Saturday, January 18, 2025
23:00 GMT — Israeli government approves Gaza truce and prisoner swap deal
The Israeli government has approved a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal with Hamas, marking a significant development which is expected to pause Israel's genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.
TRT World's Mohammad Al-Kassim reporting from occupied East Jerusalem late on Friday said the vast majority of the Israeli ministers backed the Gaza truce deal and left the meeting.
"This has been a hard fought deal for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier in the day had to sit in the security cabinet and also try to convince his security cabinet to support and back this deal, which they did," Al-Kassim said.
Later, PM Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the government ratified the deal, after a cabinet meeting that lasted more than six hours and ended in the early hours of Saturday.
Reports said 24 ministers voted in favour and eight voted against it.
22:00 GMT — Palestine's leaders in West Bank say ready to govern Gaza
Palestine's leaders who administer parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank have said they are ready "to assume full responsibility" in Gaza, according to a statement reported by the official WAFA news agency.
President Mahmoud Abbas' office said the Palestinian Authority's administrative and security agencies had finished preparations to restore critical services in Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas.
But there's still no plan for who will govern Gaza after Israel's genocidal war.
Israel has said it will work with local Palestinians who are not affiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. But it's unclear if such partners exist.
The Palestinian Authority controlled Gaza before Hamas expelled it in 2007, a year after winning an landslide victory in Palestinian elections.
For our live updates from Friday, January 17, 2025, click here.
