Here's what you need to know 466 days into the war
What happened today
■ HOSTAGES/CEASE-FIRE: Israel and Hamas are finalizing the terms of a cease-fire deal that could be announced as soon as Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Arab and Israeli officials.
Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for the cease-fire, two officials involved in the talks said. In an official statement, Hamas said its leaders are satisfied with the state of negotiations and that they hope a clear and comprehensive deal will be implemented. Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it sent a delegation to Doha to participate in talks to finalize the agreement.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari confirmed that drafts had been submitted to both sides for approval and that "the main and challenging differences have been resolved." Al-Ansari added that "We have reached the final stage, but we shouldn't exaggerate. The talks are progressing positively and seriously, but we need to wait a bit longer."
The first phase of the emerging deal will allow for the release of 33 hostages categorized as humanitarian cases, including women, children, men over 55, and the ill, according to Israeli officials. Hamas has yet to respond about the condition of these hostages, though Israeli sources believe most of them are alive.
The IDF is not expected to withdraw from Gaza until all hostages are returned, but will allow movement of residents from southern Gaza to the north of the Strip, the officials told Haaretz.
Sixteen days after the agreement is signed, talks on the second phase, in which the remaining hostages would be released, are set to begin, the officials said.
The deal's implementation from Israel's side requires a security cabinet discussion and cabinet approval, along with a time frame allowing for potential petitions to the High Court of Justice.
Hamas will release three hostages on the first day of the cease-fire agreement, after which Israel would begin pulling back its forces from populated areas in Gaza, a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC, adding that Hamas would release four additional hostages a week later and Israel would allow displaced Gazans to return to northern Gaza.
An Israeli official told CNN that Israel "made all the compromises that are needed to bring a deal. It's in the hands of Hamas and they need to make this decision." According to the official, Israel is set to release "many hundreds" of Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal but that "until Hamas will tell us how many of our hostages are alive, I don't know how many prisoners – terrorists – will be released."
Egypt is preparing to open the Rafah border crossing to receive the Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners if a cease-fire is secured, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news reported, citing Egyptian sources.
According to the report, humanitarian aid and fuel will enter Gaza through the crossing on the cease-fire's first day, along with mobile homes, tents and land-clearing machines.
An Israeli source told Haaretz that the body of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will not be handed over as part of the deal, despite a report suggesting this in the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network. The source said, "It won't happen, period."
Israeli officials refused to comment on the possibility that Israel would grant immunity to the current Hamas leadership as part of the deal or that senior Hamas figures could be exiled to a third country.
"For eight full months, the same deal that is now on the table was presented time and time again by Qatar and the United States. But Netanyahu only had politics and his own survival in mind, and then the U.S. election and Trump's inauguration. This level of callousness, cruelty, disregard for the hostages and indifference toward their traumatized families – who he even blamed for undermining him – and the sheer recklessness in prosecuting a war with no defined, tangible and attainable objectives is staggering even by Mr. Netanyahu's standards. Even his harshest critics and most vehement detractors didn't think a year ago that it would get to this"– Alon Pinkas
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump told Newsmax that a hostage release deal is "very close" and that Israel and Hamas "have to get it done. If they don't get it done, there's going to be a lot of trouble out there like they have never seen before," adding that "they're getting it finished. Maybe by the end of the week."
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that the families are demanding a comprehensive agreement that will ensure the release of all hostages, both living and dead. Families of hostages who met with Netanyahu on Tuesday said they "demand starting negotiations on the subsequent phases [of the deal] now, because every moment is critical for our hostages. We are very disturbed by this lack of continuity between stages."
Relatives of deceased hostages who were excluded from the meeting protested it in Jerusalem. Chaim Haiman, whose daughter Inbar was murdered in Hamas captivity, said: "No one needs to represent me, it's unacceptable for representatives to speak on behalf of my daughter."
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him and tell Netanyahu that they will both quit the government if Israel agrees to the cease-fire deal. Later on Tuesday, Smotrich met with Netanyahu to talk about the details of the agreement.
In his statement, Ben-Gvir said that his party had succeeded "in the past year, through our political power" to scupper a hostage deal but that his party was "no longer the decisive factor" because more parties backing a deal had since joined Netanyahu's coalition. Netanyahu has serially denied that the Israeli government was to blame for the failure to achieve a hostage deal, saying that it was Hamas' fault alone.
"Without a doubt, Hamas will exploit the freeing of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners to enhance its status with the Palestinian public both in Gaza and in the West Bank. An Israeli withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor and from part of the Philadelphi Corridor in the first stage will limit IDF control over Gaza. The agreement does not ensure any kind of real supervision over the return of Palestinians to Northern Gaza. All of these concessions were not only forced on Israel by Trump but are also being undertaken to begin the process of bringing home the hostages, both alive and dead. This is a heavy but unavoidable price" – Amos Harel
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