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GAZA: A relative mourns over the body of a child, one of four members of the Palestinian Al-Qadra family (parents and their two children), killed in a Zionist strike that hit their tent north of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, at the morgue of the Nasser Hospital on Jan 18, 2025. - AFP
GAZA: A relative mourns over the body of a child, one of four members of the Palestinian Al-Qadra family (parents and their two children), killed in a Zionist strike that hit their tent north of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, at the morgue of the Nasser Hospital on Jan 18, 2025. - AFP

Genocide till the very end

Zionists kill scores before Gaza ceasefire begins at 8:30 am on Sunday

GAZA: A ceasefire in the Gaza war will begin on Sunday morning, mediator Qatar said after the Zionist entity’s cabinet voted to approve the truce and captive-prisoner release deal. Since Qatar and the United States, which mediated the deal along with Egypt, announced the agreement on Wednesday, Zionist strikes on Gaza have continued.

At least 123 Palestinians have been killed in Zionist strikes since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said. Nearly 47,000 have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry. On Saturday, Gaza’s civil defense rescue agency said at least five members of a family were killed when a strike hit their tent in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. Zionist tanks shelled the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City and airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza, residents said.

Explosions were heard over Jerusalem after air raid sirens blared and the military said a projectile had been launched from Yemen, whose Houthi rebels say they support the Palestinians. The Houthis said they targeted the Zionist defense ministry, before air raid sirens sounded again in the Zionist entity’s south in the afternoon and the military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.

“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am (0630 GMT) on Sunday,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said. In more than 15 months of war between Hamas and the Zionist entity, there has been only one previous truce, for one week, in Nov 2023. That deal also saw the release of Zionist captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

“The government has approved the hostage return plan,” the office of Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the cabinet vote. Netanyahu’s office said the deal “supports achieving the objectives of the war”. But Hamas said the Zionist entity had “failed to achieve its aggressive goals” and “only succeeded in committing war crimes that disgrace the dignity of humanity”.

Mediator Egypt said Saturday that the Zionist entity is to release more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 Zionist captives in the first phase of a Gaza truce. The foreign ministry said the prisoners would be freed during the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire. The Zionist justice ministry had earlier said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed – none before 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 captives released in Gaza. Sheikh Mohammed told Sky News the framework signed this week was the same as one agreed on December 23, adding it amounted to “13 months of a waste of negotiating details”. The truce is to take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as US president.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Zionist-occupied West Bank, has completed preparations “to assume full responsibility in Gaza” after the war. The Zionist entity has expressed no definitive stance on post-war governance beyond rejecting any role for either Hamas or the PA. Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Gaza should be under PA control.

Ahead of the truce, displaced Gazans prepared to return home. “I will go to kiss my land,” said Nasr Al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south. “If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.” The Zionist military campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, most of them civilians.

The Zionist cabinet endorsement of the deal came despite eight ministers voting against it, including far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Mediators had worked for months to reach a deal but the efforts were fruitless until Trump’s inauguration neared. Brett McGurk, the pointman for outgoing President Joe Biden, was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to finalize the agreement, US officials said.

Zionist authorities assume the 33 captives to be released in the first phase are alive, but Hamas has yet to confirm that. Also in the first phase, Zionist forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, the Qatari prime minister said. A Zionist military official said reception points had been established at Kerem Shalom, Erez and Reim, where hostages would be joined by doctors and mental health specialists before being “transported via helicopter or vehicle” to hospitals in the Zionist entity. — Agencies

The Zionist entity “is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several with high sentences”, a source said on condition of anonymity. Biden said an unfinalized second phase of the agreement would bring a “permanent end to the war”. In aid-starved Gaza, humanitarian workers caution a monumental task lies ahead. Hundreds of trucks loaded with aid have lined up on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire takes effect, including 50 carrying fuel. – Agencies

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