Palestinians celebrate ceasefire announcement as Hamas submits names of prisoners

Hamas and Israel said Thursday they will begin implementing a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as Palestinians celebrated the announcement after two years of relentless Israeli attacks.

US President Donald Trump announced that both sides had signed off on the first phase of his peace plan unveiled last month.

The first phase of the 20-point plan includes the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza, alongside Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails.

It will also allow the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, where more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 170,000 wounded in two years of Israeli bombardment, the vast majority civilians.

The signing of the agreement is expected at noon (9am GMT), a source familiar with the deal told Reuters, and once done, the ceasefire will take immediate effect on the ground in Gaza.

Israel's security cabinet is due to meet at 5pm (2pm GMT) to review the agreement before passing it to the wider government for final approval.

Mediators and states "guaranteeing that war will not return" are expected to be present at the signing, sources told The New Arab's Arabic edition.

Even as the deal was announced, Israeli strikes were reported in parts of Gaza with at least seven Palestinians wounded on Thursday morning, including in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

Hamas hands list of prisoners

Hamas said it had already submitted lists of captives to mediators for a potential exchange, which is expected to cover Palestinians serving life sentences as well as detainees from Gaza.

Israel claims 48 Israeli captives remain in the enclave, including 20 believed to be alive, with others killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Zaher Jabarin, head of Hamas's Martyrs and Prisoners Office, confirmed on Thursday that the lists had been handed over.

"We are awaiting final agreement on the names in preparation for announcing them to our people," he said.

Israel's Channel 13 said discussions are still ongoing to iron out the identities of Palestinian detainees that would be released.

Around 11,100 Palestinians are currently imprisoned in Israel, held in harsh and inhumane conditions, with lack of food and torture reported by rights groups.

Thousands are held without charge or trial under Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention.

Task force on captives

Israeli media reported discussions about an international task force to recover the bodies of captives killed in Gaza during Israeli bombardments.

According to CNN, Israeli intelligence believes Hamas may not be able to account for all those killed in Israeli strikes.

The proposed task force would include representatives from Israel, and mediators the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, and would operate in coordination with field actors inside Gaza to exhaust all available information and resources needed to locate the captives' remains.

Detailed discussions about the task force's structure would be held and agreed on during talks in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh.

Army begins withdrawal

Meanwhile, the Israeli military announced it had begun preparing for redeployment in Gaza in line with the plan’s first phase.

In a statement, it claimed to be moving to "new deployment lines", while maintaining its readiness for further operations.

In Gaza, scenes of jubilation filled the streets shortly after Trump's announcement.

Exhausted by years of strikes, destruction, forced displacement, and hunger, Palestinians sang and danced throughout the night as they welcomed the long-awaited ceasefire.

Most of the territory has been destroyed, and nearly all of Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million people have been displaced at least once, while thousands remain unaccounted for, believed to be still buried beneath the rubble.

There were similar scenes in Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel, where tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets frequently to demand that the Israeli government reach a ceasefire deal to bring back the captives.