The agreement, which must now go to the full cabinet for a final green light, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war.
Under the deal struck by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, the ensuing weeks should also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
The full cabinet will convene later Friday to approve the deal. The ceasefire would take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
His office had earlier said the release of hostages would begin on Sunday.
“I will go to kiss my land,“ said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south in the territory.
In Israel, there was joy but also anguish over the 251 hostages taken in the deadliest attack in the country’s history.
Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri had died in an air strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to hope.
‘Confident’
“I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,“ he said.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages due to be freed under the deal, and could turn their “freedom... into a tragedy”.
Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Trump and Biden
“If we weren’t involved in this deal, the deal would’ve never happened,“ Trump said in an interview on Thursday.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released, including women, “children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded”.
Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said.
The women may in fact be civilians, as the militant group refers to all Israelis of military age who have undergone mandatory military service as soldiers.
They would then be taken to Egypt where they would undergo medical examinations and then to Israel, the source said.
Egypt was on Friday hosting technical talks on the implementation of the truce, according to state-linked media.
Biden said the second phase could bring a “permanent end to the war”.
“Everything has been destroyed, children are on the streets, you can’t pinpoint just one priority,“ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) coordinator Amande Bazerolle told AFP.
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