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Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Ceasefire Deal

People participate in a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square on January 16, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
People participate in a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square on January 16, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Ceasefire Deal

People participate in a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square on January 16, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
People participate in a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square on January 16, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)

The Israeli security cabinet approved a ceasefire deal on Friday, paving the way for the return of the first hostages from Gaza as early as Sunday and bringing a halt to 15 months of conflict that have devastated the coastal strip.

The accord is still conditional on the approval of the full cabinet, which was meeting on Friday afternoon.

The war between Israeli forces and Hamas has razed much of heavily urbanized Gaza, killed more than 46,000 people, and displaced most of the enclave's pre-war population of 2.3 million several times over, according to local authorities.

If successful, a ceasefire could also ease hostilities in the Middle East, where the Gaza war spread to include Iran and its proxies - Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq as well as the occupied West Bank.

In Gaza itself on Friday, Israeli warplanes kept up heavy strikes, and medics and rescue authorities said that at least 104 Palestinians, including 58 women and children, had been killed since the deal was announced on Wednesday.

Under the six-week first phase of the three-stage deal, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children, and men over 50.

Israel will release all Palestinian women and children under 19 detained in Israeli jails by the end of the first phase. The total number of Palestinians released will depend on hostages released, and could be between 990 and 1,650 Palestinians, including men, women and children.

The Israeli Justice Ministry on Friday released a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners to be freed in the first exchange on Sunday.

Hamas said in a statement that obstacles that arose on the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement have been resolved.

After a last-minute delay on Thursday that Israel blamed on Hamas, Netanyahu's office in the early hours of Friday said Israel's security cabinet would meet to approve the ceasefire accord. Hamas on Thursday said it was committed to the agreement, which takes effect on Sunday.

ACCORD REACHED ON HOSTAGES

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal to release the hostages," his office said in a statement.

Palestinians waiting for food in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday said they hoped a truce will mean an end to hours of queuing to fill one plate.

"I hope it will happen so we'll be able to cook in our homes and make whatever food we want, without having to go to soup kitchens and exhaust ourselves for three or four hours trying to get (food) - sometimes not even making it home," displaced Palestinian Reeham Sheikh al-Eid said.

The deal faced strong opposition from hardliners in Netanyahu's coalition, who said it was a capitulation to Hamas, which had controlled Gaza. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if it was approved. However, he said he would not bring down the government.

Following the security cabinet meeting, Ben-Gvir repeated his opposition to the ceasefire deal in a statement and called on members of the full cabinet to join him in voting against it.

His fellow hardliner, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also threatened to quit the government if it does not go back to war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire was completed.

In Gaza, the airstrikes continued. In the aftermath of one strike on tents housing displaced people, a boy picked through damaged items on the floor that was littered with canned food and coffee pots.

That attack killed two people and wounded seven at an encampment close to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to medics.

Also in Khan Younis, mourners gathered around the body of a man killed in an Israeli strike as women hugged each other and cried.

"Life has become an unbearable hell," said resident Jomaa Abed al-Aal.

There was no comment from the Israeli military on the latest strikes.

HOSTAGE FAMILIES WANT SWIFT ACTION

Israel says 98 hostages are still being held in Gaza. About half are believed to be alive. They include Israelis and non-Israelis. Of the total, 94 were seized in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel and four have been held in Gaza since 2014.

For the first time, Israeli authorities have officially informed hostage families of the names of the first 33 to be released but it remains unclear how many of those on the list are still alive.

The ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, Israel's main supporter. As well as the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the deal includes a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

It also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for the coastal strip, where the majority of the population has been displaced and faces hunger, sickness and cold.

A World Health Organization official said on Friday it should be possible to scale up aid imports into Gaza massively to about 600 trucks a day under the terms of the deal.

