The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that it had “reached an agreement on the release of hostages” held in the Gaza Strip, adding that a security cabinet meeting was planned for the day.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached for the release of the hostages,” his office said in a statement. The security cabinet is due to meet on Friday to approve the deal, he added.
Furthermore, the United States said it was “confident” Thursday that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip would begin on Sunday, despite the deadly Israeli strikes which continued on the eve of a vote of the government on the agreement.
The truce, announced Wednesday by Qatar and the United States, is due to take effect on Sunday and provides in an initial six-week phase for the release of 33 hostages held in the Palestinian territory, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The definitive end of the war will be negotiated during this first phase.
The Israeli government is due to meet on Friday to vote on the deal, for which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is assured of securing a majority despite opposition from far-right ministers.
One of them, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, said Thursday that he would resign if the government adopted the “irresponsible” truce agreement with Hamas, without leaving the coalition around Mr. Netanyahu.
He also called for “completely stopping humanitarian aid” to Gaza. “Only on this condition, Hamas will release our hostages without endangering Israel’s security,” he said.
Israel said Thursday that Hamas had gone back “on certain points” of the agreement to “extort last minute concessions.”
A senior Hamas leader, Sami Abou Zouhri, rejected the accusations.
The Islamist movement also warned that “any aggression, any bombing” by Israel on Gaza put the hostages in danger.
The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, however, said he was “confident”. “I expect implementation to begin, as we said, on Sunday,” he said at a farewell news conference in Washington.
Egypt, which participated in mediation efforts with Qatar and the United States, called for the agreement to be implemented “without delay.”
In the Gaza Strip, where the announcement of the truce had triggered scenes of joy, residents discovered columns of smoke, debris and bodies in shrouds on Thursday morning, after Israeli strikes which left 81 dead in 24 hours, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Civil Defense reported a “strong intensification” of the bombings, which continued throughout the day. The army said it struck around “50 targets” in 24 hours.
“Planes in the Sky”
“We were waiting for the truce. It was the happiest night since the attack on October 7, 2023, said Saïd Allouch, who lost loved ones in a strike in Jabalia, in the north of Gaza.
“The shooting has not stopped, the planes are still in the sky and the situation is difficult,” said Mahmoud al-Qarnawi, a resident of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the center of the territory.
-In Israel, the announcement of the agreement provoked cautious reactions.
“We are a little afraid that the agreement will fall through, but we remain positive,” reacted Yulia Kedem, a resident of Tel Aviv.
In the large city in central Israel, lampposts and public benches were covered with stickers saluting the memory of killed soldiers or hostages.
The war, which caused a level of destruction in Gaza “unprecedented in recent history”, according to the UN, was triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil.
This attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Of 251 people kidnapped, 94 are still held hostage in Gaza, 34 of whom are dead according to the army.
At least 46,788 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation in the Gaza Strip, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
The announcement of the agreement followed an acceleration of negotiations, which had stalled for more than a year, in the run-up to Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Monday.
The agreement must come into force on Sunday for a first phase including “a total ceasefire”, according to US President Joe Biden, the release of 33 hostages, including women, children and the elderly, a Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas and an increase in humanitarian aid.
Israel for its part “will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners,” Mr. Biden said.
The second phase should allow the release of the last hostages, he added.
The post-war in suspense
The third and final stage must be devoted to the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the bodies of hostages who died in captivity.
During the first phase, the modalities of the second phase will be negotiated, namely “a definitive end to the war”, according to the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani.
Already undermined by an Israeli blockade imposed since 2007, poverty and unemployment, the besieged Gaza Strip has been ravaged by war and almost all of its 2.4 million residents have been displaced.
The European Union announced on Thursday the granting of humanitarian aid of 120 million euros to deal with the “catastrophic situation” in the territory.
If it aims to silence the guns, the ceasefire leaves in suspense the political future of Gaza, where Hamas seized power in 2007.
Shelled for 15 months by the Israeli army, the Islamist movement appears very diminished, but still far from being wiped out, contrary to the objective set by Benjamin Netanyahu.
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