Broad consensus between major UK parties on Israel and Gazapublished at 12:21 Greenwich Mean Time 16 January

12:21 GMT 16 January

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

As there has been since 7 October 2023, there’s broadly a consensus between the leaderships of the two main UK political parties on this issue but for a few differences mostly of emphasis. That is being demonstrated in the House of Commons in London now.

Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, has asked UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy some constructive questions but essentially their message is the same: that they are hopeful this agreement endures, the Israeli hostages are released and aid gets in to Gaza.

Patel is nodding along now as Lammy speaks. Earlier the foreign secretary praised his predecessor David Cameron, and his deputy, Andrew Mitchell for their diplomacy on this issue.

That’s not to say there aren’t some differences - for example Patel believes the government should rebuke and defy the International Criminal Court for its decision last year to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu.

And there is a much broader range of opinion across the backbenches in the Commons. There are some Labour MPs who believe their party, both in opposition and in government, should have been more critical of the Israeli government.

There are also four independent MPs who defeated Labour candidates in July who would almost certainly not be MPs were it not for this latest iteration of the conflict.

Yogita Limaye
South Asia correspondent

Image source, Family handout

“We heard about the agreement last night. We have been very happy and emotional ever since. Hope has returned,” says Pushpa Joshi, the sister of 24-year-old Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese student who is one of the hostages taken by Hamas.

Bipin’s family spoke to the BBC from the remote Bispuri Mahendranagar village in western Nepal. Bipin was studying agriculture in a Nepalese university, and went to Israel as part of a "learn and earn" programme, working on Israeli farms.

Both his parents are teachers. They say it was the first time Bipin had gone overseas and he was very excited about the trip.

But 20 days into the programme, Hamas attacked the area they were living in. Ten Nepalese students who were also part of the programme were killed, and Bipin was taken hostage.

Bipin’s mother, Padma Joshi, says she identified her son in footage shown to them by the Israeli military over a video call. The Israeli military told them it was footage taken from CCTV cameras at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

“These 15 months have been extremely difficult. Every minute I think of him,” Padma says. “I request the Israeli government to please prioritise his release.”

Image source, Family handout

Is there a hitch to the deal?published at 11:43 Greenwich Mean Time 16 January

11:43 GMT 16 January

Raffi Berg
Digital Middle East editor

Although it was announced by Qatar, President Biden and President-elect Trump on Wednesday that a deal had been agreed, it is not yet signed and sealed.

Qatar's prime minister said it would begin on Sunday, but the deal still requires the approval of the Israeli cabinet. First the 11-member Security Cabinet – Israel’s highest-level decision making body – followed by a vote by the full cabinet of 34 ministers.

While it is expected to pass, those meetings have been delayed after PM Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of seeking last-minute concessions.

A Hamas spokesman has said that is not the case and it is committed to the deal, though it is understood that the group wants to include specific prisoners among those due to be released but which Israel objects to.

Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet will not meet until the mediators – Qatar and the US – notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.

The delay is causing huge anxiety among Israelis and Palestinians, with everyone aware that it has taken months of painstaking indirect negotiations to reach this point.

There is massive pressure on Israel and Hamas to see it through now, including from Donald Trump who wants a huge foreign policy success to kick off his presidency which begins on Monday.

Mallory Moench
Live reporter

Image source, Eyal Nouri

Adina Moshe saw her husband killed by Hamas on 7 October 2023. The then-72-year-old was taken hostage and, after 49 days, freed alongside other hostages in a weeklong Israel-Hamas ceasefire at the end of November 2023.

Since then, her nephew Eyal Nouri has been among thousands of Israelis protesting in the streets for many months, demanding a hostage deal.

"We are in tense days, anxiously waiting to see if the hostages' release is really happening," Nouri told the BBC in a WhatsApp message on Thursday morning.

"I cannot bear to listen to the news."

What will the peace deal mean for Israel and Palestinians, for the hostage families, the reconstruction of Gaza, and the wider Middle East?

We will be answering your questions at 15:30 GMT on the BBC News Channel with a live panel of experts - let us know what questions you'd like answering:

Email: YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

At least 81 people have been killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry reports.

It adds that there are 188 injured, and there were eight attacks in the past day.

The total death toll since the conflict began in October 2023 has reached 46,788, the statement says.

The Israeli military has not commented.

Image source, Getty Images

Trucks carrying crucial aid to Gaza have begun queuing up at the Rafah Crossing in the south of the territory, ahead of the implementation of a ceasefire.

As part of the deal, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency says 600 trucks of supplies will be allowed to enter Gaza daily, although not all of this is humanitarian aid.

Jordan has begun sending its largest convoy of aid to Gaza since the war in the enclave began, with a total of 120 trucks carrying food, medical aid and fuel for generators are taking part in the operation.

Our correspondent, Fergal Keane, travelled with the convoy to the King Hussein Bridge border crossing with Israel. He said drivers blared the horns of their trucks throughout the journey. The first 60 trucks have already reached Israel.

Image source, Getty Images

Much of Gaza's displaced population will be looking to return home with the ceasefire deal due to come into effect in the coming days.

However, it's estimated that 58.9% of buildings in Gaza have been damaged since the start of the war.

The region faces extensive rebuilding efforts, and a lot of time.

