Israel's security cabinet was set to meet Friday, January 17, after final details of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal were ironed out, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, with the United States "confident" the truce would begin as planned this weekend.
If approved by Israel's cabinet, the ceasefire agreement would take effect Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be finalized.
Netanyahu's office had accused Hamas on Thursday of reneging on key parts of the agreement to extort last-minute concessions – an allegation Hamas denied. His office said early Friday a "deal to release the hostages" had been reached and he had ordered the political-security cabinet to meet later in the day. "The government will then convene to approve the deal," it added.
At least two cabinet members have voiced opposition to the ceasefire, with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying that he and his party colleagues would quit the government – but not the ruling coalition – if it approved the "irresponsible" deal. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also opposes the truce, calling it a "dangerous deal."
But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been involved in months of mediation efforts, said Thursday he believed the ceasefire would go ahead on schedule. "I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday," he said.
Gaza's civil defense agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory after the deal was announced on Wednesday, killing at least 80 people and wounding hundreds since then.
Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages due to be freed under the deal, and could turn their "freedom... into a tragedy."
The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States, after months of fruitless negotiations to end the deadliest war in Gaza's history.
If finalized, it would pause hostilities one day before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who claimed credit for the agreement. "If we weren't involved in this deal, the deal would've never happened," Trump said in an interview Thursday.
Envoys from both the Trump team and the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden were present at the latest negotiations, with a senior Biden official saying the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released, including women, "children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded." Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza's densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return "to their residences," he said.
Biden said the second phase of the agreement could bring a "permanent end to the war." He added the deal would "surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families."
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also underscored the "importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid" into Gaza.
Cairo said it was ready to host an international conference on reconstruction in Gaza, where the United Nations has said it would take more than a decade to rebuild civilian infrastructure.