KEY POINTS
- Israeli airstrikes have killed 81 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire announcement.
- The truce aims to exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and increase humanitarian aid in Gaza.
- Hamas reaffirms adherence to the ceasefire deal.
- Netanyahu accuses Hamas of renegotiating terms.
- Israeli ministers oppose the deal, delaying cabinet ratification.
- Ceasefire implementation includes Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
GAZA CITY: Israeli airstrikes have killed 81 Palestinians, including 20 children and 25 women, and injured over 230 others in Gaza since the announcement of a ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
This brings the death toll from the 15-month conflict to 46,788, with over 110,000 wounded during the ongoing Israeli military offensive.
Rescue services reported that 61 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City alone as Israel intensified bombardments despite the announcement of the much-demanded ceasefire deal.
The truce, announced by mediators Qatar and the United States on Wednesday, would take effect on Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be finalised.
Hamas, the governing authority in Gaza, said that the Palestinian group is committed to the ceasefire agreement brokered by international mediators.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of backtracking on certain terms of the deal, delaying its approval by the Israeli cabinet. Netanyahu’s office claimed that the Palestinian group is seeking last-minute concessions.
Israel-Hamas exchange accusations
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said that the Israeli cabinet, which has yet to approve the agreement, “will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement”.
Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri said there was “no basis” to Israel’s accusations.
The agreement followed months of fruitless negotiations to end the deadliest Israeli bombardment campaign in Gaza’s history, and, if finalised, would pause hostilities one day before the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump.
Netanyahu spoke with both US President Joe Biden and Trump on Wednesday, the Israeli leader’s office said, thanking them for their help securing the agreement but also cautioning that “final details” were still being worked on.
The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Since October 2023, Israel’s relentless bombardment campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, mostly women and children, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
Israeli cabinet members oppose truce deal
Israel’s Mossad chief David Barnea and other negotiators remain in the Qatari capital “finalising the details” of the announced ceasefire deal, The Times of Israel reported.
Two far-right party leaders in Netanyahu’s cabinet have publicly opposed the agreement.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it was a “dangerous deal”, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called it “disastrous”.
Israeli media said the government’s ratification of the agreement may be delayed in part due to disagreements within the ruling coalition.
Citing a source close to talks, Kan public broadcaster said Netanyahu wanted to protect the integrity of his government but that Smotrich was presenting a “real threat”.
Ceasefire deal
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani announced on Wednesday that the “two belligerents in the Gaza Strip have reached a deal”.
“We hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,” he said, adding that the three mediators would monitor its implementation.
The ceasefire agreement spread over three months will see a surge in humanitarian aid in Gaza, the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
During an initial 42-day ceasefire, 33 hostages would be released, the Qatari prime minister said, including women, “children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded”.
Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said.
Announcing the deal from the White House, Biden said he was “deeply satisfied this day has come”, calling the negotiations some of the “toughest” of his career.
He added that the second phase of the agreement, if finalised, would bring a “permanent end to the war”.
Envoys from both Trump’s incoming administration and Biden’s outgoing one had been present at the latest negotiations, with a senior Biden official saying the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.
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Trump on social media hailed the “EPIC ceasefire agreement”.
Biden said the deal would “surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi underscored the “importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid” into Gaza.
Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News cited a security source as saying coordination was “underway” to reopen the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt to allow the entry of aid.
The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, facing an Israeli ban on its activities set to take effect later this month, welcomed the deal.
“What’s needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.
