ISRAEL: Cabinet to vote on Gaza ceasefire deal

Israel’s cabinet was expected to meet Thursday to approve a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas, Israeli media reported, a day after mediators announced an agreement they hope will lead to a permanent end to the Gaza war.

The truce would take effect on Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a broader peace deal would be finalised, the prime minister of mediator Qatar said Wednesday.

It would cap months of fruitless negotiations to end the deadliest war in Gaza’s history, pausing hostilities just days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, whose Middle East envoy was involved in the talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with both US President Joe Biden and Trump on Wednesday, his office said, thanking them for their help securing the agreement but also cautioning that “final details” were still being hammered out.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, said the deal was the “right move” to bring back hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war.

That attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel’s ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,707 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.