Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from right-wing extremist allies over the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip

Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from right-wing extremist allies over the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Thursday of breaking parts of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement in the Gaza Strip, as he faced opposition to the U.S.-brokered deal from his far-right allies.

Israel said it had postponed a Cabinet meeting to approve the deal, but Hamas insisted it was committed to the deal announced by mediators on Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and the prime minister of Qatar, whose countries mediated the talks, announced on Wednesday evening that Hamas and Israel had reached an agreement on a deal ending the 15-month war in Gaza would stop Free the 98 hostages still in captivity.

Trump, who became the first leader to welcome the agreement on Wednesday, put pressure on Israel and Hamas to agree on a deal before his inauguration on Monday.

He has repeatedly warned that there will be “hell to pay” if the hostages are not released by January 20. The ceasefire is scheduled to come into force on Sunday and the first hostages will be released.

But Netanyahu’s government, which relies on support from two far-right parties that bitterly oppose any deal, said the final details still needed to be sorted out, adding on Thursday morning that Hamas was backing down.

“Israel will not set a date for a cabinet and government meeting (to approve the deal) until mediators announce that Hamas has approved all details of the deal,” Netanyahu’s office said.

Netanyahu’s statement came as a member of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionist party said Thursday morning that she could leave the government if she agreed to a deal.

Speaking to Kan Radio, Zvi Sukkot, a lawmaker from the party, said she would “most likely” resign from the government if a deal was approved as her job was to “change Israel’s DNA” and not just make up numbers in the coalition.

Smotrich himself has repeatedly criticized the deal, calling it “bad and dangerous” on Wednesday evening. He said his condition for remaining in government was that Israel could resume the war in Gaza “in full force” after the hostages were released.

The agreement offers hope for an end – and possibly an end – to a brutal war that has become the deadliest chapter in the decades-long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The war has reduced Gaza to rubble, engulfed Israeli society and brought the Middle East to the brink of full-scale war.

If the agreement is implemented as planned, there will initially be a 42-day ceasefire during which 33 hostages, including children, women, the sick and the elderly, will be released at intervals.

In return, Palestinians would be freed from Israeli prisons, an influx of aid would be allowed into the Gaza Strip and there would be a partial Israeli withdrawal from the enclave.

By the 16th day of the ceasefire, Israel and Hamas are expected to begin negotiating the second phase of the deal, which would include the release of the remaining living hostages, a full Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war.

Trump argued that the agreement was a result of his victory in the US presidential election in November, while Biden called it “one of the toughest negotiations I have ever experienced.”

The conflict was sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which fighters from the Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages on the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that killed more than 46,000 people and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.

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