In a post on X, Qatar’s foreign minister Majid Al Ansari, said the cease-fire will start at 8:30 a.m. local time Sunday. He advised people to exercise caution when the agreement

Qatar’s foreign ministry says the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will go into effect at 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Sunday

The deal is expected to begin Sunday, with the exchange of several hostages held in Gaza for a number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Israel’s government approved a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, paving the way for the agreement to take effect Sunday and potentially signalling a new chapter in a bloody 15-month conflict that has enflamed the Middle East.

The Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement is expected to take effect as soon as Sunday. But the most significant diplomatic breakthrough in over a year of brutal war between Israel and Hamas is rife with risks,

Hamas remains the dominant Palestinian power in Gaza even after 15 months of Israeli bombardment, holding sway in displacement camps and refusing to surrender.

Netanyahu's office said Hamas had "reneged on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last-minute concessions."

The cease-fire between Hamas and Israel is expected to go into effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time, Qatar’s foreign ministry announced Saturday.

“For more than a year and three months, the IDF has been fighting Hamas and has important achievements – we have defeated Hamas’s military wing and eliminated the organization’s chain of command and its leader, Yahya Sinwar,” Halevi says following a visit to northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun.

Netanyahu says no Gaza truce unless hostage list released with only hours to go - The ceasefire deal was signed off by Israel’s government on Saturday morning - but attacks have continued on the Gaza

Israel approved a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday that involves releasing hostages in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces carried out new attacks in the enclave before the agreement's scheduled start on Sunday.