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Palestinian boys stand near a damaged tent for displaced people after an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 17, 2025 [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]
By Alastair McCready, Royce Kurmelovs, Stephen Quillen, Umut Uras, Nils Adler, Alex Kozul-Wright and Federica Marsi
Published On 17 Jan 2025

This live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage here.

18 Jan 2025 - 00:00
 (00:00 GMT)

That’s all from us

Thanks for joining us today. This live page is now closed.

To read about how former US diplomat Hala Rharrit thinks Gaza will haunt current US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, click here.

For a breakdown of the details of the pending ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, watch this.

And you can find all our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

17 Jan 2025 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of the main events of the day.

  • Israeli cabinet members are discussing whether to ratify the Gaza ceasefire deal after it was approved by the security cabinet. The deal is expected to receive the green light and go into effect on Sunday.
  • UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has warned that Israeli legislation banning the UN agency from operating threatens social stability in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and could negatively affect the implementation of the ceasefire deal.
  • Israel’s Justice Ministry has released the names of 95 Palestinians slated to be released on Sunday, but the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said the data is not to be trusted.
  • The Palestinian Authority said it completed all preparations to assume its “full responsibilities” in the Gaza Strip.
  • Negotiators from Egypt, Qatar, the US and Israel have agreed on “all necessary arrangements to implement” the Gaza truce deal.
  • The Palestinian Civil Defence said at least 116 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the announcement that a ceasefire agreement had been reached.
17 Jan 2025 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

Israeli army activity in Lebanon hinders UN peacekeeping efforts: UNIFIL

UN Underecretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix says that today, seven weeks after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect, most UN peacekeeping personnel in Lebanon “remain confined to base and, on occasion, must seek shelter in bunkers due to nearby [Israeli army] military activity”.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was attacked by the Israeli army multiple times during its nearly two-month war in Lebanon.

“UNIFIL’s operational activities are further constrained due to the presence of unexploded ordnance, [Israeli army] roadblocks at various locations in the area of operations, and interference from local individuals,” Lacroix continued.

“Despite these challenges, the mission is increasing the number and intensity of its operations,” he added.

17 Jan 2025 - 23:23
 (23:23 GMT)
Houthi

Israeli cabinet officially approves Gaza ceasefire deal

As we have been reporting, the cabinet of Prime Minister Netanyahu met on Friday night to vote on whether to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal successfully negotiated with Hamas earlier this week.

Netanyahu’s office has now announced that, after a six-hour-long cabinet meeting that ended in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Israeli government has ratified the ceasefire.

A reporter from the Axios news outlet, citing an Israeli cabinet member, said in a post on X that 24 ministers voted in favour, while eight ministers voted against.

Under the deal, which is bitterly opposed by some far-right cabinet hardliners, a six-week ceasefire is due to take effect on Sunday.

The first of a series of Israeli captive and Palestinian prisoner exchanges could also take place that day, opening the way to ending the 15-month war.

We will bring you more information when we have it.

17 Jan 2025 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

Poll confirms Israeli public supports second phase of ceasefire deal

The majority of the Israeli public supports taking the Gaza ceasefire deal into its second phase even if that means ending the war, a poll aired on public broadcaster Kan has found.

According to the Israeli broadcaster, 55 percent of the respondents said they wanted the deal to continue, while 27 percent believed the war should resume after the first phase and 18 percent said they did not know.

The Kan poll also found that 62 percent of the respondents were in favour of the first part of the deal, compared with 18 percent who were opposed to it and 20 percent who were undecided.

17 Jan 2025 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

WATCH: What’s needed on the ground to implement the Gaza ceasefire deal?

A Gaza ceasefire deal is backed by Hamas, the US and governments worldwide – but Israeli politicians are the final hurdle. Implementing it will also mean overcoming major obstacles.

What are the challenges? And what’s needed from each side?

Watch Al Jazeera’s Inside Story to hear the discussion:

17 Jan 2025 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Palestinian injured as Israeli army raids town near Nablus

One person has been injured by the Israeli army as it stormed the town of Sebastia, north of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that the 31-year-old was shot with live bullets during clashes that followed a military raid.

Separately, the agency reported a military raid on the city of Tulkarem that resulted in no arrests or injuries.

17 Jan 2025 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

UN releases framework on anti-Semitism that includes IHRA definition

The United Nations has released a new strategic framework for combatting anti-Semitism that includes a controversial definition by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), widely seen as conflating criticism of the state of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism.

