After 15 months of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, nearly 47,000 Palestinians confirmed dead and many thousands more unaccounted for, over 90 percent of the population displaced, and untold levels of destruction, a “ceasefire” deal reached this week is scheduled to go into effect at 8:30am local time on Sunday, according to the spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Since the deal was announced on Wednesday evening, Israel has escalated its bombing campaign across Gaza, killing — as of Saturday 9am local time — 122 Palestinians, including 33 children, according to the spokesperson for Civil Defense in Gaza. The overwhelming number of dead, 92, were killed in Gaza City.

Journalist Hossam Shabat — who has not left northern Gaza since the war began and who has not seen his family in over a year — reports from Gaza City on three days of hope and death, between when the ceasefire was announced and when it is scheduled to be implemented. …..more