ISRAEL’s government has approved “phase one” of a ceasefire agreement, which will see captives exchanged and Israel withdraw from parts of Gaza, but details of how it fits into a wider plan to bring lasting peace remain unclear.
Khalil al-Hayya, the head of Hamas’s negotiating team, said the group has received guarantees from the US and mediators that an agreement on a first phase of the ceasefire agreement means the war in Gaza “has ended completely”.
The vote early on Friday paves the way for a suspension of hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours, and the release of 48 Israeli captives held in Gaza, including 20 believed to be alive, within 72 hours after that.
“The government has just now approved the framework for the release of all of the hostages – the living and the deceased,” Netanyahu’s office said in a brief post on social media.
The vote came a day after mediators announced an agreement between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of captives held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The agreement – covering the first phase of United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war – also requires Israel to pull back its troops to “an agreed-upon line”, according to Trump.
Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian earlier said that Israel does not plan to release the imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of the exchange, and claimed Israel would still control more than half of Gaza after moving its forces back as required under the deal.
Trump said in remarks earlier on Thursday that the Israeli captives will be released from Gaza on “Monday or Tuesday”, and that he hopes to attend a ceasefire signing ceremony in Egypt.
While the full details of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, approved by Israel and Hamas, remain unclear, Trump has said his plan will bring “everlasting peace” and wide-scale reconstruction in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel’s two-year war.
“You have tremendous wealth in that part of the world by certain countries, and just a small part of that, what they make, will do wonders for Gaza,” Trump said, without giving details of a specific reconstruction plan.
“I think you’re going to see some tremendous countries stepping up and putting up a lot of money and taking care of things,” he said.
In his remarks, Trump did say that disarmament would be part of the second phase of the deal, with Israel insisting that Hamas must give up its weapons.
“I’m not going to talk about that because you sort of know what phase two is. But … there will be disarming,” Trump told reporters, adding that there would also be “pullbacks” by Israeli forces.
As Trump hailed the ceasefire deal, Israeli forces continued to attack areas of Gaza. At least 10 Palestinians were killed and 49 others were wounded in Israeli attacks, the enclave’s Health Ministry said on Thursday.
Later, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said four people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza City. That brings the day’s death toll in Gaza to 29, according to Wafa, despite the ceasefire breakthroughs.
The attack targeted a home belonging to the Ghabboun family, Gaza’s civil defence said, adding that at least “40 people are missing under the rubble”.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 67,194 people and wounded 169,890 since October 2023. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks and about 200 were taken captive.