The Israeli cabinet will meet on Friday to discuss approving the Gaza ceasefire deal, an official said, after Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition delayed the meeting, accusing Hamas of backtracking in due to tensions within the government.
An Israeli official said that despite a last-minute disagreement between the sides over the terms of the deal that delayed a widely anticipated cabinet session on Thursday, the meeting would now continue a day later.
Aryeh Deri, head of the Shas party, a key Netanyahu ally in the coalition, said Thursday evening that he had received “a final announcement that all obstacles have been overcome and the deal is underway.”
Netanyahu on Thursday accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, as it faced retaliation for the US-brokered deal. from his far-right allies.
Hamas said it was committed to the agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
Israel said earlier Thursday that Hamas sought to dictate which Palestinian prisoners should be released in exchange for Israeli hostages.
Netanyahu’s government relies on the parliamentary support of two far-right parties fiercely opposed to any agreement.
Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, said he was “confident” after discussing with negotiators that the ceasefire would come into effect as planned on Sunday, the day before Donald Trump enters the Oval Office.
“It’s not really surprising that in a process, in such a difficult and heavy-handed negotiation, you can have difficulties,” Blinken said. “We are sorting this out as we speak.”
President Joe Biden, Trump and the prime minister of Qatar, whose countries served as mediators in the negotiations, announced Wednesday evening that Hamas and Israel had reached agreement on a deal that would end the 15-month war in Gaza and would free the 98 hostages still alive. in captivity.
Trump, the first leader to hail the deal on Wednesday, pressured Israel and Hamas to reach a deal before his inauguration. He has repeatedly warned that there will be “hell to pay” if the hostages are not released by January 20.
But Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionist party said Thursday morning it could leave the government if the deal led to a definitive end to the war.
The resumption of fighting “immediately after the conclusion of the first phase of the agreement” was “a condition for the party to remain within the government and the coalition”, he indicates.
Although Smotrich and his far-right ally Itamar Ben-Gvir do not appear to have enough support within the government to torpedo a deal if Netanyahu puts it to a vote, if they both withdraw their far-right parties of the government, that would be the case. lose his majority in Parliament.
Israel’s political system does not prohibit minority governments, and opposition parties have said they are ready to support the government if necessary.
But the loss of his two allies would shake Netanyahu’s grip on power and could lead to early elections.
“I don’t think Netanyahu has the power to renege on the deal. . . because he was cornered by Trump,” said Aviv Bushinsky, a political analyst and former Netanyahu adviser. He added that the Israeli prime minister was trying to “resolve the squaring of the circle” between Trump and his ultranationalist coalition partners.
If implemented, this week’s ceasefire agreement would offer hope of a halt – and potentially an end – to a brutal war that has become the deadliest chapter in decades history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The war left Gaza in ruins, consumed Israeli society and pushed the Middle East to the brink of all-out war.
The agreement provides for an initial 42-day truce during which 33 hostages, including children, women, the sick and the elderly, would be released at regular intervals.
In exchange, Palestinians would be freed from Israeli prisons, an influx of aid would be allowed into Gaza and Israel would partially withdraw from the enclave.
On the 16th day of the truce, Israel and Hamas are expected to begin negotiating the second phase of the deal, which would involve the release of remaining hostages, a complete Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war.
“There are two immediate imperatives: first to fully implement the ceasefire agreement, and secondly to finalize a plan. . . which ensures the transitional governance of Gaza, its security, its reconstruction, and which can sustain the cessation of fighting,” Blinken said on Thursday.
Trump argued the deal was a consequence of his victory in November’s U.S. presidential election, while Biden called it “one of the most difficult negotiations I’ve ever been through.”
The deal was also welcomed by Iran, which hailed it as a “historic victory” for the Palestinian people and as proof that the anti-Israeli resistance movement has survived months of destructive war.
The conflict was sparked by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which fighters from the Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took 250 hostages, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that killed more than 46,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and fueled a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.
Additional reporting by Bita Ghaffari in Tehran
