Updates: Israel has right to restart war on Gaza after ceasefire, says PM

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For more on the ceasefire set to take effect on Sunday at 8:30 am (6:30 GMT), check out our story here.

You can find out here what we know about the captives held in Gaza.

And check out which Palestinian prisoners are slated to be released, here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of the day’s major developments:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given his first speech since the ceasefire deal was announced. He said that Israel retains the right to resume war in Gaza and that it has US backing to do so should the second phase of the agreement collapse.
• While National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his party resigned from the government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said his party would stay on because he had been given guarantees of a “gradual takeover” of Gaza.
• The Israeli military has warned the people of Gaza that moving from the south to the north of the Strip remains dangerous despite the ceasefire, amid reports of families getting ready to go back to what is left of their homes.
• An Israeli man is in critical condition after a Palestinian teen attacked him with a knife in Tel Aviv. Hamas said the stabbing was a “natural response to the Zionist massacres”.
• Several people have been wounded in an Israeli drone attack west of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip. Israel has kept up its attacks on Gaza, with just hours left before a ceasefire set to take effect at 8:30am (06:30 GMT).

The ceasefire will go into effect at 8.30am local time (06:30 GMT).

According to the plan, three living female captives are to be released after 4pm (14:00 GMT).

Soon afterwards, Israel will release about 95 Palestinian prisoners, who are mostly minors or female.

Hamas was supposed to provide Israel with the names of the three captives on Saturday afternoon but Israel has not received them yet.

The names will be made public only after the captives are returned and officially identified.

In southern Israel, schools will begin only at 10am (08:00 GMT) in case Hamas launches rockets towards Israel just before the ceasefire begins.

Israeli troops inside Gaza will be deployed mostly along the territory’s crossings with Israel and Egypt and maintain a presence on a road that divides northern and southern Gaza, according to a map released by the Israeli military.

Meanwhile, hundreds of trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian supplies are expected to pour into Gaza.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign says that the head of the advocacy group Stop the War Coalition, Chris Nineham, was “violently arrested” by police in London while organising an event in memory of “children slaughtered by Israel in Gaza”.

The head of @STWuk Chris Nineham was violently arrested today whilst organising a peaceful delegation to lay flowers in memory of children slaughtered by Israel in Gaza.

This is a gross violation of our rights to protest. He must be freed immediately. pic.twitter.com/TRS8ql7qhT

— Palestine Solidarity Campaign (@PSCupdates) January 18, 2025

The Israeli military says that as part of its final preparations to implement the final stages of the ceasefire agreement, the Nitzana Border Crossing between Egypt and Israel will be declared a closed military zone as of midnight (22:00 GMT).

The Nitzana crossing is located 40km (25 miles) southeast of the point where Israel’s border with Egypt and the Gaza Strip converge.

The Israeli military also said that the kibbutzim Yad Mordechai and Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) will be a closed military zone until January 24.

More than 70 people have been arrested in London following clashes with police, as pro-Palestinian protesters attempted to reach Trafalgar Square in a solidarity rally just hours before a ceasefire agreement is set to take effect in Gaza.

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (KAN) has said an Israeli delegation landed in Egypt’s capital Cairo to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire deal.

The Israeli network said their arrival was in line with the framework established by the agreement.

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in Lisbon as part of the European movement “The Surge” to demand an end to the war in Gaza as well as better policies on climate change.

“Apart from bringing a little hope, the ceasefire in Palestine is the symbol of the military rout of Israel, which, at the same time, has to negotiate internally with its own society on the need to bring back the hostages. This is an objective situation which has a huge impact on Netanyahu’s plans,” Miguel Cabrita, 38, told the AFP news agency.

Fifty-eight-year-old Silvia Moutinho said wars were also environmental crimes. “Anything that contributes to a crisis, to drought, to rising temperatures, all these are environmental crimes. They are crimes against people and against the planet, and we cannot let that go,” she said.

There are believed to be approximately 100 Israeli captives left in Gaza, all of whom are expected to be released if the deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas is completely implemented.

In the first six-week phase of the deal, 33 captives are expected to be released on a gradual basis in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The Israeli captives to be released in this phase include some who are ill or wounded, as well as female soldiers and men over 50.

