Ceasefire with Hamas takes effect at 10:15 a.m.

On Sunday, Israel announced that the ceasefire with Hamas comes into effect at 9:15 a.m. GMT (10:15 a.m. Swiss time).

Shortly before, the armed wing of Hamas published a list of three Israeli hostages which it said should be released the same day as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Islamist movement.

“The al-Qassam Brigades decided to release today, Sunday January 19, 2025, the following Israeli prisoners,” indicates the armed wing of Hamas, publishing the names of three young women kidnapped on October 7, 2023. The entry into force of the truce, initially scheduled for 8:30 a.m. local time (7:30 a.m. Swiss time), was delayed, with Israel demanding to receive this list before implementing the agreement.

The Israeli army has meanwhile carried out new strikes which left eight dead in the Gaza Strip according to the local Civil Defense.

Early in the morning, many Palestinians in Gaza took to the streets to cheer the truce, appearing unaware of a delay, and some displaced people had sought to return home.

“We spent the night gathering our things and were on our way home when we heard the sound of bombing. We can’t go home anymore, it’s dangerous. I am devastated,” said Mohammad Baraka, a displaced person in southern Gaza.

Achieved on Wednesday by the mediators – Qatar, United States, Egypt -, a few days before the inauguration of the new American president Donald Trump, the agreement raised the hope of a lasting peace.

But Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Saturday that it was “a provisional ceasefire” and that his country retained “the right to resume the war if necessary and with the support of the United States”.

Hostile to the truce agreement, the party of Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir (far-right) announced that it was leaving Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition.

Under the terms of the agreement, hostilities must cease and 33 Israeli hostages must be released, in a first phase spread over six weeks.

The agreement provides for the first releases on Sunday.

In exchange for the release of hostages, Israel must release 737 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, with Egypt reporting “more than 1,890” of them to be released during the first phase.

Three reception points for Israeli hostages have been set up on Israel’s southern border with Gaza, at the Kerem Shalom and Eretz crossings and at the one near Kibbutz Reim, a military official said. The captives will be taken care of by doctors.

Two Franco-Israelis, Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Ohad Yahalomi, 50, are among the 33 hostages who can be released, according to Paris. They were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with several of their children, released during an initial one-week truce in November 2023.

“When they cross the (Gaza) border and are reunited with their families, then maybe we can breathe again,” Shahar Mor Zahiro, nephew of a deceased hostage, told AFP on Saturday evening. .

Israel designated 95 Palestinian detainees for release on Sunday, the majority women and minors, most of them arrested after October 7. Their release will take place after 2:00 p.m. GMT, according to the authorities.

Among the prisoners expected to be released is Zakaria al-Zoubeidi, responsible for anti-Israeli attacks and former local leader of the armed wing of Fatah, arrested and imprisoned in 2019.

According to US President Joe Biden, the first phase of the agreement also includes an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas in Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid in the territory threatened by famine according to the UN.

Egyptian authorities specified that the agreement provided for “the entry of 600 aid trucks per day”, including 50 fuel trucks.

During the first phase, the modalities of the second will be negotiated, which should allow the release of the last hostages, before the third and final stage devoted to the reconstruction of Gaza and the restitution of the bodies of hostages who died in captivity.

In the ravaged Gaza Strip, many displaced Palestinians want to return home.

“We are looking forward to this moment. We want to be safe,” Ahmed Hamouda told AFP in Deir el-Balah (center).

The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 94 are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom are dead according to the Israeli army.

At least 46,899 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Israeli retaliatory offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health deemed reliable by the UN.

Considerably weakened, Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, is however still far from being wiped out, contrary to the objective set by Benjamin Netanyahu, according to experts.