Hamas Accepts Draft Agreement For Gaza Ceasefire And Release Of Hostages, Officials Say
HuffPost
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at the “closest point” yet to agreeing on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages.
CAIRO (AP) — Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks said Tuesday. Mediator Qatar said the negotiations were at the “closest point” yet to sealing a deal.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity. An Israeli official said progress has been made, but the details are being finalized. The plan would need to be submitted to the Israeli Cabinet for final approval.
All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent the past year trying to mediate an end the 15-month war and secure the release dozens of hostages captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered it. Some 100 Israelis are still captive inside Gaza, and the military believes at least a third them are dead.
Officials have expressed mounting optimism that they can conclude an agreement ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, whose Mideast envoy has joined the negotiations.
Maduro took the oath of office a day after the political opposition’s most prominent leader reported she had been briefly detained by state security forces.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that ceasing military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”
The lack of transparency around Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya's whereabouts highlights the Israeli military's larger campaign of destroying Gaza's health care system.
Gaza's health ministry said women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
Self-exiled Edmundo González said Rafael Tudares was kidnapped while taking González’s two grandchildren to school in Caracas.
The president-elect’s eldest son landed in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk on Tuesday.
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s divisive legacy endures, marking decades of French political history and shaping the trajectory of the far-right.
The latest release brings the total number of men detained at Guantanamo to 15. That's the fewest since 2002.
In Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake sent residents running out of their homes.
After a barrage of attacks from the key adviser to Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned "lies and misinformation."
Investigators failed to take Yoon Suk Yeol into custody following a standoff with the presidential security service last week.
Israel has helped a former soldier leave Brazil after legal action was initiated against him by a group accusing Israelis of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
The X owner's comments came just hours after Farage described him as "a hero."
“You have to stay cool,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German magazine Stern.
"I would very much like President Trump’s unpredictability to be directed primarily toward the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
South Korean investigators left the president’s official residence after a nearly six-hour standoff during which he defied their attempt to detain him.
The government may try to impose a total ban on weapons “because we must ask ourselves after this who should be allowed to have guns in Montenegro," the prime minister said.
Families of the victims were taken to the crash site for the first time on New Year's Day to pay their respects.