The Israeli cabinet's plenary session approved in the early hours of Friday the first phase of Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, and the return of all hostages (and the bodies of the dead), according to a statement from the prime minister's office.
Earlier, the security cabinet met in Benjamin Netanyahu's office, while US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner attended the meeting.
"All of this would not have been possible without the bravery of the Israeli Forces"
"Obviously, repatriating the hostages has been a priority for President Trump for a long time, and we have all worked tirelessly to achieve this," Kushner said.
“All of this would not have been possible without the bravery of the Israel Defense Forces and their soldiers, without what they have accomplished not only in Gaza, but in all their battlefield operations over the past two years, to eliminate Hezbollah in the north and truly degrade it,” he continued.
“What you were able to do in Iran really helped get the message across,” he said. “But also the ‘citizen army’ of Israel – you know, many of you have made sacrifices to fight for your country trying to make a difference – I think that made a very, very big difference there.”
Kushner stressed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "did a truly incredible job on the deal and a great job with the negotiations."
"You held your positions firm and I think you and President Trump were in complete agreement on what the end state should be," he concluded.
Ceasefire, hostage exchange and flow of humanitarian aid
With the ratification of the Trump plan, the bombing of Gaza is expected to stop – in other words, there will be a complete ceasefire – within 24 hours.
Hamas then has three days to return the hostages and Israeli troops will partially withdraw from Gaza. The deal includes the opening of the Rafah border crossing in both directions.
A flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the release of prisoners from Israel are also expected.
Hamas: "We declare the end of the war"
The exiled Hamas leader in Gaza, Khalil al-Haya, announced earlier that the organization had received guarantees from the United States, Arab mediators and Turkey that the war in the Palestinian enclave had definitively ended.
"We declare the end of the war today and the beginning of a permanent ceasefire," al-Haya said, according to Reuters.
The organization received guarantees from the mediators and the US government, all of whom confirmed that the war was over, he stressed.
Israeli forces will retreat to the line shown on the Guardian map.
A group of 200 American soldiers will "supervise" the ceasefire
A 200-strong US military team will deploy to the Middle East to "supervise" a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, following a peace deal brokered by President Donald Trump, senior US officials said.
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US military's Central Command, "will initially have 200 people on the ground. His role will be to oversee, to observe, to ensure that there are no violations," a senior official told reporters.
Military officials from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and possibly the UAE will be integrated into the team, he added. A second official said that “there are no US troops going into Gaza.”
Source: skai.gr
