The Israeli Cabinet announced on October 10 (local time) that it had approved a first-phase ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip war.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office stated on the social networking service X (formerly Twitter) that "an agreement for the release of all hostages, including survivors and the deceased, has been approved."
The Israeli Cabinet held a meeting the previous evening to vote on the first-phase ceasefire agreement and reached this decision in the early hours of the day.
The first phase of the peace initiative agreed upon by Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas includes an immediate ceasefire and the exchange and release of hostages and prisoners.
With the approval of the agreement, the Israeli military must withdraw from designated areas of the Gaza Strip within 24 hours. Subsequently, Hamas will release surviving hostages over a 72-hour period and then gradually hand over the bodies of deceased hostages. In exchange for the release of hostages by Hamas, Israel will free 250 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Gaza residents detained since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Currently, of the 251 hostages abducted from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, 47 remain. Of these, 20 are believed to be alive.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects the hostages to be released around October 13 or 14.
However, since Hamas has made clear that it cannot agree to disarmament, the path forward for the agreement to advance to the next phase is expected to be challenging. According to Reuters, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan stated, "No Palestinian will accept disarmament," adding, "Palestinians need weapons and resistance."
Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press and the New York Times, the United States plans to deploy 200 troops to Israel and establish a 'civil-military coordination center' to support and monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. However, according to U.S. officials, American forces do not plan to enter the Gaza Strip.
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