The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will come into effect on Sunday morning, officials said – nationally
A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will come into effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT), mediator Qatar announced on Saturday, as families of hostages in Gaza look over the news of loved ones, Palestinians prepare to receive freed prisoners and humanitarian aid. groups rushed to establish more aid.
The approval of the deal overnight by Israel’s Cabinet, in a rare meeting during the Jewish Sabbath, caused chaos and a wave of emotions as relatives wondered whether the hostages would be returned alive or dead. The names of the first hostages to be released were expected to be released later on Saturday.
The 15-month ceasefire is a step towards ending the deadliest, most destructive war ever between Israel and the terror group Hamas – and comes more than a year after only one other achievement.
The first phase of the ceasefire will last for 42 days, while the tougher second phase of talks is expected to start in just two weeks. After those six weeks, Israel’s security cabinet will decide how to proceed.
Israeli airstrikes continued on Saturday, and the Gaza Health Ministry said 23 bodies had been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours.
“What is this argument that kills us hours before it starts?” asked Abdallah Al-Aqad, the brother of a woman killed in an air strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. Health officials say the couple and their two children aged 2 and 7 died.
And sirens went off in central and southern Israel, as the army said it intercepted projectiles launched from Yemen. Iran-backed Houthi rebels there have stepped up attacks in recent weeks, calling it solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
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In a post on X, Qatar’s foreign minister advised Palestinians and others to be cautious when the ceasefire goes into effect and wait for official instructions.
“The first thing I will do is to check my house,” said Mohamed Mahdi, a father of two who was displaced from Gaza City, Zaytoun. He is also looking forward to seeing family in southern Gaza, but “is still worried that one of us might be martyred before we can meet.”
In the first phase of the ceasefire, 33 hostages in Gaza are expected to be released within six weeks in exchange for 737 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Israel’s justice ministry has published a list of prisoners, all of whom are minors or women.
According to the ceasefire plan approved by the Israeli Cabinet, the exchange will begin at 4pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday. The plan states that three living female hostages will be returned on Day 1, four on Day 7 and the remaining 26 will be returned over the next five weeks. During each exchange, Palestinian prisoners will be released by Israel after the hostages arrive 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 the age of 19 in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip will be released in this phase.
All Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder will be deported to Gaza or abroad – some for three years and others banned forever – and barred from returning to Israel or the West Bank.
The remaining hostages in Gaza, including male soldiers, will be released in the second phase of negotiations during the first phase. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining detainees without a permanent disarmament and full withdrawal from Israel.
And during the first phase of the end of the war, Israeli soldiers must return to a protected area about a kilometer (0.6 miles) wide in the middle of Gaza, near its borders with Israel.
That will allow many displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, including Gaza City and the isolated and devastated areas of northern Gaza. With the majority of Gaza’s population sheltering in large, filthy tents, Palestinians yearn to return to their homes, even though many have been destroyed or badly injured.
Gaza should also see an increase in food, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid. The trucks were lined up on Friday on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing into Gaza.
On Saturday, two Egyptian government ministers arrived in the north of the Sinai Peninsula to check the preparations for the delivery of aid to the Rafah crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing, and to receive the evacuation of injured patients, said the Ministry of Health in Egypt.
The ceasefire plan approved by the Israeli Cabinet states that all trucks entering Gaza will be inspected by Israel.
The attack led by Hamas on October 7 killed around 1,200 people and left another 250 hostages. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza.
Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half of the dead.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
