Benny Gantz. File
| Photo Credit: AP

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Jerusalem:

Masses of Palestinians, who were displaced by months of war, began moving towards the north of the Gaza Strip on Monday after Israel and Hamas said they had reached a deal for the release of another six hostages. The breakthrough preserves a fragile truce deal aimed at ending the more than 15-month conflict, which has devastated the Gaza Strip and displaced nearly all its residents.

Israel had been preventing Palestinians’ return home in northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the terms of the ceasefire. However, the crossing point was opened after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late on Sunday that a new deal was reached with Hamas.

As per reports, the first residents arrived in Gaza City in the early morning after the passage in central Gaza opened at 7.00 am (0500 GMT). Another crossing opened at 9.00 am. 

Gazans Rush Home

Soon after the news of crossings opening filtered out, tens of thousands of Gazans began making their way north along a coastal road on foot Monday morning, carrying what belongings they could. 

Long march home: Thousands of Palestinians trudge along coastal road, finally permitted to return to northern Gaza following the Israel-Hamas agreement pic.twitter.com/3tt9tQDmgl

— RT (@RT_com) January 27, 2025

“It’s a great feeling when you go back home, back to your family, relatives and loved ones, and inspect your house — if it is still a house,” displaced Gazan Ibrahim Abu Hassera told AFP.

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, residents of northern Gaza were due to return at the weekend but Israel said that Hamas had broken the deal by failing to release civilian hostage Yehud and kept the crossings closed. But, the Gazans are happy that thought late, they are given a passage home.

Thousands of Palestinians of all ages return to northern Gaza – emotions are running wild as they reunite with family members https://t.co/0SuqIBxb3n pic.twitter.com/R7Cge39aLf

— RT (@RT_com) January 27, 2025

“At least we are going back home, now I can say war is over and I hope it will stay calm,” Ghada, a mother of five, told Reuters via a chat app.

“No sleep, I have everything packed and ready to go with the first light of day,” she added.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians had waited for two days at roadblocks to return to their homes in northern Gaza, voicing frustration after Israel accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.

The Israeli military put out a statement telling Gaza residents they would be allowed to return on foot through the coastal road at 0500 GMT, and in vehicles through the eastern Salahudeen road at 0700 GMT. It warned them against approaching Israeli forces’ positions.

“The transfer of militants or weapons via these routes to the northern Gaza Strip will be considered a breach of the agreement. Do not cooperate with any terrorist entity that may try to exploit you to transfer weapons or prohibited materials,” said the military.

Hamas-Israel Deal

Late on Sunday, Qatari mediators said Hamas had agreed to release Yehud and two other hostages before Friday and that Israel would in return allow displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza starting Monday morning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israeli hostage Arbel Yehud, soldier Agam Berger and another hostage would be released by Hamas on Thursday, as well as another three on Saturday. 

He also said in a post on X that Israel will allow displaced Gaza families to return to homes in the north of the Palestinian enclave starting Monday morning.

“The prime minister reiterates that Israel will not tolerate any violation of the agreement. We will continue to act for the return of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased,” said a statement issued by Netanyahu’s office.

Following the Qatari announcement, Hamas said early on Monday that it handed over to the mediators the required information regarding the list of Israeli hostages who will be released during the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The move brokered by Qatar and Egyptian mediators would allow around 650,000 Palestinians in central and southern Gaza Strip to return to homes in the north of the enclave, most of which had been laid waste by 15 months of Israel’s aerial and ground offensive. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Hamas took around 250 hostages during the Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies. It sparked the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The fighting has currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire.

French President Emmanuel Macron attends a press conference at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon on January 17, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

France President Emmanuel Macron has said that French-Israeli nationals Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi are on the list of 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the draft Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

“We are working tirelessly to ensure they are reunited with their families,” Mr. Macron said in a message on X.

Under the agreement announced Wednesday (January 15, 2025), 33 of some 100 hostages who remain in Gaza are set to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

The agreement has not yet been approved by Israel’s security cabinet and government.

Mr. Macron was on a visit to neighbouring Lebanon on Friday (January 17, 2025), where he was to meet the crisis-hit country’s newly-elected leaders, as the nation attempts to recover from the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Jerusalem:

Israelis and Palestinians are signaling new efforts to forge a ceasefire deal, even a limited one, for the first time in a year that would pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel some of the hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz told his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Wednesday there was now a chance for a new deal that would allow the return of all the hostages, including US citizens, Mr Katz’s office said.

A Western diplomat in the region, however, said a deal was taking shape, but it would likely be limited in scope, involving the release of only a handful of hostages and a short pause in hostilities.

Such a truce and release would be only the second since the start of the war in October 2023.

