Netanyahu’s office confirms deal on Gaza hostages

Source: Antony Blinken
The Israeli cabinet will meet to give final approval to a deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says.
The confirmation on Thursday (local time) came after earlier reports that Israel had delayed approving the Gaza ceasefire deal amid division in its government.
Plans for the Israeli cabinet to meet to vote on the deal with the Palestinian militant group on Thursday were reportedly pushed back after multiple Israeli ministers threatened to quit the government if the pact went ahead as scheduled on Sunday.
“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” Israel’s hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said, adding it would “erase the achievements of the war” by releasing hundreds of Palestinian militants and withdrawing from strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, leaving Hamas undefeated.
“If this irresponsible deal is approved and implemented, we the members of Jewish Power will submit letters of resignation to the Prime Minister.”
But early on Friday, Netanyahu’s office said approval was imminent.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal to release the hostages,” his office said.
The security cabinet would meet on Friday before a full meeting of the cabinet later to approve the deal, it said.
It was not immediately clear whether the full cabinet would meet on Friday or Saturday or whether there would be any delay to the start of the ceasefire on Sunday.

Far-right Israelis pray during a protest in Tel Aviv against the ceasefire plan. Photo: AAP
The US has said it still expects the agreement to take effect as planned.
White House spokesman John Kirby said Washington believed the agreement was on track and a ceasefire in the 15-month-old conflict was expected to proceed “as soon as late this weekend”.
“We are seeing nothing that would tell us that this is going to get derailed at this point,” he said on CNN on Thursday.
A group representing families of Israeli hostages in Gaza, 33 of whom are due to be freed in the first six-week phase of the accord, urged Netanyahu to move forward quickly.
“For the 98 hostages, each night is another night of terrible nightmare. Do not delay their return even for one more night,” the group said in a statement late on Thursday carried by Israeli media.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on Thursday said a “loose end” in the negotiations needed to be resolved.
A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this was a dispute over the identities of some prisoners Hamas wanted released. Envoys of US President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump were working in Doha with Egyptian and Qatari mediators to resolve it, the official said.
Trump weighed in on Thursday, saying there would have been no ceasefire without his intervention – and issuing a warning.
“The hostages would never have probably seen life again, but they certainly wouldn’t have been released for a long time,” he told The Dan Bongino Show podcast.
“We changed the course of it, and we changed it fast, and frankly, it better be done before I take the oath of office, and I assume it is now, you know, we shook hands and we signed certain documents, but it better be done.”
Hamas senior official Izzat el-Reshiq said the group remained committed to the ceasefire deal.
Inside Gaza, joy over the truce gave way to sorrow and anger at the intensified bombardment that followed Wednesday’s ceasefire announcement. Palestinian authorities said late on Thursday that at least 86 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the day after the truce was unveiled.
In Jerusalem, Israelis marched through the streets carrying mock coffins in protest at the ceasefire, blocking roads and scuffling with police. Other protesters blocked traffic until security forces dispersed them.
The ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
It outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces. Dozens of hostages taken by Hamas, including women, children, elderly and sick people, will be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
It also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, where the majority of the population has been displaced, facing hunger, sickness and cold.
If successful, the ceasefire will halt fighting that has razed much of Gaza, killed more than 46,000 people, and displaced most of the tiny enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million since October 2023.
-with AAP