Israeli government gives green light for immediate ceasefire and hostage agreement

At 01.20 a.m. Israeli time (shortly after midnight Central European Time) early Friday morning, the Israeli government in Jerusalem approved phase 1 of the peace agreement with Hamas drawn up by the USA. The 25-member cabinet passed the ratification resolution by a large majority. Only the three representatives of the ultra-nationalists and two of the three ministers from the Religious Zionists were against it.

This means that the agreed ceasefire in the battle with the terrorist organization Hamas comes into force immediately and Israeli troops in Gaza will withdraw to the positions agreed in the agreement within 24 hours. Israel will then still control 53% of the Gaza Strip until the implementation of the next phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which has not yet been agreed with Hamas.

The last of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023 must then be handed over to Israel within the next 72 hours. 20 of them are said to still be alive. In return, Israel will release 2,000 imprisoned Palestinians, including 250 terrorists.

The agreement, which was approved by the Israeli cabinet early on Friday morning, was signed on Thursday in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, by representatives of the Israeli and Hamas negotiating delegations.

Afterwards, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar declared in an interview with the US television channel Fox that Israel had no intention of resuming hostilities. Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya also declared the war in Gaza to be over.

The meeting of the Israeli cabinet was attended by the US Special Representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Both were instrumental in the development of the US 20-point peace plan and its support in the Arab and other Muslim states, particularly Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.

The USA will send 200 military observers to the Middle East to monitor the peace agreement that has now been agreed. They are to be supported by representatives from Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and possibly also the UAE.