Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed a cabinet vote scheduled for Thursday to approve the Gaza ceasefire agreement, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was confident “loose ends” had been tied up and the ceasefire would begin on Sunday as planned.
Israeli negotiators agreed to the deal after months of talks, but it cannot be implemented until it is approved by the security cabinet and government.
Hamas has said it is committed to the deal, but the BBC understands it is seeking to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal.
Delays occurred after that. Israel attacks Gaza following Wednesday’s announcement The deal has killed more than 80 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Hours before Thursday morning’s meeting opened, Netanyahu accused Hamas of trying to “extort last-minute concessions.”
The cabinet will not convene until Hamas accepts “all elements of the agreement,” his office said in a statement.
Blinken said such delays were expected under these “challenging” circumstances.
“It’s not really surprising that we can tie up loose ends in these difficult and difficult processes and negotiations,” he told a news conference in Washington.
“We’re tying up those loose ends as we speak.”
He said the United States was “confident” the agreement would come into effect on Sunday as planned and that the ceasefire would last.
Israeli media reported that the cabinet is expected to meet on Friday to approve the deal and that the matter has been resolved, although it has not been officially confirmed.
A majority of Israeli ministers are expected to support the deal, but Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said late Thursday that his right-wing party would quit Netanyahu’s government if the deal is approved.
“The deal being fleshed out now is a reckless deal,” Ben Gvir told a news conference, adding, “This deal will erase the gains of the war.”
But he said his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party would not seek to overthrow the government if the agreement is ratified.
He called on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist Party, the leader of another far-right party in the government, to join him in his resignation.
Ohad Tal, the party’s chairman in the Israeli Knesset, said: BBC Radio 4 They say they are “discussing” whether to leave Netanyahu’s government over the negotiations.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told the BBC that Hamas was committed to implementing the agreement announced by mediators.
Khalil al-Hayya, head of the Hamas delegation, told the BBC that he had officially notified Qatar and Egypt that they had approved all terms of the agreement.
But BBC Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf understands that Hamas was trying to add the names of one or two iconic figures to the list of prisoners to be released under the deal.
In the first six-week phase of the deal, 33 hostages, including women, children and the elderly, will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Israeli forces also plan to withdraw to the east, away from the densely populated areas of Gaza.
Displaced Palestinians will be able to return to their homes, and hundreds of aid trucks will be allowed into the area every day.
The second phase of negotiations for the release of the remaining hostages, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the return of ‘sustainable stability’ is scheduled to begin on the 16th.
The third and final phase involves repatriating the bodies of the remaining hostages and rebuilding the Gaza Strip, which could take years.
Israeli airstrikes continued after the deal was announced Wednesday. At least 12 people were killed in Gaza City, with one doctor telling BBC staff that “there was not a minute’s rest” during the “bloody night”.
The Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Service said in a statement that attacks had been carried out on 50 targets in Gaza since the agreement was announced.
Qatar’s prime minister, who brokered the negotiations, called on both sides to “calm down” before the first six-week phase of the cease-fire agreement begins.
On October 7, 2023, Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas, which is banned by Israel, the United States and others as a terrorist organization, in response to unprecedented cross-border attacks against Israel. The attack left approximately 1,200 people dead and 251 injured. Taken hostage.
Since then, more than 46,788 people have died in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, there has been widespread destruction, there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter, and aid agencies are struggling to reach those in need.
Israel says 94 of the hostages are still held by Hamas, and 34 of them are presumed dead. Four Israelis were kidnapped before the war, two of whom were killed.
