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Ceasefire begins in Gaza with Hamas' future uncertain and Israel's goals unfulfilled

Ceasefire begins in Gaza with Hamas' future uncertain and Israel's goals unfulfilled
By Lyndal Rowlands, Urooba Jamal, Mersiha Gadzo, Alma Milisic, Maziar Motamedi and Nils Adler
Published On 20 Jan 2025

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20 Jan 2025 - 23:55
 (23:55 GMT)

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Before you go, you can read about the ninety Palestinian prisoners released in the early hours of Monday, here.

You can also watch our report on the widespread destruction from Rafah in Gaza, here.

Finally, you can read the stories of Palestinians in Deir el-Balah looking to the future with a mixture of hope and fear, here.

20 Jan 2025 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

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But before leaving, let’s have a recap of the latest developments:

  • The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says 915 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip today.
  • Israeli settlers have launched attacks on the villages of Funduq and Jinsafut, located east of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, with more than a dozen Palestinians reported injured.
  • The Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that Israeli forces have shot and killed a young child in central Rafah in southern Gaza.
  • The Palestinian Civil Defence says 137 bodies have been found in Rafah since the start of the ceasefire.
  • According to the Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Economy, Palestinian telecommunications companies have restarted partial operations of their sites in the Rafah and North Gaza governorates.
20 Jan 2025 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

21 Palestinians injured in settler attacks

The Palestinian Red Crescent is reporting that 21 Palestinians have been injured during settler attacks in two villages east of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank.

Twelve of the injured had experienced “severe beatings”, while nine had symptoms after inhaling tear gas, Wafa reported.

Earlier, we reported that footage had emerged showing a major attack by Israeli settlers on the villages of Funduq and Jinsafut, with Palestinian properties seen on fire with smoke billowing above.

Settlers are Israeli citizens who live illegally on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

20 Jan 2025 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

‘Significant uptick’ in aid entering Gaza: International Rescue Committee

Ciaran Donnelly, the senior vice president for crisis response, recovery, and development at the International Rescue Committee, told Al Jazeera that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the amount of aid entering Gaza since the ceasefire began.

“Seeing 600-800 trucks a day” going in “is a significant uptick from where we’ve been for the last 15 months”, he said.

It is important that this rate of aid continues, he said, “given the extent of the destruction, given the numbers of people who are facing acute food insecurity, whose houses have been destroyed, who have huge immediate needs”.

He added that there also needs to be a lifting of bureaucratic and administrative restrictions to allow enough aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

20 Jan 2025 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

WATCH: Palestinian child killed by Israeli sniper despite ceasefire

An Israeli sniper shot dead a Palestinian child in Rafah, and witnesses in Gaza filmed the Israeli army opening fire on a man trying to retrieve the child’s body in an apparent violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Watch below to see what happened: 

20 Jan 2025 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Photos: Palestinians return to destroyed homes in Jabalia refugee camp

A Palestinian sits on debris amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, January 20, 2025 [Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]
[Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]
[Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]

20 Jan 2025 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

Trump to lift pause on 2,000lb bomb supply to Israel: Reports

US President Donald Trump is expected to lift the Biden administration’s freeze on the supply of 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs to Israel in his first days in office, Walla News reports, citing an interview with the Israeli envoy to Washington.

US media outlet Axios has also corroborated this report.

Trump is also expected to reverse sanctions the Biden administration imposed against Israeli settlers accused of violent attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog told Walla News.

(Al Jazeera)
20 Jan 2025 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

UN reports more than 900 aid trucks entered Gaza today

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 915 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip today, the second day of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

OCHA cited information received from Israeli authorities and the guarantors for the ceasefire agreement.

Earlier, Secretary-General Guterres told the UN Security Council that 630 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, the first day of the ceasefire.

20 Jan 2025 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

Israelis injured during settler attack in the occupied West Bank: Report

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that two Israelis have been injured near the area where settlers burned Palestinian property in the occupied West Bank village of Funduq.

It added that the Israeli military is investigating whether they were shot by a police officer after they pepper sprayed him.

Sources told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli forces fired live bullets and tear gas at Palestinian citizens who went out to confront the settlers.

20 Jan 2025 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

Palestinians in Gaza look ahead with hope and fear amid uncertain ceasefire

By Maram Humaid

Reporting from Deir el Balah, central Gaza Strip

After a long-awaited ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hamas took effect in Gaza on Sunday, marking a pause in one of the region’s most devastating wars, residents are now navigating a mix of relief and disbelief.

With the skies finally silent after months of relentless Israeli attacks, people are returning to their battered neighbourhoods facing the immense challenges of rebuilding lives torn apart by the 15-month war.

Displaced residents sheltering in makeshift camps in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, spoke with Al Jazeera to share their mixed emotions, losses, and their hopes and fears for the future.

You can read their stories here.

Hamza al-Ramlawi, 70, lost his son in an Israeli attack [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
20 Jan 2025 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Israeli settlers launch more violent arson attacks as soldiers raid West Bank

Videos circulating online are showing a major attack by Israeli settlers on the villages of Funduq and Jinsafut, located east of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian properties could be seen on fire with smoke billowing above, amid a renewed wave of violent attacks on Palestinians in the aftermath of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Dozens of settlers protected by Israeli soldiers are believed to have participated.

The Wafa news agency reported another settler attack in Masafer Yatta in the evening, with local sources saying settlers stormed a Palestinian home.

At the entrance to the town of Dura and the Fawwar camp south of Hebron, settlers caused damage to several vehicles and chanted slogans calling for the killing and displacement of Palestinians.

Near Jaba north of occupied Jerusalem, Israeli forces destroyed a road near a military checkpoint they erected in the area, causing severe traffic jams.

Translation: Part of the fires set by settlers in the village of Funduq, east of Qalqilya.

20 Jan 2025 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

WATCH: Al Jazeera’s report from Rafah on Gaza’s widespread destruction

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports on Gaza’s widespread destruction, from Rafah in the south of the Strip, just a kilometre away from where the Israeli military withdrew after the implementation of the ceasefire.

20 Jan 2025 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

PA’s Abbas ‘ready to work’ with Trump based on two-state solution

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Donald Trump on his inauguration in a message, saying, “We stand ready to work with you to achieve peace during your tenure”.

He said this would be “guided by the two-state solution on international legitimacy”, according to the Wafa news agency.

“This vision seeks the establishment of the State of Palestine and the State of Israel living side by side in peace and security,” Abbas said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left) and Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa will be working with the Trump administration as the West has called for a ‘reformed’ Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza [Palestinian president office/Handout via Reuters]
20 Jan 2025 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

Young child killed by Israeli sniper fire: Report

The Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that Israeli forces have shot and killed a young child in central Rafah in southern Gaza.

A video filmed by Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih and verified by Al Jazeera shows the moments after the child was shot.

A man is seen crawling up to the child to remove the body from the scene but is shot at by Israeli troops, forcing him to retreat from the area.

20 Jan 2025 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

Houthi leader says ‘ready to escalate’ in case Israel reneges on ceasefire

Abdel-Malik al-Houthi congratulated the Palestinian people in light of the ceasefire agreement and said they have achieved a “great and historic victory” over Israel and the US.

In a nearly hour-long televised speech, his first since the agreement was reached, the Houthi leader said the victory was a result of “great sacrifice” by the Palestinian people.

“We are now monitoring the stages of implementing the agreement, and we are ready to escalate at any stage in which the Israeli enemy returns to escalation and breaks the agreement,” al-Houthi said.

The leader of the Yemeni group said the US was “disturbed” by the military success achieved by the Houthis during their hundreds of drone, missile and naval attacks since the start of the war on Gaza.

He said “the naval operations started successfully” with the seizing of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea, and all successive efforts by Israel and its Western allies to deter the group from further attacks failed.

Those efforts have included extensive bombing campaigns that have destroyed infrastructure like oil tanks, power stations and ports across multiple Yemeni governorates.

Newly recruited Houthi fighters watch a recorded lecture on Israel and the Jews by the Houthi movement’s top leader, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, in Sanaa, Yemen on January 11, 2024 [Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]
20 Jan 2025 - 20:25
 (20:25 GMT)

Palestinian Civil Defence says 137 bodies found in Rafah since start of ceasefire

The Gaza rescue organisation says its crews continue to dig through the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel’s 15-month war, looking for bodies of those killed.

An estimated 10,000 bodies are currently undiscovered under rubble across the Gaza Strip.

20 Jan 2025 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

Canada says Gaza ceasefire must be respected till the end

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a post on X that the ceasefire must be respected until all captives held in Gaza are returned with their families.

She said all the remains of the deceased captives must be returned as well, including that of Israeli-Canadian Judih Weinstein, who was killed during the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas and others.

“I am encouraged by the increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Joly said. “This increase must continue in order to provide essential assistance to Palestinian civilians. The ceasefire must be respected so that they too can return home.”

Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly [File: Hanna Johre/NTB via Reuters]
20 Jan 2025 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

Katz congratulates Trump, says US-Israel bond is ‘unbreakable’

Israel’s Minister of Defence Israel Katz has congratulated Donald Trump on becoming the 47th president of the United States.

In a post on X, he said, “I look forward to working with your administration to strengthen this alliance, bring back all the hostages held in Gaza, and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons”.

20 Jan 2025 - 19:45
 (19:45 GMT)

WATCH: Destruction at Kamal Adwan Hospital after months of Israeli fire and raids

Hospitals in Gaza have been a major target of Israel’s war and have come under repeated attack.

Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last operational health facility in northern Gaza until the Israeli military laid siege to it last month.

Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout visited to see the extent of the damage.

Watch below to find out what he saw:

20 Jan 2025 - 19:30
 (19:30 GMT)

Israeli forces arrest dozens of Palestinians near West Bank’s Qalqilya

A large number of Israeli forces have been deployed in a raid on the town of Azzun, located east of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank.

Videos circulating on Palestinian outlets that have been verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency show the Israeli forces rounding up and moving dozens of people.

The Israeli military has said it intends to launch major operations in the West Bank after a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement was reached in Gaza.

Translation: New scenes … The moment occupation soldiers arrested more than 60 Palestinians in the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya.