The Israeli government’s approval of a ceasefire has brought relief to hostage families hoping to see their loved ones emerge from Gaza in the coming weeks.

Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle Gadi Moses, 80, is on the list of the first 33 hostages to be released under the truce, said she had expected the deal to gain the overall support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet, despite the vocal opposition of some members, including far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“I was sure the noisy ones would be noisy,” Machikawa, 56, said in a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday, branding those opposed to the deal as “extremists.” A total of 24 Cabinet members voted in favor of the ceasefire, with eight voting against and one abstaining.

“I want to say shame on them, those eight that voted against and the one who refrained from voting at all,” she said.

Machikawa was filled with both joy and fear ahead of the release of her uncle — her family have received no updates on his condition for more than a year, she said.

The death toll in Gaza has risen to 46,899, according to local health officials, as Israeli strikes continue ahead of the start of the ceasefire tomorrow morning.

The Palestinian Ministry of Interior and National security has congratulated the Palestinian people on the ceasefire, which it says stops “the war of extermination” in Gaza.

“We pray for the souls of tens of thousands of our people who were martyred in this brutal war,” it said, accusing Israel of “various crimes that are shameful to humanity.”

It added that ministry agencies will “begin to deploy in all governorates of the Gaza Strip” after the ceasefire has begun, after Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that PA was ready to assume its “full responsibilities” in post-war Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but Hamas has governed Gaza since 2007, when it ousted the Palestinian Authority from power.

The Israeli Defense Force says it is preparing to “implement the agreement for the return of the hostages” ahead of the ceasefire agreement that is set to begin tomorrow morning.

They are "operating to provide suitable physical and psychological support," for the returning hostages, the IDF said.

It also confirmed that the ceasefire agreement will take effect on Sunday, January 19 at 8:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET), as stated earlier by Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, has congratulated the Palestinian people on the upcoming ceasefire.

“The significant sacrifices they have made and their legendary steadfastness are indicators of this people’s worthiness and their struggle to reclaim their land,” he said in a statement. “The people emerged dignified, and the resistance proudly carried its weapon.”

Qassem added that “the Israelis were unable to obtain what they desired.”

“This agreement has not changed from what was proposed in May 2024, which indicates the resistance’s stability and that it has achieved what it wanted,” he said.

Tel Aviv’s promenade along the Mediterranean was packed with people this morning as some residents celebrated the news of a ceasefire deal expected to bring 15 months of fighting in Gaza to a halt and to see hostages who remain in the enclave released.

One couple, David and Judy, who came to Tel Aviv for the day from southern Israel, said they felt “cautiously optimistic” that the ceasefire deal would hold. “Maybe we’re on the way to having some kind of end to this,” David, 62, who said he worked for a defense company, said. The couple declined to share their last name.

“There’s no winner,” he said, noting that it had been a stressful year, with his son enlisted as a military reservist. “We lost from day one.”

Much of life in Tel Aviv has for months appeared to be largely back to normal, with the city’s promenade packed with people and some fishing and surfing in the sea. But that reality was briefly broken by the sound of sirens blaring, sending people racing for cover and abandoning their cars in the streets, with the Israeli military attributing the alarms to a projectile that was launched from Yemen and intercepted.

Meanwhile, military aircraft could be seen flying toward and away from the direction of Gaza in the hours ahead of the ceasefire deal coming into effect tomorrow, with first responders in Gaza reporting a string of deadly strikes this week in the hours after the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 122 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, since the ceasefire agreement was announced last week, Gaza’s Civil Defense said this morning.

Over 270 people have also been injured by strikes, said spokesperson Mahmoud Basal.

The al-Qadra family was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis less than 24 hours before a ceasefire is set to begin in Gaza.

The long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET) on Sunday, according to Qatar’s Foreign Ministry. 

“We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources,” Majed Al-Ansari, Qatari Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote on X.

Qatar is among the nations that have helped to mediate the ceasefire agreement.