Saturday 18 / January / 2025
Gaza: A ceasefire deal agreed by Hamas and Israel promises to bring a lasting lull in fighting after 15 months of conflict. The multiphase deal includes a swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel's full Cabinet has ratified the ceasefire deal, enabling it to go into effect on Sunday. Under the first phase of the deal, 33 hostages held by Hamas are to be released over the next six weeks, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The deal is set to bring a pause in fighting during which more that 46,000 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the health authorities.
Egypt prepares for aid deliveries to Gaza
Egyptian officials inspected preparations for the delivery of aid to the neighbouring Gaza Strip, a day before a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is set to take effect.
Egypt's ministers of health and social solidarity inspected the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza and a logistics area where some 600 aid trucks are stationed, local officials said.
The two ministers also toured hospitals and medical facilities in North Sinai that are preparing to receive the wounded from Gaza, and inspected equipment of the Egyptian Red Crescent and its logistics warehouses.
Last May, Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in an operation that halted aid deliveries.
According to the ceasefire agreement, the Rafah crossing will be opened in the first phase of the plan but the Israeli army will not withdraw from there.
Lebanese president urges for rapid Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon
Lebanon's new president, Joseph Aoun stressed the urgency of an Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon as stipulated under the November 27 ceasefire accord, which ended a two-month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The deal states that the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside peacekeepers from the UNIFIL mission in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws.
Aoun held talks with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterreson onSaturday, during the UN chief's visit to Lebanon.
Aoun told Guterres during a meeting in Beirut that continued Israeli breaches were a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and the agreed ceasefire deal, according to a Lebanese presidency statement posted on X.
In remarks made on Friday during a visit to Lebanon, Guterres called on Israel to end its military operations and "occupation" in southern Lebanon .
He also said that UN peacekeepers in the country had found more than 100 caches with weapons from "Hezbollah or other armed groups."
The ceasefire deal also says Hezbollah must pull its forces back from the border to Israel and dismantle any military infrastructure it still possesses in the southern region.
The militia's leader, Naim Qassem, on Saturday accused Israel of hundreds of ceasefire violations and warned it "not to test our patience."
Aoun, the former army chief, has meanwhile vowed that the Lebanese state would have a "monopoly" on bearing weapons.
Ceasefire to go into force at 0630 GMT on Sunday, Qatari Foreign Ministry says
The Gaza ceasefire will take effect as of 0630 GMT (8:30 am local time) on Sunday, according to a post by Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Dr. Majed Al-Ansari on X, formerly Twitter.
"As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza. We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources," Al-Ansari said.
Qatar has been one of the main mediators in the Israel-Hamas conflict over the past months.
Al-Ansari had previously said the ceasefire would start a little later, at 12:15 pm local time.
Israeli government approves deal in 24-8 vote
The ceasefire deal was approved by the full Israeli government in the early hours of Saturday after the smaller Security Cabinet previously issued a recommendation that the agreement be ratified.
The approval was given after hours of consultations that went well into the Jewish Sabbath, indicating the importance of the issue at stake, as the Israeli government usually halts all business for the Sabbath except in the most urgent cases.
"The government has approved the hostage return plan," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement, adding that the deal to halt the fighting with Hamas would come into effect on Sunday.
Twenty-four ministers voted for the agreement and eight voted against it.
What does the first phase of the deal entail?
The ceasefire and hostage-return deal approved by the Israeli government on Friday is to be rolled out in several phases.
Amid a pause in fighting — the second during the 15-month-long Israel-Hamas war — Hamas has agreed to free 33 hostages in the first, six-week phase of the deal.
The hostages, who were among more than 250 captured during the terror October 7, 2023 raids led by Hamas in southern Israel, include women, children, men aged over 50 and sick or wounded people.
Hamas sources were cited as saying three female hostages will be the first to be released on Day 1.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set up a special task force to receive the hostages amid fears that many will be suffering from severe medical and/or psychological issues.
The deal also foresees the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in exchange for the hostages.
Israel's Justice Ministry has issued a list of more than 700 who are to be freed in the deal's first phase. All people on the list are of a relatively young age or female.
Over 1,000 Gazans held since the start of the war are also due to be released, the ministry said, adding that they were not involved in the October 7 attacks.
During the first phase as well, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza's densely populated areas and allow those displaced to return back to their areas of residence.
None are to be released before 4:00 pm local time (1400 GMT) on Sunday, the ministry has said.
