Israel's security cabinet on Friday recommended approval of a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, with one more step needed before the deal can be implemented. The deal still needs to be approved by the full Israeli cabinet before implementation is expected to begin on Sunday.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued on Friday night, with the Hamas-run civil defense agency saying 113 Palestinians had been killed since a ceasefire and hostage deal was announced late Wednesday.
Huda Matrabie, a Palestinian woman in northern Gaza, told CBS News partner network BBC News that the prospect of the deal gave her hope, but "with that hope comes real fear." , fearing the agreement could collapse.
“The fear is not just about the immediate danger, but also about the emotional toll: the ongoing uncertainty and the ever-present feeling that our lives are not truly our own,” she said.
Families of the hostages gathered in Tel Aviv on Friday to call for a deal to be finalized.
Michel Illouz, whose 26-year-old son was kidnapped at the Nova Music Festival on October 10, “This deal comes too late for my son Guy, whose life cannot be saved . But he can be taken home and buried here," the man, believed to have died in Gaza, told the crowd gathered on July 7, 2023. "Our work is not done yet. We will not rest until every hostage is home, living or dead. They all need to return to us and to their families."
Israel's security cabinet will meet on Friday to discuss the deal with an Israeli team sent to Qatar to negotiate, with a vote planned for later in the day.
Israeli cabinet ministers initially planned to hold a separate vote on the deal on Saturday, but an Israeli official told CBS News the vote has been postponed until Friday afternoon.
On Friday, several Israeli hospitals were preparing to receive hostages released under the agreement.
At Tel Aviv's Ichilov Medical Center, private wards are being made more comfortable and special food menus are being prepared. Hospitals are erecting privacy barriers. The plan was for the hostages to arrive by helicopter.
Plans are being made at Sheba Hospital to send specialist staff to support the hostages arriving there and arrange for them to have new clothes and toiletries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday that plans to release Gaza hostages and exchange Palestinian prisoners with Israel could begin on Sunday, subject to approval by the security cabinet and the government.
The first phase of the plan, which will last 42 days, will see fighting cease and 33 hostages in Gaza exchanged for up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. The Israeli military in Gaza will also be reduced and humanitarian aid will be significantly increased.