What we know
- The Israeli Cabinet approved the ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, which is set to start on Sunday.
- The vote was delayed after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Hamas had sought late concessions, which the militant group denied. Both sides confirmed the final issues were resolved overnight.
- The phased deal would begin with a six-week truce and could end 15 months of fighting in Gaza. Israeli strikes have killed at least 116 people since the deal was announced, Gaza’s Civil Defense said.
G7 leaders hail ceasefire deal, urge Iran to refrain from further attacks on Isreal
The leaders of the G7 countries said in a statement today they “fully endorse and will stand behind” the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas, thanking Egpyt, Qatar, and the U.S. for mediating the negotiations.
They also urged Iran and its proxies to refrain from any further attacks against Israel, confirming support for “Israel’s security in the face of these threats.”
“We reaffirm our support for a credible pathway towards peace leading to a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians live side-by-side in peace, dignity, and security,” the statement said.
Desperate children struggle for food handouts at Gaza charity kitchen
NBC News filmed a crowd of hungry adults and children competing for insufficient supplies of food at a charity kitchen in Khan Younis.
More than two-thirds go away empty-handed, according to one of cooks working there.
Israel's Cabinet votes to approve ceasefire deal
Early Saturday, Israel's full Cabinet signed off on the ceasefire deal that is set to see the release of dozens of hostages and bring fighting to an end for the first time in more than a year, the prime minister's office said in a statement.
The ceasefire and release of hostages is set to begin Sunday.
Israel ramps up deadly airstrikes on Gaza after ceasefire deal is reached
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal will go into effect too late for Akram Abu Ahmed to see his children again.
His family’s sole survivor after an Israeli airstrike, Ahmed was sleeping near Gaza City in the early hours on Thursday after celebrating news of the truce when he heard a loud sound and was thrown into the air.
“Dust and screams surrounded me,” he said, adding that his wife and three of his children were killed, including a daughter whom he said was a doctor.
“Is this what they aim for? Killing doctors?” he said. “This is the question I want you to answer, Netanyahu: Why did you kill my daughter?”
Israelis unveil three places where Gaza hostages will be received
If all goes as planned, the hostages in Gaza will get their long-awaited freedom at three kibbutzim in Israel that are close to the border of the Palestinian territory, the Israel Defense Forces announced.
"Reception points" have been established at Kerem Shalom, which is also near the Egyptian border; at Re'im, about 30 miles northeast of there; and at Erez, north of the Gaza border.
"At these reception points, the Israeli hostages will be met with IDF representatives, including liaison and welfare officers, as well as doctors, psychologists, and mental health specialists," the IDF said.
From there, the newly freed hostages will be taken, either by helicopter or vehicle, to Israeli hospitals that have already been prepared to treat them.
"The purpose of the forward reception points is to create a gradual transition and provide initial care by professionals before the hostages are reunited with their families at the hospital," the IDF said.
In 2023, Hamas transferred a group of 24 hostages from Gaza to Israel via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
WHO has 60-day plan to rebuild Gaza's shattered health care system
Now that the Israeli security Cabinet has approved the Gaza ceasefire, the United Nations aims to launch a 60-day emergency plan to rebuild the Palestinian territory's shattered health care system, which is estimated to cost at least $10 billion.
Only half of the 36 hospitals in the territory are functioning the World Health Organization said in a statement, citing an estimated 664 direct attacks on Gaza's health care infrastructure since October.
The WHO plan calls for "scaling up existing health efforts, setting up temporary medical clinics and restoring essential healthcare services."
“We have ordered temporary prefabricated clinics and hospitals which we will integrate into the existing facilities…integrating existing health facilities as part of that, to expand some needed bed capacity, address urgent health needs and health service delivery,” Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Gaza. said in a statement.
Those badly needed medical supplies, along with food and fuel, could start rolling into Gaza as soon as Sunday, said Peeperkorn.
“The target is to get between 500 and 600 trucks in per day over the coming weeks,” he said.
This would be a "huge increase" over the 40 to 50 trucks that have been able to get into Gaza into recent months and be about the same level of aid that the territory was getting before the fighting erupted.
Palestinian Authority says it is ready to run Gaza
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that, with the ceasefire in hand, his government is ready to assume "its full responsibilities" in Gaza "as it is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory."
Abbas, in an official statement, also added that the "State of Palestine has legal and political jurisdiction over the Strip, like the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Jerusalem."
Abbas also appealed for "urgent humanitarian assistance to enable the Palestinian government to fulfill its responsibilities towards our people, who have been subjected to a war of genocide in the Gaza Strip, and serious Israeli attacks and violations in the West Bank and Jerusalem."
Not mentioned in the Abbas statement was that Hamas, not the Palestinian government, has been the de facto rulers of Gaza since 2007 when it ousted the Palestinian Authority from power.
Israel's full Cabinet meeting to consider ceasefire deal
Israel’s full cabinet (sometimes also referred to as “the government”) has begun meeting to consider the ceasefire-hostage deal, an Israeli official told NBC News.
It is very rare for the cabinet to meet on Shabbat (the Jewish holy day which runs from sundown on Friday to Saturday sundown) but the meeting is going ahead because of the importance of the deal. It is unclear exactly when the Cabinet will vote to approve the deal but it is expected Netanyahu will have the votes to pass it, despite opposition from far-right ministers.
The meeting of the full Cabinet comes after the smaller security Cabinet voted to approve the deal earlier today. Israel’s government says it expects the first hostages to be released from Gaza on Sunday.
More than 117 Palestinians killed since ceasefire deal announced
The bloodshed did not stop immediately after the Gaza ceasefire deal was announced, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Since Wednesday night, 117 Palestinians were killed, at least 62 of them women and children, said Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense agency.
Israeli attacks, Basal said, have "intensified" since the ceasefire deal was announced. In addition to those killed, another 266 people were injured, he said.
In total, the ministry has reported more than 46,800 deaths and 110,600 injuries since Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel launched its military assault on Gaza after the Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel left more than 1,200 dead.
At least two people were killed in a strike on a tent housing displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis. As relatives mourned, one man told an NBC News team that a ceasefire cannot come soon enough for the people of Gaza.