Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet has voted unanimously to close Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel, according to a government statement.
The cabinet vote came yesterday after Israel’s parliament passed a law allowing the temporary closure in Israel of foreign broadcasters considered to be a threat to national security during the months-long war in Gaza.
Netanyahu announced the decision on X, formerly Twitter. “The government headed by me unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” he posted in Hebrew.
Meanwhile, Israeli PM also declared that his government is prepared to pause the Gaza war in exchange for a deal to release the hostages but is not willing to end it, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said during the weekly government meeting.
He said, we are working in every possible way to free the hostages; this is our top priority. Netanyahu spoke as a Hamas delegation was in Cairo for hostage talks with CIA Director William Burns and officials from the mediating countries Egypt and Qatar. imultaneously, Hamas in Gaza fired rockets at the area of the Kerem Shalom crossing for goods into the enclave, injuring seven.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers in the south that there were “troubling signs that Hamas does not mean to agree to any deal.” At the government meeting, Netanyahu said that “Israel has been, and still is, ready for a pause in the fighting in order to free our hostages,” Netanyahu stressed as he explained that the IDF had already allowed for a week-long lull in the fighting in November to facilitate at hostage deal in which 105 captives were freed. “This is what we are ready to do today,” he stated.
A deal is on the table, in which some 33 of the remaining 132 hostages would be freed over 40 days, in what would be the first phase of a three-part deal.
Hamas had reportedly agreed to the first phase, which would include a pause to the war, without an agreement to end the war, with the understanding that such a step would happen later in the process.
Netanyahu, however, has clarified, including last day that he has no intention of relenting on the issue of a permanent ceasefire until Hamas has been destroyed. That can not happen until the IDF executes a military operation in Rafah.
Israel will not agree to Hamas's demands, which would mean surrender; it will continue fighting until all of its objectives are achieved. In the last few weeks we have been working around the clock to forge an agreement for the return of the hostages,” Netanyahu said, adding that the negotiating team was given a very broad mandate about terms they could agree to.
“In recent weeks, we have been working around the clock to formulate an agreement that would return our hostages,” Netanyahu explained.
The negotiating team was given a "very broad mandate to move forward on the release. We did so out of a deep commitment to the hostages, and to end the terrible suffering of the families,” he stressed.
“Throughout the negotiations, Israel has shown a willingness for significant movement, which has been described by US Secretary of State Blinken and others as 'very generous.’
ZH
