A ceasefire in the Gaza war will begin on Sunday morning, mediator Qatar said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to bring back “all the hostages” held in the Palestinian territory, reports AFP.
The truce is intended to end more than 15 months of fighting and devastating bombardment, but in a televised address Saturday evening, the hawkish premier stressed Israel had US support to return to war if necessary.
During an initial 42-day ceasefire, Palestinian militant groups will hand over 33 hostages, three of them on Sunday, and Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom will be deported.
“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am (0630 GMT) on Sunday,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued on the eve of the truce, with Gaza’s civil defence agency saying at least five members of one family were killed when a strike hit their tent in Khan Yunis.
Explosions were heard over Jerusalem as Yemen’s Huthi rebels launched a barrage of missiles at Israel in a show of support for Palestinians.
The Huthis said they targeted the defence ministry in Tel Aviv and also fired two missiles at the Red Sea port city of Eilat.
They also targeted an American aircraft carrier in the Red Sea on Sunday and warned of “consequences” should there be any retaliation during the ceasefire period.
In more than 15 months of war between Hamas and Israel, there has been only one previous truce, for one week, in November 2023. That deal also saw the release of hostages held by the militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu said Israel had “changed the face of the Middle East” since the war began with Hamas’s 7 October, 2023 attack.
He called the 42-day first phase that starts Sunday a “temporary ceasefire”.
“If we are forced to resume the war, we will do so with force,” he said.
But Hamas said Israel had “failed to achieve its aggressive goals” and “only succeeded in committing war crimes that disgrace the dignity of humanity”.
Israel’s justice ministry said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed as part of the deal’s first phase—none before 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
Trump
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani told Sky News the framework signed this week was the same as one agreed in December 2023, adding it amounted to 13 months of “waste”.
The truce is to take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as US president.
On US network NBC on Saturday, Trump said he told Netanyahu that the war “has to end”. “We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” he said.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had completed preparations “to assume full responsibility in Gaza” after the war.
Israel has expressed no definitive stance on post-war governance beyond rejecting any role for either Hamas or the PA.
Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Gaza should be under PA control.
Ahead of the truce, displaced Gazans prepared to return home.
“I will go to kiss my land,” said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled Gaza City for a camp farther south. “If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.”
Jerusalem residents said the deal had been a long time coming.
“Hopefully a maximum amount of hostages will be coming back”, said Beeri Yemeni, a university student. “Maybe this is the beginning of (the) end of suffering for both sides, hopefully,” he said, adding that “the war needed to end like a long, long time ago.”
Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Aid-starved
Mediators had worked for months to reach a deal but the efforts were fruitless until Trump’s inauguration neared.
Brett McGurk, the point man for outgoing President Joe Biden, was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to finalise the agreement, US officials said.
Netanyahu said most of the 33 captives to be released in the first phase are alive.
“With this agreement, we will bring back 33 of our brothers and sisters, the majority alive,” he said.
Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, the Qatari prime minister said.
Biden said a second phase of the agreement not yet finalised would bring a “permanent end to the war”.
In aid-starved Gaza, humanitarian workers caution that a monumental task lies ahead.
Hundreds of trucks loaded with aid have lined up on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire takes effect, including 50 carrying fuel.
Bd-pratidin English/Afia
