Israel's security cabinet on Friday recommended approving the cease-fire and hostilities agreement with Hamas, leaving one more step until it could be implemented. The deal still needs to be approved by Israel's full cabinet, and was expected to start being implemented on Sunday.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued on Friday night, with the Hamas-run civil defense group saying 113 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire and hostilities agreement was announced on Wednesday night. .
Huda Matrabie, a Palestinian woman in northern Gaza, told CBS News partner network BBC News that the prospect of the deal had given her hope, but “with this hope comes real fear” that the deal could collapse. from each other.
“Fear is not just the immediate danger, but the emotional toll: constant uncertainty and the constant feeling that our lives are not really our own,” she said.
The families of the hostages gathered in Tel Aviv on Friday to call for the termination of the agreement.
“This agreement comes too late for my son Guy, whose life will not be saved. But he can be brought back home to be buried here,” said Michel Illouz, whose 26-year-old son was taken to hostage from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023 and is believed to have died in Gaza, to a crowd. “Our work is not done. We will not rest until all the joys are home, living and dead. They must all return to us, to their families.”
Israel's security cabinet was meeting on Friday to discuss the contract with the Israeli team that was sent to the talks in Qatar and was to be voted on later in the day.
The broader group of Israeli cabinet ministers originally planned to hold its individual vote on the deal on Saturday, but an Israeli official told CBS News that it was brought forward to Friday evening.
Preparations were underway on Friday to welcome the hostages who would be released under the agreement at various Israeli hospitals.
At the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv, a private ward was being made more comfortable, and a menu of special meals was being prepared. The hospital was setting up barriers for privacy. The plan was for the maids to arrive in a helicopter.
At Sheba Hospital, plans were being made for specialist staff to support the incoming guards, and new clothing and toiletries were being arranged for them.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, subject to the approval of the security cabinet and the government, that the implementation of the plan for the release of the hostages in Gaza and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners in Israel could begin on Sunday.
The first phase of that plan will last 42 days and would see a cessation of hostilities and the exchange of 33 hostages in Gaza for up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. It would also see a drawdown of Israeli troops in Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid.
