Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The Israeli government ratified the agreement early Saturday morning after a meeting that lasted more than six hours.
The ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will take effect at 08:30 am (0630 GMT) on Sunday, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said in an X post.
“Based on the agreement between the parties… the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am on Sunday.” We advise our brothers to take precautions, exercise utmost caution and wait for instructions from official sources,” spokesman Majed al-Ansari said in a tweet on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli government ratified the agreement after a meeting that lasted more than six hours, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a brief statement.
The deal was approved after more than 460 days of war in which Israeli forces are killed more than 46,788 Palestinians and injured 110,453. This will lead to the release of 33 prisoners held in Gaza over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The rest, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second phase to be negotiated during the first.
Hamas has said it will not release the remaining prisoners without a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
“All eyes are now on Gaza to see what the Israeli army will do in these final hours because historically, before any ceasefire agreement, the Israeli army has been hitting the Gaza Strip with all its might,” said Hamda of Al Jazeera Salhout, reporting from Jordan.
“There will be a lot of fear and anxiety.”
The leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, congratulated the Palestinians on reaching the deal, saying it proved the “persistence of resistance” against Israel.
“This deal, which was unchanged from what was proposed in May 2024, demonstrates the tenacity of the resistance groups, who took what they wanted while Israel was unable to take what it sought,” he said.
in November Hezbollah and Israel reached a cease-fire agreement in a conflict parallel to Israel's war on Gaza.
Israeli attacks continue in Gaza
Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israeli forces continued heavy attacks.
Gaza medics said an Israeli airstrike early Saturday killed five people in the al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” area, west of Khan Younis in the enclave's south.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that a man from the Kudra family was killed along with his wife and three children in the attack.
An Israeli drone strike also killed three Palestinian civilians in the Tufa neighborhood, east of Gaza City late Friday, according to Wafa.
This brought to at least 119 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli bombardment since the ceasefire agreement was announced on Wednesday.
