israel's subsequent wars in gaza and lebanon. direct military exchanges between israel and iran. unprecedented nature. the ceasefire in lebanon and the fall of the assad regime in syria. at the atlantic council we have sought to highlight the stakes and potential solutions across the middle east. we've done so through many years through our center for the middle east, through our scowcroft middle east security initiative and iran strategy project as well as through our strategic project hold the iranian regime accountable and establish a syrian victims fund. significantly we have also done this through our n-7 initiative in partnership with the jeffrey palpans foundation which seeks to sans the integration launched by the abraham accords between the united states, israel and arab and muslim partners around the world. thanks to will wexler and the atlantic council's take. history is in motion and you've been at the center of it. with your work to advance the united states to secure a more prosperous global future. as you wrote recently regarding u.s. forbe policy, quote, the choic

why are we always bring a shoulder on israel threatening israel's existence, israel's defense, israel'surrounded by these individuals all of these countries and we act like it is israel that is the problem. >> that is not just bad for israel. it's bad for the united states because israel is our best ally in the region. i think a lot of this is democratic politicians towards a benjamin netanyahu. just think about it. he has outlasted bill clinton and barack obama, and now joe biden. he served as prime minister with all three of those men serving as president. all of whom tried to undermine him, and defeat him in elections. and also, i want to remind you that a couple of years ago we had israeli president come and speak to a joint session of the congress. he is a member of a distinguished center left israeli political family. a center left family. you still had democratic congressman i'm boycotting his speech. when you're boycotting that speech is not because the democratic party has a beef with benjamin netanyahu they have a beef with israel and unfortunately there is a large and growing

israel shares our values. israel is a liberal. and the enemies of israel are the enemies. america. likewise, those who hate israel, hate america. the benefits that america gets every year from the $3 billion in military assistance we provide israel, those benefits are if we were not providing that money, if we were trying recreate for america's national the intelligence of the mossad. if we were trying recreate the military benefits of the israeli military right now israel is killing hamas and killing hezbollah every time do so we should say thank you, because hamas and, hezbollah and let's be clear, the head of the serpent is iran. they want to murder us. there is a reason that the ayatollah refers to israel the little satan and america's great satan and look october, seventh of last year we'll go down in history as one of the most horrific days, the history of humanity. it is the day of the single worst mass murder of -- in a day since, the holocaust, 12 israelis murdered women, girls raped systematically because they were jewish. you had deaths, squads going door to door, murder

israel's western avenue lies in israel's western avenue lies in israel itself is made clear that hamas nonstarter. the difference here is the fact that israel is absolutely adamant of not allowing for any serious administrative entity in the immediate term that can potentially threaten security. for israel the best we could possibly hope for, this is something that even aid organizations have reluctantly come to terms with is some sort of aid economy, if you like whereby gaza will be entirely dependent on aid. we will effectively see a tent city in ruins for them and law in order, if we could call it that will be administered from a private security company. thank ou so private security company. thank you so much _ private security company. thank you so much for— private security company. thank you so much for being _ private security company. thank you so much for being with - private security company. thank you so much for being with us. i you so much for being with us. let me show you some images now, live shots from the region. this is tel aviv put up of course in israel where the

ships and planes to come to israel's defense, we also shape israel's strong and calibrated response, destroying iran's air defenses but avoiding an escalatory cycle of an all out war. the united states also organized a coalition of 20 countries to stand up to attacks by the houthis, including their missile attacks in israel. then hezbollah, another hamas's strongest backers, was significantly weakened on the battlefield and its leadership was destroyed with our support. israel israel negotiated a cease fire with them, and after that, lebanon finally elected a new president who's not who's not beholden to hezbollah. and he began a new chapter for the lebanese people. all told, these developments in the region which the united states helped to shape, change the equation. and so now the terror network that once protected and sustained hamas is far weaker. iran is weaker, iran is weaker than it's been in decades. hezbollah is badly degraded. and after more than 15 months of war, hamas's senior leaders are dead. thousands of hamas fighters are dead, and the military formations have been d

