Israel vows to destroy Hamas after hostage ceasefire deal sealed in late-night war cabinet meeting

Fifty Israeli women and children will be released in a deal which will also see 150 Palestinian women and children released from Israeli jails and an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Family and friends mourn at a funeral service for Captain Arnon Moshe Avraham Benvenisti Vaspi in Rosh Pinna, Israel, on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to pursue his country’s war against Hamas until the terror group is destroyed, despite a dramatic deal that will see 50 Israeli hostages freed over a four-day ceasefire.

In the most important diplomatic breakthrough of the six-week conflict, 50 Israeli women and children will be released in a deal which will also see 150 Palestinian women and children released from Israeli jails and an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The agreement, which could take effect as early as Thursday, followed the Israeli government’s approval of a proposal that had been negotiated for weeks ­between the US, Israel and Hamas and partly mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

The agreement is expected to see the release over four days of 30 children, eight mothers and 12 other women hostages who were among about 240 people taken by Hamas during the terror group’s murderous rampage into Israel on October 7.

During the four-day ceasefire, Israel will also allow the delivery of fuel and other supplies into Gaza to help ease the dire humanitarian crisis caused by a lack of clean water, food, medicine and fuel.

But Mr Netanyahu said the ceasefire did not change Israel’s determination to pursue the war and the destruction of Hamas.

“We are at war, and we’ll continue this war until we meet all our objectives: dismantling Hamas, returning our hostages, and ensuring that in Gaza there will be no one that threatens Israel,” he said.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that continuing the war would increase the prospects of securing the release of more hostages.

“Unless the pressure continues, there will be no way to bring in the next groups (of hostages),” Mr Gallant said. “Therefore, after this phase is exhausted, the IDF will continue in full force to overwhelm Hamas and return the remaining hostages.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong described the hostage deal as “an important and necessary step. But what we must ultimately work towards is long-term enduring peace, and again reiterate that a long-term enduring peace requires a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living securely and prosperously within internationally recognised borders.”

Palestinian children react near a wounded man at a hospital in Beit Lahia following Israeli bombardment on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

Joe Biden welcomed the deal to secure the release of some of the “brave souls” taken during Hamas’ “brutal assault” of October 7.

“Jill (Biden) and I have been keeping all those held hostage and their loved ones close to our hearts these many weeks, and I am extraordinarily gratified that some of these brave souls, who have endured weeks of captivity and an unspeakable ordeal, will be reunited with their families once this deal is fully implemented,” the US President said.

The Zionist Federation of Australia welcomed the impending release of some Israeli hostages as a “tremendous relief”.

“Given how many years Hamas has held previous Israeli captives, that these hostages will be released within two months shows that the Israeli military operation in Gaza is achieving its objectives,” ZFA president Jeremy Leibler said.

Mr Netanyahu’s office said the hostage deal was just the first stage in its commitment to secure the ­release of all hostages held by Hamas.

Smoke billows during an Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

“The government of Israel is committed to bringing all of the hostages home. Tonight, the government approved the outline for the first stage of achieving this goal,” his office said.

It said it would extend the ceasefire for 24 hours for every ten hostages released.

Israel’s cabinet took six hours to approve the hostage deal, debating the morality of the move and the battlefield implications. Mr Netanyahu had previously said any ceasefire would give Hamas an advantage by allowing its militants to regroup after weeks of sustained attack. But the government has been under enormous pressure from the families of the hostages to approve any hostage deal and only two cabinet members voted against the agreement, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Qatar, which helped broker the deal, said the four day ceasefire would allow for a “larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid including fuel designated for humanitarian needs”.

Hamas said that deal meant Israel would cease military activity “in all regions of the Gaza Strip” and “hundreds of trucks for humanitarian, relief, medical and fuel aid” would be allowed in.

Family and friends mourn at a funeral service for Captain Arnon Moshe Avraham Benvenisti Vaspi in Rosh Pinna, Israel, on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

It said Israel would also continue to allow citizens safe passage from northern Gaza to southern Gaza and would halt flights over Gaza except for a six-hour window each day.

“After many days of difficult and complex negotiations, we announce, with the help and blessing of God, that we have reached a humanitarian truce,” the Hamas statement read.

“While we now announce the arrival of the truce agreement, we affirm that our hands will remain on the trigger, and our triumphant brigades will remain on the lookout to defend our people and to defeat the occupation and aggression,” Hamas said.

The 240 hostages taken by Hamas are mostly civilians and come from 29 nations. Only four hostages have so far been released and two are known to have died in captivity.

Israel Defence Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said it was ‘a working assumption’ that Hamas would try to use the ceasefire period to regroup. More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7 according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health authority.

Senator Wong also confirmed that 67 Australians, permanent residents and their families crossed through the Rafah border crossing in the past 24 hours.