We’re closing this blog now and moving our live coverage to another blog shortly. It’s just gone 7.50am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv – here’s a recap of the key developments:
The Israeli government has ratified a ceasefire deal to exchange dozens of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians in Israeli jails and pause the 15-month war in Gaza for an initial six weeks. Under the deal, approved after a cabinet meeting that ended early on Saturday, a six-week ceasefire will take effect on Sunday. However, key questions remain, including the names of the 33 hostages to be released during the six-week first phase of the ceasefire and who among them is still alive, Lorenzo Tondo and Bethan McKernan report. “The government has approved the hostage return plan”, the office of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. The agreement, which was earlier approved by the security cabinet, came despite an unexpected delay on Friday that sparked fears that last-minute disagreements between Israel and the Palestinian militant group might scuttle the agreement.
Lead US negotiator Brett McGurk said after the Israeli cabinet approval that the plan was moving forward on track. The White House expected the ceasefire to start on Sunday morning, with three female hostages to be released to Israel on Sunday afternoon through the Red Cross.
Under the deal, the three-stage ceasefire starts with an initial six-week phase when hostages held by Hamas will be exchanged for prisoners detained by Israel. Thirty-three of the 98 remaining Israeli hostages, including women, children, and men over 50, were due to be freed in this phase. Israel will release all Palestinian women and children under 19 in Israeli jails by the end of the first phase. French president Emmanuel Macron said French-Israeli citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi were in the first group of hostages to be freed by Hamas.
The ceasefire deal was bitterly opposed by some hardliners in the Israeli cabinet, with media reports saying 24 ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition government voted in favour of the deal while eight opposed it. National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if it was approved but said he would not bring down the government. His fellow hardliner Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, also threatened to quit the government if it did not go back to war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire. The Israeli high court is still scheduled to hear petitions against elements of the ceasefire deal but is widely expected not to intervene.
Negotiators from Egypt, Qatar, the US and Israel had agreed on “all necessary arrangements to implement” the Gaza ceasefire deal, Egyptian media reported. During Friday’s talks, which reportedly ended “on a positive note”, negotiators agreed to form a joint operations room in Cairo to “ensure effective coordination” and compliance with the truce terms, it said.
Israel’s justice ministry released a list of 95 Palestinians held in Israeli prisoners to be freed in the first exchange, including 25 male prisoners, all under the age of 21, and 70 female prisoners. One of the most well-known individuals on the list is Palestinian parliament member and feminist lawmaker Khalida Jarrar.
At least 115 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said on Friday, while medics said another five were killed in an Israeli airstrike early on Saturday in the Mawasi area west of Khan Younis. Gaza’s health ministry said at least 46,876 people had been killed and 110,642 injured in more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
The Palestinian Authority is ready to assume “full responsibility” in postwar Gaza, president Mahmoud Abbas said in his first statement since the ceasefire deal was announced. This would include the return of displaced people, providing basic services, crossings management and reconstruction of the war-torn territory, a statement from the Palestinian presidency said.
The head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, welcomed the ceasefire but warned that it was “only a starting point”. Lazzarini on Friday called for a “rapid, uninterrupted and unhindered” humanitarian access to the “tremendous suffering” in Gaza. He also noted that the Israeli Knesset’s legislation barring the UN agency would come into effect in less than two weeks, warning that it would be “catastrophic” for Gaza. UK lawmakers said the Israeli ban on Unrwa threatened to undermine efforts for peace in the Middle East.
UN secretary general António Guterres urged an end to Israel’s “continued occupation” and “military operations” in south Lebanon, after a November ceasefire to end fighting between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
Aid agencies have warned of obstacles for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians, from destroyed infrastructure, massive need and collapsed law and order. A UN official called it “a moment of hope and opportunity” but said “we should be under no illusions how tough it will still be to get support to survivors”. On the ground in the territory, where nearly all 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, aid workers worry nothing will be enough to meet the need.
The UN announced new actions to counter the surge in antisemitism, including encouraging governments to enforce laws against hate crimes and discrimination. Miguel Moratinos, the head of the UN alliance of civilisations, which developed the plan, said he was alarmed at the surge in antisemitic incidents online and offline, citing attacks on synagogues and religious sites including after the October 2023 Hamas attacks in southern Israel.
International criminal court prosecutor, Karim Khan, defended his decision to bring war crimes allegations against Israel’s prime minister, saying Israel had made “no real effort” to investigate the allegations itself. He told Reuters he stood by his decision over the arrest warrant despite a vote last week by the US House of Representatives to sanction the court in protest, a move he described as “unwanted and unwelcome”.
A former US intelligence official pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified documents detailing Israel’s plans for military attacks on Iran. Asif Rahman, who worked for the CIA since 2016, faces up to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in a federal court in Virginia to two counts of wilful retention and transmission of national defence information.
UN announces new plan to counter antisemitism
The United Nations has announced new actions to counter the surge in antisemitism, including encouraging governments to enforce laws against hate crimes and discrimination.
Miguel Moratinos, the head of the UN alliance of civilisations, which developed the plan, said he was alarmed at the surge in antisemitic incidents online and offline, the Associated Press reports. He cited attacks on synagogues and religious sites, including after the October 2023 Hamas attacks in southern Israel which set off the war in Gaza.
“Unfortunately, our efforts, like those of national governments, have not been sufficient to curb the drivers of antisemitism,” Moratinos said on Friday.
He said new actors involved in social transformations in technology, science and the economy must be mobilised “to address online and offline hate speech while upholding human rights”.
The UN plan calls for the establishment of a working group to monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and measures to address antisemitism in the UN. It includes training for all UN personnel on antisemitism and Holocaust denial – and how to fight them.
Outside the UN, the plan encourages governments and organisations to denounce antisemitism swiftly and enhance education about the Holocaust and antisemitism. It also encourages “zero tolerance policies” for antisemitism.
The UN has worked to counter antisemitism but the 193-member global organisation has been accused of being antisemitic, including by US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for UN ambassador, Elise Stefanik, who has called the UN a “den of antisemitism” that she intends to confront.
Updated
