Gaza ceasefire to begin Sunday morning

A ceasefire in the Gaza war will begin Sunday morning at 0630 GMT, mediator Qatar said on Saturday after Israel's cabinet voted to approve the truce and hostage-prisoner release deal.

Qatar and the United States, which mediated the deal along with Egypt, had announced the 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 Yunis, southern Gaza.

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

"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 war between Hamas Palestinian militants 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 early Saturday after 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.

- 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.

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 PA control.

Even before the truce begins, displaced Gazans were preparing 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."

In Jerusalem on Saturday, 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.

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.

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