Israeli Cabinet approves ceasefire with Hamas; 50 hostages to be released

Israel's Cabinet on Wednesday (November 22) approved a ceasefire deal with Hamas to temporarily halt a devastating war that has stretched on for over six weeks and release dozens of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas is to free 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip over a four-day period, the Israeli government said Wednesday. It said it would extend the lull by an additional day for every 10 hostages released.

The government said the first hostages to be released would be women and children.

Ahead of Wednesday morning's Cabinet vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would resume its offensive against Hamas after the ceasefire expires.

It was not immediately clear when the truce would go into effect.

Netanyahu convened his Cabinet for the vote late Tuesday. The meeting stretched well into the early hours of Wednesday, underscoring the sensitivity of a proposal that would suspend an Israeli offensive against Hamas before it has reached its goals.

Ahead of the vote, Netanyahu sought to assure the government ministers that the break was only tactical, vowing to resume the offensive after the truce expires. Top security officials also attended the meeting.

"We are at war, and we will continue the war," Netanyahu said. "We will continue until we achieve all our goals." Israel has vowed to continue the war until it destroys Hamas' military capabilities and returns all hostages.

Netanyahu said that during the lull, intelligence efforts will be maintained, allowing the army to prepare for the next stages of battle. He said the battle would continue until "Gaza will not threaten Israel." The announcement came as Israeli troops battled Palestinian militants in an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza and around hospitals overcrowded with patients and sheltering families.

The deal does not mean an end to the war, which erupted on October 7 after Hamas militants stormed across the border into southern Israel and killed at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped some 240 others.

In weeks of Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and minors, and more than 2,700 others are missing and believed to be buried under rubble, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry says it has been unable to update its count since November 11 because of the health sector's collapse.

Gaza health officials say the toll has risen sharply since, and hospitals continue to report deaths from daily strikes, often dozens at a time.

The Health Ministry in the West Bank last reported a toll of 13,300 but stopped providing its own count Tuesday without giving a reason.

(With agency inputs)