remaining down and guzzle harm israel economically in foreign direct and israel's credit rating signalits. links and immobilization of reserves is undergoing tens of thousands of businesses and private sector productivity. threats part palestinian authority repeal he felt winner take reforms training and corruption blow to bureaucracy and further eroding the support among the palestinians, and that he has refusal to consistently and federal unequivocally the killings of october 7th month only turns out among the israeli step two communities could have lived side-by-side in peace. as a famous families of terrace, and the remarks of his leader. many partners in therk region ending on, have also been unwilling to publicly condemn hamas enemies the course of condemnation of a stroke of the silence of hamas is been deafened was the same from hostile to release the hostages to put outma his arms rivers the urgent efforts to crackdown the arms and materials hamas to deadly effect was that hamas in hisit practice hiding when the civilians of the countries around the world have this collective

ships and planes to come to israel's defense, we also shaped israel's strong and calibrated response. destroying iran's air defenses. but avoiding an escalatory cycle of an all-out war. the united states also organized the coalition of 20 countries to stand up to attacks by the houthis, including the missile attacks in israel. then hezbollah, and other hamas' strongest backers was significantly weakened on the battlefield. its leadership was destroyed with our support israel negotiate add cease-fire with them. after that lebanon finally elect add new president who is not beholden to hezbollah and they can begin a new chapter of the lebanese people. all told, these developments in the region which the united states helped to shape changed the equation. so now the terror network that once protected and sustained hamas is far weaker. iran is weaker. iran is weaker than it's been in decades. hezbollah is badly degraded. and after more than 15 months of war, hamas' senior leaders are dead. thousands of hamas fighters are dead. anti-military -- and the military formation vs. been destroyed

military helped defend israel from a rainy and missiles and supported israel's military response. look across the region. in lebanon there is an opportunity for a future free from the grip of hezbollah. in syria, a future free from assad. for the palestinian people, and incredible path to a state of their own and for the region, a future of normalization and integration of israel with all of its arab nations including saudi arabia. we've had many difficult days since hamas began this war. we've encountered roadblocks and setbacks that we have not given up. a special thanks to my team, particularly brett mcgurk who spent weeks and months working nonstop to reach this deal, many of those weeks and months out of the country. today's a cease-fire in gaza and the release of hostages is the result of a principled and effective policy that we have presided over for months. we got here without a wider war in the middle east. now it falls to the next administration to help implement this deal. i was pleased to have our teams speak as one voice in the final days. it was necessary, effective

in exchange for 240 palestinian detainees released by israel. pope and celebration soon faded as israel intensified its bombing across guys, leaving the fate of the remaining captives on sir thomas says 33 have dies. most of them in the same is really a tax and strikes that have killed more than $47000.00 palestinians. in december 2023 is ready, troop shot and killed 3 captors as they pleaded for help trust only in their underwear. the incident led many in israel to david, the armies ability to safely rescue more people. the families of nick phaser, ron sherman, analia totally daniel, were told they were murdered in captivity in december 2023. nearly a year later, the army admitted an air strike, probably killed them. israel to military, celebrated the recovery of 4 captives in rate on central gas and chain as a success. that attack on these se right refugee camp cost the lives of nearly $300.00 college students. and, and september, 6th bodies were recovered from a tunnel and rough israel says they were shot by him. us to prove, says and is ready. bomb killed him with a new ceasefire in

the names of israel's missing repeated like a mantra. theirfaces papering israel's walls.ld ariel and one—year—old kfir bibas and their parents. it's like a roller—coaster. i'm not breathing right now. we don't know if they are on the list, if they are going to come back in the first phase. if they are alive. if not. we actually don't know anything, so... ..it�*s scary. all living civilian women and children are due to be released over the next six weeks, along with elderly men and the sick. for now, soldiers and younger men will remain behind. you know, it's part of them, not all of them, and for us, it's only the beginning. we want them all here, ok? because it's not ended, it's not enough ifjust some of them will come. 251 hostages were ta ken to gaza by hamas gunmen during the 7th of october attacks. partygoers at a music festival. families asleep in their homes. and soldiers like nimrod cohen, abducted with his tank unit near the nahal oz military base. he was 19—years—old. since then, his father, yehuda, has been campaigning for his release. he believes that nimrod,

