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 there within 72 hours after that.
The Israeli cabinet approved the
deal early Friday morning, roughly 24 hours after mediators announced
the agreement, which calls for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for
Palestinian prisoners and the start of a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops
from Gaza under U.S. 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 Benjamin Netanyahu's English-language X account said.
The war has deepened Israel's international isolation and
upended the Middle East, having evolved into a regional conflict that has drawn
in Iran, Yemen and Lebanon. It also tested the U.S.-Israeli relationship, with
Trump seeming to lose patience with Netanyahu and pressuring him to reach a
deal.
Israelis and Palestinians alike rejoiced after the deal was
announced, the biggest step yet to end two years of war in which over 67,000
Palestinians have been killed, and return the last hostages seized by Hamas in
the deadly attacks that started the assault.
Hamas' exiled Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya said he had received
guarantees from the United States and other mediators that the war was over.
An Israeli government spokesperson said the ceasefire would
go into force within 24 hours of government approval of the deal. After that
24-hour period, the hostages held in Gaza would be freed within 72 hours.
Twenty Israeli hostages are still believed to be alive in
Gaza, while 26 are presumed dead, and the fate of two is unknown. Hamas has
indicated that recovering the bodies of the dead may take longer than releasing
those who are alive.
Once the agreement is operating, trucks carrying food and
medical aid will surge into Gaza to help civilians, hundreds of thousands of
whom have been sheltering in tents after Israeli forces destroyed their homes
and razed entire cities to dust.
