The ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is set to begin on Sunday as planned, despite the need for negotiators to sign the agreement at the last minute, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference.
Israel has postponed a cabinet meeting to ratify a ceasefire with Hamas, blaming the militant group, even as Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza with airstrikes killing 77 people in a single day.
"On the ceasefire, I have confidence and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday. It's not surprising that in a process, in a negotiation, it's been so challenging and so fraught. I've been on the phone, in one way or another, with our friends from Qatar, and I'm very confident that this is moving forward and we will see the beginning of implementation of the agreement on Sunday," said Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State.
Meanwhile, the Israeli cabinet is scheduled to meet on Friday to approve the ceasefire agreement and the release of the hostages, an Israeli official said, citing CNN. The cabinet meeting will come a day later than originally planned, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said last-minute obstacles were still being resolved at the negotiating table in Doha. The decision to meet on Friday indicates that those outstanding issues have now been resolved.
A US official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the last remaining disagreement was over the identities of some prisoners Hamas wanted released.
Israeli government spokesman David Menzer told reporters that Israeli negotiators were in Doha to reach a solution. The complex ceasefire agreement emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the United States to end the war that began with deadly Hamas attacks on Israel and saw Israeli forces kill tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastate Gaza. (A2 Televizion)
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