Sun 19 January 2025:

Thousands of Gaza security forces deployed in several areas across the enclave on Sunday as a ceasefire deal with Israel took effect, local authorities said.

Gaza’s government media office said the deployment comes under a plan to maintain security and order across the territory.

“Municipalities began reopening and rehabilitating streets, shortly after the cease-fire began,” it added in a statement.

The media office said ministries and government institutions “are fully prepared to start work under a government plan to ensure the return of life to normal as soon as possible.”

It urged residents “to be careful when moving between regions” in Gaza.

“The return of the displaced will be seven days after the ceasefire takes effect,” it added.

The ceasefire agreement took effect at 11.15 a.m. local time (0915GMT) on Sunday after a few hours delay due to Israeli accusations for Hamas of delaying the release of a list of captives set to be released. It was originally scheduled to start on 8.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT)

Hamas said that it already submitted a list of three female Israeli captives set to be freed on Sunday.

Nearly 47,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 110,700 others injured in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to local health authorities.

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Ben-Gvir’s party quits Israeli government

The far-right Jewish Strength (Otzma Yehudit) Party of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir resigned from the Israeli government on Sunday as a Gaza cease-fire agreement took effect.

Ben-Gvir and other ministers from his party submitted their resignation letters to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Haaretz reported.

“From this time onwards the Otzma Yehudit Party is not a member of the coalition,” the party said in a statement.

It attributed the resignations to the government’s decision to approve the Gaza cease-fire agreement and the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli jails.

After Ben-Gvir’s party withdrawal, the ruling coalition still survives with 62 parliamentary seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

On Saturday, 24 ministers in the government approved the Gaza cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement while eight rejected it.

-Source: AA

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