Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed by Israel’s negotiation team that agreements have been reached on a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, his office said in a statement early Friday local time. Families of the hostages held by the militant group were also briefed on the agreements.
Netanyahu expressed his appreciation to the team “and all those who assisted,” the office said. The Israeli prime minister on Thursday accused Hamas of “reneging” on parts of the agreement, leading to a delay in the Israeli cabinet meeting scheduled to vote on the deal, which requires approval from both the cabinet and Israel’s coalition government.
The security cabinet is now set to meet Friday, and the government will later convene to approve the deal, Netanyahu’s office said. But there is still opposition from the far-right partners in Netanyahu’s coalition, who reject the idea of a truce with Hamas and have threatened to topple his government.
On Thursday, Netanyahu’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, warned that if the deal were approved, he and his faction would withdraw from Netanyahu’s government. That move alone would not bring down Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, though other parties could follow Ben Gvir’s lead, according to Israeli media reports.
A senior Hamas official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told The Washington Post that the parties reached a final agreement early Friday for the first phase of the ceasefire after hours of negotiations.
If implemented Sunday, the deal would bring relief to a battered and hungry population in Gaza, as well as to the captives taken from Israel and held in the enclave for more than 15 months. The agreement is expected to start with a 42-day ceasefire in which the Israeli military would withdraw from some areas of Gaza, accompanied by a surge of aid into the Gaza Strip, as well as an exchange of Israeli hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, according to President Joe Biden.
The next phase, which is still being negotiated, would bring the release of all hostages, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire, Biden said.⍐
The Washington Post 16-01-2025
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