Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement, as he faced opposition to the US-brokered deal from his far-right allies.
Israel It said it had postponed a cabinet meeting aimed at ratifying the agreement, but Hamas confirmed that it was committed to the agreement announced by the mediators on Wednesday.
No such government meeting was scheduled to take place as of Thursday evening, although one said it might take place on Friday, two people familiar with the situation said.
John Kirby, US President Joe Biden's national security spokesman, said he was confident any “last-minute issues” could be resolved and that the ceasefire would go into effect as planned on Sunday, a day before Donald Trump enters the Oval Office.
Israel said earlier on Thursday that Hamas was seeking to identify Palestinian prisoners who should be released in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages. Netanyahu's government relies on parliamentary support from two far-right parties that strongly oppose any agreement.
Netanyahu's office said that Israel will not set a date for a government meeting (to approve the agreement) until the mediators announce that Hamas has agreed to all the details of the agreement.
Referring to the Israeli prime minister's complaint about Hamas' decline, Kirby told MSNBC: “Our team on the ground is working with him and his team to sort all this out, sort it out, and move forward.”
Biden, Trump and the Prime Minister of Qatar, whose countries are mediating the talks, announced on Wednesday evening that Hamas and Israel had reached an agreement on a deal that would halt the negotiations that have been ongoing for 15 months. The war in Gaza And the 98 hostages who were still in captivity were freed.
Trump, the first leader to praise the agreement on Wednesday, put pressure on both Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement before his inauguration. He has repeatedly warned that there will be a “big push” if the hostages are not released by January 20.
But the far-right Religious Zionist Party, led by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said Thursday morning that he may leave the government if the agreement leads to a permanent end to the war.
Speaking to Kan Radio, Zvi Sukkot, a party lawmaker, said the party would “most likely” resign from the government if the deal was approved, because its mission was to “change the DNA of Israel,” not just fabricate numbers. In the coalition.
The party said later on Thursday that “the condition for the party to remain in the government and coalition” is for Israel to resume fighting “immediately upon completion of the first phase of the agreement.”
While Smotrich and his far-right ally Itamar Ben Gvir are not believed to have enough support in the cabinet to torpedo any agreement if Netanyahu puts it to a vote, if they both withdraw their far-right parties from government, that will be the case. Losing his majority in Parliament.
This will not automatically mean the end of the Netanyahu government, because the political system in Israel does not prevent minority governments, and the opposition parties have said that they are ready to support the government if necessary.
But the loss of his two far-right allies would shake Netanyahu's grip on power and could lead to early elections.
“I don’t think Netanyahu has the ability to back out of the deal. . . “Trump has cornered him,” said Aviv Bushinsky, a political analyst and former adviser to Netanyahu. He added that the Israeli Prime Minister was trying to “square the circle” between Trump and his ultra-nationalist coalition partners.
If implemented, the ceasefire agreement reached this week would offer hope of a halt — and perhaps an end — to the brutal war that has become the bloodiest chapter in the decades-long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The war has left Gaza in ruins, consumed Israeli society, and pushed the Middle East to the brink of all-out war.
The agreement includes an initial truce lasting 42 days, during which 33 hostages, including children, women, the sick and the elderly, will be released at intervals.
In return, Palestinians will be released from Israeli prisons, aid will be allowed to flow into Gaza, and there will be a partial Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.
By the 16th day of the truce, Israel and Hamas are scheduled to begin negotiating the second phase of the deal, which will include the release of the remaining living hostages, a full Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war.
Trump has claimed that the agreement was the result of his victory in the US presidential election in November, while Biden described it as “one of the most difficult negotiations I have ever seen.”
Iran also welcomed the agreement, describing it as a “historic victory” for the Palestinian people and evidence that the anti-Israel resistance movement has survived months of devastating war.
The conflict was sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, during which fighters from the Palestinian movement killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took 250 hostage on the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded with an attack on Gaza that killed more than 46,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and led to a humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip.
Additional reporting by Beta Ghafari in Tehran
