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Israel, Hamas ceasefire accord followed by airstrikes on Gaza, residents say
Israel intensified strikes on Gaza hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, residents and authorities in the Palestinian enclave said, and mediators sought to quell fighting ahead of the truce's start on Sunday.
The complex ceasefire accord between Israel and militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, emerged on Wednesday after months of mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. and 15 months of bloodshed that devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East, Reuters reported.
The deal outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by Hamas would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
At a news conference in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday. Negotiators are working with Israel and Hamas on steps to implement the agreement, he said.
"This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity," U.S. President Joe Biden said in Washington.
His successor, Donald Trump, takes office on Monday and claimed credit for the breakthrough in Gaza.
Israel's acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country's security cabinet and government, with votes slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
The accord was expected to win approval despite opposition from some hardliners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government.
While people celebrated the pact in Gaza and Israel, Israel's military escalated attacks after the announcement, the civil emergency service and residents said.
Heavy Israeli bombardment, especially in Gaza City, killed 32 people late on Wednesday, medics said. The strikes continued early on Thursday and destroyed houses in Rafah in southern Gaza, Nuseirat in central Gaza and in northern Gaza, residents said.
Israel's military made no immediate comment and there were no reports of Hamas attacks on Israel after the ceasefire announcement.
A Palestinian official close to the ceasefire negotiations said mediators were seeking to persuade both sides to suspend hostilities ahead of the ceasefire going into effect.
JUBILATION IN GAZA
In social media posts, some Gaza residents urged Palestinians to exercise extra caution in the belief Israel could step up attacks in the next few days to maximize gains before the ceasefire starts.
Nevertheless, news of the ceasefire deal sparked jubilation in Gaza, where Palestinians have faced severe shortages of food, water, shelter and fuel. In Khan Younis, throngs clogged the streets amid the sounds of horns as they cheered, waved Palestinian flags and danced.
"I am happy. Yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy," said Ghada, a displaced mother of five.
In Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages and their friends likewise welcomed the news, saying in a statement they felt "overwhelming joy and relief (about) the agreement to bring our loved ones home."
In a social media statement announcing the ceasefire, Hamas called the pact "an achievement for our people" and "a turning point."
If successful, the ceasefire will halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanised Gaza, killed over 46,000 people and displaced most of the tiny enclave's pre-war population of 2.3 million, according to Gaza authorities.
That in turn could defuse tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has stoked conflict in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between arch regional foes Israel and Iran.
With 98 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50. Two American hostages, Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen, were among those to be released in the first phase, a source said.
FOOD LINED UP AT THE GAZA'S BORDERS
The agreement calls for a surge in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross said they were preparing to scale up their aid operations.
"A ceasefire is the start - not the end. We have food lined up at the borders to Gaza - and need to be able to bring it in at scale," said Cindy McCain, World Food Program executive director, on X.
Global reaction to the ceasefire was enthusiastic. Leaders and officials of Egypt, Turkey, Britain, the United Nations, the European Union, Jordan, Germany and the United Arab Emirates, among others, celebrated the news.
Biden and Trump both claimed credit for the deal that was months in the making but was helped across the line by a Trump emissary.
Trump's Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff was in Qatar along with White House envoys for the talks, and a senior Biden administration official said Witkoff's presence was critical to reaching a deal after 96 hours of intense negotiations.
Biden said that the two teams had "been speaking as one".
Israeli hostage families expressed concern that the accord may not be fully implemented and some hostages may be left behind in Gaza.
Negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal will begin by the 16th day of phase one, and this stage was expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The third stage is to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
If all goes smoothly, the Palestinians, Arab states and Israel must still agree on a vision for post-war Gaza, including the unanswered question of who will run Gaza after the war.
Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen burst into Israeli border-area communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
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Iran’s weakening will not harm Iraq, deputy parliament speaker says
Iraq, a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, is trying to avoid upsetting its fragile stability and focus on rebuilding after years of war.
Iraq will not be negatively affected by the weakening of Iran's influence in the Middle East, Iraq's deputy parliament speaker said, with Baghdad looking to chart its own diplomatic path in the region and limit the power of armed groups.
