At least 70 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes amid ceasefire deal delay
Israel airstrikes killed at least 70 more people in Gaza overnight and during Thursday, Reuters reports residents and authorities in the territory said, hours after a prospective ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas which has devastated the Gaza Strip and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
The deal is yet to be formally agreed, with Israel’s security cabinet delaying a planned Thursday morning meeting. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said “Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions. The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”
This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on 16 January. Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday, with Reuters citing senior group official Izzat el-Reshiq making the comment on Thursday morning.
Protests were staged on Thursday morning in Jerusalem opposing the deal, with the families of Israeli soldiers killed during the conflict placing mock coffins draped in Israeli flags in the street.
A demonstrator stands amid mock coffins draped in Israeli flags to protest the ceasefire with Hamas outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on 16 January. Photograph: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images
With 98 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50.
An earlier report by Israel’s military of a falling projectile at a kibbutz close to the border with the Gaza Strip was later determined to be a false identification.
Relatives of Palestinian journalist Ahmed Al-Shayah mourn next to his body after he was killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 16 January. Photograph: Haitham Imad/EPA
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Several additional appendixes that include maps and other details outlining the parameters of the deal were not included in copy of the text obtained by The Times of Israel, whose authenticity was confirmed by an Arab diplomat familiar with the negotiations.
The Guardian has not independently seen or verified the document. The Times of Israel report can be read here.
It sets out in eight sections where Israeli troops will withdraw to, the ratio of Palestinian detainees to be released per different category of hostage, the exit of wounded people through and the operation of the Rafah crossing, Israel withdrawing from the Philadelphi corridor within 50 days, and the provision of further humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports Israeli machine gun fire and the movement of tanks in Maroun al-Ras in the south of the country.
The Maroun al-Ras municipality is adjacent to the UN-drawn blue line that has separated Lebanon and Israel since 2000.
Israeli media reports that the far-right Religious Zionism party has said it will only remain in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government if the prime minister will agree to “Israel’s return to the war to destroy Hamas” after phase one of the ceasefire and hostage release deal. The party is chaired by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
More details soon …
The Times of Israel reports it has learned that “Mossad chief David Barnea and the Israeli negotiating team are still in Doha finalizing the details of the ceasefire-hostage release deal.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office earlier issued a statement that he would not convene the Israeli security cabinet to approve the deal until the negotiating team has returned from Qatar.
The Hamas-led health authority in Gaza has issued updated casualty figures for the conflict. Reuters reports it stated at least 46,788 Palestinians have been killed and a further 110,453 wounded by Israel’s military offensive.
Those numbers record 81 killed and 188 injured in the past 24 hours.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
At least 70 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes amid ceasefire deal delay
Israel airstrikes killed at least 70 more people in Gaza overnight and during Thursday, Reuters reports residents and authorities in the territory said, hours after a prospective ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas which has devastated the Gaza Strip and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
The deal is yet to be formally agreed, with Israel’s security cabinet delaying a planned Thursday morning meeting. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said “Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions. The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”
This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on 16 January. Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday, with Reuters citing senior group official Izzat el-Reshiq making the comment on Thursday morning.
Protests were staged on Thursday morning in Jerusalem opposing the deal, with the families of Israeli soldiers killed during the conflict placing mock coffins draped in Israeli flags in the street.
A demonstrator stands amid mock coffins draped in Israeli flags to protest the ceasefire with Hamas outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on 16 January. Photograph: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images
With 98 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50.
An earlier report by Israel’s military of a falling projectile at a kibbutz close to the border with the Gaza Strip was later determined to be a false identification.
Relatives of Palestinian journalist Ahmed Al-Shayah mourn next to his body after he was killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 16 January. Photograph: Haitham Imad/EPA
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s military has announced that yesterday ten service personnel were wounded “as a result of an explosion of weapons in a military training base in southern Israel.”
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have made at least 22 arrests inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last night.
Families of Israeli soldiers who have been killed during the war since the surprise Hamas attack inside southern Israel on 7 October 2023 have gathered in Jerusalam to stage a protest against any ceasefire deal, setting up an installation of mock coffins draped in Israeli flags.
Families of fallen Israeli soldiers stand near a display of mock coffins draped in Israeli flags during a protest against a ceasefire deal, Jerusalem, 16 January. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA
The IDF’s official figures state that “Since the beginning of ground operations in the Gaza Strip on 27 October, 2023, 405 soldiers have fallen in combat.”
Israeli authorities have named 840 soldiers and 69 police officers in total who have been killed in conflict including the 7 October attack itself.
Demonstrators stand beside mock coffins draped in Israeli flags, Jerusalem, 16 January. Photograph: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images
Here are some of the latest images from Gaza, where Palestinian news sources reports that at least 50 people have been killed since dawn by Israeli airstrikes.
People check the rubble of buildings hit in Israeli strikes the previous night in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, on 16 January. Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty ImagesDisplaced Palestinians take shelter in a school in Khan Younis, 16 January. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/ReutersA Palestinian woman reacts to the death of a loved one killed by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, 16 January. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty ImagesA child recovers books from the rubble of a building hit in Israeli strikes the previous night in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, on 16 January. Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s military has said that its investigation into the fallen projectile it reported earlier in Nir Am, close to the Gaza Strip, has determined it to be “a false identification.”
Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced on Wednesday
Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
Reuters cited senior group official Izzat el-Reshiq making the comment on Thursday morning.
The report comes a few minutes after the office of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it had cancelled the planned Israeli security cabinet meeting to approve the deal, accusing Hamas of reneging “on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions.”
Under the terms of the agreement a first batch of 33 hostages is expected to be released on Sunday in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and wounded people in Gaza will be allowed to leave for medical treatment.
Netanyahu’s office says cabinet won’t meet to approve ceasefire deal until Hamas backs down on ‘last minute concessions’
Israel’s security cabinet has delayed a planned meeting to approve a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas in Gaza, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accusing Hamas of attempting to obtain ‘last minute concessions’ on some aspects of the deal.
Reuters quotes Netanyahu’s office saying “Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions. The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”
Originally scheduled for 11am (9am GMT), the Jerusalem Post had earlier reported the security cabinet delay had been caused because “the hostage deal delegation hasn’t finished its work in Qatar and returned to Israel.”
It reported “When the delegation returns, the security cabinet will convene.”
More details soon …
A group of Israelis have been protesting in Jerusalem against the prospect of a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Police intervened, dragging at least one person away from the scene.
Israeli demonstrators hold banners that read ”Yes to victory, no to surrender”, as they protest a ceasefire deal in Jerusalem, 16 January. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/ReutersIsrael’s police drag one protestor away in Jerusalem on 16 January. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Haaretz reports that MK Zvi Succot, who represents the Religious Zionism party led by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, has said there is “a high likelihood” the party will quit Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government if a deal with Hamas is approved.
It quotes him speaking on Israeli public radio, saying:
If the deal leads to halting the war without achieving its objectives, there is no point in continuing our partnership in the government.
We are in discussions with the prime minister to secure guarantees that the war will continue.
There is nothing we could accept, neither budgets nor positions, not even a shift in the West Bank where we are dismantling the Palestinian state, that outweighs this issue.