The UN’s “Action Plan to Enhance Monitoring and Response to Antisemitism” sets out to be a “practical tool for dealing with a disturbing rise in both antisemitic incidents and Holocaust denial affecting Jews.”

Dozens of rights groups had urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres not to adopt the controversial IHRA definition, saying it has been used to suppress criticism of Israel and its war in Gaza.

US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, issued a statement welcoming the UN’s framework and the inclusion of the IHRA definition. “The challenge now lies in putting the plan into practice,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“In that spirit, we have requested that the Secretary-General and Under-Secretary-General Miguel Moratinos brief Member States on next steps to implement the strategy.”

The text of the UN document specifies that the “United Nations Secretariat does not endorse any definition on antisemitism”.

17 Jan 2025 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

Palestinian security forces deploy in Jenin refugee camp

The Palestinian National Security Forces, the paramilitary security forces of the Palestinian Authority (PA), have issued a statement saying they are currently deployed in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp to “establish security, public order and enforce the law.”

The statement said this is part of “Operation Protect the Homeland”, which the PA had previously described as being aimed at restoring law and order in the West Bank.

Over the past weeks, the PA has launched a crackdown on a coalition of armed groups in Jenin, besieging the camp and cutting off water and electricity.

The PA earlier this month banned Al Jazeera from reporting in the West Bank. The network has said it considers this decision an attempt to dissuade the channel from covering the rapidly escalating events taking place in the occupied territory.

17 Jan 2025 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

Prisoners’ affairs commission says Israeli data on prisoners not to be trusted

The spokesman for the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Thaer Shreiteh has said they do not trust the data published by Israeli authorities regarding Palestinian prisoners who are to be released as part of a ceasefire deal brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar.

The names published by Israel’s minister of justice “contains a clear flaw”, Shreiteh said in a statement published on Telegram, as it contains the names of female prisoners that had been released already.

The details of 10 prisoners also included their dates of birth with no additional information.

“We renew our call to our Egyptian and Qatari brothers to put an end to these violations,” the statement added.

17 Jan 2025 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Cairo talks end with consensus on Gaza truce mechanism: State-linked media

Negotiators from Egypt, Qatar, the US and Israel have agreed on “all necessary arrangements to implement” the Gaza truce deal, expected to take effect on Sunday, Egyptian state-linked media reported.

Citing an informed Egyptian source, Al Qahera News said that technical meetings which started in Cairo on Friday ended “on a positive note”.

During today’s talks, the negotiators agreed to form a joint operations room in Cairo to “ensure effective coordination” and compliance with the truce terms, the source said.

17 Jan 2025 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Lawmaker urges US to halt ‘endless supply’ of weapons to Israel

Senator Bernie Sanders has reiterated his call to end the supply of US weapons to Israel.

Hailing the recent Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Sanders said he hoped that the destruction will soon end and that the Israeli captives will finally be returned to their families.

He also said that “as Americans, we must grapple with our role in this dark chapter.”

“The United States allowed this mass atrocity to continue by providing an endless supply of weapons to [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and failing to exert meaningful leverage,” he stressed.

The military support took place in clear violation of US and international law, he reiterated.

“This must not happen again. Future political leaders should learn from this terrible lesson and restore respect for our own laws and moral principles,” Sanders added.

US Senator Bernie Sanders [File: Emily Elconin/Reuters]
17 Jan 2025 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Photos: Rallies in support of Gaza ceasefire around the Muslim world

Somalis attend a rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza after the news of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, outside the Omar ibn al-Khattab in Mogadishu, Somalia, January 17, 2025 [Feisal Omar/Reuters]
People attend a protest organised to celebrate the announcement of the ceasefire in Gaza, in Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, Syria, January 17, 2025 [Yamam al-Shaar/Reuters]
A child at a protest organised to celebrate the announcement of the ceasefire in Gaza, in Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, Syria, January 17, 2025 [Yamam al-Shaar/Reuters] (Reuters)
People celebrate the news of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, in Amman, Jordan, January 17, 2025. [Jehad Shelbak/Reuters]
Protesters demonstrate in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Sanaa, Yemen, on January 17, 2025 [Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]
Protesters demonstrate in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Sanaa, Yemen, on January 17, 2025 [Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]

17 Jan 2025 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

Israel’s education minister says ‘price extremely high’ after voting for ceasefire

As Israel’s parliament is meeting to ratify a security cabinet vote approving a ceasefire deal in Gaza, Education Minister Yoav Kisch said he approved the agreement with Hamas despite its price being “extremely high”.

