A ceasefire truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will take effect at 0630 GMT on Sunday morning, Qatar, which helped mediate the deal, said on Saturday.
“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on X.”We advise the inhabitants to take precautions, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources.”
The exact timing of the ceasefire’s start was unknown, but Israel, whose cabinet authorised the hostage and prisoner exchange deal earlier on Saturday, had stated that no captives would be released before 1400 GMT.
Chronicle NG reports that the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims a “deal to release the hostages” has been reached.
Netanyahu had postponed a cabinet vote to endorse the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which was scheduled for Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute revisions to the arrangement.
On Friday morning, the prime minister’s office said that the negotiating team had informed him that the deal had been agreed upon.
The security cabinet will meet later on Friday to finalise the accord before seeking approval from the full government. Families of the captives have been notified.
Representatives from Israel, Hamas, the United States, and Qatar signed the agreement in Doha, according to Israeli media sources.
The cease-fire agreement was first announced on Wednesday by mediators from the United States and Qatar.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani stated that the agreement would go into force on Sunday, pending Israeli cabinet approval.
At the time, Netanyahu stated that the deal’s exact details were still being worked out but praised Biden for “promoting” it.
Hamas stated that it was committed to the arrangement, but the BBC believes that it was attempting to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian inmates who would be released under the agreement.
