Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams have signed a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Doha, an Arab official from one of the mediating countries confirms to The Times of Israel.

The deal was announced Wednesday, but the negotiating teams continued meeting afterward in order to finalize implementation details, the official says.

A particular point of dispute was over the identities of the Palestinian security prisoners slated for release, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?s office issuing a statement early on Thursday accusing Hamas of reneging on its commitments.

The issue was ultimately resolved by the mediators, allowing the Israeli and Hamas teams to move forward with signing the agreement.

While Israel?s decision-making security cabinet and full cabinet had been originally been slated to vote on the deal on Thursday, Netanyahu insisted on waiting until the agreement was signed before holding a vote.

The security cabinet meeting has now been rescheduled for Friday. A subsequent vote before the full cabinet is also required, but an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that it will only take place on Saturday, in what will likely delay the start of the deal until Monday, instead of the originally planned Sunday.

After the full cabinet vote, a list of Palestinian security prisoners to be freed will be published, and opponents will have 24 hours to petition against these releases to the Supreme Court.

The Israeli official did not provide an explanation for why the full cabinet vote couldn?t take place on Friday as well. However, Channel 12 explained that it was decided by the Prime Minister?s Office that if the original timetable were to be maintained, and a vote to be taken tomorrow, this would mean opponents of the prisoner releases would have almost no time to lodge appeals because of Shabbat. The court is not expected to intervene in the releases.

Channel 12 said judicial sources have made clear that the formal 24-hour period for petitions can be shortened, as happened ahead of the November 2023 truce, and that the intended Sunday start of the deal need not be affected, but that the Prime Minister?s Office was not persuaded.

The deal is currently scheduled to take effect on Sunday at 12:15 p.m., with the first three hostages to be released soon after. If the Prime Minister?s Office sticks to its reported new, delayed timetable, the first hostage releases would go ahead on Monday ? the day of US President-elect Donald Trump?s inauguration.

While far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir are expected to vote against the deal, it is still expected to have enough support to pass both the security cabinet and full cabinet votes.

Netanyahu is still working to convince Smotrich to back the deal. The prime minister?s Likud party issued a statement Thursday claiming the US has given Israel guarantees that will allow it to resume fighting after the first stage of the deal, as Smotrich has demanded, in what would be an apparent violation of the deal?s terms. (Times of Israel)

?PHOTO: Left: Mossad director David Barnea, the head of Israel's hostage-ceasefire negotiating team, speaks during the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) World Summit in the central coastal city of Herzliya on September 10, 2023. Right: Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Doha on January 7, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen, Karim Jaafar/AFP/collage)

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