War Summary, Day 467: U.S. and Qatar announce that a deal has been agreed on though the Israeli cabinet still needs to vote on it, Hamas is still playing games and blaming it on Israel, new details known about the agreement, unknowns about the IDF returning to war, heavy bombing continues in Gaza and Jenin, and IDF airstrikes in Syria.
By Mrs. Bruria Efune
98 held captive in Gaza.
36 hostages confirmed murdered held in Gaza.
117 living hostages rescued.
40 hostage bodies rescued.
1,814 Israelis killed.
411 fallen soldiers and police in the battle in Gaza.
87 fallen soldiers in Northern Israel.
14 fallen soldiers and police in Judea & Samaria.
30,683 estimated projectiles fired at Israel.
88,000 Israelis displaced from their homes.
1 Jewish nation united in prayer, charity, and good deeds.
Top Headlines:
- U.S. and Qatar announced that a deal has been agreed on
- The Israeli cabinet still needs to vote it through
- Hamas is still playing games, demanding new details, and blaming it on Israel
- New details known about the agreement
- Unknowns about the IDF returning to war
- Heavy bombing continues in Gaza
- IDF airstrikes in Syria
- Airs strikes in Jenin
Hostages:
The U.S. and Qatar have announced that Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal. The Israeli government cabinet still needs to vote to approve the deal, and that is expected to happen by Thursday morning. Ministers from Likud, Shas, UTJ and Gideon Sa’ar will vote for the deal, effectively passing it. The Religious Zionist and Otzma Yehudit parties will vote against.
There are still some small details being ironed out: First, Israel needs to finish vetting the thousand terrorists who will be released. The agreement specifies that terrorists prisoners who are serving a life sentence will be exiled to a third country—there are some other terrorists who Israel wants to include in this category, and Hamas need to agree to that. Mediators have decided that these are small issues, and agreements don’t need to wait for them to be resolved.
There are now late night reports that Hamas is trying to change another detail in the agreement: The current agreement has a clause which allows Israel to veto the release of terrorists who are mass murderers and symbols of terror—such as Marwan Burghouti. Hamas wants to remove this clause, and get any terrorist they ask for. Netanyahu instructed the Israeli negotiating team to stay firm on this issue. (It’s very unlikely, but still possible that Hamas is looking for a way to torpedo the deal now.)
For now, the hostage-ceasefire agreement is expected to begin on Sunday. Here is what we know about the first phase:
The Hostages Being Released:
- The IDF named the preparations to bring the hostages home “Wings of Freedom.”
- In the first phase, 33 hostages will be released in stages with around a week in between each group.
- Of the 33, the hostages who are alive will be released first. At least 20 hostages are expected to be alive.
- The five female IDF observers will be released early on in the first phase, possibly on Sunday.
- There are only unverified rumors about the Bibas family.
- Of the Israeli-American hostages: Keith Siegel and Sagi Dekel-Chen will be released in the first phase. It’s unclear when Idan Alexander will be released. The other four have been declared dead.
- The nine hostages who are injured or ill will be released in exchange for a total of 110 Hamas terrorists who are serving life sentences.
- Avraham Mengistu and Hasham al-Sayed are included in the deal, and will be released in the first phase. The two are being held by Hamas since 2014 and 2015 respectively, after accidentally entering Gaza. They will each be released in exchange for 30 terrorists, plus an additional 47 terrorists who were released in the Shalit deal and then later rearrested.
- In exchange for the adult male hostages over the age of fifty, 31 terrorists who are serving life sentences will be released from prison, plus 27 terrorists who aren’t serving life sentences for each hostage.
- 1,000 Hamas terrorists who were captured by the IDF in Gaza after October 8th will be released from prison. This will not include terrorists who participated in the October 7th massacre.
- Terrorists who were serving life sentences will be exiled to a third country.
IDF Withdrawal:
- The IDF will gradually withdraw out of Gaza, including from the Netzarim Corridor, and into a buffer zone that surround the perimeter.
