Right-wing Minister Opposite, Israeli Government Agrees First Phase Of Ceasefire Deal In Gaza

JAKARTA - The Israeli government approved a first-stage ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, while the far-right minister expressed his opposition.

The Israeli Prime Minister's office said in a statement that the government approved the agreement in a cabinet vote.

Ratification, after an agreement reached Friday morning local time, paved the way for stopping the war in Gaza within 24 hours and the release of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners within 72 hours.

"The government has just approved the framework for the release of all hostages, both alive and dead," wrote an X-language account of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The release of the hostages, in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and the withdrawal of part of the IDF (Israeli military) troops, is the first phase of the US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, quoted from The Times of Israel.

Twenty Israeli hostages are believed to be still alive in Gaza, while 26 people are thought to have died, and the fate of two people is not yet known. Previously, Hamas had indicated evacuating the bodies of the dead may take longer than releasing those who were still alive.

As part of the deal, a fleet of trucks carrying food and medical aid will be allowed into Gaza for civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom have taken refuge in tents after Israeli forces destroyed their homes and razed the entire city to dust.

Most cabinet ministers agreed to the deal, including Minister Opir Sofer of the far-right Zionism party led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, all of whose ministers opposed the deal.

Likewise, all members of the ultranationalist party Otzma Baddit. Right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said his party would oppose the first phase of the ceasefire agreement announced today.

The Ben Gvir Party will not exit the current PM Netanyahu coalition, but warns, if Hamas is not dissolved, Otzma Baddit will "fall the government."

If Ben Gvir and Smotrich leave the current 60-member government, which does not have a parliamentary majority, they will only have 47 seats out of 120 Knesset seats, potentially triggering a new general election.

However, opposition parties have pledged Prime Minister Netanyahu a "security net" to prevent the government from falling as long as the government advances the Gaza deal proposed by President Trump.