Israel’s cabinet has approved a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas

The Israeli Cabinet voted to approve the move ceasefire agreement and release of hostages and Hamas, hours after the agreement was approved by the country’s security cabinet on Friday. The first phase of the deal is expected to begin on Sunday, when most of the prisoners held in Gaza will be exchanged for many of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Normally there would be an appeal window to the Supreme Court of Israel, but it has not previously intervened in similar matters.

According to the translated draft of the agreement viewed by CBS News, and from President Biden’s explanation, the agreement has three phases, each lasting 42 days.

Hamas will begin releasing hostages on the first day, initially returning three to Israel, according to a draft seen by CBS News. On the seventh day, Hamas will release four hostages. After that, Hamas released three hostages taken from Israel every seven days, starting with the living and moving on to return the bodies of the dead.

It will release 33 hostages, women and children, during the first phase, as well as hostages over the age of 50, according to a draft seen by CBS News.

President Biden said on Wednesday that Americans will be among the hostages released in this phase, but he did not specify any names and that they will be released soon.

For each kidnapped woman or child returned to Israel, Israel is expected to release 30 Palestinian women and children from its prisons. Hamas will release all hostages over the age of 50, and Israel will release 30 Palestinian prisoners aged 50 or older.

During the hostage and prisoner exchange, there will be a total ceasefire in Gaza to allow aid to flow in, said a draft seen by CBS News. International aid groups and the United Nations will resume operations in Gaza, and will begin rebuilding local infrastructure, such as water, electricity and sanitation systems.

The second phase of the deal, to be negotiated in the first phase, will include the release of all remaining Israeli male captives and the withdrawal of all IDF troops from Gaza, the president announced on Wednesday.

The third phase, which will be negotiated during the previous phases, will include the exchange of bodies of hostages and prisoners and the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza, said Mr. Biden.

The agreement represents a fragile step to end 15 months of war. It is believed that about 100 hostages are still being held after the brutal attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed. The Israel Defense Forces said it believed about a third of the hostages had died.

More than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israeli strikes since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and most Gazans have been displaced and live in camps. Humanitarian groups have been struggling to bring helpand experts have warned of famine.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued overnight on Friday, and the Hamas-run civil defense organization said 113 Palestinians had been killed since a ceasefire and hostage-taking was announced on Wednesday evening local time.

Huda Matrabie, a Palestinian woman in northern Gaza, told the BBC News network’s CBS News that the prospect of a deal gave her hope, but “with this hope comes real fear” that the deal could fall apart.

“Fear is not only of existential danger, but emotional distress: constant uncertainty and the ever-present feeling that our lives are not really ours,” he said.

The families of the hostages gathered in Tel Aviv on Friday to call for an agreement to be reached.

“This agreement comes too late for my son Guy, whose life will not be saved. But he can be brought home to be buried here,” said Michel Illouz, whose 26-year-old son was kidnapped at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023 and is believed to have died in Gaza, he told the gathered crowd. “Our work is not done. We will not rest until every hostage is home, the living and the dead. They all need to return to us, to their families.”