The Israeli government approved the hostage and ceasefire deal between the Jewish state and Hamas after seven hours of negotiations.
The government approved the deal just after 1:00 a.m. on Saturday in Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported. Twenty-four ministers voted in favor of the deal, and eight voted against it. Among the latter camp was National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who earlier threatened to quit the government if the deal was approved, calling it “the end of the war before Hamas is beaten.”
The deal comes after over a year of negotiations that failed to take hold until president-elect Donald Trump included his envoys in the talks after threatening that there would be “all hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by the time he takes office on January 20.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly invoked Trump’s imminent inauguration during discussions Friday, telling ministers that the president-elect would fully support Israel and unfreeze weapons shipments to the Jewish state. Netanyahu also blamed Hamas for any holdup in the ceasefire negotiations up to this point.
“There was no deal on the table because Hamas opposed any deal,” Netanyahu said. “However, the situation changed because of the heroism of our fighters and because of our actions in the region, including our severe blow to the Iranian axis. Hamas remained isolated in this theater, and as a result, it folded and agreed to this deal.”
Under the deal’s first phase, 33 hostages will be exchanged for about 1,000 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails. The Israel Defense Forces will also pull back from certain areas of the Gaza Strip.
The fate of the remaining 65 hostages in Gaza will be addressed in the later phases of the agreement.
One of the hostages included in the first set of releases is 38-year-old Avera Mengistu, who was taken hostage in 2014 when the man, suffering from mental illness, crossed into the Gaza strip, reported the Jerusalem Post.
The list of names of the 33 hostages includes two Americans: Keith Siegel, 65, and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36. While the exact number of living hostages is uncertain, it is believed that only 22 of the 33 to be released are still alive.
The release of the first three hostages could occur as soon as Sunday.
The deal passed with the support of the government’s Haredi ministers, who cited scripture in defense of their votes. The Orthodox Haredi, who had to exit negotiations at the beginning of the Sabbath, left instructions on how to vote.
Joining Ben-Gvir in voting no was Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also threatened to leave the government should the deal pass. In response to those threats earlier this week, Netanyahu’s Likud Party said that “Anyone who dissolves the right-wing government will be remembered as an eternal disgrace.”
The Israeli Justice Ministry released a list of names of 95 Palestinians set to be released, some of whom have been arrested for murder and are accused of being affiliated with Hamas, reported the Jerusalem Post.
The Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen announced they would cease their attacks on Israel following the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
This is a breaking story; please check back for more updates.
Tim Rice contributed to this report.