The guarded optimism emerges as US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan heads to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and then to Egypt and Qatar, co-mediators with the US on a deal.

Separately, President-elect Donald Trump has demanded that militants of the Palestinian Hamas group release the hostages held in Gaza before he takes over from Mr Biden on Jan. 20. Otherwise, Mr Trump has said, there will be “hell to pay.”

Mr Trump’s designated hostage envoy Adam Boehler has said he too is involved, having spoken already to Mr Biden and to Mr Netanyahu. Israel says 100 hostages remain captive in Gaza. Seven are believed to be US citizens.

Citing Mr Trump’s threat of “hell to pay,” Boehler told Israel’s Channel 13 news last week: “I would appeal to those people that have taken hostages: Make your best deal now. Make it now because every day that passes, it is going to get harder and harder and more Hamas lives will be lost.”

Although Mr Biden and Mr Trump are working separately, their efforts overlap and both stand to gain from a deal. A US official said Trump’s public statements about the need for a swift ceasefire “have not been harmful.” 

The official said the priority is to get the hostages home, whether it is at the end of the Mr Biden term or the start of the Mr Trump term. 

Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s designated Middle East envoy, met separately in late November with Mr Netanyahu and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said a source briefed on the talks.

TIMING IS APT FOR NETANYAHU

The timing for a deal may never have been better politically for Mr Netanyahu.

The prime minister told reporters on Monday that Hamas’ increasing isolation following the collapse of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad’s rule opened the door to a possible hostage deal even if it was too early to claim success.

Israel’s military chief and the head of the Shin Bet internal security service were in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss post-war Gaza border crossings and administration, according to three Israeli security sources.

The public optimism of Israeli leaders over the past week has matched the general tone in internal discussions behind closed doors, according to an Israeli official.

For Mr Netanyahu, concessions would be far easier now with Israel having reestablished its reputation as the most powerful Middle East force and its Iran-backed enemies in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria now posing less of a threat.

Mr Netanyahu’s once-fragile coalition has been strengthened by the addition of Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and his more centrist faction. Mr Netanyahu, having achieved a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, can complete the picture with the return of the hostages in a deal with Hamas.

Over the past year, some of the far-right ministers in his cabinet had voiced objections, even threatening to bring down the government, should the war in Gaza end. But with Israel’s enemies weakened, and his coalition strengthened, Netanyahu is far less vulnerable politically.

Mr Saar said on Monday that Israel was now more optimistic about a possible hostage deal amid reports Hamas had asked other Gaza factions to help it compile a list of Israeli and foreign hostages in their custody, whether dead or alive.

A Palestinian official close to the talks and familiar with the positions of all the parties involved described what he called “a fever of negotiations” with ideas emerging on all sides, including among mediators in Egypt and Qatar.

Mr Trump’s involvement had given the talks a boost, even if the sides have yet to present lists of Palestinian prisoners and hostages to be exchanged or to complete plans for a temporary or phased truce, the Palestinian official said.

He said Hamas was willing to show some flexibility should there be guarantees Israel would not resume the fighting.

It is unclear how the sides can bridge the largest gap that has persisted through numerous rounds of failed negotiations; Hamas demands an end to the war, while Israel says the war will not end before Hamas no longer rules Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to Jordan and Turkey on Wednesday for talks on Syria, the State Department said. Israel is not in his official itinerary but there is always a possibility he might add the stop.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

The White House is working on a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza but is “not there yet,” the US National Security Advisor told NBC on Sunday, with fighting in the conflict raging on as regional leaders meet to discuss the crisis.

“We are working actively to try to make it happen. We are engaged deeply with the key players in the region, and there is activity even today,” said Jake Sullivan, according to a transcript released by the broadcaster.

“There will be further conversations and consultations, and our hope is that we can generate a ceasefire and hostage deal, but we’re not there yet,” he added.

Sullivan’s comments came a day after Israel hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, days into a fragile ceasefire in its conflict with the Iran-backed group.

Addressing that conflict, Sullivan lauded the ceasefire deal and said the US was working with Lebanon’s military to ensure it was implemented “effectively.”

“We need to protect it and ensure that it is fully implemented,” he told NBC.

In an apparent reference to the Israeli strikes, Sullivan said both parties “have the right, consistent with international law, to take action in self-defense if they’re facing imminent threats.”

Speaking in Jerusalem on Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said there were “indications” progress could be made on a deal securing the release of hostages by Hamas in Gaza.

“There are signs we may see a greater degree of flexibility from Hamas as a result of circumstances that have developed, including the agreement with Lebanon,” he said.

“There is a desire to move forward on this. I hope it can progress. We are committed to the return of the hostages — it’s a responsibility we must uphold.”

Saar asserted, however, that Hamas “cannot be allowed” to continue to rule Gaza.

