Israel-Hamas cease-fire to go into effect Sunday morning, officials say
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CAIRO — The cease-fire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time, mediator Qatar announced Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees, and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.
But in a national address 12 hours before the cease-fire was to start, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was treating it as temporary and retained the right to continue fighting if necessary. He said he had the support of President-elect Donald Trump, who told NBC that he told the prime minister to “keep doing what you have to do.”
Netanyahu also asserted that he negotiated the best deal possible, even as Israel’s far-right Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he and most of his party would resign from the government in opposition to it.
The prime minister earlier warned that a cease-fire wouldn’t go forward unless Israel received the names of hostages to be released, as agreed. Israel had expected to receive the names from mediator Qatar. There was no immediate response from Qatar or Hamas.
The approval of the cease-fire deal by Israel’s Cabinet, in a rare meeting during the Jewish Sabbath, set off a flurry of activity and a fresh wave of emotions as relatives wondered whether hostages would be returned alive or dead. Families and thousands of others rallied once more Saturday night in Tel Aviv.
“Please keep going and saving lives,” said Anat Angrest, whose son Matan Angrest is still held in the Gaza Strip.
The pause in 15 months of war is a step toward ending the deadliest, most destructive fighting ever between Israel and the Hamas militant group — and comes more than a year after the only other cease-fire was achieved. The deal was achieved under joint pressure from Trump and the outgoing administration of President Biden ahead of Monday’s inauguration in Washington.
The first phase of the cease-fire will last 42 days, and negotiations on the far more difficult second phase are meant to begin just over two weeks in. After those six weeks, Israel’s security Cabinet will decide how to proceed.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued Saturday and the Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 23 bodies had been brought to hospitals over 24 hours.
“What is this truce that kills us hours before it begins?” asked Abdallah Al-Aqad, the brother of a woman killed by an airstrike in the southern city of Khan Yunis. Health officials said a couple and their two children, aged 2 and 7, were dead.
And sirens sounded in central and southern Israel, with the military saying it intercepted projectiles launched from Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
When the fighting stops
In the cease-fire’s first phase, Israeli troops are to pull back into a buffer zone about a half-mile wide inside Gaza, along its borders with Israel.
With most of Gaza’s population driven into massive, squalid tent camps, Palestinians are desperate to get back to their homes, even though many were destroyed or heavily damaged by Israel’s attacks.
In a post on X, Qatar’s foreign minister advised Palestinians and others to exercise caution when the cease-fire goes into effect and wait for directions from officials.
Israel’s military later said Palestinians will not be able to cross the Netzarim corridor that runs across central Gaza for the first seven days of the cease-fire, and it warned Palestinians not to approach Israeli forces.
Still, anticipation was high.
“The first thing I will do is go and check my house,” said Mohamed Mahdi, a father of two who was displaced from Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood. He also looked forward to seeing family in southern Gaza, but is “still concerned that one of us could be martyred before we are able to meet.”
Majida Abu Jarad said she has moved seven times with her husband and their six daughters during the war, heeding Israeli evacuation orders and staying in tents, abandoned classrooms or on the street.
“We will remain in a tent, but the difference is that the bleeding will stop, the fear will stop, and we will sleep reassured,” she said while packing.
Freed hostages and prisoners
Under the first phase of the cease-fire, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks, in exchange for 737 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israel’s Justice Ministry has published a list of the prisoners, all younger or female. An organization that represents victims of Palestinian attacks vowed to petition Israel’s Supreme Court to stop the release.
Doctors in Israel prepare for hostages’ return from Gaza with the expectation that many are likely to have severe, life-threatening complications.
According to the cease-fire plan approved by Israel’s Cabinet, the exchange will begin Sunday at 4 p.m. local time. The plan says three living female hostages will be returned on Day 1, four on Day 7 and the remaining 26 over the following five weeks.
Among those expected to be released is the youngest hostage, Kfir Bibas, whose family marked his second birthday Saturday. The child has become a symbol across Israel for the helplessness over the hostages’ plight.
During each exchange, prisoners will be released by Israel after the hostages have arrived safely.
Also to be released are 1,167 Gaza residents who were not involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israel that sparked the war. All Gazan women and children under 19 held by Israel will be freed during this phase.
Palestinian prisoners who were convicted in the deadly attacks will be exiled, either to Gaza or abroad — some for three years and others permanently — and barred from returning to Israel or the West Bank.
The remaining hostages in Gaza, 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.
Palestinians in Gaza are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if a long-awaited cease-fire agreement halts the Israel-Hamas war.
Hundreds of aid trucks a day
Gaza should also see a surge in food, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid.
Egypt’s foreign minister said the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world, will start operating “soon.” The crossing has been closed since Israel’s military took over the area in May. The minister said 600 trucks of aid, including 50 fuel trucks, should be entering Gaza daily during the cease-fire.
The plan says all trucks entering Gaza will be subject to Israeli inspections.
“It is clear that the situation in Gaza is still extremely complex and a lot of difficulties still remain for an effective distribution,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Saturday.
The 2023 Hamas-led attack in Israel killed some 1,200 people and left about 250 others captive. Nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza.
Israel responded with devastating air and ground attacks that have 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 at least half the dead.
Magdy, Lidman and Mednick write for the Associated Press. Magdy reported from Cairo, Lidman from Nahariya, Israel, and Mednick from Jersusalem. AP writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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