Man has nine relatives killed in IDF air strike as Gaza is pummeled ahead of Israel-Hamas ceasefire

Amal Sultan is showing photos of his smiling relatives on his phone. He sits on a bench in Deir al-Balah, southern Gaza, explaining who they are and their place in the family lineage. He stops scrolling when a montage of many faces appears on the screen.

“That’s a photo of all my deceased loved ones,” Mr. Sultan says. “My mother, my sister, my brother, his children, and my sister’s children.” He points to his nephew, Ahmed, saying: “That one was only two years old.”

On Wednesday, a ceasefire deal was struck between Israel and Hamas, which many hoped would end the 15-month-long war in Gaza. The agreement is not set to take effect until 8:30 am local time on Sunday (5:30 pm AEDT), and the days leading up to it have been deadly for Palestinians. Mr. Sultan says on Friday, nine of his relatives were killed in an airstrike on their home in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

Since the agreement was announced, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has continued to launch attacks in Gaza. Hamas has also fired rockets into Israel. On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said 81 people were killed in Israeli attacks. On Friday, 88 were killed, and on Saturday, 23 were killed. Mr. Sultan has not seen his mother since the start of the war, as they are in different parts of the besieged territory, with Israeli airstrikes and ground operations limiting the movement of residents.

“My mother is the pillar, she’s the soul (of our family). She is everything in my life. She was hoping that the ceasefire would reunite us,” Mr. Sultan says. “I can’t believe she’s gone. I can’t believe it. All night I was thinking, it’s impossible she’s gone.” According to Gaza's health ministry, 46,889 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. Humanitarian organizations say millions have been displaced. Mr. Sultan, 31, has been working as a journalist, reporting on the local situation.

“In all the massacres, I never thought my parents would be part of a horrible story. I never thought that,” he says. On the other side of the border, Israelis have reported hearing the IDF's attacks on Gaza from as far as 50 kilometers away, which is unusual during the war. "Since they announced that there would be a ceasefire agreement, we have been able to hear the Israeli bombing in Gaza," says Shahda Ibn-Bari, an Israeli lawyer living in the city of Beersheba, about 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. "We hear it mainly at night. The sounds are very loud."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a televised address just after 8 pm local time on Saturday (4 am Sunday AEDT), claiming the ceasefire is temporary and his country could resume attacks on Gaza in the future if "needed." The complex ceasefire deal contains multiple phases. As part of the first phase, Hamas has promised to release 33 of the hostages it captured during the October 7, 2023, attacks, though not all are thought to still be alive.

In exchange, Israel will release 737 Palestinian prisoners from its jails. It will also release 1,167 Palestinians who were detained by the IDF during its ground offensive in Gaza. While the fighting is expected to stop on Sunday morning, the first exchange is not expected until later in the afternoon, when Hamas will release three female hostages (all civilians), and Israel will release 95 prisoners. More hostages and prisoners will be released each weekend under the first phase of the agreement, with the IDF eventually withdrawing from its positions in Gaza and retreating.

It is estimated there are around 100 hostages being held in the territory, and it is expected to be a long process to get them all out. The Israeli cabinet formally agreed to the ceasefire agreement after a marathon meeting that began on Friday afternoon and continued into the early hours of Saturday. Multiple polls published in Israeli media over the past week claim the majority of the country supports the ceasefire deal. However, it has been a contentious issue within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, with right-wing ministers threatening to resign if the agreement was accepted.

With less than 24 hours until the ceasefire was due to take effect, the bombing in Gaza continued, and air raid sirens sounded across Israel, with explosions heard over Jerusalem as the country’s missile defense system intercepted attacks from Yemen. The IDF said the attacks were launched by the Houthi group, which has been firing on Israel in solidarity with Hamas. These events highlight that after 15 months of war, while a ceasefire is coming, it is not yet truly here.

For Mr. Sultan, who cannot access his former home, the ceasefire cannot come soon enough. He relies on people in northern Gaza to send him information. Now, the photos of his smiling loved ones on his phone are interrupted by shocking new information. “I received this photo from one of my colleagues in the north,” Mr. Sultan says. “My mother is still under the rubble, and they can’t pull her out.”