israel, but they didn't take any measures and israel learned to totally ignore biden.re is a new boy in town and within a week netanyahu has left all his oppositions and surrendered, there is no other way to put it, and agreed to the ceasefire. so will donald trump continue to be as tough and harsh as he is, or will he lose interest and go for his next problem to be solved? this will depend on donald trump. if he will be as strong and really decisive as he was in the last week, then there will be a second phase. journalist and gideon leavey. some negotiations being kicked into the long grass of the second and third phase of the ceasefire deal, including who could run gaza after the guns fall silent, with israel's western allies wanting a greater role for palestinian authorities that currently run the other part of the palestinian territory in the west bank. but israel is fiercely opposed to that. earlier we heard from a doctor who is a palestinian political leader in the west bank who gave his reaction to the ceasefire agreement. it's a relief that finally we have an a

support for israel and her own. as the israel war with hamas in gaza was ongoing.use] >> thank you. thank you, speaker for your kind introduction and for inviting me here today. mr. speaker, mk danny, distinguished guests and dear friends. i am profoundly honored to speak in the hallowed halls and your internal capital the holy city of jerusalem at this time of historic consequence for israel and the jewish people. today i stand before you not just as a leader in the united states congress, but as a lifelong admirer, supporter and true friend of israel and the jewish people. i am lucky to have had the privilege of traveling here many times before. but i must confess at this time heals different. the stakes are higher. our sense of moral patriotic duty feels heightened renewed. 226 days ago, we witnessed the most vicious brutal attack on israel and the jewish people since the holocaust. our barbaric terrorist attack that claimed more than 1200 innocent lives. civilian women, children and the elderly were ripped from their homes and massacred. raped, beheaded, jewish

thanks very much, former us ambassador to israel and seniorfellow much, former us ambassador to israelie and. this ceasefire deal between hamas and israel involved intermediaries like the us but also qatar and egypt. for more on this and what it means for the region, i'm joined by dania thafer, executive director of gulf international forum. tell us about about qatar's role in negotiating a ceasefire deal, and its influence in the region. thank you for having me. well, the ceasefire is extremely important. it is an extremely important. it is an extremely important breakthrough for the region as a whole because from the perspective of the gulf states, for example, or other regional countries, it is a linchpin issue that affects regional security and they see the israeli palestine issue is something related to affecting security so it is an important breakthrough although the upcoming 42 days or actually that will be starting on sunday of the six week period is going to be extremely important and it is a very fragile and sensitive period to even sustain the ceasefire because the deal tha

ships and planes to come to israel's defense, it shaped israel's strong and calibrated response, in destroying iran's air defenses and avoiding aest came la tore cycle of an -- escalatory cycle of an all out war. and then hezbollah and other of hamas' strongest backers was significantly weakened on the battlefield and leadership was destroyed. with our support, israel negotiated a cease-fire with them and after that, lebanon finally elected a new president who is not beholden to hezbollah. and can begin a new chapter for the lebanese people. all told, these developments in the region which the united states helped to shape changed the equation and so now the terror network that once protected and sustained hamas is far weaker p. iran is weaker. iran is weaker than it has been in decades. hezbollah is badly degraded. after 15 months of war, thousands of hamas fighters are dead and military formations have been destroyed with nowhere to turn. hamas finally agreed to releasing hostages. you know, there was no other way for this war to end than with a hostage deal. i'm deeply satisfied this day ha

