Israel: Security Cabinet approves ceasefire in Gaza

Israel’s security cabinet has given the green light to an agreement with the radical Islamic group Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of the Israeli hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced this on Friday. The entire Israeli government must now approve the agreement. Accordingly, the meeting is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CET.

The security cabinet’s decision was expected despite resistance from some right-wing extremist politicians. Only the right-wing extremist Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich voted against it, as the Israeli news site “ynet” reported.

Opponents of the agreement can also file objections to it. Under Israeli law, relatives of terror victims are allowed to appeal the release of certain Palestinian prisoners. They have 24 hours after a government decision to file such a petition with the Supreme Court.

The justices are expected to see no reason for the Supreme Court to intervene in the government’s decision to swap Palestinian prisoners for hostages taken from Israel to the Gaza Strip as part of the deal.

Initially, reports said that the Netanyahu government would only meet on Saturday evening, after the end of the Jewish day of rest Shabbat. This starts on Friday evening.

Relatives of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip, among others, criticized the later date because they feared a delay in the start of the ceasefire and thus the release of the abductees.

The ceasefire is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 12:15 p.m. (11:15 a.m. CET). Netanyahu’s office announced that it could come into force as planned, provided the security cabinet and government agree. The release of the first hostages is also expected on Sunday. According to Israeli media, this could happen at 4 p.m. local time (3 p.m. CET).

According to his office, before the meeting of the security cabinet, Netanyahu spoke to the negotiating team that had returned from Qatar about security aspects and the implementation of the agreement.

The security cabinet was originally scheduled to meet on Thursday morning. Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the delay. According to his presentation, she refused to agree to parts of the agreement. According to Israeli media, Hamas has demanded the release of several prisoners that Israel does not want to release because of the seriousness of their crimes.

That night, Netanyahu’s office finally reported that the last obstacles to an agreement had been removed. Israel’s prime minister was informed by his negotiating team that an agreement had been reached. Netanyahu had previously stated this as a condition for the Israeli cabinet to meet to approve the deal.

Israeli media also cited internal reasons for postponing the meeting. The right-wing extremist Finance Minister Smotrich Netanyahu initially did not say whether his party would leave the government in protest against the planned agreement. According to reports, the two have now reached an agreement. What exactly this looks like in terms of content initially remained unclear.

Smotrich had previously demanded, among other things, that fighting must continue after the first phase of the agreement. He and his party would vote against the deal but remain in government, it was said. Ben-Gvir had threatened to leave the government if it approved the deal.

Qatar announced an agreement between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday evening. Israel’s President Izchak Herzog then called on his country’s security cabinet and government to approve the agreement with Hamas.

Note: This article has been extensively updated to include additional information.