Israeli security Cabinet approves deal with Hamas

Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker,joins protesters in Tel Aviv last night, holding a large banner which calls on President-elect Donald Trump to secure the release of Israeli hostages after a Gaza ceasefire deal was reached.

President-elect Donald Trump said yesterday that the ceasefire deal would not have happened if not for his team’s involvement in the negotiations.

“No deal would have happened, and the hostages would never have probably seen life again,” he said on the Dan Bongino show. “We changed the course of it, and we changed it fast, and frankly, it better be done before I take the oath of office.”

The Biden administration has acknowledged the positive outcome of the work done by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East.

Israel has made “no real effort” to investigate the allegations of war crimes leveled against it, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, said today.

“We’re here as a court of last resort and … as we speak right now, we haven’t seen any real effort by the state of Israel to take action that would meet the established jurisprudence, which is investigations regarding the same suspects for the same conduct,” Khan told Reuters.

The ICC, in November, issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant for a series of human rights abuses. Israel branded the decision as “antisemitic.”

A young Palestinian girl carries a box of dates on her head, as another man rides a cart pulled by a donkey on a misty morning in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza today.

Around 600 aid trucks could be allowed to enter Gaza every day once a ceasefire takes hold, the World Health Organization said today.

“I think the possibility is very much there, specifically when other crossings will be opened up,” WHO representative Rik Peeperkorn told a Geneva press briefing, according to Reuters.

He added that WHO will also plan to take in an unspecified number of prefabricated hospitals to support Gaza’s collapsed health care system.

Two French-Israelis citizens will be among the first hostages to be freed by Hamas when the ceasefire deal comes into effect, President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X Friday.

“Our fellow citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi are on the list of 33 hostages to be freed in the first phase of the Gaza accord,” he wrote. “We remain tirelessly mobilized to ensure their return to their families,” he added.

Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir reiterated his threat to Netanyahu this morning, saying he would quit the government if the Gaza ceasefire deal is approved.

“I love Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and will ensure he continues to serve as Prime Minister. However, I will leave because the signed deal is disastrous,” he said in a post on X.

For months, Ben Gvir has staunchly opposed a deal with Hamas, which he said “undoes all war’s hard-earned successes, achieved at a heavy cost in blood.”

The leader of the World Health Organization urged the Israeli Cabinet to approve the ceasefire and hostage release deal, “and all sides to honor and implement it.”

“We sincerely hope that this agreement marks the end of the darkest chapter in the history of the relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the group’s director-general, said yesterday.

He added that the WHO remained committed to addressing the “acute health needs” of the people of Gaza, and to supporting the rebuilding of the enclave’s health system.

“The best medicine is peace,” he said.

Huge blasts were seen over the Gaza skyline from southern Israel early this morning. More than 100 people have been killed in the Palestinian enclave since the deal was announced, the civil defense there has said.

Hamas said this morning in a statement on Telegram that the “obstacles that arose due to the occupation’s failure to abide by the terms of the ceasefire agreement were resolved at dawn today.”

Israel had claimed that it was the militant group behind a “last-minute crisis” in talks, which Hamas denied.

“We renew our greetings to our people in the Gaza Strip and their steadfastness, which had the first credit after God in completing this deal,” Zaher Jabarin, the head of Hamas’ Martyrs and Prisoners Office, said in the statement.

The Israeli security Cabinet has begun meeting to vote on the deal with Hamas, a key step toward it taking effect.

“The political-security Cabinet discussion began at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem. Earlier, there was an operational security situation assessment regarding the implementation of the agreement, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, together with the negotiating team that returned from Doha,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

The Israeli security cabinet is meeting this morning in the first procedural step toward a ceasefire and hostage deal being implemented.

The Israeli prime minister’s office has said this morning the ceasefire can still begin on schedule on Sunday, despite delays as the two sides hammered out final details and traded blame.

“Subject to approval by the Cabinet and the government, and the entry into force of the agreement – the release of the hostages can be realized according to the planned outline, in which the hostages are expected to be released as early as Sunday,” Netanyahu’s office said.

The security Cabinet is voting on the deal this morning, with the full Cabinet set to vote later – tomorrow, per Israeli media – and then time allotted for Israel’s Supreme Court to hear any appeals. That had led to suggestions it may be Monday before a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages could begin.

People sit wearing VR headsets in Tel Aviv last night, which reportedly give the user an experience of what it looks like being held hostage in Gaza.

The experience lasts for around four and a half minutes, where you are made to feel as though you have been taken into a room in Gaza and held captive by a terrorist, as gunfire and explosions can be heard close by.

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, has canceled detention orders in place against settles in the occupied West Bank, saying, “It is better for the families of Jewish settlers to rejoice than for the families of the released” Palestinians.

Katz’ comments came as dozens of Palestinians currently in Israeli jails are expected to be released as part of the ceasefire agreement that will also see Israeli hostages held in Gaza freed.

“I have decided to release the settlers held in administrative detention and send a clear message of support and encouragement to the settlement enterprise,” Katz said in a statement this morning.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 101 people in Gaza since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday, including 27 children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said.

An additional 264 people were injured, spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said.

Israel has consistently denied targeting civilians in the war, instead accusing Hamas of using them as “human shields.”

Among those killed, Basal said, were five people at a home that was hit in central Gaza and nine killed at another home north of Gaza city.

The Israeli security Cabinet will meet today to vote on the ceasefire and hostage release deal reached with Hamas, local media reported, bringing it one step closer to implementation.

The deal must then be approved by the full Cabinet, which is set to meet Saturday, meaning the ceasefire would most likely not take effect until Monday so as to leave sufficient time for any appeals to Israel’s Supreme Court.

The vote was delayed yesterday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of seeking last-minute concessions, which the militant group denied. Netanyahu, who did not provide details of his allegations, later said he had been informed by his negotiating team that agreements on the hostage deal had been reached.

An Israeli official told NBC News that the security cabinet would convene at 10:15 a.m. local time (3:15 a.m. ET).