The start of the pause is due to be announced within 24 hours. As part of the deal, Hamas will free 50 hostages it seized last month; Israel will release about 150 Palestinian prisoners.

South Africa’s government – led by the African National Congress (ANC) – is a long-standing ally of the Palestinians, and had asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by mid-December over Israel’s military operation in Gaza.