The planned ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian Hamas resistance group and Israel has taken effect after deadly strikes by the usurping regime on the Gaza Strip.
The truce deal was set to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time (06:30 GMT) on Sunday to end the 15-month-long Israeli genocidal war on the besieged territory but was delayed for almost three hours. It finally went into effect at 11:15 a.m. local time.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said that it continued to carry out attacks on Gaza as Hamas had not provided a list of captives to be released under the ceasefire.
Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement that the regime’s military “continues to strike within the Gaza area at this time. According to the prime minister’s directives, the ceasefire will not come into effect until Hamas fulfills its commitments.”
He echoed an earlier statement from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered the occupation’s military not to implement the Gaza truce until Hamas issues the names of the Israeli captives to be released.
Meanwhile, Hamas said the delay in handing over the names of the captives is due to “technical and field reasons.”
In a statement issued on Telegram, the resistance group reaffirmed its commitment to the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Afterwards, Hamas provided a list of the three Israeli captives to be freed later on Sunday.
13 Palestinians killed during ceasefire delay
Gaza’s Civil Defense said 13 people have been killed and more than 30 others injured in the Israeli bombing of Gaza on Sunday morning during the nearly three-hour delay in the start of the ceasefire.
Gaza’s Government Media Office announced that it had begun deploying thousands of Palestinian police officers tasked with maintaining security and order in the blockaded territory.
“Ministries and government institutions are fully prepared to begin work according to the government plan [and] to implement all measures that ensure life returns to normal as soon as possible,” it added.
Israel unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
However, the Tel Aviv regime failed to achieve its declared objectives of freeing captives and eliminating Hamas despite killing nearly 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza.
Earlier this week, Israel was forced to agree to a ceasefire, accepting Hamas' longstanding negotiation terms.
The ceasefire deal consists of three phases, each lasting 42 days. Negotiations for the second and third phases will begin 16 days after the implementation of the first phase.
The first phase will see the release of some 1,900 Palestinian abductees in exchange for 33 Israeli captives held in Gaza. It also requires Israeli occupation forces to begin withdrawing from the Philadelphi corridor - also known as the Salah al-Din axis - on the Gaza-Egypt border.
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