support for israel and her own. as the israel war with hamas in gaza was ongoing. [applause] >> thank you. thank you, speaker for your kind introduction and for inviting me here today. mr. speaker, mk danny, distinguished guests and dear friends. i am profoundly honored to speak in the hallowed halls and your internal capital the holy city of jerusalem at this time of historic consequence for israel and the jewish people. today i stand before you not just as a leader in the united states congress, but as a lifelong admirer, supporter and true friend of israel and the jewish people. i am lucky to have had the privilege of traveling here many times before. but i must confess at this time heals different. the stakes are higher. our sense of moral patriotic duty feels heightened renewed. 226 days ago, we witnessed the most vicious brutal attack on israel and the jewish people since the holocaust. our barbaric terrorist attack that claimed more than 1200 innocent lives. civilian women, children and the elderly were ripped from their homes and massacred. raped, beheaded,

preserves israel's right to defend itself of national law it achieves israel's aim of hostility on itsnt from the war in gaza. since the deal was signed israeli forces start to withdraw from southern lebanon. to ensure remaining infrastructure is rolled and has below does not return. u.s. in france are working hour-by-hour to monitor the agreement and now just six weeks after the deal lebanon's parliament voted overwhelmingly to elect a new president the first time lthe country had a national leader in more than two years just yesterday it elected a new prime minister. both are important steps to becoming secure sovereign successful nation. and meet the needs of lebanese people. we sought to and swallowed advances legitimate aspiration of lasting security and palestinians independent iby viable state on its own. one month into the conflict the meeting in tokyo i outline principles of the united states saw essential to achieving principles included gaza never again ruled by hamas or used as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks. with gaza united with the west bank under pale

remember, israel put them in prison in the first place and nobody does that better than israel. is it a great deal? it's not fantastic. but i agree with the rabbi. this is about making a decision to get the hostages home, which has always been priority number one. the destruction of hamas will be decided if hamas decides to break the deal in phase two. and with trump and mike waltz, the new national security advisor behind israel, moving forward and not biden, i think that israel is not going to hesitate and trump will let israel do whatever it needs to do to crush hamas if they falter. one hair. that's where i'm at with this. >> rabbi. would you agree with that, that it is a different paradigm now with president trump about to move into the white house, does that make a difference here? >> i hope so, because, i mean, i hope that, you know, he's never going to go and say i'll hold back, you know, weapons, etc. but the big question that a lot of people are asking, if it all boils down to we release, let's say, 200, 300, 3000 prisoners and we would have gotten all the hostages out

i wanted to quickly follow up on the question regarding israel's assessment of israel's conduct and theoing assessments at the state department. there have been many investigations such as the case of -- what will happen to these investigations, he was here last month demanding justice and answers. will you be able to provide them with answers they were looking for before the january 20 date? >> i don't know the answer to the question. it fundamentally depends on israel finalizing the results of its investigation. the obligation to to deliver justice for an american citizen, to provide answers for an american citizen, that's also not one that expires on january 20. the incoming administration will have the same obligation to speak up for american citizen, to try to find answers for the families of american citizen, to try to drive changes to protect american citizens overseas. they have that same only gailings that we do. if we don't get the final results of that investigation between now and next monday, i can tell you if we do, we will provide that to the family, but if we don't i wou

and that's because israel's bundle just data from operating inside israel. okay, we're now gonna look ahead to the present or exchange where it took us through or your understanding is of how that's gonna work out how the mechanism works. well, these really army has said that it is ready to receive them. it believes not fully confirmed, but it believes that they will be released from the central gaza strip. and the way that this works in terms of the mechanism is that how mass hands them over to the red cross tool, the transfer them to is really special forces inside gaza. would then take them into israel, or these really army has cordoned off of roads on these really side saying this is for the hostage privacy protection they will be assessed by medical examiners by psychologists debrief and then taking on to hospitals inside israel, where they will be released, i mean, we're united with our families at the same time you will have around 90 posting and prisoners that should be released from is rated jails and taken to the occupied westbank. some talk you bo