The aid surge requires more than a 10-fold daily increase in lorries from the daily average of 51 that UN data shows entered the enclave in early January.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen burst into Israeli border-area communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

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Arab World

Iraqi Factions: Tehran’s Arm in an Open War of Attrition

A burning fire outside the perimeter of the United States Embassy in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on March 17, 2026. 
A burning fire outside the perimeter of the United States Embassy in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on March 17, 2026. 
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Iraqi Factions: Tehran’s Arm in an Open War of Attrition

A burning fire outside the perimeter of the United States Embassy in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on March 17, 2026. 
A burning fire outside the perimeter of the United States Embassy in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on March 17, 2026. 

Since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, Iraqi factions aligned with Tehran have placed US interests squarely in their sights, repeatedly targeting bases hosting international forces, diplomatic missions and key oil infrastructure.

Designated as terrorist organizations by Washington, these groups had issued early warnings that the confrontation would evolve into a prolonged “war of attrition.”

Interlocking Axes

In a statement underscoring domestic production, Harakat al-Nujaba said the manufacture of drones and missiles within the so-called Axis of Resistance had become “as commonplace as making sweets in Iraqi homes.”

The factions operate under a loose umbrella known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which regularly claims drone and rocket attacks against what it describes as hostile targets inside Iraq and across the region.

They form a core part of Iran’s Axis of Resistance, alongside Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. Iraqi factions also pledged full support for Iran following the Israeli–US strike on Feb. 28.

Military and Political Landscape

Several actors shape the current landscape. Kataib Hezbollah is widely seen as the spearhead of attacks on US interests and has lost several commanders in past strikes. It has also developed a political role by backing a parliamentary bloc with six seats.

Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, led by Abu Alaa al-Walaei, is represented within the Coordination Framework, the ruling Shiite alliance with a parliamentary majority. Harakat al-Nujaba, by contrast, rejects political participation, favoring a purely military approach.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq has so far avoided direct involvement in the current fighting, focusing instead on political influence through its 27-seat bloc. It is widely seen as gradually distancing itself from its armed role.

Strategy of Attrition

Attacks have extended beyond the US Embassy in Baghdad and its airport facilities to include oil fields operated by foreign companies and sites in the Kurdistan Region, which hosts a major US consulate and military forces. The impact has also spread beyond Iraq, with Kuwait previously summoning the Iraqi ambassador after strikes hit its territory.

Lahib Higel of the International Crisis Group said the factions’ involvement reflects an “existential battle” for Iran, describing them as a last line of defense. Despite their use of drones and short-range missiles, she said Tehran continues to withhold heavier weapons compared with those supplied to Hezbollah or the Houthis. The ultimate aim, she added, is to expel US forces from Iraq.

Wave of Assassinations

The United States and Israel have responded with precision strikes. Early in the conflict, airstrikes targeted Kataib Hezbollah strongholds in Jurf al-Sakhr, south of Baghdad, as well as sites linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces.

According to Agence France-Presse, at least 43 fighters from these groups have been killed since the start of operations. The escalation peaked last Saturday when a missile struck a house in central Baghdad, killing three Kataib Hezbollah members, including a senior commander, and wounding the group’s leader, Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi.

An Iraqi security official said the wave of assassinations that began during the Gaza war in 2023 has now moved openly into Iraq, signaling a new phase of intensified confrontation.

Arab World

Israel Tests Lebanon’s Internal Cohesion

A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
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Israel Tests Lebanon’s Internal Cohesion

A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Israel has widened its campaign in Lebanon to include central Beirut, launching a series of pre-dawn airstrikes on Wednesday, followed hours later by a strike on a residential apartment in the Zoqaq al-Blat district.

The attacks mark a clear expansion of targets within the capital.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said strikes on the Basta and Zoqaq al-Blat neighborhoods killed 10 people and wounded 27 others. Four areas were hit, including Bashoura, Basta and Zoqaq al-Blat.

Several buildings that had been targeted in recent days were struck again, in what appears to be a deliberate escalation strategy aimed at repeatedly hitting the same sites until they are fully disabled.

The latest strikes signal the effective end of what had been known as the “Beirut exception,” with the capital directly drawn into the confrontation.

MP Mohammad Khawaja told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel does not distinguish between areas within Lebanon.

