While Israel debates Gaza peace deal, Arab nations press for enforcing ceasefire ‘without any delay’

As the Israeli cabinet meets to vote on the Gaza ceasefire, Egypt, one of the mediators between Israel and Hamas, and other Arab nations are pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the deal “without any delay”.

Talking to The Associated Press, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said a deal had been reached thanks to “deep involvement” by American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, including officials from the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

“We have a deal. What’s very important is to start implementation. What we are doing now is to push for final approval and implementation, without any delay," he said.

Egypt has added responsibility as a mediator to ensure that the deal is implemented properly. Its capital Cairo is the location where any future talks on the truce deal with the US and Qatar will be held. Abdelatty said the talks were set to begin soon, and that the mediators would have an “operation room” overseeing the deal in the Egyptian capital.

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“We are fully committed to fulfill our own commitments and we are expecting that others to fulfill their own commitments,” he said.

Meanwhile, Egyptian and Israeli officials said an Israeli delegation from the military and its Shin Bet internal security agency were going to Cairo Friday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

‘Technical’ talks on Gaza in Cairo

Cairo is currently hosting Qatari, American and Israeli delegations to discuss “mechanisms” for implementing the Gaza truce deal that is supposed to take effect on Sunday.

Citing an informed Egyptian source, Al-Qahera News said that technical meetings started in Cairo Friday “to put mechanisms for implementing the ceasefire agreement in Gaza with the participation of Egyptian, Qatari, US and Israeli teams”.

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During Friday’s talks, negotiators agreed on facilitating the entry of 600 aid trucks per day into the Gaza Strip as per the deal, the source said.

Israel’s security cabinet meets

The Israeli security cabinet is holding a vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

If approved, the agreement would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war and initiate on Sunday the release of hostages held in the territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Under the deal struck by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, the ensuing weeks should also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

With inputs from agencies