Israeli government approves Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal
More than 110 persons have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory since the agreement was announced on Wednesday.
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The Israeli Cabinet on Saturday morning approved the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Al Jazeera reported.
The agreement with Palestinian militant group Hamas will pause the conflict that started 15 months ago.
“The government has approved the framework for the return of the hostages,” the Israeli prime minister’s office was quoted as saying. “The framework for the hostages’ release will come into effect on Sunday.”
While 24 Cabinet ministers voted in favour of the agreement, eight voted against the proposal, the Times of Israel reported.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, opposed the deal, saying that he was “horrified” by its details. In particular, he objected to the release of “life-sentenced terrorists” in exchange for the hostages, BBC reported.
The separate Israeli Security Cabinet, which specifically deals with foreign and defence policy matters, had voted in favour of the deal on Friday.
On Wednesday, Qatar announced that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire and hostage deal. Doha was the key mediator in the negotiations.
A day later, however, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that his Cabinet would not meet on Thursday to ratify the agreement, accusing Hamas of backtracking on parts of the deal.
Hamas denied the claims, with senior official Izzat al-Rishq stating that the group was “committed to the ceasefire agreement”.
Since the ceasefire agreement was announced on...