“This strategy aims to create internal tensions, particularly in mixed areas, thereby increasing social pressure,” he stated.

He added that targeting civilians or civilian areas “has occurred in Beirut before, and may well be repeated.”

Khawaja said the attacks “directly target Lebanon’s social fabric by deepening divisions and creating tensions among the Lebanese,” adding that the most effective response is “to uphold national principles and strengthen internal unity.”

 

A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in Beirut's Bashoura neighbourhood early on March 18, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)

For his part, MP Ibrahim Mneimneh said Israel is seeking to exert all-out pressure on Hezbollah, including by leveraging Lebanon’s internal situation as a tool of social pressure.

“Targeting Beirut is not limited to pursuing specific individuals,” he said. “It is also part of an attempt to create internal fractures and push Lebanese against one another, increasing pressure on Hezbollah’s support base.”

Beirut, he added, is bearing a double burden as a capital hosting displaced people while also facing mounting security pressure and direct targeting.

Mneimneh warned that Beirut is no longer exempt from escalation and that this pattern is likely to continue in the coming period. He stressed the need to control any elements that could be used as a pretext for further strikes, in order to protect civilians and reduce exposure to risk.

The deputy added that the confrontation appears open-ended, with both Israel and Hezbollah holding to their positions, placing Lebanon and its people among the primary victims.

Retired Brig. Gen. Bassam Yassin said Israeli strikes on Beirut “are not governed by geographic considerations or red lines.”

He described a policy of “open pressure,” with Israel striking “wherever it chooses, without distinction.”

Arab World

Syria Unveils Plan to Eliminate Assad’s Chemical Weapons

Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi (L), speaks during a Security Council meeting discussing Syria and the Middle East at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 March 2026. (EPA)
Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi (L), speaks during a Security Council meeting discussing Syria and the Middle East at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 March 2026. (EPA)
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Syria Unveils Plan to Eliminate Assad’s Chemical Weapons

Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi (L), speaks during a Security Council meeting discussing Syria and the Middle East at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 March 2026. (EPA)
Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi (L), speaks during a Security Council meeting discussing Syria and the Middle East at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 March 2026. (EPA)

Syria on Wednesday launched a plan supported by Washington to rid the Middle Eastern country of legacy chemical weapons that were used against its people by forces under ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

For decades, Assad ran a large-scale program for chemical weapons, the use of which killed and injured thousands during Syria's long-running civil war. Despite Damascus' signing onto the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013 and declaring a 1,300-ton stockpile, prohibited use continued and the size of the program remains ‌unclear.

An international taskforce ‌backed by the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada and ‌France, ⁠among others, will ⁠track down all remaining elements of the program and destroy them under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, said in an interview.

As many as 100 sites in Syria need to be inspected to determine what toxic munitions remain and how they should be destroyed, OPCW experts have said. It will require a time-consuming and costly ⁠operation to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction ‌in a region fraught with conflict and ‌political turmoil.

The expanding US-Israeli war on Iran and broader regional security concerns will make the ‌timing of the mission uncertain, but all the more necessary to prevent ‌future use, officials said.

GOVERNMENT VOWS FULL ACCESS

Assad was overthrown in December 2024, and the new government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa has vowed to turn a page and eradicate banned chemical weapons and give inspectors full access.

The move shows that Syria has ‌shifted from a country that was once concealing chemical weapons use to one that is "leading the resolve" to do ⁠away with them, ⁠Olabi said.

Several international investigations concluded that the nerve agent sarin, as well as chlorine and sulfur mustard gas, was used by the Assad regime, but never revealed the full extent of the clandestine program.

"We don't know what's remaining. It was a secret program," Olabi said. "The job is on Syria to basically look for these things and then declare them."

A diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said the 100 sites could be anything from military bases to laboratories or offices.

"It will probably take many months if not years to get it done, and of course the current situation in the Middle East doesn’t help the process to move forward to the actual destruction of any remnants of Assad‘s chemical weapons program," the source said.