Gaza ceasefire to begin Sunday morning

A ceasefire in the Gaza war will begin on Sunday morning, mediator Qatar said after Israel's cabinet voted to approve the truce and hostage-prisoner release deal.

Since Qatar and the United States, which mediated the deal along with Egypt, announced the agreement on Wednesday, Israeli strikes on Gaza have continued.

On Saturday, Gaza's civil defence rescue agency said at least five members of a family were killed when a strike hit their tent in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza.

Explosions were heard over Jerusalem after air raid sirens blared and the military said a projectile had been launched from Yemen, whose Iran-backed Huthi rebels say they support the Palestinians.

The Huthis said they targeted the Israeli defence ministry, before air raid sirens sounded again in southern Israel in the afternoon and the military said it intercepted a missile 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 (0630 GMT) on Sunday," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.

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.

"The government has approved the hostage return plan," the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the cabinet vote.

Netanyahu's office said the deal "supports achieving the objectives of the war".

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 has said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released by militants in Gaza.

Sheikh Mohammed told Sky News the framework signed this week was the same as one agreed on December 23, adding it amounted to "13 months of a waste of negotiating details".

The truce is to take effect on the eve of Donald Trump's inauguration for a second term as US 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 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 his home in Gaza City for a camp further 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."

Israel's cabinet endorsement of the deal came despite eight ministers voting against it, including far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war and 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 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, including several with high sentences", a source said on condition of anonymity.

Biden said an 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.

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.

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