Mohsen al-Mandalawi spoke to Reuters in a recent interview after seismic shifts in the Middle East that have seen Iran's armed allies in Gaza and Lebanon heavily degraded and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad overthrown by rebels.
U.S. President Donald Trump's new administration has promised to pile more pressure on Tehran, which has long backed a number of parties and an array of armed factions in Iraq.
Iraq, a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, is trying to avoid upsetting its fragile stability and focus on rebuilding after years of war.
"Today, we have stability. Foreign companies are coming to Iraq," said Mandalawi, himself a businessman with interests in Iraqi hotels, hospitals and cash transfer services.
"Iraq has started to take on its natural role among Arab states. Iran is a neighbour with whom we have historical ties. Our geographical position and our relations with Arab states are separate matters," he said, speaking at his office in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home to government institutions and foreign embassies.
"I don't think that the weakening of Iran will negatively impact Iraq."
Mandalawi is a member of Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Coordination Framework, a grouping of top politicians seen as having close ties with Iran, and heads the Asas coalition of lawmakers in parliament.
Iraq's balancing act between Tehran and Washington has been tested by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups' attacks on Israel and on U.S. troops in the country after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023.
That has led to several rounds of tit-for-tat strikes that have since been contained.
During Trump's first 2017-2021 presidency, ties were tense after the U.S. assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in 2020, leading to an Iranian ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq.
In recent months, ahead of Trump taking office again, there have been growing calls in Iraq to limit the role of Iran-backed armed factions.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that Iraq was trying to persuade armed factions allied with Iran to lay down their arms.
Mandalawi said he believed such a move would take time but it was possible given a shift in focus on growing political and economic interests.
"Limiting arms to the state is important and I hope that it will be implemented," he said.
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Trump says Jordan, Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza
Trump’s remarks echo longstanding Palestinian fears about being driven permanently from their homes
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza, where Israel's military assault has caused a dire humanitarian situation and killed tens of thousands.
When asked if this was a temporary or long-term suggestion, Trump said: "Could be either."
An official of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, reacted with suspicion to the remarks, echoing longstanding Palestinian fears about being driven permanently from their homes, Reuters reported.
Palestinians "will not accept any offers or solutions, even if (such offers) appear to have good intentions under the guise of reconstruction, as announced in the proposals of U.S. President Trump," Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told Reuters.
Washington had said last year it opposed the forcible displacement of Palestinians.
Rights groups and humanitarian agencies have for months raised concerns over the situation in Gaza, with the war displacing nearly the entire population and leading to a hunger crisis.
Washington has also faced criticism for backing Israel but has maintained support for its ally, saying it is helping Israel defend against Iran-backed militant groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
"I said to him I'd love you to take on more because I'm looking at the whole Gaza strip right now and it’s a mess, it's a real mess. I'd like him to take people," Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, said about his call on Saturday with Jordan's King Abdullah.
"I'd like Egypt to take people," Trump told reporters, adding he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
"You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing," Trump said.
The population in the Palestinian enclave prior to the start of the Israel-Gaza war was around 2.3 million.
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Hamas releases four Israeli hostages in second swap
The Palestinian militant movement Hamas handed four female Israeli soldier hostages over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza on Saturday, releasing them in return for some 200 Palestinian prisoners.
The four hostages were led onto a podium in Gaza City amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of armed Hamas men. They waved and smiled before being led off, entering ICRC vehicles and being transported to Israeli forces, Reuters reported.
The Israeli military said it had received the four in Gaza. They are being released in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza.
The four soldiers - Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag - were all stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza and abducted by Hamas fighters who overran their base during the attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
After being reunited with their family at an Israeli military base near the Gaza border, the released hostages will be taken to a hospital in central Israel, the Israeli Health Ministry said.
Hamas said 200 prisoners will be freed on Saturday as part of the exchange. They include convicted militants serving life sentences for their involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people. Around 70 are set to be deported, Hamas said.
Saturday's planned exchange will be the second since a ceasefire began on Sunday and Hamas handed over three Israeli female civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, has halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in November 2023.
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