Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have finally relented. After more than a year of refusing to agree to an end to the war in Gaza, he is now pushing through a ceasefire that – mediators insist – will do just that.

The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza with ceasefire talks ending with success in Qatar.

The Israeli prime minister has to convince his right-wing base that the arguments he made against ending the war for 15 months no longer apply.

The problem for Netanyahu is Netanyahu. Consumed by the desire to stay in power, he has been wedged between overwhelming public demand for the hostages to be released, and those who keep him in power—his coalition partners.

War in Gaza has acted as a protective shield – now Israel’s prime minister faces political, legal and personal challenges

Netanyahu ‘is nothing if not obsessive, and he's still trying to get us to fight Iran this day, this week,’ Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs says in lecture - Anadolu Ajansı

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The ceasefire as agreed to in Qatar is set to last 42 days. Over that period, 33 hostages are expected to be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, there will be a slow withdrawal of the Israeli military from urban centers in Gaza and a surge of humanitarian aid.

The deal has been approved by Israel's full cabinet after it was earlier backed by the country's security cabinet.

Israel's Cabinet has approved the Gaza ceasefire deal that would pause the fighting and release dozens of hostages held by Hamas militants along with Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

JERUSALEM: The Palestinian militant group Hamas is expected to release the first hostages under a Gaza ceasefire deal on Sunday (Jan 19), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday, aft