Ceasefire comes into force as Israel awaits return of hostages and displaced people come to terms with devastation in Gaza – live | Israel-Gaza war

Here is a video of Palestinian people celebrating in the streets of central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah as the much-anticipated ceasefire deal came into effect this morning:

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The far right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is the head of the Religious Zionist Party, has reportedly called on Israel to occupy the Gaza Strip and install a military government, threatening to overthrow the government if this does not happen.

Israel “must occupy Gaza and create a temporary military government because there is no other way to defeat Hamas,” he was quoted as having told Israel’s Army Radio.

“I will overthrow the government if it does not return to fighting in a way that [leads to us] taking over the entire Gaza Strip and governing it,” he said, adding that Israel would provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza in that scenario. Smotrich has called the Gaza ceasefire agreement a “very serious mistake” and a “surrender to Hamas”.

On Thursday, Smotrich’s party said in a statement that its condition for remaining in the government would be a return to fighting at the end of the first phase of the deal, in order to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages back.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become more reliant on the support of Smotrich and other far-right elements of his coalition government since the former defence minister Benny Gantz quit Israel’s emergency war cabinet last summer in a row over strategy in the war on Gaza and how to bring home Israeli hostages. Netanyahu has said previously that he does not want to permanently occupy the Gaza Strip.

Earlier today, far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced his Otzma Yehudit party’s withdrawal from Netanyahu’s fragile coalition after the ceasefire announcement, meaning the coalition goes on with 62 parliamentary seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

There are hopes that the ceasefire will help to, at least partly, ease the dire humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s war on Gaza, with widespread shortages of food, medicine and clean water across the strip. Displaced by Israeli airstrikes, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people have been packed into crowded refugee camps along the coast, enduring cold winter weather amid widespread malnutrition. Aid groups have struggled to deliver food and supplies and say there are shortages of blankets, warm clothing and firewood.

About 200 aid delivery trucks, including 20 carrying fuel, began arriving on Sunday at the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing ahead of entry into the Gaza Strip, two Egyptian sources have told Reuters.

The first trucks of supplies started entering the strip minutes after the ceasefire took effect on Sunday morning, UN aid official Jonathan Whittall, interim chief of the UN’s OCHA aid agency for the Palestinian territories, wrote in a post on X.

“A massive effort has been underway over the past days from humanitarian partners to load and prepare to distribute a surge of aid across all of Gaza,” he wrote.

Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) charities – such as actionaid and Oxfam – are cautiously “hopeful” they can increase aid in Gaza following the news of the ceasefire this morning. It says the scale of the humanitarian challenge is “overwhelming”, with the delivery of food, medical care and shelter being the immediate priorities.

Some bakeries, hospitals and other essential facilities that were forced to close during the war will soon reopen, and with fewer restrictions on movement within the strip, essential services such as water trucking and medical care can be expanded, the DEC said in a press release.

Saleh Saeed, chief executive of the DEC, said:

After so many months of suffering caused by this conflict, we hope this ceasefire can provide some relief to millions of people whose lives have been devastated. DEC member charities and their local partners are hopeful it will provide them with a vital chance to scale up their programmes in Gaza and reach many more people in need.

People are living in unbearably harsh conditions without access to the basic supplies they need to survive. The generous donations by the UK public to the Middle East Humanitarian appeal have already enabled our member charities and their local partners to reach some of the most vulnerable with support, and with increased aid access they could do so much more. Please donate now.

Hamas said Israel is set to hand over a list with the names of 90 Palestinian prisoners to be released later today in exchange for three Israeli female hostages held by the militant group in Gaza. In a statement, Hamas said the prisoners included women and children.

“The occupation is expected to hand over shortly a list containing the names of 90 prisoners from the categories of women and children who are set to be released on the first day of the ceasefire,” Hamas said, adding the truce deal stipulated “the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one civilian detainee”.

At least 46,913 Palestinian people have been killed and 110,750 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The death toll does not include Palestinians killed by Israeli forces overnight or from Sunday morning before the ceasefire came into effect.

Gaza’s health ministry has said in the past that thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.

Israeli forces have reportedly already started withdrawing from areas in the southern city of Rafah to the Philadelphi corridor along the border between Egypt and Gaza. We have not been able to independently verify this information yet.

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Israel is supposed to begin withdrawing from “urban areas” in the territory immediately. Here is a timeline of what is expected to happen on specific days over the next couple of months:

Stage 1

• Sunday 19 January (day 1): Phase one begins. Three hostages to return, about 95 Palestinians to be released from prison (those from Gaza taken back, those from West Bank dropped off in Ramallah, serious offenders to be deported to a third country).

• Sunday 26 January (day 7). Four hostages to return. More Palestinians released.

• Sunday 2 February (day 14). Four hostages to return, more Palestinians released, more withdrawal by Israeli forces from the Netzarim corridor, separating what was once the densely populated Gaza City from the rest of the strip.

• Tuesday 4 February (day 16). Negotiations thrashing out details of Stage II to begin.

• Sunday 9 February (day 21). Three hostages to return, Palestinians released, more withdrawal from the Netzarim corridor.

• Monday 10 February (day 22). Access to north allowed via Salah al Din road too (the main road crossing the length of Gaza).

• Sunday 16 February (day 28). Three more hostages to return, more Palestinians released.

• Sunday 23 February (day 35). Three more hostages to return, more Palestinians released.

• Sunday 2 March (day 42). 14 hostages to return, more Palestinians released. Rafah due to reopen – all injured and sick Palestinian civilians to be allowed to leave; 50 injured fighters a day allowed to leave.

