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President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration will be moved indoors, he announced Friday, due to dangerously cold temperatures projected in the nation’s capital.

“I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“We will open Capital One Arena on Monday for LIVE viewing of this Historic event, and to host the Presidential Parade. I will join the crowd at Capital One, after my Swearing In,” Trump added.

Israel’s Security Cabinet met in Jerusalem on Friday and recommended that the full Cabinet approve the Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The accord’s first stage is to see the phased release of 33 hostages—alive or dead—over a six-week period starting on Sunday, in return for the release of about 1,000 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons.

The ceasefire is expected to go in effect at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, with the first three hostages, women, to be freed around 4 p.m. Their names were slated to be revealed Saturday afternoon by Hamas, 24 hours before their release.

The hostage deal with Hamas is on, Aryeh Deri, the chairman of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Shas Party who previously served as an observer on the War Cabinet, announced on Thursday night.

The Gaza Strip ceasefire should begin on Sunday as planned, despite the need for negotiators to tie up a "loose end" at the last minute, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.

The most interesting detail of the hostage and cease-fire deal that Israeli and Hamas officials agreed to on Wednesday lies neither in its terms, which mainly resemble what’s been on the table for months, nor in the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, is effectively acquiescing to Hamas’s continued grip on power in the Gaza Strip after loudly and repeatedly vowing he wouldn’t.

It’s the way the deal was secured: by Steven Witkoff, Donald Trump’s billionaire friend and incoming Mideast envoy, in a blunt Saturday morning meeting with the prime minister. “The envoy explained to his host in no uncertain terms that Trump expected him to agree to a deal,” Amos Harel, the Haaretz military analyst, reported on Tuesday. “Things that Netanyahu had termed life-and-death issues,” he added, “suddenly vanished.”

Granting the Palestinians statehood in the wake of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, would amount to the creation of a “Hamas state,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar charged on Wednesday, speaking hours after his U.S. counterpart endorsed the recognition of “Palestine.”

“In the current situation, establishing a Palestinian state will surely be a Hamas state,” Israel’s top diplomat told an Italian reporter who asked about U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks during a joint press briefing with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Rome.

Sa’ar added that “there is a reason why the Palestinian Authority didn’t make elections since 2005.”

(photo: Flash90)

Preparations have started for the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for 467 days, the Israel Defense Forces announced following President-elect Donald Trump’s confirmation that a deal had been reached in Qatar.

U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have reached a breakthrough deal that would see the phased release of hostages whom Hamas holds in exchange for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

“This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” Biden stated.

“It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran—but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy,” the president added. “My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire and hostage release deal, according to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

“This epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November, as it signaled to the entire world that my administration would seek peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans and our allies,” Trump stated on Wednesday.

Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), visited Israel this week as the guest of Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.

According to the IDF, the two military leaders held a strategic meeting to assess regional threats in the Middle East and discuss operational cooperation.

As Donald Trump prepares to reclaim the White House in seven days, an extensive portfolio of international and domestic challenges awaits—with Israel’s security concerns commanding significant attention. Unlike his first term, Trump enters office on Jan. 20 following methodical preparation and with a clear grasp of both priorities and implementation strategies.

The Iranian nuclear threat stands as the foremost security concern. Having withdrawn from the nuclear agreement in 2018 during his previous term, Trump demonstrates acute awareness of the immediate danger Tehran represents. Two assassination attempts by the ayatollahs’ regime have only reinforced his determination for swift resolution. The incoming administration’s approach encompasses multiple strategies: stringent American sanctions, enhanced Israeli-American military collaboration and the potential formation of a broader international coalition.

(photo: AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will unveil a plan for the post-war management of Gaza in a speech on Tuesday that has been the subject of internal divisions within the Biden administration, according to a US official.

Blinken hopes the plan will serve as a blueprint for Gaza’s governance, security and reconstruction after the war. Frameworks for these three issues will be a key part of negotiations regarding the second phase of a still-to-be-finalized hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.

But some in the State Department and White House have expressed concerns that giving the address this week would be ill-timed and potentially damaging to nearly-finished efforts to finalize an agreement on the first stage of a hostage deal, the US official told The Times of Israel on Monday, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.

In the hours before the expected ceasefire announcement in Doha, Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered his final foreign policy speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., saying, "We await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we'll remain on the brink."

Blinken said that word could "come any time, could come in the hours ahead, it could come in the days ahead."

United States President-elect Donald Trump provided insight into the hostage deal negotiations between Israel and Hamas Monday, revealing to Newsmax: "I understand there's been a handshake and they're getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week, but it has to take place."

(photo: Flash90)

Members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Knesset coalition have at times opposed the deal that the Jewish state is negotiating with the Hamas terror group. But Ohad Tal, who chairs the Religious Zionism Party’s Knesset faction, made the unusual decision to reject the negotiations publicly and not only to do so while traveling abroad, but in remarks at President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Jerusalem would free some 1,300 Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons, including hundreds serving life sentences. The 33 hostages would include female soldiers, women and men over the age of 50, as well as ill and wounded captives. It is unknown how many are still alive.

