Yet, a three-hour delay proved deadly for at least 19 Palestinians, who were killed by Israeli strikes after last-minute issues over a list of captives.
Just before the truce was about to be enforced, Israel said it would continue its attacks on Gaza as Hamas had not provided a list of captives due to be released.
As Palestinians finally breathed a sigh of relief and began returning to their homes, Israeli jets and artillery began pummelling several areas of Gaza. Emergency services said the casualties included 36 wounded.
Hamas said it was committed to the ceasefire and the delay in providing the list was due to “technical field reasons”, delivering it later that morning. Due to begin at 8.30am local time (6.30am GMT), the ceasefire did not start until 11.15am.
Despite strong opposition from elements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, Israel’s cabinet approved the deal in a vote on Friday. Over 15 months Israel has killed over 46,000 Palestinians.
According to the full text of the truce agreement, the first phase, which will last six weeks, will involve the exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners and a return to “sustainable calm”.
Three living female Israeli captives are to due to be released after 4pm, with Israeli authorities releasing around 95 Palestinian prisoners – mostly minors or female – shortly afterwards.
Hamas announced the Israelis to be released on Sunday are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, who is also a British citizen.
Thirty-three Israeli captives held in Gaza will be released in total as part of the first phase.
They will be freed in exchange for Palestinians serving life sentences at a ratio of 1-3 and Palestinians serving other sentences at a ratio of 1 – 27, according to the agreement.
On Friday, Israel’s justice ministry published an extensive list of hundreds of Palestinians set to be freed as part of the prisoner exchange deal.
Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu, who have been held in Gaza since before Israel’s war on Gaza, are expected to be released in exchange for 60 Palestinian prisoners and an additional 47 Palestinian detainees who were re-arrested after being freed in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal.
As well as the prisoner exchange, Israel will gradually begin to withdraw from the Gaza Strip as part of the first phase, moving eastwards from densely populated areas, including from the Netzarim Corridor and Kuwait roundabout.
They will retreat to a perimeter 700 metres from the boundary with Gaza, with the exception of five localised points where the perimeter will increase by 400 additional metres.
Displaced Palestinians are set to return to northern Gaza as part of the first phase, an area that Israel’s military had decimated in a brutal military operation in recent weeks.
Israeli forces will remain in the Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone along the Gaza boundary with Egypt, until day 42 of the ceasefire, when they will begin their withdrawal from the area.
On the 16th day of the ceasefire, negotiations are planned to begin over the second phase of the ceasefire.
The broad outline of the second phase is for all Israeli captives to be released in return for a total withdrawal from Gaza. The exact details are still to be negotiated.
Netanyahu said in a video address on Saturday that Israel would continue its war on Gaza in “new, forceful ways” if the second stage of the ceasefire agreement proved to be “futile”.
“President [Donald] Trump and President [Joe] Biden have given full backing to Israel’s right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile.”
He added that Israel would not rest until “all of its war goals are completed”, including the return of all Israeli captives.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, said that he was given assurances that the war on Gaza would continue and Israel would launch a “gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip”.
Smotrich and his far-right Religious Zionism party voted against the ceasefire deal, but remained in the government after Netanyahu reportedly agreed to a number of their demands.
The far-right minister noted that while his party could not prevent the deal, they were able “to ensure” through the cabinet and “other ways”, that the war would not end without achieving Israel’s full goals, foremost of which is “the complete destruction of Hamas in Gaza”.
He stated that his faction had demanded and “received a commitment” that the method of war would be completely changed.
That included, said Smotrich, “through a gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip, the lifting of the restrictions imposed on us by the Biden administration, and full control of the Strip, so that humanitarian aid will not reach Hamas as it has been until now.”
Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party announced that its lawmakers would submit letters of resignation from the government on Sunday morning in protest against the deal.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military’s Arabic language spokesperson threatened that if Palestinians in Gaza approached Israeli troops following the ceasefire, they would be exposed to “danger”.
“According to the agreement, [Israeli military] troops will remain deployed in specific areas in the Gaza Strip. Do not approach… troops in the area until further notice. Approaching the forces exposes you to danger,” Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
“Movement from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip or toward the Netzarim Corridor remains dangerous.”
“Once such movement is permitted, a statement and instructions will be issued regarding safe methods of movement. Residents are warned against approaching [Israeli] troops in general and in the Netzarim Corridor area in particular,” Adraee continued.
According to the agreement, unarmed displaced Palestinians will be allowed to return to northern Gaza via Rasheed Street on day seven. Others will be allowed to return via Salah al-Din Street on day 22.
Adraee added: “In the maritime area, along the entire Strip, there is a great risk of fishing, swimming and diving and we warn against entering the sea in the coming days.”
The Palestinian health ministry said that Israeli forces had killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday ahead of the start of the ceasefire.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 46,899 people, most of whom are women and children, since 7 October 2023 after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. More than 110,000 others have been wounded in the enclave since then.
