Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Trump Ceasefire/Hostage Deal; Hamas: The War Is Over
Oct. 10—After nearly six hours of contentious debate, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved the first phase of the Trump Plan for peace in Gaza, which will put a ceasefire into effect by 9:00 AM GMT this morning and start the clock ticking for the release of the 20 living hostages and the massive release of 2,000 Palestinians by Israel, including 250 prisoners serving life sentences for involvement in killing Israelis.
There are no published reports of the cabinet debate, but sources report that President Donald Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner flew from the talks on the Trump Plan in Egypt to participate in the discussions. They were sent to give presidential support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, who Trump and Witkoff forced to accept Trump’s plan to end the slaughter he had unleashed in Gaza following Hamas’s massacre attack on innocent Israelis Oct. 7, 2023--which slaughter has already claimed more than 70,000 Palestinian lives, including 30,000 women and children.
Netanyahu Expected to Order IDF Withdrawal
Netanyahu, the Butcher of Gaza, had continued the bombardment of Gaza, mostly by air, right up to the vote. He was expected to give the order to all Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to cease all operations in Gaza by this morning and to begin their withdrawal to the lines specified in a map provided by Trump but adjusted in the negotiations to still give Israel control over 50% of the Strip. The IDF will continue to withdraw according to a timetable being negotiated but following Trump’s edict that there must be no foot-dragging.
But as sources reported, reluctant or not, Bibi’s delivery of his government’s approval of the deal means that the Trump Plan is now operative. Sources close to the White House say that once the ceasefire goes into effect and the fighting and killing stop, Trump has no intention of letting it start up again. While Netanyahu talks of Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas or any other threat, Trump believes that defense is best served by the full implementation of the Plan, which he sees as an endpoint—the possible creation of a Palestinian State, something that Bibi has said he will never support.
Hamas Declares End of War and Signs On
As of this morning, White House sources say the war is over. Hamas political leader and chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya declared Oct. 9 that the war in Gaza is over after receiving assurances from the U.S. and other nations about the ceasefire deal brokered by Trump. Hamas signed onto the deal yesterday, although there will be a formal signing early next week, in which Trump, who is traveling to the region Oct. 12, plans to participate.
Al-Hayya stated that Hamas will cease all military operations in accordance with the ceasefire and will implement the hostage-prisoner exchange as specified in the modified agreement, in which the living hostages will be released within 48 hours of the ceasefire. Hamas will be given additional time to locate the remains of the 28 hostages who died in captivity or in the Oct. 7 attacks, but whose bodies were taken to Gaza. Hamas has maintained that many of those hostages were killed by Israeli bombardment and their bodies are under rubble. Hamas has agreed to allow a task force of Israelis and others to look for the bodies.
“We acted responsibly in relation to Trump’s plan,” Al-Hayya said, according to the Times of Israel. “Today we announce an agreement to end the war, [see Israel] withdraw from the Strip and carry out a prisoner exchange.”
U.S. and Mediators Guarantee Permanent Ceasefire
Al-Hayya said Hamas received guarantees from the U.S., Arab mediators, and Turkey that the war in Gaza has ended permanently. Sources close to the White House report that such guarantees were personally authorized by Trump and transmitted to the mediators by Witkoff. Haaretz has confirmed from diplomatic sources that the U.S. and Qatar gave Hamas some form of guarantee that Israel won’t resume strikes in Gaza after the first phase of the ceasefire.
Al-Hayya also said that along with the end of the war, the deal will pave the way to reopen a key crossing with Egypt and see all jailed Palestinian women and children released by Israeli authorities, which is supposed to occur in the first phase.
Al-Hayya repeated Hamas’s expression of "full confidence" in the leadership of President Trump and his commitment to fully implement the deal.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told Fox News that Israel is committed to Trump’s plan and has no intention of resuming the war once the deal is implemented.
Barghouti Excluded from Prisoner Release List
Meanwhile, Haaretz reports, citing Arab sources, that Hamas and Israel have agreed upon a list of the 250 life-term prisoners that will be released. But a spokesman for Netanyahu’s office reported that the popular leader of Fatah, Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms, is not on that list, although he was included in the list submitted by Hamas.
Sources report that Netanyahu personally vetoed Barghouti’s release, in part as a sop to his lunatic National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who recently visited the Palestinian leader in his prison cell to threaten to kill him. But these sources say that Bibi does not want to release him because he is the most likely leader of a Palestinian state, enjoying popular support and the respect of all Palestinian factions, and would be considered a possible successor to the elderly Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. These sources report that Barghouti has expressed his support for the Trump Plan, if it is fully implemented. They say that Palestinians may appeal directly to Trump to secure the Fatah leader’s release.
CENTCOM to Oversee Stabilization Force
There are many points in the Trump Plan beyond the hostage release phase that still must be spelled out through negotiation. Those discussions are expected to continue in Egypt until they are resolved. Sources say that one of the sticking points—about the so-called International Stabilization Force (ISF), which will police both the deal and Gaza until a Palestinian force can be created—has been resolved. The sources report that Hamas has agreed to U.S. control of that force, and yesterday Trump announced that the U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) will oversee the initial stages of the ISF deployment into the Gaza Strip, with three or four other nations expected to contribute troops. CENTCOM’s commander, Navy Adm. Brad Cooper will “initially have 200 people on the ground”—though no American forces will go into Gaza, U.S. officials told reporters on a White House-organized call.
The American military role was described as coordinating troops provided by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey—and managing deconfliction with the Israelis. “[Cooper’s] role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations or incursions—everybody is worried about the other side. So much of this is going to be oversight,” one U.S. official said.
“Embedded in his team of 200 people will be probably a bunch of people from the Egyptian armed forces who will help, the Qatari armed forces who will help, as well as the Turks and probably the Emirati."
Cooper attended talks that led to Wednesday’s diplomatic breakthrough involving a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
Trump himself deflected questions on the likely composition of the force, saying yesterday afternoon in the Oval Office that it was “to be determined.”
Trump’s Upcoming Visit and Nobel Speculation
Meanwhile, the region awaits Trump’s trip, when he is expected almost everywhere to receive a hero’s welcome. He has accepted an invitation to speak to the Knesset, the first American President to do so since 2008. The Hostages and Missing Families forum sent a letter to Trump, inviting him to give an address in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square. "We simply need the opportunity to look you in the eye and express what words alone cannot fully convey: that you gave us back our families, and with them, our hope," the letter read.
There might be an even bigger event. Sources have reported that, if it can be arranged, Hamas has offered to turn the hostages over directly to Trump when they are released. Trump has not commented on this, nor would anyone expect, for security reasons, that such a plan would be announced. However, Trump did tell reporters that he would very much want to visit Gaza on this trip.
And there is still the issue of Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize. The committee is to make its announcement later today.
Writing in Haaretz yesterday, Rawan Suleiman reported: "Hours after U.S. President Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed on the first phase of the deal, music was heard at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza; people were dancing. A resident of Deir al-Balah, displaced from northern Gaza, said: 'We have been waiting for this day to come, for the bloodshed to stop, so we can think about our future and our children's future. We starved and were displaced about 12 times. We did not sleep all night, waiting for this moment when the war would end. For 700 days, we lived under death. Every second, every hour, every minute, we expected it to come for us. This is a happy day. We want to return to our homes, rebuild our lives, and care for our children's future.'"