Earlier, a UN official told the BBC there's roughly 40 million tonnes of rubble that will have to be removed before people can even return home to look at what might be left.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN's humanitarian chief says it will be a "huge challenge" to ensure the ceasefire deal succeeds.

"This is a moment of fragile opportunity," Tom Fletcher tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It brings hope of respite to Palestinian civilians who have endured months of killing - almost 50,000 civilian deaths - but also to the Israeli hostages and their families who've waited far, far too long."

Fletcher, who took up his post a few months ago and is currently in Kyiv, says it's "going to be a huge challenge to make this deal stick... but we'll strain every sinew to make it work. The problem is that there are plenty of people who will try just as hard to make it fail".

The current situation in Gaza is "dire", he says, and his team is "under no illusion about how hard it will be to deliver the aid that we need".

Image source, FAMILY HANDOUT

The cousin of one of the Israeli hostages in Gaza says he is cautiously optimistic the ceasefire deal will succeed.

Tsachi Idan,50, was taken by Hamas gunmen from his home in Nahal Oz after his 18-year-old daughter Maayan was shot dead during the attack in southern Israel.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Idan's cousin Adam Ma'anit - who lives in the UK - says his family have taken news of the deal with "guarded optimism".

"I have learnt this past year that no matter how optimistic one wants to be, it's important to be cautious," he says.

"We've been here before. We've had our hopes raised to stratospheric levels with the news of possible imminent deals being whispered and rumoured around and then they all collapse."

The family last saw Idan in a video posted by Hamas on Telegram last January and don't know if he's still alive.

"He was looking gaunt, dishevelled, pale but alive...that was the last time we saw him," Ma'anit says.

"Everyone's on tenterhooks... I keep checking the family WhatsApp every minute," he says.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

My understanding is that Hamas is attempting a last-minute push to include the names of one or two symbolic prisoners from its movement held in Israeli prisons.

This appears to be an effort to project an image of victory and restore its popularity, which has been noticeably affected in Gaza.

Many Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, have hold Hamas it is responsible for the destruction they have suffered following the 7 October attack.

We've just had an update from the Hamas-run civil defence agency which says two bodies have been recovered from a former school acting as a shelter south of Gaza city.

This brings the total killed to 73 since since the ceasefire announcement yesterday.

The AFP news agency cites agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal as saying 20 children and 25 women are among those who have died.

We've been following developments this morning since the announcement of a ceasefire deal agreed between Israel and Hamas last night. If you're just joining us now, here's what you need to know:

• The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency says at least 71 people have been killed in airstrikes in Gaza ahead of the deal coming into effect

• An Israeli cabinet meeting to approve the agreement has now been delayed after PM Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of seeking last-minute concessions
• A Hamas spokesperson has since said the group remains committed to the deal, rejecting Netanyahu's suggestion
• The full details of the deal have not been released - but do include a ceasefire in Gaza, the phased withdrawal of Israeli forces and release of hostages held in Gaza

For further detail, you can take a look at what we know about the ceasefire deal - as well as some of the unanswered questions that still remain.

The Hamas-run civil defence agency says 71 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza since the ceasefire announcement yesterday.

They say this figure includes more than 19 children and 24 women.

The Israeli military has not yet commented.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

I just got a message from a senior Hamas leader in Doha who called me and he said: "We are committed to the ceasefire and what is agreed in the ceasefire and what is announced by the mediators."

When I asked him about the development this morning, on reports that Hamas is reneging elements of the deal, he says it's not true.

What we are getting from Doha this morning is that Hamas confirmed that they are committed to the ceasefire terms and to what is announced by the mediators.

Last night, I was talking to another Hamas source, who said the group was hoping to include one or two significant names from the people who served time in prison, especially two former Hamas military commanders in the West Bank, who are in Israeli prisons.

Hamas has issued a response to the claim it is reneging on the ceasefire deal, rejecting the Israeli prime minister's suggestion.

In a statement reported by Reuters and Palestinian media, Izzat al-Rishq from the organisation's political bureau says: "Hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by the mediators."

We've just had an update from the Israel Defense Forces, which says a report of a rocket falling on Israel from Gaza was a "false identification".

Previously the IDF had said the sirens which sounded in the Nir Am area - just to the north of the Gaza strip - were over a rocket that had fallen on an open area and the incident was "under review".

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said the cabinet will delay a planned meeting this morning to discuss approving the Gaza ceasefire deal, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute concessions.

"The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement," the statement said.

The cabinet had been expected to meet around 11:00 local time (09:00 GMT) to ratify the deal, which was announced on Wednesday night.

The first phase of the deal, if approved, would see 33 hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

We've just had this from the office of Israel's prime minister, which has accused Hamas of reneging on elements of the deal.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Benjamin Netanyahu says the Palestinian group are trying to "extort last minute concessions".

"The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement," it adds.

We'll bring you more details when we have them.

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards has issued a statement hailing the ceasefire agreement as a “great victory” for Hamas, comparing it to the attack of 7 October 2023 that set the current conflict in motion.

Posting on the X social media site on Thursday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the Iranian-backed "Resistance Front" had “forced the Zionist regime to retreat”.

Iran is a longstanding backer of Hamas and was approached by the group to support the 7 October attack on Israel, according to documents published by the New York Times last year, external.

According to the documents, a senior Iranian commander told Hamas that Iran and the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah were supportive in principle, but needed more time to prepare. Neither would take part in the attack in the end.