Security cabinet approves hostage-ceasefire deal; full cabinet meets to review, vote on it

The high-level security cabinet voted Friday afternoon to approve the hostage release-ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza, and recommended that the government adopt it, the Prime Minister’s Office said. The full cabinet was convening for a discussion and vote expected to be held before Shabbat begins, though it could drag into the Jewish day of rest.

The recommendation by the forum of top ministers was made “after examining all diplomatic, security and humanitarian” aspects of the agreement, with the understanding that the deal “supports the achievement of the war’s goals,” the PMO said.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir voted against the deal at the security cabinet, but were in the minority.

Before the security cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took part in a security assessment to discuss the deal’s implementation with the negotiating team, which returned overnight from Doha after signing the final version of the accord with Hamas.

A meeting of the full cabinet began at 3:30 p.m. It had earlier been expected to take place only on Saturday evening, but was moved up after numerous ministers, including Haredi members of the cabinet, said Shabbat considerations should not put off a life-saving matter.

The deal, announced by mediators on Wednesday, is currently scheduled to take effect on Sunday at 12:15 p.m. Unconfirmed reports in Hebrew media said the release of the first three female hostages was expected at 4 p.m. that day. Israel was expected to get the identities of the first returnees from Hamas by 4 p.m. Saturday.

Thursday evening saw reports that holding the full cabinet meeting only on Saturday evening would cause a delay in the deal’s implementation from Sunday to Monday. However, Netanyahu’s office later said the agreement would come into effect on Sunday as planned regardless.

Following the government’s approval, the High Court of Justice is slated to hear any petitions against elements of the deal but is widely expected not to intervene.

The government’s hostages and missing persons coordination unit on Friday notified the families of the 33 Israeli hostages expected to be set free in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Those on the list, to be returned over 42 days, are so-called humanitarian cases: women, children, elderly individuals, and the infirm.

Israel has not been told how many of the 33 are alive, though it expects the majority are. Israel will receive a full status report on all those on the list seven days into the ceasefire. The order of release is not yet known. The identities of those set to return are expected to be provided 24 hours before each release.

‘Can’t ruin this opportunity’

As the cabinet convened to vote on the hostage deal, four hostage family members held a press conference at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, who is not set for release in phase one, said she was the closest she’d been in 468 days to hugging her son.

“We can’t let any political considerations ruin this opportunity,” she said.

Zangauker, who has repeatedly blamed the government for the hostage situation, protesting daily at Tel Aviv rallies, called on Israelis to join the protests and demand the complete fulfillment of all stages of the deal.

“This deal will shake us all, it will be hard,” said Zangauker. “Join us, my Matan and all the hostages need you with us.”

Anat Angrest, mother of Matan Angrest, a combat soldier who was wounded and taken hostage from his tank on October 7, noted that her son’s name was also not on the list of 33 hostages that will be released home in the first stage of the hostage deal.

“You who should have been on the top of the list aren’t even on it,” said Angrest. “We didn’t convince the government over the last 15 months that your blood is worth the same as the others.”

The grandson of Oded Lifshitz, 84, who is on the list of 33 hostages, said his grandfather was the only great-grandfather in the world held hostage.

“We didn’t believe that 15 months would pass in which a great-grandfather is held hostage and the world doesn’t help him, and the Israeli government doesn’t help him, and I pray for the moment that he will return on his own two legs and we’ll welcome him with love,” said Daniel Lifshitz.

He noted that over 30 hostages are known to have been killed in captivity in Gaza and that the deal came too late for them — many of them his friends and his grandparents’ friends.

Lifshitz added, “On Sunday, we will begin a new history of this country, it will be hard, and I ask you to honor the hostage families’ privacy.”

Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Chaimi was killed and his body taken hostage on October 7, said the pending deal “is terrible, but no deal with terrorists is ever good.”

Goren, one of the six hostage family members who are part of the Hostages Forum steering committee, said the only way for the country to get out of the situation in which it found itself on October 7, 2023, is to make the deal and then remain committed to those who suffered as a result of the Hamas terrorist attack.

“When people say they’re afraid of terrorists getting out in an exchange, they’re right,” said Goren. “But this is the deal we have. I want [hostage] Liri [Albag] to sleep by her parents next week, and I don’t want terrorists to ever touch her again.”

Albag is one of five female surveillance soldiers taken hostage and is expected to be among the first hostages released.

