Israel’s Security Cabinet voted Friday to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, two days after President-elect Donald Trump became the first to announce an agreement had been reached.
The Security Cabinet is a subset of government officials who are most directly concerned with military conflict. The entire Cabinet, which has over 30 ministers, will meet later on Friday and is expected to follow the Security Cabinet’s lead.
The Security Cabinet was originally scheduled to vote on Thursday, but the vote was delayed after Israel accused Hamas of attempting to unilaterally alter some key details at the last minute.
“There isn’t any deal at the moment. Therefore, there’s no cabinet meeting,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu curtly informed reporters on Thursday afternoon.
Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of “deliberately committing massacres” in order to “thwart” the agreement.
“The enemy’s continued perpetration of horrific massacres in Gaza and its intensification after the agreement confirms its terrorist approach and thirst for bloodshed,” Hamas said in a statement on Friday.
Gaza’s civil defense agency, which is run by Hamas, claimed on Friday that Israeli air strikes killed 73 people overnight.
“The injured kept on coming. The dead were sent directly to the morgue,” Gaza doctor Amjad Eliwah told the BBC.
“For a little while, everyone was happy and joyful. Then the same people who were happy were dead,” he said.
Netanyahu reportedly told the Security Cabinet on Friday he had received “guarantees from the Americans that if Hamas sabotages a certain stage of the deal, Israel can resume fighting.” This assurance evidently paved the way for Security Cabinet approval.
Netanyahu has been reluctant to proceed with ratifying the deal despite heavy domestic and international political pressure, saying some issues “remain unresolved.”
Not helping matters is that Hamas and its allies are trumpeting the ceasefire as a huge victory for the terrorists and a vindication of their hostage-taking strategy. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was the latest to do so on Friday morning, congratulating Hamas on its “victory” and describing Israel’s participation in the ceasefire as an act of “submission.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed the cabinet vote on Friday, and said he expected the rest of the government to “follow suit in swiftly affirming this decision.”
“This is a vital step toward fulfilling the highest covenant between the state and its citizens. There is no greater moral, human, Jewish, and Israeli duty. We must bring all of our hostages back home,” he said.
“I harbor no illusions – the deal will bring with it great challenges and painful, agonizing moments that we will need to overcome and face together,” he added.
Read the full article here
