Israel okays Gaza truce, presses on with attacks

Israel on Saturday approved a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas that involves release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces bombed the tiny enclave ahead of the agreement’s scheduled start on Sunday.

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The ceasefire will go into effect on Sunday at 8.30 am local time (0630 GMT), Qatar announced on Saturday.

However, Israel will not proceed with the Gaza ceasefire until it receives a list of the 33 hostages who will be released by Hamas in the first phase of the deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The agreement is set to halt a 15-month-old war between Israel and Gaza’s rulers Hamas that has decimated the Strip, killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis, and destabilised West Asia.

Early on Saturday, after meeting for more than six hours, the Israeli cabinet ratified the US-brokered ceasefire deal which is mean to stop fighting and see the release over several weeks of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in return for scores of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

“The Government has approved the framework for the return of the hostages. The framework for the hostages’ release will come into effect on Sunday,” Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement.

The plan says three living female hostages will be returned on Day 1, four on Day 7 and the remaining 26 over the following five weeks. During each exchange, Palestinian prisoners will be released by Israel after hostages have arrived safely.

Also to be released are 1,167 Gaza residents who were not involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that sparked the war. All women and children under 19 from Gaza held by Israel will be freed during this phase.

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes have kept up heavy attacks since the deal was agreed, and continued to pound the territory on Saturday. Israeli tanks shelled the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City and airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza, residents said.

Medics in Gaza said five were killed in an airstrike that hit a tent in the Mawasi area, west of the city of Khan Younis.

At least 123 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli bombardment since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.

The Israeli military said it had carried out strikes on 50 “terror targets” across the Gaza Strip on Friday and did not immediately respond to questions about its actions.

Sirens sounded in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Saturday. The military said it had shot down a missile fired from Yemen and made no mention of any casualties. The Houthi group, which controls large parts of Yemen, indicated they would launch attacks on Israel should it “violate” the ceasefire.

The Gaza war — which began when Hamas staged the most devastating attack in Israel’s history on October 7, 2023, killing hundreds in southern Israel — has set off a series of smaller conflicts in West Asia.

The Yemeni Houthis, also backed by Iran, have since the start of the Gaza war carried out hundreds of attacks on what they say are Israeli-linked cargo ships travelling via the Red Sea, and fired a number of missiles at Israeli territory.

The opponents said the ceasefire agreement represented a capitulation to Hamas. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if it was approved and urged other ministers to vote against it. However, he said he would not bring down the government.

Will deal with israel if they err: Houthis

Yemen's Houthis said they will coordinate closely with the Palestinian resistance to deal with Israel in case of any violations to the Gaza ceasefire deal, the militant group's military spokesperson said on Saturday.Houthi rebels also fired a ballistic missile targeting Israel's defence ministry. The missile triggered sirens in central Israel early Saturday, with its military saying there was minor damage from falling shrapnel. “The missile reached its target with high accuracy, and the (Israeli) interception systems failed to intercept it,” a Houthi member claimed.