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18-01-2025
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed a cabinet vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a “loose end” was being tied up and that he was confident the ceasefire would still begin 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 government.
Hamas said it was committed to the deal, but the media understands it was trying to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian prisoners that would be released under the deal.
The delay came after Israeli strikes in Gaza following Wednesday’s announcement of a deal killed more than 80 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
A few hours before the Thursday morning meeting was due, Netanyahu accused Hamas of trying to “extort last minute concessions”.
The cabinet would not convene until Hamas accepted “all elements of the agreement,” a statement from his office read.
Blinken said such a delay was to be expected in such a “challenging” situation.
“It’s not exactly surprising that in a process and negotiation that has been this challenging and this fraught, you may get a loose end,” he told a press conference in Washington.
“We’re tying up that loose end as we speak.”
He said the US was “confident” the deal would come into force on Sunday as planned, and that the ceasefire would then persist.
Israeli media reported that the cabinet was expected to meet on Friday to approve the deal and that the alleged issue had been resolved, although this was not officially confirmed.
A majority of Israeli ministers are expected to back the deal, but late on Thursday Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said his right-wing party would quit Netanyahu’s government if it was approved.
“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” Ben-Gvir told a news conference, adding it would “erase the achievements of the war”.
However, he said his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party would not seek to topple the government should the deal be ratified.
He urged the leader of the other far-right party in government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist party, to join him in resigning.
Ohad Tal, the party’s chair in Israel’s parliament, told media that it was “debating” whether to leave Netanyahu’s government over the deal.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told media that the group was committed to the agreement announced by the mediators.
The head of Hamas’s delegation, Khalil al-Hayya, officially informed Qatar and Egypt of its approval of all the terms of the agreement, the official told media but reporters understand that Hamas was attempting to add the names of one or two symbolic members to the list of prisoners that would be released under the deal.
The first six-week phase of the deal would see 33 hostages including women, children and elderly people exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israeli troops would also withdraw to the east, away from densely populated areas of Gaza.
Displaced Palestinians would be able to start returning to their homes and hundreds of aid Lorries would be allowed entry to the territory each day. (Int’l News Desk)
