final determinations. Uniquely in Gaza, besides having a population that’s been trapped there that has nowhere else to go, you have an enemy that embeds itself in and among civilians, houses, hospitals, mosques, schools. Blinken, speaking at a farewell news conference, also defended his own record on human rights, pointing to statements and sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage Share Updated at 23.18 GMT

16 Jan 2025 22.49 GMT Summary of the day so far It’s nearly 1am in Tel Aviv and Gaza. Here’s a recap of the latest developments: Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delayed a cabinet meeting originally scheduled for Thursday to vote on and ratify a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. In a statement released before a planned security cabinet and wider government meeting, Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of having “reneged on parts of the agreement” which had created a “last-minute crisis”, and said cabinet would not convene until “Hamas accepts all elements of the agreement”. A senior Hamas official, Izzat el-Reshiq, s aid after Netanyahu’s announcement that the group remained committed to the ceasefire deal.

Senior US officials insisted the hard-won ceasefire would go into effect on Sunday as planned despite the unexpected delay. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he was “very confident” that the ceasefire would go forward and he “fully expects that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday”. He confirmed that there had been a “loose end” between the sides in the complex negotiations. US representatives are still believed to be actively involved with talks in Doha on the final details needed to get the deal over the line.

A vote is now expected to take place on Friday morning, Israeli media reported. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s hardline national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, announced on Thursday evening that he would quit the government if it ratifies the ceasefire deal, calling it “irresponsible” and “reckless”. Ben-Gvir’s departure would not bring down Netanyahu’s government. Opposition leader Yair Lapid pledged his support for Netanyahu, saying that the deal was “more important than any disagreement we’ve ever had.”

Fighting has continued in Gaza despite expectations of a ceasefire, with at least 80 Palestinians killed and hundreds more injured by Israeli airstrikes since the ceasefire announcement , according to the civil defence agency. The Israeli military said that it had conducted strikes on “approximately 50 terror targets” across Gaza since late Wednesday. A civil defence spokesperson said its teams had recovered the bodies of five children after a strike on the northern city of Jabalia.

More than 46,788 Palestinians have been killed and a further 110,453 wounded by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the latest figures by the territory’s health ministry on Thursday. They include 81 killed and 188 injured in the past 24 hours. Among them was Fatin Shaqoura-Salha, the chief of nursing staff at Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat, ActionAid said.

The ceasefire agreement, announced on Wednesday but which has not been formally agreed, is supposed to come into effect on Sunday. In the first phase, to last 42 days, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages and in exchange, Israel would release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female Israeli soldier released by Hamas, and 30 for other hostages. Palestinians displaced from their homes would be allowed to move freely around Gaza, wounded people would be vacuated for treatment abroad, and aid to the territory should increase to 600 trucks a day. A second phase would include Israel completely withdrawing from Gaza.

The leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi, said the Iran-aligned group would suspend their attacks on Red Sea targets but continue if Israel backtracks on the ceasefire. The Houthi attacks have damaged as many as 30 ships and caused a diversion of commercial shipping to South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. Reprisals by the US, Israel and the UK have damaged key Yemen ports and led to multiple deaths.

Arab states are urging Israel and the incoming Trump administration to allow the Palestinian Authority (PA), in conjunction with the UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, to oversee Gaza’s recovery. The future governance of Gaza is due to be discussed at the start of negotiations on the second stage of the deal 16 days after a ceasefire begins. Share

16 Jan 2025 22.36 GMT Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, threatened on Thursday to resign from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if it ratifies the ceasefire deal. “The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” he said in a televised statement, saying it would “erase the achievements of the war” by releasing hundreds of Palestinian militants and withdrawing from strategic areas in Gaza, leaving Hamas undefeated. 0:40 Israel’s extreme-right security minister says he will quit government if ceasefire ratified – video Share

16 Jan 2025 22.18 GMT White House confident that ceasefire deal on a ‘glidepath towards implementation’ Faisal Ali The White House’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, struck an optimistic tone regarding the prospects for implementing the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal during an interview with CNN. “We believe we’re on a good path here to begin implementation by the weekend,” said Kirby, adding: “We’ve seen nothing that would tell us this will get derailed at this point.” Kirby acknowledged the impact the deal is having on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile coalition but remarked that “Israeli politics has to churn through this.” He expressed confidence, however, that the deal was on a “glidepath towards implementation.” CNN’s Jake Tapper also asked about Joe Biden’s legacy in light of the significant civilian costs in Gaza during the course of the fighting and the impact it had on Biden’s administration. Kirby defended the outgoing president’s record, saying that the US “came to the defence of our ally and friend Israel, in fact to the point of putting US pilots and US jets in the air to defend Israel from missiles and drones fired by Iran, and kept the IDF in the fight.” Share Updated at 22.43 GMT

16 Jan 2025 21.55 GMT ‘We are living on our nerves’: Families await release of Palestinian prisoners Families of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are eagerly awaiting their release following a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that will liberate hundreds of detainees. One thousand Palestinians arrested by Israeli troops in Gaza after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 who did not take part in the offensive will be released, and some of the freed Palestinians from the West Bank will be sent to third countries rather than be allowed to return home. Mervat Moadi, 53, from the village of Jifna, north of Ramallah, was waiting anxiously for the official list of Palestinian prisoners to be released. Her husband, Marwan, 64, was jailed in 2012 for allegedly participating in an infamous incident in the second intifada in which two army reservists who got lost were lynched by a crowd at a police station in Ramallah in 2000. He denies any wrongdoing, saying he was present in a crowd of funeral mourners. View image in fullscreen People lift placards bearing portraits of Palestinians currently detained by Israel during a protest in Ramallah city. Photograph: Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images The couple have three sons, and grandchildren the man has never met. “The last time I visited him was in July 2023, and after that we were unable to see him during the war,” Mervat said. ‘ I am very nervous. My heart tells me that I will see him. Every hour that passes feels like a year. Waiting is very difficult for the family. We, as wives of prisoners, whether Palestinian or Israeli, suffer every moment. We do not know when we will see our loved ones. ‘‘The moment of waiting and anticipation is a deadly one,” she said. Families await release of Palestinian prisoners after ceasefire deal Read more Share Updated at 22.04 GMT

16 Jan 2025 21.36 GMT Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, has threatened to resign if Israel withdraws from the Philadelphi corridor, as outlined in phase one of the ceasefire deal. In a statement posted to X, he wrote: I hereby undertake that if, God forbid, there is a withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor (before the war goals are achieved), or if we do not return to fighting in order to complete the war goals – I will resign from my position as a government minister. Chikli’s announcement is significant as he is the first member of the Likud party, led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to threaten to quit over details of the agreement. What is the Philadelphi corridor, and why is it so important to Israel? Read more Share

16 Jan 2025 20.52 GMT Palestinian leaders who administer the occupied West Bank are preparing themselves in case they are tasked with running critical services and setting up an interim government in Gaza. The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Mustafa, met with top officials to discuss plans for reintegrating government institutions in Gaza, Associated Press reported. This would include the Palestinian territory’s healthcare, education, water and power sectors, as well as coordinating a surge of humanitarian aid. There is still no plan for who will govern Gaza after the war. Israel has said it will work with local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas or the western-backed Palestinian Authority. Share Updated at 21.02 GMT