Israeli ministers and politicians expressed their blessing on Wednesday for the prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas, which will go into effect next Sunday.

"I will vote with my friends tomorrow (Thursday) in the cabinet session on the deal that Netanyahu led with President (elect Donald) Trump, to release our brothers and sisters in Hamas captivity," said Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.

Zohar added, in a post on the X platform: "After Israel guaranteed the security conditions of the IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens, it became the duty of every government minister to vote in favor of the deal."

For his part, Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf said: “Our sons and daughters who are dying in Hamas tunnels are crying out to us and begging for their lives.”

The head of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party continued in a post on the same platform: “Tomorrow I will be able to fulfill the will to free the prisoners, and support the deal led by the prime minister responsibly, while preserving Israel’s security interests.”

Goldknopf called on all government ministers to vote in favor of the deal.

The security cabinet and the government are scheduled to meet on Thursday morning to ratify the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, according to Israeli Army Radio.

*Lapid thanks mediators

In the context, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said: “I want to send a big thank you card on behalf of an entire country to President Trump and his team, to President (Joe) Biden, and to the Qataris and Egyptians (the mediators), because thanks to them this is happening, and without them it would not have happened.”

"We cannot stop now, the agreement cannot be ended in its first stage, and I promise you (Netanyahu), as I promised before, a safety net until the last moment," Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party, added via the X platform.

For his part, the head of the opposition "State Camp" party, Benny Gantz, said: "My heart and the heart of the people of Israel are with all the families of the kidnapped (detainees) at this moment. I welcome reaching a deal to return the kidnapped."

Gantz added, in a post on the same platform: "As I said, the state camp will support this move at the popular level, and if necessary at the political level as well."

In another post written in English, Gantz said: “Securing the release of the kidnapped soldiers from the hands of Hamas is a moral and strategic imperative. It is simply the only way forward.”

In turn, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a speech broadcast on his Facebook account: “I support the Prime Minister in his efforts to complete the deal. It is a correct, important and necessary step, and there is no greater moral duty than it.”

"The deal will bring with it very difficult moments and challenges, and I am aware of all the concerns about it," Herzog added, without elaborating.

*Smotrich criticizes the deal

Contrary to previous positions, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a post on the X platform: “The deal is bad and dangerous for the national security of the State of Israel, and besides the great joy of the return of all the kidnapped, the deal destroys all the achievements of the war (the genocide in Gaza).”

The head of the Religious Zionism Party continued: "We strongly oppose this deal, and the clear condition for our remaining in the government is the absolute certainty of returning to the war with great force in full and with a new formation until achieving absolute victory with all its components."

The extremist finance minister concluded by saying: “Over the past two days, there have been heated discussions between me and the prime minister on this issue. He knows what the detailed demands of religious Zionism are, and the ball is in his hands.”

Over the past months, Smotrich has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the deal, calling for the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and its reoccupation.

Officially, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, announced on Wednesday evening that the mediators had succeeded in reaching an agreement to exchange prisoners and return to sustainable calm, leading to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, noting that the agreement would begin to be implemented next Sunday.