KEY POINTS
- At least 46,899 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
- Qatar says the Gaza ceasefire will begin Sunday at 8:30 am local time.
- The truce includes the release of 33 hostages and 737 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase.
- Debate continues over Gaza’s future governance, with Israel rejecting roles for both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
GAZA CITY: Israeli strikes killed at least 23 Palestinians on Saturday in Gaza, taking the overall war death toll to 46,899 in the 15-month bombardment campaign as the Gaza ceasefire is set to take effect on Sunday morning at 0630 GMT, mediator Qatar said on Saturday after Israel’s cabinet voted to approve the truce and hostage-prisoner release deal.
The health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that 23 people were killed in the Palestinian territory in the previous 24 hours.
The ministry said that at least 46,899 people have been killed and 110,725 wounded in more than 15 months of the Israeli bombardment campaign launched in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Qatar and the United States, which mediated the deal along with Egypt, had announced the Gaza ceasefire agreement on Wednesday.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have continued since then. On Saturday, Gaza’s Civil Defence rescue agency said at least five members of a family died when a strike hit the tent where they were staying in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Explosions were heard over Jerusalem Saturday morning after warning sirens blared and the military said a projectile had been launched from Yemen.
“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on X.
In more than 15 months of relentless Israeli military offensive, there has been only one previous truce, for one week, in November 2023. That deal also saw the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
“The government has approved the hostage return plan,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Saturday after the cabinet held its vote.
Netanyahu’s office said the deal “supports achieving the objectives of the war”.
Hamas, however, in a statement on Saturday 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 will be freed as part of the deal’s first phase — none before 4:00 pm local time (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
Truce on eve of Trump’s inauguration
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released by Hamas.
The truce is to take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as United States president.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has 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 both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Gaza should be under Palestinian Authority control.
Israel’s cabinet endorsement of the deal came despite eight ministers voting against it, including far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has launched a relentless bombardment campaign that has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, mostly women and children, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Aid-starved Gaza
Mediators had worked for months to reach a deal but the efforts were fruitless until Trump’s inauguration neared.
Brett McGurk, the pointman 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.
Israeli authorities assume the 33 captives to be released in the first phase are alive, but Hamas has yet to confirm that.
Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, the Qatari prime minister said.
An Israeli military official said reception points had been established at Kerem Shalom, Erez and Reim, where hostages would be joined by doctors and mental health specialists before being “transported via helicopter or vehicle” to hospitals in Israel.
Israel is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners.
ALSO READ: Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Gaza Ceasefire Deal
During talks on Friday, negotiators agreed to form a joint operations room in Cairo to “ensure effective coordination” and compliance with the truce terms, Egyptian state-linked media reported.
Biden said an as-of-yet unfinalised second phase of the agreement would bring a “permanent end to the war”.
In aid-starved Gaza, humanitarian workers caution a monumental task lies ahead.
On Friday, British lawmakers warned that Israeli legislation banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, threatens the truce deal. The ban on the main aid agency in Gaza is to take effect by the end of January.