Good Morning Britain’s host Charlotte Hawkins interrupted the programme on Friday (January 17) to share some urgent “breaking news”.
During the latest episode of the popular morning show, Charlotte announced that an agreement had been reached for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
“Breaking news this morning, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a deal to release the hostages has been agreed,” she confirmed.
“The leader had delayed a cabinet vote to approve the ceasefire deal after accusing Hamas of seeking last minute changes to the agreement. That appears to have been resolved.”
Charlotte then passed over to correspondent Sarah Coates, who was reporting live from Tel Aviv.
“Charlotte, crucial hours ahead. Israel’s security cabinet will meet in just a matter of hours time to actually vote on this deal. It will then go through the full cabinet on Saturday afternoon,” Sarah explained. The deal, which is expected to be approved in cabinet, will face a 24 hour window that anyone can petition.
The ceasefire is expected to go into play on Monday. The ceasefire deal was first announced on Wednesday (January 15) by the US and Qatar – who have been mediating the Gaza agreement, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Netanyahu previously shared that the deal’s final details were being fleshed out, and thanked President Biden for “promoting” it. The Israeli Prime Minister then delayed the cabinet vote yesterday, accusing Hamas of trying to “extort last minute concessions”.
Following the announcement of today’s agreement, Israel’s security cabinet is scheduled to vote before the commencement of Shabbat, with a broader government vote planned for Saturday.