End to Gaza hostilities looms after Israel government approves deal with Hamas
Approval sets a 24-hour clock for hostilities to suspend and 72 hours for the release of all remaining Israeli hostages
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 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 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 US-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.