After 15 months of bloody war in Gaza, Palestine will end. The Israeli National Security Council approved the ceasefire agreement on Friday (January 17). Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that the ceasefire may begin as of next Sunday.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed the Security Council’s decision to approve the ceasefire agreement. “Now, if the full Cabinet approves, the ceasefire will begin from Sunday,” he said on social media. But he also noted that the agreement would bring major challenges to Israel.
If the ceasefire agreement is finally successfully implemented, it will bring relief to the people of Gaza who are in dire straits. At the same time, the ongoing instability in the Middle East may also decrease. Israel has been involved in a conflict with various pro-Iranian armed groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq over the Gaza War.
Qatar, the mediating country, presented the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas regarding the ceasefire in Gaza last Wednesday. A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office on Friday said that the implementation of the agreement and the release of the hostages will proceed according to the planned framework after the approval of the Council of Ministers and the Israeli government. The hostage release is expected to begin on Sunday.
There was only one brief ceasefire at the beginning of the violence in Gaza since October 2023. Thereafter there were rounds of ceasefire talks. But there was no hope. Representatives of Hamas and Israel recently agreed to a ceasefire in an attempt to reach an agreement. However, many people at the highest level of the Israeli government disagreed.
The main problem is that the Israeli government is right. For example, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gavier threatened to resign if the ceasefire agreement was approved in a cabinet vote. Finance Minister Bezalel Samresh also made a similar threat. However, despite the opposition of the hardliners, the majority of government ministers support the agreement, the Security Council decision showed.
Israel’s security cabinet is scheduled to vote on the agreement on Thursday. But Hamas refused to accept some terms of the deal, claiming it was delayed by one day.