Feature

Israel vetoed the inclusion of Turkish soldiers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined to participate.

Ariel Kahana

(Israel Hayom via JNS)

Troops from Azerbaijan and Indonesia are expected to form the core of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) to be deployed in Gaza.

This has emerged from recent discussions between U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their respective teams. The force is anticipated to consist of tens of thousands of soldiers.

Indonesia has a long history of contributing troops to international policing missions under the United Nations, including to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Israel has maintained close and longstanding relations with Azerbaijan across various fields, including security cooperation.

The move to deploy troops from these two Muslim-majority countries comes after Israel blocked Turkey’s participation in the Gaza force. Israel Hayom has learned that the US accepted Israel’s position, and Turkish forces will not take part in military operations in Gaza.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined to participate in the mission. Additionally, President Donald Trump has made clear that U.S. troops will not enter Gaza. The idea of deploying Qatari soldiers to demilitarize Gaza was never considered, leaving Azerbaijan and Indonesia as the only viable options.

The process of coordinating the deployment of troops from Indonesia and Azerbaijan is underway but still in its early stages. One obstacle is Indonesia’s insistence that any international force must be authorized by a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Talks toward securing such a resolution have begun. However, Israel remains wary of Security Council resolutions, citing bitter experience and the inability to enforce decisions.

At the same time, France is pushing to include the establishment of a Palestinian state in the proposed resolution, a step to which Israel is firmly opposed. Intense negotiations are ongoing among the involved parties in an effort to reach a mutually acceptable formulation.

There is skepticism in Israel about whether such a resolution could pass, and whether an international force—if formed—would be capable of carrying out its mandate. For now, the political directive to the defense establishment is to give the U.S.-backed plan a chance. However, many believe that at some stage, Israeli military action will be necessary to achieve these goals.

Another unresolved issue under discussion is whether the IDF would retain operational freedom to act against Hamas threats in Gaza, similar to how it currently operates against Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

Image: Azerbaijani soldiers circle around U.S. Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck, the commander of the 2nd Marine Division, during his visit to Camp Hadithah Dam, Al Anbar, Iraq, Jan. 2, 2006. Photo by Cpl. Adam C. Schnell/U.S. Marine Corps via Wikimedia Commons.

The Religious Services Ministry will assist the families in holding funerals for the murdered captives.

JNS Staff

(JNS)

Israel’s Ministry of Religious Services is prepared to receive the remains of “between one and 28” slain hostages as part of the agreement with Hamas in Gaza, director-general Yehudah Avidan said on Sunday.

Despite expectations, no one yet knows how many hostages’ bodies will be handed over by the terrorist group before the deadline of 6 a.m. on Monday, Avidan told Kan Reshet Bet radio.

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross will carry out an initial identification process after receiving the bodies, according to Avidan, after which the remains will be taken to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv for final examination.

“That’s where the entire complex identification process will begin,” the director-general explained, noting that the institute is in possession of intelligence files for each of the fallen to streamline their identification.

Avidan told Reshet Bet that most of the 28 murdered hostages have already been declared dead by a special committee led by the Chief Rabbinate, allowing widows to remarry in accordance with Jewish law.

“There’s no chance of error,” he stressed, explaining that the committee acted solely on solid evidence provided by Israeli intelligence agencies.

Noting that some families already observed the seven-day mourning period known as shivah, Avidan told Reshet Bet that the Religious Services Ministry would assist the families in holding a “new funeral.”

The ministry, in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces, Israel Police and other agencies, is in constant contact with the families and tries to fulfill their wishes regarding the final respects to their loved ones. “We ultimately try to give the family what it deserves,” he told Reshet Bet.

Avidan said his worst fear is that Hamas terrorists will claim that some of the bodies cannot be found, similar to the case of Ron Arad, the Israeli Air Force weapon systems officer who went missing in action in Lebanon 39 years ago.

(Israeli officials told reporters on Thursday that an international task force would be established to locate the remains of captives who are not found in the coming days as part of the ceasefire deal.)

Avidan added that in the past, explosives have been found with remains released by Hamas. “We don’t trust them with anything,” he said.

Under the U.S.-brokered agreement approved by the Israeli Cabinet on Friday, the Jewish state is to receive, by a revised deadline of 6 a.m. on Monday, the 20 living hostages and remains of 28 others.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday spoke with Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, his point man for the captives and missing, and told him that Jerusalem was “prepared and ready to immediately receive all of our hostages,” according to a readout from the premier’s office.

Image: Israeli soldiers at the ceremony to receive the coffins of four deceased Gaza hostages on Feb. 20, 2025. Credit: IDF Spokesperson.

Kushner and Witkoff credit Israel’s leadership and military for enabling the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage release agreement.

(JNS)

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on Friday credited the Israel Defense Forces and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for facilitating the ceasefire deal between his country and Hamas.