the names of israel's missing repeated like a mantra. their faces papering israel's walls.hem, five—year—old ariel and one—year—old kfir bibas and their parents. it's like a roller—coaster. i'm not breathing right now. we don't know if they're on the list, if they're going to come back in the first phase. if they're alive. if not... we actually don't know anything, so... ..it�*s scary. all living civilian women and children are due to be released over the next six weeks, along with elderly men and the sick. for now, soldiers and younger men will remain behind. you know, it's part of them, not all of them, and for us, it's only the beginning. we want them all here, 0k? because it's not ended, it's not enough ifjust some of them will come. 251 hostages were ta ken to gaza by hamas gunmen during the seventh of october attacks. party—goers at a music festival. families asleep in their homes. and soldiers like nimrod cohen, abducted with his tank unit near the nahal 0z military base. he was 19—years—old. since then, his father, yehuda, has been campaigning for his release. he be

it was israel. through our resilience, we not only defended our people but created an opportunity for lebanon to reclaim its sovereignty. here colleagues. it is time for this conflict to recognize what israel's actions have achieved by dismantling hezbollah's -- have achieved. by dismantling hezbollah's terrorist and researcher, we have given the lebanese government the breathing room. this is a moment of opportunity. an opportunity to free lebanon from being a failed state held hostage by a terrorist organization. but let me be clear. this opportunity will not last forever. already we have seen attempts by hezbollah to rebuild. weapons are being smuggled across the syria-lebanon border. hezbollah operatives remain active south of the litani river in blinged violation of resolution 1701. we will not allow history to repeat itself. this with regards to the situation in syria -- there were hundreds of document and breaches of the 1974 disengagement of forces agreement. military positions have been est

israel -- since the war began.efore hamas deadly attack on israel and israel's subsequent war in gaza, around 500 truckloads of aid entered every day according to the united nations. that plummeted to nine per day in the period after the war started and although that number has improved, it was still only averaging truckloads daily. the beginning of this month, just 10% of what gaza previously relied on. wednesday's deal if it comes into effect offers some hope. it includes the commitment to allow the 600 truckloads per day into gaza. they have been traveling with an aid convoy from jordan and a warning that his report contains some pictures of children in distress. >> help is coming. down along the valley, the biggest aid convoy since the war began. solidarity from the kingdom of jordan. in two deliveries, 120 trucks on the road to gaza from a country that is home to many palestinians. >> we are carrying aid messes my says mustapha al cadre, this is a good deed and we are happy to be part of this operation. >> we

so would have to hold israel to account. and that has not happened yet. if they want to see this through. and if trump specifically has, who has put some political capital now into closing this deal, if he wants it to not fall apart quickly, he's going to have to visit ministration. are going to have to do a lot to make sure that it stay is, and i'm not sure i see that happening at the same time. you know, this, you know, really weird situation in which a truck cannot buy, are the ones to that is the one to kind of close this deal. and so what, what are his expectations of nothing. yeah. and even in this transactional agreement that they might have orchestrated missing, yahoo is in a very precarious situation. so again, like the, the, the likelihood is that this deal will not actually stay the course and it will be provided for everybody involved. but if the international community doesn't want to go back to the same place that we've been in for the last 15 months, it's going to have to start. the whole thing is real to account. for example, it could resp

israel is under attack. the war against israel began with the murder of hundreds of precious children. in this orphanage bomb shelter, we're praying for god's help, praying to avino malkino, our father, our king. countless israelis are enduring the devastating anguish of lost loved ones. thousands of rockets have forced over a hundred thousand israelis to become refugees in their own homeland. israeli families are in crisis. the international fellowship of christians and jews is on the ground, reaching jewish people of all ages. children, mothers, the elderly, even holocaust survivors. but we can't do it without you. your gift of $45 will make sure that the people of israel have mobile bomb shelters, emergency supplies, and the hot, nutritious meals that they so desperately need. our teams are working on the ground, often at great risk to themselves. they're delivering meals to the elderly and families who are living in bomb shelters. this would be an incredibly important time for all of the friends of the i

