Hamas said Thursday it is committed to the ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the militants of backtracking on parts of the agreement.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said Hamas was trying to “extort last-minute concessions.” Netanyahu's office accused Hamas of backtracking on an understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder would be released in exchange for hostages held by the U.S.-designated terror group.
A short time later, Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the militant group "is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators."
In Washington, outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at a farewell news conference, "I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday."
Netanyahu said his Cabinet would not meet to give necessary approval to the agreement until the militant group accepts all the elements. One Israeli official said the vote was now likely to occur on Friday.
The multiphase ceasefire agreement, announced Wednesday after months of difficult negotiations, is set to take effect on Sunday if fully approved.
Even with the prospective ceasefire days away, Palestinian medics said Israeli forces carried out multiple airstrikes Thursday in Gaza, killing 72 people in the narrow strip of land along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
If the ceasefire takes hold, U.N. agencies said they were ready to surge humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where the United Nations says at least 1.9 million of the
2.3 million people living there have been displaced, and 92% of housing units have been destroyed.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog offered his strong support for the ceasefire after the deal was announced Wednesday.
“As the President of the State of Israel, I say in the clearest terms: This is the right move,” he said. “This is an important move. This is a necessary move. There is no greater moral, human, Jewish or Israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us — whether to recover at home or to be laid to rest.”
But one of the main opponents of the deal in the government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, called it “a bad and dangerous deal for the national security of the State of Israel.”
The first phase of the agreement includes a 42-day ceasefire, the release of 33 hostages from Gaza, the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israel, a phased Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and an increased flow of aid for Palestinian civilians.
During the first phase, there will be negotiations on the details of a second phase focused on bringing a permanent end to the conflict with the release of the remaining hostages and a full Israeli troop withdrawal.
A final phase concerns rebuilding Gaza, with a new governing and security structure.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas sent its fighters into Israel in an Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack that killed more than 1,200 people and led to the abduction of about 250 hostages. Of those hostages, just under 100 are thought to remain in Hamas custody, but about a third are believed to be dead.
Gaza authorities say nearly 47,000 Palestinians — most of them children and women — have been killed in Israeli military operations. Israel, without providing evidence, says the death toll includes 17,000 militants it has killed.
In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which includes the families of 98 hostages, said Wednesday it welcomes “with overwhelming joy and relief the agreement to bring our loved ones home.”
“However, deep anxiety and concerns accompany us regarding the possibility that the agreement might not be fully implemented, leaving hostages behind,” the statement continued. “We urgently call for swift arrangements to ensure all phases of the deal are carried out.”
Reports say Israel seeks to retain security control of Gaza after ceasefire
A senior official with the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters that two of the living American hostages — Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen — will be among the first hostages released. The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, as customary in such briefings.
“Fighting in Gaza will stop, and soon the hostages return home to their families,” Biden said as he announced the ceasefire deal Wednesday at the White House.
Biden urged his successor, President-elect Donald Trump, to implement the agreement, as Biden prepares to hand over power on Monday.
Trump said on his social media network that he was “thrilled” and that his administration would build upon the success of this deal to expand U.S.-mediated Abraham Accords to normalize Arab-Israeli relations.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Analysts say Trump’s fiery threats last week — of “all hell” breaking loose against Hamas unless there was a deal before his inauguration — may have played a role.
“President-elect Trump has been very, very clear. He said he would unleash hell on Hamas if the hostages weren't released,” said Mirette Mabrouk, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. “I mean, really, there isn't very much more hell that you could unleash on the current inhabitants of Gaza. They're already in hell, but there's also the feeling that he must have placed some pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu as well. And this is why we are now moving forward.”
What about the day after?
Some analysts looking to the proverbial “day after” of the 15 months of fighting expressed doubt the next administration can reach the big goal, which is the U.S.’s vocal longtime support of a two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state coexisting alongside Israel.
“I don't see it under the Trump administration, and that's not squarely a criticism of the Trump administration or anyone else,” said Jonathan Ruhe, director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. “I think both the Israelis and Palestinians are so far off on making the sort of the hard agreements necessary to achieve a two-state solution — I don't think there's the political will on either the Israeli or Palestinian side.”
But as Biden and Qatar’s prime minister laid out in explaining the newly inked agreements, the deal is complex enough.
Biden on Wednesday emphasized how arduous the negotiations have been, and he used that point to underscore his administration's strong support for Israel, which has provoked tension between the U.S. and its closest allies.
“This is one of the toughest negotiations I've ever experienced,” Biden said. “And it reached this point because of the pressure that Israel built on Hamas backed by the United States.”
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.