Important Takeaways:
- The U.S.-born Ron Dermer is a Cabinet minister who’s widely seen as Netanyahu’s closest adviser.
- He previously served as Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. and is a former Republican activist with strong ties to the Trump White House.
- Dermer currently serves as Israel’s strategic affairs minister, where he has been a key player in relations with the U.S. as well as Gulf Arab countries.
- Talks have not yet started on the second stage, which is meant to include an end to the war, return of all hostages and Israeli pullout from Gaza.
- Palestinians and Arab countries have universally rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza and take over the territory.
- In a phone call with U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on Wednesday, Lebanon’s president insisted that Israeli forces withdraw from five strategic hilltops inside Lebanon.
- Israel is keeping its forces on Lebanese soil even after a deadline spelled out in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement.
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Important Takeaways:
- The initial phase of the ceasefire deal, which includes a 42-day truce and the return of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, has remained on track despite a series of setbacks and accusations of violations that had threatened to derail it.
- But negotiations over the second stage, aimed at securing the release of the remaining 64 hostages, are expected to be tough, because they include issues like the administration of post-war Gaza, where there are large gaps between the sides.
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said “We will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organization in Gaza”
- But he added that if the negotiations are constructive, Israel will remain engaged and may prolong the ceasefire.
- “If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this time-frame work longer,” Saar said.
- So far, 19 Israeli hostages have been returned in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. If the six living hostages and four bodies are returned this week, as announced, four more would remain. Based on information from Hamas, all four are thought to be dead.
- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday he will set up a new unit in his ministry dedicated to facilitating the exit of Gaza residents who want to move to a third country, after reviewing an initial plan for it.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hamas on Tuesday said that it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including the two youngest people held by the group, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.
- The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached during negotiations in Cairo for “four slain hostages” to be handed over on Thursday and “six living hostages” to be released on Saturday.
- It added that “four additional slain hostages are expected to be handed over to Israel next week.”
- It is clearest indication that the Bibas children – who were just nine months and four years old, respectively, when they were kidnapped in October 2023 – are indeed dead.
- Israel has not yet confirmed their deaths and has not yet commented on Hamas’ announcement.
- Hamas’ announcement came on the day Israel said it would begin talks on the second phase of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire agreement.
- Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said negotiations could begin “this week” following discussions with “our American friends”.
- He committed to aiming to reach an agreement by the 42nd day of the truce, as stipulated in the original deal, and said the possibility of a longer-term agreement was an “option”.
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Important Takeaways:
- “Hamas has just released three Hostages from GAZA, including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape!” he wrote. “This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any Hostages.”
- The hostages are all dual citizens of Israel and differing nations. Sagui Dekel-Chen is also an American, Iair Horn is also an Argentinian citizen, and Alexandre Troufanov is also a Russian citizen, CNN reported. They were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, NBC News noted.
- Saturday also reportedly saw Israel release 369 Palestinian prisoners, per NBC News.
- The move meets Israel’s demands for three live hostages to be released on Saturday to prevent an end to the ceasefire.
- Trump said Saturday that he supports whatever decision Israel makes regarding his own ultimatum.
- “Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!” Trump added.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Their meeting follows a heart-wrenching Saturday when the Hamas terror group released three more hostages to their families. Monday also marks 500 days since the October 7th, 2023, attacks
- After their meeting, Rubio and Netanyahu agreed that Hamas must be destroyed.
- “Hamas cannot continue as a military or government force,” Rubio stated. “And frankly, as long as it stands as a force that can govern or as a force that can administer, or as a force that can threaten by use of violence, peace becomes impossible. They must be eliminated. It must be eradicated.”
- Netanyahu once again backed President Donald Trump’s plan to help all Gazans leave their war-torn, devastated region while others rebuild it under U.S. control. He believes many Palestinians want to leave but Hamas won’t let them.
- “Everybody says this is the largest open-air prison in the world. Not because of us,” Netanyahu declared. “We tried to get the population to leave – to get them out of harm’s way. And Hamas – with rifles, with gunfire – try to prevent them from leaving.”
- Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff recently visited Gaza and saw why people can’t reasonably live in much of it now.
- “It’s completely devastated,” Witkoff observed. “And that begs the question: should people be allowed in there in those dangerous conditions? Thank God we’ve had no incidents. But, there’s 30,000 unexploded shells throughout Gaza, and the buildings are all down. It’s utter destruction.”
- Netanyahu also indicated this weekend he and the Trump administration see eye-to-eye on the threat from Iran.
- “Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder in countering the threat of Iran,” he claimed. “We agree that the ayatollahs must not have nuclear weapons.”
- “Them getting a bomb is devastating to the region,” Witkoff said. “It’ll force every other country in that region to get a bomb, too. We’ll have a nuclear arms race, and that simply can’t happen.”
