A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip came into force on Sunday after a delay of almost three hoursending a 15-month war that has brought devastation and seismic political change to the Middle East.
Gaza residents and a medical worker said They had not heard combat or military attacks for half an hour before it was finally applied.
Israeli air and artillery strikes killed 13 Palestinians between 0630 GMTexpected start time of the ceasefire, and 0915 GMT, when it came into effect, Palestinian doctors reported.
Israel blamed Hamas for the delay after the Palestinian militant group failed to provide a list of the names of the first three hostages to be freed under the deal.. The group attributed the delay to “technical” reasons, without specifying what they were.
A Palestinian official familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: The delay occurred because the mediators had requested 48 hours of “calm” before the ceasefire was implemented.but continued Israeli attacks up to the deadline had made it difficult to submit the list.
Two hours after the deadline, Hamas said it had sent the list of names, and Israeli officials confirmed receipt. Hamas identified the hostages it was to release on Sunday as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.
Israel did not immediately confirm the names.
Long-awaited ceasefire agreement could help end Gaza warwhich began after Hamas, which controls the tiny coastal territory, will attack Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel’s response has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed nearly 47,000 Palestiniansaccording to Gaza health authorities.
The war also triggered a standoff across the Middle East between Israel and Iran.which supports Hamas and other anti-Israel and anti-American paramilitary forces throughout the region.
Hostages, attacks
Before the ceasefire began at 0630 GMT, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that It could not take effect until Hamas gave the names of the hostages who were to be freed on Sunday.
Israeli military spokesmen said in separate statements on Sunday that its planes and artillery had attacked “terrorist targets” in northern and central Gaza, and that the army would continue attacking the strip as long as Hamas did not fulfill its obligations under the ceasefire.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service declared that at least 13 people had been killed in the Israeli attacks and dozens wounded.
Doctors reported tank fire at the Zeitoun area of Gaza City and said an airstrike and tank fire also hit the northern town of Beit Hanoun. causing the flight of residents who had returned there in anticipation of the ceasefire.
An air raid siren that sounded in the Sderot area of southern Israel, It had been a false alarm, the Israeli military said in another statement.
Israeli forces had begun to withdraw from the Rafah areas of Gaza to the Philadelphia corridor, along the Egypt-Gaza border, pro-Hamas media reported early Sunday.
The three-phase ceasefire agreement was reached after months of intermittent negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States. and came just before US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Its first phase will last six weeks, during which 33 of the 98 remaining hostages – women, children, men over 50s, sick and wounded – will be released in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
