Israeli airstrikes continue in Gaza after the ceasefire agreement was announced

Israeli airstrikes are continuing in Gaza ahead of a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas that will come into force on Sunday, subject to approval by the Israeli Cabinet.

The strike killed 73 people overnight after the deal was announced, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency.

Among the victims were 12 people who lived in an apartment block in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, the Health Ministry said.

The Israel Defense Forces initially said they had identified a “fallen projectile” in southern Israel on Thursday, but later said they had misidentified it.

Israel has previously launched airstrikes to enforce the ceasefire, most recently in Lebanon, where heavy bombing It hit the capital Beirut in November a few hours before the ceasefire.

Benjamin Netanyahu was the Prime Minister of Israel Gaza is expected to be confirmed ceasefire agreement parliament on Thursday, but his office alleged that Hamas had “abandoned” parts of the deal, causing a “last-minute crisis”.

He added that the cabinet will not meet until Hamas accepts “all the elements of the agreement”.

A senior Hamas official told the BBC that his movement was committed to the deal announced by mediators and that its head of delegation, Khalil al-Hayya, had officially told Qatar and Egypt to accept all terms of the deal.

Two hard-right ministers, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have threatened to quit the governing coalition if the ceasefire goes ahead.

That could trigger new elections in Israel, but their resignations will not block the deal if Netanyahu wants that to happen, observers say.

Qatar’s prime minister – who mediated the negotiations – called for “calm” from both sides before the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Thus, 33 hostages – including women, children and the elderly – will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Israeli forces will also withdraw far to the east dense population Gaza areas.

Displaced Palestinians will be allowed to begin returning to their homes and eventually hundreds of aid trucks will be allowed into the territory every day.

Negotiations for the second phase – which would require the release of the remaining hostages, the withdrawal of all Israeli troops and the return of “lasting calm” – will begin on the 16th.

The third and final phase will involve returning the bodies of the remaining hostages and rebuilding Gaza, something that could take years.

Achim Steiner of the United Nations Development Program told the BBC’s Newsday program that rebuilding Gaza will be a huge challenge, given the enormous destruction caused by the war.

He said 40 million tons of “toxic” waste needed to be removed to allow Gazans to return to their former homes.

“It’s a very complex compromise that we’re facing now,” he said.

On October 7, 2023, Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack – banned as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and others – that killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. .

Since then, more than 46,700 people have died in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Most of the 2.3 million people have also been displaced, there is widespread destruction and severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter as aid agencies struggle to get help to those in need.

Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are presumed dead. In addition, there are four Israelis kidnapped before the war, two of them dead.