Gaza ceasefire set for Sunday morning after Israeli cabinet approves hostage deal

• When it came time to vote, 24 ministers voted in favor and 8 ministers voted against, an Israeli cabinet member told Axios.
• The Qatari government and the IDF announced the ceasefire will begin on Sunday 8:30am local time (1:30am ET).
• Under Israeli law, Palestinian prisoners can't be released from prison without a government vote and a 24-hour period for the public to appeal to the courts.

Zoom in: The IDF has already started redeploying some forces in Gaza moving them outside on the enclave or east towards the buffer zone on the Gaza-Israel border ahead of the ceasefire.

• The release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners will begin on Sunday, 4pm local time (9am ET), the Israeli prime minister's office said.
• Three Israeli women being held as hostages will be released by Hamas and 90 Palestinian women and teenagers will be released from Israeli prisons.

Yes, but: An Israeli official told Axios on Saturday that Hamas has not yet delivered the list of the three women.

• "Qatar's prime minister must ensure that Hamas abides by the agreement and provides the list of the hostages today," the official said.
• Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel will not move forward with the hostage and ceasefire deal until we receive the list of hostages to be released, as agreed.
• "Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement. The sole responsibility is on Hamas," Netanyahu said.

Context: To get to a ceasefire deal, a cabinet meeting was moved up from Saturday night at the urging of the director of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency, Ronen Bar, according to an Israeli official.

By the numbers: According to the Israeli cabinet decision, 33 Israeli hostages will be released over 42 days of ceasefire.

• In return Israel will release 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in addition to 1167 Palestinians from Gaza who were not involved in the October 7 attack but have been detained by the IDF in Gaza since October 8.

According to the Israeli cabinet decision, Palestinian prisoners who were convicted of murder, production of weapons that were used for murder or initiated an attack that resulted in murder will be released only to Gaza or abroad and will not be allowed to go back to the West Bank or to Israel for at least three years.

• During the cabinet decision the heads of the Israeli intelligence services and the IDF said they support the deal, Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said.
• Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar and Minister for strategic affairs Ron Dermer told the cabinet that implementing the deal would improve relations with the U.S. — it will end relations with the Biden administration on a positive note and start relations with the Trump administration on the right foot, Saar told Axios.

Driving the news: The Israeli security cabinet convened on Friday morning local time, ahead of the full cabinet meeting, and was briefed on the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.

• Netanyahu said during the meeting that he received guarantees from both the Biden administration and the Trump administration that if negotiations over the second phase of the ceasefire and hostage deal fail, and Israel's security demands are not met, Israel would be able to resume the war in Gaza with U.S. backing, an Netanyahu aide tells Axios.

Behind the scenes: Netanyahu's remarks at the security cabinet meeting came after ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he and the cabinet members from his party would vote against the deal but not leave Netanyahu's coalition.

• Sources in Smotrich's party claimed he received assurances from Netanyahu that the war would resume after the initial 42-day ceasefire and the humanitarian aid delivery system for Gaza would be changed to prevent Hamas from controlling the aid.
• Meanwhile, Netanyahu's ultranationalist minister of national security, Itamar Ben Gvir, held a press conference on Thursday and announced he would resign and his party would leave the coalition if the deal was approved. He said he would be ready to rejoin the coalition if Israel were to resume fighting in Gaza after the 42-day ceasefire in the first phase of the deal.
• Both Smotrich and Ben Gvir voted against the deal at the security cabinet meeting, but it still passed easily.

State of play: Ahead of the cabinet meeting Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz signed an order to release all Israeli settlers who were under administrative detention for allegedly committing and planning terror attacks against Palestinians.

• An Israeli security official who was alarmed by the decision said Katz made it for domestic political considerations and without consultation with the Shin Bet.
• "The decision gives backwind for terrorism and will destabilize the security situation in the West Bank," the official warned.

Go deeper: How two feuding presidents combined to get a Gaza deal

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the latest details about the deal.