Israel and Hamas Work Out Differences That Had Delayed Cease-Fire Deal, Netanyahu Says

Israel and Hamas Work Out Differences That Had Delayed Cease-Fire Deal, Netanyahu Says

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had called a meeting of his security cabinet for later on Friday.

 

Ephrat Livni

By Ephrat Livni

Published Jan. 16, 2025

Updated Jan. 17, 2025, 12:07 a.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-gaza-cease-fire.html

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a meeting of Israel’s political security cabinet on Friday to approve the Gaza cease-fire deal after Israeli and Hamas negotiators worked out their remaining differences.

 

Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement early Friday that he had ordered the meeting to approve the deal for later in the day.

 

Lawmakers would later “convene to approve the deal,” the statement said, without specifying the day.

 

A security cabinet vote that had been expected on Thursday was delayed amid last-minute disputes with Hamas and rifts over the agreement that emerged inside Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition.

 

The prime minister’s office said that the families of hostages had been informed of the agreement and that he had instructed the government authority responsible for the hostages to prepare to receive the captives upon their return to Israel.

 

“The state of Israel is committed to achieving all the goals of the war, including the return of all our hostages — both the living and the dead,” the statement said.

 

A vocal member of Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition took a stand against a cease-fire deal late on Thursday. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hard-line national security minister, threatened to resign and remove his party from the Israeli government if the cabinet voted to approve the provisional cease-fire deal.

 

“This deal would effectively erase the achievements of the war,” said Mr. Ben-Gvir, adding that the cease-fire would leave Hamas in power in Gaza.

 

While Mr. Ben-Gvir’s threat could destabilize Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition at a critical time, it was unlikely to scuttle the cease-fire deal, which would also free hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Mr. Netanyahu would still command a majority of 62 seats in the 120-member Parliament.

 

Opposition lawmakers have pledged to support Mr. Netanyahu’s push for a cease-fire if more hard-line allies leave the coalition. “This is more important than all the differences of opinion that there have ever been between us,” said Yair Lapid, the leader of the parliamentary opposition.

 

Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement suggests that a cease-fire could still come into effect by this weekend. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had said on Thursday that he was confident the agreement would go into effect as planned on Sunday.

 

President Biden and other mediators announced on Wednesday that Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Qatar had reached a deal to stop the fighting and free hostages held in Gaza. The difficulties on Thursday underscored the volatility of the truce and prompted fears of further delays.

 

President-elect Donald J. Trump, who had pressured the parties to reach an agreement before his inauguration on Monday, repeated his warning in a podcast interview on Thursday that he wanted the deal closed before he took office. He told the host, Dan Bongino, that “it better be done.” In December, weeks after he was re-elected, Mr. Trump said there would be “hell to pay” if a cease-fire and hostage deal was not reached.

 

Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday morning that at least eight Israeli attacks in the territory had killed 81 people and injured nearly 200 others over the previous 24 hours.

 

The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency service organization, said that Israeli strikes had killed at least 77 people since the deal was announced. The claims could not be independently verified.

 

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it had struck about 50 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day. The targets included militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, their compounds, weapons storage and manufacturing sites and launch and observation posts, the military said in a statement, adding that “numerous steps” were taken to prevent civilian harm before the strikes.

 

“The reality in the strip remains very difficult and catastrophic,” said Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Palestinian rescue and emergency service.

 

President Biden, in his final television interview in office that aired on MSNBC Thursday night, defended his choice to steadfastly support Israel throughout the conflict, after he and his advisers struggled over many months of intense diplomatic efforts to finalize a cease-fire agreement.

 

Critics of the Israeli prime minister, including some families of hostages who have pressed for a cease-fire deal, have accused him of intentionally stalling negotiations to prolong the conflict.

 

Mr. Biden did not directly answer when Lawrence O’Donnell, the MSNBC host, asked whether he thought Mr. Netanyahu had done so. He said that Mr. Netanyahu came under political pressure from Israel’s right-wing, and was at times forced “to do some of the things that, in my belief, I thought were counterproductive.”

 

Zach Montague contributed reporting.

 

Ephrat Livni is a reporter for The Times’s DealBook newsletter, based in Washington. More about Ephrat Livni