The Israeli government has approved a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, paving the way for it to take effect on Sunday.

The decision came after several hours of discussions that lasted into the night. Two far-right ministers voted against the deal.

The security cabinet had earlier recommended ratification of the deal, saying it “supports the achievement of war objectives,” according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

The prime minister’s office and Hamas both said they had finalized the details of the deal, which came just hours after it was announced two days by mediators from Qatar, the United States and Egypt.

Under the deal, in a six-week first phase, 33 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza after 15 months of conflict will be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Israeli troops will also withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza, displaced Palestinians will be allowed to begin returning to their homes, and hundreds of aid trucks will be allowed into the area every day.

The second phase of negotiations will begin on the 16th, when the remaining hostages will be released, all Israeli troops will withdraw, and “sustainable calm will be restored.”

The third and final phase will involve the reconstruction of Gaza, which could take years, and the return of the bodies of the remaining hostages.

Qatar said the hostages released in the first phase would include “civilian women, female soldiers, children, the elderly, and sick and injured civilians.”

Israel said it expected to release three hostages on the first day of the ceasefire, with more to be released periodically in small groups over the next six weeks.

The Israeli military launched an operation to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, 2023 that killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Hamas was seized by Israel , the United States and other countries have listed it as a terrorist organization.

Since then, more than 46,870 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Most of the 2.3 million people have also been displaced, causing widespread destruction and severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter as aid is difficult to reach those in need.

Israel says 94 hostages are still being held by Hamas, 34 of whom are presumed dead. In addition, four Israelis were abducted before the war, two of whom died.

Before the Israeli government voted on the deal, Miki Zohar, culture minister of Netanyahu’s Likud party, said: “It was a very difficult decision, but we decided to support it because seeing that we It is very important for us to have all the children, men and women back home.”

“We hope to be able to complete the work in Gaza in the future,” he added.

But far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gwi said he was “shocked” by the details of the deal, which included the release of “terrorists serving life sentences” in exchange for hostages, and urged other ministers to join him Vote against it together.

On Thursday, Ben-Gweil announced that his Jewish Power party would withdraw from the governing coalition if the deal is approved. But he said he would not overthrow the government in parliament and would return “if the war against Hamas resumes in full force.”

Another far-right politician opposed to the deal, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said his Religious Zionist party would withdraw if the war did not resume after the first phase.

The three-phase structure also caused division and anxiety among some hostage families. They fear that their relatives will be abandoned in Gaza after the first phase is completed and urge the government to ensure that the second and third phases are also implemented.

Einav Zangauker, whose 25-year-old son Matan was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, said: “Our relatives were abandoned in captivity It has been 469 days and now there is finally hope.”

“This deal must be followed through to bring everyone home and end the war. It is in Israel’s interest to end the war, bring everyone back and return to normalcy.”

The government was due to hold a vote on Thursday, but the meeting was postponed after Netanyahu accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the deal – a charge Hamas denies.

In the early hours of Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that an Israeli negotiating team in Doha had finalized the deal.

Hamas also issued a statement saying “obstacles” related to the terms of the agreement had been resolved at dawn.

A source close to Hamas told AFP the first three hostages to be released will be women.

On Friday, Israel’s Justice Ministry released a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners it said would be the first to be released in a hostage exchange. According to AFP, they included 69 women, 16 men and 10 minors.

A senior Egyptian official told the BBC that a meeting was also held in Cairo on Friday to discuss mechanisms to implement the deal.

The official said all necessary arrangements had been agreed, including the establishment of a joint operations room to ensure compliance, including representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, Palestine and Israel.

Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera news television also quoted sources as saying they had agreed to facilitate the entry of 600 aid trucks per day during the ceasefire.

This would require an increase of more than 14 times from the daily average of 43 trucks reported by the United Nations in January. But Rick Pieperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative in Gaza, said it was “a very real possibility” if the Rafah crossing and other crossings to Egypt were opened.

The World Health Organization also plans to provide some prefabricated hospitals to support the hard-hit health care sector. Half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are inoperable and others are only partially operational.

There has been no respite for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since a ceasefire was announced late Wednesday night.

Gaza’s Hamas civil defense agency said a total of 117 Palestinians, including 32 women and 30 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since then.

Tamer Abu Shaaban said his young niece was killed by missile shrapnel while playing in the courtyard of a school in Gaza City where her displaced family were sheltering.

“Is this what they call a truce?” he told Reuters as he stood next to her body at the morgue. “What did this young girl, this child do to deserve this?”

The Israeli military said Thursday afternoon that it carried out attacks on 50 “terror targets” across Gaza the previous day and took measures to mitigate harm to civilians.