Israel delays vote to approve Gaza ceasefire deal 10 hours ago Maia Davies BBC News Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed a cabinet vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.
The delay came after Israeli strikes in Gaza following Wednesday’s announcement of a deal killed more than 80 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” Ben-Gvir told a news conference, adding it would “erase the achievements of the war”.
Ohad Tal, the party’s chair in Israel’s parliament, told BBC Radio 4 that it was “debating” whether to leave Netanyahu’s government over the deal.
The prime minister of Qatar – which mediated negotiations – called for “calm” on both sides before the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire deal.
The vote on the Gaza ceasefire agreement is postponed by Israel.
ten hours prior.
Maia Davies. .
NBC News.
In response to Hamas’s alleged last-minute attempts to amend the ceasefire agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed Thursday’s cabinet vote to approve it.
The ceasefire would still start on Sunday as scheduled, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also said a “loose end” was being tied up.
After months of discussions, Israeli negotiators reached an agreement, but it cannot be put into effect until the government and security cabinet have given their approval.
Although Hamas claimed to be committed to the agreement, the BBC knows that it was attempting to include some of its members on the list of Palestinian prisoners who would be freed as part of the agreement.
Following the announcement of a deal on Wednesday, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed over 80 people, according to the health ministry run by Hamas, which prompted the delay.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of attempting to “extort last minute concessions” just hours before the Thursday morning meeting was scheduled to begin.
The cabinet would not meet until Hamas agreed to “all elements of the agreement,” according to a statement from his office.
A delay of this magnitude was expected in such a “challenging” situation, according to Blinken.
He said at a press conference in Washington, “It’s not exactly surprising that you may get a loose end in a process and negotiation that has been this challenging and this fraught.”.
“We’re currently tying up that loose end. “,”.
According to him, the US is “confident” that the agreement will be implemented on Sunday as scheduled and that the ceasefire will continue after that.
Israeli media said the alleged problem had been resolved and that the cabinet would meet on Friday to approve the deal, but this was not confirmed.
Though Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated late Thursday that his right-wing party would leave Netanyahu’s government if the deal was approved, most Israeli ministers are expected to support it.
At a news conference, Ben-Gvir declared that the current agreement was reckless and would “erase the achievements of the war.”.
But if the agreement is approved, he said, his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party would not try to overthrow the government.
He called on Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister of the Religious Zionist party, who leads the other far-right party in power, to step down as well.
The party’s chair in the Israeli parliament, Ohad Tal, told BBC Radio 4 that the agreement was “debating” whether or not to leave Netanyahu’s government.
A top Hamas official told the BBC that the organization was bound by the deal that the mediators had announced.
Khalil al-Hayya, the leader of Hamas’s delegation, formally notified Egypt and Qatar that it approved of every clause in the deal, the official told the BBC.
Rushdi Abualouf, a BBC correspondent in Gaza, knows, however, that Hamas was trying to include the names of one or two symbolic members on the list of prisoners who would be released as part of the agreement.
33 hostages, including women, children, and the elderly, would be traded for Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons during the first six weeks of the agreement.
At the same time, Israeli forces would leave Gaza’s crowded eastern regions.
Hundreds of aid trucks would be permitted daily entry into the region, and Palestinians who had been displaced would be able to begin returning to their homes.
On the sixteenth day, negotiations would begin for the second phase, which would see the release of the remaining hostages, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the restoration of “sustainable calm.”.
Rebuilding Gaza and returning the bodies of any hostages who are still alive would be the third and last step, which could take years.
Following the announcement of the agreement on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes persisted. According to a doctor who spoke to BBC staff, at least 12 people were killed in Gaza City during the “bloody night,” and they “did not rest for one minute.”.
The Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency said in a statement that since the deal was announced, strikes have been carried out on 50 targets in Gaza.
Prior to the commencement of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire agreement, the prime minister of Qatar, which served as the mediator, urged “calm” on both sides.
After a historic cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which left roughly 1,200 people dead and 251 hostage, Israel began a campaign to destroy Hamas, which is prohibited as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, and others.
Since then, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has reported that over 46,788 people have been killed there.
Along with widespread destruction and acute shortages of food, fuel, medicine, and shelter, the majority of Gaza’s 21.3 million residents have also been displaced, and aid organizations are finding it difficult to reach those in need.
Israel claims that 34 of the hostages are thought to be dead and that 94 are still in the hands of Hamas. Before the war, four Israelis were kidnapped; two of them have since died.
