Israel Approves Ceasefire Deal with Hamas: Hostage Release, Gaza Conflict Resolution in Sight

Israel Approves Ceasefire Deal with Hamas: Israel's cabinet voted to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said. This ended days of uncertainty about whether the truce would go into effect this weekend.

After more than six hours of deliberations on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed that the Israeli cabinet green signalled the agreement which calls for a six-week ceasefire, a key component of a three-phase plan aimed at releasing hostages and prisoners.

The Government has approved the framework for the return of the hostages. The framework for the hostages’ release will come into effect on Sunday,” it said.

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With the deal bitterly opposed by some Israeli cabinet hardliners, media reports said 24 ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition government voted in favour of the deal while eight opposed it. The Israeli security cabinet had voted in favour of the ceasefire deal earlier on Friday.

Under the deal, the ceasefire starts with an initial six-week phase where captives in Gaza are released in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, and which opens the way to ending the 15-month-old war.

The war between Israeli forces and Hamas has razed much of heavily urbanised Gaza, killed more than 46,000 people, and displaced most of the enclave's pre-war population of 2.3 million several times over, according to local authorities.

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Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal

The ceasefire deal will see Hamas release 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children, and men over the age of 50. In exchange, Israel will free all Palestinian women and children under the age of 19 who are currently detained in Israeli prisons.

This agreement, reached by Hamas and Israel on Wednesday, was mediated by Qatar and the US, however, it was in limbo for more than a day as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted there were last-minute complications that he blamed on the Hamas militant group, which rejected the allegations.

The war in the long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict broke out after Hamas on October 7, 2023, carried out a cross-border attack into Israel that killed some 1,200 people and left some 250 others captive. Nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza.

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