it also includes provisions for israeli forces to remain in the philadelphi corridor — a strip of landsaid shehata from bbc arabic. many appear to be talking about it as a certainty. does it feel that way to you? nothing is certain in politics but there are promising signs of that. the details and provisions of the deal, it seems, are pleasing both sides. in addition, there is more pressure on the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, especially from the military, to reshape the strategy in gaza, especially hamas is increasing its power. in addition to that, pressure from the hostage families. in addition to that, pressure from the american presidentjoe biden and the president—elect donald trump. so all of that puts pressure on israel. people in gaza are exhausted and they want the end of the war. and hamas is also exhausted as a movement. there is pressure from both sides. so that coming together. however, there is still some restriction, reservations, some opposition from the israeli government, especially from the minister of finance, calling for not accepting it because they c

it also includes provisions for israeli forces to remain in the philadelphi corridor — a strip of landalem. good morning. as you were lying outside the r rising that both sides are very close, closer than i have ever been to reaching a ceasefire deal, with the final details being hammered out. but expectations also being slightly tempered by the qataris you are leading the negotiations in doha because we have been here time and time again where it seemed like real progress was being made only for it to be undone. this time it does sound also warring sides are close and i have ever been with the supposed ceasefire deal that he died out there. the first place would last a2 days, six weeks, during which every week there would be a release of some of the 3a hostages in return for hundreds of palestinian prisoners. 0n of palestinian prisoners. on day 16 of that first phase full—size will start negotiating the next phase of the deal in which they would be a release of more hostages, some of the soldiers who are being held by hamas and i would being held by hamas and i would be negotiations a

even one ministerfrom likud threatened yesterday to resign if they leave the philadelphi corridor.hamas are not going to make it easy to have any agreement because from their point of view as cruel as it is, they see hostages as an insurance policy.— is, they see hostages as an insurance policy. is, they see hostages as an insurance oli . ., ., , insurance policy. how important is donald trump _ insurance policy. how important is donald trump in _ insurance policy. how important is donald trump in all _ insurance policy. how important is donald trump in all of _ insurance policy. how important is donald trump in all of this? - donald trump in all of this? probably at this point he is the most crucial element in these negotiations. we know are very similar agreement, almost identical, was on the table back in may of 2023, and it was rejected, coming with all sorts of pretexts and new conditions by both sides, mainly by netanyahu. now i think, when trump enters into the fray, this has changed, because he has a very different agenda. and i think the sides are worried on his response i

have begun withdrawing from areas around rafah in the south of the strip to the so—called philadelphi corridordependently confirmed that, but it would correspond with what we would expect to see once the ceasefire comes into effect at 8:30am in the morning local time. but as far as we are aware, hamas is yet to supply the names of the three hostages who will be released first, which were supposed to be handed over at 4:00pm local time. in phase one of the agreement, over a period of six weeks, 33 hostages will be freed. in return, according to egypt, about 1,900 palestinian prisoners will be released. they are ready to surge the humanitarian aid into gaza, but that of course contingent on the ceasefire. the following two phases would include more hostage and prisoner releases and the long—term reconstruction of gaza, but there is an awful lot to be decided before then. lucy williamson has the latest from jerusalem. the faces of israel's hostages never aged in hostage square, as the days of their captivity were counted. now, for some, the countdown to freedom has begun. three hostages are due t

it also includes provisions for israeli forces to remain in the philadelphi corridor — a strip of landgaza from egypt. mark lowen is injerusalem. hello, catherine. the negotiations appear to be reaching their final stages. they are hammering out the last details of what they hope will be a ceasefire deal that they can announce in the coming hours. a quick reminder of what that deal would bring an end to. 15 months of devastating war in gaza. there are still almost a hundred israeli hostages being held there in gaza. captured on the 7th of october by that hamas attack. 0n the ground in gaza, the local health officials say that almost 10,000 people have been killed in 15 months of war. almost 2 million people had been displaced. if we take a look at the live pictures of coming through from southern gaza, you can see some of the destruction of buildings there by the israeli military over these 15 months of war. so many hundreds of thousands of people are still displaced in the south and could potentially return to the north end of the terms of this is fit ideal. the deal will be in three

