• Ceasefire takes effect at 0630 GMT on Sunday, Qatar says
  • Israeli cabinet gives green light after long meeting
  • Israel carries out new airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday
  • Hard-line opponents to deal say it gives in to Hamas

Israel on Saturday approved a ceasefire deal with Hamas that involves release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces bombed the tiny enclave ahead of the agreement's scheduled start on Sunday.

The agreement is set to halt a 15-month-old war between Israel and Gaza's rulers Hamas that has decimated the Strip, killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis, and destabilised the Middle East.

Early on Saturday, after meeting for more than six hours, the Israeli cabinet ratified the US-brokered ceasefire deal which is mean to stop fighting and see the release over several weeks of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in return for scores of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

"The Government has approved the framework for the return of the hostages. The framework for the hostages' release will come into effect on Sunday," Netanyahu's office said in a brief statement.

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes have kept up heavy attacks since the deal was agreed, and continued to pound the territory on Saturday.

Israeli tanks shelled the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City and airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza, residents said. Medics in Gaza said five people were killed in an airstrike that hit a tent in the Mawasi area, west of the city of Khan Younis.

At least 123 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli bombardment since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.

Sirens sounded in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Saturday. The military said it had shot down a missile fired from Yemen and made no mention of any casualties. The Houthi group, which controls large parts of Yemen, indicated they would launch attacks on Israel should it "violate" the ceasefire.

It is not clear whether the end of fighting in Gaza would help calm wider regional tensions. If successful, some observers say, it could ease hostilities elsewhere in the Middle East.

The ceasefire will come into effect at 0630 GMT on Sunday, the Qatari foreign ministry spokesman posted on X. The White House expects three female hostages to be released to Israel in the afternoon through the Red Cross.

Under the deal, the three-stage ceasefire starts with an initial six-week phase when hostages held by Hamas will be exchanged for prisoners and detainees jailed in Israel.

Thirty-three of the 98 remaining Israeli hostages, including women, children, men over 50 and ill and wounded captives, are to be freed in this phase. In return, Israel will release almost 2,000 Palestinians from its jails.

They include 737 male, female and teen-aged prisoners, some of whom are members of militant groups convicted of attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza in detention since the start of the war.

Israel's Justice Ministry published their details early on Saturday, along with the ceasefire agreement, which said 30 Palestinian prisoners would be released for each female hostage on Sunday.

After Sunday's hostage release, lead US negotiator Brett McGurk said, the accord calls for four more female hostages to be freed after seven days, followed by the release of three further hostages every seven days thereafter.

With the accord opposed by some Israeli cabinet hard-liners, media reports said 24 ministers in Netanyahu's coalition government voted in favour of the deal while eight opposed it.

The opponents said the ceasefire agreement represented a capitulation to Hamas. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if it was approved and urged other ministers to vote against it. However, he said he would not bring down the government.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also threatened to quit the government if it does not go back to war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire.
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