First hostages set for release after Israel-Hamas ceasefire's bumpy start

Qatar, a key negotiator in the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, confirmed Saturday that the first hostages will be released in less than 24 hours.

Qatari Foreign Minister Majid al-Ansari said the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time Sunday, less than day after Israel's war cabinet formally approved the deal that would halt the fighting between the two sides after 15 months.

“As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza,” al-Ansari wrote in a Saturday statement. “We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources.”

The U.S. and Egypt were also key mediators in the ceasefire negotiations.

Israel’s government officially backed the pause in fighting early Saturday local time, after multiple hours of deliberations. The approval came just a day after the Security Cabinet greenlighted the framework on Friday. The nation's Supreme Court was given 24 hours to welcome legal objections to the deal.

The proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal would end fighting for six weeks in the region which has been engulfed in warfare since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages. In response, the Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

As part of the first phase of the agreement, some 33 hostages are supposed to be released by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli troops are set to withdraw from the populated areas in Gaza.

Israeli soldiers and military-aged men still held in the Gaza Strip are supposed to be released during the second phase of the plan.

President Biden said that some Americans are supposed to be released during the first phase.

The start of the ceasefire would mark a major foreign policy win for both Biden and President-elect Trump at the moment of transition between the two administrations. Both leaders have taken credit for the achievement.

Trump, set to take office early next week, had seemingly wanted to take office with the Middle East conflict behind him. Now, he will have to manage the complicated details of the ceasefire, which could take months to resolve.

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