By Sammy Magdy, Sam Mednick and Melanie Lidman
The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT), mediator Qatar announced Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.
But in a national address 12 hours before the ceasefire was to start, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was treating the ceasefire as temporary and retained the right to continue fighting if necessary.
He claimed he had the support of President-elect Donald Trump, who told NBC News that he told the prime minister to “keep doing what you have to do.”
Netanyahu also asserted that he negotiated the best deal possible, even as Israel’s far-right Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he and most of his party would resign from the
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