Ceasefire

 

Hamas and Israel prepare to implement ceasefire as Netanyahu says deal approved by government

Israel’s government ratified the ceasefire and hostage deal on Friday, clearing the way to suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours

Hamas gets guarantees of end to Gaza war, Israel approves ceasefire.

Israel's government ratified a ceasefire with the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday, clearing the way to suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours and free Israeli hostages held in Gaza within 72 hours after that.

The Israeli cabinet agreed to the deal early Friday morning, roughly 24 hours after mediators announced an agreement to free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of US President Donald Trump's initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza.

"The government has just now approved the framework for the release of all of the hostages – the living and the deceased," Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's English-language X account said.

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'All of the Gaza strip is happy'

 "Thank God for the ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killing," said Abdul Majeed Abd Rabbo in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. "All of the Gaza Strip is happy, all the Arab people, all of the world is happy with the ceasefire and the end of bloodshed." 

Einav Zaugauker, whose son Matan is one of the last hostages, rejoiced in Tel Aviv's so-called Hostages Square, where families of those seized in the Hamas attack that triggered the war two years ago have long assembled. 

"I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't explain what I'm feeling ... it's crazy," she said, speaking in the red glow of a celebratory flare.

The ceasefire agreement follows days of crucial negotiations in Egypt mediated by the US, Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye. Over the past two years, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the population of Gaza and caused famine across the Strip. 

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Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces

Prisoners' institutions say more than 11,100 are now in Israeli prisons, the highest number in decades. That includes 53 women and 400 children under the age of 18. Only 1,400 of detainees have been convicted and more than 3,500 are being held without charge or trial, under what Israel calls “administrative detention”.

More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led militants stormed through Israeli towns and a music festival on 7 October, 2023, killing about 1,100 people (among them above 670 Israeli civilians) and capturing 251 hostages.