Netanyahu says deal to release Hamas-held hostages has been reached

TEL AVIV: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a deal to return Hamas-held hostages in the Gaza Strip has been reached.

The announcement came a day after Netanyahu's office said there were last minute snags in talks to free hostages in return for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu said he will convene his security cabinet Friday and then the government to approve the agreement.

Israel delayed a Cabinet vote Thursday on the long-awaited ceasefire deal that would pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages. Israeli airstrikes, meanwhile, killed at least 72 people in the war-ravaged territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed a last-minute dispute with Hamas for holding up the approval as rising tensions in Netanyahu's government coalition raised concerns about the implementation of the deal just a day after U.S. President Joe Biden and key mediator Qatar announced it was complete.

That created a dual reality: War-weary Palestinians in Gaza, the relatives of hostages held in the enclave and world leaders all welcomed the result of months of painstaking diplomacy, even as Netanyahu postponed the Cabinet vote on the agreement that had been scheduled for Thursday until Friday, at the earliest.

Netanyahu's office accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt to gain further concessions — without specifying which parts.

“Hamas is backing out of the understandings and creating a last-minute crisis that prevents a settlement,” Netanyahu's office said.

In a briefing Thursday, David Mencer, an Israeli government spokesman, said Hamas' new demands dealt with the deployment of Israeli forces in the Philadelphi corridor, the narrow strip bordering Egypt that Israeli troops seized in May.

Hamas denied the claims, with Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, saying the militant group “is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators.”

It wasn't clear to what extent the holdup in the approval of the deal — originally scheduled to go into effect Sunday — also reflected jockeying to keep Netanyahu's wobbly government together.

The ceasefire agreement has drawn fierce resistance from Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners, on whose support the Israeli prime minister depends to remain in power. On Thursday, Israel's hardline national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, threatened to quit the government if Israel approves the ceasefire.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called on Israel and Hamas to implement a Gaza ceasefire plan “without any delay” in an exclusive interview Thursday with The Associated Press. Egypt has been a key mediator between the enemies for years and a leading player in ongoing ceasefire negotiations.

The deal announced Wednesday would see scores of hostages held in Gaza released and a pause in fighting with a view to eventually wind down a 15-month war that has destabilized the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.

Hamas triggered the war with its October 7, 2023, cross-border attack into Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

Israel responded with a devastating offensive that has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half of those killed.

The military campaign has leveled vast swaths of Gaza, and pushed about 90 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are struggling with hunger and disease in squalid tent camps on the coast.