Source: THE AS­SO­CI­AT­ED PRESS

Is­raeli Prime Min­is­ter Ben­jamin Ne­tanyahu’s of­fice says the meet­ing of the full Cab­i­net has be­gun on Fri­day evening. The Cab­i­net is ex­pect­ed to ap­prove the agree­ment on the cease­fire, which could start as soon as Sun­day.

The cease­fire has drawn fierce re­sis­tance from Ne­tanyahu’s far-right coali­tion part­ners, but their ob­jec­tions could desta­bi­lize his gov­ern­ment.

The full Cab­i­net meet­ing fol­lows one held ear­li­er Fri­day by Is­rael’s se­cu­ri­ty Cab­i­net, which rec­om­mend­ed ap­proval.

The agree­ment would bring re­lief to the hard-hit Gaza Strip, where Is­rael’s of­fen­sive has re­duced large ar­eas to rub­ble and dis­placed around 90% of the pop­u­la­tion of 2.3 mil­lion, many at risk of famine.

Here are more up­dates and de­vel­op­ments…

Is­rael pub­lish­es list of 95 Pales­tin­ian pris­on­ers set to be re­leased

Is­rael’s Jus­tice Min­istry has pub­lished a list of 95 Pales­tin­ian pris­on­ers who are set to be re­leased on Sun­day dur­ing the first stage of the cease­fire deal.

The list in­clud­ed 25 male pris­on­ers slat­ed for re­lease, all un­der age 21, and 70 fe­male pris­on­ers. The youngest pris­on­ers that will be re­leased are 16 years old.

They were ac­cused of crimes in­clud­ing in­cite­ment, van­dal­ism, sup­port­ing ter­ror­ism, at­tempt­ed mur­der, or throw­ing stones or Molo­tov cock­tails.

One of the most well-known pris­on­ers on the list is Khal­i­da Jar­rar, 62, a lead­ing mem­ber of the Pop­u­lar Front for the Lib­er­a­tion of Pales­tine. He has been in and out of Is­raeli prison in re­cent years. The New York-based Hu­man Rights Watch said Jar­rar’s re­peat­ed ar­rests are part of Is­rael’s wider crack­down on non-vi­o­lent po­lit­i­cal op­po­si­tion.

Is­rael’s Prison Ser­vices said it would car­ry out the trans­porta­tion of the pris­on­ers rather than the In­ter­na­tion­al Red Cross, to avoid “pub­lic ex­pres­sions of joy.”

The lists of pris­on­ers are pub­lished to al­low mem­bers of the pub­lic to pe­ti­tion Is­raeli courts against the re­lease of a spe­cif­ic pris­on­er. Mem­bers of the pub­lic can sub­mit pe­ti­tions up un­til the pris­on­ers are re­leased on Sun­day, a spokesper­son for the Jus­tice Min­istry said.

A woman walks past photos of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Mahmoud Illean

Med­ical staff in Is­rael pre­pare for hostages’ re­turn

By SAM MED­NICK

As Is­rael pre­pares for the re­turn of hostages, med­ical staff say they’re con­cerned about how long peo­ple have been in cap­tiv­i­ty.

Six hos­pi­tals through­out the coun­try are prepar­ing to re­ceive the hostages. “Our main con­cern is the long time ... they are prob­a­bly held in very very bad con­di­tions, lack of nu­tri­tion, lack of hy­giene,” said Dr. Ha­gar Mizrahi, head of the med­ical di­rec­torate at Is­rael’s health min­istry.

Around 100 hostages, a mix of civil­ians and sol­diers, re­main cap­tive in­side Gaza. They in­clude around a dozen for­eign na­tion­als from Thai­land, Nepal and Tan­za­nia. The mil­i­tary be­lieves at least a third of the re­main­ing hostages — and up to half of them — are dead.

Un­der phase one of the cease­fire, 33 hostages are set to be re­leased as ear­ly as Sun­day.

Dr. Mizrahi said staff are al­so prepar­ing to as­sist peo­ple with their men­tal health and have had train­ing ses­sions re­cent­ly on how to deal with the var­i­ous sit­u­a­tions that could im­pact the hostages.

Mean­while fam­i­lies and friends of the hostages are wait­ing anx­ious­ly for their loved ones to re­turn.

In a Tel Aviv square now known as Hostages Square be­cause it’s be­come a gath­er­ing place for fam­i­lies and sup­port­ers, dozens of peo­ple gath­ered Fri­day to hear the fam­i­lies speak, chant­i­ng “you are not alone!”

“I’m re­al­ly hap­py, but it al­so breaks my heart, be­cause it’s al­ready been 15 months,” said Yael Danieli, a 60-year-old re­al es­tate agent from Tel Aviv who has been ac­tive in the cam­paign to re­turn the hostages.

No one thought they’d be aban­doned for so long, she said.