Key Points
- Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed the war would continue until Israel achieved all its goals.
- A Hamas official told al-Jazeera TV that negotiations were centred on how long the truce would last.
- Both sides would free women and children and details would be announced by Qatar, a Hamas official said.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day truce that would see the Palestinian group release dozens of hostages taken on 7 October, both sides announced on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved the accord after a near-all-night meeting, in which he told reticent ministers it was a “difficult decision but it’s a right decision”.
A government spokesman told AFP that under the agreement at least 50 Israeli and foreign hostages would be released — women and children — in return for a four-day “lull” in military operations.
For every 10 additional hostages released, there would be an extra day of truce.
Hamas released a statement welcoming the “humanitarian truce”, which it said would also see 150 Palestinians released from Israeli jails.
The truce offers Gaza residents the prospect of a desperately desired, if brief, pause after nearly seven weeks of total war.
Sources from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another militant group, had earlier told AFP the truce would include a complete ceasefire on the ground and a pause in Israeli air operations over southern Gaza.
The Israeli cabinet’s approval was one of the last stumbling blocks to the agreement coming into effect.
Qatar had helped to broker the talks.
Misgivings
Ahead of the vote, Netanyahu had faced a revolt from within his right-wing coalition, some of whom believe the agreement would give too much to Palestinian militants
Hardline national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir indicated he would vote against the agreement, saying it should include the release of Israeli soldiers.
Hamas raids on 7 October killed an estimated 1,200 people, including an estimated 30 children, and seized 240 hostages, military and civilian, who are believed to be held in Gaza.
The bloody attacks sparked Operation Swords of Iron — , which Palestinian authorities say has killed 14,100 people, including more than 5,600 children.
But with dozens of families in Israel and beyond desperate to have their loved ones returned home, and the Israeli public gripped by the hostages’ fate, the government set aside any misgivings.
Hamas has to date released only four out of more than 200 captives. Source: AAP / Andy Rain/EPA
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said before the crunch meeting that he had won assurances that the deal would not spell the .
“Immediately after we have exhausted this phase” he said, security operations would “continue in full force”.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office underscored that the truce did not spell the end of the war.
“The Israeli government, the Israeli army and the security forces will continue the war to bring back all those kidnapped, eliminate Hamas and ensure that there is no longer any threat to the State of Israel from Gaza,” the statement said.
‘Unbearable situation’
Earlier, Rafah resident Hamza Abdel Razeq welcomed any ceasefire that would bring some respite for Gazans who have endured Israel’s bombing and expanding ground offensive.
“The people are really suffering,” he told AFP. “If they reach a five-day truce deal now, I believe it will pave the way for longer truces or even a total ceasefire.”
Another resident, Mahmud Abu Najm, added: “We … pray to God for its success because the people are enduring an unbearable situation.”
Large parts of Gaza have been flattened by thousands of air strikes, and the territory is under siege, with minimal food, water and fuel allowed in.
According to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad sources, the proposed deal would also allow for up to 300 trucks of food and medical aid to enter Gaza.
But in recent days it has pressed its offensive into northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said air strikes had hit “around 250” Hamas targets in the past day, destroying three underground shafts in the Jabalia area, which it said it had fully surrounded.
At Jabalia’s Indonesian Hospital, the Hamas-run health ministry said strikes had killed dozens, but there was no independent confirmation of the toll.
Twenty-eight prematurely born babies evacuated from Gaza’s biggest hospital, al-Shifa, were taken into Egypt for urgent treatment on Monday. Source: Getty / AFP
The Israeli army said later its troops had “directly targeted” the source of fire from within the Indonesian Hospital.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said three doctors, including two it employed, were killed in an Israeli strike on the Al-Awda hospital in Jabalia refugee camp.
Israel says Hamas uses medical facilities to hide fighters and as bases for operations, making them legitimate military objectives while insisting it does everything possible to limit harm to civilians.
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — the so-called BRICS group — on Tuesday called for an immediate and sustained humanitarian truce in Gaza, during a virtual summit in which the chair
of the meeting, South Africa, accused Israel of war crimes and “genocide”.
Israel has recalled its ambassador to South Africa in response.
Chinese President Xi Jinping demanded during the summit the release of civilian detainees and a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, state media said.
, which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
