Meanwhile, Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 72 people since the ceasefire deal was announced, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight as people were celebrating the ceasefire deal. In previous conflicts, both sides have stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires go into effect as a way to project strength.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the 48 bodies of people killed since midday Wednesday were brought to several hospitals. Around half of the dead were women and children, Zaher al-Wahedi, head of the ministry’s registration department, told The Associated Press.
Under the deal reached Wednesday, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The remainder, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 46,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry. It does not say how many of the dead were militants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
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Here's the latest:
At least 72 killed in Israeli strikes since ceasefire deal announced, Gaza officials say
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli strikes have killed at least 72 people since a ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday.
In previous conflicts, both sides have stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires take effect as a way to project strength.
The ministry says the toll from Thursday’s strikes only includes bodies brought to two hospitals in Gaza City, and that the actual toll is likely higher.
“Yesterday was a bloody day, and today is bloodier,” said Zaher al-Wahedi, head of the ministry’s registration department.
Israeli group holds demonstration against ceasefire deal
JERUSALEM — A group representing some families of soldiers killed fighting in Gaza held a demonstration Thursday against a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
The Gvura Forum opposes the deal, saying it won’t lead to Hamas’ destruction and that it will free Palestinians convicted of deadly crimes against Israelis. The agreement could also leave some Israeli hostages behind in Gaza if it collapses, the group said.
The group set up rows of mock coffins draped in the Israeli flag in Jerusalem to symbolize the price Israel will pay if it agrees to the deal.
“It’s a very dangerous deal,” said Yehoshua Shani, whose son Ori Mordehai Shani was killed in battle in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He believed the incoming Trump administration could exert more pressure on Hamas and secure better terms.
Many Israelis support a ceasefire deal that would bring the hostages home and end the war in Gaza. But some families of fallen soldiers and of hostages oppose any agreement that they perceive grants too many concessions to Hamas.
Russia voices hope that ceasefire can secure lasting stability in Gaza
MOSCOW — Russia’s Foreign Ministry voiced hopes Thursday that the long-awaited agreement to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip will help secure lasting stability in Gaza.
Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova praised “the patient and persistent work of Qatari and Egyptian mediators” who helped broker the agreement and noted that “at the final stage, representatives of the new American administration also joined the negotiating marathon.”
"We expect that the implementation of the agreement reached now will contribute to the sustainable stabilization of the situation in Gaza and create conditions for the return of all internally displaced persons ... and allow Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners released as a result of the deal to join their families,” Zakharova said at a briefing.
She specifically mentioned Russian citizen Alexander Trufanov, who was held in the Gaza Strip along other hostages.
“We believe that the conclusion of this agreement will contribute to the formation of the necessary conditions for establishing a process of a comprehensive political settlement of the Palestinian problem on a generally accepted international legal basis,” Zakharova added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also welcomed the deal.
“Any settlement that would result in a ceasefire and end the suffering of the people of Gaza while helping ensure security of Israel can only be welcomed,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
Families mourn 4 killed in Israeli strike in southern Gaza
Mourners held a Muslim funeral service on Thursday for a Palestinian journalist who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza the previous day.
The strike hit a food charity known as Tikia in the Muwasi area in the city of Khan Younis Wednesday evening as people were waiting for the announcement of the ceasefire deal, according to the Naser hospital and the journalists’ relatives.
The journalist, Ahmed al-Shaiyah, was killed in the strike along with three other people, according to the hospital, which received the bodies.
“Instead of receiving news of the truce, we received news of his martyrdom,” the journalist’s brother, Ismail al-Shaiyah, told the AP.
“We were waiting to rest and get rid of this nightmare, but my son was martyred in the last hour. He was gone from me,” said Nagat Moammar, the mother of one of those killed.
China welcomes Gaza ceasefire, hopes it is ‘comprehensive and permanent’
TAIWAN — Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Thursday that Beijing welcomes the ceasefire deal and hopes it can be “effectively implemented so a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza can be achieved.”
