Israel approves ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, beginning Sunday

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With Hamas, clearing the path for the agreement to come into effect this Sunday and potentially opening a new chapter in a 15-month, bloody conflict that has escalated tensions in the Middle East.

The 33-member cabinet met for over seven hours into early Saturday before approving the agreement, according to an announcement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

The agreement, previously approved by Israel's smaller security cabinet after intense negotiations in Doha, is set to stop the fighting in Gaza and will result in the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

According to the United Nations, the living conditions are very bad.

The ceasefire will go into effect at 8:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET), as announced by Majed Al Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar's Foreign Ministry, in a statement on X. Qatar played a crucial role in negotiating this agreement.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the Israeli military operation has resulted in over 46,000 Palestinian fatalities and over 110,000 injuries, noting that it does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its reported statistics.

Although Israel's Supreme Court will still consider appeals from Israelis opposing the release of Palestinian prisoners slated for release, this process is not expected to postpone the start of the ceasefire.

Three female civilian hostages being held in Gaza are scheduled to be released the first day, according to two high-ranking US officials. Ninety-five Palestinian prisoners are expected to be freed Sunday, starting after 4 p.m. local time Sunday, according to Israel's Ministry of Justice.

Hamas and its allies still hold 94 people captured from Israel 15 months ago. The Israeli government says at least 34 of them are dead, but the actual number is likely higher.

All but 10 of the 94 hostages are Israeli or have dual citizenship, while eight are from Thailand, one is from Nepal, and one is from Tanzania, according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

Talks to solidify the second and third parts of the ceasefire agreement are reportedly set to begin 16 days into its implementation.

A joint operations center will be set up in Cairo to oversee the deal's implementation and will consist of representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, Israel, and the Palestinian government.

Humanitarian relief

The deal includes an increase in humanitarian aid shipments into Gaza to 600 trucks daily. This is a substantial boost from the 614 truckloads of aid that entered Gaza during the first two weeks of January, as reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Dozens of aid trucks loaded with food, clothes, medical supplies and other relief items are standing at the ready at the Rafah border crossing, expecting the agreement to take effect Sunday, according to Al Qahera News. The trucks, originating from various parts of Egypt's North Sinai region, have been waiting for months, the news outlet reported.

The United Nations warned Thursday that the additional aid will only be the beginning in addressing the severe humanitarian crisis in the isolated area.

There's renewed - yet guarded - optimism among the families of Israeli hostages still stuck in Gaza, who are eagerly awaiting news about the fate of their loved ones, with many uncertain if their relatives are alive or gone.

“It's an incredible stroke of luck that he's still alive.”

The start of the ceasefire Sunday will be a welcome relief for Gazans who have been subjected to 15 months of unrelenting Israeli bombardments, which have left much of the region a ruin.

Scenes of celebration erupted across Gaza shortly after mediator Qatar announced on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement, although Israel's air strikes have intensified in the days that followed.

Since the ceasefire agreement was made public, a total of 30 children have been reported to have been affected, according to Gaza's Civil Defense.

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In the Israeli parliament.

He informed his security cabinet on Friday that he received assurances from the US negotiators that if future talks with Hamas were to fail, they would support a return to war, a source with knowledge of the matter reported to .

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