ISRAEL’S cabinet met to vote on the Gaza ceasefire deal today after the security cabinet recommended approving the agreement earlier.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the first set of the remaining hostages are “expected to be as released as early as Sunday” as part of phase one if the deal is approved.

Under phase one, the remaining hostages would be released in return for more Palestinian prisoners, who are often held in Israeli prisons without a trial.

There would also be a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Some ministers in favour of the ceasefire cast their votes early due to religious reasons under Shabbat, which prevents them from working after dark on Fridays.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Israeli MPs to reject the deal on X.

The outcome was not expected until after the Morning Star went to print.

Israeli forces continued to strike Gaza as the meetings took place, with Gaza’s Civil Defence Agency saying 116 Palestinians have been killed since the deal was announced on Wednesday.

Of those killed, 30 were children and 32 women, the agency said.

The total death toll rose to 46,876 today, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

An aid worker in Deir al-Balah said that people in Gaza are both hopeful and fearful.

Norwegian Refugee Council’s Gavin Kelleher said: “There’s a lot of trauma, there’s a lot of death here in Gaza.

“Three of my own colleagues lost more relatives in the last week alone. So there’s a real sense of desperation that this ceasefire has to work.”

But he said there were still concerns about how quickly people will be able to return to their homes, and whether the ceasefire would move on from phase one.

Phase two negotiations, which would be a permanent end to Israel’s war, will not start until 16 days into the ceasefire.

More than 90 per cent of Gazans do not have enough to eat or clean drinking water and babies are dying of hypothermia “simply because they don’t have adequate shelter,” Mr Kelleher said.

Aid trucks were queuing up at the Egypt border to increase deliveries of much-needed supplies once the ceasefire begins.