What’s happened: Following yesterday’s statements from the Trump Administration that Israel had accepted its latest ceasefire proposal, reports in Arab media indicate that Hamas is positively inclined to the proposal as well, and will make a formal response by Friday. 

• The Saudi news outlet Asharq reports that Hamas is satisfied with the guarantees in the current proposal that the ceasefire would lead to an end to the war. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, speaking in Estonia,  told reporters “there are some positive signs” idicating that an agreement was imminent.
• On the ground, Sgt. Yaniv Michalovich, 19, from Rehovot, was killed in combat yesterday in the Gaza Strip. Two other soldiers sustained serious injuries in the same incident.
• The IDF says that it killed the two Hamas militants who carried out an attack on an Israeli APC last week. The Hamas operatives were killed in a drone strike. The attacks they carried out last week killed seven soldiers from the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion.
• Hamas launched two rockets from Gaza to Sderot yesterday. In the evening following the rocket launch, the IDF issued an evacuation order for the neighbourhood from which the rockets were launched. As of this morning, it was engaged in an extensive operation there against the terror cell that launched the rockets.
• Investigations into Qatari influence in the Prime Minister’s Office expanded yesterday with the questioning under caution of Major General (res.) Yoav Mordechai, who has held a number of senior roles and, since retiring from service, has been employed by the Israeli firm Novard Group, which has reportedly represented Israeli defence contractors in their dealings with Qatar. According to the allegations under investigation, Novard Group was involved in transferring payments to Jonatan Urich, the senior adviser to the Prime Minister at the centre of the suspected influence ring.

Context: The full details of the latest deal remain unclear. With Prime Minister Netanyahu meeting President Trump next week in Washington it is also unclear the sequencing of when the Israeli cabinet will vote to approve a deal. 

• Details of the proposed ceasefire reported this morning by The New York Times suggest some differences from earlier reports. In the new version, ten living hostages and eighteen bodies would be released on five different occasions during the 60 days of the ceasefire. Moreover, unlike in the previous ceasefire, there would be no handover “ceremonies.” These staged spectacles provoked much anger and anguish in Israel, in particular regarding the Red Cross’s collaboration with them.
• Hamas is currently holding 50 Israeli hostages, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. Hamas’ apparent agreement to the new proposal, still unconfirmed, is conditioned on assurances that the ceasefire period will see negotiations to end the war permanently, the only condition under which the terror organisation will agree to release the remaining hostages it will still be holding at the end of the 60 days of the ceasefire.
• Officially and publicly, Israel is still committed to both of its stated war goals: liberating the hostages and ending Hamas rule in Gaza. Speaking to soldiers in Rafah yesterday, Defence Minister Yisrael Katz said, “Getting the hostages and making sure Hamas isn’t here. We won’t let go of that objective. Hamas has not changed.”
• National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to meet him urgently to coordinate opposition to the ceasefire deal. Both far-right ministers have in the past opposed any proposals that leave Hamas standing in any form. During the previous ceasefire in January, Ben Gvir resigned from the Government, only to rejoin when fighting started again in March.
• In previous rounds, the government had enough votes to approve deals without the hard right factions. Nevertheless, leading figures in the parliamentary opposition made public declarations of support for the ceasefire and pledged to provide the Government with a “safety net” in the Knesset for it to pursue the release of hostages even in the face of far-right defections inside the coalition. Leader of the Opposition Yair Lapid said that “compared to Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s 13 votes, you have my 23 votes for a safety net for a hostage deal. They all need to be brought back home now.” 
• The Democrats Chairman and Maj. Gen. (res.) Yair Golan said, “The pair of failed Kahanists, who have formed a blocking majority against getting the hostages back, are un-Zionist and unworthy of sitting at the cabinet table. And the person who has kept them there is unfit to lead Israel for even a single day longer.” And Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party, posted on social media: “No bloc on earth will stop the return of the hostages. Netanyahu, petty politics won’t be an obstacle to historic steps. You have a large majority to bring back the hostages.”

Looking ahead: Netanyahu is due to arrive in Washington on Sunday, with expectations that a ceasefire agreement, if possible, it to be agreed upon before his arrival. In Washington, he is expected to discuss with Trump a number of other regional initiatives that a ceasefire, as well as the successful war in Iran earlier this month, will have made possible.

• According to a detailed report in Israel Hayom, a US-brokered normalisation agreement with Saudi Arabia is back on the agenda. Efforts to bring about a full diplomatic normalisation between Saudi Arabia and Israel were at a mature state before the October 7 attack, and were probably a principal reason for the attack, but since the war began the Saudis have been less interested in pursuing a peace deal with Israel. The coordinated US and Israeli attack on Iran has, according to the report, convinced the Saudis of the importance of formalising their relationship with Israel. 
• A ceasefire that would lead to an actual end to the war could be an opening for Saudi and Emirati investment in Gaza’s reconstruction – and an opportunity to shut out the Qataris, strategic rivals of the Saudis and Emiratis and until October 7 the main financial backers of Gaza’s Hamas rulers. The paper also reports for the first time that Saudi forces were directly involved in intercepting Iranian drones launched at Israel in the recent war.
• Syrian state media, meanwhile, were keen to dampen enthusiasm on a potential peace deal with Israel yesterday. A report on the state TV channel citing an unnamed senior official described such talk as “premature.” The same report reiterated the key Syrian demand of an Israeli withdrawal from lands occupied in recent months beyond the 1974 disengagement lines. Notably, there was, once more, no demand for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which Israel conquered in the Six-Day War in 1967.

Gaza Strip: Seven IDF soldiers were killed in action on Tuesday in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip when their Puma armoured combat engineering vehicle was hit by an explosive. 

• All seven served in the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion. The soldiers were named as Lt. Matan Shai Yashinovski, 21, from Kfar Yona; Staff Sgt. Ronel Ben-Moshe, 20, from Rehovot; Staff Sgt. Niv Radia, 20, from Elyakhin; Sgt. Ronen Shapiro, 19, from Mazkeret Batya; Sgt. Shahar Manoav, 21, from Ashkelon; Sgt. Maayan Baruch Pearlstein, 20, from Eshhar; and Staff Sgt. Alon Davidov, 21, from Kiryat Yam. 
• 879 IDF soldiers have been killed in the war which began on October 7, 2023. 440 of them since Israel began its operation in response to the massacre. 
• In a separate incident, another soldier from the same battalion sustained serious injuries.

Israel – Iran ceasefire: A comprehensive ceasefire put an end to twelve days of active combat between Israel and Iran yesterday. 

• The hours immediately before and after the ceasefire saw increased attacks from both sides and doubts about the efficacy of the ceasefire, but by midday yesterday all active combat had ceased.
• The ceasefire was due to go into effect at 7:00am Israel time. In the hours leading up to the deadline, Israel mounted a large offensive air operation in Iran, to the apparent surprise and displeasure of the Trump administration.
• In the last hour before the ceasefire went into effect, Iran launched four separate missile barrages at Israeli cities. A missile struck an apartment block in Beer Sheva in southern Israel, killing four people. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Israel during the entire 12 days of war.
• Hours after the ceasefire had gone into effect, a new Iranian missile attack was aimed at Haifa. Anger in Israel, both at the deadly Beer Sheva attack and the ceasefire violation in Haifa, led the Israeli government to order a new aerial attack on Iran.
• The Trump administration exerted public and private pressure on Israel to abort this attack, with Trump making colourful and direct statements on social media and on the White House lawn, as well as holding a phone call with the Israeli prime minister, who ultimately called off most of the planned attack and made do with a symbolic attack on an Iranian radar facility.
• With that final blow, the ceasefire entered into full force, and has held so far for more than 20 hours.

Context: With the war seemingly over for now, the rhetorical battle over its outcome began. 

