Israel's vote on Gaza cease-fire deal postponed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed a cabinet vote to approve a Gaza ceasefire deal that was due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the deal.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said a “loose end” was being tied up and that he was confident the truce would still start on Sunday as planned.

Although Israeli negotiators agreed to the deal after months of talks, it cannot be implemented until it is approved by the security cabinet and the government.

Hamas has said it is committed to the deal, but the BBC understands it has been trying to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal.

The delay came after that Israeli strikes in Gaza after Wednesday's announcement deal killed more than 80 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Hours before the Thursday morning meeting, Netanyahu accused Hamas of trying to “extract last-minute concessions.”

The cabinet will not meet until Hamas accepts “all elements of the agreement,” his office said in a statement.

Blinken said such a delay was to be expected in such a “challenging” situation.

“It's not surprising that in a process and negotiations that have been so challenging and intense, you might get a loose end,” he said at a news conference in Washington.

“We're tying up that loose end as we speak.”

He said the US was “confident” the deal would go into effect on Sunday as planned and that the truce would continue thereafter.

Israeli media reported that the cabinet was expected to meet on Friday to approve the deal and that the alleged problem had been resolved, although this was not officially confirmed.

A majority of Israeli ministers are expected to back the deal, but late Thursday Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said his right-wing party would quit Netanyahu's government if approved.

“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” Ben-Gvir told a news conference, adding that it would “wipe out the achievements of the war.”

However, he said his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party would not seek to topple the government if the deal is ratified.

He called on the leader of the other far-right party in government, Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist Party, to join him in resigning.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the group was committed to the agreement announced by the mediators.

The head of the Hamas delegation, Khalil al-Haya, has formally informed Qatar and Egypt that he approves all terms of the agreement, the official told the BBC.

But the BBC's Gaza correspondent Rushdie Abualouf understands that Hamas has been trying to add the names of one or two token members to the list of prisoners to be released under the deal.

In the first six-week phase of the deal, 33 hostages – including women, children and the elderly – will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Israeli troops will also withdraw to the east, away from the densely populated areas of Gaza.

Displaced Palestinians will be able to begin returning to their homes and hundreds of aid trucks will be able to enter the territory every day.

Talks on the second phase – which should lead to the release of the remaining hostages, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops and a return to “sustainable calm” – will begin on the 16th.

The third and final stage will involve the return of all remaining hostage bodies and the reconstruction of Gaza, something that could take years.

Israeli airstrikes continued after the deal was announced on Wednesday. At least 12 people were killed in Gaza City, where a doctor told BBC staff he “didn't rest for a minute” during the “bloody night”.

Fifty targets in Gaza were struck after the deal was announced, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency said in a statement.

Qatar's prime minister, who is mediating the talks, called for “calm” on both sides before the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – which is banned as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and others – in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage. hostages.

More than 46,788 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have also been displaced, with widespread destruction and severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter as aid agencies struggle to get aid to those in need.

Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, 34 of whom are believed to be dead. There are four Israelis who were kidnapped before the war, two of whom are dead.