Israel approves Gaza ceasefire and carries out more attacks Reuters

By Alexander Cornwell and Nidal al-Mughrabi

TEL AVIV/CAIRO (Reuters) – Israel approved a cease-fire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday that included the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli military launched new attacks in the area ahead of the accord’s start on Sunday.

The deal is aimed at ending a 15-month war between Israel and Gaza’s rulers, Hamas, that has torn apart the Gaza Strip, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destabilized the Middle East.

The war was sparked by Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people dead and more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli data. Since then, more than 400 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

Early Saturday morning, after more than six hours of meetings, Israel’s cabinet approved a cease-fire agreement to end the fighting and see the release of dozens of Palestinians held hostage by Hamas in Israel.

Later, Netanyahu said that Hamas had not yet provided a list of hostages to be released and that Israel would not proceed without it.

Israeli warplanes have continued to attack Gaza since the agreement was reached and pounded the territory on Saturday.

Residents said that Israeli tanks fired at the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City and carried out airstrikes. According to medical experts in Gaza, five people were killed in an airstrike on a tent in the Mawasi area, west of the city of Khan Yunis.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters among 50 “terror targets” in the Gaza Strip since Friday.

At least 123 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire was announced on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Civil Emergency Services.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, nearly 47,000 people have been killed since the war began.

The first hosts to be released on Sunday

A large clock in Tel Aviv’s Israeli Defense Headquarters, known as Hostage Square, is still counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds since the hostages were taken. Public protests for his release have also taken place since then.

Standing next to the clock, Orly, a lawyer, says she’s happy to have a deal though. “It should have been over a year,” she said.

She said the Israelis must put pressure on the government until the 98 hostages are returned home.

The Gaza cease-fire will take effect at 0630 GMT on Sunday, a spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X. The White House expects the three female hostages to be released to Israel in the afternoon through the Red Cross.

According to the agreement, a three-phase ceasefire will begin in the first six-week phase, during which hostages held by Hamas will be exchanged for prisoners and detainees held by Israel.

Of the 98 Israeli hostages, 33 are to be released in this phase, including women, children, men over 50, and sick and wounded captives. In return, Israel will release approximately 2,000 Palestinians from its prisons.

They include 737 male, female and teenage prisoners, some of whom are members of militant groups convicted of attacks that have killed dozens of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza who have been held since the war began.

Israel’s Justice Ministry published the list early Saturday, with a cease-fire agreement to release 30 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday for every female hostage.

After Sunday’s hostages were released, US President Brett McGurk said the deal called for the release of four more female hostages seven days later, followed by three more hostages every seven days.

Shockwaves

The agreement was opposed by some Israeli cabinet members, media reported that 24 ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition government supported the agreement while eight opposed it. Among them was far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Givir, whose party said it would hand in resignation letters on Sunday.

The Gaza conflict has sent shockwaves through the region, sparking a war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and bringing Israel into direct conflict with Iran for the first time.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, the Yemeni Houthis, who are supported by Iran, have been carrying out hundreds of attacks on cargo ships traveling through the Red Sea, which are related to Israel.

At least two missiles were fired from Yemen on Saturday, the Israeli military said, triggering air raid sirens in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the southern resort city of Eilat.

In Tel Aviv, a Palestinian man was allegedly stabbed by a man before being hit by a passerby. His condition was not immediately known.