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Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was set to vote on the Gaza ceasefire deal on Friday, the Israeli prime minister’s office has said, after confirming it had reached an agreement with Hamas.
US-led mediators had announced on Wednesday that both parties had agreed a multiphase deal to halt the 15-month war and free the 98 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group.
But formal approval by Israel had been delayed amid disagreements with Hamas over which Palestinian prisoners should be released and political tensions inside Netanyahu’s government.
The prime minister’s office said early on Friday that Netanyahu had called a meeting of the security cabinet to endorse the deal later in the day, to be followed by formal approval by the government as a whole.
An Israeli official said later on Friday morning that the security cabinet meeting was under way.
According to a person familiar with Israeli government deliberations, the security cabinet is likely to give its approval on Friday, with the full government set to meet and vote on Saturday evening after the Sabbath.
Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that implementation of the deal and the release of hostages would begin on Sunday, if both the security cabinet and the government approved the deal.
While the Israeli government had previously accused Hamas of backtracking on the agreement, the prime minister’s office said that Netanyahu had been “updated by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal for the release of the hostages”.
Netanyahu is also attempting to manage a brewing political crisis at home, with far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announcing on Thursday night that he and his Jewish Power party would leave the ruling coalition if the “reckless” deal were approved.
Ben-Gvir and his ultranationalist ally, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, had repeatedly threatened to leave Netanyahu’s government if it accepted an agreement that would end the war.
The departure of Jewish Power would leave the premier’s coalition with a two-seat majority in Israel’s parliament. It would also pile pressure on Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party to follow suit and withdraw.
While Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are not thought to have enough support in the cabinet to torpedo the deal’s approval, if they both pull their far-right parties out of the government, the coalition would lose its parliamentary majority.
Israel’s political system does not bar minority governments, and opposition parties have said they are prepared to prop up Netanyahu’s coalition if needed, but the loss of his two allies would shake the prime minister’s hold on power and could lead to early elections.
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