Israel’s Government Has Approved The First Phase Of The Ceasefire Deal For Gaza Agreed With Hamas
According to the plan, the war will immediately end if the two sides agree to the proposal, with all military operations being suspended.
The Israel government has approved the Gaza ceasefire plan brokered by US president Donald Trump, saying it includes the release of all remaining hostages held in Gaza.
“The government has just now approved the framework for the release of all of the hostages – the living and the deceased,” Israel announced on X shortly after midnight on Friday, Oct. 10, in Tel Aviv.
According to the plan, which Israel and Hamas agreed to in the early hours a day earlier on Thursday, Oct. 9, the war will immediately end if the two sides agree to the proposal, with all military operations being suspended.
Israeli forces will withdraw to an agreed upon line to prepare for the hostage release, and Hamas will return all Israeli hostages, both alive and dead.
In exchange, Israel will release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinians it detained since Oct. 7, 2023.
For each dead Israeli hostage, Israel will release the bodies of 15 dead Palestinians.
48 Israeli hostages are still held in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in a video alongside Trump’s son-in-law and former Middle East adviser Jared Kushner and real estate developer Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, to confirm the deal.
“We've fought during these two years to achieve our war aims and a central one of these war aims is to return the hostages, all of the hostages, the living and the dead,” Netanyahu said, thanking Witkoff, Kushner and Trump for their support.
In the three-minute video, the two Americans, meanwhile, praised Netanyahu for his “tough choices.”
“There were times that I thought we should be more flexible,” Witkoff said. “But the truth is, as I look back, I don't think we get to this place without Prime Minister Netanyahu playing it up.”
The US is deploying about 200 troops on the ground to support and monitor the implementation and stability of the ceasefire.
“No US troops are intended to go into Gaza,” a US official told Semafor reporter Shelby Talcott Wingrove.
Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
