TEL AVIV, January 17. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has confirmed that Israel, Hamas, Qatar and the US signed a deal to declare a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release Israeli hostages, the Jerusalem Post reports.
According to the newspaper, Netanyahu "has been informed of the agreement, and instructed to convene the political-security cabinet, followed by a government meeting to approve the plan."
"Currently, the government plenum is set to vote on the measure on Saturday, which would delay the release of the first three hostages until Monday, rather than Sunday as initially planned," the Jerusalem Post notes.
According to Axios, the signing was delayed for one day because of disagreements about the final list of Palestinian prisoners to be released as part of the deal. Hamas demanded to swap several military leaders serving life sentences for planning and orchestrating terrorist attacks, the news website pointed out.