Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
The ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, aims to secure the release of 12 more Israeli hostages during its first 42-day phase, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire were set to begin on Monday, but there have been no details on the status of the talks.
An official from Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in Somalia, has rejected a report by the Telegraph that suggested his state would welcome an Israeli plan to send Palestinians from Gaza there and was prepared to host them. On Thursday, the Telegraph reported that Israel was considering sending Palestinians from Gaza to Puntland, suggesting that the proposal had been welcomed by an official from the state.
Israel and Hamas completed their fifth hostage-prisoner swap under a fragile Gaza ceasefire deal on Saturday, with the frail, disoriented appearance of the three freed Israelis causing dismay among their relatives, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Out of the 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees released by Israel in return, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said seven required hospitalisation, decrying “brutality” and mistreatment in jail.
Hamas in a statement accused Israel of “systematic assaults and mistreatment of our prisoners”, calling it “part of the policy of … the slow killing of prisoners”. The fifth exchange since the truce took effect last month comes as negotiations are set to begin on the next phase of the ceasefire, which should pave the way for a permanent end to the war.
Saturday’s swap also follows remarks by US president Donald Trump suggesting the US should take over the Gaza Strip and clear out its inhabitants, sparking global outrage. Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were all seized by militants during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, “crossed the border into Israeli territory” on Saturday, the Israeli military said. With their return, 73 out of 251 hostages taken during the attack now remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Thousands of Syrians are in limbo as the UK Home Office freezes asylum claims.
The Guardian’s Lizzie Dearden reports:
More than 6,000 Syrians in Britain are stuck in limbo because of an ongoing freeze on their asylum claims, two months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Home Office announced a “pause” on Syrian asylum seekers’ claims on 9 December, the day after rebels swept into Damascus, saying that it needed to “assess the current situation”.
The situation remains deeply uncertain. Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, was recently named president, but his forces are still declared a terrorist group by the UK and other countries.
At least 6,600 Syrian asylum applications, each of which can include more than one person, are frozen in the UK system pending an initial decision and more claims are expected from those arriving on small boats, according to analysis by the Observer of official figures. Leading charities and lawyers have called for the government to resolve the situation.
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