A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman announced in a post on the X website that the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will go into effect at 08:30 a.m. (06:30 GMT) on Sunday.

“Based on the agreement between the two parties… the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. Spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said in a tweet on Saturday: “We advise our brothers to be cautious and cautious, to take the utmost caution and to wait for instructions from Official sources.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a brief statement that, earlier on Saturday, the Israeli government ratified the agreement after a meeting that lasted more than six hours.

But hours before the ceasefire took effect, Netanyahu said that the Gaza ceasefire agreement may be temporary and that Israel reserves the right to resume fighting in Gaza. “If we have to return to fighting, we will do so in new and strong ways,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on Saturday – his first speech since the ceasefire agreement was announced on Wednesday.

Netanyahu said he has support from the Biden and Trump administrations. “President Trump and President Biden have fully supported Israel’s right to return to fighting if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile,” he said.

He had previously threatened that his country would not proceed with the ceasefire until it obtained a list of the names of the 33 prisoners expected to be released in the first phase of the agreement.

“In his speech [Netanyahu] “He presented this as if this was his and Israel’s victory, saying, ‘We have the upper hand, and we have changed the face and reality of the Middle East,’” said Stephanie Decker, a journalist from Amman, Jordan.

“It was portrayed as if Israel got this deal, that Israel made Hamas surrender under certain conditions, and that Israel made Hamas agree to this deal because of the Israeli military attack on the group.”

The deal It was approved after more than 460 days of war fought by Israeli forces More than 46,788 Palestinians were killed 110,453 were wounded. 33 prisoners held in Gaza are scheduled to be released during the next six weeks, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel.

The rest, including male soldiers, will be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first phase.

Hamas said it would not release the remaining prisoners without a permanent ceasefire and complete Israeli withdrawal.

Al Jazeera’s Hamda said: “All eyes are now turning to Gaza to see what the Israeli army will do in these final hours, because historically, before any kind of ceasefire agreement, the Israeli army bombs the Gaza Strip with all its might.” Salhout, reporting from Jordan.

“There will be a lot of fear and anxiety.”

Lebanese Hezbollah leader, Naim Qassem, congratulated the Palestinians on reaching the agreement, saying it proves “the continuation of resistance” against Israel.

He said: “This deal, which has not changed from what was proposed in May 2024, proves the steadfastness of the resistance factions that took what they wanted while Israel was unable to take what it sought.”

In november, Hezbollah and Israel reached a ceasefire agreement In a conflict parallel to the Israeli war on Gaza.

Agreement

Under the agreement, the three-phase ceasefire begins with an initial six-week phase in which prisoners held by Hamas are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons.

At this stage, 33 Israeli prisoners are scheduled to be released, including women, children, men over the age of 50, and the sick and wounded. In return, Israel will release approximately 1,900 Palestinians, including women and children, in addition to hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained since the beginning of the war.

The Israeli Ministry of Justice published its details early on Saturday, along with the ceasefire agreement, which stipulated the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli female prisoner on Sunday.

The agreement was opposed by some hard-liners in the Israeli government, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Opponents said that the ceasefire agreement represented a surrender to Hamas.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Ben Gvir resigned from Netanyahu’s government in protest against the deal. Ben Gvir said earlier on Saturday that he would not topple the government. But Al Jazeera was unable to independently confirm the resignation reports.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also threatened to resign from the government if it did not return to war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire.

Israeli attacks continue throughout the Gaza Strip

In Gaza, Israeli forces continued their violent attacks.

Medics in Gaza said that an Israeli air strike early on Saturday morning killed five people in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip.

The Palestinian Wafa News Agency reported that a man from the Qudra family was killed along with his wife and their three children in the attack.

Three Palestinian civilians were also martyred in an Israeli drone strike in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, late on Friday evening, according to Wafa.

This brings to no less than 123 the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli bombing since the announcement of the ceasefire agreement on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, an attacker armed with a knife seriously injured one person in Tel Aviv before being shot by an armed civilian, according to Israeli police. A 30-year-old Israeli was injured in the attack and is in critical condition in hospital, according to Israeli media.

Despite the attacks, many Palestinians displaced from their homes are looking forward to a ceasefire.

Mahmoud Sheikh Abed, a displaced person from Rafah, said he hopes there will be no violations.

“We hope in the name of God that today will be the last day of the war. People are tired. We are tired of displacement, of disease, of hunger, of fatigue.”

Tareq Zomlot, another Palestinian refugee, said he could not wait to return to his home in Jabalia.

“We will return to our home and check on our family and friends. We hope to have silence and safety.”