Netanyahu says cabinet will not meet Thursday for Gaza truce vote

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his cabinet will not meet as scheduled to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, blaming Hamas for causing a “last-minute crisis”.

The Israeli cabinet was set to meet on Thursday morning to ratify the deal, with the ceasefire scheduled to take effect from Sunday.

“Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions,” a statement from Netanyahu said. “The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”

Following the Israeli announcement, senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Risheq, said in a statement that the Palestinian group was committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.

According to Israel’s broadcaster Kan, one of the reasons behind the postponement of the meeting could be that far-right Finance Minister

Bezalel Smotrich had not yet informed Netanyahu whether his party will leave the government in protest against the planned agreement.

Earlier, several Israeli families, together with supporters, staged a sit-in in front of Netanyahu’s office, calling for the cabinet to not sign the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

“Do not sign a deal that means surrender, sacrificing the remaining kidnapped and giving up Israel’s security,” Yehoshua Shani, the father of Captain Uri Shani who was killed during the fighting, said.

“Come here before the cabinet meeting, and join us to ask the prime minister to stop and not sign a surrender deal with Hamas.”

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, said there weren’t “any sort of leaks about Hamas going back” on what they agreed upon in the ceasefire deal.

“What we are seeing rather is the internal conflict within Netanyahu’s government, specifically among the Religious Zionist Party,” she said.

“This is Smotrich’s party. He has been threatening to bolt the coalition if this deal came to a vote, saying this was a bad deal for Israel and that his party would need guarantees that Israel will go back to all-out fighting… after the initial phase [of the agreement].”

Netanyahu has faced great domestic pressure to bring home the scores of captives in Gaza, but his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he makes too many concessions.

Haaretz has reported that the Israeli security cabinet will now “convene to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal on Friday morning”, citing a senior Israeli source.

“After the security cabinet meeting, the cabinet is expected to vote on the deal. Israeli ministers have not yet been summoned to discuss the deal,” Haaretz reported.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday expressed confidence that the agreement would go into effect on Sunday.

“I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,” Blinken told a news conference in Washington, DC.

Attacks on Gaza continue

In Gaza, Israeli forces intensified their bombardment across the Strip, with at least 81 people killed in the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Another 200 were wounded, the ministry added.

In one attack, two people were killed and six injured after Israeli forces targeted a school sheltering displaced people in the al-Zeitoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, Civil Defence said.

One deadly Israeli attack following the announcement of the ceasefire deal killed 20 Palestinians in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

Gaza’s Civil Defence said that in the an-Nazla area of Jabalia, the victims included two children and two women.

“As we were celebrating the ceasefire announcement, the Israeli warplanes took us by surprise. I woke up to find myself lying in hospital with head injuries,” a boy with a bandaged head told Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili at the site of the attack.

“All my brothers and my aunts were killed. I miraculously survived as a civil defence member pulled me from under the rubble.”

Abdullah Khadr told Al Jazeera that his family had gathered to hear the ceasefire announcement.

“As I was about to sleep, I heard a loud explosion. I ran out to find the whole building next to me levelled to the ground; nothing but rubble, dust and smoke rising to the dark skies,” he said.

“I heard screams from under the concrete ruins. Some civil defence members rushed to our help, and with our bare hands managed to pull out the dead and a few survivors.”

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 46,788 people and wounded 110,453 since October 7, 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.