Israeli security council meets to vote on Gaza ceasefire deal

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Israel’s security council met on Friday to vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas after the two warring sides resolved last-minute disputes over the agreement.

The six-week truce is set to begin on Sunday and will involve the release of 33 hostages, a welcome pause in a 15-month conflict in which 46,000 Palestinians and more than 1,000 Israelis have been killed.

But major hurdles remain. Opposition to a deal within Israel is significant — one senior minister has pledged to quit, calling the ceasefire “disastrous” — and even if the agreement is followed to the letter, what follows it is unclear, with the “second stage” of the truce threatening to “throw up even more obstacles than the first,” a Haaretz columnist warned.

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On Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of trying “to extort last-minute concessions” and renege on the deal, claims the group denied.

Netanyahu’s government is also under pressure from far-right allies, with two key parties “bitterly opposed to any deal,” the Financial Times reported.