- The IDF will redeploy around the Rafah Crossing according to agreed-upon maps.
- The buffer zone will be 700 meters wide, except for in five essential points, where it can be up to 1,100 meters wide.
- The IDF will gradually reduce forces in the Philadelphi Corridor during the first phase, according to agreed-upon maps. Full withdrawal will only begin on the 42nd day, after 33 hostages are released, and will be completed by the 50th day. Hamas is not happy with this arrangement, and nearly torpedoed the deal over it.
Movement in Gaza:
- The Rafah Crossing will be opened immediately for wounded civilians to leave to Egypt, as well as 50 wounded Hamas terrorists each day, accompanied by 3 individuals, with pre-approval from Israel and Egypt.
- 600 trucks of humanitarian aid will be delivered to Gaza each day, much of it through Rafah, via Egypt. Half will be sent to Northern Gaza.
- Beginning on the 7th day, civilians will be allowed to return to Northern Gaza on a designated route. A private company with Israel’s approval will search vehicles and load-bering animals crossing to the north. Those traveling by foot will not need to be searched. There will be no way to prevent Hamas terrorists from returning.
Returning to War:
- Whether Israel can return to the war after the first phase, or in the event of a Hamas violation, and how easily, is not known.
- Commentator close to Hamas, Ibrahim al-Madhoun, wrote that the agreement includes international guarantees from the Trump administration, Egypt, and Qatar, that Israel will not return to war after the end of the first phase of the agreement.
- Al-Jazeera also reported that the announcement by Qatar, Egypt, and the US, which will be published shortly, will include guarantees that Israel will not resume the war in the future.
- Netanyahu and his office have repeated that the agreement allows for Israel to return to fighting after the first phase.
- Incoming National Security Advisor, Tim Waltz, said on Fox News today: “I want all Israelis to hear me out. If Hamas breaches this deal, we will back Israel 100% to go back to the war; in the end, Hamas will no longer be in Gaza.”
Note that Waltz specified “if Hamas breaches the deal.” It is unclear what will be considered a breach of the deal. Will rearming be a breach? If so, Hamas will definitely be doing that, the moment they can move around.
Nobody knows whether Netanyahu intends to reach the second phase of the deal. If he says that he’s planning on returning to war on day 42, Hamas won’t agree, and it’ll all fall through. The biggest indication we’ll get about this, will be whether the Religious Zionist party, led by Betzalel Smotrich, stays in the coalition or not.
Smotrich’s faction will be meeting tomorrow to decide their next steps. Otzma Yehudit has been calling on them to join together and collapse the coalition. Smotrich might decide to stay if he thinks that Netanyahu will give in to his demands that the IDF will return to war with new forceful policies that prioritize IDF soldiers’ lives, and also bring all the hostages home.
Smotrich has staunchly opposed the deal, and explained that despite his joy over the release of the hostages, the deal “will cost us a lot of blood” and “takes back many of the achievements of the war.”
While most families of hostages, especially those who will be released in the first phase, are in support of the deal, and feeling hopeful, the Tikva Forum, which represents a smaller number of the families put out a statement in opposition: “We are concerned about the deal that was signed with the terrorist organization that needs to be destroyed. This is a deal that will effectively leave dozens of kidnapped people behind, and pave the way for the next massacre, and even more kidnapped people. Cabinet members: Before you vote, think about those who will be left behind. We demand that you act to bring about a responsible deal that returns all of our loved ones in one fell swoop!”
Meanwhile, Hamas has begun their victory parades. Even though the ceasefire hasn’t begun yet, Hamas terrorists were seen today coming out of hiding places in densely populated areas of the humanitarian zone, to celebrate. Crowds cheered, with teenage boys chanting “We are the people of Muhammad Deif!”
Senior Hamas official abroad, Khalil al-Hayya, called the agreement a “historic moment.” He boasted about Hamas’s success using the Gaza population as human shields, and claimed that Israel “failed to achieve any of its secret or public goals, as our people remained in their country and did not leave or evacuate, and were a shield for their resistance.”
