• During the first stage of the three-phase agreement between Hamas and Israel, more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners will be exchanged for 33 of the remaining Israeli captives.
• An estimated 100 captives are believed to be still held in the war-torn territory.
• Under the terms of the agreement, Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for Israeli captives according to ratios agreed upon by both sides and international mediators in Doha.
• According to reports, 110 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life by Israeli courts will be exchanged for nine ill and wounded Israeli captives. In addition, Israeli men over the age of 50 will be released in exchange for Palestinian captives at a ratio of 1:3 for those sentenced to life sentences, and 1:27 for those serving other sentences.

_{Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with shirtless Palestinian prisoners in Gaza in 2024}

Nearly 300 Palestinian prisoners serving life terms to be freed in first phase: Prisoners’ Media Office

During the first phase of the ceasefire deal, 296 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences will be released, according to a statement from the Gaza-based Prisoners’ Media Office cited by the Palestinian Information Centre.

Most of the life prisoners slated for release are members of the Fatah movement, some of whom have been jailed for over three decades, said the office.

But there will be prisoners released belonging to all “Palestinian resistance factions”, it said.

• The Houthis support the ceasefire deal.
• They will stop military operations in support of Gaza when the ceasefire comes into effect on Sunday.
• The Houthis hope all military operations will stop even before the ceasefire goes into force.
• Unfortunately, Israel is going on and killing women and children, so the Houthis were forced to launch a missile attack.
• If Israel stops the aggression in Gaza, and if the US, UK and Israel stop the aggression against Yemen, the Houthis will stop their operations, including attacks against navies and commercial ships.

UNICEF mobilised ‘1,300 truckloads’ of aid to bring into Gaza: Spokesperson

Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson at UNICEF, says the mobilisation of aid supplies to Gaza has “already started”.

“For UNICEF, we have 1,300 truckloads of goods that we could bring in, 700 truckloads of goods that would be set to follow immediately. We’re not alone, [other] humanitarian actors have mobilised to have these supplies ready,” Bollen told Al Jazeera from the al-Mawasi refugee camp in Gaza.

She explained that every time she enters Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem (known in Israel as the Karem Shalom) crossing, there are “lots of pallets of aid standing there”.

Many families fled Gaza City in the north to come to al-Mawasi, she said, and “they would like to [go back] to their homes.”

“We can expect a population movement that will be chaotic from the south to the north and that also requires the centre of gravity of the humanitarian operation to adjust and move along with the population,” Bollen added.

WHO plans to bring ready-made hospitals into Gaza

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it plans to bring ready-made hospitals into the Gaza Strip within the next two months after the ceasefire.

A surge of aid is expected to enter Gaza once the agreement is in force starting on Sunday.

The rehabilitation of the enclave’s infrastructure will also begin then, including restoring electricity, water, sanitation, communications and roads, while the necessary equipment for removing rubble and debris will be brought in.

Palestinians in Gaza ‘looking forward’ to no more drones, fighter jets

The scale of Israeli attacks has not changed. We continue to receive reports of explosions in Gaza City and northern towns. This is part of a final push by the Israeli military.

Everyone on the ground is following developments about the Israeli military’s expected partial withdrawal. They are looking forward to the moment they will completely stop hearing the sound of drones, fighter jets and bombardment that have overwhelmed the Strip.

Still, there are more critical hours ahead for Palestinians who are now trying to take every precaution.

Israeli military bombs tent for displaced people near Khan Younis

The Israeli military shelled a tent housing displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area, northwest of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, injuring several people, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues report.

The Quds News Network now reports that at least five Palestinians have been killed in that attack, which was carried out by an Israeli military helicopter, while several more have been wounded.

Israeli forces have also carried out a raid on the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis.

Woman, three children among victims of al-Mawasi tent attack

The five people killed in an overnight attack on a tent sheltering displaced people in the al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” area, near Khan Younis, were members of the same family, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

The victims included a woman and her three children, according to Wafa.

Also in western Khan Younis, gunfire from Israeli naval vessels has injured a woman, Wafa said.

Number of Palestinians killed since start of war rises to 46,899

The Health Ministry in Gaza has just released its latest daily casualties update from Israeli attacks. In a statement, it said the number of people killed since the start of the war had risen by 23 to 46,899 in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

Another 83 people were wounded over the same period, bringing the total to 110,725.

Several wounded in Israeli attack near Gaza’s Nuseirat camp

A number of people have been wounded in an Israeli drone attack west of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report.

Israeli raid kills Palestinian near Khan Younis

The attack has taken place in the town of al-Fukhari, east of Khan Younis, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic and Palestinian media.

It follows an earlier attack on a home in the Khan Younis area that killed five family members, including three children.

Israel claims to have hit 50 targets across Gaza

The Israeli army says it conducted raids on 50 “terror targets” across Gaza on Friday, according to the latest statement.

Almost 120 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave since the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Killing of Palestinian human rights worker and family was ‘cold blooded murder’: FIDH

The killing of a Palestinian human rights worker and his family in an air strike was an act of “cold blooded murder” by Israel’s military, the head of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) says.

Ihab Marwan Kamal Faisal, 33, his wife, Hanin Jamal Al-Dahdouh, 29, and their two children, Reem, 6, and Najma, 3, were killed while taking shelter in a house in the Remal neighbourhood of Gaza in the early hours of Thursday morning.

FIDH’s President Alice Mogwe said the organisation mourned the death of Faisal and his family, and extended condolences to all staff at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), where he had worked.

“The cold blooded murder of Ihab, his wife Hanin and their little girls is a tragedy beyond words, we are all in mourning,” Mogwe said.