israel. this comes after a deal struck this week, whose first phase will see 33 israeli hostages released from gaza and some 1000 palestinian prisoners released by israel over the course of six weeks. under the deal, israeli troops have begun to withdraw from parts of gaza and much needed humanitarian aid has begun to pour in. the second and third phases, which are still to be negotiated, could see all remaining hostages return from gaza. israel fully withdraw its troops and rebuilding begin in gaza. haviv rettig is a senior analyst at the times of israel. he joins me now. so tell me, what does this mean in israel? because, you know, in gaza, we understand. i mean, this has been this this war, the massive destruction, tens of thousands of people dead. you can understand what it means for this to end, even even temporarily. what does it mean for israel, and what does it mean to see the see these 33 hostages released? >> two things happen to israelis on october 7th. the first was the real deep

and yet israel continues its assault. everyone from 8 workers to join this women and children are in the firing line. israel has real keep wide moving, gaza forcing palestinians into the sense that and south of the strip it would take more than 39 years to attend the funeral a day for every palestinian child kills. and also how much flight to norton as a whole tour, an age worker, or a journalist, a child, victoria gay to be out using her son barrario is a professor of international affairs. it costs the university. he points to the 2 state solution for lossing piece of to the things that they will come to this realization that the only way just to divide the left. there's no other way as they've been fighting for now. since 1917, they've been fighting to f. next, wednesday, the parasites have an order for the fine defense and they will not be able to succeed in this end of our. so the only thing for them is if they want to live in peace, is to divide it before the day that their students to see a solution. and this is th

and yet israel continues its assault. everyone from aid workers to join this women and children are in the firing line. israel has real keep wide moving, gaza forcing palestinians into the sense and south of the strip. it would take more than 39 years to attend the funeral a day for every palestinian child kills. no. so how much flight to norton as a whole tour, an age worker or a journalist, a child, victoria gay to be out of them? well, the deal was proposed last may, but the parties wrangled over several tools as before. finally reaching consensus, abundance smith breaks down what was finally agreed, a phase one of the sci fi deal. we'll see the release of psalm is ready to comp, tips palestinian prisoners, the gradual withdrawal of israeli forces from the central gaza, a search and humanitarian aid. i'm the return of displace palestinians to the north of the street. so the 3 is rarely comp davis will be released over a 6 week period. is available for you almost 2000 palestinian prisoners on detaining 600 truckloads of

and hamas is no match for israel on its own. so all these things have come together, and suddenly it gave the qataris, the americans and others much more to work with because it gave israel more confidence and changed bibi netanyahu's political realities. his numbers went went way up, and it obviously dramatically weakened hamas and iran's ability to resist. so all of this came together, and it wasn't that us diplomacy suddenly got more able. it's been able all along in trying to bring this about. these are people like bill burns or are professionals, tony blinken and others. what changed was the context in which they were operating. and it gave a it gave them simply much more to work with. and i think what we're about to hear from the qataris is the first fruit of that. and again, going forward, we hope it's not the only fruit. we want to see more progress between israel and hamas and gaza. and obviously, we'd like to see a pivot to the larger issue of israeli relations with palestinians. and i also think there's opportunities

ships and planes to come to israel's defense, we also shape israel's strong and calibrated response, destroying iran's air defenses. but avoiding an escalatory cycle of an all out war. the united states also organized a coalition of 20 countries to stand up to attacks by the houthis, including their missile attacks in israel. then hezbollah, another hamas's strongest backers, was significantly weakened on the battlefield, and its leadership was destroyed. with our support, israel's israel negotiated a ceasefire with them, and after that, lebanon finally elected a new president who's nlah. and he can begin a new chapter for the lebanese people. a helped to shape change the equation. and so now the terror network that once protected and sustained hamas is far weaker, iran is weaker, iran is weaker than it's been in decades. hezbollah is badly degraded. and after more than 15 months of war, hamas's senior leaders are dead. thousands of hamas fighters are dead, and the military formations have been destroyed. with nowhere to turn, moscow finally agreed to releasing hostages. you know, th