Speaking to US broadcaster CBS, Sullivan said US President Joe Biden was in close coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

“He also spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu that day (of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire), and Prime Minister Netanyahu told him he agreed, the time is right. The moment is now,” said Sullivan, referring to the need for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas seized 251 hostages during its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, with 97 still being held in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed to be dead.

The armed group’s attack resulted in 1,207 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

In response, Israel launched a withering military campaign on Gaza, killing at least 44,429 there, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, with its population dependent on humanitarian aid that the UN on Sunday said it would pause delivery of through the key Kerem Shalom crossing due to security concerns.

Speaking to CBS on Sunday, Sullivan said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was a “crisis” and that famine was “constantly stalking” the territory.

“You have too many people who are suffering from shortages of food, water, medicine, access to sanitation. Innocent people who deserve a measure of peace and deserve access to all of those life-saving supplies in abundance,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convening his War Cabinet later on Sunday, a senior official said, amid intense diplomacy to forge a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.

In Brussels, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists before meeting the Palestinian Premier that a strong Palestinian Authority (PA) was in Israel’s interest.

EU members Ireland and Spain, and also Norway, have said they will recognise the State of Palestine from Tuesday, drawing furious Israeli condemnation.

“A functional Palestinian Authority is in Israel’s interest too, because in order to make peace, we need a strong Palestinian Authority, not a weaker one,” Mr. Borrell said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, whose government is based in the occupied West Bank, said the “first priority” was to support the people in Gaza, especially through a ceasefire, and then “rebuilding the institutions of the Palestinian Authority” there after Hamas seized it from the PA in 2007.

Meanwhile deadly fighting rocked the Gaza Strip and Hamas militants fired a salvo of rockets at Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv, sending people scrambling for shelter.

U.S. President Joe Biden has pushed for renewed international efforts to halt the war, now in its eighth month.

An Israeli senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that “the War Cabinet is expected to meet in Jerusalem tonight at 9 pm (2330 IST) to discuss a hostage release deal”.

While Israel’s main focus is to free the remaining hostages, Hamas has insisted on a permanent end to the fighting — a demand Mr. Netanyahu has rejected.

The official had said on Saturday that “there is an intention to renew these talks this week” after negotiations involving U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators stalled in early May.

A member of Hamas’s political leadership, Izzat al-Rishq, said on Sunday that so far, “we have not received anything from the mediators”.

He insisted on the Palestinian group’s long-standing demand for a permanent cessation of hostilities as “the foundation and the starting point for anything”.

Rishq accused Mr. Netanyahu of “trying to buy more time to continue the aggression”.

Shortly afterwards, Hamas’s armed wing said it had targeted Tel Aviv “with a large rocket barrage in response to the Zionist (Israeli) massacres against civilians”.

Israel’s Army said at least eight rockets were fired from Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah and that “a number of the projectiles were intercepted”, with no reports of casualties.

‘Constant bombardment’

Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas to prevent any repeat of the kind of attack the Palestinian Islamist group launched on October 7, but has also faced growing domestic and international criticism.

The attack on southern Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the Army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,984 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

As the war ground on, the families of hostages still held by Palestinians militants have piled pressure on Mr. Netanyahu to secure a deal to free them.

Washington has also taken a tougher line with its close ally as outrage over the war and U.S. support for Israel has become a major issue for Mr. Biden, seeking in re-election in a battle against Donald Trump.

With more strikes reported Sunday across Gaza, Israel’s military said that over the past 24 hours it had destroyed “over 50 terror targets”.

Fighting has centred on Rafah, where Israel launched a ground operation in early May despite widespread opposition over concerns for civilians sheltering there.

Rafah resident Moaz Abu Taha, 29, told AFP of “constant bombardment from land and air, which has destroyed many houses”.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said it had retrieved six bodies after a house was targeted in eastern Rafah.

The army said militants who “attempted to attack” troops in the Rafah area had been “eliminated”.

Global outcry

The UN has warned of looming famine in the besieged territory, where most hospitals are no longer functioning.

Israel’s military said on Sunday the arrival of aid had been stepped up, both via a new U.S.-built pier and through its own land crossings, Kerem Shalom and Erez West.

Aid trucks from Egypt began entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday, state-linked media Al-Qahera News reported, after Cairo has refused to coordinate aid through Rafah as long as Israeli troops control the Palestinian side of the crossing.

Amid the bloodiest ever Gaza war, Israel has faced growing global outcry over the surging civilian death toll, and landmark moves last week at two international courts.

Last Monday, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his defence minister as well as against three top Hamas figures.

And on Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive or any other operation there that could bring about “the physical destruction” of the Palestinians.

In central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, an AFP photographer said Palestinians were washing their dirty clothes and dishes in the sea.

