Israel
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas will come into effect from today. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry had given the information. Foreign Minister Majid al-Ansari said in a post on the social media platform X that the ceasefire would take effect at 8:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. He advised people to exercise caution and wait for instructions from authorities. Earlier on Saturday morning, Israel’s Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Efforts regarding ceasefire were going on for a long time.
Under this agreement, dozens of hostages will be released. The war that has been going on for 15 months with Hamas will stop. Hopefully this will bring both sides one step closer to ending their most deadly and destructive conflict. Under the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas will release 33 hostages in the next six weeks in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian hostages held in Israeli captivity. The rest including male soldiers will be released in the second phase. This will be discussed during the first phase. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining detainees without a permanent ceasefire and Israel’s full withdrawal. This exchange will begin at 4 pm local time on Sunday.
The prisoners will be released after the safe return of the hostages.
Under the swap agreement, Israel will release Palestinian prisoners once the hostages arrive safely. According to the plan, during the first phase, Israel would release about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 living and dead Israeli hostages. Among the prisoners to be released by Israel are 1,167 Gazans but they were not involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In the first phase, all women and children under the age of 19 from Israeli-occupied Gaza will be freed.
Yemen fired rockets amid preparations for ceasefire
However, despite the news of the ceasefire, sirens continued to sound in central Israel on Saturday. The army said it neutralized the rocket fired from Yemen. Iran-backed Houthi militants have stepped up their missile attacks in recent weeks. The group says that these attacks are to put pressure on Israel and Western countries to stop the war in Gaza. Israeli attacks also continue in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 23 people were killed the previous day.
