Israel delays cabinet vote to approve deal, claims Hamas creating ‘last-minute crisis’
Israeli strikes kill 71 people in Gaza since ceasefire deal is announced, local officials say
Israeli strikes have killed at least 71 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, since the ceasefire agreement was announced yesterday, Gaza’s Civil Defense said this morning.
Another 200 people were injured, said spokesperson Mahmoud Basal.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News. Israel has consistently denied targeting civilians throughout the war and said it is acting to destroy Hamas.
At least 15 people were killed and more than 20 injured in strikes that hit a residential block north of Gaza city late last night, the civil defense said earlier on Telegram.
Two more bodies were recovered in central Gaza city, the civil defense said this morning. It also said five others were killed and more than 10 were injured from the same family after a house was struck west of Gaza city.
Hamas says it is committed to the ceasefire deal
A senior Hamas official has said the group is committed to the ceasefire deal reached yesterday, after Israel claimed the group was reneging on the deal.
“Hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators,” Izzat al-Rishq said in a Telegram post.
Another senior official, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Al-Arabiya TV that “there is no basis for Netanyahu’s allegations that the movement has backed down from the terms of the ceasefire agreement.”
He claimed that Israel “wants to create a state of tension at a critical time and we demand that it be obligated to implement the agreement.”
Priority must be easing Gaza suffering, U.N. says
Now that Israel and Hamas have signed a ceasefire, “the priority must be to ease the tremendous suffering,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
“The United Nations stands ready to support the implementation of this deal and scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue to suffer,” he told reporters yesterday, calling the humanitarian situation “catastrophic.”
“It is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support a major increase in urgent lifesaving humanitarian support,” Guterres said.
‘Grateful’ father of American hostage speaks out after ceasefire announcement
Adi Alexander, whose son Edan is among the American hostages held by Hamas, spoke with NBC News after the ceasefire and hostage agreement was announced.
Israel says cabinet won’t vote on deal, claims Hamas creating ‘last-minute crisis’
Israel has said that its cabinet, which had been expected to meet today, will not vote on the ceasefire deal as it claimed Hamas had reneged and created a “last-minute crisis.”
Hamas said in a statement that it was “committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had said the militant group had reneged on parts of the agreement “in an effort to extort last-minute concessions.” It was not clear which aspects of the deal Israel was referring to.
The Israeli cabinet “will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement,” the prime minister’s office said.
The earliest a ceasefire can come into effect is Friday, after it is approved by the Israeli cabinet. The country’s Supreme Court would then have 24 hours to allow an appeal and the first hostages would come out on Sunday, a diplomatic source in Washington previously told NBC News.