Israeli cabinet convenes to vote on Gaza ceasefire deal

Israel's cabinet convened on Friday to vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

The agreement, which was earlier approved by the security cabinet, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza's deadliest-ever war.

It would also launch on Sunday the release of hostages held in the territory since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Under the deal mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, the following weeks should also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

The justice ministry published a list of 95 Palestinians to be freed starting Sunday, "subject to government approval". They include 69 women, 16 men and 10 minors.

The Israel Prison Service said it would prevent any "public displays of joy" when Palestinian prisoners are released.

Israeli strikes have killed dozens since the ceasefire deal was announced. The military said on Thursday it had hit about 50 targets across Gaza over the previous 24 hours.

The ceasefire would take effect on the eve of Donald Trump's inauguration as US president.

Saying the proposed deal "supports achieving the objectives of the war", Netanyahu's office announced that the security cabinet recommended that the government approve it.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority has completed preparations "to assume full responsibility in Gaza" after the war.

Even before the truce begins, displaced Gazans were preparing to return home.

"I will go to kiss my land," said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south. "If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person."

In Israel, there was joy but also anguish over the remaining hostages taken in the Hamas attack.

Kfir Bibas, whose second birthday falls on Saturday, is the youngest hostage.

Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri had died in an air strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to hope.

"I think of them, these two little redheads, and I get shivers," said 70-year-old Osnat Nyska, whose grandchildren attended nursery with the Bibas brothers.

- 'Confident' -

Two far-right ministers have voiced opposition to the deal, with one threatening to quit the cabinet, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believed the ceasefire would proceed.

"I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday," he said.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more since the deal was announced on Wednesday.

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages and could turn their "freedom... into a tragedy".

The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,876 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

- Trump and Biden -

The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts by mediators after months of fruitless negotiations, with Trump's team taking credit for working with US President Joe Biden's administration to seal the deal.

"If we weren't involved... the deal would've never happened," Trump said in an interview Thursday.

A senior Biden official said the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released.

On Friday, he said: "We seek a full implementation of the first phase, and for the second phase to be the final.

"We are waiting for the Security Council to issue a binding resolution to implement the agreement."

The Israeli authorities assume the 33 are alive, but Hamas has yet to confirm that.

Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza's densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return "to their residences", he said.

Two sources close to Hamas told AFP three Israeli women soldiers would be the first to be released on Sunday evening.

The women may in fact be civilians, as the militant group refers to all Israelis of military age who have undergone mandatory military service as soldiers.

An Israeli military official said reception points had been established at Kerem Shalom, Erez and Reim, where hostages would be joined by doctors and mental health specialists before being "transported via helicopter or vehicle" to hospitals in Israel.

Israel "is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several with high sentences", a source said on condition of anonymity.

During talks in Cairo on Friday, negotiators agreed to form a joint operations room in Cairo to "ensure effective coordination" and compliance with the truce terms, Egyptian state-linked media reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron said French-Israeli citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi were among hostages due to be freed in the first phase.

Biden said the second phase could bring a "permanent end to the war".

In aid-starved Gaza, where nearly all of its 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, humanitarian workers worry about the monumental task ahead.

"Everything has been destroyed, children are on the streets, you can't pinpoint just one priority," Doctors Without Borders (MSF) coordinator Amande Bazerolle told AFP.

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