in this scenario, israel might have peace of mind as they control the philadelphi corridor, hamas wouldit difficult to partner with other partners like iran. then if hamas wants to launch another operation, israel would have another operation, israel would have a chance to slow them down inside gaza. this is the only scenario that i could see in which israel can tolerate hamas�*s presence, in gaza, but still it's not that likely. there are many political pressures within the israeli right that they don't want hamas to remain in gaza and they all want to also i want to point out in this matter as well once the hostages have been released, those forces who are rooting for a ceasefire, will no longer be so active as they are today for a ceasefire because their agenda has been amended, their main concern was the hostages being released, so they might not pressure the israeli government as much. how important is the pressure that president trump is going to put on both sides when he takes over the white house on monday? he is going to be the kingmaker or the game changer in this game. i thin

there is the philadelphi corridor which includes the rafah crossing.se issues hamas rejected for a very long time, the idea of keeping troops in gaza. they were all the time insisting israel should complete his withdrawal from gaza in the first stage and guarantee that in the war. the two things are not included in this deal and this is what hamas called painful concessions that they have made to make the deal happen. strong winds are forecast to return to los angeles, threatening to undermine the progress made against the city's wildfires. forecasters are expecting gusts of more than 70 miles per hour — about the same force as a category one hurricane. these are the same type of santa ana winds that caused the initial spread of the blazes last week. three major fires are still burning. the biggest one in the palisades has consumed more than 23—thousand acres, and is still only 14% contained. president biden has warned that it will cost tens of billions of dollars to rebuild the dstroyed areas of los angeles. and after a spate of crime during the wildf

it also includes provisions for israeli forces to remain in the philadelphi corridor, a strip of landnison has more details from jerusalem. it is a bit of deja vu today after yesterday because we are basically in a holding pattern. it does seem like this deal is almost done, but not quite. what mediators are saying is that hamas and israel are still wrangling a bit over what they are calling the technical details of this deal, so they agreed it seems the broad principles, and they are finalising just exactly how it is going to be carried out. as you say, the first phase of the deal which will last six weeks, during that period, we'll see just over 30 israeli hostages released, including three in the very first first day of the deal, in exchange for hundreds of palestinian prisoners to be freed from israeli jails. it's at the second phase where things get a bit difficult. because then israel is saying that after six weeks, it wants to retain the right to resume the war if it feels it is necessary. now, hamas, although massively diminished in gaza, it is still there. they are still figh

it also includes provisions for israeli forces to remain in the philadelphi corridor — a strip of landk lowen is injerusalem. thank you. a quick reminder of what this ceasefire could try to bring to an end. we are 15 months into this conflict that according to local health officials in gaza has killed more than 46,600 people there and that almost 2 million people, almost the entire gaza population being displaced and there are still close to 100 hostages being held in gaza of the 250 who were seized by hamas on the 7th of october 2023 when hamas gunmen stormed israel, killing some 1200 people, taking around 250 hostage, the worst ever attack on israel does make history. after 15 months and after several times of looking as though we are close to a ceasefire, now it appears both sides say they are closer than ever to reaching a deal in doha. it would be a three stage ceasefire deal and the first stage would see the release of about 33 hostages over a period of six weeks, 42 days, in return for hundreds of palestinian prisoners being released. israeli troops would allow some of the displ

it also includes provisions for israeli forces to remain in the philadelphi corridor, a strip of landt. jon donnison is injerusalem. i think what is really remarkable here is that both sides appear to be certain that a deal can be done. do you sense any doubt at all?- certain that a deal can be done. do you sense any doubt at all? there is alwa s you sense any doubt at all? there is always doubt _ you sense any doubt at all? there is always doubt because _ you sense any doubt at all? there is always doubt because we _ you sense any doubt at all? there is always doubt because we have - you sense any doubt at all? there is always doubt because we have beeni always doubt because we have been pushing for this deal for months and in effect, the same deal has been on the table since may. but it does seem that the deal is almost done, but not quite. so what mediators is saying is that they are still negotiating over what they are calling the technical detail. so minor details, the broad principles, it seems, have been agreed. but while negotiations are still ongoing, things could go wrong. s

