Israel’s security cabinet recommended ratification of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage return agreement ahead of a full cabinet meeting later on Friday, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The cabinet is expected to meet at 3:30 pm (1330 GMT) to give final approval to the deal, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was expected to take effect on Sunday, with the release of the first hostages .
If the ceasefire succeeds, fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces would have leveled much of Gaza’s urbanization, killed more than 46,000 people and reduced the number of the pre-war enclave’s 2.3 million people, according to local authorities. Most were displaced.
It could also ease hostilities in the Middle East, where the war in Gaza has spilled over into Iran and its proxies — Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, armed groups in Iraq and the occupied West Bank.
Israeli warplanes continued heavy attacks on Gaza on Friday, and civilian emergency services said 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-phase deal, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children and men over 50 years old.
Israel will release all Palestinian women and children under 19 held in Israeli prisons before the end of the first phase. The total number of Palestinians released will depend on the number of hostages released and could range from 990 to 1,650 Palestinians, including men, women and children.
Hamas said in a statement on Friday that obstacles related to the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement had been resolved.
Israel will not formally accept the deal until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government.
In the early hours of Friday morning, Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s security cabinet would convene to finally approve the ceasefire after a postponed meeting on Thursday, raising concerns about delays.
An official briefed on the situation said ministers were summoned to a full cabinet meeting at 1330 GMT on Friday, providing ample time for a ceasefire to begin on Sunday and for the first hostages to return to Israel.
Israel accuses Hamas of last-minute stalling, and Hamas said on Thursday it was committed to a deal set to take effect on Sunday.
Agree on hostage issue
“The negotiating team informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an agreement has been reached on the release of the hostages,” his office said in a statement.
Hard-liners in Netanyahu’s coalition oppose the deal as a capitulation to Hamas, which controls Gaza, underscoring potential obstacles to an eventual ceasefire. National Security Minister Itamar Bengueville has threatened to resign if approved. However, he said he would not overthrow the government.
His fellow hardliner, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has also threatened to quit the government if it does not return to the war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week ceasefire phase is completed.
Nonetheless, a majority of ministers are expected to support the deal.
In Gaza, air strikes continue. A boy picks up damaged items on the floor after the tent of a displaced person was attacked, with canned goods and coffee pots scattered on the floor.
That attack killed two people and injured seven others at a camp near Khan Younis Nasser hospital, medics said.
Also in Khan Younis, mourners gathered around the body of a man killed in an Israeli attack and women hugged each other and cried.
“Life has become an unbearable hell,” said resident Joma Abed Al-Al.
The Israeli military has not commented on the latest attack.
Hostage families want swift action
Israel says 98 hostages are still being held in Gaza. About half are believed to be alive. They include both Israelis and non-Israelites. 94 of them were seized during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and four of them have been held in Gaza since 2014.
For the first time, Israeli authorities have officially informed the families of the hostages of the names of the first 33 people to be released, but it is not yet clear how many on the list are still alive.
On Thursday, a group representing the families of Israeli hostages in Gaza urged Netanyahu to act quickly.
The ceasefire was agreed on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, Israel’s main backer. In addition to the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the agreement also includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
It also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid along the coast, where most of the population has been displaced and faces hunger, disease and cold.
World Health Organization officials said on Friday that under the terms of the deal it should be possible to significantly increase aid imports to Gaza to about 600 trucks per day.
United Nations data shows the number of trucks entering the enclave was an average of 51 per day in early January, and the aid surge will require a more than 10-fold increase in truck numbers.
“I think it’s a very real possibility, especially when other crossings open up,” Rick Pieperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, told a news conference in Geneva. “It could happen very quickly. The ground was built.”
According to Israeli statistics, Israel launched the operation in Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led gunmen stormed into Israeli border communities, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and taking more than 250 hostages.