israel believes hundreds of palestinian prisoners. during phase one the palestinians can also return to their neighborhoods. in all of the areas of gaza. the surgery may turn assistance into gaza will begin an innocent people could hunker access to these vital supplies. in the next six weeks, israel will negotiate the necessary arrangements to get phase two. that is a permanent end of the war. let me say it again, a permanent end of the war. a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two. but, the plan says that the negotiators take longer than six weeks, a cease-fire will continue as long as the negotiations continue. i spoke with the mayor of kuwait and the president of egypt. we have pledged to make sure the negotiations will keep moving forward as long as it takes. then, when phase two begins it will be in exchange for release of the remaining living hostages. including mail soldiers and all remaining israeli forces will be withdrawing from gaza. and a temporary cease-fire will become permanent. and finally,

it are the heart and soul of israel at the moment. it is because _ israel at the moment.

ambassador to israel david friedman and thank you for your expertise. we love israel. we pray for the best. kayleigh. >> kayleigh: politically, personally, and if you are among the families that could be holding the signs, you are praying your idf officer contacts you and their name is on the list. if they're not the 33 hostages in the first phase, you pray that the conditions hold so they are in the second phase or the third phase and all hostages come home. politically speaking you cannot look at this in isolation from the election of donald trump, and the days after, they wanted a cessation, and china wanted peaceful coalition, and russia is ready to speak with the u.s. we're in a safer world, a new world, and one where the hostages come home. >> harris: you were mentioning and we all kind of were remembering all of the families, and i know bret baier mentioned it with whom we have spoken, and they are waiting in anticipation, and i had the parents of omer who now i think would be 22 or 23 because they've had birthdays in captivity in 466 days, and it was confirmed

he was exerting a lot of pressure on israel. i think he sees this as kind of an opportunity to, to claim a victory for it for himself. but he was exerting pressure last week. i thought it was interesting. he re posted on his social media site troops, social uh, video of jeffrey sachs, the famous american political commentator and professor at columbia university uh, cursing uh benjamin yahoo. i mean what he said in that video, i could not repeat right now on television, and that was i thought that was very telling as well as the fact that his onboard steve wick off and insisted that benjamin netanyahu meet with him on the sabbath. even though netanyahu originally said he wouldn't, the americans no doubt have played a major role here. but you also have the categories and, and the egypt. sions who are the guarantors, was supposed to make sure that the deal is implemented on the ground. how difficult a task is that going to be for them? the countries in egypt, and it's going to be very difficult. first of all, a lot of the details

israel made it very clear they don't want hamas to be involved in that and indeed, will israel keep apresence in gaza in the longer term? >> what is the sense of how fragile this agreement is at this point? >> well, it has taken a long time to get to this point. the first outlines of a deal like this first came to light in may of last year. there was talk of it being quite close to an agreement at that point and then that fell away quite rapidly. though at the moment, i think there is a sense of optimism and a huge amount of optimism has gone into making -- effort has gone into making this happen especially pressure from the united. the envoys from the ongoing biden administration and the trump administration have been heavily involved in trying to create this pressure to get this deal across the line this time so i think it is probably too early to talk about it being fragile. it has taken a huge effort to get to this point and there are many unknowns. they will no doubt have to deal with pretty complicated periods and incidents during this initial six-week period but at the moment,

and frankly, israel, the government of israel, has taken an approach which has been destructive in a way that it certainly caught the attention of the world. it is harmed israel's reputation as a state in the world community. its last israel, a tremendous amount of goodwill, without improving is real security one bit, you know, or, or without treating the return of hostages, or any significant number of netanyahu has played a hand where he's strengthened his hand within uh, within israel and within his government. but he is where you can himself around the world. now, what is the, is it, what do you go so far? is this anthony blinking is done? how mazda is work for me blinking for some reason this week was saying, there are more. how about us members than they were before october, the 7th, but in a sense was, you know, meeting the families of us policy itself. and i mean to that, if that is true, if that is true, then it's a confession of abject failure. if there are more, how much members? but you know, this isn't a game a waka model here. we're talking about the survival of the sta

