Israeli government meeting to decide on Hamas hostage deal, short-term cease-fire in Gaza
CBSN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene Israel's war cabinet and then his full government Tuesday amid progress in negotiations for a temporary cease-fire in the country's war with the Palestinian group Hamas that's expected to see some Israeli hostages released.
The proposed deal will allow for an initial group of 50 hostages held by Hamas to be released in phases during windows of pause, CBS News has confirmed. The proposed deal, brokered by the U.S. and Qatar, will include a limited six-hour pause in fighting for four days, according to sources familiar with the agreement.
During this time, aid will also be allowed into Gaza, with a total of 300 trucks carrying aid, including cooking oil for bakeries and fuel for hospitals, a source familiar told CBS News.
Southern Gaza Strip — In a rare moment of access to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, CBS News visited a critical aid distribution center on Wednesday just inside the Gaza Strip, near the Karem Shalom border crossing from Israel. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza after more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war remains dire.
Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made a rare admission of failings by his powerful security agencies over the Ukraine-orchestrated killing of a senior general in Moscow. Lt. General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian military's chemical and biological weapons unit, was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter in Moscow on Tuesday, the boldest assassination claimed by Kyiv since the start of the conflict.
A judge in France on Thursday found the former husband of Gisèle Pelicot, who admitted to drugging and raping her repeatedly over the course of almost a decade and inviting dozens of other men to assault her as well, guilty of aggravated rape. He was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Moscow — Former Royal Ballet star Sergei Polunin, famous for his tattoos of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday announced that he plans to leave Russia. The Ukrainian-Russian dancer was one of the most prominent stars who backed Russia's unilateral 2014 annexation of Crimea and its military assault on Ukraine. He was rewarded with prestigious state posts.