Gaza cease-fire to begin on Sunday after Israel approves truce and hostage deal
The cease-fire is set to begin on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
Amir Levy/Getty Images
- Israel's government has approved a cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas.
- The Gaza cease-fire is set to begin on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time.
- The decision came hours after Israel's security cabinet approved the deal.
The Israeli government has approved a cease-fire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
The cease-fire is set to begin on Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. local time, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
The security cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given its approval to the deal on Friday.
Under the terms of the agreement, a six-week cease-fire is set to come into effect. During this period, 33 Israeli hostages are scheduled to be exchanged for 737 Palestinian prisoners. AP Photo/Oded Balilty
President Joe Biden had announced the deal in a farewell address earlier this week.
"After eight months of nonstop negotiation, my administration — by my administration, a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached by Israel and Hamas, the elements of which I laid out in great detail in May of this year," Biden said.
US officials helped broker the deal in Qatar.
In a statement on X on Saturday, Majed Al Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed that the cease-fire would begin at 8:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, adding: "We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources."
How the cease-fire agreement could be implemented
The deal is set to include multiple phases.
The first stage is expected to include 33 hostages — most of whom are alive — released on "humanitarian" grounds, an Israeli spokesperson told reporters at a briefing. This will consist of women, children, older people, as well as hostages who are sick. AP Photo/Leo Correa, File
A second phase, which is still being worked out, would see a "permanent end" to the war, Biden has said.
The president added that this phase would include the release of the remainder of the living hostages, with the rest of the Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza.
In the third phase, any remains of hostages who have been killed would be returned to their families, and a major reconstruction plan would be set in motion for Gaza. AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov
To date, 117 hostages have been returned alive to Israel, including 105 freed as part of a prisoner exchange in November 2023.
The cease-fire deal intends to end the brutal conflict, which has seen large areas of Gaza destroyed and left the militant group severely battered. The Hamas-run health ministry says Israel's military offensive in the coastal enclave has killed more than 46,000 people. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Negotiations for a cease-fire deal have been ongoing for many months.
President-elect Donald Trump said his victory in November directly contributed to the deal coming to fruition. "We have achieved so much without even being in the White House," he wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