hostage deal has been reached by israel as a mouse. the elements of which i laid out in great detail in may. this year. this plan was developed and negotiated by my team and will be largely implemented by the incoming administration in gaza. palestinians celebrates with the news, they st. jude 15 months. if bombardment and deprivation more than 46000 people have been killed. how do i go? we are very happy that this crisis sapp, ms. plumbing, i'm to happen to us is funding the over and that we will return to our home towns under 10 to our families. and based on those garza, i'm the north and see our families to remain to life and see all lives return to all old lives and be happy and live like we used to. despite the deal these really minutes, we launched more time residential buildings in northern gauze. the nights the u. n . has cooled the strip adept soon and didn't remain so until this deal comes into effect. victoria gates and b l g 0, a task at the latest. now from guidelines because they are sorry, god bless them, losing their be

and he argues that the us commitment to israel stems primarily from the influence of the israel lobby works to shape u. s. foreign policy in a pro israel direction. but other, say it's the other way around at the us as much to gain from having are kind of stones out. and then it's a strategic motivation rather than all right in the lobby issue. what's your perspective? i mean i, i respect john, he was a former colleague as a friend and i think is right about the lobby, but only up to a certain extent. it's really clear that for a lot of american military officials and strategist, they see 1st of all, their interventions, they believe in force. and israel is a tool in that arsenal it during the cold war, it helped united states to beat down. so get proxies defeating countries. on by the soviet union and then in the cold war, you know, that, that black and white, you know, 0 sum a game that was an advantage to the united states. and that was, that was the anchor of the, of the strategic aspect of the american is really relationship. and united states is at odds with iran. and so is real

and that israel should carry on with the war, but nonetheless, you still have people all over israel protesting both for and against a deal and to thank you very much indeed, those honda sounds good talking to us from jordan's capital. i'm on the associated press and used agency as linked to details of the potential cx, 5 deal, which will report them to be implemented in 3 stages. in stage one i'm us for release of 33 is really captives. that's going to include females, civilians as soldiers, children, i'm civilians of was 50 years old. in return, israel is going to freight 50 palestinian prisoners for each females soldier on thursday for each civilian hostage. and as part of this phase, israel is also going to hold fighting and pull its forces back to the edges of gaza . the space palestinians will return to their homes. an additional aid will flow into the strip. second phase is going to begin $42.00 days into the sea spot, with a declaration of sustainable tom thomas will then release all remaining mail captive israel win, negotiate the race of more palestinian prisoners and withd

it was taken from her home in southern israel. over the course of the 3 phases homeless has agreed to release all the captives. it still holds in gaza for their families. it means and then to the i can nice thing, wait to, but many questions still have to be answered in on all the con reports. these are the $33.00 is really capt is expected to be released by hamas. and phase one of the gotta cease fire deal 21 man 10 women and 2 children. 3 of them to be released every week on saturday for the next 6 consecutive weeks. it's not clear which of them are alive or dead. the captives have been at the center of ceasefire negotiations. the end of protesting israel, some of the largest in the country's histories. hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated continuously since the war began. demanding prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his government to bring them home. some former captives have accused netanyahu or prolonging the warrant for his own political survival. how must, if he will, how must made it clear that they are int

"how do we know that israel will honour this israel will honour this commitment"? he asks.ee situation on the the previous agreements, um, previous promises for unfettered entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave. they weren't met and there were chronic shortages of food, fuel, essential medical supplies. we constantly saw these reports of restrictions being placed on convoys, and trucks having to wait for weeks outside at the, the crossing point. so it will really be a wait and see situation. and then we also saw contradictory statements. israel putting out statements saying that they denied placing restrictions on trucks going in, and then the un and aid agencies coming out with statements nearly every day saying that there were obstacles being placed on aid trucks and that palestinians were facing famine and that newborns were dying of of hypothermia. so lots of statements like this. so it will really be a wait and see situation after the ceasefire comes into effect on sunday. 0k, hesham, thanks for that answer. back to you, jonah, for this next question. anonymous. "h