The Israeli government has approved a cease-fire agreement for Gaza

The Israeli government approved a cease-fire deal with Hamas on Saturday that calls for the release of dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners after hours of negotiations, putting an end to the devastating war. for 15 months in Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister’s office, which announced the deal after a full cabinet vote, said the deal would take effect on Sunday.

Palestinians have celebrated the temporary ceasefire with hopes that it will end the conflict and Israelis are anxiously awaiting the return of scores of captives abducted by Hamas.

Daniel Lifshitz, whose grandfather Oded, 84, was among the 250 captives in the attack led by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, said: what we have been waiting for”.

The first attack killed about 1,200 people, triggering a wave of Israeli bombings that killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who did not distinguish between soldiers and civilians.

Saturday’s vote was the second and final vote required to ratify the ceasefire and hostage release agreement. Hours earlier on Friday, the defense cabinet voted to approve it, overcoming a major obstacle to reaching an agreement that the United States and other diplomats see as the best chance to end the war. Hamas says there are no more obstacles to the deal.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who plays a key role in the ceremony, welcomed the vote by the defense cabinet, although he acknowledged the difficulties in implementing the agreement. “I have no illusions – the deal will bring great challenges and painful and painful times,” he said in a statement.

Under the agreement, the two sides will begin a six-month truce, during which Israeli forces will move east, away from populated areas. Hamas will release 33 of the hostages still in prison, most of them women and adults.

The grandfather of Mr. Lifshitz was among the hostages to be released in the first phase of the deal, but the family has no information on his health or survival. “It’s impossible to prepare for a party and a funeral at the same time,” he said.

Israel will also release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including some serving long sentences for attacks on Israel. On Friday evening, the Israeli government released a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners it said would be among the first to be released on Sunday, including Khalida Jarrar, a prominent lawmaker in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The ceasefire agreement was passed with 24 ministers in favor and eight ministers against, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Most of the ministers who voted for the deal were from far-right parties that condemned the deal, the official said.

The ceasefire is the first since November 2023, when 105 hostages were freed in a week-long ceasefire in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Many questions overshadowed the celebrations among the hostages’ relatives, Gazans desperate for an end to the fighting and diplomats who have struggled for months to end negotiations. What happens after the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which will last for 42 days, is unclear, including whether Israel plans to proceed with the second phase of the agreement and a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. , letting the remaining hostages go home. .

“I’m the happiest man alive to see one of the hostages back, but there’s also great concern about the second phase,” said Doron Zexer, a prominent activist for the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan. Alexander.

As the full cabinet met on Friday, at the start of the Sabbath, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced an internal revolt from far-right allies on whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relies.

On Thursday night, one such partner, the hard-line defense minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, announced that he would resign from the coalition if it accepted the ceasefire agreement. The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has also threatened to quit the government if Mr Netanyahu moves forward with the first step towards a permanent ceasefire.

Their actions will not stop the first phase of the Gaza deal from moving forward. But they will cast more doubt on Israel’s commitment to a long-term ceasefire, as hard-line members of the government push Israel’s military to continue fighting and seek its destruction. Hamas.

Plans for Gaza after the war are also unclear, despite optimistic statements by officials leaving the Biden administration. US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told reporters on Thursday that the cease-fire was a “historic moment for the region,” creating an opportunity for lasting peace. the reconstruction of Gaza, “a credible path to a Palestinian state” and normal relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

But while President Biden said on Thursday that he was pushing Mr. Netanyahu to come to terms with Palestinian concerns, the Israeli prime minister has consistently rejected U.S. calls to work toward a Palestinian state.

“He has to find a way to accommodate the legitimate concerns” of the Palestinians, Mr. Biden said in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday. He called Mr. Netanyahu a friend but added: “We don’t get along very well lately.”

Even after negotiators announced a cease-fire deal, Israeli airstrikes have continued to kill people in Gaza. The Israeli army said on Thursday it had hit about 50 targets across the territory in the previous day, while Gaza authorities reported dozens of people killed.

“The ceasefire feels meaningless,” said Ahmad al-Mashharwi, who has taken refuge with more than a dozen relatives in a rented house in Gaza City, in an interview. -phone on Friday. “Airstrikes continue around us, especially in northern Gaza.”

He said living conditions in northern Gaza are bad, prices are high and basic goods are in short supply.

“We can’t buy food or clean water, and my children are starving,” said Mr. al-Mashharwi. “Everything has been taken away from us — no security, no resources, nothing to help us survive.”

The ceasefire should pave the way for more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza. The World Health Organization said on Friday it expected aid deliveries to accelerate to between 500 and 600 trucks a day from 40 to 50 a day in the past the next few months, and will allow the first steps to restore health services after the war for a year.

“We will see if the political will is there and the barriers are removed and the way is opened,” said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Palestinian territories, told reporters on Friday.

Hundreds of aid trucks carrying food, tents and other supplies have been lined up in Arish, near the Rafah crossing with Egypt, according to Al Qahera News, Egypt’s state television channel.

Aid workers also hope the ceasefire will allow more medical evacuations. The WHO reported that Israel has accepted the evacuation of 5,405 patients since the start of the war. But the pace of the exodus slowed after Israel closed the Rafah crossing in May. Of the 1,200 patients in 2024, the WHO said it asked for approval to leave for a month at the end of 2024, only 29 agreed to Israel’s action.

It plans to resume regular transfers to hospitals in East Jerusalem and Egypt, as well as access to hospitals overseas.

“This is not a logistical problem,” James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency, told reporters. “It’s a problem of intent.”

Nick Cumming-Bruce contributed to the report from Geneva.