Israel's cabinet approved a deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire and release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday, a day ahead of the agreement's scheduled start.
In the early hours of Saturday after meeting for more than six hours, the government ratified the agreement that would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza's deadliest-ever war.
It would also enable the release of hostages held in the territory since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
"The Government has approved the framework for the return of the hostages. The framework for the hostages' release will come into effect on Sunday," Netanyahu's office said in a brief statement.
The ceasefire will come into effect at 0630 GMT on Sunday, the Qatari foreign ministry spokesman posted on X.
Under the deal, the three-stage ceasefire starts with an initial six-week phase when hostages held by Hamas will be exchanged for prisoners and detainees jailed in Israel.
Thirty-three of the 98 remaining Israeli hostages, including women, children, men over 50 and ill and wounded captives, are to be freed in this phase. In return, Israel will release almost 2,000 Palestinians from its jails.
They include 737 male, female and teen-aged prisoners, some of whom are members of Palestinian militant groups convicted of attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza in detention since the start of the war.
The Israeli Justice Ministry published their details early on Saturday, along with the ceasefire agreement, which said that 30 Palestinian prisoners would be released for each female hostage on Sunday.
With the accord bitterly opposed by some Israeli cabinet hard-liners, media reports said 24 ministers in Netanyahu's coalition government voted in favor of the deal while eight opposed it.
The opponents said the ceasefire agreement represented a capitulation to Hamas. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if it was approved and urged other ministers to vote against it. However, he said he would not bring down the government.
His fellow hard-liner, 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.
After a last-minute delay on Thursday that Israel blamed on Hamas, the Israeli security cabinet voted on Friday in favor of the ceasefire accord, a requirement before the full cabinet vote.
The truce is to take effect on the eve of the inauguration of Donald Trump, who claimed credit for working with outgoing US President Joe Biden's team to seal the deal.
