Live: At least 137 people killed by Israel recovered from rubble in Rafah

Members of far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party will submit letters of resignation from the government on Sunday in protest against the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The party said in a statement: “In light of the approval of the reckless agreement with the terrorist organisation Hamas…the Jewish Power party will submit letters of resignation from the government and the coalition tomorrow morning, and ministers Ben Gvir, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu, as well as committee chairs MKs Zvika Fogel and Limor Son Har-Melech and MK Yitzhak Kroizer, will leave their positions.”

Relatives of Palestinian prisoner Khalida Jarrar were bracing on Saturday for her release in the first wave of exchanges agreed upon as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The Palestinian political leader and human rights and feminist advocate has been held in administrative detention since December 2023. She has reportedly spent the past six months in solitary confinement in a 2-by-1.5m cell.

As the hour of the agreed releases approached, Palestinian and Israeli media reported that Jarrar would be among up to 1,900 Palestinian prisoners expected to be freed on Sunday.

Jarrar's sister, Salam Alratrot, told Middle East Eye that the prospect of the 61-year-old's release gave her hope that Jarrar would at least leave solitary confinement and end the harshest imprisonment she has ever endured.

However, Alratrot said her family feels “intense sadness and diminished joy” over the many tragedies Jarrar has suffered during her numerous periods of detention over the past three decades.

Read more: Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar expected to be released in ceasefire deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will not commence the Gaza ceasefire until Hamas releases a list of the 33 captives included in the first phase of the agreement.

"We will not move forward with the agreement until we receive the list of hostages who will be released, as agreed. Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement. The sole responsibility lies with Hamas," Netanyahu said on Saturday.

An Israeli man was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in central Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon. The attacker was later shot dead by a nearby armed civilian.

Haaretz reported, citing a security source, that the attacker was Salah Yahya, a 19-year-old Palestinian from the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm.

Yemen’s Houthis will work closely with Palestinian resistance groups to deal with Israel in case of any violations of the Gaza truce agreement, a Houthi spokesperson said on Saturday.

Good afternoon,

Here is your late-afternoon update on the situation in Gaza as the besieged territory prepares for the first day of the ceasefire on Sunday morning:

• The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Israel's assault on Gaza killed at least 46,899 Palestinians since Israel began its bombardment of the territory in October 2023.
• The Ministry added that Israeli forces killed at least 23 Palestinians in the last 24 hours.
• The Israeli army said it is preparing to implement the agreement for the return of captives as part of the ceasefire deal.
• Israel's Kan broadcaster said Israel will receive a list of three captives to be released on Saturday.
• Thousands attended a pro-Palestine march in Central London despite attempted restrictions by the London Metropolitan Police on the proposed march.

Israel is expected to receive the names of the first three captives to be released later this afternoon, according to the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, known as Kan.

Kan reported that Hamas will give the names to Qatar, which will then pass the information to the Mossad foreign intelligence agency's director, David Barnea, who will then notify the captive's families. 

The public broadcaster added that it is believed that the first three captives will be female civilians, not five female soldiers. 

Israeli captives' families should ask the Israeli military to stop intensified strikes in the final hours before a ceasefire takes effect as this "would be reason for killing their children", a Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesperson said on Saturday.

The spokesperson, Abu Hamza, is with the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, which also holds Israeli captives in addition to the Hamas group. 

Reporting by Reuters. 

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Saturday that Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 46,899 Palestinians and injured approximately 110,725 since October 2023. 

The ministry added that in the past 24 hours, Israeli forces killed at least 23 Palestinians and injured 83 others. 

Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting that an Israeli drone strike wounded a number of people near the Nuseirat camp in the Central Gaza Strip.

Israeli attacks have ramped up ahead of the ceasefire coming into effect on Sunday morning. 

The Gaza Civil Defence team on Friday said Israeli attacks had killed at least 122 Palestinians since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday.

The Israeli army said it is preparing to implement the agreement for the return of captives as part of the ceasefire deal.

In a statement on X, the Israeli army said its soldiers are preparing to receive the captives. The announcement follows the Israeli cabinet’s approval of the ceasefire agreement on Friday night. 

The army did not comment on possible withdrawals or other aspects of the agreement directly impacting its operations in the Gaza Strip.

Our liveblog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning. 

Here are the day's key developments:

- The full Israeli cabinet has voted to approve the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal with Hamas, brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the US. The vote took place in the early hours of Saturday morning, local time. 24 Israeli ministers voted in favour, and eight voted against accepting the deal. 

- The Israeli news outlet Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his government that US President-elect Donald Trump will fully support Israel's return to war if the ceasefire agreement with Hamas is violated. Netanyahu also told lawmakers that Trump is set to release to Israel any previously suspended weapons shipments. 

- The Israel Prison Service said on Friday that it was taking measures to prevent any "public displays of joy" when Palestinian prisoners are released as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

- The Palestinian Authority (PA) said on Friday that it is fully prepared to assume immediate responsibility in Gaza after the ceasefire agreement goes into effect Sunday. Earlier this week, the US said that only a "reformed PA" along with international partners should take over the running of the Gaza Strip.

- In his presidential exit interview with the broadcaster MSNBC on Thursday, US President Joe Biden revealed that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to "carpet bomb" Palestinians as he retaliated for the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks. That messaging came just 10 days into Israel's war on Gaza, when Biden, a longtime self-described Zionist, personally visited Israel. Biden says Netanyahu told him that the US carpet-bombed Germany and dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan during the Second World War, suggesting that Americans cannot lecture Israelis on military tactics. 

- United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres on Friday named former Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag as the new UN Middle East envoy, a UN spokesperson said. Kaag will also continue in her current role as the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, said deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.

- The World Health Organisation (WHO) plans to set up a number of field hospitals in Gaza. Rik Peeperkorn, a representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, announced on Friday that the organisation aims to address the medical needs in the besieged enclave, whose healthcare system has been pushed to the "point of almost complete collapse", according to a UN report in late December. 

- US Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent who typically aligns with Democrats on policy matters, issued a statement on Friday saying that the US must learn from its role in the "mass atrocity" in Gaza over the last 16 months. Sanders went after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for rejecting back in May the very same ceasefire deal he agreed to now. He added that Israel "chose not to go to war with Hamas" but with tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. 

The full Israeli cabinet has voted to approve the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal with Hamas, brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the US.

The vote took place in the early hours of Saturday morning, local time. 24 Israeli ministers voted in favour, and eight voted against accepting the deal. 

The ceasefire agreement is set to go into effect Sunday. 

US President-elect Donald Trump is considering nominating Joe Kent as the next head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Politico reported this week, citing two sources, a move that could see another senior Trump official advocating for a reduced military footprint in the Middle East.

The choice of Kent, a right-wing former congressional candidate, would be another major shakeup for Trump's national security and foreign policy, following his nominations for Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Elbridge Colby for a top policy post in the Pentagon.

One person familiar with the matter told Politico that Kent “understands the need for homeland protection and will be a supportive partner to Tulsi as she tries to reorient the intelligence enterprise to meet today’s current threats”.

Kent has been publicly vocal about his views on foreign policy regarding the Middle East and has called on the US to withdraw its forces from the region.

Read more: President-elect eyes Joe Kent, a right-wing former congressional candidate, to head the country's top counterterror agency

The heads of the security establishment in Israel have assured the government there that their assesssment is that Hamas will abide by the terms of the agreed-upon ceasefire and prisoner swap deal, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Friday.