Government approves deal to free the hostages, stop the Gaza war, with most ministers voting in favor; ceasefire comes into effect

Government approves deal to free the hostages, stop the Gaza war, with most ministers voting in favor; ceasefire comes into effect

Lazar Berman

The government approves the deal for Hamas to free all 48 remaining hostages in Gaza, the Prime Minister’s Office says.

With the passage of the vote, a ceasefire now comes into effect, halting the war.

The release of the hostages, in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners and a partial IDF withdrawal, is the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.

Most cabinet ministers vote in favor of the deal, including Minister Ofir Sofer of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party, all of whose other ministers opposed the deal. So too did all members of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party.

The IDF will now withdraw to new lines inside the Gaza Strip, retaining a deployment controlling some 53 percent of the Gaza territory, after which the 72-hour window for Hamas to release all the hostages will commence.