that in purple, that splits gaza in two, but would remain on the edges of gaza, including the philadelphi corridors gaza from egypt. now, geoff, how close are they? a regional official told me today that hamas actually accepted the deal, but they were still working on quote "the map" and implementation. secretary of state antony blinken said they were on the brink of a deal. the final issues, officials tell me, are these, that where exactly, literally to the meter, that israeli forces will be deployed along the border of gaza, and also the names and the sequencing of the palestinian detainees, many hundreds of which are convicted of terrorism and face life sentences. s, what comes after those initial six weeks? nick: there's a phase two where you would see another round of israeli hostages released, another round of palestinian detainees released, and a full israeli withdrawal from gaza. that would begin phase three, which is really the long-term phase. you would get the final israeli hostages left, which, sadly, would be mostly the bodies of many of the hostages who are believed to have died in c

there, there would be bigger concessions, including pulling back from the what's known as the philadelphi corridor along the border between gaza and egypt, where so many of the weapons come in. do you have confidence that the that we will get to those later stages of this deal? >> i think that's the big question. will everyone follow through on the full deal? i think it's vital that we follow through and bring home all the hostages. you know, we gave a year and a quarter of time for the government to achieve all the goals. unfortunately, at this point in time, the three goals have not been achieved. neither have we eradicated hamas as a military force nor removed hamas as the sovereign of gaza, and nor brought back all the hostages. so i think what we need to do is precisely bring home the hostages, refresh our entire leadership in israel, and then take a look again and see how we ultimately bring down hamas. we need to remove hamas from power. we can't have them govern gaza because it means we'll have another october 7th in the future. >> it was quite alarming to see, as those three were released

israeli soldiers will leave population centers but remain along gaza's borders, including on the philadelphi corridorh egypt, allowing palestinians to return to their homes. the israeli president. >> this is the right move. this is an important move. this is a necessary move. there is no greater moral, human, jewish or israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us. nick: senior u.s. officials believe the two sides agreed now because a diminished hamas realized the cavalry wasn't coming. israel's regional military success gave netanyahu political flexibility and bipartisan coordination. a senior biden administration official says national security council middle east director brett mcgurk and president-elect trump's middle east envoy, steve witkoff, created a quote historically unprecedented, highly fruitful partnership negotiated side by side, , alongside mediator qatari prime minister mohammed bin abdulrahman bin jassim al thani, qatari prime minister: the steps that's been taken recently from the u.s. has yielded to this moment. nick: today, trump took credit, posting quote "th

the israelis want to stay in the philadelphi corridor between gaza and egypt. hamas says no. who's going to rule gaza later? will israel agree to let some form of hamas keep imposing peace on the streets? reconstruction of israel prior to this operation, measured down to the ounce, every bit of cement that went into gaza. you've got 40 billion in reconstruction estimated by the un. that needs to happen. all of these different things are going to be part of the phase two and phase three discussions. and that's why you have the israeli government, um, benjamin netanyahu already saying if we don't like what happens after these 42 days, it's back to war. >> and, you know, speaking of netanyahu, is having his own political issues back home. he's got some blowback from the far right within his coalition. a couple of people stepped down, called on him, pushed or voted against this. uh, this is going to be more complicated for netanyahu to to negotiate in the weeks and months ahead. >> no question about it. so first of all, he faces the threat, as you pointed out, of his own far righ

the deal that we're seeing hamas went backwards on its demands in terms of what we call the philadelphi corridor, the border between gaza and egypt on other demands that it had. and what we're going to see, wolf, are hostages coming out of those horrific tunnels as president trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the united states. and that's a great moment for the entire world. >> the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, congressman, says the cease fire agreement is still not completely complete, saying several unresolved points remain. is the president elect? president elect trump concerned that this deal, god forbid, could fall apart? >> president trump and the prime minister spoke today. the prime minister still has to move this through his government. but look, we've made it very clear to our ally israel that if hamas reneges on any parts of this deal, we are with them. and that gaza will be demilitarized and hamas will be destroyed. we cannot allow nor should they allow this terrorist organization to continue. who has pledged to have more october 7th, if they are allowed to cont

so you have this initial trust building period, and then what happens with the philadelphi corridor? that's the area between gaza and egypt. israel wants to stay. israeli forces are still in the buffer areas. many members of the israeli government don't want the idf to leave gaza. all of that has to be negotiated for the men of military age. the israelis of military age to be released. and that's when it's going to get really hard and could very well all fall apart. >> all right. >> kim dozier, thanks very much for bringing your perspective on this. obviously very, very complicated and emotional issue for so many people right now. thanks very much. all right. coming up here on cnn this morning, who was actually in the hot seat pam bondi or kash patel. a major focus of bondi hearing were questions about the qualifications of donald trump's pick to be fbi director. plus, will the president elect save tiktok? the potential executive order that he's weighing. and president biden's farewell to the nation. and a final warning. >> this country needs a leader and leaders change attitudes abo

