Israeli security cabinet approves ceasefire deal
A Gaza Strip ceasefire deal is still conditional on an approval from Israel’s full cabinet after it was backed by the country’s security cabinet.
Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel’s cabinet has approved a deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire and release of hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office made the announcement on Saturday, a day ahead of the agreement’s scheduled start.
In the early hours of Saturday after meeting for more than six hours, the government ratified the agreement, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Under the deal, bitterly opposed by some cabinet hardliners, a six-week ceasefire is due to take effect on Sunday, with the first of a series of hostage-for-prisoner exchanges that could open the way to ending the 15-month war in Gaza.
Media reports said 24 ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition government voted in favour of the deal while eight opposed it.
On Friday, the Israeli security cabinet voted in favour of the ceasefire accord, the first of two approvals required.
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 1650 Palestinians, including men, women and children.
The Israeli Justice Ministry on Friday released a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners to be freed in the first exchange on Sunday.
Hamas said in a statement that obstacles that arose on the terms of the ceasefire agreement have been resolved.
After a last-minute delay on Thursday that Israel blamed on Hamas, Netanyahu’s office in the early hours of Friday said Israel’s security cabinet would meet to approve the ceasefire accord.
The deal faced strong opposition from hardliners in Netanyahu’s coalition, who said it was a capitulation to Hamas, which had controlled the Gaza Strip.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if it was approved but he said he would not bring down the government.
Following the security cabinet meeting, Ben-Gvir repeated his opposition to the ceasefire deal in a statement and called on members of the full cabinet to join him in voting against it.
His fellow hardliner Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also threatened to quit the government if it does not go back to war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire was completed.