“Even with the ceasefire looming, this genocide is ongoing,” she said.

“Israeli forces feel entitled to commit such atrocities openly because they believe there will be no serious consequences,” she added.

“Like millions of Gazans … Ihab and Hanin were powerless, at the mercy of an army equipped by Western powers which denied them and their daughters even the right to life.”



Rights group calls on global community to ensure accountability for Gaza genocide

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has called on the international community to take effective measures to ensure “accountability and justice for the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip”.

In a press release, the rights group stressed the need for all countries to establish “clear and binding mechanisms to hold accountable those responsible for the crimes and serious violations” in Gaza.

Euro-Med also slammed the international community’s “appalling failure” to protect the people of Gaza for “more than 15 months of genocide”. It added that the ceasefire deal “cannot be the end of the road” and must begin an international path to “ensure that these crimes are not repeated”.

‘Each house has dead, injured or detained. People in Gaza have suffered enough’

Mahmoud Sheikh Abed, a forcibly displaced Palestinian from Rafah, southern Gaza, now in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, says he hopes that today is the last day of the war.

“We hope that there won’t be any violations of the ceasefire. The people are tired. We are tired from displacement, illnesses, starvation. We call upon God that this is the last day,” Abed said.

Tareq Zumlot, who was forcibly displaced from Jabalia in northern Gaza and is now in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, shares Abed’s hopes and says they “hope the ceasefire is real and we will return to our homes”.

“I hope we will return to our homes and check upon our beloved ones and we hope that we will have silence and safety,” he said.

Bilal al-Nahawani, forcibly displaced from Rafah and now in Khan Younis, says the people of Gaza are “tired”.

“Each house has people dead, injured or detained. It’s enough, people in Gaza have suffered enough,” he said.

Rafah mayor working to reopen streets, restore ‘life to normal’: Report

The mayor of southern Gaza’s Rafah city says that preparations are being made to reopen the area’s streets, according to the Palestinian Information Center.

“We are preparing to implement a gradual plan to reopen the streets of Rafah city, which includes removing the rubble and debris left behind by the aggression and rehabilitating the roads to ensure the resumption of normal life and safe traffic,” Ahmed al-Sufi said.

He urged residents to be patient and “not rush to return to dangerous areas”.

“We stress the need to make room for emergency crews and specialised teams to work on removing mines and other hazards,” al-Sufi said.

“Our crews will work around the clock in coordination with the relevant authorities to provide basic services and restore life to normal,” he added.

_{This picture shows an Israeli army tank positioned on a road in the al-Mawasi area in Rafah on December 17}

Civil Defence warns residents against rushing to northern Gaza

A spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defence has said residents are prohibited from going to the Netzarim Corridor, which splits the northern part of the Gaza Strip from its remainder. The spokesperson calls on Palestinians not to rush to northern Gaza following the ceasefire for “fear of war remnants”.

“The Gaza Strip crisis can only be resolved by an international resolution that allows all crossings to be opened permanently,” the spokesperson said. “Ninety percent of the homes in the northern Gaza Strip were completely or partially destroyed, and returning to them poses a danger,” the spokesperson added.

• A 31-year-old Palestinian man was shot and injured by Israeli forces following a military raid on Sebastia village, north of Nablus.
• Israeli forces raided Palestinian homes in the town of Aqraba, south of Nablus.
• Raids were also carried out in the city of Tulkarem.
• Israeli forces stormed the town of Idhna, west of Hebron.
• The Israeli military has blocked the entrance to the town of al-Manshiyya, south of Bethlehem.

Palestinian Authority makes deal with Jenin Battalion: Report

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has reached an agreement with the Jenin Battalion to end fighting with the Palestinian resistance group in the occupied West Bank, The Times of Israel reports, citing an anonymous Palestinian official. Engineering and civil defence crews will begin dismantling explosives planted around the camp and beneath its streets by the resistance group, according to reports.

PA security forces have spent weeks cracking down on the Jenin Battalion, made up of fighters affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in the city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp. The operation, named “Operation Protect the Homeland”, is focused on wresting control of the area from the battalion’s fighters, which the PA has described as “outlaws”.

PA security forces have besieged the camp, cutting off water and electricity, and arresting scores of people. At least 15 people have also been killed in the skirmishes, including six PA security officers, one Palestinian fighter and eight civilians. We reported on Tuesday that the Jenin Battalion announced it had agreed to a truce to “end the bloodshed and preserve the Palestinian national fabric” while preserving the “legitimate right to resist the criminal occupation”.

Those earlier talks reportedly broke down following Israeli air strikes in the Jenin camp this week that killed 12 people, The Times of Israel reports, citing two Palestinian officials.

As part of the deal, the PA has also agreed that wanted individuals from the Jenin Battalion who voluntarily surrender themselves will be guaranteed a fair trial, according to Israeli news outlet Haaretz. Those who choose not to surrender will be classified as wanted, and efforts will be made to locate them, the Haaretz report added.

A commission of inquiry will also be established to investigate civilian deaths in the camp over recent weeks, and anyone proven to be culpable will be tried.

Israeli forces storm occupied West Bank’s Hebron city, Idhna town: Report

Israeli forces have stormed several neighbourhoods in Hebron city, including Jabal al-Rahma, the Ashabi area and Nimra, according to security sources cited by the Wafa news agency.

They also stormed the town of Idhna, west of Hebron, raided dozens of homes, detained a large number of citizens, and turned one of the homes into a field investigation centre, before releasing the residents, the report said.