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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israelis head to streets to rally for and against brewing hostage deal that may come today or tomorrow |
| 2025-01-15 |
| [IsraelTimes] Thousands attend Tel Aviv demonstration in eager anticipation of Hamas’s response to proposal, while hundreds in Jerusalem fume at government over ‘surrender’ to terror group. Details at the link, for those interested. As far as I can tell, the agreement is ever-receding, like cold fusion. But maybe I’ll be wrong — at any rate, it didn’t happen as promised yesterday. This is what they got instead: Israel and Hamas finalizing details on implementation of hostage deal, Arab officials tell ToI[IsraelTimes] Israel and Hamas agreed in principle to a hostage deal on Monday night and have since been working in Doha to finalize the details regarding implementation of the agreement, two Arab officials tell The Times of Israel. One of the main issues that has yet to be finalized is the exact parameters of the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza, and the mediators are still waiting for a map from Israel laying this out, the Arab officials say. The two officials speculate that a deal will be announced on Wednesday or Thursday in the form of a joint statement from the US, Qatar and Egypt, who have been mediating between Israel and Hamas. Earlier Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Israel had accepted the hostage deal, while Hamas had yet to do the same. On Monday, two officials familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff held a “tense” meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Saturday during which he leaned on the premier to make the compromises necessary to secure an agreement. One of the Arab officials speaking to The Times of Israel on Tuesday says Witkoff managed to move Netanyahu more in that one meeting than the Biden administration had in countless conversations over the past year. Related: Steve Witkoff 01/12/2025 Protesters demand Gaza negotiators seal deal after bodies of hostage father, son found Steve Witkoff 01/08/2025 Trump’s Mideast envoy to visit Qatar, claiming hostage deal on verge of completion Steve Witkoff 01/04/2025 ‘Let’s see what happens’: Trump taps ex-State Dept. spokeswoman Ortagus as deputy Mideast envoy |
| Posted by:trailing wife |