THE ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will go into effect at 6.30GMT on Sunday, Qatar’s foreign ministry has said.
Early on Saturday morning Israel’s Cabinet approved the deal for a ceasefire in Gaza that would release dozens of hostages and pause the ongoing bombardment.
Under the deal, 33 hostages are set to be released 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 ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
Hamas has agreed to free three female hostages on day one 1 of the deal, four on day seven and the remaining 26 over the following five weeks.
Palestinian prisoners will be released as well.
All prisoners on the list for the first phase are younger or female.
In line with Jewish law, the Israeli government usually halts all business for the Sabbath except in emergency cases of life or death.
Mediators Qatar and the US announced the ceasefire on Wednesday, but the deal was in limbo for more than a day as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted there were last-minute complications that he blamed on the Hamas militant group.
The ceasefire will go into effect on Sunday, though key questions remain, including the names of the 33 hostages to be released during the six-week first phase of the ceasefire and who among them is still alive.
Netanyahu (below) instructed a special task force to prepare to receive the hostages returning from Gaza and said that their families were informed a deal had been reached.
The 33 are women, children, men over 50 and sick or wounded people. Hamas has agreed to free three female hostages on day one of the deal, four on day seven and the remaining 26 over the following five weeks.
Hundreds of Palestinian detainees are to be released as well, and the largely devastated Gaza should see a surge in humanitarian aid.
Israel’s Justice Ministry published a list of 700 Palestinian prisoners to be freed in the deal’s first phase and said the release will not begin before 4pm local time on Sunday.
All people on the list are younger or female.
Israel’s Prison Services said it will transport the prisoners instead of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which handled transportation during the first ceasefire, to avoid “public expressions of joy”.
The prisoners have been accused of crimes such as incitement, vandalism, supporting terror, terror activities, attempted murder or throwing stones or Molotov cocktails.
Trucks carrying aid lined up on Friday on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing into Gaza.
An Egyptian official said an Israeli delegation from the military and Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency arrived on Friday in Cairo to discuss the reopening of the crossing.
An Israeli official confirmed a delegation was going to Cairo.
Israeli forces will also pull back from many areas in Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will be able to return to what is left of their homes.
Israel’s military said that as its forces gradually withdraw from specific locations and routes in Gaza, residents will not be allowed to return to areas where troops are present or near the Israel-Gaza border and any threat to Israeli forces “will be met with a forceful response”.
Nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza.
Israel's bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half the dead.
Fighting continued into Friday, and Gaza’s Health Ministry said 88 bodies had arrived at hospitals in the past 24 hours.
In previous conflicts, both sides stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires as a way to project strength.
The remainder of the hostages, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second – and much more difficult – phase that will be negotiated during the first.
Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it dismantles the group and to maintain open-ended security control over the territory.
Longer-term questions about post-war Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction.
The conflict has destabilised the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.
It has also highlighted political tensions inside Israel, drawing fierce resistance from Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners.
On Thursday, Israel’s hard-line national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to quit the government if Israel approved the ceasefire.
He reiterated that on Friday, writing on social media platform X: “If the ‘deal’ passes, we will leave the government with a heavy heart.”
Ben-Gvir’s resignation would not bring down the government or derail the ceasefire deal, but the move would destabilise the government at a delicate moment and could eventually lead to its collapse if Ben-Gvir were joined by other key Netanyahu allies.