Goren said the hostage families are in a terrible emotional state, and the task of the Forum steering committee is to represent each of the families, including all those in the various categories, whether the hostage is alive or dead, injured, male or female, healthy or sick.

A second phase

Beyond the 33 set for release in phase one, Israel says 65 more hostages are currently held in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 36 confirmed dead by the IDF. As the first phase progresses, the sides will hold talks on a potential second phase, which would see the release of all remaining hostages in return for an end to the war and agreements on Gaza’s future and reconstruction.

Netanyahu’s far-right coalition allies have pressured him not to agree to end the fighting, leading the families of the remaining 65 hostages to fear the second phase may never be realized and that their loved ones may remain in terrorists’ hands.

Ahead of the cabinet meeting Friday afternoon, Ben Gvir issued a last-minute plea for other ministers to vote against the agreement. In a video statement, he said he was “even more terrified” of the deal given new details he’d heard about the Palestinian prisoners who will be released in exchange for hostages. “Everyone knows that these terrorists will try to harm again, try to kill again.”

“I call on my friends in Likud and in Religious Zionism, it is not yet too late, we still have the cabinet meeting, we can stop this deal, join me, we can stop it.”

On Thursday night Ben Gvir said his Otzma Yehudit party will quit the government if the deal is approved. But he also said that if the IDF resumes fighting Hamas after a pause to free hostages, his party will offer to return.

Hebrew media reports Friday said that after repeated threats to also leave the coalition, Smotrich had come to an understanding with Netanyahu over his demands that the IDF return to fighting Hamas after a first ceasefire phase.

Channel 12 news and the Walla news site did not detail what the understandings were. Reports said Smotrich and Religious Zionism will vote against the deal but remain in the government as a result of the agreement. Channel 12 noted that a key consideration for Smotrich was his understanding that the deal would be approved with or without him.

Any opposition from Netanyahu’s far-right allies was not expected to affect the outcome of the cabinet votes.

Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams signed the deal in Doha early Friday after the last hurdles stalling the finalization of the agreement were cleared. Both the US and Qatar — who mediated the negotiations — announced Wednesday that an agreement had been reached to end the 15-month war in Gaza triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

A delegation of senior Israeli defense officials was expected in Egypt’s capital Cairo on Friday to coordinate matters relating to the ceasefire, according to Hebrew media outlets. Walla and Army Radio reported that the delegation will include senior Shin Bet officials, the head of the IDF Strategy Directorate Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, and Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, head of COGAT, the Defense Ministry body in charge of coordination with Palestinians.

According to a leaked copy of the agreement, over 1,700 Palestinian prisoners are to be freed in return for 33 Israeli hostages in the first phase of the deal: 700 terrorists, 250-300 of whom are serving life terms; 1,000 Gazans captured since October 8 in fighting in the Strip; and 47 rearrested prisoners from the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal.

The Israel Prison Service said Friday it was gearing up to process the release of Palestinian prisoners. A statement from the IPS said Israeli authorities will facilitate the first part of the prisoners’ transport, not the Red Cross, to ensure that “the terrorists do not deviate from the strict security guidelines and refrain from any expression of joy within Israeli territory.”

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages during their October 7, 2023, onslaught. During the November 2023 temporary truce, 105 hostages were released, while four were freed earlier and eight have been rescued alive by troops from Gaza.

Trump ‘giving us hell’

Around one thousand right-wing protesters rallied in Jerusalem on Thursday night against the deal and urged ministers to vote against it. Organized by bereaved families and relatives of hostages on Israel’s political right, the “emergency rally” served as a last-minute bid against the deal, which many speakers noted was spurred on by US President-elect Donald Trump.

Attendees displayed banners calling for Israel to continue the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip until victory, as others held signs calling for “conquest, expulsion, settlement” in the enclave.

Yehoshua Shani, the chairman of the Gvura Forum, a group of bereaved families, whose son Uri Mordechai Shani was killed in battle on October 7, insisted that the only way to free the hostages was through “total military victory.”

Veteran settler activist Daniella Weiss railed against Trump and a prospective peace agreement with Saudi Arabia while calling for Jewish settlement in Gaza.

“Trump promised hell for Gaza, and he is giving us hell, the Jewish people!” she exclaimed to the crowd.

Police arrested three demonstrators for blocking traffic, damaging vehicles, and setting fires on the road during the demonstration.

Agencies contributed to this report.