The Independent's front page looks at terrible cost of war in Gaza, in numbers

PRESS REVIEW – Friday, January 17: We look at reactions from the press as Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu's cabinet prepares to vote on a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Also: the Lebanese paper L'Orient-Le Jour interviews French President Emmanuel Macron as he arrives for an official visit. Plus: It's been 50 years since the right to abortion was granted to women in France. Meanwhile, tributes are paid to pioneering American filmmaker David Lynch. Finally, Houston's police department is grappling with an unusual criminal: drug-eating rats!

The front pages focus on a crucial vote in Israel on Gaza's ceasefire and hostage swap deal. As French paper La Croix notes, it’s a very fragile deal and one that hinges on approval by Israel’s cabinet. The paper's editors caution: with or without a ceasefire, the events of October 7, 2023 will leave indelible traces on both Israelis and Palestinians.

Meanwhile, British daily The Independent publishes a sobering front page on the war in numbers: almost 47,000 Palestinians dead in 466 days, 1.5 million people displaced and 325,000 people facing catastrophic starvation.

In the Israeli dailies, centre-left newspaper Haaretz warns that the second phase of this deal is also fraught with dangers and obstacles. The big question will be whether Hamas sticks to its end of the agreement. The Jerusalem Post notes that while Donald Trump has largely taken credit for helping get the ceasefire process this far, Israel's Mossad has also played a large role. Mossad director David Barnea sewed the pieces of the deal as far back as last May, including provisions for aid by opening up the Rafah border crossing.

Also on the paper's front page is the loss of influence of the far right in Netanyahu’s cabinet. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is among those who have threatened to quit the government if the ceasefire deal goes ahead. For Al Akhbar, the Lebanese daily close to Hezbollah, it’s all smoke and mirrors from Israel. The paper believes that these threats are just theatrics that will not change the fact that this deal is going ahead.

French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Lebanon and his trip is making the front pages there. He gave an interview to L’Orient-Le Jour just before he arrived, in which he hailed the election of Joseph Aoun as president, saying Lebanon finally has a legitimate and credible leader who will bring confidence to the region. In the wide-ranging interview, Macron talks about the question of the Palestinian state, the impact of Donald Trump's arrival at the White House next Monday and what the ceasefire could mean for the disarmament of Hezbollah in the north.

Here in France, we're marking 50 years since Simone Veil spearheaded a law decriminalising abortion. It was a huge step for women’s sexual rights. Fifty years ago, Simone Veil stood up in French parliament and defended her bill to give women the right to abortion. Libération talks to seven women, who were either patients, practitioners or activists at the time. One of them recalls the difficulties in enforcing the legislation. Many gynaecologists were Catholics and didn't want to enforce the law.

Belgium's Le Soir pays tribute to David Lynch. The trailblazing director of "Twin Peaks" and "Mulholland Drive", who has passed away aged 78, is described as a giant of American cinema, whose influence was immeasurable. He was a wizard of images, the paper says.

Finally in the US, Houston's police department has been coming face to face with a rather unusual criminal: drug-eating rats! The Guardian reports on a systemic problem in Houston – the police evidence rooms have been infested with rats. The rooms contain reportedly over 1.2 million pieces of evidence dating back to the 1940s, including kilos of coke stored long after criminals have served their sentences. Police discovered that not only had the rats managed to break into the evidence rooms, they'd been consuming large amounts of drugs like mushrooms and marijuana!

You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.