“A complex decision – the price of the deal is very high, but we have a supreme moral obligation to bring our brothers and sisters home,” he wrote on X.

“It’s important for me to make it clear – we are not moving away from the goals of the war, no matter how long it takes – the return of all our hostages home, the collapse of the Hamas regime and the assurance that Gaza will not pose a threat to the State of Israel,” he added.

Kisch also expressed confidence that President-elect Donald Trump will “do great things for the security and future of the State of Israel”.

17 Jan 2025 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

Israeli government meeting on ceasefire deal ongoing

By Stefanie Dekker

Reporting from Amman, Jordan.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because the Israeli government has banned it from operating in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

It’s hard to tell how much longer the Israeli government’s meeting is going to last. We understand that there are debates going on but there really seems to be the expectation that this ceasefire deal will go through.

This could happen overnight or tomorrow, and then we would expect the ceasefire to take place on Sunday. We will initially see three captives being released, widely believed to be three women, and then 95 Palestinian prisoners mostly from the occupied West Bank.

The Israelis have set up three receiving areas for the captives around the perimeter of Gaza and they have talked about how they will be received by medical personnel, psychologists and the army. They will be then taken to hospitals within Israel to be reunited with their families.

17 Jan 2025 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

WATCH: Qatar’s prime minister reveals details of the ceasefire agreement

Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani spoke exclusively to Al Jazeera about the Gaza ceasefire agreement announced in Doha on Wednesday.

Watch below to see what he said:

17 Jan 2025 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

CIA employee accused of leaking Israel’s plans to strike Iran to plead guilty

An employee of the US’s foreign spy service who was accused of leaking classified documents about Israel’s plans to strike Iran will plead guilty to criminal charges that he willfully retained and transmitted national defence information, according to a court filing, the Reuters news agency reports.

The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI in November in Cambodia.

He was indicted on two counts of disclosing national defence information under the Espionage Act, and could face a lengthy prison sentence.

According to the indictment, Rahman “willfully retained” a classified document and “transmitted that document to a person not entitled to receive it”.

17 Jan 2025 - 19:45
 (19:45 GMT)

EU stresses need for implementation of Gaza ceasefire deal without delay

It is now time to implement the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal without any delay, a top EU official has said.

During her daily news briefing, Anitta Hipper, spokesperson of the European Commission for Foreign Affairs, welcomed the Gaza truce agreement and thanked the deal’s mediators.

It is now crucial that the agreement is fully implemented, all hostages are released and a permanent end to hostilities is achieved, Hipper said.

17 Jan 2025 - 19:30
 (19:30 GMT)

Lazzarini warns UNRWA ban will impact Gaza aid delivery, social order

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency has warned that legislation passed by Israel’s parliament will come into effect in less than two weeks, effectively banning it from operating at a time in which aid deliveries to Gaza will need to be scaled up, following a ceasefire agreement.

“Full implementation would be catastrophic,” Lazzarini told a news conference. “In Gaza, it would massively weaken the international humanitarian response and immeasurably worsen dire living conditions.”

“The disintegration of the agency would intensify the breakdown of social order in Gaza, undermine the ceasefire agreement and sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition,” he added.

While Israel claims that UNRWA services can be transferred to other entities, Lazzarini said the agency’s role far exceeds that of any other organisation and can only be transferred to a fully functioning state authority.

17 Jan 2025 - 19:15
 (19:15 GMT)

US slaps Bank it says has Houthi ties with sanctions

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned the Yemen-Kuwait Bank for its alleged financial support of Yemen’s Houthis.

“The Houthis rely on a few key financial institutions like Yemen Kuwait Bank to access the international financial system,” said acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T Smith.

“The United States is committed to disrupting these illicit channels and working with the internationally recognised Government of Yemen to ensure that the country’s banking sector remains insulated from Houthi influence,” Smith said.

Today’s decision builds on previous Treasury sanctions that have targeted Houthi-affiliated financial networks responsible for what it claims as “channelling the illicit proceeds of Iranian petroleum sales to the Houthis”.

In solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships in the Red Sea that it claims have ties to Israel since November 2023. The intensity of the attacks has disrupted global shipping and prompted route changes.