The ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will take effect at 08:30am (06:30 GMT) on Sunday, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson announced in a post on X.
“Based on the agreement between the parties … the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30am on Sunday. We advise our brothers to take precautions, exercise the utmost caution, and await instructions from official sources,” spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said in a tweet on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli government ratified the agreement after meeting for more than six hours, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement.
But hours before the ceasefire is due to go into effect, Netanyahu says the Gaza ceasefire agreement may be temporary and Israel retains the right to resume Gaza fighting. “If we must return to fighting we will do that in new, forceful ways, Netanyahu said in a video statement on Saturday – his first speech since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday.
Netanyahu said he has support from both the Biden and Trump administrations. “President Trump and President Biden have given full backing to Israel’s right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile,” he said.
Earlier, he threatened that his country would not proceed with the ceasefire until it receives a list of the 33 captives who are expected to be released in the first phase of the deal.
“In his speech, he [Netanyahu] presented this as if this was his victory and Israel’s victory, saying, we have the upper hand, and we have changed the face and the reality of the Middle East,” said Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Amman, Jordan.
“He represented this as if Israel got this deal, that Israel got Hamas to capitulate on certain terms, that Israel got Hamas to agree to this deal because of the Israeli military’s onslaught on the group.”
The deal was approved after more than 460 days of war in which Israeli forces killed more than 46,788 Palestinians and wounded 110,453. It would see the release of 33 captives held in Gaza 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.
Leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, congratulated the Palestinians for reaching the deal, saying it proved the “persistence of resistance” against Israel.
“This deal, which was unchanged from what was proposed in May 2024, proves the persistence of resistance groups, which took what they wanted while Israel was not able to take what it sought,” he said.
In November, Hezbollah and Israel reached a ceasefire deal in a conflict parallel to Israel’s war on Gaza.
Under the deal, the three-stage ceasefire starts with an initial six-week phase when captives held by Hamas will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody.
Thirty-three Israeli captives, including women, children, men over 50 and ill and wounded, are to be freed in this phase. In return, Israel will release nearly 1,900 Palestinians, including females and children, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza in detention since the start of the war.
Israel’s Ministry of Justice published their details early on Saturday, along with the ceasefire agreement, which said 30 Palestinian prisoners would be released for each female Israeli captive on Sunday.
The accord has been opposed by some Israeli cabinet hardliners, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The opponents said the ceasefire agreement represented a capitulation to Hamas.
Ben-Gvir resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet in protest against the deal, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Ben-Gvir earlier on Saturday said that he would not bring down the government. Al Jazeera, however, could not independently confirm the reports of the resignation.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has also threatened to quit the government if it does not go back to war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire.
In Gaza, Israeli forces have kept up heavy attacks.
Medics in Gaza said an Israeli air strike early on Saturday killed five people in the al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” area, west of Khan Younis in the enclave’s south.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that a man from the Qudra family was killed along with his wife and their three children in the attack.
An Israeli drone strike also killed three Palestinian civilians in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City late on Friday, according to Wafa.
This brought to at least 123 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli bombardment since the ceasefire accord was announced on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, an attacker armed with a knife seriously injured one person in Tel Aviv before being shot by an armed civilian, according to the Israeli police. A 30-year-old Israeli was wounded in the attack and is in critical condition at the hospital, according to the Israeli media.
Despite the attacks, many Palestinians who were displaced from their homes are looking forward to the ceasefire.
Mahmoud Sheikh Abed, who was displaced from Rafah, said he is hoping that there would not be any violations.
“We hope by the name of God that today is the last day of war. People are tired. We are tired from displacement, illnesses, from starving, from fatigue.”
Tareq Zumlot, another Palestinian refugee, said he cannot wait to return to his home in Jabalia.
“We will return to our home and check on our family and friends. We hope we will have silence and safety.”