Gaza ceasefire: Israeli cabinet meeting delayed
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
An Israeli cabinet meeting to ratify the ceasefire agreement for Gaza between Israel and Hamas is delayed, with the government accusing Hamas of reneging on the terms. We hear from a member of the governing coalition and from Hamas, which denies Israel's accusation.
We also hear from one man in Gaza about his hopes for the deal - and from the family of one Israeli hostage. And we talk to the co-author of a new study reassessing the number of those killed in Gaza, who explains why current estimates are likely to be far too low.
(Photo: A Palestinian child jumps down from the rubble of a building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, ahead of a ceasefire set to take effect on Sunday, in Khan Younis, Gaza, 16 January, 2025. Credit: Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsAv from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:06.6 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:08.3 | I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:09.8 | So, finally, after nearly 15 months of war, |
| 0:12.6 | there is a ceasefire and hostage release agreement for Gaza, |
| 0:17.4 | or at least that's what we're told last night by the mediator's Qatar. |
| 0:21.7 | Barring last-minute obstacles, and there are some, the deal is meant to come into force on Sunday, |
| 0:27.7 | an end to the fighting to allow a gradual release of the remaining Israeli hostages, |
| 0:32.4 | the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, a much greater influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza, |
| 0:39.0 | and later the withdrawal of Israeli forces. |
| 0:42.3 | Well, shortly after the announcement, Palestinian children in Gaza took to the streets to celebrate. |
| 0:53.7 | And these people in Gaza City expressed, well, a range of emotions following the announcement of the deal. |
| 1:04.6 | My feeling about the ceasefire announcement is indescribable. |
| 1:09.4 | Thank God that it was completed after the suffering we witnessed. |
| 1:13.6 | The suffering, honestly, is just indescribable. Displacement, hunger, extermination, we were displaced |
| 1:21.6 | from our houses under strikes, under fire, under the rubble. |
| 1:30.8 | We hope that the remaining hours before the truth comes into effect, |
| 1:35.0 | that we don't lose loved ones during these hours. |
| 1:38.2 | We don't lose someone dear to us again, and we won't be harmed by this crazy war. |
| 1:43.6 | While I'm talking to you, you can hear the fire from all sides. |
| 1:47.9 | Well, Aitán Ayrr, a former resident of a kibbutz close to the Gaza border, |
| 1:51.8 | told the BBC that despite the announcement of the deal, many uncertainties remained. |
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