Multiple reports Monday indicated that talks in Qatar for a ceasefire-hostage deal in Gaza had achieved a significant breakthrough overnight, with Israeli officials speaking to several Hebrew media outlets saying an agreement could be close.

Speaking to Reuters on Monday morning, an unnamed official briefed on the negotiations said Doha had handed both parties a “final” draft of the agreement, following a breakthrough in the early hours of the morning in talks between Israel’s negotiating team, Qatar’s prime minister, and US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, who recently joined the negotiations.

In a follow-up report later in the day, an Israeli official told Reuters that Jerusalem had yet to receive a draft proposal from Qatar. But Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the draft was received by Israel overnight and that it was broadly acceptable to Israel. It said the draft had been approved by Hamas leaders abroad, and “everything” now depended on the agreement of Muhammad Sinwar, Hamas’s de facto leader in Gaza.

Israel and Hamas are close to a hostage and ceasefire deal that will likely be announced Monday night or Tuesday morning, in which 33 hostages will be released during the first phase, with a staged withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza other than an undefined security perimeter, diplomatic sources told The Jerusalem Post.

The sources noted that on the 16th day of the ceasefire, negotiations would start regarding the later stages of the hostage exchange with the goal of releasing all the hostages and regarding IDF withdrawals, but did not mention a definite time frame, though some sources expect the first phase of the deal to last 42 days.

Trump's statement that hell will break loose if hostages are not released by Inauguration Day carries specific consequences, FOX News learned in an interview with Vance. "It means enabling the Israelis to knock out the final couple of battalions of Hamas and their leadership," Vance said, according to FOX News.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone on Sunday to discuss the ongoing hostage negotiations with Hamas, the White House and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced.

Washington said the two “discussed the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region.”

Biden “stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal,” the U.S. readout continued.

US President-elect Donald Trump is set to issue more than 100 executive orders on the first day of his presidency, January 20, according to a report from the AP news agency overnight between Saturday and Sunday. The executive orders will focus on border security, mass deportations, and other political priorities, aiming to signal immediate change and reflect the priorities of his upcoming administration.

According to the report, Trump briefed Republican senators in a private meeting on plans that include completing the construction of the wall along the US-Mexico border, establishing detention centers for undocumented immigrants, and carrying out widespread deportations of those without legal residency. Senior advisor Stephen Miller presented the senators with the immediate steps to be taken. Among the measures, there will be a return to policies from Trump's first term, such as requiring asylum seekers to file their applications in other countries and wait outside US borders while their requests are processed.

The Israel Air Force reportedly carried out strikes in southern Lebanon, according to the Hezbollah-owned Al Manar TV and the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Sunday night. 

The reports claimed four strikes targeted the areas of Deir El Zahrani and Houmine El Faouqa in the Nabatiya region of southern Lebanon. 

Additional strikes were reportedly carried out in the area of the Bekaa Valley, near the Syrian border, Al Manar claimed.

• Strong winds calmed somewhat Friday, allowing Los Angeles firefighters to contain some of the wildfires ravaging the area.

• As of Saturday morning, the Palisades Fire is 11% contained, while the Eaton Fire is 15% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

• Firefighters have contained 80% of the Kenneth Fire, 76% of the Hurst Fire and all of the Lidia Fire.

• The ferocious blazes have destroyed more than 12,300 homes and buildings and left at least 16 dead in their wake, a number officials expect to rise.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Saturday evening that he had decided to send a high-level delegation to Qatar to join efforts to seal a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group.

The team departing Saturday night will include Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ron Bar, IDF hostage point man Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and Netanyahu’s political advisor Ophir Falk.

The decision was made after Netanyahu held a situation assessment on the ongoing hostage talks. He was joined at the meeting by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel’s security chiefs, and officials from the Biden administration and incoming Trump administration. He met with Trump’s incoming US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem earlier in the day.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, an Israeli official said, amid efforts to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza.

A second Israeli official said some progress had been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a deal in Gaza.

The mediators are making new efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Israeli fighter jets hit Houthi terror targets on Yemen’s western coast and inland in the country on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces stated.

“The Houthi terrorist regime has repeatedly attacked the State of Israel, its citizens and civilian infrastructure in Israel,” including using drones and surface-to-surface missiles, the Israeli military stated. “The State of Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Friday afternoon that “just as we promised, the Houthis are paying, and will continue to pay, a heavy price for their aggression against us,” according to an English translation of his remarks provided by his office.

Arab media outlets reported an unprecedented military operation Friday, marking the first coordinated strikes by US, British, and Israeli forces since the escalation of regional hostilities. According to international sources, the operation comprised three waves of strikes targeting critical infrastructure across Houthi-controlled territories.

Has God sent us not 1, not 2, not 3 – but FOUR dramatic signs on New Year’s Eve as a warning of things to come, of America’s future, and what we need to do now? And can we afford to ignore them? Check out the new prophetic message by Jonathan Cahn.

Lightning bolts struck the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the Empire State Building, and the World Trade Center on New Year's Eve 2024.