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The Israeli cabinet has publicly ratified a detailed truce agreement that includes the release of all remaining hostages held by the militant group in the Gaza Strip, marking a crucial step toward terminating the devastating two-year war.

US Military Participation in Monitoring the Agreement

Senior officials in the US capital have confirmed that a US defense team of about 200 personnel will be dispatched to the region to "oversee" the cessation of hostilities after both Israel and the militant organization acceded to the initial step of the Trump administration's peace plan.

The role will be to supervise, witness, guarantee there are no breaches.

Immediate Enactment Schedule

As per an Israeli representative, the ceasefire should start without delay following administration approval. The Israeli defense forces was allocated 24 hours to withdraw its units to an established boundary. Afterward, the hostages held in the Gaza Strip would be freed within 72 hours, a cabinet representative announced.

Major Events

• Hamas' overseas-based Gaza head Khalil Al-Hayya claimed he had secured assurances from the US and other intermediaries that the conflict was finished.
• The leader of the American armed forces' Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, would at first have 200 people on the location, a high-ranking American representative said.
• Egyptian, from Qatar, from Turkey and possibly Emirati defense personnel would be embedded in the team, the US official noted. A another official clarified that "American troops are scheduled to go into the Gaza Strip".
• Israeli strikes carried on in the time leading up to the Israel's cabinet's decision. Detonations were seen on the previous day in north Gaza, and a airstrike on a structure in Gaza City claimed the lives of at least two individuals and left more than 40 trapped under wreckage, according to Gazan civil defence.
• No fewer than 11 fatally injured Gazan residents and another 49 who were injured were brought at hospitals over the past 24 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry stated.
• Israeli forces was targeting targets that posed a danger to its troops as they reposition, stated an Israeli armed forces authority who spoke on condition of non-disclosure. Hamas criticized Israel over the attack, arguing that Netanyahu was attempting to "rearrange the circumstances and disrupt" efforts by mediators to end the war.
• 20 Israel's captives are still thought to be surviving in the Gaza Strip, while 26 are believed deceased, and the fate of 2 is unclear.
• Former President Trump administration broader 20-point peace plan includes many pending issues, such as whether and how Hamas will surrender weapons. But both parties appeared nearer than they have been in many months to concluding the conflict, which was triggered by the militant group's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were murdered and 251 abducted, triggering an Israel's counterattack that has left more than 67,000 Palestinians dead and nearly 170,000 wounded, as per Gaza's health authority.
• Israeli Defense Forces said Mordechai Nachmani, a 26-year-old reservist military personnel, was fatally injured in a Hamas marksman incident in Gaza City on Thursday late in the day. This took place after Israel's and Hamas negotiators agreed to a agreement in Cairo to ensure the release of the captives, though the ceasefire part of the arrangement had not yet been implemented.
• Israel's outlet a major Israeli newspaper has published the names of Gazan prisoners it thinks could be released as part of the new agreement. 250 Gazan prisoners who are completing life sentences are expected to be released as part of the agreement, out of approximately 290 currently held in Israel's prison. 22 young individuals will also be freed.

Global Reaction

There exist no plans for UK or EU forces to be in Gaza after the ceasefire agreement, the United Kingdom's foreign secretary Yvette Cooper declared. "It is not our arrangement, there's no intentions to do that," she commented on Friday morning.

She noted: "But there is an swift plan for the United States to head what is practically like a supervision procedure to make sure that this occurs on the ground, to supervise the process with hostage liberation, and also ensuring that this first step is executed, getting the relief in place, but they have also made very explicit that they expect the military personnel on the ground to be provided by neighbouring countries, and that is something that we do foresee to occur."

Cooper stated she hopes the ceasefire will be enacted "without delay". Based on the foreign secretary, there are global negotiations on an "worldwide security unit" and the UK was persisting to assist in other methods, including considering securing commercial funding into the Gaza Strip.

Community Reaction

Israeli citizens and Palestinians alike rejoiced after the truce deal was announced, while there was joy but also concern in Gaza amid concerns the new agreement could collapse.