Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is treating the ceasefire with Gaza as temporary and retains the right to continue fighting if necessary.
Speaking to the nation just 12 hours before the ceasefire is due to start, he claimed that he had the support of US President-elect Donald Trump, who he said he spoke to on Wednesday.
Mr Netanyahu also touted Israel’s military successes in Lebanon and Syria as the reason Hamas agreed to a ceasefire.
“We have changed the face of the Middle East,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Mr Netanyahu stressed that he was able to negotiate the best deal possible even as Israel’s public security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Saturday he and most of his party would resign from the government in opposition.
The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect Sunday at 8.30am local time (6.30am GMT), mediator Qatar announced on Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.
But Mr Netanyahu later warned that the ceasefire will not go forward unless Israel receives the names of hostages to be released, as had been agreed.
Mr Netanyahu’s statement came almost three hours after Israel had expected to receive the names, which Hamas was to give to mediator Qatar. There was no immediate response from Hamas or Qatar.
Israel’s Justice Ministry published a list of 700 Palestinian prisoners to be freed in the deal’s first phase.
The overnight approval of the ceasefire deal by Israel’s Cabinet, in a rare meeting during the Jewish Sabbath, set off a flurry of activity and a fresh wave of emotions as relatives wondered whether hostages would be returned alive or dead.
Earlier on Saturday, the Egyptian foreign minister says the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt will start operating “soon” as officials prepare for a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza as part of the ceasefire.
Foreign minister Badr Abdelatty did not specify when exactly the crossing will open. The crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world, has been closed since the Israeli army took over the area last May.
Mr Abdelatty said 600 trucks of aid should be entering Gaza daily during the ceasefire, including 50 fuel trucks.
The pause in 15 months of war is a step toward ending the deadliest, most destructive fighting ever between Israel and the Hamas militant group — and comes more than a year after the only other ceasefire achieved.
Brokered by mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt in months of indirect talks between the warring sides, the ceasefire is the second truce achieved in the devastating conflict.
The Hamas-led October 7 2023, attack on southern Israel killed some 1,200 people and left some 250 others captive. Nearly 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 the dead.
On Saturday night, dozens of Israelis protested against the ceasefire deal in Jerusalem, briefly blocking a main road as they shouted for Mr Netanyahu to resign and the war to continue.
Many carried faux coffins draped in the Israeli flag as well as banners calling the ceasefire a “betrayal” of Israeli soldiers killed in the war.
Yehoshua Shin, whose son was killed fighting Hamas militants on October 7, criticised the deal for releasing Palestinians from prison and called on US President-elect Donald Trump to scrap the deal until there is “total victory” over the Hamas militant group.
