CAIRO>> The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect early today, 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 U.S. 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 government in opposition to it.

The prime minister earlier warned that a ceasefire wouldn’t go forward unless Israel received the names of hostages to be released, as agreed.

Israel had expected to receive the names from mediator Qatar. There was no immediate response from Qatar or Hamas.

The overnight approval of the ceasefire deal by Israel’s Cabinet, in a rare meeting during the Jewish Sabbath, set off a flurry of activity and a fresh wave of emotions as relatives wondered whether hostages would be returned alive or dead. Families and thousands of others rallied once more Saturday night in Tel Aviv.

“Please keep going and saving lives,” said Anat Angrest, whose son Matan Angrest is still held in Gaza.

The pause in 15 months of war is a step toward ending the deadliest, most destructive fighting ever between Israel and the Hamas militant group. The deal was achieved under joint pressure from Trump and the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden ahead of Monday’s inauguration.

The first phase of the ceasefire will last 42 days, and negotiations on the far more difficult second phase are meant to begin just over two weeks in. After those six weeks, Israel’s security Cabinet will decide how to proceed.

Israeli airstrikes continued Saturday, and Gaza’s Health Ministry said 23 bodies had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.

“What is this truce that kills us hours before it begins?” asked Abdallah Al-Aqad, the brother of a woman killed by an airstrike in the southern city of Khan Younis.

And sirens sounded across central and southern Israel, with the military saying it intercepted projectiles launched from Yemen.

In the ceasefire’s first phase, Israeli troops are to pull back into a buffer zone about 0.6 miles wide inside Gaza along its borders with Israel. With most of Gaza’s population in massive, squalid tent camps, Palestinians are desperate to get back to their homes, even though many were destroyed or heavily damaged.

In a post on X, Qatar’s foreign minister advised Palestinians and others to exercise caution when the ceasefire goes into effect and wait for directions from officials.

Israel’s military later said Palestinians will not be able to cross the Netzarim corridor that runs across central Gaza for the first seven days of the ceasefire, and it warned Palestinians not to approach Israeli forces.

Still, anticipation was high.

“The first thing I will do is go and check my house,” said Mohamed Mahdi, a father of two who was displaced from Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood. He also looked forward to seeing family in southern Gaza, but is “still concerned that one of us could be martyred before we are able to meet.”

Majida Abu Jarad said she has moved seven times with her husband and their six daughters during the war, heeding Israeli evacuation orders and staying in tents, abandoned classrooms or on the street.

“We will remain in a tent, but the difference is that the bleeding will stop, the fear will stop, and we will sleep reassured,” she said while packing.

In the ceasefire’s first phase, 33 hostages in Gaza are set to be released over six weeks in exchange for 737 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Israel’s justice ministry has published a list of the prisoners, all younger or female. An organization that represents victims of Palestinian attacks vowed to petition Israel’s Supreme Court to stop the release.

During each exchange, Palestinian prisoners will be released by Israel after hostages have arrived safely.

Also to be released are 1,167 Gaza residents who were not involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that sparked the war. All women and children under 19 from Gaza held by Israel will be freed during this phase.

All Palestinian prisoners who were convicted of deadly attacks will be exiled to Gaza or abroad — some for three years and others permanently — and barred from returning to Israel or the West Bank.

The remaining hostages in Gaza, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second phase to be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.