TEL AVIV: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a “last minute crisis” with Hamas was holding up Israeli approval of a long-awaited agreement to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages. Israeli airstrikes meanwhile killed dozens of people across the war-ravaged territory.
Netanyahu’s office said his Cabinet won’t meet to approve the agreement until Hamas backs down, accusing it of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt to gain further concessions.
Izzat Al-Rashq, a senior Hamas official, said the militant group “is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators.”
US President Joe Biden and key mediator Qatar announced the deal on Wednesday, which is aimed at releasing scores of hostages held in Gaza and winding down a 15-month war that has destabilized the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.
Netanyahu’s office had earlier accused Hamas of backtracking on an earlier understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which prisoners convicted of murder would be released in exchange for hostages.
Netanyahu has faced great domestic pressure to bring home the scores of hostages, but his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he makes too many concessions.
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have meanwhile killed at least 48 people over the past day, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. In previous conflicts, both sides have stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires as a way to project strength.
Around half of the dead were women and children, Zaher Al-Wahedi, head of the ministry’s registration department, told The Associated Press. He said the toll could rise as hospitals update their records.
A phased withdrawal and hostage release with potential pitfalls
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, and the Israeli military believes around a third and up to half of them are dead.
Under the deal reached Wednesday, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli forces will pull back from many areas, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be able to return to what’s left of their homes, and there would be a surge of humanitarian assistance.
The remainder of the hostages, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second — and much more difficult — phase that will be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it dismantles the group and to maintain open-ended security control over the territory.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 46,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry. it does not say how many of the dead were militants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced some 90 percent of its population of 2.3 million people, according to the United Nations.
Israel says final details still being worked out
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US are expected to meet in Cairo on Thursday for talks on implementing the agreement. They have spent the past year holding indirect talks with Israel and Hamas that finally resulted in a deal after repeated setbacks.
President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy joined the talks in the final weeks, and both the outgoing administration and Trump’s team are taking credit for the breakthrough.
Many longer-term questions about postwar Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction after a brutal conflict that has destabilized the broader Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.
Israel has come under heavy international criticism, including from its closest ally, the United States, over the civilian toll in Gaza. It also blames Hamas for the civilian casualties, accusing it of using schools, hospitals and residential areas for military purposes.
The International Court of Justice is investigating allegations brought by South Africa that Israel has committed genocide. The International Criminal Court, a separate body also based in The Hague, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas commander for war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war.
Israel and the United States have condemned the actions taken by both courts.
Hamas, a militant group that does not accept Israel’s existence, has come under overwhelming pressure from Israeli military operations, including the invasion of Gaza’s largest cities and towns and the takeover of the border between Gaza and Egypt. Its top leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who was believed to have helped mastermind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, have been killed.
But its fighters have regrouped in some of the hardest-hit areas after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, raising the prospect of a prolonged insurgency if the war continues.

DOHA: Key mediator Qatar said on Wednesday that 33 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would be released in the first stage of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the war in the Palestinian territory.
Two sources close to Hamas earlier told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, while an Israeli government spokesman said hundreds would be released.
Below are the key details of the expected initial phase of the deal according to Qatari, US, Israeli and Palestinian officials and media reports:

Qatar said Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza starting on Sunday and a hostage and prisoner exchange after 15 months of war.
Thirty-three Israeli hostages will be released in the first, 42-day phase of the agreement that could become a “permanent ceasefire,” said Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.
Those first released would be “civilian women and female recruits, as well as children, elderly people... civilian ill people and wounded,” he said.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said on Tuesday Israel was “prepared to pay a heavy price — in the hundreds” in exchange for the 33 hostages.

An anonymous Israeli official said “several hundred terrorists” would be freed in exchange for the hostages, with the final number depending on how many of the 33 hostages are alive.
Two sources close to Hamas told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including those with “lengthy sentences.”
Sheikh Mohammed said the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for the Israeli hostages in the second and third phases would be “finalized” during the initial 42 days.
The 33 are among the 94 hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the ongoing war. The total includes 34 captives the Israeli military has declared dead.
According to the Times of Israel, Israeli officials believe the 33 hostages are alive, though confirmation from Hamas is pending.

Gaza humanitarian situation, by the numbers

• At least 1.9 million people are displaced
• 92 percent of housing units are destroyed
• 68 percent of the road network is destroyed or damaged
• There are “zero” fuel reserves to operate generators at hospitals
• 88 percent of school buildings need rebuilding or major repairs
• Food aid amounting to three months’ of rations for Gaza’s population are waiting to enter

During the initial, 42-day ceasefire Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas to “allow for the swap of prisoners, as well as the swap of remains and the return of the displaced people,” Qatar’s prime minister said.
Negotiations for a second phase would commence on the “16th day” after the first phase’s implementation, an Israeli official said.
This phase would cover the release of the remaining captives, including “male soldiers, men of military age, and the bodies of slain hostages,” the Times of Israel reported.
Israeli media reported that under the proposed deal, Israel would maintain a buffer zone within Gaza during the first phase.
Israeli forces were expected to remain up to “800 meters inside Gaza stretching from Rafah in the south to Beit Hanun in the north,” according to a source close to Hamas.
Israeli forces would not fully withdraw from Gaza until “all hostages are returned,” the Israeli official said.
Haaretz newspaper reported that Israel would allow the movement of residents from southern Gaza to the north.
The source close to Hamas said Israeli forces would withdraw from the Netzarim corridor westward toward Salaheddin Road to the east, enabling displaced people to return through an electronic checkpoint equipped with cameras.
“No Israeli forces will be present, and Palestinian militants will be barred from passing through the checkpoint during the return of displaced persons,” he said.

Joint mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt will monitor the ceasefire deal through a body based in Cairo, Sheikh Mohammed said, urging “calm” in Gaza before the agreement comes into force.
There was “a clear mechanism to negotiate phase two and three,” Sheikh Mohammed added.
“We hope that this will be the last page of the war, and we hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,” Qatar’s prime minister said as he unveiled the deal.
Under the arrangements outlined by Qatar, the details of phases two and three will be “finalized” during the implementation of phase one.
US President Joe Biden said the as-yet unfinalized second phase would bring a “permanent end to the war.”
Biden said phase two would comprise an exchange for the release of remaining hostages who are still alive, including the male soldiers. Then all remaining Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza, the US president said.