Agreement reached on hostage release between Israel and Palestine, Trump expects ceasefire to begin before his inauguration

(Patria) - The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that it had "reached an agreement on the release of hostages" held in the Gaza Strip, adding that a meeting of the security cabinet is planned for later today.

"The negotiating team informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that agreements have been reached for the release of hostages," reads a statement from his office.

The Prime Minister's office on Thursday accused Hamas of backing away from key points of the agreement in order to extract last-minute concessions, which Hamas denied.

"The Prime Minister ordered the political and security cabinet to meet (on Friday). The government will then convene to approve the agreement," Netanyahu's office said.

If approved by the Israeli government, the ceasefire agreement would begin on Sunday and would include an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Conditions for a permanent cessation of hostilities will be finalized at a later stage.

The agreement was announced on Wednesday by mediators Qatar and the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump said it would be better for this to be completed by his inauguration on January 20.

"We quickly changed the course of negotiations, and frankly, it's better to do it before I take the oath," Trump said in a podcast interview with Dan Bongino.

Trump also says "that we shook hands and signed certain documents," but that it is better for everything to be finalized.