Kushner and Witkoff said this at a joint conference in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, shortly after the Jewish state’s Cabinet voted in favor of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that would return to Israel 20 living hostages taken to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and the bodies of about 30 others.

“Obviously, bringing the hostages home has been a priority for President Trump for a very, very long time and we’ve all worked very tirelessly to do that,” said Kushner, a former senior adviser to Trump who has been working on the agreement alongside Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East peace envoy.

“But I really want to say that this all would not have been possible without the bravery of the IDF and the soldiers, what they’ve accomplished not just in Gaza, but also what they’ve done in the theater over the last couple of years to eliminate Hezbollah in the north and really degrade them, which you were able to do in Iran and really set a big tone,” Kushner added.

Kushner said he wanted “to just give a very, very special thanks to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who did an incredible job with this, did a great job in the negotiations.” Turning to Netanyahu, he said: “You held your lines firm” and that Netanyahu and Trump “had a lot of alignment on what the end state should be.”

Witkoff imparted similar praise on Netanyahu, noting that the Israeli leader needed to determine “how tough to be with Hamas, when to be flexible, when not to be flexible.”

Witkoff added, “I think to myself all the time, I lost sleep over it. What would I have done in some of those circumstances? There were times that I thought we should be more flexible, or your country should be more flexible. But the truth is, as I look back, I don’t think we get to this place without Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Netanyahu thanked Trump and Dermer, who worked with the U.S. negotiators, as well as Kusher and Witkoff, “and the courage of our soldiers who entered Gaza and the combined military and diplomatic pressure that isolated Hamas,” which “has brought us to this point.”

Trump announced on Thursday a ceasefire in Gaza, saying: “We are getting the hostages back on Tuesday.”

On Friday, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster published a document titled “Implementation Steps for President Trump’s for a comprehensive end of Gaza War,” which the television station said had been signed by U.S., Israeli and Hamas representatives.

The document’s content resembles the 20-point plan released by the White House last month. It said the hostages would be released within 72 hours of Trump’s announcement, and that the IDF would withdraw in the Gaza Strip from certain areas within 24 hours of it.

It also states that the flow of aid supplies to Gaza would be boosted after those 72 hours and that Israel would release Palestinian prisoners. Hamas reportedly has secured the release of hundreds of them, including Palestinians serving life sentences for murdering Israelis.

Image: From left, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. presidential representative Jared Kushner at an Israeli Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Oct. 9, 2025. Credit: GPO.

“Alongside the immense pain, we feel great pride in the miraculous resilience of our state.”

Steve Linde

(JNS)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday marked two years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, pledging that Israel “will prevail” and reaffirming his commitment to achieving all the war’s objectives—the return of hostages, the elimination of Hamas and ensuring that Gaza will never again pose a threat to the Jewish state.

In a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu recalled the immense suffering caused by the attacks, in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 251 were abducted into the terror tunnels of Gaza. He stressed that the government continues to do all it can to bring back the remaining 48 hostages, alive and dead.

“Two years have passed since the Oct. 7 attack—the horrific slaughter of our brothers and sisters, residents of the Western Negev and participants at the Nova party,” he said. “We paid a very painful price. Infants, children and elderly people were brutally and horrifically murdered by Hamas terrorists.”

He said, “My wife and I bow our heads in memory of our dead and our fallen, whose images will be forever ingrained in our hearts. We embrace with love the grieving families, wish a full recovery to the wounded in body and soul, and of course, continue to do everything for the return of all the hostages, both the living and the deceased.”

Netanyahu said that despite the pain and loss, Israel’s spirit remains unbroken. “Our bloodthirsty enemies have hurt us badly, but they did not break us. Before long, they discovered the enormous strength of the nation of Israel,” he said. “The seven-front War of Redemption is a momentous war for our homeland—a war for our very existence and future.”

“Our soldiers and commanders are fighting back in kind against our foes on every front, be it near or far. Whoever raises a hand against us suffers devastating and unprecedented blows,” he added. “Alongside the immense pain, we feel great pride in the miraculous resilience of our state.”

Addressing the citizens of Israel directly as negotiations advance in Egypt to strike a deal to end the war, Netanyahu concluded that Israel stands at a critical juncture but will not waver in its goals.

“We are living through fateful days of decision. We will continue to act to achieve all the war’s objectives: the return of all the hostages, the elimination of Hamas’s rule and the assurance that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” he stated. “Together we will stand. And together, with God’s help, we will prevail.”

Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a memorial service at the Knesset in Jerusalem for the victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, Oct. 28, 2024. Photo by Maayan Toaf/GPO.

The staff of Jewish TV Channel and Bipact wishes our followers a wonderful new year and well over the fast.

Due to seasonal activities our news service will be limited until after Simchat Torah. We regret any inconvenience this might cause and look forward to returning to full capacity with an expanded array of content, plus an exciting development!