The Israeli Security Cabinet and the Prime Minister’s full cabinet voted in favor of a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated to his security council that he only intends to comply with the first phase of the three-stage agreement.
The proposed hostage release agreement and ceasefire between Israel and Hamas cleared its final hurdles. The Israeli Security Cabinet approved the deal on Friday. Netanyahu’s full cabinet voted to approve the agreement early Saturday morning in Israel. Tel Aviv did not immediately issue a statement.
Under the deal, fighting in Gaza will pause for six weeks, while Hamas releases over 30 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees. According to the agreement, Tel Aviv is also required to allow 600 humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza each day.
During the first phase of the agreement, Tel Aviv and Hamas are expected to engage in talks to hammer out the details of the pact’s second and third phases. If carried out to completion, the deal would see an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the Strip’s reconstruction.
However, Netanyahu is already indicating that he only intends to allow the first phase of the agreement to play out. According to Israel’s Channel 12, the Prime Minister said during the Security Cabinet meeting that Israel will likely resume fighting after the first phase.
Netanyahu’s assurances that he would resume the onslaught in Gaza after six weeks was not enough to gain the support of several members of the Security Cabinet. A member of Netanyahu’s own Likud party, David Amsalem, joined far-right ministers from the Religious Zionism and the Otzma Yehudit parties in voting against the deal.
There is some concern that Netanyahu’s insistence the deal will not make it to the second phase could lead to its collapse. “Under the current conditions, there won’t be a second stage to the deal,” a foreign mediator told parties in Israel according to Haaretz. “Hamas won’t willingly enter into an agreement that will lead to its destruction. Netanyahu’s tactics are wrong and won’t bring the last hostages home or end the war.”
The most vocal opponent was National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. In a last-minute plea for his fellow ministers to reject the proposal, he said, “Everyone knows that these terrorists will try to harm again, try to kill again.” He continued in the video statement, “I call on my friends in the Likud and in Religious Zionism [parties], it is not yet too late, we still have the cabinet meeting, we can stop this deal, join me, we can stop it.”
Mossad chief David Barnea came out strongly in favor of the deal. “We must pay this moral debt. This deal is ethically and morally the right thing to do. It is a humane deal. It includes mechanisms that will ensure our security,” he said.
Netanyahu caused alarm on Thursday when he delayed the Israeli vote on the deal, claiming Hamas tried to make last-minute alterations. While the vote was delayed, the ceasefire is still expected to take effect on Sunday with a pause in fighting and the release of three Israeli captives by Hamas.
Channel 12 reported that Tel Aviv only agreed to keep Sunday as the start date because it received significant pressure from the Biden White House.
Tel Aviv is planning to tightly control the public relations around the release of Palestinian detainees. “The commissioner of the Israel Prison Service, Kobi Yakobi, instructed that… to prevent public displays of joy in Ashkelon and other areas of Israel,” a statement from the Israeli prison office explained.
Since the ceasefire was first announced on Wednesday, Israel as stepped up its bombing of Gaza, killing at least 115 people according to Palestinian officials.
The United Nations’ Human Rights Council condemned Israeli continuing to bombard Gaza, stating “we are dismayed that shortly after the deal was announced, Israel continued bombing Gaza indiscriminately, killing Palestinian civilians despite expectations of calm until the ceasefire takes effect.”
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. He hosts The Kyle Anzalone Show and is co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Connor Freeman.