Stage 2

Here are the main elements of the ceasefire deal, as outlined by my colleague Bethan McKernan. You can read her explainer about the agreement and whether or not it is likely to lead to a permanent ceasefire here.

What’s in the deal?

• All fighting is to pause during the first 42-day phase. Israeli forces are to withdraw from Gaza’s cities to a “buffer zone” along the edge of the strip, displaced Palestinians will be able to return home and there will be a marked increase in aid deliveries.

• In the second stage, of unclear duration, the remaining living hostages will be returned and a corresponding ratio of Palestinian prisoners freed, alongside a complete Israeli withdrawal from the strip. The Rafah crossing to Egypt will be opened for the sick and wounded to leave. It is unclear whether it will be returned to Palestinian control.

• The third phase, which could last years, would address the exchange of bodies of deceased hostages and Hamas members, and a reconstruction plan for Gaza. Much of the international community has advocated for the semi-autonomous West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007, to return to the strip. Israel, however, has repeatedly rejected the suggestion.

How will stage one work?

• A total of 33 hostages will be released over the next six weeks, in exchange for about 1,700 Palestinians held in Israel prisons, about 1,000 of whom are from Gaza and were arrested after 7 October 2023 under emergency legislation which allowed detention without charge or trial.

• Three female captives – named by Hamas as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari – will be freed first in exchange for about 95 Palestinians. A handful of Israelis will then be released every Sunday for the next six weeks; the number of Palestinians to be freed upon their return generally depends on whether the Israelis are civilians or soldiers. Some of the freed Palestinians from the West Bank sentenced for serious crimes against Israelis will be sent to third countries rather than be allowed to return home.

• In Gaza, people displaced from their homes will be allowed to move freely around the Palestinian territory from day seven, and 600 trucks of aid will arrive each day to alleviate the strip’s dire humanitarian conditions. Supplies to Gaza are currently at an average of 18 truckloads a day; aid agencies say 500 a day is needed at a minimum.

Israeli airstrikes and artillery attacks killed at least 13 Palestinian people between 0630 GMT, when the ceasefire was meant to begin, and 0915 GMT, when it actually took effect, Palestinian medics said.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, is reporting that the Israeli attacks have targeted Beit Lahiya, Gaza City and al-Bureij in Gaza. What it is describing as “violent shelling” is occurring in Beit Hanoun and other areas in the northern part of the Strip. Dozens more people are reported to have been injured in the attacks.

Thousands of displaced Palestinian people carrying tents, clothes and personal belongings have began heading to their homes as the ceasefire comes into effect. Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from the Gaza Strip, which has still been hit by deadly Israeli airstrikes this morning:

Here is a quick round up of what has happened today:

• The much anticipated ceasefire, which comes in three phases, began at 11:15 local time (9:15 GMT) after a three-hour delay.

• Hamas released the names of three female hostages who it says it will be freed later today. They are Doron Steinbrecher, 31, and dual British-Israeli Emily Damari, 28, who were kidnapped from their kibbutz, and Romi Gonen, 24, who was taken from the Supernova Festival in October 2023.

• The ceasefire was delayed this morning because Israel said it had not received a list of the three hostages to be freed on time. Hamas blamed “technical” reasons for the delay, saying it was still committed to the truce.

• The first six-week phase of the ceasefire will see more than 30 hostages – including women, children and elderly people – exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The releases will be staggered.

• Gaza’s civil defence agency said eight Palestinian people had been killed after deadly Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip during the hours after the ceasefire was supposed to take effect. Three Palestinians were killed in eastern Gaza City by Israeli drones, medics in the territory said on Sunday.

• Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s party announced it was leaving the country’s ruling coalition in protest at what it called the “scandalous” Gaza ceasefire agreement. Benjamin Netanyahu’s slim majority remains intact.

The long-anticipated ceasefire deal has officially come into effect. The first three hostages to be released by Hamas have been named as Doron Steinbrecher, 31, and dual British-Israeli Emily Damari, 28, who were kidnapped from their kibbutz, and Romi Gonen, 24, who was taken from the Supernova Festival in October 2023. They are expected to be released later today.

“According to the plan for the release of the hostages, the ceasefire for phase one in Gaza will come into effect at 11:15 local time (09:15 GMT),” a statement from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office read.

The ceasefire deal comes in three stages. In the first stage of the ceasefire deal, 33 hostages are set to be released over six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The remainder are to be released in a second phase. The 98 hostages – some of whom are believed to be dead – include four people taken hostage in 2014 and 2015.

Hamas releases names of first Israeli hostages to be freed

Bethan McKernan

Bethan McKernan, the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, has more information about the three Israeli female hostages to be freed later today as part of the ceasefire deal which has still not come into effect:

Hamas’s armed wing has released the names of the three living female hostages due to be returned home today – Emily Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31. Steinbrecher was incorrectly named as “Shtanbar Khair” in the message delivered by al-Qassam’s Telegram channel. Israel has not yet confirmed the list given by Hamas.

Damari and Steinbrecher were abducted from their homes in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, while Gonen was taken from the Nova festival.

Video from 7 October 2023 shows that Damari was shot in the hand and the leg during the attack by Hamas.

Steinbrecher appeared in a hostage video released by Hamas in January last year. She appeared to be in a tunnel, and had lost a lot of weight.

There had been no signs of life from either Damari or Gonen since the day they were seized, although a hostage released in the week-long ceasefire in November 2023 told Gonen’s family that she was alive, but in bad condition.

Damari holds British citizenship, and her club, Tottenham Hotspur, came together with Arsena during the north London derby last week to honour her, releasing yellow balloons in the seventh minute of the game – the colour adopted by the hostages’ families.