are describing it, that israeli forces would maintain a presence along the philadelphia, philadelphi courier corridor, i should say, which is obviously been something of contention in these discussions, and that israel would maintain a buffer zone inside gaza along the border with israel. there would also be unspecified security arrangements in place in certainly at least part of gaza, as residents of northern gaza would be allowed. >> going to be returned. not all of them are going to be hostages that are alive that we are talking about. the return, potentially, of bodies of hostages that have been killed. and among those, of course, are hopefully americans. there are a handful of american israeli hostages whose bodies have yet to be returned. a couple of them, of course, have been declared deceased. there are american families that have been waiting for so long for the return of the bodies of their loved ones, and then hopefully we are waiting to learn if any american hostages are alive and will be returned to their families alive. so this, as we were talking about before about the president's spee

the commitments in the ceasefire agreement as it stands to withdraw israeli troops from the philadelphi corridorhe's already said that there will be no such withdrawal in the in the current phase. and so i think the real risk is that this ends up being a one phase deal where we see a release of prisoners, detainees and captives on both sides. but then the hostilities resume and continue. and for that not to happen, we will have to see the trump administration continue to use its leverage to ensure a good faith progress towards a permanent ceasefire. >> there's also, you know, we look at these pictures of, uh, of palestinians returning home. i mean, home is is tough because in many cases there is nothing left of of what was their home. the talk of what could come next, even just the rebuilding, is a massive undertaking. the fact that aid is now getting in, um, this is this is going to last for some time, whether it resumes or not. where should they start in this moment to rebuild? >> well, i think the immediate priority is obviously for the guns to fall silent. and once that happens in a sustaina

we're going to stay in that philadelphi corridor along the border between between gaza and egypt. so this has been a very, very tough negotiation. and once these negotiations for phase two get underway during the trump administration, i think it's going to be very, very interesting to see what the trump administration's view is of the future of gaza. do they agree that israel should pull out of the gaza strip for months and months? the u.s. and the israeli military structure and officials have been saying that that israel has has accomplished its military goals, that they have decimated hamas to the point where they can no longer carry out another attack. but on october 7th, there's a but here, but there is a remarkable admission by secretary blinken just yesterday and one of his outgoing speeches saying that of all the thousands of hamas militants who have been taken off the battlefield, they have replenished their ranks, they have managed to recruit an equal number, he said of hamas fighters to to join hamas. so hamas is not going anywhere. so this is very much a political and d

, effectively rejected the deal in september because he did not want to withdraw from that philadelphi corridor. hamas has since conceded that point in this current agreement, but there's no question that that will also be something to look at. those nearly eight months that went by since the president put this framework on the table and the true human toll that that those months have taken. >> and, jeremy, i do want to ask about the hostages who are there. 94 remaining hostages, two are children. we know that nine month old, nine month old kfir and four year old ariel bibas were among those taken from their their home in israel and taken hostage inside gaza. what do we know about their condition and whether or not they will be among those released? >> yeah. dana hamas claimed many months ago that kfir, ariel and their mother shiri were killed inside of the gaza strip by an airstrikes. the israeli government has yet to be able to confirm that information. hamas never released any evidence, any proof of that claim. and, you know, i've spoken with the bibas family, several members of that family,

the likud party in netanyahu's party has threatened to resign if israel withdraws from the philadelphi corridor, which is in phase one of this agreement. >> there's also a public demand from his finance minister. smotrich's far right party for israel to return to the war against hamas after the first phase of the deal, national security minister ben gvir has threatened to resign. how does netanyahu get this past his cabinet without dissolving his government? >> well, look, the country is divided on this deal. i want to be clear. there is a majority that supports the deal. but a very strong minority. that, and i understand the claim. you know, we are worried that we don't want this sort of attack to happen again. this decision will be brought to a vote tomorrow in the cabinet. it will pass in the cabinet. the government will approve it. and ultimately, i'm looking at the material aspects we need to bring them home. we're bringing 32 hostages home, of which we don't know how many are alive. we hope a vast majority, but we'll see only over the next few days. we're looking at a very tough next 42 d

