After a six-week ceasefire between Isreal and Hamas was agreed to on Wednesday, Israeli leadership postponed finalizing the decision, accusing Hamas of “reneging on details” made in the agreement, according to The Times of Israel.
“Hamas is reneging on the understandings and creating a last-minute crisis that is preventing an agreement,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, The Times of Israel reported. “The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”
But Hamas leadership denied Netanyahu’s claim and say they are committed to the agreement, per Fox News.
The Israeli cabinet is now positioned to meet on Friday — a day later than initially scheduled — to confirm the three-phase agreement, which would begin on Sunday. Despite the delay, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Thursday that he is confident Phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement will go into effect on Sunday.
“Look, it’s not exactly surprising that in a process, in a negotiation that has been this challenging and this fraught, you may get a loose end. We’re tying up that loose end as we speak,” Blinken said, according to CNN.
Despite last-minute disputes, “I’m very confident that this is moving forward and we’ll see the start of implementation of the agreement on Sunday,” he added.
In a press release, The United States Jewish Federation of Utah said they welcomed the ceasefire agreement where dozens of hostages are expected to be released and hopefully “allow Israel a path forward to protect the safety and security of its citizens.”
“There is much work to be done and significant uncertainty ahead, but we are hopeful that the first phase of this agreement will pave the way for the remaining hostages to be reunited with their family, for hostilities to end, and for an era of security and rebuilding for both Israel and her neighbors.”
Ceasefire agreement: Phase 1 to take effect on Sunday
In an ongoing effort between Qatar, Egypt and the U.S., negotiations sparked hope that the 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is the beginning of the end of a so-far 15-month war. The war began Oct. 7, 2023, when a Hamas-led attack killed 1,200 Israelis and they took hundreds hostage.
The first phase will last six weeks and involve a prisoner exchange that includes the release of American hostages. The agreement provides for the release of 33 Hamas hostages in exchange for hundreds of imprisoned Palestinians, according to The New York Times. It also includes 600 truckloads a day of much-needed humanitarian relief to the Gaza Strip, where the brunt of the war has taken place.
Sigrid Kaag, the United Nation’s senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told CNN there is concern gang disturbances could impact the supplies getting into Gaza.
“I fear that in the first days after the formal announcement and start of a ceasefire, security conditions on the ground, as well as our ability to deliver in as free a manner as possible, they might be impacted,” Kaag said. “But this doesn’t stop us, and it certainly doesn’t deter us.”
In the last 24 hours, Israel airstrikes over Gaza have caused at least 81 Palestinian casualties and injured close to 200, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported, per CNN, making it the largest daily death toll in the last 11 days of the war.
The Israeli military said in the past day, it “conducted strikes on approximately 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip,” CNN added. The Israel Defense Forces told CNN a Hamas militant involved in the Nova Music Festival attack, the deadliest incident on Oct. 7, was among those killed.
Trump and Biden take credit for agreement
In his last Oval Office address as president, Joe Biden credited his administration with advancing a resolution to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“This plan was developed and negotiated by my team, and will be largely implemented by the incoming administration,” Biden said. “That’s why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed, because that’s how it should be, working together as Americans.”
Biden’s envoy, Brett McGurk, and President-elect Donald J. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, have both been present during ceasefire negotiations, according to Reuters.
Much of the public credit has done to incoming President Donald Trump, comparing his week heading into office to President Ronald Reagan’s first days in the White House, which included the release of 52 American hostages from Iran the day before he entered office in 1981.
Since being elected in November, Trump has repeatedly demanded that Hamas release American hostages. Following his 2024 presidential win, he warned Hamas that “If those hostages aren’t back by the time I’m back in office, all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good frankly for anyone. All hell will break out.”
Darren Davis, a political science professor at the University of Notre Dame, told Newsweek that a hostage release could boost his approval. However, unlike Reagan, the U.S. is much more divided politically than in the 1980s.
“Although President Reagan may have received a boost in presidential approval — rally around the flag effect — from the Israel hostage crisis in the 1980s, the country was not in era of political polarization,” Davis said. “That is, Democrats may not be as willing to give President Trump credit as they did with President Reagan.”
“President Trump will likely receive a marginal boost, mostly from lukewarm partisans on both sides. I do not expect any major swings in presidential approval if America is not directly involved,” he added.