US ‘confident’ of ceasefire deal despite Israel delaying vote
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Benjamin Netanyahu says a deal to return Hamas-held hostages in the Gaza Strip has been reached. The Israeli Prime Minister said he will convene his security cabinet on Friday and then the government to approve the agreement. It could be approved as early as Friday morning and would bring an end to 15 months of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Confirmation of a deal comes a day after Mr Netanyahu’s office had said there were last-minute snags in talks to free hostages in return for a ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners. Mr Netanyahu accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel “in an effort to extort last-minute concessions”.
A senior Hamas official told AFP there was “no basis” to Israeli allegations and that Hamas remained committed to the deal announced on Wednesday evening. Earlier on Thursday the US said that the deal was not complete but it was “confident” that Hamas and Israel will reach a ceasefire.
Following a day of conflicting statements, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said the two sides were bridging the gaps and that he “fully expects” that the implementation of the agreement will begin on Sunday. “It is not exactly surprising that in a negotiation this challenging, this fraught, you may get a loose end. We are tying up that loose end as we speak,” Mr Blinken said on Thursday night.
But while families of hostages in Israel were anxious about the sudden complications, John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said the US team on the ground in the Middle East was working with the Israelis “to iron all this out and flatten it and get it moving forward”.
