The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims a “deal to release the hostages” has been reached.
Netanyahu had postponed a cabinet vote to endorse the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which was scheduled for Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute revisions to the arrangement.
On Friday morning, the prime minister’s office said that the negotiating team had informed him that the deal had been agreed upon.
The security cabinet will meet later on Friday to finalise the accord before seeking approval from the full government. Families of the captives have been notified.
Representatives from Israel, Hamas, the United States, and Qatar signed the agreement in Doha, according to Israeli media sources.
The cease-fire agreement was first announced on Wednesday by mediators from the United States and Qatar.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani stated that the agreement would go into force on Sunday, pending Israeli cabinet approval.
At the time, Netanyahu stated that the deal’s exact details were still being worked out but praised Biden for “promoting” it.
Netanyahu subsequently postponed a cabinet vote to ratify the arrangement on Thursday, accusing Hamas of attempting to extract “last-minute concessions.”
Hamas stated that it was committed to the arrangement, but the BBC believes that it was attempting to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian inmates who would be released under the agreement.
Although Israeli negotiators have reached an agreement after months of talks, it cannot be implemented unless it is authorised by the security cabinet and the government.
Two hardline right-wing ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who both serve in the security cabinet and oppose the arrangement, have announced their resignation in protest.
However, they have indicated that they will not join the opposition to bring down the government until the conflict restarts in six weeks, when phase one of the truce and hostage release agreement expires.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has stated that he expects the truce to begin on Sunday, with the release of the first three Israeli detainees.
Many Palestinians and Israeli captivity families hailed the ceasefire when it was first declared.
However, the conflict on the ground in Gaza has not stopped, with Israeli strikes killing 113 Palestinians since the agreement was announced, including 28 minors, according to Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Basal.
More than 260 people have been injured. Since the announcement of the deal, the Israel Defence Forces and the Israeli Security Agency have carried out strikes on 50 sites in Gaza, according to a statement released on Thursday.
The first six-week phase of the agreement would see 33 hostages, including women, children, and the elderly, exchanged for Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails. Israeli troops would also withdraw eastward, away from Gaza’s most populated areas.
Displaced Palestinians would be free to begin returning to their homes, and hundreds of aid trucks would be let into the zone every day.
The second round of negotiations, which would include the release of the remaining captives, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, and a return to “sustainable calm,” would begin on the 16th day.
The third and last stage would be the return of any surviving hostages’ bodies and the reconstruction of Gaza, which might take years.
Netanyahu initiated a campaign to eradicate Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, and others, in reaction to an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which over 1,200 people were killed and 251 more were kidnapped.
More than 46,788 people have died in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, there is widespread destruction, and there are grave shortages of food, fuel, medication, and shelter, while humanitarian organisations struggle to reach those in need.
Israel claims Hamas still holds 94 hostages, 34 of whom are presumed dead. Four Israelis were seized before the war, two of whom have died.
