ANKARA — Israel and Hamas’ ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will go into effect at 8.30am local time tomorrow, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has announced.
“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza.”
“We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources,” Bernama-Anadolu Agency reported ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari as saying.
To take effect at 2.30pm tomorrow in Malaysia, the ceasefire agreement was approved by Israel’s cabinet in the early hours of Saturday morning and comes after 15 months of war and genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where more than 46,000 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.
That a deal was reached this time, where previous negotiations failed, has been credited by to pressure on Israel from US President-Elect Donald Trump who vowed “all hell would break lose” if the war did not stop by the time he takes his oath of office this Monday.
But the Palestinian death toll continued to rise even after the agreement was announced on Wednesday by Qatari mediators, with Israeli attacks killing at least 122 people and injuring over 200 in Gaza as of today, media report citing the enclave’s Civil Defense.
The ceasefire agreement will see hostage and prisoner exchanges under the first phase that will last six weeks. Israel claims that 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are presumed dead.
During the first phase, Israeli forces are to also withdraw from densely populated areas in Gaza.
Displaced Palestinians – said to be most of the 2.3 million population – are also to be allowed to return home, although much of Gaza has been destroyed. Humanitarian aid is also to flow into the Strip.
Under the second phase, Israel is to conduct a full troop withdrawal , and the third phase will involve reconstruction as well as the return of hostages’ bodies that may be uncovered in the rubble.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said the cost of Gaza’s reconstruction is estimated to be over US$1 trillion, and that Malaysia will work with Japan on its reconstruction.
Japan has invited Malaysia to co-chair the Conference on Cooperation among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEAPAD), focusing on Gaza’s reconstruction, Anwar added.
The International Criminal Court currently has arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave. – January 18, 2025