philadelphia i corridor are that is bordering egypt now, these points are cleared and there will be negotiations towards the permanent cease—fire a2 days from the implantation of the first phase. —— philadelphiers, these are main points that hamas and israel kept negotiating for long and reaching this deal as all parties said, it's historic, it's towards establishing palestinian states, it's towards the return of the hostages back, the hostages back to their homes and the return of this peaceful atmosphere again in the middle east that we lost for a long time. this was the main point for tonight. time. this was the main point fortonight. i do time. this was the main point for tonight. i do expect in the coming days, coming three days before the implementation of the first phase on sunday that these details would be announced one by one, but what we understand is it should enter by sunday, so we expect by saturday midnight that the cease—fire would be implemented, no fighting between the two parties and the withdrawal also of the israeli forces from the residential areas. we understand that israel already started to withdraw from the corridor to allow the free movement of the palestinians.— p

and it is that philadelphi corridor that was during that first phase of the three—part phase that israelas to withdraw their troops no later than day 50 of that cease—fire, just in terms of that when it comes to ben give ear and others, this is really taking it to the wire. we are expecting, the us is still confident that the cease—fire would be implement it on the weekend, on sunday, what are they really hoping to achieve? benjamin netanyahu is between a rock and a hard place, do not from coming in, and these guys leaving it to the last of bennett's.— leaving it to the last of bennett's. , , , bennett's. they may be trying to extract _ bennett's. they may be trying to extract additional _ to extract additional concessions or something from netanyahu themselves, and it is hard to see at this point what netanyahu, what the prolonged — sent again if this prolonged further. we have seen donald trump post on social media that a deal is done, effectively taking partial credit or most of the credit for the deal having been negotiated. we have seen bytedance team do the same. all parties have s

he is also saying, surprisingly, that the israeli forces will not withdraw from the philadelphi corridora main point in the deal that we all read, which might make this ceasefire dealfragile. ceasefire deal fragile. however, it looks like in the best interests of both parties in gaza and israel that this deal will hold for the best interests of everyone, because people really are tired, exhausted and frustrated from this war. �* ., ., ., this war. and we are hearing of some israeli _ this war. and we are hearing of some israeli troop _ this war. and we are hearing of some israeli troop movements| some israeli troop movements within gaza, leaving the rafah area in the south of the territory. just described to us the atmosphere in gaza at the moment. ., .,, , moment. indeed, the atmosphere in gaza is a _ moment. indeed, the atmosphere in gaza is a mix _ moment. indeed, the atmosphere in gaza is a mix between - moment. indeed, the atmosphere in gaza is a mix between joy - in gaza is a mix betweenjoy and cautious, so people are reported to be packing their belongings in the rafah area, where

the agreement includes provisions for israeli forces to remain in the philadelphi corridor and maintainbuffer zone along the eastern and northern borders during the first phase, which will last 42 days. israel has also agreed to release 1,000 palestinian prisoners, including approximately 190 who have been serving sentences of 15 years or more. in exchange, hamas will release 3a hostages. and negotiations for the second and third phases of the agreement would begin on the 16th day of the ceasefire. hamas has not yet commented. there are of course some dissenting voices, for example, israel's national security minister, itamar ben gvir, from the ultra—nationalist side of israeli politics, said the deal would amount to surrender to hamas. but israel's deputy foreign minister struck a more positive tone. there is progress today. israel is deeply committed to securing the release and is working relentlessly to reach an agreement. we will soon see whether the other side is genuinely interested in reaching an agreement. i hope we will witness progress in the very near future and especially to

it also includes provisions for israeli forces to remain in the philadelphi corridor — a strip of land let's take you straight to the bbc�*s mark lohan, whojoins let's take you straight to the bbc�*s mark lohan, who joins us now from jerusalem. mark, there has been so much talk, murmurings coming out of qatar every hour it seems. where are we at? .,, ., , ., we at? closer than they have ever been. — we at? closer than they have ever been, lucy, _ we at? closer than they have ever been, lucy, to - we at? closer than they have ever been, lucy, to reaching| we at? closer than they have. ever been, lucy, to reaching a deal but not quite there yet. there has been frantic negotiations in these final hours in the qatari capital, doha. we are expecting possibly an announcement of a deal later on today, possibly tomorrow, but there are still some final details being ironed out. that would have caused bring to an end 15 months of war that has devastated gaza. a reminder that there are still almost 100 israeli hostages who are being held there. and according to palestinian health officials, more