• A low-confidence preliminary assessment by the US Defence Intelligence Agency that Iran’s nuclear programme was set back only by a few months was seized upon by sceptics of military action in Iran as proof of its lack of efficacy, commanding banner headlines in the New York Times and elsewhere. 
• Both the US and Israel have yet to make more detailed assessments of the damage to Iranian nuclear sites, as well as to Iran’s existing stock of ballistic missiles and its capacity to make more.
• Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to the Israeli public yesterday, saying “we destroyed Iran’s nuclear programme, and if anyone in Iran tries to revive that project, we will act with the same resoluteness and the same force to cut short any attempt of that kind. I reiterate: Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”
• President Trump released what appear to be screenshots of private correspondence between him and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, a former Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Rutte welcomes Trump to the NATO conference in the Hague, saying that he was “flying into another big success in The Hague this evening.” Elsewhere in the text exchange, Rutte wrote to Trump, “That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do… It makes us all safer.”
• Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Ronen Bergman focussed on the ballistic missile threat: “Iran fired – and the IAF intercepted – roughly half of the ballistic missiles that Iran possessed prior to the Israeli attack. That is to say, they still have about 1,000 missiles. That means that another roughly 1,000 missiles remain. Israel is estimated to have destroyed about 200 of Iran’s 400 launchers and to have disrupted Iran’s efforts to dramatically expand its missile production, having aimed to produce about 10,000 missiles over the next five years. But do the remaining missiles, launchers and production infrastructure still pose a threat?”
• Elsewhere in Israel, attention turned back to the war in Gaza and the plight of the remaining hostages. Speculation abounded that the Israeli government could leverage its success in Iran to reach a more comprehensive ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza — and even ride that to an early election. In Maariv, Ben Caspit appealed to Netanyahu to resist the entreaties of his far-right cabinet ministers to continue the war in Gaza and instead to agree to end the war now. He likened this to Trump’s decision to attack Iran, disappointing his far-right supporters who preferred a more isolationist stance. “Netanyahu, be Trump,” he wrote. “Learn from the unpredictable American president who went against his base… and made the right decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities… Because sometimes you simply need to do the right thing. Trump did it. If Trump could do it, so can you. You need to put an end, here and now, to the needless war in Gaza.”

Looking ahead: Polling in Israel shows a minor increase in the personal popularity of Benjamin Netanyahu, but no dramatic shift in voting preferences for Knesset. 

• In the first poll taken since the ceasefire in the war with Iran, Netanyahu’s Likud party  saw its projected seat count rise to 26 from 22 in previous polls, but the gain was entirely at the expense of other right-wing parties. The current governing coalition, which holds 68 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, received only 49 seats in the latest poll, far short of a majority. 
• The next election is due to be held in October 2026, but recent weeks have seen much speculation that an early election might be called. Reasons for this include the impasse over drafting ultra-Orthodox men and high expectations among Netanyahu’s supporters that the successful end of the war with Iran could boost his popularity.

What’s happened: A bus carrying Palestinian aid workers to a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site was attacked by Hamas gunmen. Five of the Palestinian workers were killed in the attack, and there are unverified reports of a possible abduction as well. 

• On Wednesday, the GHF announced that it had provided nearly 2.5 million meals that day, and more than 16 million meals to Gazans since it began operations two weeks ago.
• The bodies of two Israeli hostages abducted in the October 7 attacks were recovered by Israeli forces yesterday. Both were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where 47 people were murdered and 76 taken hostage during the massacre. The kibbutz had 427 residents when it was attacked by 500 Palestinians from Gaza.
• The identity of one of the two murdered hostages was not yet cleared for publication at the request of his family. The other was Yair Yaakov, a resident of the kibbutz who was 59 years old when he was murdered during the October 7 massacre.
• Yaakov’s partner, Meirav Tal, and his two sons, Or and Yagil, were abducted and later released in November 2024 as part of the temporary ceasefire deal.
• There are currently 53 hostages still being held in Gaza, of whom 20 are estimated to be alive. The bodies of the two hostages were found yesterday in Khan Yunis when an IDF force operating in the area came upon a tunnel entrance and physical evidence that hostages had been held nearby.

What’s happened: Early this morning Israeli naval forces took control of the British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which was attempting to breach the naval blockade on Gaza. 

• The vessel, carrying 12 activists including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan, was intercepted without incident, and no injuries were reported. 
• The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the passengers were unharmed, provided with food and water, and would be repatriated to their home countries. The Ministry dismissed the flotilla as a “media stunt” and emphasised that the small amount of aid aboard would be delivered through authorised humanitarian channels.
• Israel has questioned the intentions of the Flotilla. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oren Marmorstein told Army Radio this morning, “We successfully conveyed to the world its true character. This was a provocation. This was a gimmick. We called it the ‘selfies yacht.’ I think that caught on because, first of all, that’s what it is. They were busy 24-hour-a-day filming themselves. You use the gimmick for your own purposes to show that this was a PR stunt, a media gimmick, and not a genuine humanitarian effort.”
• Over the weekend, the remains of Nattapong Pinta, a Thai hostage were recovered. He was kidnapped alive from Nir Oz and murdered in captivity. 
• Meanwhile IDF ground operations continue to expand simultaneously across Gaza. Hamas has responded with guerilla tactics, primarily planting explosives, with once more fatal consequences that killed four more soldiers on Friday.
• The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) resumed its aid distribution on Sunday, following a pause caused by threats from Hamas.
• Israeli security correspondents were invited by the IDF to visit the Hamas tunnel network beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in which Muhammed Sinwar and others were eliminated in an air strike in 13th May. They described a tunnel seven meters deep and several hundred meters long with multiple entry and exit points, living quarters, and even a shelter suitable for wartime. It is thought that in order to protect themselves, Sinwar and other senior Hamas members stayed close to hostages, intending for them to serve as human shields.