China will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza and make “positive efforts” for post-war reconstruction, he added.
“We also sincerely hope that the relevant parties will take the Gaza ceasefire as an opportunity to promote the easing of local tensions. China is willing to work with the international community to make unremitting efforts to promote peace and stability in the Middle East,” Guo said.
Iran-backed militia will suspend operations against Israel, its leader says
Baghdad — The leader of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Harakat al-Nujaba, Akram al-Kaabi, announced Thursday the suspension of the group’s operations against Israel following the declaration of a Gaza ceasefire agreement but warned they could start again if there were violations of the truce.
In a statement, al-Kaabi congratulated the Palestinian people and “freedom-loving” individuals worldwide on “this important development.”
“We will suspend our military operations against (Israel) in solidarity with the halt of operations in Palestine and to support the continuation of the ceasefire in Gaza, but let the occupying entity know that any foolishness from them in Palestine or the region will be met with a harsh response,” he added.
Al-Kaabi said the group's missiles and drones “remain on permanent standby.”
During the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iraqi militias launched a series of drone attacks targeting U.S. bases in Syria and Iraq as well as sites in Israel.
Syria's foreign minister calls for lifting of sanctions
ANKARA, Turkey — Syria’s new foreign minister has called for a lifting of sanctions that were imposed on his country during former President Bashar Assad’s rule.
In an interview with Turkish state broadcaster TRT that aired Thursday, Asaad al-Shibani also said Syria’s new leadership wanted to “open a new page” in its diplomatic relations with countries that had cut diplomatic ties with Damascus during the Syrian civil war.
“The economic sanctions are one of the problems that the old regime left us,” al-Shibani said in the interview, which aired a day after he met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials in Ankara. “We are saying that there is no longer any need for them. The old regime is gone.”
“These sanctions must be lifted in order for people to live in better economic conditions and for security and economic stability to be achieved,” he added.
Indonesia calls for the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state as it welcomes the ceasefire
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has welcomed the ceasefire and called for its immediate implementation, along with the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state.
“Peace in Palestine cannot be achieved without the end of Israel’s occupation and the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, in accordance with the two-state solution based on agreed international parameters,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
Muslim-majority Indonesia has long been a strong supporter of Palestinians.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says ceasefire is a ‘great victory’ for Hamas
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has applauded the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and called it a “great victory” for Hamas and the resistance front.
“This great victory, like the ‘al-Aqsa storm,’ which was a multifaceted and irreparable defeat for the Zionists, did not bring any gains for the Zionist regime, and the resistance remained alive, thriving and strong,” the Guard said in a statement on Thursday, referring to the Oct. 7, 2023 surprise attack that sparked the war.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei later said in a post on social platform X that the patience of the resistance front forced Israel to retreat.
“It will be written in books that there was a mob who once killed thousands of children & women in Gaza! Everyone will realize it was the patience of the people & steadfastness of Palestinian Resistance & Resistance Front that forced Zionist regime to retreat,” he wrote in a post on the social platform X on Thursday.
Pakistan hails ceasefire but criticizes Israel for ‘unprecedented loss of lives’
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that Islamabad welcomes the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas and calls for its immediate and full implementation.
“Indiscriminate use of force by Israeli occupation forces has caused unprecedented loss of lives and property and displacement of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian Palestinians. Israel’s expansionist designs have destabilized the entire region,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
It added that Pakistan hopes the truce will lead to a permanent ceasefire and help scale up humanitarian assistance.
Japan and South Korea welcome Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza
TOKYO — Japan and South Korea have separately welcomed the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza as a key step toward improving humanitarian conditions and calming the situation in the territory.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday, urged Israel and Hamas to implement the agreement “sincerely and steadily” and he praised the United States, Egypt and Qatar for their work to achieve the deal.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, called for a “thorough and swift implementation” of the agreement so that “all hostages are released and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip improves.”
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