A ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war is to begin on Sunday at 0630 GMT, with three Israeli hostages to be released from captivity in return for a first group of Palestinian prisoners.
If all goes to plan, a total of 33 hostages taken by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce.
Under the deal, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails.
The truce is intended to pave the way to an end to more than 15 months of war sparked by the October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israeli history.
It follows a deal struck by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt after months of fruitless negotiations, and takes effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
In a televised address to the nation on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had US support to return to war if necessary.
Calling the 42-day first phase a “temporary ceasefire”, he said: “If we are forced to resume the war, we will do so with force.”
Fighting continued right up to the eve of the truce, with Gaza’s civil defence agency saying that at least five members of one family were killed when an Israeli strike hit their tent in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
– ‘War needed to end’ –
Even ahead of the truce, Gazans displaced by the war to other parts of the devastated territory were preparing to return home.
“I will go to kiss my land,” said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp farther south. “If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.”
Jerusalem residents said the deal had been a long time coming.
“Hopefully a maximum amount of hostages will be coming back,” said Beeri Yemeni, a university student.
“Maybe this is the beginning of (the) end of suffering for both sides, hopefully,” he said, adding that “the war needed to end like a long, long time ago.”
– Long ordeal –
Israel has prepared reception centres to provide medical treatment and counselling to the freed hostages before they are returned to their families after their long ordeal.
Israel’s justice ministry said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed during the deal’s first phase, starting from 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
Two sources close to Hamas told AFP that the first group of hostages to be released would be three Israeli women soldiers.
However, as the militant group describes any Israeli of military age who has completed mandatory military service as a soldier, the women could be civilians abducted during the October 7 attack.
Hundreds of aid trucks were waiting at the Gaza border, poised to enter from Egypt as soon as they get the all-clear to deliver desperately needed aid to the Palestinian territory.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire takes effect, including 50 carrying fuel.
Through the war, there has been only one previous truce, for one week in November 2023.
That deal also saw the release of hostages held by the militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
– Trump –
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
The truce is to take effect on the eve of Trump’s inauguration for a second term as president of the United States.
Trump, who claimed credit for the ceasefire deal, told US network NBC on Saturday that he had told Netanyahu that the war “has to end”.
“We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” he said.
Brett McGurk, the pointman for outgoing President Joe Biden, was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to finalise the agreement, US officials said.
– Recovery –
Under the deal, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, the Qatari prime minister said.
Biden said an unfinalised second phase of the agreement would bring a “permanent end to the war”.
In aid-starved Gaza, relief agencies caution a monumental task lies ahead.
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