Israel’s cabinet approves ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas
Israel’s cabinet voted to approve a phased ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, hours after the agreement was OK’d by the country’s security cabinet on Friday. The first phase of the deal is expected to begin on Sunday, with the exchange of several hostages being held in Gaza for a number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
There would normally be a window for appeals of the decision be made to Israel’s Supreme Court, but it has previously refrained from interfering in similar matters.
According to a translated draft of the agreement viewed by CBS News, and from President Biden’s description, the deal consists of three phases, each lasting 42 days.
Hamas would start releasing hostages on the first day, initially returning three to Israel, according to the draft viewed by CBS News. On the seventh day, Hamas would release four hostages. Thereafter, Hamas would release three hostages taken from Israel every seven days, starting with the living and then moving on to return the bodies of those who have died.
It would release 33 women and children hostages in total during the first phase, as well as hostages over 50 years old, the draft viewed by CBS News said.
President Biden said Wednesday that Americans will be among the hostages released in this phase, but he did not specify any names or how soon they would be freed.
For each woman or child hostage returned to Israel, Israel is expected to release 30 Palestinian women and children from its prisons. Hamas would release all hostages over 50 years of age, and Israel would release 30 Palestinian prisoners aged 50 or older.
During the exchange of hostages and prisoners, there would be a complete ceasefire in Gaza to allow aid to enter, the draft viewed by CBS News said. International aid groups and the United Nations would resume operations in Gaza, and would begin reconstruction of the enclave’s infrastructure, such as water, electricity and sewage systems.
The second phase of the deal, which would be negotiated during the first, would involve the release of all remaining male Israeli hostages and the withdrawal of all IDF forces from Gaza, the president announced Wednesday.
The third phase, which would be negotiated during earlier phases, would include the exchange of bodies of deceased hostages and prisoners and the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza, Mr. Biden said.
The agreement marks a fragile step toward ending 15 months of war. There are believed to be about 100 hostages still being held after Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed. The Israel Defense Forces has said it believes around a third of the hostages have already died.
More than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israeli strikes since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and most of Gaza’s population is displaced and living in camps. Humanitarian groups have been struggling to deliver aid, and experts have warned of famine.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued overnight Friday, with the Hamas-run civil defense agency saying 113 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire and hostage deal was announced Wednesday evening local time.
Huda Matrabie, a Palestinian woman in northern Gaza, told CBS News partner network BBC News that the prospect of the agreement had given her hope, but “with this hope comes real fear” that the deal could fall apart.
“The fear is not just of the immediate danger, but of the emotional toll: constant uncertainty and the ever-present feeling that our lives are not truly our own,” she said.
Families of the hostages gathered in Tel Aviv on Friday to call for the deal to be finalized.
“This deal comes too late for my son Guy, whose life will not be saved. But he can be brought back home for burial here,” Michel Illouz, whose 26-year-old son was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023 and is believed to have died in Gaza, told a gathered crowd. “Our work is not done. We will not rest until every hostage is home, the living and the dead. They all need to return to us, to their family.”
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Source: cbsnews.com