Israeli strikes on Gaza reported after Sunday ceasefire deal with Hamas announced – live | Israel-Gaza war

Patrick Wintour

There may be no winners in war, but history suggests combatants are often eager to convince the world otherwise.

The ending of the 15-month conflict in Gaza may prove an exception. The sacrifice has been so great, the misery so complete, and the ultimate future for Gaza so uncertain that few can claim with certainty that this was all worthwhile, or likely to benefit Israel’s security in the long term. The damage to Israel’s reputation may last decades.

In their final interviews and speeches as they prepared to leave office, it was noticeable the key foreign policy figures in the Biden administration often looked beyond Gaza, as western diplomats have turned to what could be the momentous consequences of the war for the wider Middle East.

Even Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden’s outgoing national security adviser, was left uncertain. “What is the outcome of all of this? I think it is too early to predict. Even when good things happen, there are bad things around the corner. That’s true across foreign policy. It’s especially true in the Middle East,” he said.

Similarly, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, argued that often in the Middle East, change is not what it appears. He saw at best “a historic window of opportunity”. In every country sucked into the Israel-Gaza war – Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq – and in Israel itself, the balance of forces has been changed by the war, but not irreversibly transformed.

That is true of Gaza itself, where even if a full ceasefire holds, the future remains deliberately clouded. Blinken implicitly criticised this in his Atlantic Council speech this week, when he said he recognised the need for Israel’s war, but could not support what may be its plan for peace.

Read on below:

Israel intensified strikes on Gaza hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, residents and authorities in the Palestinian enclave have said, with dozens of people killed.

Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif, in northern Gaza, said it had been a “terrifying night”. In a post on X he wrote,

The pace of bombing has increased dramatically in recent hours, and with it the number of martyrs and wounded has increased to an unprecedented level.

He filmed himself at a makeshift morgue with bodies in the background, including those of several small children. “An hour ago, I was documenting the joy of the people of Gaza at the news of the ceasefire, but the Israeli occupation, as usual, continues to commit massacres,” he said.

Another Al Jazeera reporter Hossam Shabat, also reporting from northern Gaza, reported “intensive raids”, adding, “It’s as if we are living the first days of the Israeli aggression”.

Medics cited by Reuters said 32 people were killed late on Wednesday. Strikes continued into Thursday destroying 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.

In the occupied West Bank, where Israel has also intensified its attacks since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, six Palestinians were killed and another two critically injured on Wednesday evening by an Israeli airstrike on the Jenin refugee camp, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israel continued strikes on Gaza hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, residents and authorities in the Palestinian territory said, as mediators sought to quell fighting ahead of the truce’s start on Sunday.

Israel’s military made no immediate comment and there were no reports of Hamas attacks on Israel after the ceasefire announcement.

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 US, and 15 months of bloodshed that devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East.

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.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Donald Trump and Joe Biden for “advancing” the ceasefire agreement, but did not explicitly say whether he has accepted it, saying he would issue a formal response only “after the final details of the agreement, which are currently being worked on, are completed.”

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 Palestinian 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.

In other developments:

• Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, thanked US president-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden for their “assistance” in advancing the ceasefire and hostages release deal. In a series of posts on X, Netanyahu’s office said he spoke this evening with Trump and thanked him “for helping Israel bring an end to the suffering of dozens of hostages and their families.” Netanyahu then spoke with Biden and thanked him for his assistance in advancing the hostages deal.

• Israel’s security cabinet will meet at 11am local time (9am GMT) on Thursday to approve the deal, local media reported. The Israeli government will vote on the deal on Thursday, with a majority of ministers expected to approve the deal, a government official told Reuters.

• Both Biden and Trump were quick to claim credit. Biden opened his final address to the nation by referencing the deal. “This plan was developed and negotiated by my team and will be largely implemented by the incoming administration,” he said. Trump said the “epic” agreement could have only happened as a result of his “historic” election victory.

• The UN rights chief, Volker Türk, welcomed news of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying it held he promise of “huge relief after so much unbearable pain and misery”.

• The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has issued a statement calling the news of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal “long overdue” and urging a “huge surge” in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory. “After months of devastating bloodshed and countless lives lost, this is the long-overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been waiting for,” he said.

• The Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, which is set to be begin on Sunday and will last 42 days, will see the exchange of hostages detained by Hamas and Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.

• Other aspects of the deal include the return of Palestinians, who have been forcibly displaced by Israeli forces, to their homes across the Gaza Strip. The deal will also see the facilitation of travel of people wounded by Israeli attacks and sick people in order to receive treatment, as well as the positioning of Israeli forces across the Gaza border.

• Biden confirmed that Americans will be part of the hostage release. “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,” Biden said.

• Egypt is “preparing to bring in the largest possible amount of aid to the Gaza Strip,” according to state media reports. Coordination was under way to “open the Palestinian Rafah crossing to allow the entry of international aid” into Gaza, Egyptian state media reported.