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Dozens killed as Israeli strikes continue ahead of Gaza ceasefire
Israeli air strikes are continuing in Gaza ahead of the ceasefire agreement and hostage deal with Hamas, which comes into effect on Sunday, subject to the Israeli cabinet’s approval.
The strikes killed 73 people overnight, following the announcement of the deal, Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency reported.
Victims include 12 people who were living in a residential block in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, the health ministry said.
The Israeli Defence Forces initially said “a fallen projectile” had been identified in southern Israel on Thursday, but later said it had been wrongly identified.
Israel has previously launched air strikes in the run-up to ceasefire arrangements taking effect, most recently in Lebanon, where heavy bombing hit the capital, Beirut, just hours before the ceasefire there in November.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to ratify the Gaza ceasefire agreement in parliament on Thursday, but his office alleges Hamas has “reneged” on parts of the agreement, prompting a “last-minute crisis”.
It adds the cabinet will not convene until Hamas has accepted “all elements of the agreement”.
A senior Hamas official told the BBC that his movement was committed to the agreement announced by the mediators and that the head of its delegation, Khalil al-Hayya, had officially informed Qatar and Egypt of its approval of all the terms of the agreement.
Two hardline right-wing ministers, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have long threatened to quit the government coalition if the ceasefire goes ahead.
That could prompt fresh elections in Israel, but their resignations will not block the deal if Netanyahu wants it to happen, observers say.
The prime minister of Qatar – which mediated negotiations – has called for “calm” on both sides before the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire deal.
This will see 33 hostages – including women, children and elderly people – exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israeli forces will also withdraw to the east, away from densely populated areas of Gaza.
Displaced Palestinians will be allowed to begin returning to their homes and hundreds of aid lorries will finally be allowed into the territory each day.
Negotiations for the second phase – which should see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli troop withdrawal and a return to “sustainable calm” – will start on the 16th day.
The third and final stage will involve the return of any remaining hostages’ bodies and the reconstruction of Gaza – something which could take years.
Achim Steiner from the United Nations Development Programme told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the reconstruction of Gaza would be a huge challenge, given the massive destruction inflicted by the war.
He said 40 million tons of “toxic” rubble needed to be removed before Gazans could return to where their houses used to be.
“This is a very complex undertaking that we are now confronted with,” he said.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and others – in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 46,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Most of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter, while aid agencies struggle to get help to those in need.
Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, 34 of whom are presumed dead. In addition, there are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.
[BBC]