The vote in Israel on the Gaza ceasefire agreement has been postponed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed a vote to approve a Gaza ceasefire deal that was due to take place on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking to make last-minute changes to the deal.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said “the end is coming” and that he was confident the ceasefire would start on Sunday as planned.

Although Israeli negotiators agreed to the deal after months of negotiations, it cannot be implemented until it is approved by the security cabinet and the government.

Hamas has said it is committed to the deal, but the BBC understands it has tried to add some of its members to a list of Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal.

The delay comes after new Israeli strikes in Gaza after the deal was announced on Wednesday killed more than 80 people, according to Hamas’ health ministry.

Hours before Thursday’s morning meeting, Netanyahu accused Hamas of trying to “squeeze out last-minute concessions.”

The cabinet will not meet until Hamas accepts “all elements of the agreement,” his office said in a statement.

Blinken said such a delay was to be expected in such a “complicated” situation.

“It’s not surprising that in a process and negotiations that have been so complex and rich, you can get a loss,” he said at a news conference in Washington.

“We’re tying up that end as we speak.”

He said the US was “confident” the agreement would enter into force on Sunday as planned and that the ceasefire would continue.

Israeli media reported that the cabinet was due to meet on Friday to approve the deal and that the alleged problem had been resolved, although this was not officially confirmed.

Most Israeli ministers are expected to support the deal, but late Thursday Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said his right-wing party would withdraw from Netanyahu’s government if it is approved.

“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” Ben-Gvir told a news conference, adding that it would “erase the gains of the war.”

However, he said his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Authority) party would not seek to topple the government if the agreement is ratified.

He called on the leader of another far-right party in the government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist Party, to join him in his resignation.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the group was committed to the deal brokered.

The head of the Hamas delegation, Khalil al-Haya, has officially informed Qatar and Egypt that they have approved all the terms of the agreement, an official told the BBC.

But the BBC’s Gaza correspondent Rushdie Abalouf understands that Hamas has tried to add the names of one or two token members to the list of prisoners to be released under the deal.

The first six-week phase of the agreement involves the exchange of 33 hostages – including women, children and the elderly – for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Israeli troops will also withdraw to the east, away from the densely populated areas of Gaza.

Displaced Palestinians will be able to begin returning to their homes, and hundreds of aid trucks will be able to access the area every day.

Talks on the second phase – which should involve the release of the remaining hostages, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces and a return to “sustainable calm” – will begin on the 16th.

The third and final phase will involve the return of any remaining bodies of the hostages and the rebuilding of Gaza – something that could take years.

Israeli airstrikes continued after the deal was announced on Wednesday. At least 12 people were killed in Gaza City, where a doctor told the BBC he “didn’t rest for a minute” during the “bloody night”.

The strikes have hit 50 targets in the Gaza Strip since the deal was announced, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency said in a statement.

Qatar’s prime minister, who has been mediating the talks, called for “calm” on both sides ahead of the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – which is banned as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and others – in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and left 251 dead. taken hostage.

More than 46,788 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have also been displaced, and there is widespread destruction and severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter as aid agencies struggle to get help to those in need.

Israel says 94 hostages are still being held by Hamas, 34 of whom are believed to be dead. There are four Israelis who were kidnapped before the war, two of whom are dead.