Israel Strikes Gaza within Hours of Ceasefire Accord with Hamas

Israel intensified strikes on Gaza hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, residents and authorities in the Palestinian enclave said, as mediators sought to quell fighting ahead of the truce's start on Sunday.
The complex ceasefire accord between Israel and the Hamas group, which controls Gaza, emerged on Wednesday after months of mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US and 15 months of bloodshed that devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East, Reuters said.
The deal outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by Hamas would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.
At a news conference in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday. Negotiators are working with Israel and Hamas on steps to implement the agreement, he said.
"This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity," US President Joe Biden said in Washington.
His successor, Donald Trump, takes office on Monday and claimed credit for the breakthrough in Gaza.
Israel's acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country's security cabinet and government, with votes slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
The accord was expected to win approval despite opposition from some hardliners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government.
Significant progress was made in the negotiations once the Biden and Trump administrations began working hand-in-hand to make the case for urgency, outgoing US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew told Reuters.
While people celebrated the pact in Gaza and Israel, Israel's military escalated attacks after the announcement, the civil emergency service and residents said.
Heavy Israeli bombardment, especially in Gaza City, killed 32 people late on Wednesday, medics said. The strikes continued early on Thursday and destroyed houses in Rafah in southern Gaza, Nuseirat in central Gaza and in northern Gaza, residents said.
Israel's military said Gaza militants fired a rocket into Israel on Thursday, causing no casualties.
JUBILATION IN GAZA
In social media posts, some Gaza residents urged Palestinians to exercise extra caution in the belief Israel could step up attacks in the next few days to maximize gains before the ceasefire starts.
Nevertheless, news of the ceasefire deal sparked jubilation in Gaza, where Palestinians have faced severe shortages of food, water, shelter and fuel. In Khan Younis, throngs clogged the streets amid the sounds of horns as they cheered, waved Palestinian flags and danced.
"I am happy. Yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy," said Ghada, a displaced mother of five.
In Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages and their friends likewise welcomed the news, saying in a statement they felt "overwhelming joy and relief (about) the agreement to bring our loved ones home." In a social media statement announcing the ceasefire, Hamas called the pact "an achievement for our people" and "a turning point."
If successful, the ceasefire will halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanized Gaza, killed over 46,000 people and displaced most of the tiny enclave's pre-war population of 2.3 million, according to Gaza authorities.
That in turn could defuse tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has stoked conflict in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between arch regional foes Israel and Iran.
With 98 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50. Two American hostages, Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen, were among those to be released in the first phase, a source said.

Germany's Lufthansa Group is set to resume flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel from Feb. 1 and Wizz Air restarted its London to Tel Aviv route on Thursday, the companies said following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Many Western carriers cancelled flights to swaths of the Middle East in recent months, including Beirut and Tel Aviv, as conflict tore across the region. Airlines also avoided Iraqi and Iranian airspace out of fear of getting accidentally caught in drone or missile warfare.

Wizz Air also resumed flights to Amman, Jordan starting on Thursday from London Luton airport.

Lufthansa Group carriers Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and Swiss were included in Lufthansa's decision to resume flights to Tel Aviv.

Ryanair said it was hoping to run a full summer schedule to and from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv in an interview with Reuters last week, before the ceasefire deal was announced.

In the wake of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Turkish Airlines said it would start flights to Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Jan. 23, with three flights per week.

CAUTIOUS RETURN

But airlines remain cautious and watchful before re-entering the region in full, they said.

British carrier EasyJet told Reuters it welcomed the news of the Gaza ceasefire and would review its plans in the coming days.

Air France-KLM said its operations to and from Tel Aviv remain suspended until Jan. 24, while its flights between Paris and Beirut will be suspended until Jan. 31.

"The operations will resume on the basis of an assessment of the situation on the ground," it said in a statement.

The suspension of Lufthansa flights to and from Tehran up to and including Feb. 14 remains in place and the airline will not fly to Beirut in Lebanon up to and including Feb. 28, it said.

Israel Strikes Gaza within Hours of Ceasefire Accord with Hamas