Another Senior Hamas official told Reuters that the ceasefire deal is a “big gain.”
An advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who hopes to take over Hamas in Gaza, told Saudi media that “the current ceasefire agreement is weak, and Hamas has not achieved a single ‘flood for Al-Aqsa’.”
U.S. President-elect Trump posted several very enthusiastic statements about the deal on his Truth Social platform. “With this deal in place, my National Security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven,” he wrote.
Trump also added: “We will continue promoting PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH throughout the region, as we build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the Historic Abraham Accords.”
Officials familiar with negotiations say that Trump sees the deal as a first step to adding Saudi Arabia to the Abraham Accords, and bringing about normalization with Israel. The Saudis have firmly insisted that this will only happen after a Palestinian State is established, something they want as part of the third phase of the ceasefire deal, and something the Biden admin has been pushing towards.
Responding to the bubbling tensions on the topic, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote: ”A Palestinian state will certainly be a Hamas state. There is a good reason why the Palestinian Authority has not held elections since 2005. A Palestinian state will not only not resolve the conflict but will exacerbate it and deteriorate the security, peace and stability of the entire region.”
Gaza:
Two sirens near the border today were false alarms.
Altho Hamas has already begun some street celebrations, the IDF is working at high intensity, and will continue until the ceasefire actually starts.
In the 24 hours leading up to Wednesday morning, the IAF hit over 50 Hamas and PIJ targets across Gaza, especially in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis. One of the strikes targeted a prominent terrorist who was operating out of a former school in Gaza City, though the IDF did not release his name. Other targets included the usual: weapon depots, tunnel infrastructure, anti-tank launch positions, and buildings used by Hamas.
The heavy airstrikes continued through Wednesday.
Today the IDF issues renewed evacuations warnings for any civilians remaining in Jabalia, in Northern Gaza. The IDF warned that due to Hamas launching rockets from the neighborhood, heavy attacks will begin locally, and it is not safe for civilians to stay.
Troops continue to operate in Beit Hanoun, raiding and destroying Hamas infrastructure, including hidden rocket launching sites.
Judea & Samaria:
Three IDF soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb, while on an overnight counterterrorism mission in Qabatiya. Two were injured seriously, and one lightly.
The IDF carried out an airstrike against a cell of around 5 Hamas terrorists in Jenin. No explanation has been given yet.
Syria:
The IDF carried out a drone strike in southern Syria today, after identifying a convoy of vehicles with weapons on them, near a buffer zone area where IDF soldiers are deployed.
The IDF says the drone strike was a warning shot, launched near the vehicles, which immediately dispersed. However, Syrian media is reporting that the strike killed the head of the nearby village of Ghadir al-Bustan, along with several military officers from the new Syrian government. They say tat the officers had been in the area to remove weapons left behind by the Assad regime.
The IDF has been operating in the Syrian buffer zone since the fall of Assad on December 8th, and in that time, IDF troops have captures over 3,000 weapons and other war spoils from the regime. Amongst the items captured: two tanks, 70 grenades, 165 shells and rockets, 20 anti-aircraft missiles, some 1,500 RPGs, 60 pieces of surveillance equipment, and 570 electronic items, including computers and communication devices.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today demanded that Israel “stop its aggression towards Syria,” and threatened negative consequences “that will harm everyone” if the IDF doesn’t leave Syria.
General:
U.S. Secretary of State designate, Marco Rubio, announced that he will lift Biden-era sanctions on Israelis of Judea and Samaria. Rubio promised that “the Trump administration will perhaps be the most pro-Israel administration in American history.”
United States CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla arrived in Israel on earlier this week, and today held a strategic assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi. The meeting focused on the current regional situation, and discussed a variety of ways to address threats with operational cooperation.
Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, head of COGAT, returned to Israel after a successful army-related meeting in Italy, during which the Hind Rajab Foundation tried to get him arrested. COGAT is the IDF division responsible for transferring aid to Gaza.
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