Updated January 17, 2025 at 18:32 PM ET
The Israeli government has approved a ceasefire and hostage deal with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, leading to a possible end to 15 months of a devastating war in Gaza that spread to other parts of the Middle East.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's full cabinet voted in favor of the U.S.-backed deal late Friday, according to The Associated Press and Israeli news outlets, following earlier approval by his security cabinet.
The full approval comes two days after mediators Qatar and the United States announced both Israel and Hamas agreed to the multiphase deal, which includes the staggered release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for the freeing of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Netanyahu's office said Hamas would release a first group of hostages on Sunday.
The prime minister's office said in a statement that the security cabinet — made up of the most senior cabinet members overseeing the course of the war in Gaza — recommended ratifying the deal "after examining all political, security, and humanitarian aspects, and understanding that the proposed deal supports achieving the war objectives."
Hamas officials have said the group is committed to the agreement announced by mediators Wednesday.
A plan in phases
The elements of the ceasefire and hostage deal is what I laid out in detail this past May – which was embraced by countries around the world.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 15, 2025
I’m deeply satisfied this day has finally come, for the sake of the people of Israel and the sake of the families of hostages waiting in… pic.twitter.com/tkS0I7ppm6
Announcing the deal, President Biden said it would unfold in multiple phases, based on the framework he had proposed in May 2024.
First, Israel and Hamas will implement a six-week ceasefire and Israel would partially withdraw its troops from populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages as part of the first phase. Biden said they will include U.S. citizens, women and the elderly. As NPR has reported, U.S. citizens Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel are among the hostages expected to be released from Gaza in the first phase. French President Emmanuel Macron has said two French citizens are also among the initial 33 to be released.
Israel will free 1,000 Palestinians from its prisons. On Friday, the Justice Ministry shared what said was a partial list of detainees Israel will release. A preliminary review of the list by NPR shows it includes both men primarily under age 21 and women of a range of ages, many of them arrested since the beginning of the war in Gaza and accused of inciting terrorism.
This phase will allow Palestinians to return to areas they evacuated from in the Gaza Strip, and see a surge of humanitarian aid going into the besieged coastal enclave.
The next phases would include the release of more hostages and prisoners and an Israeli troop withdrawal. And finally, a major reconstruction plan for Gaza would begin.
The mediators hope the plan brings an end to the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a surprise assault on southern Israel by Hamas-led militants based in Gaza. That attack killed some 1,200 people and 250 people were taken captive, according to Israeli officials, and triggered an Israeli military campaign to destroy Hamas. The war in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
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