No official list of the Israeli captives being released in the first phase has been published yet, and while the identities of the captives still in Gaza are known, it is unclear who is still alive.

Hamas has said that a number of Israeli captives have been killed in Israeli attacks on the locations where they had been held, but videos have also been released with messages from some of the captives.

While all of the remaining captives are Israeli, some are dual-nationals, including from the United States, Argentina and Germany.

Five of the captives are believed to be female soldiers who were captured during raids on October 7.

You can read our full article on the topic here.

There is optimism here that after 15 months of demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, we are finally on the brink of it.

But there is a sense of worry among the people we’ve spoken to that this will be a ceasefire agreement rather than lasting peace.

They also worry about whether donors will commit to the monumental task of rebuilding Gaza without an agreement for a lasting peace.

What they also want is a complete end to all arms trade with Israel.

The spokesperson for the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, Thaer Shreiteh, has issued a statement saying the mechanism for receiving the prisoners released as part of the ceasefire deal will be determined by midday on Sunday.

Shreiteh added that the mechanism would be decided in consultation with the relevant authorities after verifying the details and procedures that guarantee the safety of the prisoners and take into account their physical condition.

A ceasefire in Gaza is due to come into effect in a matter of hours—at 06:30 GMT on Sunday.

It’s expected to halt more than 15 months of war that has killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians and injured more than 110,000.

But ahead of the ceasefire, Israeli forces are attacking civilian areas in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Ibtissem Guenfoud reports:

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned from Netanyahu’s government earlier today, has called on Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to do the same over the approval of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

“The truth is that Hamas has not yet been defeated, so it is clear that returning to war is inevitable,” Ben-Gvir said.

He argued that Netanyahu’s speech showed he had no intention of resuming the war, despite the prime minister’s comments expressing readiness to do so.

He called on Smotrich to help him prevent the second stage of the deal by quitting the government and returning to his position only if the war resumes.

The Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) says it has filed a legal complaint in Barcelona against Israeli soldier Mori Keisar.

HRF, which was formed five months ago, has pulled together lawyers and activists from around the world to prepare cases against Israeli soldiers based on social media content shared by the soldiers themselves.

The foundation said evidence showed Keisar had targeted a UN school with a grenade launcher, demolished civilian homes, and indiscriminately fired on civilians in Gaza.

The HRF said the complaint, filed under Spanish and international law, accuses Keisar of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes during the Israeli military operation in Gaza

🚨Breaking Complaint in #Spain🚨
the #HindRajabFoundation and the Palestinian Community in Catalonia filed a legal complaint in Barcelona against Israeli soldier Mori Keisar. Evidence shows he targeted a UN school with a grenade launcher, demolished civilian homes, and… pic.twitter.com/SwtDT9vyNk

— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation) January 18, 2025

The Gaza municipality has said it presented a plan to reopen some of Gaza’s main roads as the ceasefire deal goes into effect on Sunday.

The plan will be implemented gradually and in cooperation with its partners.

“The municipality stressed the need to strengthen partnership with local and international institutions to ensure the provision of basic services and support reconstruction efforts in the city,” it said in a statement.

Four minors have been injured by live bullets during Israeli raids on the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, Wafa news agency has reported.

Three were injured by live bullets in the lower limbs, and a fourth by shrapnel in his hand.

Separately, Israeli forces stormed the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, firing sound grenades. No raids or arrests were reported.

The agency also reported that Israeli officers stationed at the entrance to the Psagot settlement – built on Palestinian lands in al-Bireh – fired live bullets at a young man and injured him in the foot.

In comments posted on X shortly after giving a lengthy speech, Netanyahu reiterated that Israelis are “victorious” as they “refuse to surrender to those who rise up against us to destroy us”.

“I tell you – the campaign is not over yet,” he said. “A long and challenging journey lies ahead of us. This is not the time to divide and scatter, this is the time to unite and connect.”

Israeli military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has issued a statement in which he says he has just returned from the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have begun “operational preparations” for implementing the ceasefire agreement.

He said Israeli forces had killed “numerous” Palestinian fighters in Beit Hanoon over the past month, but had also suffered “many casualties recently”.

In the coming days, he said the Israeli forces “will prepare for a reinforced defensive posture along the Gaza Strip border”.