Context: The recent soldiers’ deaths – eight in the last week – have reignited the domestic Israeli debate over the efficacy and moral calculus of the “military pressure doctrine.” Twenty soldiers have now fallen in the latest offensive. 

• The recovery of the bodies is a stark reminder that 41 hostages believed alive at the time of capture have since been murdered or killed whilst in captivity. 
• This once more underscores the limits of purely military options. There has long been a fear that hostages are endangered by the proximity of IDF manoeuvres, and daring raids to release living hostages have had only limited success.     
• The return of the body of Pinta follows the recovery of the bodies of Gadi Haggai and his wife Judy Weinstein-Haggai (who were killed on 7th October) at the end of last week in the Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza. Their bodies had been held by a small splinter organisation, the Mujahideen Battalions. 
• Established in 2006 with a strict Salafi Islamist orientation, the Mujahideen Battalions receive funding and support from Iran, and were also responsible for the murder of the Bibas family. The group is thought to hold at least one additional body of a foreign national.
• On Saturday, Israeli forces killed two senior commanders of Mujahideen Brigades in separate air strikes in Gaza City.  As’ad Abu Sharaiya, the group’s leader, and senior field commander Mahmoud Muhammad Hamid Kuhail, were directly involved in the deadly attacks on Kibbutz Nir Am on 7^th October.
• The latest operation still leaves 55 hostages inside Gaza for 612 days with the current assessment that 20 remain alive. Over the weekend Hamas released a photo of Matan Zangauker which served both as proof of life and as psychological warfare. His mother Einav, of the most prominent campaigners for a hostage deal, once more addressed the rally on Saturday night accusing Prime Minister Netanyahu of “sacrificing the hostages.”
• According to COGAT, throughout last week 350 trucks belonging to the UN, carrying flour and other food, entered into Gaza. According to GHF, on Friday alone, they distributed 471,240 meals through 8,160 food parcels.
• Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza has been affirmed as legal under international law by the 2011 UN Palmer Report, which concluded that the blockade was a legitimate security measure to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza by sea.
• The IDF is continuing to pursue its multi-objective offensive:
  • Destroy Hamas infrastructure, focused on tunnels, weapons caches, and command and control centres.
  • Controlling more territory and capturing “assets” like the body of Muhammad Sinwar to improve their bargaining position and increase the pressure on Hamas.
  • Undermining Hamas’s grip on aid distribution as well promoting even supporting rival local actors. The latter has been heavily criticised.
• In light of this, some Israeli analysts have called for the return of the Palestinian Authority to both be part of the mechanism to deliver aid and be part of the post-war governance.
• Meanwhile, recent Hamas document discovered in Gaza indicate the level of financial assistance, and cooperation between Hamas and Qatar. The documents suggest that Qatar has been actively involved in Hamas’s strategic decisions, including attempts to undermine regional peace efforts.

Looking ahead: Concern remains that, with US attention elsewhere, not enough pressure is being applied on Qatar and Hamas to renew hostage negotiations.       

• With no further talks currently planned, Israel is waiting for US envoy Witkoff to return to the region and reconvene talks. In their absence the IDF operation is set to continue.

What’s happened: On Monday, three IDF soldiers from the Givati Brigade were killed in combat in the northern Gaza Strip. Two other soldiers were injured in the explosion which killed Staff Sgt. Lior Sternberg, 20, Staff Sgt. Ofek Barhana, also 20, and Staff Sgt. Omer Van Gelder, 22. The attackers emerged from a tunnel whose opening was in a destroyed building.

• IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said, “This building is a military target, just as are tens of thousands of other buildings in the Gaza Strip that are used for terrorism. Almost every second house is booby-trapped and contains a tunnel shaft.”
• Another soldier was killed yesterday in combat in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood. Master Sgt. Alon Farkas, 27, was a reservist in the Paratroopers Brigade.
• The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the aid mechanism backed by the U.S. and Israel operating mostly in southern Gaza, announced that it would suspend its aid distribution today in order to prepare logistical work to prepare for larger crowds. This follows at least two reported incidents of gunfire and casualties near distribution sites in the past three days.
• Yesterday, Hamas authorities claimed that 31 people were killed by Israeli gunfire outside a GHF site. The IDF Spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin responded by saying: “IDF troops fired warning shots approximately half a kilometre from the distribution area toward suspects who were approaching in a manner that endangered the troops’ safety.” Defrin also pledged investigation of the incident.
• This follows at least two other incidents over the weekend with vastly discrepant reporting on the locations of gunfire and casualty figures.
• Reporting on this incidents was affected by vas spread of misinformation that has been debunked by fact-checkers from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).
• The GHF says that within its sites, it has distributed aid yesterday without incident, handing out 21 truckloads of food, totalling 20,160 boxes. The GHF further reports that in eight days of operation it has distributed 7 million meals from three different sites.
• Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who has been in the front of Israeli negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release since the end of the previous ceasefire three months ago, was reported to have spoken directly with the Qatari Prime Minister at the initiative of the American envoy Steve Witkoff. Earlier this week, Hamas rejected the new Witkoff framework for a ceasefire, which Israel had already accepted.
  • According to reports, this plan would include an immediate release of nine or ten living hostages, plus the remains of 18 deceased hostages, out of 58 held by Hamas, of whom twenty are presumed to be alive.
  • In return Israel would release 125 heavyweight terrorists with blood on their hands, all of whom are life-term prisoners, 1,111 terrorists from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7, 2023, and remains of 180 dead terrorists.
• In the first such incident since the collapse of the Assad regime last year, rockets were fired from Syria into Israel. The two rockets landed in an open area of the southern Golan Heights. The IDF responded by striking weapons facilities of the new regime in southern Syria.

Context: For the first time since the war began, the IDF released map showing the progress of its forces in Gaza. The IDF now holds more Gazan territory than at any point in the war — and for that matter, more territory than it has held in Gaza since the implementation of the first stage of the Oslo Accords in 1994. However, broad swathes of territory in the centre of the Strip have yet to be reached by Israeli forces. These are the areas where it is believed the remaining hostages are being held.

• Defence officials were reported to have warned that a complete collapse of Hamas in Gaza might mean that rival militias could be holding the remaining hostages, making any kind of negotiation for their release even more difficult.
• Walla News reports that the IDF has held a special situation assessment meeting to discuss the efforts Hamas’s leadership has made to derail the humanitarian aid distribution by the GHF at three sites in Rafah. In some cases armed Hamas fighters have fired live rounds at the civilians in a bid to deter them from advancing. One defence official said that “Hamas officials realise that they aren’t the only party that controls Gaza anymore. With the passage of time, the better the distribution centres will operate so that this [mechanism] will work far better for more people, and more centres will be set up.”
• An Israeli defence official said Hamas has also been exerting intense pressure on the UN officials not to cooperate with allowing in aid and that UN officials in Gaza have refused for more than a week to allow 390 trucks laden with humanitarian aid currently at the Kerem Shalom crossing to make their way to central Gaza.
• The American businessman Bishara Bahbah, who was the national chairman of “Arab Americans for Trump” before the 2024 presidential election, remains in Doha mediating between Hamas officials and Steve Witkoff. There were reports that he is aiming for a breakthrough before the upcoming Eid al-Adha festival next week. For now, there is no Israeli delegation in Doha, and American officials, including Witkoff himself, have placed most of the blame for the impasse on Hamas.
• A delegation of French diplomatic officials visited Israel this week to brief their Israeli counterparts on the French-Saudi conference planned for later this month.
  • Media reports over recent weeks have mooted the possibility of a French announcement of recognition of a Palestinian state at the conference, similar to moves made last year by Norway, Spain, and Ireland.
  • According to the French diplomats, this is not what France is planning.
  • The goal of the French initiative, according to the diplomats, is not any immediate steps but rather an agreed document with a vision for disarming Hamas, reforming the PA, and steps to achieve a two-state solution.

Looking ahead: A coalition crisis in Israel could push the country into early elections. United Torah Judaism, one of two ultra-Orthodox parties in the current coalition, are reportedly planning on quitting the Government over its failure to pass a draft exemption law for the ultra-Orthodox public.

