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Gaza cease-fire takes effect today
“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am (0630 GMT) on Sunday,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on Saturday.
The deal was approved after more than 460 days of war in which Israeli forces have killed more than 46,788 Palestinians and wounded 110,453. It would see the release of 33 captives held in Gaza over the next six weeks, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The remainder, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first.
Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting cease-fire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
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.
In more than 15 months of war Israel’s war on Gaza, 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 office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the deal “supports achieving the objectives of the war” after the cabinet approved the deal.
But Hamas said Israel had “failed to achieve its aggressive goals” and “only succeeded in committing war crimes that disgrace the dignity of humanity”.
Leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, congratulated the Palestinians for reaching the deal, saying it proved the “persistence of resistance” against Israel.
“This deal, which was unchanged from what was proposed in May 2024, proves the persistence of resistance groups, which took what they wanted while Israel was not able to take what it sought,” he said.
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.
In Gaza, meanwhile, Israeli forces kept up heavy attacks.
Nearly 120 Palestinians killed by Israeli bombardment since Wednesday when the cease-fire announced by mediators.
On Saturday, Gaza’s civil defense rescue agency said at least five members of a family were killed when a strike hit their tent in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza.