A relative mourns over the bodies of four members of a Palestinian family (parents and their two children) killed in an Israeli strike that hit their tent north of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, in the yard of the Nasser hospital on January 18, 2025, a day before the expected implementation of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Bashar Taleb, AFP

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will take effect at 0630 GMT on Sunday morning, Qatar, which helped mediate the deal, said on Saturday.

"As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on X.

"We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources."

The exact time of the ceasefire's start had been unclear, though Israel, whose cabinet earlier on Saturday approved the hostage and prisoner exchange deal, had said no prisoners would be freed before 1400 GMT.

Israeli government approves Gaza ceasefire deal