Mediators from Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Israel met in Cairo Friday to set out "mechanisms" for implementing the truce in Gaza, state-linked media reported.

Citing an informed Egyptian source, Al-Qahera News said technical meetings started in Cairo Friday "to put mechanisms for implementing the ceasefire agreement in Gaza with the participation of Egyptian, Qatari, US and Israeli teams", ahead of expected implementation of the deal on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that a deal to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip has been reached. The announcement came a day after Netanyahu's office said there were last minute snags in talks to free hostages in return for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu said he will convene his security Cabinet later on Friday and then the government to approve the ceasefire agreement.

Israel's security cabinet approved in a vote on Friday a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend, the prime minister's office said.

The agreement, which must now go to the full cabinet for a final green light, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza's deadliest-ever war.

Iran on Thursday welcomed a ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Hamas and Israel as a "victory" for Palestinians and a "defeat" for Israel.

The leader of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Harakat al-Nujaba, Akram al-Kaabi, announced Thursday the suspension of the group’s operations against Israel following the declaration of a Gaza ceasefire agreement but warned they could start again if there were violations of the truce.

In a statement, al-Kaabi congratulated the Palestinian people and “freedom-loving” individuals worldwide on “this important development.”

Senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said on Thursday there was "no basis" to Israeli allegations the Palestinian militant group was backtracking on elements of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal announced the day before.

"There is no basis to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's claims about the movement backtracking from terms in the ceasefire agreement," Abu Zuhri told AFP.

Gaza's civil defense agency said Thursday that Israel has pounded several areas of the Palestinian territory since the announcement of a ceasefire deal, killing at least 73 people and wounding hundreds.

"Since the ceasefire agreement was announced, Israeli occupation forces have killed 73 people, including 20 children and 25 women," agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP, adding that another 230 people were wounded in the "bombardments that are continuing", a day after the truce announcement.

Mediators said Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause the fighting in Gaza starting Sunday after 15 months of war and to begin exchanging dozens of hostages held there for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had yet to confirm on Tuesday that the deal had been finalized. But the ceasefire could eventually bring an end to the bloodiest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas, one that transformed the wider region and leaves the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the heart of the turmoil unresolved.

The Israel-Hamas deal was made possible by 18-hour days and a "remarkable" partnership between Joe Biden and Donald Trump's Mideast envoys -- but even then it seemed it might come apart at the last minute.

In the final four days of talks, Biden's pointman Brett McGurk was joined in the region by Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, to get the deal over the line, U.S. officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a "last minute crisis" with Hamas was holding up Israeli approval of a long-awaited agreement to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages. Israeli airstrikes meanwhile killed dozens of people across the war-ravaged territory.

Netanyahu's office said his Cabinet won't meet to approve the agreement until Hamas backs down, accusing it of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt to gain further concessions, without elaborating.