Israel Cabinet approves ceasefire with Hamas that includes release of some hostages

Under the deal, Hamas is to free 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip over a four-day period, the Israeli government said on November 22.

"The release of every additional ten hostages will result in one additional day in the pause," a statement from the government said.

The government said the first hostages to be released would be women and children.

However Israel will continue the war after the ceasefire to "return home all of the hostages, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the State of Israel from Gaza", the statement said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Cabinet for the vote late Tuesday. The meeting stretched well into the early hours Wednesday, underscoring the sensitivity of a proposal that would suspend an Israeli offensive against Hamas before it has reached its goals.

Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus appeared on ABC News and said the IDF would "remain vigilant on the ground".

"It is of course a good development that hopefully 50 Israeli civilians - women and children - will finally come home after 47 days of Hamas captivity," he said.

Col Conricus said the 150 Palestinians to be released by the Israeli government would be women and children, not "heavy terrorists with significant crimes in their records".

Ahead of the vote, Netanyahu sought to assure the government ministers that the break was only tactical, vowing to resume the offensive after the truce expires. Top security officials also attended the meeting.

"We are at war, and we will continue the war," Netanyahu said. "We will continue until we achieve all our goals."

Netanyahu said that during the lull, intelligence efforts will be maintained, allowing the army to prepare for the next stages of battle. He said the battle would continue until "Gaza will not threaten Israel".

The announcement came as Israeli troops battled Palestinian militants in an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza and around hospitals overcrowded with patients and sheltering families.

The deal does not mean an end to the war, which erupted on October 7 after Hamas militants stormed across the border into southern Israel and killed at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped some 240 others.

Oxfam Australia, which has been calling for a ceasefire and is providing humanitarian support in Gaza, described the news as no more than a "welcome respite".

"The next four days will be eaten up by a desperate emergency effort that can offer only very limited relief, not equal to the size of suffering and destruction and ultimately with no sustainability," Oxfam's humanitarian director Marta Valdez Garcia said.

"This is a band-aid that will be ripped off a bleeding wound after five days."

Ms Garcia said the truce must become a lasting ceasefire and allow for unobstructed aid to flow through both Israel and Egypt.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said the news of the release of vulnerable hostages was "an immense relief to the families and the Jewish world".

"That said, anything that favours Hamas and keeps its army of killers and rapists in place for any period of time is a threat to Israel and regional stability," he said.

Mr Ryvchin said he hoped the pause would allow Israeli forces to "regroup and resume their mission".

Activist organisation Palestine Action Group Sydney has said on Facebook the pause would be "temporary relief to many", but called for bigger than ever growth to the protest movement.

"The announcement of a 4 day pause in Israel's genocidal offensive in Gaza means that in just 4 days the Israeli military plans to get back to carpet-bombing Gaza, killing children, attacking hospitals and schools, starving the population and carrying out a 2nd Nakba," the group said.

With Associated Press