Watch live as Israelis gather in Hostage Square, Tel Aviv, on Friday, 17 January, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war-time security cabinet approves a long-awaited ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The cabinet convened at 10:15am (8:15am GMT) to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal set to bring an end to the brutal 15-month conflict this weekend.
Israel’s wider government will now discuss and vote on the ceasefire deal in a final approval after days of wrangling over details.
The first Israeli hostages will be released on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said.
Joe Biden said the first stage would last six weeks from Sunday and see “a full and complete ceasefire”, as he confirmed a deal had been reached on Wednesday.
Up to 33 of the nearly 100 hostages would be reunited with their families and loved ones during this period. At least three would be released each week and the remainder before the end of the six weeks.
Living hostages will be released first, followed by remains of dead hostages. At the same time, Israel will release 30 Palestinian detainees for every civilian hostage and 50 Palestinian detainees for every Israeli female soldier Hamas releases.
The total number of Palestinians released will depend on the hostages released and could be between 990 and 1,650 Palestinian detainees including men, women and children.
Israeli troops will also pull out of all populated areas of Gaza during this stage, Biden said, while “the Palestinians [could] also return to their neighbourhoods in all the areas of Gaza”.
