Israel’s cabinet will meet to finalize a deal with the Palestinian militant group Hamas on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday. In Gaza itself, Israeli warplanes continued to carry out intense attacks, and the Palestinian Authority said on Thursday evening that at least 86 people had been killed, a day after the ceasefire was unveiled. Israel postponed meetings expected on Thursday, when the cabinet was due to vote on the pact, due to long-standing disagreements between ministers, blaming the delay on Hamas. But Netanyahu’s office said early Friday that approval was imminent. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on the release of the hostages,” his office said in a statement. The security cabinet will meet on Friday before the full cabinet meeting to approve the deal. It was not immediately clear whether the full cabinet would meet on Friday or Saturday, or whether the start of the ceasefire on Sunday would be delayed. White House spokesman John Kirby said Washington believed a deal was on track and a ceasefire in the 15-month-old conflict was expected to be restored “as soon as this weekend”. “We don’t see anything that tells us it’s going to derail at this point,” he said Thursday on CNN. A group representing the families of Israeli hostages in Gaza, 33 of whom are due to be released in the first six-week phase of the deal, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward quickly. “For the 98 hostages, every night is another night of a terrible nightmare. Do not delay their return even one more night,” the group said late Thursday, as reported by Israeli media. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier on Thursday that negotiations to be resolved were a “loose end”. A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was a dispute over the identity of some of the prisoners Hamas wanted to release. Envoys from President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump were in Doha with Egyptian and Qatari mediators working to resolve it, the official said. A senior Hamas official, Izzat el-Reshiq, said the group remained committed to the ceasefire agreement. Biden said Thursday that Netanyahu must “find a way to accommodate the legitimate concerns” of Palestinians about Israel’s long-term sustainability. “And the idea that Israel is going to be able to sustain itself in the long term without accommodating the Palestinian issue … That’s not going to happen,” Biden, a Democrat, said in a speech to Republican President Trump on Monday. in an interview on MSNBC. Inside Gaza, joy at the truce has been replaced by sadness and anger at the increased bombing that followed Wednesday’s ceasefire announcement. Tamer Abu Shaaban’s voice broke as he stood over his young niece’s tiny body wrapped in a white shroud in the Gaza City morgue. She was hit in the back by shrapnel from a rocket while she was playing in the yard of the school where the family was hiding, he said. “Is this the truce they’re talking about? What did this young girl, this child, deserve?” he asked.
VOTING IS EXPECTED
Israel’s acceptance of the agreement will not be official until it is approved by the security cabinet and government. The Prime Minister’s Office did not comment on the timing. Some political analysts speculated that the start of the cease-fire planned for Sunday could be delayed if Israel does not complete the approval by Saturday. Hardliners in Netanyahu’s government, who say the war has not achieved its goal of wiping out Hamas and should not end until it does, had hoped to halt the deal. However, most ministers were expected to support the deal. In Jerusalem, some Israelis marched through the streets with fake coffins to protest the ceasefire, blocking roads and brawling with police. Other protesters blocked traffic until security forces dispersed them. The ceasefire agreement was reached on Wednesday after mediation between Qatar, Egypt and the US. The agreement outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces. Dozens of hostages taken by Hamas, including women, children, the elderly and the sick, would be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. It sets the stage for an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, where most of the population has been displaced and faces hunger, disease and cold. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities in border areas on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and taking over 250 hostages, according to Israeli records. If successful, the truce would halt fighting that Gaza authorities say has destroyed much of heavily urbanized Gaza, killed over 46,000 people and displaced most of the tiny enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.