• Such legislation was being blocked by MK Yuli Edelstein of the Likud, who heads the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee in parliament.
• Rumours swirled around the Knesset that Prime Minister Netanyahu was working to have Edelstein moved from this position, but nothing came of this manoeuvre.
• Following on the reports of UTJ’s possible defection from the Government, opposition parties Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beitenu and The Democrats announced that they will submit a bill for the Knesset’s dissolution next Wednesday. Elections are currently scheduled for October 2026, but a dissolution of parliament would mean that elections could be held as soon as this coming autumn.

Witkoff Plan: According to reports Israel has agreed to the latest ceasefire agreement being advanced by US envoy Steve Witkoff.  

• As of Friday morning, the mediators, US, Egypt and Qatar are still waiting for a Hamas response.
• The latest iteration of the agreement, according to the Saudi Al-Arabiya news channel includes:
  • A 60 day ceasefire guaranteed by President Trump.
  • Hamas will release ten living hostages and 18 dead hostages, (from the remaining 58 hostages). On the first day of the agreement, half of the hostages (five living and nine dead) will be released. The release of the remaining half will take place on the seventh day. 
  • In exchange, Israel will release 125 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment and 1,111 prisoners arrested after October 7, 2023. In exchange for 18 dead Israelis, 180 bodies of Palestinians will be handed over. The release will take place simultaneously in an agreed-upon mechanism and without Hamas propaganda ceremonies.
  • From the first day, Israel will allow increased aid to enter Gaza. 
  • Similarly, all Israeli military activity in Gaza will stop on the first day. During the ceasefire, aerial activity (including intelligence gathering) will stop for ten hours day, or for 12 hours on the days of hostage releases. 
  • On the tenth day, according to the document, Hamas will relay complete information about the medical condition of the hostages (with proof about the living and medical reports or proof of those who are dead). In return, Israel will relay complete information about the Palestinian prisoners arrested in the Gaza Strip after October 7 and the number of killed Gazans whose bodies are being held by Israel. Hamas will have to ensure the health and safety of the hostages in the course of the ceasefire.

Context: There remains consistent pressure on the Israeli government from inside Israel society to prioritise the release of all the hostages.

• Israel’s acceptance of the plan was announced by Prime Minister Netanyahu in a meeting with dead hostages’ families yesterday. Following the meeting a spokesperson for the families said, “it was a dignified meeting, but unfortunately, we did not receive satisfactory answers. We do not have the impression that the prime minister prioritises the release of every last hostage as one of the war objectives. We did not leave calmer or more optimistic.” 
• A nineteen year old Defence Ministry civilian contractor David Libi was killed in northern Gaza yesterday when an explosive devise detonated under the bulldozer he was driving. The incident will be investigated as the area, inside Jabalya, had been declared clear of terrorists and IEDs. 
• He was killed as part of the IDF plan to expand the buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip.
• Due to the protracted nature of the fighting and animosity between the sides, some issues remain unclear or unresolved  including the deployment of IDF troops during the ceasefire.  According to the Al-Arabiya report:
  • On day one Israel will redeploy in the northern Gaza Strip and on the Netzarim Corridor.
  • On the seventh day, after the release of the second batch of hostages, Israel will redeploy in the southern Gaza Strip.
  • The technical teams will set the borders of the final deployment in the course of negotiations. 
• It remains unclear who will be responsible for the delivery and distribution for the aid. Some reports have suggested it will revert back to the UN, as opposed to the current role of the US led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.   
• For the sixth time in a week, sirens were sounded across central Israel as the IDF intercepted a missile that the Houthis fired from Yemen on Thursday evening. No one was injured, but shrapnel from the interceptor fell in Mevaseret Zion and the neighbourhood of Kiryat Hayovel in Jerusalem.
• Earlier in the week (and for the second time this month), Israel attacked the Houthis controlled airport in Sanaa.    

Looking ahead: If the agreement is finalised, President Trump is expected to make the  announcement. 

• Witkoff will once more visit the region and lead the final negotiations, with the US committed to  ensure that the negotiations will continue until reaching a final agreement. 
• For the deal to be approved in Israel, Netanyahu will need to present the plan to the security cabinet and the cabinet. The current assessment is that Smotrich and Ben Gvir will be opposed, but will not leave the government. 
• If an agreement is reached, on the first day, the sides will begin negotiations on the long-term security arrangements. The permanent ceasefire is supposed to include:
  • The key and the conditions for the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners. 
  • Issues relating to the deployment and withdrawal of the Israeli troops and the long-term security arrangements in Gaza.
  • Governance of the Strip for “the day after,” and an announcement of a permanent ceasefire to end the war.