At least 80 people have died in Gaza in the latest Israeli air strikes, the enclave’s civil defence agency said, as Israel delayed a cabinet meeting to approve the agreed Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal amid a continuing dispute over Palestinian prisoners.
An Israeli official confirmed to Agence-France-Presse news agency that the cabinet is scheduled to meet on Friday to vote on the hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Israel had accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the accord and creating a last-minute crisis that prevents its completion.
The Israeli cabinet would not convene to approve the deal until Hamas backs down on “last-minute concessions”, Binyamin Netanyahu’s office said.
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A key element of the latest disagreements between the sides centres on the identities of several prisoners whose release Hamas is demanding of Israel, a US official has said. Israeli media reported on Thursday afternoon that the remaining issues had been resolved.
President Joe Biden’s Middle East envoy Brett McGurk and President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff are both in Doha with Qatari and Egyptian negotiators working to revolve it, the official said.
“We’re aware of these issues and we are working through them with the Israeli government, as well as other partners in the region. We are confident these implementing details can be hammered out and that the deal will move forward this weekend,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said separately.
The ceasefire agreement, reached on Wednesday, is supposed to come into place on Sunday.
Hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday, senior group official Izzat el-Reshiq said on Thursday.
Protests were staged on Thursday morning in Jerusalem opposing the deal, with the families of Israeli soldiers killed during the conflict placing mock coffins draped in Israeli flags in the street.
The complex ceasefire accord between Israel and militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, emerged on Wednesday after months of mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the United States and 15 months of bloodshed that devastated Gaza and inflamed the Middle East.
The ceasefire deal outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by Hamas would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.
At a news conference in Doha, the Qatari prime minister said the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday. Negotiators are working with Israel and Hamas on steps to implement the agreement, he said.
“This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” Mr Biden said in Washington.
His successor, Mr Trump, takes office on Monday, and has claimed credit for the breakthrough in Gaza.
Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government, with votes scheduled for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
[ Gaza ceasefire deal: What has been agreed between Israel and Hamas?Opens in new window ]
The accord was expected to win approval despite opposition from some hardliners in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition government.
In social media posts, some Gaza residents urged Palestinians to exercise extra caution in the belief that Israel could step up attacks in the next few days to maximise gains before the ceasefire starts.
Nevertheless, news of the ceasefire deal sparked jubilation in Gaza, where Palestinians have faced severe shortages of food, water, shelter and fuel. In Khan Younis, throngs clogged the streets amid the sounds of horns as they cheered, waved Palestinian flags and danced.
In Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages and their friends likewise welcomed the news, saying in a statement they felt “overwhelming joy and relief (about) the agreement to bring our loved ones home”.
In a social media statement announcing the ceasefire, Hamas called the pact “an achievement for our people” and “a turning point”.
The ceasefire deal represents a “great victory” for the Palestinian resistance, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday, warning against any possible breach by Israel.
If successful, the ceasefire will halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanised Gaza, killed over 46,000 people and displaced most of the tiny enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million, according to Gaza authorities.
That in turn could defuse tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has stoked conflict in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran.
With 98 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50. Two American hostages, Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen, were among those to be released in the first phase, a source said.
The agreement calls for a surge in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross said they were preparing to scale up their aid operations.
However, Israeli hostage families expressed concern that the accord may not be fully implemented, and that some hostages may be left behind in Gaza.
Negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal will begin by the 16th day of phase one, and this stage was expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The third stage is to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
If all goes smoothly, the Palestinians, Arab states and Israel must still agree on a vision for postwar Gaza, including the unanswered question of who will run Gaza after the war.
Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen burst into Israeli border-area communities on October 7th, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. – Reuters/Guardian