The Israeli security cabinet has recommended approving the Gaza ceasefire and hostage return deal, ahead of a full cabinet meeting expected later on Friday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
According to Reuters, cabinet is expected to meet at 3.30 p.m. (1330 GMT) to give final ratification to the agreement, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said is expected to take effect on Sunday, with the release of the first hostages.
If successful, the ceasefire would halt fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces that has razed much of heavily urbanised Gaza, killed more than 46,000 people, and displaced most of the enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million several times over, according to local authorities.
It could also ease hostilities in the Middle East, where the Gaza war spread to include Iran and its proxies – Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq as well as the occupied West Bank. In Gaza itself on Friday, Israeli warplanes kept up heavy strikes, and the Civil Emergency Service said that at least 101 Palestinians, including 58 women and children, had been killed since the deal was announced on Wednesday.
Under the six-week first phase of the three-stage deal, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children, and men over 50. Israel will release all Palestinian women and children under 19 detained in Israeli jails by the end of the first phase. The total number of Palestinians released will depend on hostages released, and could be between 990 and 1,650 Palestinians, including men, women and children.
Hamas said in a statement on Friday that obstacles that arose in relation to the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement have been resolved.
Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government. In the early hours of Friday, Netanyahu’s office said that Israel’s security cabinet would meet to give final approval to the ceasefire accord after the meeting was pushed back from Thursday, raising concerns of delays.
