“Tested truce for the release of the hostages, then we will discuss”

“The claim that we agreed to a ceasefire without our conditions being met is not true.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this in a Knesset commission where he reported on the state of the war in Gaza, underlining the activity in Rafah and in the Philadelphia area, the negotiations for the release of the hostages and the “day after” in the Strip.

Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyhau confirmed that “the proposed agreement includes a temporary ceasefire for the release of the hostages”. Then, quoted by the media, he added that the outline presented by Biden “is partial because there are other details that have not been published”. “The war,” he said, “will be stopped in order to return the kidnapped people and then we will discuss.” “We are working in countless ways to return our kidnapped people,” Netanyahu said in a video broadcast from his office. “That is why we have done a lot to bring them back, but in the course of this action we have maintained the objectives of the war, first and foremost the elimination of Hamas. We insist that we complete both this and that. It is part of the scheme, it is not something I add now, it’s not something I add because I was pressured in the coalition, it’s something we agreed on unanimously in the war cabinet,” he said.

”The truce between Israel and Hamas is news that we have been waiting for for a long time and that I am following personally. Italy has done everything possible to help push towards this solution”. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said this on the sidelines of the ceremony for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Rome at the French military cemetery.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have summoned the Minister of National Security – and radical right-wing leader – Itamar Ben Gvir to explain the possible agreement with Hamas. This was reported by Israel Ha-Yom (considered close to Netanyahu) who cited sources from the prime minister’s office according to whom the meeting should take place in the next few hours. The same sources made it known that in the meantime it was explained to Ben Gvir – decidedly against the agreement – that in the possible agreement “there is no end to the war”. Both Ben Gvir and the other radical right minister Bezalel Smotrich have threatened a possible exit from the government majority.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call last night that Israel is determined to dismantle Hamas and find an alternative to govern Gaza. The Times of Israel reports it. «As part of any development process, Gallant underlined Israel’s commitment to dismantling Hamas as a governmental and military authority. In this regard, he discussed the issue of identifying and enabling the emergence of a local government alternative,” reads the statement released by his office.

“Hamas has welcomed the ceasefire proposal in Gaza and we now await Israel’s response.” This was stated by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is visiting Madrid today.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they have intercepted a missile headed towards Israel from the direction of the Red Sea. The ballistic missile, apparently launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, was aimed at the southernmost city of Eilat, Israel. The IDF says the missile was shot down using the Arrow long-range air defense system. Sirens had sounded in Eilat during the incident. The Houthis have launched several ballistic missiles and drones at Eilat amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to a meeting after the far-right leader threatened to open a government crisis over the new truce proposal presented by the United States. The Jewish media reported it.

Dolev Yehud, 35, believed to have been held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 7, was declared dead after his body was identified in Israel. This was declared by the Israeli army, quoted by the ‘Times of Israel’.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had a telephone conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz, the US State Department reported, noting that Blinken spoke with the two members of the government of the Jewish state of ceasefire proposal in the Gaza Strip. In his conversation with Gallant, Blinken praised Israel’s willingness to reach an agreement and said that the burden of the agreement falls on Hamas. Blinken added that the proposed deal would benefit Israel’s long-term interests. In the conversation with Gantz, the State Department explained, the head of Washington’s diplomacy also mentioned the fighting in the north of the Palestinian enclave and said that the proposal could restore calm in those areas too.

At least 22 people were killed in the Gaza Strip in Israeli attacks overnight, Al Jazeera television network reported this morning. “Four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp. Six women and children were killed in an attack on the nearby refugee camp in Bureij, central Gaza. Nighttime attacks on residential houses in Khan Younis killed more 12 people, including at least three children,” al Jazeera said on its website.

Several explosions were heard in the north-west Syria and a copper factory near the city of Aleppo it went up in flames. This was reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. According to the same source, there were at least 12 victims, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Syrian state media only reported that several people were killed in an airstrike blamed on Israel on sites near Aleppo in Syria, citing a military source.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa says at least 12 people including women and children died and several others were injured in a series of Israeli bombings which hit the areas this morning Khan Yunis and Rafahin the south of Gaza Strip. Between yesterday evening and tonight at least ten other people had already lost their lives in raids on Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, again according to Wafa. The death toll in the Palestinian enclave since October 7 is at least 36,439 dead and 82,627 injured, according to the latest data from the local Ministry of Health run by the Islamist movement Hamas.