Netanyahu meets security officials to discuss Gaza ceasefire talks
10 January 2025, 18:14
The recovery of the bodies of two hostages in Gaza this week again put pressure on Mr Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring the remaining hostages home.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met security officials on Friday to discuss Gaza ceasefire talks, an Israeli official told The Associated Press.
The prime minister and security officials received an update from negotiators and instructed them to continue the talks in Qatar, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a confidential diplomatic matter.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been mediating the indirect talks that have stalled repeatedly during 15 months of war.
Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved, occurring in the earliest weeks of the fighting.
The recovery of the bodies of two hostages in Gaza this week again put pressure on Mr Netanyahu from families and others to reach a deal to bring the remaining hostages home.
Also on Friday, the Israeli military said an inquiry into the deaths of two kibbutz residents during the October 7 2023 militant attack that sparked the war in Gaza found it “highly likely” that one – Tomer Eliaz-Arava – was killed by Israeli soldiers after they saw a person they misidentified as a suspicious figure.
The findings released on Friday also note a “reasonable possibility” that another resident, Dikla Arava, was killed by military fire while in a vehicle after being seized by militants.
The military says the shootings occurred during “fierce combat” with militants who had infiltrated Kibbutz Nahal Oz. It emphasises it is impossible to determine “with absolute certainty” what caused the deaths.
The military says the broader inquiry into the battle at the kibbutz continues.
Elsewhere, an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed at least two people and wounded two others, the country’s health ministry said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack in Tyre province, and it is unclear what was targeted. Lebanon’s state media reported the strike hit a car in the town of Tayr Debba.
Amid a tenuous ceasefire, Israel insists it has the right to attack Hezbollah anywhere in response to alleged truce violations. Both sides have until January 26 to pull their forces out of southern Lebanon.
Lebanese state media reported Israel carried out new home demolitions and explosions in several southern villages on Friday. This adds to the near-daily Israeli operations in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect in late November, according the Health Ministry.
And Israel’s military says it has carried out new airstrikes against what it calls Houthi rebel targets inside Yemen.
Its statement on Friday says fighter jets struck “on the western coast and inland Yemen”, and targets included what it called military infrastructure sites in the Hizaz power station as well as military infrastructure in the Hodeida and Ras Isa ports on the west coast.
At least three people were wounded, the Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah reported.
