Elbahrain.net When asked about the newly scheduled Saturday cabinet vote to seal the ceasefire deal in Israel, Biden’s national security advisor John Kirby told CNN that the White House is “aware of these issues and are working through them with the Israeli government.”

“We are confident these implementing details can be hammered out and that the deal will move forward this weekend.”

Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper on his Thursday evening program, Kirby further said that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal is still “on a good path here to start implementation by the end of the weekend.”

“All the parameters have been agreed to. We’ve ironed out these last bit of details that needed to be flattened out and fixed. We believe we’re on a good path here to start implementation by the end of the weekend. So all systems are go right now,” Kirby told Tapper. “We are seeing nothing that would tell us that this is going to get derailed at this point.”

Israel’s cabinet expects to hold a full vote on the ceasefire-hostage agreement on Saturday, according to an Israeli official.

The smaller security cabinet will still convene Friday to vote on the deal, the official said.

Remember: The cabinet meeting was initially expected to take place on Thursday, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that last-minute hurdles were still being resolved at the negotiating table in Doha.

The prime minister’s office previously indicated that the cabinet would only convene once those issues were resolved.

rael’s defense ministry and military are prepared to provide “emotional support” and “mental health care” to released hostages, the ministry announced Thursday.

Defense Minister Israel Katz and an official from the Israel Defense Forces said that “all Ministry capabilities be made available for implementing the hostage release deal, receiving the returning hostages, and supporting their families.”

The Ministry of Defense will emphasize “close medical and mental health care and support, and will enhance emotional support and guidance for all families” of returning hostages, the statement continued.

Elbahrain.net A week after wind-whipped wildfires began their deadly rampage through Southern California, details on acreage burned, structures destroyed and people killed are routinely updated on a state website devoted to tracking the devastation.

But one category regarding each fire remains unchanged: The cause.

Amid speculation, rumors and media reports regarding how the fires may have begun, the official determination for each blaze is “under investigation.”

Fire experts and arson investigators interviewed by CNN said it could take weeks, months or even longer before they know precisely how the fires ignited.

“This is going to be a monumental task,” said Mike Vergon, a retired Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives fire investigator who worked on the agency’s National Response Team, which specializes in complex investigations of large fires and explosions.

Figuring out what caused a fire, experts say, is a painstaking, time-intensive process.

“It’s tedious. It’s dirty. It’s not fun,” said Ed Nordskog, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s arson investigator and profiler.

About 95% of fires in California are caused by humans, whether through an intentional act of arson, a downed power line, or a backyard barbeque party or fireworks celebration gone awry, Cal Fire officials say. Determining the details of how a particular fire started can have major implications. Investigators’ findings can result in fines, legal settlements and even prison time, depending on circumstances. In 2019, for example, Pacific Gas & Electric agreed to an $11 billion settlement with insurance companies for claims stemming from 2017 wildfires in Northern California and the 2018 Camp Fire.

Investigations can also provide invaluable lessons, said Tommy Sing Sr., a veteran fire investigator and president of Quest Fire Analysis.

“To have an understanding of how the fire occurred can give you guidance on how to mitigate the risk of it occurring again,” Sing said.

Current members of the ATF National Response Team began conducting an initial assessment in Los Angeles on Monday and will be taking the lead role in investigating the Palisades Fire, which has killed at least eight people and burned more than 5,000 structures. It ranks as the second-most destructive fire in Southern California history – behind only the nearby Eaton Fire. Containment efforts on both wildfires continue.

Tim Jones, an ATF deputy assistant director, said 15 members of the response team were assigned to the Palisades Fire following a request from local officials to determine the “cause and origin.

‘No leading theory’
The Palisades Fire began the morning of January 7. Six days earlier, there had been another fire in the same vicinity, according to satellite images and dispatch recordings analyzed by CNN. That fire had been reported contained within hours by local firefighters after growing to about eight acres, according to alerts from the LA fire department, which noted a team would work to ensure no flareups occurred.

The proximity of the two fires has prompted questions as to whether winds could have rekindled smoldering debris left from New Year’s Eve fireworks to trigger the Palisades Fire, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post.

“In terms of possibility, certainly that could have happened,” Luca Carmignani, a professor at San Diego State University who has studied wildfires, told CNN. Carmignani cautioned, however, against drawing any conclusions absent a thorough investigation.

At a news conference Sunday, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said “we do not have any information that there’s any connections” between the two fires. She added that she was confident that “every single detail” would be examined.

A law enforcement source told CNN Monday there was “no leading theory at this time” into the cause of the Palisades Fire.

Across town in Altadena, residents reported seeing flames beneath an electrical transmission tower shortly before the Eaton Fire broke out January 7.

“It was burning bright, and it was the base of the tower on fire,” Altadena resident Jeffrey Ku told CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday.

Elbahrain.net Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages during the first phase of an emerging ceasefire agreement being finalized by negotiators in Doha, two Israeli officials said.

Israel believes that most of the 33 hostages are alive, a senior Israeli official told reporters on Monday, but the bodies of dead hostages will also likely be among those released during the initial 42-day ceasefire. Hamas and its allies still hold 94 hostages taken from Israel during the attacks of October 7, 2023, at least 34 of whom are dead, according to the Israeli government.

The senior Israeli official said that the parties appear to be on the verge of an agreement and that Israel is prepared to immediately implement the deal once it has been inked.

US President Joe Biden expressed similar optimism in a speech Monday focused on foreign policy, saying the US was “pressing hard to close this.”

“The deal we have structured would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started. They have been through hell,” Biden said.

A diplomat close to the negotiations told CNN a final round of proximity talks to finalize any issues was scheduled to take place in Doha on Tuesday. The same day, some of the hostages’ families have been invited to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The release of the 33 hostages would be the first phase of the deal being finalized. Negotiations to reach the second phase – which is intended to end the war – would begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the deal.

Under the latest proposals, Israeli forces would maintain a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor – a narrow strip of land along the Egypt-Gaza border – during the first phase of the agreement, the officials said. The presence of Israeli troops along the corridor previously contributed to sinking a potential deal in September during the last round of negotiations.

Israel would also maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border with Israel, the official said, without specifying how wide that zone would be – another subject of contention during the negotiations. A Hamas official told CNN earlier that the group wanted the buffer zone to return to the pre-October 7 size of 300-500 meters (330-545 yards) from the border line, while Israel was requesting 2,000 meters.

The residents of northern Gaza would be allowed to return freely to the north of the strip, but an Israeli official claimed there would be unspecified “security arrangements” in place.

Palestinian prisoners deemed responsible for killing Israelis would not be released into the West Bank, the official said, but rather to the Gaza Strip or abroad following agreements with foreign countries.

Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees, told CNN on Monday that he is traveling to Doha to advise negotiators on the list of detainees to be released “in the event the deal materializes.”

“We are closer than ever to a deal but mediators in Doha are still awaiting official responses from both sides,” said an Arab official briefed on the talks.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Monday it remained hopeful but cautious amid the reports of a deal being close.

“We continue to trust in those working tirelessly to bring our loved ones home, and we will not rest until the last hostage returns,” the group said.

Israel launched its war on Hamas in Gaza following the attacks of October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. Since then, the Israeli military has killed at least 46,565 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. More than 100,000 have been injured.