- Rubio concurred, saying, “Behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people who call this region home is Iran. And by Iran, I mean the ayatollahs. By Iran, I mean its regime, a regime who, by the way, its people don’t support. The people of Iran are victims of that regime.”
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Important Takeaways:
- If there’s one thing former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is confident about, it’s that a second Trump presidency would bring a “change of biblical proportion” to the Middle East. And if history is any indication, he’s absolutely right.
- “What the Israelis want is something simple: They want peace. They want their people home,” Huckabee said on Fox News. But peace isn’t possible as long as Hamas is still in play. “They have said even as recent as two weeks ago that they would try to do another October the 7th. So, let’s not be in any way fooled that they want peace. They don’t. They want the destruction of the Jewish state.”
- Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war has been weak at best, with indecision and wavering support. Meanwhile, under Trump, the Middle East saw “real significant peace,” as Huckabee pointed out. The Abraham Accords, brokered under Trump, were a game-changer—something the Biden White House has done little to build upon.
- Huckabee also dismissed the idea of a two-state solution, a concept often pushed by European and Arab nations. “They militarily marched 10,000 Jewish people out of Gaza, turned it into a complete Palestinian state, and the result we saw [on] Oct. 7,” he reminded viewers.
- As Huckabee awaits Senate confirmation as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, he knows the stakes couldn’t be higher.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel sees opening for strikes on Iranian Nuclear Sites, U.S. Intelligence finds
- The finding was included in an analytical assessment produced around the new year as the Biden administration wound down. The analysis highlighted the risks of further high-stakes military activity in the Middle East after the degradation of Iran’s capabilities over the past year.
- The intelligence analysis concluded Israel would push the Trump administration to back the strikes, viewing him as more likely to join an attack than former President Joe Biden and fearing the window for halting Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon was closing, two of the people familiar with the intelligence said.
- The U.S. intelligence community produced a second report delivered during the early days of President Trump’s administration reiterating that Israel is considering such strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, according to one of the U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence.
- S. military support and munitions would likely be needed for an Israeli attack on Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear sites given their complexity, U.S. military officials say.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment, and Israel’s military declined to comment. Israeli officials have repeatedly signaled that there is an opportunity for more aggressive action against Iran.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel’s security cabinet fully supports President Donald Trump’s demand that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas release all of its hostages by noon on Saturday or that “all hell is going to break out,” an Israeli official told Fox News.
- The declaration comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet Tuesday after Hamas announced it would delay the next release of Israeli hostages.
- “The decision I passed in the Cabinet unanimously is this: If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon – the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense combat until Hamas is decisively defeated,” Netanyahu said in a statement after the meeting.
- “In light of Hamas’ announcement of its decision to violate the agreement and not release our hostages, I instructed the IDF last night to amass forces inside and around the Gaza Strip. This operation is currently underway and will be completed as soon as possible,” Netanyahu added.
- “We also welcomed the President’s revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza,” Netanyahu said.
- The sides have carried out five swaps since the ceasefire went into effect last month, freeing 21 hostages and more than 730 Palestinian prisoners. The next exchange, scheduled for next Saturday, calls for three more Israeli hostages to be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hamas has said it will not release the next batch of Israeli hostages this weekend as planned, citing alleged Israeli violations of the fragile ceasefire, a development that could derail an already fragile three-week-old truce agreement.
- “If they’re not here, all hell is going to break out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday night. He added of the ceasefire: “Cancel it, and all bets are off.”
- Trump said the final decision would be up to Israel, saying: “I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it.”
- When asked if the US would join in a response to Hamas if hostages weren’t freed, Trump said: “Hamas will find out what I mean.”
- The president also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if those countries did not take refugees from Gaza.
- Another 16, including eight bodies, are due to be released as part of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire. In total there are 76 captives still held in the strip.
- The Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida cited alleged Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal, including delaying the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, blocking the arrival of aid and attacking civilians. He said there would be no more hostage releases until Israel “complies and compensates for the past weeks”.
- Israel denies the Hamas allegations.
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Important Takeaways:
- Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has issued a decree on Monday revoking the system of payments to families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails or to families of Palestinians who were killed or wounded during attacks against Israelis.
- The system — referred to as “pay for slay” by the first Trump administration and the Israeli government — was a major point of friction between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority.
- The U.S. and Israel have argued for years that the system incentivized attacks on Israelis, and repeatedly demanded that the Palestinian Authority revoke it.
- But the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement Monday denying that the payments would actually end: “This is a new fraudulent trick by the Palestinian Authority, which intends to continue making payments to terrorists and their families through other payment channels.”
- Palestinian officials told Axios they hope Abbas’ decision will improve relations with the Trump administration and with Congress and lead to the resumption of U.S. financial aid to the Palestinian Authority.
- According to a copy of the decree, all families that benefited from the previous system are subject to “the same standards applied without discrimination to all families benefiting from protection and social welfare programs” in the Palestinian Authority.
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