Israeli cabinet voted early Friday morning in favor of a Gaza ceasefire deal that will see a halt to the fighting and a prisoner swap.
The Israel occupation forces will now withdraw to new lines inside the Gaza Strip, 72 hours after which Hamas will release all the Israeli captives, as stipulated by the agreement – covering the first phase of United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the approval of the deal but did not immediately provide a vote tally.
Addressing the cabinet, Netanyahu said ‘Israel’ was “about to achieve” the return of its hostages.
“We’ve fought during these two years to achieve our war aims,” said Netanyahu in English, alongside top White House aides Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “A central one of these war aims is to return the hostages, all of the hostages, the living and the dead. And we are about to achieve that goal.”
Netanyahu said “Israel couldn’t have achieved it without the extraordinary help of President Trump and his team, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. They worked tirelessly with Ron [Dermer] and his team, our team. And that, and the courage of our soldiers, to enter Gaza, and combine military and diplomatic pressure that isolated Hamas, I think has brought us to this point.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Donald Trump, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for a US-brokered deal that clears the way for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages https://t.co/rvu8xDFMW9 pic.twitter.com/1E3khBfuue
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 10, 2025
Witkoff and Kushner took part in negotiations over the deal and both attended the cabinet meeting that approved it.
Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian earlier said that Israel does not plan to release the imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of the exchange, and claimed ‘Israel’ would still control more than half of Gaza after moving its forces back as required under the deal.
“Everlasting Peace”
Trump said in remarks earlier on Thursday that the Israeli captives will be released from Gaza on “Monday or Tuesday”, and that he hopes to attend a ceasefire signing ceremony in Egypt.
While the full details of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, approved by Israel and Hamas, remain unclear, Trump has said his plan will bring “everlasting peace” and wide-scale reconstruction in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel’s two-year war.
“You have tremendous wealth in that part of the world by certain countries, and just a small part of that, what they make, will do wonders for Gaza,” Trump said, without giving details of a specific reconstruction plan.
“I think you’re going to see some tremendous countries stepping up and putting up a lot of money and taking care of things,” he said.
Far-Right Ministers Oppose Agreement
The agreement was opposed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock of the Religious Zionism party also voted against the deal, although Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer, also a member of the party, voted in favor.
Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar)