“Since the war began, we have been suffering from a lack of water,” said displaced man Anas Helles, adding that bottled water had become expensive.

“We use it even though it may be polluted or unsafe, but there is no alternative to sea water,” said another man, Ahmed Helles.

“We buy water, but we have no money left.”

Rafah:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to convene his war cabinet Sunday to discuss the latest efforts towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, a senior official told AFP.

The news came despite more deadly Gaza fighting and a rocket barrage Hamas aimed at Tel Aviv that sent people scrambling for bomb shelters as air defences intercepted projectiles streaking across the sky.

US President Joe Biden has pushed for renewed international efforts to halt the Gaza war, and CIA chief Bill Burns on Friday met Mossad director David Barnea and Qatar’s prime minister in Paris.

While Israel’s main focus is to free the remaining hostages, Hamas has insisted on a permanent end to the war raging since October 7 — a demand Netanyahu has so far rejected out of hand.

An Israeli senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “the war cabinet is expected to meet in Jerusalem tonight at 2100 (1800 GMT) to discuss a hostage release deal”.

The official had said Saturday that “there is an intention to renew these talks this week” after negotiations involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators had stalled in early May.

A member of the Hamas political bureau, Izzat al-Rishq, said on Sunday that “regarding the rumours about negotiations, we have not received anything from the mediators” so far.

He insisted on Hamas’s long-standing demand for a permanent cessation of hostilities in all of Gaza as “the foundation and the starting point for anything”.

Rishq charged that Netanyahu is “trying to buy more time to continue the aggression” while seeking to create “false impressions of his concern” for the Gaza captives and their families.

Shortly afterwards, Hamas’s armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said they had targeted Tel Aviv “with a large rocket barrage in response to the Zionist (Israeli) massacres against civilians”.

Israel’s army said at least eight rockets were fired from Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah and that “a number of the projectiles were intercepted”, with no initial reports of casualties.

Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas to prevent any repeat of an attack of the kind the Palestinian Islamist group launched on October 7.

But he also faces strong pressure from families of the hostages — and from top ally the United States, where outrage over the Gaza war and US support for Israel has become a major issue for Biden in the election battle against Donald Trump.

– Sirens in Tel Aviv –

The Gaza war ground on, as more air strikes and artillery shelling rained down on northern, central and southern areas Sunday.

Israel’s military said that over the past 24 hours, it had destroyed “over 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip”.

In Jabalia, troops had raided a weapons depot “embedded inside a school where troops located dozens of rocket parts and weapons”.

Fighting has centred on Rafah, where Israel has vowed to destroy the last remaining Hamas battalions despite a chorus of international opposition to a ground invasion.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said it had retrieved six bodies after a house was targeted in a strike on eastern Rafah.

“The situation in Rafah is one of constant bombardment from land and air, which has destroyed many houses,” one Rafah resident, Moaz Abu Taha, 29, told AFP.

“We are also suffering from hunger, thirst and a severe lack of aid.”

The military said that “during targeted operations in the area of Rafah, terrorist operatives who attempted to attack IDF troops were eliminated”.

Israeli troops had also “located tunnel shafts and large quantities of weapons, including AK-47s, RPGs, grenades and explosives” and struck two rocket launchers that were aimed at the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

Hamas, meanwhile, said Saturday it had taken “prisoner” at least one Israeli soldier in an ambush in the Jabalia camp — a claim the army denied.

– Global outcry –

The war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,984 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The UN has warned of looming famine in the besieged territory, where most hospitals are no longer functioning.

Israel’s military said Sunday the arrival of aid had been stepped up, both via a new US-built pier and through its own land crossings, Kerem Shalom and Erez West.

Over the past week, 127 trucks had arrived via the pier, and 2,065 via the two land crossings, it said.

US Central Command said Saturday that four US Army vessels supporting the pier broke free of their moorings in heavy seas and ran aground, with Israel aiding the recovery effort.

Amid the bloodiest-ever Gaza war, Israel has faced growing global outcry over the surging civilian death toll.

Last week it faced landmark moves from two international courts based in The Hague, and from three European governments.

Last Monday, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court said he would seek arrest warrants on war crimes charges against Netanyahu and his defence minister as well as against three top Hamas figures.

On Wednesday, Ireland, Norway and Spain said they would recognise Palestinian statehood by May 28, a move Israel angrily rejected as a “reward for terrorism”.

And on Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive or any other operation there that could bring about “the physical destruction” of the Palestinians.

One displaced Gazan, Umm Muhammad Al-Ashqa, said that “we hope that the International Court of Justice will put pressure on Israel to stop this war, this war of extermination”.

“I will scream with joy when this decision is implemented.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)