ISRAEL has announced the much anticipated ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas will finally be signed.

It comes after after Israel accused Hamas terrorists of “last-minute blackmail “on Thursday sparking fears the deal would collapse.

The Israeli cabinet is set to meet this morning to give final approval to the deal, the PM’s Netanyahu’s office said.

But in the early hours today, Netanyahu’s office said approval was imminent.

His office said: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal to release the hostages.”

The security cabinet would meet on Friday before a full meeting of the cabinet on Saturday to approve the deal.

This pushes back the release of the first batch of hostages to Monday.

Israeli warplanes kept up intense strikes in Gaza and Palestinian authorities said late on Thursday that at least 86 people were killed the day after the truce was announced.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said Washington believed the agreement was on track and a ceasefire in the 15-month-old conflict was expected to proceed “as soon as late this weekend.”

“We are seeing nothing that would tell us that this is going to get derailed at this point,” he said on CNN on Thursday.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that a “loose end” in the negotiations needed to be resolved.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this was a dispute over the identities of some prisoners Hamas wanted released.

A group representing families of Israeli hostages in Gaza, 33 of whom are due to be freed in the first six-week phase of the accord, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward quickly.

“For the 98 hostages, each night is another night of terrible nightmare. Do not delay their return even for one more night,” the group said in a statement late on Thursday carried by Israeli media.

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