Beirut, Jan 18: The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a “deal to release the hostages” has been agreed.Netanyahu had delayed a cabinet vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.
On Friday morning, the prime minister’s office said he had been informed by the negotiating team that agreements on the deal had been reached.
It added that the security cabinet would meet later on Friday to ratify the agreement, before approval from the full government is sought. Families of the hostages have been informed.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said the agreement would come into effect on Sunday, pending Israeli cabinet approval.
At the time, Netanyahu said the deal’s final details were still being worked on, but he thanked Biden for “promoting” it.
Netanyahu then delayed a cabinet vote to approve the deal on Thursday, accusing Hamas of trying to “extort last minute concessions”.
Hamas said it was committed to the deal, but the BBC understands it was trying to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian prisoners that would be released under the deal.
Although Israeli negotiators have agreed to the deal, which follows months of talks, it cannot be implemented until it is approved by the security cabinet and government.
Two hardline right-wing ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who are both members of the security cabinet and oppose the deal, have said they will resign in protest.
But they’ve signalled they will not join the opposition – to bring the government down – yet, so long as the war resumes in six weeks time, when phase one of the ceasefire and hostage release deal ends.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has said he expects the ceasefire to start on Sunday as planned with the release of the first three Israeli hostages.
Many Palestinians and Israeli hostages’ families celebrated news of the ceasefire after it was first announced.
But there was no let up in the war on the ground in Gaza, with Israeli strikes killing 113 people since the deal was announced, including 28 children, Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said. More than 260 others have been wounded.
Strikes were carried out on 50 targets in Gaza since the deal’s announcement, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency said on Thursday.