https://www.newsweek.com/phase-one-of-gaza-deal-nears-end-what-to-know-10867370
The hostages have been held since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and took around 250 hostages. Hamas has released 148 hostages over the past two years, eight of whom were dead, according to the Associated Press. Hamas will also return the bodies of deceased hostages, although it is not clear how quickly this will happen.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-870111
Israeli officials are prepared for the release of 48 living and deceased hostages "at any time," The Jerusalem Post learned on Saturday evening. However, the working assumption is that the releases will take place on Monday.
Trump, who has a longstanding relationship with the Qataris, issued a surprisingly sharp rebuke of the Israeli attack and would soon offer an unprecedented security guarantee to back his promise that nothing like that would happen again.
Trump extended his public olive branch in tandem with his administration’s private outreach to Qatar and other Arab countries.
In those discussions, US officials made the case that the Doha attack offered an opportunity to put new pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5550230-trump-allies-oppose-qatar-base/?tbref=hp
“There isn’t a single Trump supporter who supports allowing Qatar to have a military base on US soil,” Loomer posted to the social platform X. “I don’t know who told President Trump this was a good idea, but it has made people not want to vote.”
She also wrote that “no foreign country should have a military base on US soil. Especially Islamic countries.”
In another post about Hegseth, she admonished him as he “should know how bad of an idea it is to allow Terror financing Qataris who fund HAMAS and the Muslim Brotherhood to have an AIR FORCE BASE ON US SOIL.”
A message President Trump posted on Truth Social in September pressing Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute several political opponents was intended to be a direct message, reports say.
The Wall Street Journal reported multiple officials said Trump believed he had sent the message to Bondi privately. NBC also confirmed the message’s private intent with a former Trump administration official.
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-869858
"There is a part of the Right that is extraordinarily conspiratorial and sees Jews as a conspiratorial force… It is rising because social media rewards it,” Ben Shapiro said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post last week. “On X and TikTok, you often get more clicks if you push anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric.”
He argued that the dynamic is structural rather than episodic. “You get a lot more likes and clicks if you are promoting an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish agenda than if you are doing the opposite,” he said. “Virtually every conspiracy theory ends up pointing at the Jews because the narrative needs a villain, and it is easier to recycle an old one than to make an honest argument.”
In a recent interview, Shapiro made waves by saying, even as an Orthodox Jew, that one lesson from Kirk was to “go to church.” He did not back away from that line in his interview with the Post. “America is a Christian country,” he said. “The founders were either deists or Christians, drawing on a 2,000-year Christian tradition with Judaic roots. Saying otherwise is dishonest and counterproductive. People who go to church tend to engage with a biblical morality that is valuable.
In the days before his murder, Charlie Kirk was frustrated — and he wasn’t hiding it from his friends. The conservative influencer complained in a WhatsApp group that his “Jewish donors” were “playing into all the stereotypes” and said they were pushing him to “leave the pro-Israel cause.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416099
Israeli intelligence locates document instructing Hamas terrorists to harm IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians, set entire towns on fire, and document their actions, The New York Times reports.
In July, Trump reportedly called Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’s finance minister and the former Nato secretary general, to ask about the Nobel prize. At the UN last month, Trump falsely claimed that he had halted seven “unendable wars”, telling world leaders: “Everyone says I should get the Nobel peace prize.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller sparked a controversy during a live CNN interview this week after claiming that President Donald Trump had “plenary authority”. Miller is under fire for saying Trump has "plenary authority"-the absolute power to make the decision- while discussing the deployment of National Guard troops to Oregon.
Plenary authority refers to a single government official having absolute power on a particular matter, reports The Independent. Plenary authority means complete, absolute, or full power to act on a particular matter, without needing approval or limitation from another body. In this case, it refers to when a president or governor claims full decision-making power within their constitutional limits.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgqx7ygq41o
Now the agreement has been formally approved by the Israeli cabinet, a ceasefire is meant to be in effect - though reports overnight suggest Israeli air strikes have continued in some areas.
The Israeli military will now withdraw to a line that will leave it in control of about 53% of the Strip, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister's office. A map distributed by the White House last week indicates this is the first of three stages of Israeli withdrawal.
The Israeli military said on Thursday that preparations were under way to "transition to adjusted deployment lines soon".
After this, a 72-hour countdown will begin during which Hamas must release all 20 of the hostages believed to be alive. The return of the bodies of the 28 deceased hostages would follow, although it is not clear how long that could take.
Israel would then release about 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails and 1,700 detainees from Gaza, a Palestinian source told the BBC. Their identities are currently unclear, but a list submitted by Hamas before the agreement was reached included high-profile figures serving multiple life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.
One of the most high-profile prisoners, Marwan Barghouti, will not be released as part of the swap, according to the Israeli spokesperson.
Israel will also return the bodies of 15 Gazans for the remains of each Israeli hostage, according to Trump's plan.
Hundreds of lorries carrying humanitarian aid will also start entering Gaza, where a famine was confirmed by UN-backed experts in August.
Trump's plan specified that 600 lorry loads would be delivered each day, but Palestinian sources said there would initially be a daily minimum of 400, with the number increasing gradually after that.
A multinational force of around 200 troops overseen by the US military will monitor the Gaza ceasefire, according to a senior US official.
The force's makeup is likely to include troops from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE. The official said their role would be to "oversee, observe [and] make sure there are no violations or incursions" of the ceasefire in Gaza.
A second senior US official said no US forces would be on the ground in Gaza.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416069
The four 'aces' Hamas sought to have freed in the ceasefire agreement will not be freed, but many murderers and mass murderers, including Islamic Jihad and PFLP leaders, will be.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5547121-trump-7-wars-nobel-peace-prize
President Trump’s moment of truth as a global peacemaker will come early Friday morning when the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.
Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prize.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, he raised the count to eight, adding the Gaza ceasefire announced Wednesday to his list.
