Netanyahu: ceasefire phase 2 is largely symbolic
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/netanyahu-ceasefire-phase-2-largely-symbolic
Palestinians girls play amid buildings destroyed by Israeli air and ground attacks in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, January 14, 2026ISRAEL’S far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the United States’ announcement of the so-called ceasefire in Gaza advancing to its second phase is largely symbolic.
Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians since the ceasefire came into force on October 10, raising questions about whether phase two of the plan will bring any more respite for Gazans.
Speaking on Wednesday night with the parents of the last Israeli hostage whose remains are still in the coastal enclave, Mr Netanyahu said that the announcement of a governing committee of Palestinians as part of the second phase was merely a “declarative move,” rather than, as described by US envoy Steve Witkoff, a sign of progress.
Israeli police officer Ran Gvili’s parents had earlier pressed Mr Netanyahu not to advance the ceasefire until their son’s remains were returned, Israel’s Hostage and Missing Families Forum said earlier that day.
Mr Netanyahu told Mr Gvili’s parents that his return remained a top priority.
The announcement of the ceasefire’s second phase marked a significant step forward but left many questions unanswered.
They include the membership of a proposed apolitical governing committee of Palestinian experts and an international “board of peace.”
The committee’s composition has been co-ordinated with Israel, said an Israeli official speaking on the condition of anonymity.
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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/netanyahu-ceasefire-phase-2-largely-symbolic
Randa Abdel-Fattah files defamation notice over Israeli lobby smear
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Palestinian-Australian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah has announced that her lawyers have issued a formal concerns notice under Australia’s Defamation Act to South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas, following weeks of public controversy surrounding her exclusion from Adelaide Writers’ Week.
In a statement published on social media, Abdel-Fattah said the legal step was taken after what she described as sustained misrepresentation and political targeting by the premier. “My lawyers have today issued a concerns notice under the Defamation Act on Premier Malinauskas,” she wrote. “This is his opportunity to undo some of the harm he has inflicted, and stop punching down.”
The move comes after Adelaide Writers’ Week was abruptly cancelled earlier this month amid mounting backlash over the festival board’s decision to exclude Abdel-Fattah from the programme. The board later issued a public apology to the author, acknowledging that the way the decision had been represented caused harm and confusion.
READ: Bondi Beach attack: How the media smears pro-Palestine protests while erasing a Muslim hero
The controversy triggered a wave of protest across Australia’s literary community, with prominent writers and speakers withdrawing in solidarity and accusing political leaders of fuelling a climate of intimidation against Palestinian and Muslim voices. Abdel-Fattah, a long-standing advocate for Palestinian rights, has faced repeated public attacks for her criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
At least 118 writers withdrew or cancelled their participation in protest, condemning the exclusion of Abdel-Fattah. Instead of reversing the move, organisers cancelled Adelaide Writers’ Week altogether, shutting down one of Australia’s most prominent cultural events amid mounting pressure linked to pro-Israel lobbying.
In comments shared online, Abdel-Fattah accused South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas of launching a smear campaign against her based on information from biased sources. “He knows nothing about me, beyond what he has been told by the Murdoch press and the pro-Israel lobby, which he has apparently accepted without question,” she said.
Abdel-Fattah condemned the Premier’s comments linking her to violent extremism. “He made a public statement that suggested I am an extremist terrorist sympathiser and directly linked me to the Bondi atrocity,” she wrote.
She described the premier’s actions as “a vicious personal assault on me, a private citizen, by the highest public official in South Australia,” and stated clearly: “It was defamatory and it terrified me.”
Asserting her right to defend herself, she declared: “I am a human being, not a punching bag.” She confirmed her legal team had issued a formal concerns notice under Australia’s Defamation Act and called on Malinauskas to take responsibility: “This is his opportunity to undo some of the harm he has inflicted, and stop punching down.”
READ: Festival of cowardice: The cancellation of Randa Abdel-Fattah
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Three Palestine Action protesters end their hunger strike
Four more who had paused their strikes choose not to continue after government opts against giving contract to Elbit Systems UK
Three Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners have announced the end of their hunger strike after the government decided not to award a £2bn contract to the Israeli arms company subsidiary Elbit Systems UK – with another four who had paused their protest choosing not to continue.
Fears had been growing for the welfare of those taking part. On Wednesday, Heba Muraisi, 31, would have been on day 73 of refusing food, the same number of days as reached by the Irish republican hunger striker Kieran Doherty, who survived the longest of 10 men who died in a 1981 action. The earliest death among the Irish republicans was after 46 days, raising fears about the risk to life of the prisoners in jail awaiting trial for offences relating to protests claimed by Palestine Action.
Among their demands had been to shut down Elbit Systems, a slogan used by Palestine Action in its campaign against the company’s UK sites.
Late on Wednesday, Prisoners for Palestine said the decision not to grant Elbit Systems UK the contract, under which it would have trained 60,000 British troops a year, fulfilled a key demand. It said the company had won more than 10 public contracts since 2012, and so the decision by the Ministry of Defence marked a shift in thinking among officials.
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The Guardian understands that Umar Khalid, 22, who resumed his hunger strike on Saturday after previously pausing it, is continuing to refuse food.
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Muraisi’s transfer back to HMP Bronzefield in Surrey had been accepted by HMP New Hall in Wakefield, to which she was moved last year, hundreds of miles from her family and friends. Her transfer had been another demand of the hunger strikers.
Prisoners for Palestine said Hoxha had been offered a meeting with the head of the joint extremism unit at her prison, which it said “orchestrates the prisoners’ treatment as ‘terrorists’”.
Another demand had been an end to the censorship of prisoners’ communications. The group said: “During the hunger strike, some of the prisoners started receiving bulk packages of withheld mail, and in one case received an apology from prison staff for a letter that was delayed by six months. Books on the topics of Gaza and feminism have also been given after months of waiting.
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See the original article at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jan/14/three-palestine-action-protesters-end-their-hunger-strike
Israel’s attacks on Gaza intensify, as freezing temperatures cost more lives
Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Israel has committed hundreds of ceasefire violations since October 2025, thwarting the possibility of advancing to phase two of the talks
Three months after the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal took effect, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued carrying out grave violations across the besieged enclave.
At least three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted a group of civilians in the Al-Balad area in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis on Monday, January 12.
A woman also sustained injuries on Monday after being shot at by Israeli soldiers in the Al-Batn al-Sameen area of Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip announced that the police chief of Khan Younis, Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud Al-Astal, was assassinated by an Israeli-backed militia in the Al-Mawasi area west of the city.
21 Palestinians, including 18 children, freeze to death
As the blockade imposed by the IOF on the war-torn territory still persists, the humanitarian crisis has aggravated, leaving many displaced people without shelter and heating during the cold weather.
The Gaza-based Palestinian Health Ministry reported that three Palestinian children, including a newborn and a two-month-old baby, have frozen to death since Sunday, January 11.
The ministry added that 21 Palestinians, including 18 children, died in Gaza due to the cold weather since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal aggression on October 7, 2023.
In a statement released on Monday, the ministry further indicated that 442 Palestinians died, while 1,240 others were injured, as a result of Israeli violations of the truce agreement that came into force in October 2025.
This takes the official death toll of Palestinians, who were killed by the IOF across Gaza in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks to 71,419 people.
In spite of Israel’s continued atrocities, mediators and guarantors of the ceasefire deal, above all the Trump administration, remain unmoved, crushing every hope for advancing towards phase two of the agreement.
Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.