Israel's cabinet approves Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal

The Israeli government has approved a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas in Gaza, paving the way for the agreement to take effect on Sunday. The decision was made after hours of discussions that stretched into the late night, with two far-right ministers voting against it.

This followed a recommendation by the security cabinet to approve the deal, stating that it "supports the achievement of war goals," according to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The agreement was announced two days after mediators Qatar, the US, and Egypt said they had finalized the details, hours after both the prime minister's office and Hamas stated they had reached an accord.

Under the agreement, in the first six-week phase, 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza will be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Israeli forces will also withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza, displaced Palestinians will be allowed to begin returning to their homes, and hundreds of aid trucks will enter the area daily.

Negotiations for the second phase are to begin on the 16th day, which should include the release of the remaining hostages, a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, and "the restoration of sustainable calm." The third and final phase will involve the reconstruction of Gaza, which could take years, and the return of any remaining hostages’ remains. Qatar stated that the hostages released in the first phase would include “civilian women, female soldiers, children, the elderly, and the sick and injured civilians.” Israel said it expects three hostages to be released on the first day of the ceasefire, with more groups released regularly over the following six weeks.

The Israeli military launched an operation to destroy Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, and other countries. This operation was in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 people as hostages. Since then, more than 46,870 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. The majority of the 2.3 million population have also been displaced, with widespread destruction and severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine, and shelter due to difficulties in getting aid to those who need it.

Israel says that Hamas is still holding 94 hostages, with 34 presumed dead. In addition, there are four Israelis who were kidnapped before the war, two of whom have died. Ahead of the Israeli government vote on the deal, Miki Zohar, the culture minister from Netanyahu's Likud party, said, "It is a very difficult decision, but we decided to support it because it is very important for us to see all our children, men, and women come home." He added, "We hope that in the future we will be able to finish the job in Gaza."

But far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he was "appalled" by the details of the deal, which include the release of "terrorists with life sentences" in exchange for hostages, and urged other ministers to join him in voting against the agreement. On Thursday, Ben-Gvir announced that his Jewish Power party would leave the governing coalition if the deal was approved. However, he stated that he would not bring down the government in parliament and would return if the "war against Hamas is resumed with full force."

Another far-right politician who opposed the deal, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said his Religious Zionist party would withdraw if the war was not resumed after the first phase ended. The three-phase structure has also caused division and anxiety among some families of the hostages. They fear that their loved ones would be abandoned in Gaza after the first phase and urged the government to ensure that the second and third phases are also implemented. “Our loved ones have been held captive for 469 days, and now, finally, there is hope,” said Einav Zangauker, whose 25-year-old son Matan was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz. “This deal must be carried through to the end, to bring everyone home and to end the war. It is in Israel's interest to end the war, bring everyone home and return to normality.”

The government vote was originally scheduled for Thursday, but the meeting was delayed after Netanyahu accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement, an accusation Hamas denied. In the early hours of Friday, the prime minister's office announced that Israel's negotiating team in Doha had finalized the deal. Hamas also released a statement saying that "obstacles" related to the terms of the agreement had been resolved at dawn. A source close to Hamas told AFP that the first three hostages to be released would be women.

On Friday, the Israeli Justice Ministry released a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners, saying they would be the first to be released in exchange for the hostages. According to AFP, they include 69 women, 16 men, and 10 minors. A meeting was also held in Cairo on Friday to discuss the mechanisms for implementing the deal, a senior Egyptian official told the BBC. Both sides agreed on all necessary arrangements, including the establishment of a joint operations room to ensure compliance, which will include representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the US, Palestine, and Israel, the official said.

Egypt's state-run Cairo News TV also quoted sources as saying they had agreed to facilitate the entry of 600 aid trucks per day during the ceasefire. This would be more than a 14-fold increase on the daily average of 43 trucks reported by the UN in January. But Rick Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in Gaza, said that “this is very much possible” if the Rafah crossing with Egypt and other crossings are opened. The WHO also plans to deliver some prefabricated hospitals to support the heavily impacted healthcare sector. Half of Gaza's 36 hospitals are out of service, while others are only partially functional.

Palestinians in Gaza have not had any respite since the announcement of the ceasefire deal on Wednesday evening. The Hamas civil defense agency in Gaza said that 117 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since then, including 32 women and 30 children. Tamer Abu Shaban said that his young niece was killed by shrapnel from a missile while playing in the yard of a school in Gaza City, where her displaced family was sheltering. "Is this what they call a truce?" he told Reuters as he stood next to her body in a morgue. "What did this little girl, this child, do to deserve this?" The Israeli military said on Thursday afternoon that they had carried out strikes on 50 "terrorist targets" in Gaza the previous day and had taken steps to mitigate harm to civilians.